By Athame and Stang
Inspired by fellow Patheos bloggers, I’ve decided to go over my top three best and worst blog posts of 2018. These are blog posts that had significantly high or low page views and shares. If you’ve missed them, then you’re missing out! Even the “worst ones” had pretty awesome content, IMHO.
The Worst:
Three Recommended Spellbooks for Traditional Witches
Written at the start of this month, this article lists and describes three books of spells which I recommend to practitioners of Traditional Witchcraft. The books featured include The Carmina Gadelica by Alexander Carmichael, The Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman, and The Book of Psalms.
“These spellbooks are bit of the beaten path, and you’ll notice that they contain a lot of Christian imagery. But nonetheless, they are absolute treasure troves of timeless folk-magic that can be updated to fit your own spiritual preferences.”
5 Books Which Influenced my Craft as a Child
I thought it would be interesting to recount five of the most influential books on me as a child exploring the world of Witchcraft. The books featured in this article include The Book of Wizard Craft by Janice Eaton Kilby, Deborah Morgenthal, Terry Taylor, and illustrated by Lindy Burnett, The Book of Wizardry by J. H. Brennan a.k.a Cornelius Rumstuckle, Hardy Boys: The Witchmaster’s Key by Franklin W. Dixon, To Ride a Silver Broomstick by Silver Ravenwolf, and 21st Century Wicca by Jennifer Hunter.
“I have been practicing Witchcraft for the majority of my life, with my interest in Witches beginning roughly at the age of 5. It started with a mere fascination of fairytale characters and progressively grew into an intrinsic piece of psyche. Looking back on my childhood, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t identify as a Witch, or at least as having a connection to magic. Of course, along the way I was shaped and influenced by many factors but one that stands out in particular is the books I read.”
Written in response to the opinion that Witchcraft isn’t/shouldn’t be political, this article describes the way in which the Craft has historically been just that. Within the post I retell one of my favorite examples of historical Witches acting in political resistance, standing against their oppressors.
“Witchcraft by its very nature is the Craft of the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, and the oppressed. Sure, there are historical examples of upper-class citizens using Witchcraft, but they are by far outnumbered by the lower-class people who rarely, if ever, benefited from the political and justice systems in place. Witchcraft was and is a means of gaining power that one otherwise wouldn’t have, power which is used to effect change, to secure survival.”
The Best:
This article infuriated some and brought laughter to those who actually read beyond the title. The post actually had nothing to do with menfolk’s capability of being Witches. Instead, it’s actually a satirical experiment created as a result of my growing frustration with people who were commenting on articles without having read much more than the title. It was pretty hilariousness, and also disheartening, to see how many people failed the experiment. The major take-away was that if you don’t read the entire article, you don’t have much business commenting on it.
“What this article is really about is a behavior I’ve noticed a lot of since I started my blogging career: the tendency for people to comment on articles without having actually read them. There are those who read a little bit of the article, feel moved by something, and then skip to commenting before finishing its entirety. Then there are those who simply read the title of the article and proceed* to comment without having read anything else.”
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Representational Witchcraft
Another response piece, this was written after reading countless comments from people bemoaning the new series, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. True to form, many Witches were complaining that the show doesn’t accurately depict “real” Witches and that it’s going to cause the literal burning times 2.0. Honestly, this chapped my ass pretty bad because as we know, there are thousands of permutations of Witchcraft and just because one doesn’t align with your version of the Craft doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Of course this is in addition to the fact that IT’S A FICTIONAL SHOW NOT A DOCUMENTARY!
“But here’s the deal, just because it isn’t representative of your Witchcraft doesn’t mean that it isn’t representative of someone else’s. No one person, group, or tradition owns the word Witchcraft. Therefore, there are hundreds (if not more) permutations of what Witchcraft looks like. Meaning, it is damn near impossible for any movie or show to be inclusive towards all forms of Witchcraft.”
As a therapist, I’m constantly intrigued by the ways in which we relate to one another. In other words, I’m fascinated by other people’s drama. Within the Witchcraft community, one of my favorite types of people/behaviors to study are the narcissistic ones. In this blog post I described the traits of a narcissistic personality and how they manifest in someone who is a Witch. Additionally, I give some recommendations of how to cope with this behavior when encountering the Narcissistic Witch.
“But it’s important to recognize that, deep down, the Narcissistic Witch acts this way because they require a specific response from others, admiration. They will do whatever it takes to have their sense of importance validated by others, because without that they will quickly succumb to their inner feelings of worthlessness and unimportance. It doesn’t inherently matter whether the response to their actions is positive or negative, because the Narcissistic Witch thrives off both.”
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And there you have it, my top 3 best and worst blog posts of 2018. Here’s looking towards 2019 and writing more for this blog. Did I mention I have a book being published in the next year? That’s pretty much where all my time and effort has been going over the last 6 months. So look forward to that!
Have a happy New Year Witches!
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