The Green Witch and The Death Witch: Merged Paths

The Green Witch and The Death Witch: Merged Paths January 31, 2025

4 candles burning in a cauldron with a small glass pyramid in front
Combining energies

As I get more clarity on the current work from my Guides (Deities, Elements, Guardians, Ancestors) I am realizing this isn’t about adding – it is about merging the two paths into one movement. I know you won’t get this yet, but let me tell the story to explain…

The Beginning

I was young when I started my own exploration of spirituality and witchcraft. In my teens I explored everything I could get my hands on and talking with who I could find. Back then we did not have the internet and limited sources. I dove into history, anthropology, and science – I looked at a variety of religions and traditions. Each of these modes giving me a piece of the puzzle, a clue to follow and ideas to experiment with. I always say the first 25 years of my journey was study and exploration, not active “work.” In a way this still holds true – but also it doesn’t.

I was heavily drawn to nature based practices and philosophies. Finding the alignment and harmony between us and the world we live within (nature). I heavily studied druidic and shamanic spirituality and practices from my late teens to early thirties. I worked heavily in the areas of energy – connecting, feeling, manipulating, and moving energy. Understanding nature from a scientific view and comparing to personal observations. Seeing aspects of nature in myself, and all the other “Green Witchy Healer” aspects you think of when thinking about the nature bound person.

I very much possessed the “nature and healer” mentality which led me into my professional career as a nurse/ CCRN. There were a couple of issues that arose though.

First being, I did not have that wondrous green thumb. I had a great energy connection but it did not seem to translate to the physical world. If I tried to raise and tend a plant, it would die. If I planted it though and just left it alone, it would do really well. I realize that growing plants is not the only aspect of a green/ nature witch, but for me I saw it as a big indicator.

The second came when I was working as a CCRN. Our healthcare industry saw people as dollar signs and numbers on a sheet – I was there for the actual person and their needs. It felt like I spent more time fighting administration for the rights of the patients than I did actual healing activities. I also noticed something else, that my healing was more internally then the body itself. Partly because I quickly became the designated “death nurse.” When someone was really bad or dying, they would get shifted to me because I was really good with them and their families. I became the death doula for our ICU. This wasn’t the “healing” I was thinking, but it was still a form of healing, healing the soul.

Gingy and I sharing sacred space

Change of Direction

Over the last 10-12 years or so (societal time becomes more irrelevant the deeper I go lol) I surrendered to the path of Death and Transformation. Taking my previous energy work to spirit work. I started working with Spirits, Guides, Deities, Ancestors, and my own Ancestral Soul. My growth was insane and the deeper I went, the more I transformed. I learned so many new skills, understandings, developing solid practices – both spiritually and magically. I’m not going to go a whole lot into those details here because I have been writing about it and teaching about it publicly for many years now.

If you have been following along my journey, you know a little over a year and a half ago things started to take a massive shift. My Death Deities were going silent or They were transforming, moving to a place of a core energy pattern – the faceless and nameless Goddess and God and the harmonious Duality between – the Why and the How. I was also getting some very specific core messages at this time such as: “There is nothing new to learn, only going deeper.” “There will be no more new Guides, just the core.” “We are not growing outward, but expanding inward (depth).” “You are transforming onto a new path, not leaving behind but adding to.” They created a lot of confusion, misunderstandings, and what seemed like a sporadic jumping around everywhere. I have also been very public about that process as well – because it was real, it happens, and I think by showing the good and the bad, we are giving a real and authentic look at what being a witch or spiritual being can look like. This is not the usual approach, where people only share when they have mastered something, so I got a very mixed bag of people loving it and hating it. That’s ok, it’s still my experience whether they get it or not. Back to the story though…

The Pattern

All the timing was right though and fits a pattern I have noticed. I go really deep into my path, my learning and development. I have very specific Guides teaching me along the way. I eventually get to an “end point” in an area or practice, there is about a year of confusion and bouncing around trying to find my way forward, I am given all kinds of clues, go through several ah-ha moments thinking I “get it”, and then about the end of that crazy year I do finally get it, at least the why and direction.

It took about a month longer this time, incorporating the full Phoenix Moon time, which I guess is fitting for this too…

Two Paths Merged

I thought I understood the messages clearly, but then the path that was revealed for this year put me back in chaos. “Nothing New” but we were moving from Death work to Living/ Nature work, a completely different path… or was it? It actually isn’t. I started there long ago. I was seeing it through the lens of “new” and “forward growth” but not through the lens of merging the two.

“There will be no new Guides” This was really evident, because the Deities that have showed up and seated Themselves firmly in this path are not new. I have worked with Kari for a very long time. I didn’t actively work with Flidais as much, but She is the one who gave me my first “trial” and then my first witchy/ spiritual name from it – The Black Foot Deer. I was deep into death work at the time, but She still made Herself known and the significance of Her that would come now. The Morrigan, Hel, La Muerte, all showed back up. The only one who could be considered “new” would be Brigid, yet even then, it was my rejection of Her on many occasions, not that She didn’t show up (you can read about this more HERE if you are interested).

The other aspects about “depth not expansion” “not leaving behind, adding to” and so forth, were also true when you consider the merging of two paths into one. Another example of Duality, the way I see and work within it. Not from a place of discourse, but from the place of alignment, harmonious balance, the two opposite sides working together cohesively.

I would have gotten here sooner, seen it sooner, if I just let go of this subconscious “linear forward movement” mindset. As I tell my students all the time, we have so many societal conditionings within us that we do not always see them until confronted with them. It is why shadow work is never ending. There were times I was consciously aware of it but after 10+ years of heavy forward movement, it was so hard trying to figure out what the other side really looked like (from a movement/ action standpoint).

The Death Witch and The Green Witch

I don’t want to say “I get it!” because I am sure there is a whole lot more “to get” but I think I am understanding it. In Agatha All Along, Death is called the original Green Witch. When I first heard it, it made sense because death and creation are two sides of a core duality I work in. I didn’t really pay it much attention though from a personal standpoint. Then yesterday I ran across a video on youtube done by HearthWitch  and I guess she is just now getting to see Agatha All Along because she is doing episodes by episode from a witch’s perspective. It just so happens the Green Witch aspect and plant magic was a big part of her conversation. It just hit different this time around – deeper – this idea of the Green and Death Witch as one.

I went into my witchy room, sat in front of my drawing laying out the path before me, and had the same thought I have been having for awhile now… The skills, knowledge, and even experience of every section I have been through before. Maybe not to a depth they could be, but all this “living” work I did in the very beginning, before moving into death/ spirit work. Then the thought of the Green and Death witch being one floated through my mind again….

This isn’t about a new path at all, just as They said. It is not about new Deities, because there really hasn’t been. It isn’t about forward growth – this is about merging the two paths, all their skills and lessons, living in them from the perspective of the duality between them – finding their harmonious alignment in movement – The Green Witch and the Death Witch as one. The work of my chaotic year did prepare me to really understanding that concept in all aspects. My Deities did what They did to show me “faces of the core” the blended aspects, the way they showed the duality between masculine and feminine helped me to understand depth of how to see the harmonious alignment between the sides – the Why and How, and so forth. Last year looked like chaos, felt like chaos, yet it wasn’t – it was for purpose, I just had to get out of my own way.

In essence, there isn’t really any “new” in the way of linear forward growth – but “new” in the sense of the movement itself, how I use them and move with them. A good example of this has been Alice (an ancestor I have been working with). I have worked with herbs from a spirit and nature sense but have always been cautious in the cooking area with spicing up dishes with herbs because no one ever showed me. Alice has been instructing me on what herbs to combine, use, in what dishes, and for what reasons, and they have been amazing! Combining the spirit of the herb, with its effects in the body, and creating not just tasty dishes, but weaving spells within them for body and soul. A new movement of combined work.

So why am I telling you all this? Well first and foremost, just to share my own journey and with the hope to inspire or help someone else in some way. Not to follow me, but to see the reality of what it can look, and perhaps inspire others in their own creative ideas for themselves. So when someone is at one of those chaotic, confused, or “quiet” moments, they know they are not alone and if they just keep going it will untangle itself. I’m not perfect, I’m human, and so are you. Sharing my imperfections, my stumbles, I think is important and a good way to combat self-doubt that many of us feel at times because most of what we see is the end result from a practitioner, not the rocky road to it.

Perhaps I am wrong, that others get anything out of it beyond a good laugh towards me, but then again perhaps I am right. Either way, being public about my journey is a choice I made and one that I am proud of, stumbles and all. I’m not perfect, my journey isn’t perfect – I know what I know really well, and I know there is a lot that I do not know – but in the end this journey is mine, my real experiences, and my enduring faith in my direction and my Guides.

Sacred to me waterfall
About Esa
Esa is a Crane Practitioner, High Priestess in the Temple of the Crane, Mother of White in the Sisters of the Well, as well as a CCRN specializing in neurology, cardiology, and Death Doula work. Through her writing, published works, courses, and community connections she sets the stage for personal transformation and personal path development through effective frameworks, skills, and being a Guide for others. Her personal work and tradition is rooted in the pattern of Death and Rebirth, personal transformation, soul healing, and Death Emissary work. If you want to learn more, check out her website and work! You can read more about the author here.
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