{"id":389,"date":"2016-03-09T19:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T23:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/oathbound\/?p=389"},"modified":"2016-03-09T19:02:04","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T23:02:04","slug":"but-is-it-witchcraft-me-and-my-daily-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oathbound\/2016\/03\/but-is-it-witchcraft-me-and-my-daily-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"But is it witchcraft?: Me and My Daily Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Views<\/a>
Views from a run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One of the questions that I\u2019m asked most frequently is this: what does your daily practice look like? It\u2019s sort of a funny question. Behind it is this idea that religion is something that we necessarily do<\/em> rather than something that we are, or something that we believe. And it\u2019s not just a thing we do, it\u2019s a thing we have to do with some regularity. It\u2019s something we have to improve at. We \u201cpractice\u201d it, after all. Whether or not we think witchcraft is a religion\u2014and I wouldn\u2019t presume to try defining \u201creligion\u201d for anyone, having spent enough time in grad school coming to the realization that scholars don\u2019t really know what it is either\u2014it seems pretty clear, most of the time, that it\u2019s something we do<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So what am I doing from day to day to practice?<\/p>\n

Rather than trying to fool any of you into believing that I have a coherent routine that resembles something you might see on Pinterest and that it\u2019s never interrupted by jobs, illness, family drama, or malaise, I\u2019ll tell you what I\u2019ve been up to lately:<\/p>\n

Skull Scrying<\/strong><\/p>\n

While at PantheaCon, I got to take a workshop from artist and fellow Patheos blogger<\/a> Lupa Greenwolf<\/a> on scrying with animal skulls. She goes over the specifics of her technique in a self-published book<\/a>, and the workshop was merely an introduction (well, if such a thing can ever be said to be \u201cmere\u201d). The basic premise is this: that skull on your shelf (or on your altar, or in your garden, or wherever) belonged to a living creature with its own agency, its own instincts, fears, and, ultimately, its own experience of death. Some form of that critter\u2019s essence\u2014what we might think of as a soul\u2014lingers after death, and it\u2019s possible to interact with it. Using techniques reminiscent of more familiar forms of scrying, we can potentially share something of that individual\u2019s experience and learn something valuable.<\/p>\n

I do a lot with animal remains. As a long-distance hiker and a novice bowhunter, there are a fair number of animal encounters in my day to day. I also just love them (did you know I spent my first three years in college as a biology major?). There are skulls, pelts, claws, antlers, and other parts all over the house, some just because they\u2019re beautiful and others because they play some role in my Craft. But all of them deserve care and respect.<\/p>\n

So I was excited to expand my repertoire of magical techniques in providing that care and respect. If I can learn more about that animal\u2014its life as well as its death\u2014directly from<\/em> the animal, then that\u2019s something that\u2019s worth pursuing. It also begs a lot of questions about other kinds of Craft work (working with fetches, familiars, and other kinds of spirits, to name some of the most obvious). So lately, I\u2019ve been spending time before bed practicing skull scrying. Aside from the magical practice, it provides the added benefit of relaxing me before sleep. It also doesn\u2019t require much beyond the skull itself, so I don\u2019t have to worry about an elaborate ritual, other tools, etc. Whether I spend five minutes or forty, I\u2019ve gotten something out of the experience each time.<\/p>\n

Writing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether or not you think writing counts as witchcraft really depends on who you are and why you\u2019re writing. I\u2019ve found that writing is the best way for me to process. It also enables me to alter my mood, explore possibilities, wrestle with conflict, and visualize. Other people meditate. I write. Is it witchcraft? It is when I do it.<\/p>\n

To me, writing is a sacred act. Some witches are great teachers, great coven leaders, great magicians, or great theologians. I don\u2019t feel like any of those things. What I have to offer my tradition is my writing. Who knows? Maybe what I write will really have some impact somewhere someday, even if it\u2019s just the story of one priestess finding her way as best she can. I\u2019m entranced by the idea that\u00a0writers change the world. One essay, one poem, one letter, one long-lost diary changes the practice for someone. Maybe creates a whole movement. It happens, over and over again. I\u2019m not writing with that as my goal\u2014I\u2019m not quite that vain. \u00a0But I do write with the understanding that people will read what I put out there and it might have some real impact, for good or ill. I take that to heart and usually take a lot of care with my words. For some people, I might be the only Gardnerian they ever read, so I\u2019m representing something precious, even if I shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

So yeah. It\u2019s part of my witchcraft practice.<\/p>\n

(As an aside, I also magic the shit out of my ink, my fountain pens, and my notebooks.)<\/p>\n

All the Sports<\/strong><\/p>\n

Somewhere, somehow, I became an athlete. Believe me, everyone in my life who\u2019s known me for more than a couple of years is totally mystified. I\u2019m training for my first half-Marathon in April, and I have quickly become enamored\u00a0with HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts), studying longsword with a club here in Charlotte and working independently on Viking sword (which thrills<\/em> my mother). And, of course, there\u2019s archery, my real love. A big chunk of my free time is dedicated to some variation on working out.<\/p>\n

Is it witchcraft? Not really, for me. But some of it is devotional. My practice of archery is very much about my relationship with Herne the Hunter and my own Horned God of death and rebirth. Ultimately, I\u2019m practicing to take a deer this upcoming fall. It\u2019s been part of the plan since the beginning. For me, this is the ultimate religious experience in the making. I can\u2019t draw an arrow without thinking about that sacred connection between hunter and prey, death and resurrection. Maybe it\u2019s not witchcraft in the way we usually think of witchcraft, but it is part of my devotional practice (and further evidence for why I think the divide between \u201cPagans\u201d and \u201cPolytheists\u201d is so strange\u2014as though those are mutually exclusive).<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t really explain the sword fighting and the running (which is almost compulsive). Part of it is just that it makes me feel in tune with my body. I like myself more this way. It gives me confidence and makes me feel powerful. And that in turn makes for more effective witchcraft. HEMA has the added benefit of encouraging me to explore my own cultural roots. I can get my nerd on at the same time. And archery helps me to connect with the Southern culture that surrounds me. I share a common language with people I\u2019d never spend time with otherwise (Conservative, Christian, working class, rural folks who are usually cast as our opponents\u2014which it turns out is a gross oversimplification on the part of many Pagans).<\/p>\n

So sports are part of my daily practice. They don\u2019t entail sitting at an altar, but I think of that sweat and blood as an offering. In any case, it makes me a stronger person, and therefore a more effective witch.<\/p>\n

Foxfire<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already written about how much of my Wiccan practice revolves around my coven. Being a coven leader sounds sexy, but it mostly means a lot of e-mails and vacuuming. I love it and it\u2019s critical to the survival of our tradition, but it\u2019s definitely not for everyone. It\u2019s not burning incense and chanting over candles, or dancing naked under an October moon through dew-kissed grass or whatever. It\u2019s long phone conversations and crying over beer and constantly feeling like you\u2019re fucking up. It\u2019s messy and amazing. Is it witchcraft? It seems like the answer should be obvious, but I still think most people would be surprised.<\/p>\n

So my daily practice doesn\u2019t entail hours of meditation or elaborate rituals with lots of tools. It\u2019s conscious. I decide<\/em> to make things relevant. But I also seek things out. Every part of my life isn\u2019t magical, but I am taking stuff that could be mundane and finding profound meaning in it. And it changes from week to week and season to season. You have to construct your own meaning sometimes. \u00a0Maybe all the time.<\/p>\n

Is it witchcraft? That depends. But does it make me a more effective witch? Hell yes.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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