It has been one year, two months and 20 days since I have sat down to write a blog.
I have not stopped writing; I write posts on my personal page, and the NR fb page. I have also worked on some writing projects.
The blog felt like it needed to rest.
Like it needed to be in chrysalis as badly as I did.
Emerging is scary, emerging in a new form, scarier still.
But here I am with my first blog in an awfully long time to talk about a topic that is much overdue.
A topic I have discussed many times in comments, or a few sentences here and there on the page.
As I move and shift this space to a Collective of writers, instead of just myself, I am inspired more than ever to push the limits. I am inspired to talk about what nobody wants to talk about, or topics that will surely get me trolled.
Bring it on, I say.
I am not here to make you comfortable, and I am done trying to have comfortable conversations.
Comfort gets us nowhere; it will only bring stagnation.
So, what is it exactly that I have to say that is going to get everyone in a tizzy?
I don’t often make generalized or absolute statements, there are simply too many variables and moving parts to any equation in this vast universe that I am careful what I say and how I say it.
This, however, needs to be spoken as an absolute.
Here it goes:
Witchcraft is political.
Witchcraft. Is. Political.
WITCHCRAFT IS POLITICAL.
I can hear it now, the cries and whimpers like, and I am using direct past quotes that have been said to me:
“Don’t bring politics into my Craft!”
“I don’t read your work to read about politics and social issues. Please don’t become *that*.”
“Witchcraft is not political, humans are. We don’t need politics here.”
Privilege.
P R I V I L E G E.
It’s privilege to be a Witch and say that you are not political, to ignore injustices because they “don’t affect you”.
Witchcraft is now and will always be political.
When I use the word political, I am not talking about democracy, per se. Nor am I talking about the United States’ 2 party system that has f*cked us all. This is not Democrat and Republican.
I am talking about what being a Witch, calling oneself a Witch means.
It is truly Revolutionary to call yourself a Witch.
We stand for the marginalized, the outcasts, the downtrodden, the misfits, and the weirdos.
AND WE ALWAYS HAVE!
Activism, Social Issues, Human & Civil Rights, Allyship, Anti-racism, Anti-ableism (and more!) are all pre-requisites to being a Witch.
“You are gatekeeping! How dare you tell me how to be a Witch!”
Is asking you, or telling you, rather, to be a decent human being gatekeeping?
Is it REALLY?!
I want you to think about that long and hard if your immediate reaction was/is that I am gatekeeping.
Ask yourself why you feel the way you do?
Is requesting human decency gatekeeping?
If you answer yes, then your issue is far deeper and greater than I can address here.
So, as they say, “not my circus, not my monkeys”.
Witches may have been hidden in history—even hid ourselves and moved in silence, but we got sh*t done.
We weren’t afraid to get our hands dirty.
Some of us still aren’t.
It was the Wise Woman, Man and Person who lived on the edge of the forest communing with nature and plant Spirits, carrying deep rooted herbal and plant knowledge that were Healers in days past.
It was the Healer who was shunned for knowing too much about plants that would help a Woman/Femme deal with unwanted pregnancy in a safer manner than some of her/their other options. Or help heal a Soldier’s war wounds, or gout.
It was the unsuspecting Granny who went to Church every Sunday, who knew Psalms like the back of her hand and whipped up the most glorious Kitchen Magick you ever had seen. Her prayers worked like she had a direct line to God.
To deny the power and role of the Witch is to douse our history in toxic positivity.
Many of us found our way to the Craft because we were met with injustice and/or adversity of some kind, and we needed to take our power back.
To be a Witch is to be Sovereign, without a doubt.
Then I think about this Tweet (one that I have shared on the page before) and I am left wondering:
Are we meant to be Sovereign AND in Service (to Magick) at the same time?
Why else would we have or collect all this knowledge, and even though I hate the word power?
Why not use it for the greater good?
It is time we decolonized the Craft.
There are too many people who call themselves Witch and turn the other cheek when they see oppression and continue to benefit from systems put in place long ago instead of smashing said system.
We first need equality, then we need equity and finally we will find liberation.
We have a silent oath to uphold when walking this path.
We have an obligation to fight deep in the trenches so that the systems harming us can be destroyed.
If you are not willing to pushback against the status quo, what are you even doing here?
Are you even a Witch, or are you a WINO (Witch In Name Only)?
Witchcraft requires action, to be a Witch requires action; just like the Magick we cast.
Your intentions may be well and good, but unless you act on them, they mean nothing.
Silence is compliance.
Nobody said this would be easy, but it is worth it.
The freedom, strength and courage I have found through Witchcraft and living my life as a Witch cannot be put into words for, they do it no justice.
Blessed Are the Witches, the Oathkeepers, the Torchbearers and the Balancers of Scales.
Lux in Tenebris Lucet
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The Nephilim Rising 