By going more deeply in, we are able to be more of service without. I’m happy to be returning to The Wild Hunt in the new year for a series on animistic Witchcraft.
As the wheel of the year turns for all of us, so do the wheels of years, generations, ages and so on. I believe that collectively, humanity is moving through another era right now, and it’s not difficult to see it, even for those who are not tuned into the subtle energies that many Witches and magickal folk are. A rapidly changing planet, thanks to human activity within our closed environmental system of the Earth, has many of us wondering what humanity’s future on the planet might be, or even if there is a future.
In that question I think there’s a balance to be struck. Yes, things will change – it’s already begun. But will the planet and all life cease? No, I would say that’s not in the cards. Whether humanity has a future, and how many other species we take down with us, is yet to be determined.
As ever, this is a great time to be a Witch or magickal person. There can be no wrong time, really, because we often consciously attempt to work as conduits for manifesting the needs of the universe, and by extension, our little place in the world. Even unconsciously, I can’t recall the number of times that something that needed to happen was triggered by something I’ve accidentally done! Clearly we have the ability to sway things and I think that this is one of those epochal moments for magickal folks.
In animism, there is a path forward, because animism is how we began and in returning to it, we help realize the future. There’s plenty of evidence from Gobëkli Tepe to the caves at Lascaux and beyond that humans have spent the majority of our existence on this planet working with nature and its inhabitants on a relational level. In other words, humanity understood that nature’s occupants were fellow beings, whether that be deer, bees, rivers or trees. Each is animated by a spark of universal energy and are capable of being worked with, loved, cajoled, questioned or avoided for safety.
The trial of our era would seem to be challenging the dualistic thinking that got us into this mess, beyond the Cartesian dichotomy of self-other, subject-object and towards the understanding that while the self exists, it also is a part of nature around it.
Nathan Hall
A winter sun seen through trees [N. Hall]
As intimated above, the earth is not doomed, and the future could even include humans, but it’s going to take a lot more than just making better consumer choices to create change. It’s going to have to include working on ourselves, healing our traumas and letting the people around us into our lives in a way that our individualistic culture has made us unfamiliar and uncomfortable with.
“When we heal ourselves, we heal the world. For as the body is only as healthy as its individual cells, the world is only as healthy as its individual souls.” That’s a quote by Mark Nepo, a poet, philosopher and spiritual thinker. It’s a great mantra for this year. I see the role of the Witch, of which I identify, as one of service to the Universe, acting as a conduit for what needs to manifest. By healing ourselves, by attempting to take better care of ourselves, we become a cleaner vessel for the work of manifesting. That’s not to say that we should retreat from the world, although occasionally doing so can prove to be powerfully rejuvenating. The work of healing can happen in concert with the work of creation.
Everyone’s healing journey looks different and addresses different needs at different times. We all have our weak areas, so let me address what I mean when I talk about health.
Health has been a triggering word for me throughout my life. Physically, I’ve always been a little heavier. I’ve struggled with addictions, and I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety. At a younger age, when I encountered people who were on health kicks, it looked pretty toxic to me. It looked like lionizing shame and deprivation, about becoming physically strong but not evolving. In other words, there was no balance.
There were a lot of people who were seeking but then getting trapped in the complex web of the New Age healing industry. There was a nice, polished veneer from the outside but it was soon revealed to be paper thin and served the selective audience of those who could afford to take part in it. At that point in my life, this was all I had encountered as an alternative to how mainstream culture functioned, so I rejected it.
It wasn’t until years later through a deepening study of Witchcraft that I encountered other means of healing that felt more resonant. I found approaches to healing that felt like they were meeting me where I was at, rather than pushing me towards some unattainable ideal. By addressing complexes that had built up over time, I could begin to come more into good relation with myself and my environment.
This is what I like about Witchcraft, and why I’ve stuck with it for so long. When we are ready to go deeper with where it can lead us, it unfurls its petals and opens up a new pathway to explore. The healing path has been a part of my practice for well past a decade at this point. How it has manifested for me is in growing to more deeply understand myself and gently trying to work with the elements that create friction.
Listening to their needs, trying to more deeply understand the messages that they have so that I may reintegrate them. Sometimes it’s easy, but usually not.
Nathan Hall
A sun sigil hanging on a tree, covered in moss and other signs of weathering [N. Hall]
Many people who have maintained a practice are familiar with the concept of the shadow. The shadow is that part of ourselves that we don’t want others to see, the part that we’re ashamed of, the things about ourselves that we feel like others would shun us for. The challenge is embracing those things about ourselves and discovering what they need, what lack they are evidencing in our lives, so that healing and reintegration of those parts can occur.
It was Timothy Roderick’s book Dark Moon Mysteries that introduced me to these ideas. Originally discovered at a metaphysical store in Madison, Wisconsin in the late 90s, I read it and attempted some of the exercises, but I didn’t really “get it” until later in my 20s when I found myself struggling with decades of unaddressed work that needed tending to.
The surest way we reveal our shadows to the world is to cast a “longshadow.” The longshadow is one’s own shadow lengthened and cast on to another person. In other words, we ascribe our own dark traits to another person.
A look into the crone and sage’s cosmic mirror reveals the stark truth that darkness resides within each of us, a reality too painful for some to bear.
This passage from that book in particular stuck with me because I would notice that the things I disliked most in other people were the things I disliked most about myself. That’s when the light clicked on and I realized there was a whole path of discovery and tools for changing my life that I had never fully appreciated before. Seeing the darkness within myself reflected back on me by acquaintances, coworkers, authority figures and more was an awakening that has pressed me forward on this journey.
By saying yes to plumbing our own depths and venturing into the darkness of our shadows, we are making a choice to shift, and in creating that shift, we are freeing ourselves to begin working with the world around us. A simple affirmation ritual can begin to open up new possibilities, unlocking things we were afraid to allow.
Maybe I’m a cautious optimist, but 2023 feels like an opportunity. Those who embraced the trials of the previous years have seen growth and expansion. And like any growth it involved pain, for some quite a lot. While it’s true that everyone’s lives have changed in ways both large and small, some were able to turn the collective moment on the forge into an opportunity.
Wiling away countless hours in self-imposed or externally directed lockdowns, some used that extra time as a boon to deepen practices, to learn new skills, to take healing journeys. Like a nesting doll, healing through one thing often unearths other, deeper traumas and unsavory bits about ourselves. That is why it’s the journey of a lifetime, and as I’ve personally learned, putting off that journey doesn’t mean the things that need healing go away.
Wishing you a good start and improved health for the year!
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