I decided to shake out the last of my cobwebs and complete a writing challenge to get the juices flowing again. That was the last week in July and it’s now mid-August so those cobwebs are still fully entrenched.
Here goes nothing.
Text: The Fruits of Your Craft- A 30-Day Challenge for Experienced Witches
Day 1: What has been your most influential resource in your study of the Craft?
This answer feels both too big and too small.
The most obvious answer is The Internet. I found my Witchy footing in a time when my grandparents and most companies were not yet on Facebook, Twitter was just starting, Instagram was at most someone’s glimmer of a thought. Pinterest was still invite only. But there were vast amounts of blogs as far as the eye could see. I don’t recall all of the ones I visited during my beginning days; most of them aren’t available to view anymore. There was also a Witch social media that started out pretty great. As far as I can tell that is also no longer active or available. Like most all social media, it got toxic and then imploded.
I found a lot of my Witch information from books. Embracing my own skills with herbs and making blessing sachets was very powerful. Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs lives in my spice cabinet with my Magick use mortar and pestle. It was the first “witch” book I ever acquired, sent to me by a Witch friend. I got my practice start by reading Cherokee Medicine books. Meditations with the Cherokee, Medicine of the Cherokee, and The Cherokee Full Circle all by J.T. Garrett were read multiple times. I have color-coded highlighter on different pages with corresponding sticky note flags showing me the pages. These were the first books I got and they helped me shift my mindset to Earth-centric thinking. I was in my second year of teaching, and my first year in North Carolina when I finally fully embraced the path. I was reading the YA fiction novel series House of Night by P.C. and Kristen Cast at the time as well. Both of these, fiction and inspirational, were cornerstones to my budding path. Michelle Skye’s Goddess Alive and Goddess Afoot are other go-to books that have been read multiple times. I did not discover these until later in my practice; Witchling and Witchlette were both part of my life and I had been a practicing Witch for just shy of a decade before I got them. I have since bought Norse Goddess Magic by Alice Karlsdottir and TAC’s publishing of The Havamal.
I believe the two most important, most influential resources in my craft have been my own writing and performing rituals and the real-life Magickal friends I have made along the way. Being able to create and share Magick with CotE was a big deal. It allowed me to share my perspective and invited others to do the same. While I am not presently active in CotE, I still have connections and friendships that have been made there and I hope to be present with the whole group dynamic again soon. S, S, R, and C- the Magick we made along the way is deeply meaningful and has carried me far. S and I still get together semi-regularly to celebrate Moons and Sabbats and practice Divination together. I saw S and C for the first time in a while but it was like no time had passed. I wish R well in wherever life has brought her.
Biblebelt Witchy Mama 