From Our Readers
This month we asked our readers: What does being a witch mean to you?
For me, witchcraft is all about observing, embracing, and relishing in the beauty of the natural world, with a bit of whimsy tossed in to spark unbridled joy. In my home and surrounding gardens especially, I strive to create a haven of serenity and comfort which celebrates the unprocessed and beautifully wild. —Lynell Tobler
I believe that a witch is somebody who lives the enchanted life to the fullest. They find magic everywhere and in everything. They are survivors too because they have survived for thousands of years even with all the persecution they have felt. They deserve our admiration and respect to the fullest!!
—Jeffrey Habicht
Witches are, to me, women with a strong connection to nature, with a deep understanding of life and how life works, and with great knowledge of the many mysteries hiding in plain sight in herbs, wildflowers, roots, and rocks. She is the real hero of our folk tales, the one who carries the solutions and freely gives of her wisdom to help good prevail over evil. —Line Herikstad
I have been titled the Witch of Walkerton (my hometown) simply by being odd, living loud, and being true. So if I am a witch, I am a witch because I am irrevocably and unapologetically me. —Alexandria Drzewiecki
Full moon skies and dark starlit skies. Crows who come for breakfast and hummingbirds who stop by for an evening’s libation. Candles lit with love and intention flickering in the dark. Feeling the wild riders’ wave in the night as they ride by. Knowing your connection to the Earth is all. —Lady Elestial
For me, being a witch is tapping into a lineage of women before me who believed in the strength of their own wills and the power of nature.
—Jasmin Buckalew
Being a witch is the magic of old forests and thick mist, ravens and wolves, owls and foxes, cats and hounds. It is the wild hunt, the maypole on Beltane, and the dark mystery of Samhain. It is velvet and lace, black roses and daisies, candles and herbs, thatched roofs, crumbling ruins, and besoms with gnarled handles. It is claiming your personal power, knowing that you can effect change. It is living safe in the knowledge that magic is real. —Antonia Cardella
Appreciating (and sometimes rejoicing in) weather changes instead of complaining about them, enjoying fleeting eye contact with wild animals, seeing magical potential in the ordinary. —Beth Collett
To be a witch one must be comfortable from within and love all forms of life in our world and beyond. This is quite an enchanting power to possess. Have you ever seen a cluster of fallen leaves lift themselves up from a cobblestone street and twirl around in unison and then quickly fly away as if they have somewhere else to be? It is such a beautiful thing to see, perhaps, you may even say, magical. —Maria Green
To me, being a witch means honoring the elements, honoring your ancestors, honoring your power, and creating, creating, creating mischief and magic. —@mama.goddess
Being a witch means there is no such thing as the mundane. —Jane George
Being a witch means honoring one’s night side, casting spells of beauty and magic at twilight and at midnight. It means lighting candles and waiting; it means wandering dark forest paths in velvet dresses the hue of an evening sky before a storm; it means a secret rendezvous with enchantment amid ancient stones. —Deborah Sage
I don’t think of myself as particularly witchy, but I am the 10th-great-granddaughter of convicted witch Mary Perkins Bradbury, who escaped death in Salem. I like to imagine that she was autistic like me. —Chelsea McCracken