A Spoken Word Show: Thereby Hangs a Tale

04 Saturday May 2024

Posted by Haloquin in Following Delight, Reflections, Storytelling

Tags

Bard, Bardic, Bardic Magic, fairies, fairy magic, folklore, Folktales, Midsummer Night's Dream, Pagan, Shakespeare, Storytelling, Storytelling in Ceredigion, Storytelling in Wales, Strangeness of Life, Tempest

Find my upcoming Shows and Classes listed here

Last Friday Milly Jackdaw and I brought our spoken word show, Thereby Hangs a Tale to Aberystwyth. We debuted this last year at the Willow Globe Theatre (during a storm!) and it is an epic piece including eight stories, extracts from Shakespeare, storytelling, acting, music, spoken word pieces, and a donkey hat.

Next we’ll be taking it to the woods… on Saturday 25th May 2024, THaT’ll be in Longwood, near Lampeter. (Spaces limited so do book your seat!)

Here’s the official description.

Thereby Hangs a Tale

Finding the Folktale Roots of Bardic Inspiration with Milly Jackdaw & Halo Quin.

Two femme, white, folk smiling, with flowered head-dresses. One playing the uke, the other blowing a horn, beneath the great arching roots of a tree.

Over the eons Shakespeare’s tales have retained their relevance, capitalising on our fascination with watching our own stories amplified that we may better understand ourselves. Could it be that Shakespeare found inspiration from some of the earliest explorations of key themes in already existing stories? Could myths and folktales have played their part? Storytellers Milly Jackdaw and Halo Quin have been uncovering tales, including some from Welsh myth, that hold tantalising hints that this may indeed be the case.

In the tradition of the great bards of old, we call Shakespeare into conversation with the folktales that shine through his work, baring the bones of stories that take us to the heart of inspiration. We unpick colourful threads from plays and tales, reweaving them in the place where traditional storytelling meets theatre.

If folktales be the food of the Bard, tell on.

There’s something really fascinating about folk stories and spirits, the way they crop up in literature, theatre, poetry, movies, and other media. As someone who loves the old tales, the spirits and divine beings in myths, legends, and wonder tales, I adore seeing how they evolve and grow with our human culture. The oral tradition continues living through the literary pages. Old Nordic Skalds’ tales live on in Marvel’s comics, King Arthur appears in folklore, French romances, and animated movies, the Faery King takes new form as Oberon in Shakespeare, and still continues his adventures to today.

Thereby Hangs a Tale is a show that explores some of these shifts, hinting at the magical traditions and oral history – and literary evolution – of some of the pieces that Shakespeare wove so deftly into his plays. I, of course, was most excited about A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest.

Spirits and magic, fairies and love. What could be better?

Next year we might include different plays and tales, so I’d love to hear in the comments – what is your favourite Shakespeare play and why? What story does it remind you of?

Praise for Thereby Hangs a Tale

An amazing blend bringing together humanity & cultures.

Truly Wonderful, Thank you!

Brilliant! Come back please!

Lovely evening – your description of the landscape, scenery, setting, & people are so evocative. Thank you x

It was utterly fantastic… Well done!

Very enjoyable – I was hanging on each word!

Book THaT here!

Upcoming Events… Check below for the next THaT & other show dates!

Cream poster for Summer 2024 - text as follows

“The Faery Doctor” – Drop in Storytelling for TradFest at the Scottish Storytelling Centre – Edinburgh – 8th May

Deities of Love 3: The Wild God – A Crimson Craft Class – Online at TEA – 14th May (Join TEA here)

Third Times a Charm: Storytelling as Enchantment – Guest Talk Online for BROCK – 22nd May

“Thereby Hangs a Tale” – Storytelling Show at Longwood Visitor Centre – Lampeter – 25th May (Get your THaT ticket here!)

Enchanted Circle at TEA – Intuitive Tarot – Online Circle – 27th May (Join TEA here)

Faery Magic and The Faery Doctor – Workshop & storytelling at Wylde Spirit Fae Camp – nr Salisbury – 31st May-2nd June

From the Cryptozoologist’s Library – Songs at The Festival of the Living Rooms – Online Festival – 14th-16th June

Deities of Love 4: The Bright Spirit – A Crimson Craft Class – Online – 18th June (Join TEA here)

PLUS: FREE weekly events in the Crimson Collective!

On Identity, difference, and community

01 Monday Apr 2024

Posted by Haloquin in Events, Reflections

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Tags

Community, Crimson Craft, Druid Camp, Druidry, Magic, musings, Pagan, process, witchcraft

Back in February at the Glastonbury Occult Conference I gave an introductory talk on the controversial topic of Kink, Magic, and Embodiment, drawing parallels between magical and kink techniques and busting some myths about BDSM, all from a magical perspective.

I’m not going to talk about it at length here, but there’s a chapter in my book Crimson Craft – Sexual magic for the solo witch which touches on the topic of kink and magic. It’s a sensitive one for a lot of people because there are so many misunderstandings, but there is such a huge connection between the two communities and modern magical practitioners have learned a lot from the kink community’s work around consent, care, and trance techniques, among other things, while the kink community has benefitted from the space magical folk have made for the sacred and spiritual healing.

There is much to learn from each other, and we have more in common than the stereotypes would have us believe!

It is easy to look for differences, to tie our identities to what we are not rather than what we share, and we do this all the time. Witch, druid, magician, occultist, cunning one, Wiccan, Priestess… the list of options goes on.

Each of us want to understand where we belong, to find a sense of home, and we often use difference to support this.

For a long time I associated druids with drunkards (thanks to the activist, King Arthur, and his Warband) and avoided Druid events.

Then one year I went to Druid Camp. Turned out that the druids there were more like me than they were different. We were all pagan, all believed in magic, all looking for connection in an earth-centered, spiritual space. It completely changed my perspective.

A year later I joined OBOD – the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids! (And now I’m officially part of the Druid Grade… how things change 🙂 )

I still don’t consider myself a Druid per se, but I don’t tell people they’re wrong if they call me one. In fact, I’m more likely to describe myself publicly with that umbrella term “pagan”, to highlight the similarities instead.

Because ultimately, we’re a small bunch of lovely weirdos, and we’ve got more in common than we think. When we band together our differences inspire conversation and inspiration, and we are much better able to make change in the world for the better.

So whatever label you use, or don’t, I hope you feel welcome here. There’s space for all identities (but not bigots) and when we share, like the kinksters and occultists do, everyone gets to grow.

BTW: I’m planning an online course in self-tying for magic and trance (non-sexual!) And if there’s interest I’m happy to give a version of my talk online so that any of you who are curious can come and listen!

If that sounds like your kind of thing, I’d love to hear from you… there’s a short form here you can tick boxes on!

Upcoming Offerings at The Enchanted Academy:

Find all the details in my latest newsletter and subscribe here!

WEEKLY LIVESTREAMS: Thursdays & April at the Crimson Coven Collective, including talks & magic. Join the Crimson Coven Collective.
CLASS: April 16th – 7-8:30pm (UK) – Deities of Love: Class 2 – The Red Goddess (Join the Coven here and get the class 1 replay and materials so far!)
ENCHANTED CIRCLE: April 22nd – Magical Protection (Find last month’s replay on Pagan Priest/ess/xing here)
STORYTELLING SHOW: April 26th – Thereby Hangs a Tale with Milly Jackdaw, at Aberystwyth Arts Centre (THaT details here)
GUEST TEACHING: April 27th at the Awakening Intuition Conference – Get your tickets to a whole weekend of classes here!
STORYTELLING SHOW: April 30th – Storytelling with the Faery Doctor at the Bank Vault (live in Aberystwyth)

Find all the details in my latest newsletter and subscribe here!

Book Review: Fairy Queens

21 Wednesday Feb 2024

Posted by Haloquin in Faery, Magic, review

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Tags

Book Review, Faery Queen, Fairy, fairy magic, Fairy Queen, Moon Books, Norse Goddess, Pagan, Pagan Author

This is a review of the Pagan Portals book: Fairy Queens by Morgan Daimler

Book Cover - Fairy Queens - Meeting the Queens of the Otherworld by Morgan Daimler - picture of a white lady with red hair in a red dress on a white horse, in front of a dark green tree.

Order Fairy Queens here

Morgan Daimler has a very different background to me, so it was fascinating to read about a few of the Irish and Scottish named Queens of Fairy.

Daimler, as ever, takes an academic starting point to tease out the threads of these powerful beings, exploring the etymology of their names – because names hold power. If we understand the meanings held in a name we can uncover the nature of the name-holder, and Daimler unpicks these tangles with skill and conciseness.

This book holds discussions of several specific Irish and Scottish Fairy Queens, including Nicnevin, Aine, Una, Mab and Titania as literary fairies, the Queen of Elfhame, and others, followed by guided meditations to meet several of them, and suggestions for how to decorate an altar to them, and offerings that each one might like.

I enjoyed the exploration of lore and legend surrounding these Queens, and the presentation of the different courts, and though I found the details of courtly hierarchy a little literal compared to my experience, I come from a different landscape and a different tradition. I did, however, very much appreciate Daimler’s sensible approach of urging manners and caution in engaging with these very real and powerful Ladies.

On a different note, the opening section also includes a thoughtful discussion on how to traverse in a magical journey if you are physically disabled and find that your disability travels with you, including the reminder that mobility aids can in themselves be spirits that travel with you, if you set things up that way.

There are many different traditions for working with the Fair Folk, and definitely different approaches to working with the Fairy Queens, (at least as many as there are Queens themselves, I suspect) and this is a great introduction to the particular Queens and relationship styles that Daimler works with, and has some excellent pointers for any interaction with the Queens of Fairy. Make space for them, mind your manners, bring a gift, and remember; they are real, powerful, wonderful, and entirely untamed. Just the way they should be.

You can order Fairy Queens by Morgan Daimler from your local indie bookshop, the usual place you get books, or directly from the publisher.

Order Fairy Queens here

(PS: Full disclosure, I’m published by Moon Books too, who sent me this to review. Find my books here.)

Book Review: Frigg

07 Wednesday Feb 2024

Posted by Haloquin in Magic, review

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Tags

Book Review, Frigg, Heathen, Heathenry, Moon Books, Norse Goddess, Pagan, Pagan Author

This is a review of the Pagan Portals book: Frigg, Beloved Queen of Asgard, by Ryan McClain

Book Cover - Frigg, Beloved Queen of Asgard, by Ryan McClain - with a stern fantasy viking woman depicted, head and shoulders, auburn hair and ornate fabric clothing with fine metalwork circlet

Order Frigg here

Frigg is one of those deities that I’ve met, and valued at a distance, but never really been close to having found myself swept up by her wandering husband, Odin, who I prayed to often during my 12 year self-sacrificing, initiatory, search for knowledge (otherwise called PhD studies), and Freyja who, well, is all the things I adore; magic, sensuality, passion, the vibrancy of the land…

But Frigg, Frigg’s domain and I have a tricky relationship. On the one hand I need to do those practical housekeeping things that Frigg rules over, and I know her stories and attributes, and absolutely respect her power and value. On the other, my ADHD brain means I’m sporadic at it at best and never really felt her presence as an actual goddess. It happens sometimes, we’re not going to resonate with every deity, even if we get on with their family, and I had accepted that this was the case.

So it was an absolute delight to read Ryan McClain’s book, or rather love letter, to the “Beloved Queen of Asgard” and come away with a sense of this powerful, important goddess, having glimpsed her in a new light.

McClain clearly adores Frigg, and in this book he shares a balanced blend of personal experience and lore-based research, recontextualising her, for me, as the Love that is Home.

This book is, as a Pagan Portal, only a brief introduction to Frigg, but it covers Early Sources, the Norse Record, her roles, symbols, and (importantly) relationships, all as keys and signposts to understanding her better. McClain also dedicates a chapter to her “Handmaidens”, those goddesses that carry her support and guidance through many different areas of life, and finally outlines ways in which you can begin to work with Frigg and her ladies.

I doubt she and I will ever be close, but I came away from this book with a new perspective on the Beloved Queen of Asgard, and a feeling that I’d, finally, been properly introduced.

You can order Frigg, Beloved Queen of Asgard by Ryan McClain from your local indie bookshop, the usual place you get books, or directly from the publisher.

Order Frigg here

(PS: Full disclosure, I’m published by Moon Books too, who sent me this to review. Find my books here.)

Imbolc, Inspiration, and Bardic Magic

31 Wednesday Jan 2024

Posted by Haloquin in Druidry, Following Delight, Magic, Music, My Books, Storytelling, Witchcraft 101

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Bard, Brigid, Ceridwen, Druidry, FAWM, Imbolc, Magic, Moon Books, Pagan, Pagan Author, Songwriting, Storytelling, Taliesin, Wheel of the Year, witchcraft

I finally submitted the last of the edits for my next book…

Storytelling for Magic!

A practical book calling on the skills of the bard as a storyteller, performer, and magic-weaver to make better magic. It includes techniques for finding, learning, and telling stories, transforming them into rituals, and sharing their magic with confidence, in your own style.

Perfect timing as tomorrow is Imbolc. And the start of February Album Writing Month (FAWM), a challenge to write 14 songs in February. I signed up last year and discovered a hugely supportive community, filled with so much inspiration and encouragement, that I actually wrote 16 songs!

Several of these made it into my first solo-singing show in December. One became my third released single, Two Wolves, No Masters. I think it’s safe to say that FAWM had an impact.

And as the FAWM community gears up to start again tomorrow, I’m noticing that it’s Imbolc eve.

Imbolc – the festival of the light breaking through the cold

Imbolc – the celebration of the first signs of spring

Imbolc – the day of Brigid, Bridie, Ffraid. Saint, Goddess, and Divine Power.

Brigid is considered to be a Goddess of Inspiration, of poets. (As well as healing, and forging/creativity)

So it struck me that this is brilliant timing for the month of FAWM!

I don’t work with Brigid often, but I’ll be lighting a candle for the two deities who most guided my book writing, Taliesin the bard and the goddess Ceridwen, whose cauldron brews all Inspiration. And I think I’ll say a few words for Brigid, as it’s her day too, and it never hurts to have deities of inspiration and creativity on your side.

You can find a talk on Storytelling As Magic on my Patreon as part of January’s Enchanted Circle, for this month only I’ve released the recording to the public – Patrons get to join me live, ask questions, and choose topics – as well as meditations, courses, and classes at different tiers! Go, watch, and sign up for more…

Find Storytelling as Magic Here

Workshop: Fires of Celebration

04 Thursday Jan 2024

Posted by Haloquin in Crimson Craft, elemental magic, Magic

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Tags

elemental magic, elements, Fire Magic, learn magic, learn witchcraft, Magic, magick, Pagan, Witch Class, witchcraft

Join the Coven for this Workshop and More each month

Join me on January 17th – at 7-8:30pm (UK) for a Crimson Craft workshop, The Fires of Celebration – allowing our delight to light the way forward.

Or Register as a One Off Class Here

As we head into the dark of the year it’s all too easy to feel it weighing down on us and I always used to feel like I was running out of time to do everything I hoped to do in the year.

December is always so full of events and travel that the end of the year is on us in a blink, and the cold and dark crowd in, and perhaps, like me, you tend to forget how much was worth celebrating in the year just gone.

And even if you’re in the middle of your summer, the turning of the calendar year still marks a point of ending and beginning…

But I invite you to remember, as January dawns, that you know the magic in attention.

I invite you to remember that you know the magic of shining a light where you choose in your life.

And I invite you to celebrate the highs, and the lows, of the year just gone, turning it into strength to carry you into the life you choose.

Fires of Celebration is a workshop and a ritual of gathering up all of the beauty that we’ve encountered in the year just gone, and shaping it into the light to carry us through the winter.

Fires of Celebration is a workshop and ritual of gathering up all the challenges of 2023 and weaving the magic of fire to transform them into wisdom which supports us in 2024.

Fires of Celebration is an invitation to take a moment as the year ends and to feed those fires that warm you, to strengthen your lifeforce, and bless your self with more pleasure, more play, more love, and more magic in 2024.

Join me on Wednesday 17th January, 7pm UK time for a magical gathering where you will

~ learn tools to increase pleasure in your life

~ make magic to heal the blocks that are keeping you from creativity and magic

~ transform the challenges of 2023 into the wisdom of 2024

Join the Coven (tier) to take part! (9 spaces left!)

We will meet live on Zoom for 1.5 hours, and there will be a recording available.

Join the Coven for this Workshop and More each month

Or Register as a One Off Class Here

Want more? Join the Elements of Magic Course…

In the Cryptozoologists Living Room

11 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Creative Process, Following Delight, Music, Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Concert, Cryptids, Magic, Manifesting, Music, New Song, Singer, Singer-Songwriter, Story, Storytelling, Storytelling in Wales

Yesterday I finally did something I’ve been working up to for years. Literally years.

I sang my first solo concert.

Not just a song as part of a show or a choir.

Not just one or two pieces round a fire.

Not snuck in apologetically alongside a story.

An entire, hour long concert of my own original songs.

And it was AMAZING!!!

I had so much fun.

The Filk community (folk-ish written by and about fandoms, such as Doctor Who, Star Trek, Firefly, D&D…) at the Festival of the Living Rooms – a quarterly online festival organised and hosted by Blind Lemming Chiffon – are such a supportive bunch!

You know when you find people willing to just be people together? Imperfections and all? This is such a gift. Giving space for technological hiccups and the foibles of humanity allows each of us to just turn up as we are, to give from the heart, and to receive in kind.

It let’s us be human together.

It is so easy to forget, when most of the music we hear is polished by professionals, that singing, like storytelling, is a natural human expression open to all of us.

My heart is warmed and softened by being allowed to just share, imperfectly, joyously, in community.

And I got to sing! So happy!!!

Songs of magic and myth and silliness and love and heartache and becoming, choosing, yourself.

Thank you, Filker-folk, thank you.

Some of your asked for the lyrics. I’m delighted to share them with you here:

In The Cryptozoologist’s Living Room – Songbook

And for those of you who didn’t make it, I recorded my dress rehearsal for my Patreon patrons… you’re welcome to join them here at any tier to watch it. I mostly talk about magic, share meditations and musings, and storytelling… but more and more music is creeping in 🙂

Join my Mailing list for Magical Musings & Blogpost Roundups!

What Do Pagans Believe?

07 Thursday Dec 2023

Posted by Haloquin in Druidry, Magic, Reflections, Witchcraft 101

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Activism, Druidry, Magic, magick, Modern Witchcraft, Pagan, pagan theology, paganism, Reclaiming Witchcraft, Religion, spirituality, Wicca, witchcraft

(and how does that look in the world?)

Today I flicked through a copy of “Cults and New Religions; A History” by Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley, and I naturally went straight to the chapter on “Wicca and Modern Witchcraft”, to see what they were saying about my religion – Pagan Witchcraft (and yes, I consider myself religious, but not dogmatic!).

The bits I saw I thought were quite accurate – Modern Witchcraft and Wicca are both paths under the “Pagan” umbrella, alongside Heathenry (generally speaking) and Druidry… with a fair amount of overlap! Not every Witch will consider themselves Pagan, and that’s ok, but most seem to be happy to sit under that umbrella.

What I did really like was how they characterised “Pagan” paths as, for the most part, sharing three common beliefs (paraphrased!):

The Earth is Sacred.
The Divine is immanent (in the world, including us).
We have the ability to interact with the divine/spiritual/magical forces of the world. (i.e. Magic is possible!)

There will be a few pagans who disagree, or want to elaborate, but I think that’s a pretty good description.

So if you believe these three things and don’t subscribe to another faith, and the vibe of Paganism appeals to you, you might be one of us! You don’t even have to pick a tradition or a specific Path, you can just be Pagan. Or you can be Pagan and… like me.

Picture of autumnal trees by a frosty patch of grass in the sunshine – the beauty of the world is all around us.

I do have some thoughts, of course, like recognising that just because we can “interact with the spiritual forces of the world”, doesn’t mean we all do, or that what we do always works out as we intend, but many of us do absolutey do things that we call magic based on this understanding of the world.

And this makes me wonder about “belief” vs “experience” – I don’t just “believe” these things, I experience Nature as Sacred, the world as Divine, and magic as possible.

Our understanding of the world shapes how we treat it and how we experience it.

The stories we tell change the world we live in.

Our experiences.

And our actions.

In my Crimson Craft teachings I often speak about how “love” is a verb, it isn’t just something we feel, it is also something we do.

And if nature is Sacred, the world is Divine, and we can effect it, then how does that understanding, those beliefs, shape how we act in the world?

Many of my friends are protestors, street-activists, and campaigners for change in policy.

Most people I know are trying to live more lightly upon this beautiful, sacred, earth.

In Reclaiming Witchcraft, we’re having conversations about how we can treat each other better, be better allies to indigenous folk, queer folk, disabled folk, BIPOC and folk disproportinately effected by the systems of power that would rather keep us apart. We’re working to remember and act from the understanding that we are each divine.

We each take the steps we can, and one piece of this is remembering that we are part of the world.

Remembering that, if the divine is in the world… it is in us too.

If the Earth is Sacred, then you too are Sacred.

So how will you choose to treat yourself as such? To treat others as such?

All while holding those essential boundaries and practicalities of life, of course, which can seem paradoxical!

(Which is why I love working with the Red Goddesses who hold both radical Love and strong boundaries, they are lovers and fighters… but that’s a story for the future… join my mailing list to make sure you don’t miss it!)

What do you think? Is that a good way of describing the fundamental beliefs/ethos of Paganism? And if you are Pagan, what ways do you treat yourself, others, and the world as holding the divine?

Join my Mailing list for Magical Musings & Blogpost Roundups!

Why I share magic

05 Tuesday Dec 2023

Posted by Haloquin in Magic, Reflections, Witchcraft 101

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learn magic, learn witchcraft, Magic, real magic, witchcraft

(This was sent out to my mailing list on the August Blue Moon.)

Join my Mailing list for Magical Musings & Blogpost Roundups!

Sometimes I wonder why I do the things I do, why do I take the risk of talking openly about taboo topics, of teaching on things that many people not only dismiss, but look at with suspicion?

It’s healthy to check in with yourself, to wonder sometimes, and remembering the WHY helps with showing up in devotion, but the answer, for me, is simple.

I know this is important.

The very fact that the response I get from folk is mixed shows that this beautiful, wonderful, healing work of being whole, of being all of ourselves despite the pressure from the world to split and hide and repress our creative selves, divinely rising from pleasure, of truly enjoying this precious time embodied on earth – the fact that the response to that is suspicion just shows me that speaking openly is needed.

It is natural to seek pleasure, to give and receive love, to be present with each other.

It is natural to seek pleasure, to give and receive love, to be present with each other.

It is your birthright, simply by the fact that you are alive, to know yourself as whole and worthy of pleasure and play and love.

My magical practice is what has kept me healing, moving towards kindness and delight. Every day that I breathe in Love, dance with my gods, sing to the fair folk and spirits who walk with me, is a day that I open to the magic in the world which is wonder and possibility.

When I pull out my tarot cards, I listen and hear, and discover that I am not alone, there is guidance there.

When I light a candle to bridge the worlds, when I pour my offerings, I give and receive, and discover that I am supported, I am in community.

When I pull on the threads, untangle the knots of Wyrd in a spellworking, or nudge the flow of life further toward beauty, balance, and delight, I feel into what is true and what is possible, and I discover that I am a part of the web and the weaving.

Magic isn’t just about the tools to heal, to stay centred in the chaos, to grow, to create change. It is also about the connection, the remembering that we are part of the community of beings and the flow of energies. We are not separate from the world.

Magic isn’t just about the tools to heal, to stay centred in the chaos, to grow, to create change. It is also about the connection, the remembering that we are part of the community of beings and the flow of energies. We are not separate from the world.

This is why I offer the classes that I do, why I show up for weekly livestreams and share as the gods inspire me, why I offer up meditations on Divine Love and embodiment, and why I gently share the reminder that our bodies, including our sexual natures, are part of this whole gift that is life.

When you allow yourself to be present with all of your parts, with your embodied self, and allow yourself to feel that pleasure, that desire, that love moving in the body, then healing happens.

You begin to reclaim your capacity to find pleasure, to create, to be content. It isn’t always an easy path, and there are many reasons we might shy away from this work of integration within ourselves, and so we move softly, in the Crimson Coven, with Love.

Always, always, coming back to reclaiming our own bodies as our temples, as divine spaces, however they are, in all their pleasure and pain, freedoms and limitations, blessings and challenges.

Always, always, coming back to reclaiming our own bodies as our temples, as divine spaces, however they are, in all their pleasure and pain, freedoms and limitations, blessings and challenges.

If the Divine is immanent, if the God/dess is present in all things, including the earth, then our bodies are Sacred too.

And this is why I do what I do.

Why I share stories and write books and make music and write erotica and offer classes and show up as all my self.

Even when it raises eyebrows.

To remind all with hearts to hear that there is beauty and possibility in the world, that remembering your wholeness is possible, that you are divine, in all your parts, and that you too are part of that community which is magic, weaving and woven and wondrous.

Thank you for showing up with me.

I hope you enjoy my offerings, and that they help you remember what your truest heart already knows…

You are here for more pleasure, play, magic, and love than you can even imagine.

Lit candle in dark through rose leaves with text: Learn Real Magic - Foundations of Witchcraft with Halo Quin — Course: Foundations of Witchcraft is now open – find out more here!

What do witches do?

22 Wednesday Nov 2023

Posted by Haloquin in Crimson Craft, Magic, Reflections, Witchcraft 101

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

learn witchcraft, Magic, Modern Witchcraft, Pagan, paganism, Spells, Spellwork, The Witch House, What do witches do?, witchcraft

When Danny Robins interviewed me for “The Witch House” (which I didn’t realise would be a horror until months later!) I taught him a healing chant and a rune for self-protection, and he asked me;

So, what do witches actually do?
Danny Robins (and so many other people I’ve spoken to!)

And I answered, something like:

In my tradition, we tune into the flow of magic, build relationships with the spirits, and work magic to change our selves, our lives, and the world for the better.
Me, paraphrased, from memory

And then… he asked me again. Twice more.

I was completely confused, until about two hours later when I realised that he wanted to know :

How do witches do what they do?
(At least, I guess that’s what he was asking?)

Now, ask 13 witches what they do and you’ll get at least 3 dozen different answers, but I can give you some idea of the most common things at least!

SIDENOTE: When I say “witch”, I mean those of us choosing it as a religious and spiritual term, and not the nasty meaning (wicked magic users) or the aesthetic (Halloween-tastic) or the political feminist (Woman In Total Control of Herself) – though I enjoy that it can mean so many things. I love that “Witch” is a shapeshifter term used, today, most often as an empowerment for those of us magical folk outside the mainstream. (Read my thoughts on why I use the term “witch” even though some people still see it as negative!)

Generally, though, Witches today often:

Make offerings of incense, food, drink, and song to build relationship with spirits, deities, ancestors, and the beings of the land
Honour the land with environmental action and/or energetic healing and mindfulness of our impact
Use household or found objects like candles, herbs, string, pebbles, shells to cast spells (sympathetically enacting the change we want to happen in the world – I’ve got a whole course on this!)
Work on knowing ourselves – through journaling, meditation, paying attention, exploring our stories, ritual, reflection, divination…
Work on being the best version of ourselves – better at magic, better people, better at being the most us we can be
Use ritual and magical tools to improve ourselves and our lives – and the lives of people around us, if they choose (or we’re responsible for them)
Pay attention to the land and the energy of the world to work with the flow of magic
Healing! Through ritual, spellwork, or healing modalities we’ve learned! (I trained as a holistic therapist in my teens to improve my healing skills!)

Divination – tarot, runes, ogham, tea leaves, pendulums, coffee grounds… so many different ways to Listen to the Divine in the world.
Celebrate the turning of the seasons and our communities – picture from our Samhain ritual, as we moved into the winter.
Explore different states of consciousness – such as through dream, trance, ecstatic ritual – to learn about ourselves and the world, to connect with magic, and to change things for the better.