Tag Archives: different

What Sort of Witch Are You?

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For some individuals, witchcraft is a journey of finding one’s unique style of magic, own cosmology, and personal philosophy.

This post was on Witches and Pagan in 2016, at http://witchesandpagans.com/sagewoman-blogs/a-faerie-haven.html

Have you seen the popular lists of different types of witches—e.g., traditional witch, Gardnerian witch, Faerie witch, eclectic witch, hedge witch—with precise definitions for each category? These charts help some beginners. Learning you fit a certain style can be validating and reassuring. It also makes some newcomers feel they belong.

But this post is for beginners who find the categories make things really difficult. Everyone else, I’m not naysaying what works for you; this entire post is simply ideas and methods that work for me, in case they’re useful to someone. I don’t want the charts thrown out. They’re great for some people. And with that:

There are individuals whose witchcraft entails a journey of finding one’s unique style of magic, own cosmology, and personal philosophy. Being new to Pagan community and being told there are specific witch types, each with very specific definitions, can box these folks in, lead them to think they won’t fit anywhere in the Pagan community, and ill-legitimize personal self-discoveries that transcend the categories.

What if you come from a traditional witch family, talk to fairies, and enjoy practicing Gardnerian magic occasionally? Sure, that might classify you as an “eclectic witch,” but that term is redundant historically speaking; it was once a given that witches were eclectic, because witches understand the connectivity of all things. To me, the term “eclectic witch” robs me of my heritage. My witchy heritage fuels spells, making them powerful.

As to connectivity, the Old Gods unite me with the enchantment that flows through the entire universe. That current carries me, its sweep making me joyful, as it bears me toward even more joy. But “eclectic witch” implies magic is not in everything around me and thus denies what’s inherent to many folks’ witchcraft.

In the same vein, I see witches as wild creatures, transcending every limit. I’m a child of the Gods. Their infinite powers are mine. Mind you, I’m not suggesting I can successfully cast every spell anyone else can cast. I believe witches can have specialties.

In any case, categorizing keeps some people from developing specialties. These are folks whose process demands they look not at definitions but into their own selves and, despite how scary it might be, journey into seeming formlessness until it becomes recognizable as their special gift—their specialty.
WildCreaturesI love—and use—the different terms for types of witches. They’re great jumping off points, e.g., for connecting with like-minded individuals.

They also can be pointers. But I use the terms the old way: to evoke—lyric speaking to our wild witch hearts and whispering of the undefinable and unlimited—rather than as part of quantitative charts, mapping magic out so exactly as to be … boringly limited for some folks.

I love magic so much it makes me sad to realize charts might crush certain people’s magic.

Also, poor scholarship defines witch types incorrectly. For example, it’s sadly a current given that Gardnerian Wicca bears little resemblance to traditional witchcraft. I lived in a Gardnerian household in England with one of Gerald Gardner’s students and, as a traditional witch, I can tell you people living in that house practiced old-fashioned witchery. Furthermore, I met members of the family tradition that greatly influenced Gerald.

Lack of scholarship also portrays traditional witchcraft as consistently the same. It varied, village to village and family to family.

And many a scholar will say “eclectic witch” makes no historical sense. Global travel is not a modern occurrence. Various ancient cultures shared their rituals constantly.

Are you dismayed by witch categories because they make you feel the magical Art has been divided up like slices of a pie … and you feel like the whole pie? Be the whole enchanted pie.

If you’re a fledging witch who resonates with what I’ve written, I support you not by giving you categories to validate you, but by validating who you already are. Like most of us when we come into Pagan community, you’ve always had Paganism in your heart and life, perhaps without having named it as such. So trust what you already know and build on it. You have the intelligence and insightfulness needed to do so.

Enjoy the names for all the different types of witches, or use none of them. But claim your path as valid.

By “valid,” I’m not saying everything you do currently as a witch is always safe and effective. No one is perfect. Also, some spellcrafting requires substantial training. Get a teacher if you want. But don’t worry about what “type” of witch a prospective teacher is. Choose someone whose spirit calls you and who honors your spirit in turn, whether or not you know how to describe your path. Witches used to work together in all their differences and likenesses, getting along just fine, learning just fine.

I teach. Classes are mostly via group phone calls (aka telesminars): you don’t need a computer or any special technology to attend; just dial the phone. Subscribe to my free newsletter, which gives details about upcoming classes: https://outlawbunny.com/newsletter/

What sort of witch are you? You’re you! So mote it be.

Lenormand Giveaway

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Updated August 10, 2023.

My newsletter subscribers have two chances to win this month’s raffle because I’m giving away two Lenormand decks.

If you’re not a subscriber, click here so you can participate in the next giveaway.

An aside: Thirty years as a spiritual counselor led me to acquire and use a wide variety of divination decks—Tarot, Lenormand, Oracle, and oddities. This includes a huge collection of divination decks that a friend gifted me. Now I am paring down to the ten decks that I am likely to use. When I cling to what I don’t use, the flow of abundance to me closes. When I give away freely, I invoke abundance.

Here are the decks’ details:

I’m not a Lenormand historian, so I’ll include a few details to help you research the history if you want.

The decks have similar but not identical packaging.

Deck 1) Its box’s front has an owl and the words Lenormand and Urania. The back has a peacock and JMC. The box is pale orange, with a flap that says Rote eule.

Its booklet says 2008 copyright and seems to be in German. The cards seem to be in German also. There are 36 consecutively numbered cards. The art’s muted tones evoke past eras.

Here are photos of this deck. Please forgive me, the photos do not do the decks justice.

Deck 2) Its box is similar to the other deck’s, but is smaller, blue, has Mlle before Lenormand, and identical graphics except perhaps printed better. Instead of Urania at the bottom, it says AGM Agmuller, with the logo of a heart inside of a spade.

Booklet is English and says special edition for Time-Life books, copyright 1970.

Card graphics are beautiful colors, with English divinatory text on each. Maybe the color is brighter than the other deck’s, or perhaps the lines more sharply defined. There are 36 consecutively numbered cards.

It’s reasonable to assume that 36 is the complete number of cards for each deck because both instructional booklets end with card #36.

An aside: I’m happy to read with an incomplete set, because it makes the deck unique. I imagine that divination was originally a matter of someone looking at what was around them and recognizing that environment as signs of things to come, signs of things from the past, signs of the hidden present. If my environment includes a deck with some cards missing, I figure that deck has very special and powerful guidance for me.

Both decks are in such good condition that I suspect the person who gifted them to me never used them. I never had the chance either, because I had so many decks.

If you are a subscriber and want this deck, the instructions to enter the raffle are in today’s newsletter. Yay!

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Giveaway Blanket

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Update on the post below: Someone has already claimed the Tarot deck. But I’ll lay out the blanket again soon with another Tarot, Lenormand, or other divination deck, and will keep doing it til all the decks are gone. So the next few months, stay tuned to both my sites’ blogs for the giveaways: this site’s new blogs always appear at https://stardrenched.com , and my other site’s blogs at http://www.outlawbunny.com/blog/

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Welcome to my giveaway blanket.

I was gifted a wonderful collection of Tarot, Lenormand, and other divination decks. Different people need different decks. So I’m passing on the handful of the decks that don’t suit for me.

You don’t even pay shipping. This is a plain old-fashion giveaway blanket.

The first deck on the blanket is the Llewellyn Tarot Deck. It is in mint condition, though unboxed and without an instruction booklet. I suspect it’s not been used, or used a few times.

I didn’t check whether all the cards are there, though I imagine they are. But then, I’m happy to read with an incomplete set, because it makes the deck unique.

The following photo shows a few cards and the cards’ back.

LlwlnTarot

Btw, if you do an image search on Google, using “llewellyn tarot deck” as the parameters, you’ll see a lot of its other cards, to better help you decide if this is a deck for you.

I want to spread the bounty by only giving one deck per person.

Do you want this deck? Here are the instructions:

1) In the comment field below, write the name of the deck: Llewellyn Tarot Deck
2) Email me a postal address (U. S. non-military address only) to which I can ship the deck.
3) Include your phone number in the email, in case I have trouble shipping. My email address is outlawbunny at outlawbunny.com
4) Put “Llewellyn Tarot Deck” in the subject field of the email.

Important: First person to do all four steps of the instructions receives the deck. If someone’s already written the name of the deck in a comment field, it’s not necessarily too late for you. Often, people will do part one of the instructions, then forget to do the rest.

I’ll update this post to let everyone know when the deck’s been claimed.

I’ll lay out the blanket again with more decks soon. So the next few months, stay tuned to both my sites’ blogs for the giveaways: this site’s new blogs always appear at https://stardrenched.com , and my other site’s blogs at http://www.outlawbunny.com/blog/

I love setting out giveaway blankets, because they free me. To reiterate what I said in another giveaway post: Giveaway expands me, out into the stars. Yeehaw!

If You Have Been Attacked…

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Painting and maxim, Francesca De Grandis

Painting and maxim, Francesca De Grandis

If you have been attacked for your spiritual beliefs, or because you were otherwise different, or because you stood up for people less fortunate than you, celebrate your uniqueness, with this affirmation: 

I am a reflection of the entire cosmos. My many aspects, evershifting, honor and sustain the evershifting universe. I embrace my whole me, and thus discover each moment’s unique gift.  

A tiny bit more about the above affirmation is in my third-to-last paragraph here: http://www.well.com/user/zthirdrd/othersite.htm . I was inspired (compelled?) to create three versions of the above digital art, specifically to be used together for that page, but a computer glitch will only allow one variation there. That variation is called “My Gods Are Artists.” For a first edition print of it, go to http://www.etsy.com/listing/98851753/my-gods-are-artists-limited-first . I will eventually post the third on this site. Sigh, I just realized, duh, I still have not used the three together on one page, which was the original intent, LOL!