Talk Witchcraft Podcast - The First Episode
You’re in the right place if you want to…
know more about what led me to witchcraft
learn about my personal practice
get more information about the new podcast
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I’m launching a podcast in a couple of months and I wanted to start by introducing myself and telling you a bit about what I hope to talk about on the show.
The podcast is called Talk Witchcraft. I plan to talk about witchcraft as a lifestyle and guide you to discover how you can merge magic into your daily life. Every week on Tuesday, you’ll get a new episode on a topic designed to demystify witchcraft. Topics will include Tarot, astrology, crystals, herbs, and more. My hope is that by listening (or reading the show notes if you prefer) you will continue to develop your personal brand of magic as you create the life of your dreams.
In case you’re new here, let’s start by getting on the same page about some basic terms and ideas…
What is a witch?
It’s quite simple in my opinion. A witch is someone who is aware of their own power and puts that power into action. In other words, a witch is someone who practices witchcraft.
What is witchcraft?
Witchcraft is a science, an art, and a spiritual practice. It’s the use of magic to create change in your environment, or the practice of exerting your will to get what you want out of life.
I think it’s important to get down to the essence of what these words mean. Because there are countless ways to express your witchy-ness, but when we get down to the very basics that’s what we’re doing. We are becoming aware of our power to create, and we are using that power to plan and design the life we want to lead.
My Background That Led Me to Witchcraft
Now, that you know what I’m talking about when I say I’m a witch and that I practice witchcraft, I wanted to share more about my background. This will help you understand what influences me and the topics I teach inside Mumbles Academy.
I was raised Christian. I don't identify as Christian anymore, but this part of my life influenced my magical journey. The Christianity I grew up with may not be the same as the one you are familiar with. It is the one that is based in love, spirituality, inclusivity, pursuing knowledge, and questioning everything that is presented to you. I attribute a lot of who I am today to being part of that community. I was actually part of the church youth leadership when I was in high school where I helped my friends discover their own spirituality. But I had a hard time relating to the God they presented to me, an all powerful man in the sky.
What I took from Christianity is an understanding of a force that connects us all together, something bigger than me. I see the miracle of the world. I am a wonderer and an explorer, trying to figure out the "whys" of the universe.
I began exploring my own spirituality without the structure of religion. This was rooted in my love of nature, which eventually led me to earning a Bachelors of Science in ecology. In college, I learned more about the workings of the universe, and how humans have altered the planet in some catastrophic ways. I learned about the importance of all living things, the rhythm of life and the seasons, rocks and plants and animals, and how all of these systems are connected.
When I started learning about medicinal plants and ethnobotany, or the relationship between humans and plants, I also started learning about witchcraft. It helped me better understand the way our ancestors lived according to the laws of nature. They tracked the sun because it was the calendar for agriculture. They tracked the stars because it was their map home. They knew which plants were edible and which could be used to heal. What we consider witchcraft today was part of the daily life of many of our ancestors. But I didn’t consider myself a witch at that point.
I claimed the title after I broke my back. Because of this traumatic event, I learned about gratitude. It was necessary for me to acknowledge my safety net of supportive friends and family and my then boyfriend now husband who all took care of me emotionally, physically, and financially. People I had taken for granted before. I learned to find gratitude in so many things I had never appreciated before.
I was forced to slow down and experience my life, as well. In recovery, I watched as the natural world changed little-by-little from winter to spring to summer, something I was only dimly aware of before. I started perceiving the world with all my senses.
And I took the opportunity to read every book I could get my hands on, especially the ones on spirituality, witchcraft, and personal development. Reading was something I didn’t prioritize or make time for before.
I started viewing everything in my life through this magical lens because there are so many little things we do sometimes daily that are actually 100% magic. Taking care of yourself is magical. Taking care of plants and children and pets is magical. Preparing food for the people you love is magical. Cleaning and protecting your home from intruders is magical. Being an activist for a cause you care about is magical. There is magic in the mundane.
My Witchcraft Practice in a Nutshell
Now I want to tell you who I am as a witch. This will be an overview of the types of topics I’ll be covering in future posts. It’s a list of the topics I know about and like; therefore, you’ll be hearing about them from me.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I tend to keep it simple, generally approaching things in a minimalist way. I use few tools and materials while still keeping the feeling witchy and magical. Every once in awhile, for special occasions like my birthday and the sabbats, I will set up more elaborate rituals. Full moons and new moons I do more than my daily practices. But for the most part it’s simplistic. And I think this is something that helps keep me on track. The more time and set up something requires, the less likely I will do it.
I ground each morning and if I do a lot of social interaction in a day, I will also ground in the evening as a way to transition back into the calmness of home. I keep my home as a sacred space, so I try to release any non-beneficial energies whenever I’m home, and I do this through grounding. I center before bed. This is a practice that calls my energy back to me. Anything you do in your day scatters bits of yourself throughout your world, and it’s important to return these bits home so you don’t get that stretched to thin feeling.
I keep an altar for several reasons. It’s a place to keep all my tools and materials, it is a visual reminder of my practice, and it is a place that I hold as sacred. As I said, I try to keep my home as a sacred space, but sometimes life happens and clutter build up, or I get lazy. But the altar is always sacred to me.
Another reason I keep an altar is to focus my magical or spiritual practice around this location because this helps me form a habit. The more often you do something such as meditation or a magical working, the faster and more effective you will become at entering a meditative state or a magical mindset. When you do these things in the same place and in the same way, this also adds to the ease and speed at which you can do something. Using the same scents or oils, playing the same or similar music or sounds, creating a ritual around the process helps it to become a habit and makes the process come more easily.
It is really important for me to keep my practice easy and accessible. I run a business on my own. I’m also responsible for cleaning and keeping up with the tasks that make our home run smoothly. I do all the cooking, and I try to make things from scratch whenever possible. This is a personal choice and also sometimes a requirement of following a vegan diet. Essentially, I am responsible for keeping two cats and two humans alive. So managing all of that means I want magic that is easy to access and available quickly.
Another way I keep my magic simple and easy is to make mundane activities, like cooking and cleaning, into magical experiences. This is called kitchen or cottage witchcraft.
Crystals are a major part of my witchcraft practice, as well. They are such wonderful tools because you can charge them with your intention and then leave them around to do this work for you. They need occasional cleansing or recharging which I incorporate into my moon rituals.
I love using herbs as well. It’s probably the most common material I use in magic because there are many that are edible, and I develop meals based on the magical properties of the herbs. I also am really interested in the nutritional, medicinal, healing, and even shamanic properties of herbs.
There is a codependency between the animal and plant kingdoms. We cannot survive without each other, so I like to honor this relationship through the use of magic. Obviously, there are many mundane uses of plants, as well. We wear, smoke, drink, live in, and eat plants. But if you haven’t caught on yet, I believe that the mundane is magical.
Another aspect of my practice is following the rhythm of the solar and lunar cycles. The moon cycle lasts about a month and offers opportunities to be active and to be passive, to project and to receive. And I follow the solar cycle through walking the wheel of the year and noticing how this lines up with the zodiac calendar. I watch the changing seasons and reflect on how I am changing and reacting to these shifts. It’s a really meaningful experience for me.
I also engage in the language of symbols. We all use symbols on a daily basis to communicate and react to each other. There are symbols to indicate where the bathroom is, and to tell us instructions while driving. We use emojis when communicating electronically. Symbols tell us how to do laundry, or to play, pause, or stop this podcast.
This is a special language that allows us to communicate directly with our subconscious as well. It’s been said that the subconscious is like a seven year old because most of the programming of your mind happens in the first seven years of your life. If you think back to how you communicated when you were seven, you were probably reading picture books, you didn’t understand jokes or sarcasm or double meanings. Everything was taken literally. Your subconscious mind understands and communicates using images, symbols, and parables.
For this reason, I love to interpret my dreams, and use the runes and the Tarot as part of my witchcraft practice. These forms of divination are, at the most basic level, the use of interpreting divine messages from symbols.
I hope this overview of my practice gives you some insight into the topics you can expect to hear more of on this podcast: materials like herbs and crystals, energy work, and witchcraft practices like grounding, meditation, spell casting, ritual, and journaling, what it means to be a solitary witch, and how to make your magic more accessible through bringing it into the mundane.
Homework
Now your homework is something I like to ask all new witches who come to me to do: write your witchcraft story. I told you about some of the things that happened in my life that led me to practicing witchcraft. This really helped me discover how my interests and passions can be incorporated into witchcraft and vice versa. Writing your own story will do the same for you. We learn from our past, and it helps us plan for our future. So take some time to tell your story by writing it down, drawing pictures, or recording a voice memo.
Summary
In this post, I explained how I define the words witch and witchcraft, I told you about my background and my witchcraft practice, and I let you know what you can expect to hear in future episodes.
Join us in the Mumbles & Things Facebook group to chat about this episode with other witchy folks.
Wait, don’t go yet!
Thanks for hanging out with me today. If you’ve enjoyed this post of Talk Witchcraft, I invite you to check out mumblesacademy.com.
Mumbles Academy is the place to be for intuitive souls at any stage on their WitchPath. Whether you are a Wildling at the very beginning of witchcraft journey and looking for a safe learning environment, a Creator who is already committed to their practice and wants to develop their witchcraft skills even more, or a Sage who is full of wisdom already and is ready to share that with others, Mumbles Academy was designed for you.
With monthly masterclasses and live Q&As, an extensive archive of courses and training, and a supportive community to help you along the way with encouragement and advice, Mumbles Academy is the perfect place for you to be as you as you continue on your WitchPath.
Now it’s your turn!
I told you about some of the things that happened in my life that led me to practicing witchcraft. This really helped me discover how my interests and passions can be incorporated into witchcraft and vice versa. It will absolutely do the same for you. We learn from our past and it helps us plan for our future.
Take some time to tell your story by writing it down, drawing pictures, or recording a voice memo. Feel free to share it with me as a comment below.
