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A Saga of the Latter-Day Hwicce

Here's the conceit: that modern-day witches derive (at some remove or other) "off of" the old Hwicce tribe (and kingdom) of Anglo-Saxon days. Historical or not, be it admitted, it does make one fine story.

Welcome to the life of a full-time witch and amateur linguist.

Some time back, I'd riffed, along these lines, off of the first line of Beowulf:

Hwaet, wé Seax-Hwicca in [something, begins with S]-dagum...

Lo, we Knife-Witches in [something, begins with S]-days...

I knew that the word that I couldn't remember had to begin with S, because it needed to alliterate with seax: that's how ancient Germanic poetry works, by initial rhyme. But what that word was, I couldn't remember.

(Why “Knife-Witches”? Well, the context required a weapon—“Lo, we Spear-Danes” is how Beowulf begins—and modern witches are preeminently a People of the Knife, which we generally call “athame.” Of course, the old Hwicce were a People of the Knife as well; their kinfolk the Saxons were named precisely for their characteristic knife, the seax. It's also an hommage of sorts to the original Anglo-Saxon witchery of modern times, Uncle Bucky's Seax-Wicca.)*

Seeking the phrase, I search my computer files.

Nada.

Fine. I search my on-line posts on the topic, certain that I've used the phrase as a tantalizing epigraph somewhere or other.

Gornisht.

In increasing desperation, I pick up my little black sketchbook and scan entries on the left-hand side, working (in proper witchly fashion) backwards in time, from the most recent back to the beginning of the volume.

(The left-hand side is where I jot phrases and seed ideas; the right is for longer and more developed thoughts.)

Af klum.

Grinding my teeth, I reverse, scanning entries on the right-hand pages, working from the beginning. It's a slow and difficult process; I keep getting distracted by memorable phrases and ideas that I'd like to expand on.

Finally, about 20 pages in, I give up. “I'm turning in,” I think. “I'll keep going in the morning.”

At that very moment I find what I'm looking for, there at the bottom of the page.

Hwaet, wé Seax-Hwicca in síð-dagum...

Lo, we Knife-Witches in these latter days...

Sometimes the gods speak through meaningful coincidence.

But wait: there's more.

This is Part Two. You can find Part One here.

Let's continue our exploration of Minoan clothing, shall we? Perhaps the most well-known item of Minoan clothing is the open-front top that Minoan women wear in much of the art. As I mentioned in Part One, this style probably involved sacred symbolism and would not have been considered racy or immoral in that time and place.

It all starts with self-love. here is an old saying, “if you can’t love yourself, how the heck can you love somebody else?” This admittedly cheeky statement actually hold a lot of truth but the bottom line is everything starts with self-love, your health, yourself esteem, your relationships your success and your happiness. Even if you had a less than ideal childhood, it is never too late to esteem yourself and watch as everything makes a turn for the better, And quickly. Making a daily ritual of this will weave this strand of personal empowerment into your life and make sure it is grows sure and strong.

Begin by sitting quietly, taking relaxed, slow, deep breaths and wishing yourself happiness. After sitting quietly begin to speak this mantra aloud::

If you intentionally kill someone, are you legally responsible for their death?

If you intend to kill someone, but get caught before you succeed, do you still bear legal responsibility?

Is it possible to kill someone with magic?

If you intentionally kill someone with magic, are you legally responsible for their death?

If you intend to kill someone with magic, but get caught before you succeed, do you still bear legal responsibility?

If you've answered “yes” to all these questions, you're down with witch trials, right?

One of Mother Nature’s most effective healers is aloe. When I lived in colder areas with frost and snow, I grew aloe in a wide pot with good drainage and placed it in the sunniest spot in the kitchen, where it thrived with very little water. I am truly fortunate to live where it never gets below freezing, so I have a towering aloe in the left garden corner that is growing to tree-like proportions. When anyone in the household gets a burn, a bug bite, a rash, a scratch, an itch, or a sunburn, I march back and grab a piece, slice parallel with its flat side, and apply the juice liberally. We use it as a medicine as well as a beauty application for facials, hair gel, and skin massage and feel so blessed that all this heavenly healing is utterly free of cost. Aloe propagates through baby plants sprouting off the sides; you can repot the “babies” into little clay containers and give them as gifts to your circle to share the healing energy as well as protection and luck

 Earth Day is here, and in many globally conscientious folks’ minds out there, every day should really be dedicated to Mother Earth and treating her well. Even if you hadn’t had time over the weekend to participate in a riverside cleanup or other related project, simply getting outside, going for a walk, and picking up a piece of trash to deposit in its proper receptacle, is one small act of kindness that does make a difference that you can perform. I’d also add chatting up a neighborhood squirrel or robin, just for the heck of it. These suggestions are actually brought up in a lovely part two of a conversation with my podcast guest, Stacy Schuerman, on the latest episode of Women Who Howl at the Moon.

 You’ll notice that Women Who Howl has its own SoundCloud page now, for newer episodes from 2024. This is part of a transition phase, where all new episodes will be moving to Podbean, and in turn, becoming more readily available to folks on Spotify and iTunes, broadening our podcast audience. The older archived episodes will still all live at “Scenes From a Soundtrack,” SoundCloud page, for your listening pleasure. Stacy is a psychic, medium, and spiritualist who is always a pleasure to listen to. Be sure to check out her episode. You can find out more about Stacy at: https://www.spiritualiststacy.com/

Dear Boss Warlock,

I'm cooking up my first batch of flying ointment, but I'm having a really difficult time finding the human fat that I need for the recipe.

I'm not into human sacrifice, and I'm afraid I just don't have the stamina for grave robbing these days.

Not to mention: how do I reconcile this with 'An it harm none'?

Stymied in Sturgis

Dear Sty,

Grave robbing? Human sacrifice? Seriously, Sty, how 1980s.

(Oh, we were earnest in those days.)