PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

It's been a while, but I'm back again, lovely readers! I'm currently hard at work on my second book (amongst other projects, as you'll see below), but I will certainly continue to post here as and when I can. Comments and topic requests always welcome.

At this time of year, it's easy to understand why our ancestors (both actual and spiritual), those wise women and cunning men, were considered remote, unusual, untouchable, even fearsome.

As Autumn moves into Winter here in the UK, we feel our natural, animal pull to dig in, hibernate, take time within the darkness to assess the previous year and anticipate the time to come - but I doubt any busy society has ever really allowed that to happen, except when they have no choice. Stoke up the fire, head to the pub or communal house, light and laughter against the outside world.

(Photo - 'Autumn in the New Forest', from Glastonbury Goddess Temple)

I talked in my first post about the importance of integrating our spiritual beliefs as Pagans with our everyday mundane lives. Most of the Witches and Pagans I know strive to do just that. I also think most of us struggle to find the time and energy to do so, when we are already overwhelmed by our busy, hectic existence and our obligations to others. Certainly I wrestle with this dilemma: how do I find the space and time to practice my Craft when I barely have time to eat and sleep? (And forget having a social life or taking a vacation. Vaca-what?)

After I'd been practicing The Craft for a while, I noticed that there were a few folks who stood out from the others, people that seemed to me to epitomize the essence of what it meant to be a Witch. The why of this puzzled me for a long time; they weren't necessarily the most successful, the most famous, or the most powerful. So what was it about these few individuals that made me look at them and think, "That's the kind of Witch I wish I could be"?

Eventually it came to me: these Witches, who all seemed somehow more centered, more in touch with spirit, more present in their own lives (which is not to be confused with being happy all the time, by any means)—they all walked their talk. Whether they were famous authors or the hypnotherapist who taught me tarot reading, they all walked their talk, all day, every day.