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As you know, I am a woman of a particular place, a woman who is from and of the southern highlands of the Appalachian mountains. From my west-facing window, I look out on the third oldest river in the world, framed by the oldest mountains.

The energy is deep here, hoary, implacable. If you are brave and crazy enough to connect your energy to this land, there can be no turning back from it. And no turning your back on it, not for long, not if you value sleep and quiet thought.  This land will haunt you and you need only ask those whose families left here for greener pastures and died longing for a remote and drafty cabin set on a rolling hillside.  Those who still think of themselves as mountain folk--though they have lived in the flatlands for a long, long time.

Depression Comes Before Acceptance

Better you die than I.  - Katerina Petrova, The Vampire Diaries

So I had a half written post about using magic, specifically a magic spell to find a home, using a combination of Kiwiana, and perhaps other more ‘traditional’ magical stuff, but I stalled and have only written about one object, the 21^st Key Mirror, a Kiwiana staple for 21^st gifts, generally given to you by your family.  It has strong significance of love, family and independence, which is for most of us, what we are looking for when finding a new home, rather than just a place to live.  I was also going to include things like tiki’s, and teapots, but in actually that was nothing like what I actually did. 

When my daughter recently told me she no longer felt drawn to witchcraft, I'll admit, my heart broke a little. This was the girl who at three proclaimed herself a witch, and at five, added "Buddhist" to her identity as well. Now, at thirteen, after a rite of passage ceremony and the opportunity to finally join in with the pagan and shaman groups as a woman, with wise women ready to give advice and guidance, she wants no part in it.

At first, crushed, I forgot my own basic tenets. Though I believe everyone finds their own path toward enlightenment, and proselytization is abhorrent, I found myself nudging and needling my own daughter. It took a few days and some quiet reflection with my spirit guides to address why I was disappointed.

New Zealand is not really old enough to have magical folklore as such, we were settled about 150 years ago, wait let me rephrase that, Europeans did not really settle in any great numbers here until about 150 years ago, around the late 1800’s and early 1900s with larges amounts of immigration happening after World War I and World War II, well after, it can be said, the time when magic was something other than fairy tales that you told children. 

Kia Ora I’m a Tea Drinking, Urban Witch and Textile Artist.  Welcome, to my little corner of the interwebs, all the way down here in Wellington, New Zealand, situated in the Southern Hemisphere. Where the seasons are opposite to that of the Northern Hemisphere and we cast our circles in an anti-clock wise.

I first became interested in things spiritual and magical when I was around 18, and I am nearly 43 now so a few years ago. As an 18 year old I had a wee way to go before I would fall upon Witchcraft, or as I like to say it fell upon me. It was not until I was about 25 did I meet my first Witch, who became my introduction to things Witchey. I remember her first words to me ‘So you’re a Witch then.” It was not a question, and oddly or not so oddly that just felt right.

So, about a year ago I was having a conversation with my friend Christopher and a host of others, and we were talking about something very interesting he had heard about.

It's called "the wizard's game."  It's a sort of trick old Pagans and occultists play on each other.  I may have mentioned it in my previous blog posts, but here's a simple recap: a new person enters into a conversation on a subject she or he are very new to and enthusiastic about.  However, this person, we'll refer to the person as "he" for the rest of this analogy, is a bit of a showoff or a know-it-all, or is perhaps espousing some sort of shallow theory as fact.