The Path of a Christian Witch (13 page)

Ostara
—celebrated March 21st (spring equinox), it commemorates the goddess Oestre and the return of life on Earth. Spring is upon us and winter has been defeated. From the name of this goddess, we get our own Easter, the greatest Christian Holy Day of the year. Although the focus of Easter is certainly on Christ’s passion and resurrection, we celebrate the same theme on Ostara: the victory of life over death. Easter is the high point of the Christian calendar, as it celebrates the greatest mystery of our tradition: that of Christ’s resurrection. I tend to focus on the Christian aspect of this celebration, although I keep my Witch’s vision open. The celebration begins forty days earlier with Ash Wednesday, as we remember that we are mortal and that our bodies will return to the earth at the end of our journey. Lent is a time of personal preparation for the celebration that awaits. People tend to give up something they like as an act of penance. Being a Witch, I know that the most important tool I have is myself, and I use this time to correct something about myself. This requires honesty and dedication. But I have found that making a commitment for forty days usually results in permanent change of a behavior or forms a new habit that I want in my life. It is truly a transformative experience. This leads us to Holy Week. Holy Week is my yearly retreat, my time of renewal. On Palm Sunday, we relive the Passion of Christ. I bless my palm branches and place them on my altar for the year. On Holy Thursday we commemorate the Last Supper. I bake bread that we share amongst family and friends. There is the symbolic washing of the feet that reminds us that we are meant to serve our brothers and sisters.

Good Friday has always held a special meaning for me. It is a day when I try to remove myself from the turmoil of everyday life and take a walk with my Lord in his final days of humanity. Every year I receive a new revelation, a new lesson. I usually take a walk to the river and sit on a rock. I breathe in the spring air and let the world fade away. Usually, clear as crystal, I hear a voice in my head telling stories, or a single phrase that puts my life into context.

After this quiet day, it is time to celebrate the Easter Vigil. It is the most beautiful celebration of the year for me, for it is the one during which I feel the most at home. Of course, it is a Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. But the Witch in me also finds herself in the midst of her elements. There is the blessing of the fire that is passed throughout the crowd. Then the baptismal water is blessed for the year and the priest asperges us with it. The procession continues with the burning of frankincense and myrrh. And all around are lilies and gardenias, symbol of the renewal of life on Earth. Fire, water, air, and earth. The liturgy reviews our tradition all the way from the beginnings of the world to the resurrection. It is the hour of glory for my Lady, Mary Magdalene, first witness of the resurrection. All around, music resounds, bells ring, and life surges forth.

Beltane
—celebrated May 1st, it is a fertility festival, when young men and women showed their intention for union in various ways . . . With the return of spring and its potential for growth, it also symbolized the sowing of seeds in hopes of a good harvest. There used to be a Christian celebration associated with May 1st, named May Day. It was centered on the Virgin Mary, with processions of young virgins that were of age to get married. The fornication aspect of the feast was dampened somewhat. However, it is not difficult to imagine young, virile men flocking to this celebration, with hopes of finding a most attractive young lady. Again, we see a similar theme, that of fecundity and promise. After the solemnity of Easter, I like to celebrate Beltane in a more lighthearted way. I usually get together with my Pagan friends, and we have a ritual invoking fertility in our lives. Fertility can come in many ways: creativity, accomplishments, children, finding love . . . We usually laugh a lot and dress up more frivolously than usual. Then, I just might take my husband out on a date and see what happens . . .

Litha
—celebrated June 21st (the summer solstice), the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Litha is the first of four harvest festivals. The Goddess is pregnant with possibilities. Thanks is given for the harvest of small fruits, and the blessing of livestock takes place. Traditionally, people jump over bonfires for blessing. Christians celebrate St. John the Baptist on June 24th. This a very important feast in many parts of the world. Maybe it is the underground importance of St. John as Jesus’ precursor and kin that warrants such a sustained celebration. Or, maybe, nature is so benevolent and giving at this time of the year that we could not let this time pass by without celebrating it.

For me, it is a day for soaking up the sun’s energy. Nature is at its peak. The earth is vibrant with energy. Where a few months ago life was just beginning, now it is in full bloom. All we have to do is sit and let it quench our souls. And since the day is so long, we often get together with family and friends to celebrate with bonfires and cookouts until the sun goes down.

Lammas
—celebrated August 1st, it celebrates the corn harvest. Lammas is also called
Lughnasadh
, in honor of the sun god Lugh. The feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15th and is a national holiday in certain countries. When it comes to the harvest festivals, I like to focus on the cycle of nature and the energy of the earth. The corn harvest is a symbol of the sustenance of the earth. It is a symbol of how reliant on the earth we are and how God continues to sustain us through the earth. I walk the earth, feeling its special energy beneath my feet. I take a moment to take note of what it is that I am harvesting. Is it healthy, growing children, or new projects at work, or new friends, or new skills? I also plan next year’s harvest by writing down on a corn husk the things that I would like to achieve by next year’s harvest. I offer it to my Lord and Lady, asking for their support and protection. I keep it in my workspace as a reminder of what is truly in my heart.

Mabon
—celebrated September 21st (autumn equinox), it celebrates the bulk of the harvest. Mabon is a time for thanksgiving for the bounty of the earth. In early October, in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving, a feast celebrating all that has been given to us throughout the year. Since it is a statutory holiday, Thanksgiving is a time for sharing with family all the bounty that we receive from God. We prepare a feast with freshly harvested vegetables and rejoice in the time we spend together. We laugh, tell stories, and enjoy the crisp autumn air and the vibrant colors on the trees.

On the equinox itself, I take a moment to acknowledge the passing into a time of increasing darkness. Winter is coming, and this requires preparation. Winter is a time for slowing down, for reflection, and for quiet indoor activities. I thank the earth for its bounty and for all the activity that I was able to complete during the summer. I take note of what I still need to finish up, so that by the time winter comes I will be able to settle into its quiet rhythm. I take out the books that I want to read and the craft projects that I want to complete. It is the turning of the seasons. To be a Witch, you must be able to read the signs of the earth. It is God’s infinite wisdom to have given us a time for rest and a time for work. Mabon is the turning point, a time for giving thanks for the fruits of our labor and for looking toward the rewards of rest.

Samhain
—celebrated October 31st (Halloween). Samhain is the last of the harvest festivals and the Witches’ new year. It is also the day when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is the thinnest, allowing our ancestors to roam the world freely. Christians acknowledge All Saints’ Day (November 1st) and All Souls’ Day (November 2nd), when we commemorate the passing of members of our families and remember our ancestors. My family and I have created a tradition around this day. We set a place for our departed loved ones at the table so that they may sit with us as they used to. We light a candle for our ancestors and the loved ones who have gone before us. We tell them that we have not forgotten them, that we miss them, and that they are welcome in our house. They are truly amongst us for that night. The first time we took the time to acknowledge them as a family was after our son was born. We presented him to our ancestors, asking for their blessings and for their help so that he would grow strong. We presented him especially to his grandmother, my husband’s mother, who had already left the world. As we concluded our little celebration, my son’s toy phone started ringing. We looked at each other in amazement. It had never done that before and hasn’t since. The lines of communication were indeed open, and our loved ones had found a way of telling us that they were truly in our midst.

It is also traditional to perform divination to see what is to come in the upcoming year. We each pick a Tarot card from the deck to guide us in the months ahead. I also host a Tarot open house. All our friends know that they can drop by for a Tarot reading on Halloween night. In the midst of all of this, of course, are jack-o’-lanterns, candy, costumes, and the ringing doorbell of trick-or-treaters. It makes for a fun-filled evening.

In summary, both Christians and Pagans celebrate light, love, life, fertility, the bounty of the land, and the passing of our loved ones. Our rituals and invocations may differ, however slightly, but our celebrations are the same. As creators of our spiritual practices, we have the infinite possibility of celebrating these things with our own personal rituals and language. We can choose to focus on the Christian aspects of the feast only, or we can mix and blend all flavors to celebrate life in its entirety. It is entirely up to us.

Esbats

The appeal of being a Witch is that it is a way to reconnect to nature in all its sanctity. None of nature’s cycles is more rhythmic for a woman than the cycle of the moon. It is so aligned with us that our very bodies respond to it. It is the ebb and flow of life, the up and down of our femininity. As such, it is sacred.

As the Charge of the Goddess compels, once a month, when the moon is full, I take the time to acknowledge this energy. I look up to the sky when the nightly orb is at its peak, and I whisper a word to let its abundance of rejuvenation and strength into my life. It is Sofia, the wisdom of the world. This is when the Goddess speaks to those who take a moment to listen. A small meditation and a word of praise are my standard rituals. But when I am truly in need of something, I will go to the extent of creating a full ritual with an altar, elemental representations, quarter calls, and symbolic representation of my request. This focuses me to receive that which I have asked for and to make sure that it is indeed what I need.

The effort I put into the ritual also demonstrates to the universe the extent of my need. It is a gesture of goodwill, in a way. It says, “See to what extent this is important to me.” I am always mindful of what point of her cycle the moon is in. When she is waxing I focus on abundance, on making the things in my life grow. When she is waning, I clean up what needs to be renewed. As the sun rules the seasons, the moon sets the rhythm of my days. She keeps me dancing on a veil of celestial music so that I am always reminded of the ebb and flow of nature within me.

Rites of passage

“Hey! I need to ask you something.” This was my colleague Marla, a bubbly young woman who had become a good friend. “My boyfriend and I had a discussion last night, and I figured you would know the answer.”

Marla and her boyfriend had been talking about having children one day. She had been baptized into the Catholic faith, but her boyfriend had not. It was evident following their discussion that he was opposed to imposing a sacrament on someone without their actual consent. Marla was not particularly attached to religion either. She looked at me, not knowing how to continue. “We can’t exactly do . . .
nothing, you know. It feels weird not to have a ceremony of some sort. We have to celebrate something, don’t we?”

I looked at her with surprise. We had never talked about religion before, and I wondered why she had come to me with this question.

“There are many ways to celebrate life,” I told her. “You bless your child every day with your love. That is the only justification you need to lead others in celebration. What people look for in a rite of passage like baptism is the participation of the community and a chance to rejoice for such a blessing. The importance is the ritual, whatever it may be. You may call it a baptism, a naming, a welcoming, a homecoming, a presentation . . . You can have the participants say their wishes to your child, or plant a tree in commemoration, or simply share a meal together and share laughs. You can lead it yourself or ask another person to do so. Celebration and ritual are personal. They come from within. They are a public demonstration of what you feel inside: the joy, the thanksgiving, the need to share with others. It’s all up to you.”

She looked up at me, relieved at the justification I had given her, and said, “Well, I hope on that day you will be available to lead the celebration.”

___

Rites of passage used to be a tribal event. They were a time to commemorate achievements, to celebrate new stages in life. With the disintegration of the tribe, religion has been our only source of celebration. Save for birthdays and graduations, very little is still celebrated socially. This is unfortunate, because rites of passage are an important component of our psycho-spiritual growth. A rite of passage is a public acknowledgment of an accomplishment. This is so important. Imagine doing something that gets you recognition from your whole family, friends, and neighbors! Not just a pat on the back and a “good job.” A full-blown celebration.