So what’s all this about Witches?
A note from one of our Path teachers, Gwion Raven:
“There’s a great deal of history surrounding the word “witch”. One notion I particularly like is that of the empowered wise person living on the outskirts of the village. Folks didn’t want to know much about the work the witch did, but they certainly appreciated the knowledge the witch had, especially when they were in need of the witch’s services.
As we journey around the world, we find witches in practically every culture. The names might change, but the basic functions are the same. Witches are healers. Witches are attuned to the forces of nature. Witches weave together the strands of the past, the present and the potential of the futures. In subtle and not so subtle ways, witches facilitate change.
Many folks that find themselves at a Reclaiming Witch Camp are activists and world changers. In the dominant culture, we’re often looked at as the folks on the fringes of the village. “Regular” folks don’t want to know much about us or the work we do, until they realize that their water supply is being poisoned by a reckless corporation and it’s time to get involved. Or their child just came out and no one in the family knows how to connect with the LGBTQ community and the support resources that are available. Then, all of a sudden, we activists, we queer ones, we pierced ones, we young ones, we old ones, we witches are sought out and consulted. Our hut in the forest has been transformed into the Community Center, the protest or a Twitter page, but we are still here doing the work.
At my First Witch Camp, I reclaimed so much of myself and left a great deal of what I chose not to in the ashes of the ritual fires. I discovered amazing, wonderful, terrifying, joyful, powerful aspects of myself. I vacillated between feeling hyper-connected to everyone and everything and vacant...actually, not vacant but empty. And empty in the best way possible, like a vessel waiting to be put to good use.
Throughout my years of attending Reclaiming Witch Camps in California and Wisconsin and Canada, I’ve participated in different models for leadership and shared community power. I’ve seen the tremendous value this community places on social justice, deep witnessing, silence, joy and action. I find camp to be a place where I can compost what I know longer need and plant the seeds for what I will need as I carry my work out into the world.”
Gwion Raven
Remember to register for the Aurora Borealis Witchcamp here: http://www.abwitchcamp.org/registration/
