#thestonemage

[levrathan]

What pulled you into writing and what makes you continue to do it?

i think what pulled me into writing was a combination of things. namely, my greed. i’ve simply wanted “more” of reality my entire life. i want more from a book, more from a movie, more from television, more from a feeling, a moment, everything. i want the extremes and to see the impossible.  wanting “more” from stories was really where it started, modifying stories I heard and turning them into ones I personally liked better. then when i realized fiction and fantasy was a thing, my brain latched onto that, creating my first character and story when i was 9 and living in france. 

what makes me continue to do it is the same. i am more greedy as an adult than i ever was as a child. i want to exist in my mind and nowhere else, to live amongst the dreams but at such safety i might have a chance of being saved just before i’m swallowed by them. i do enjoy sharing my stories, of course. i enjoy watching people faces when i tell them the story/when they read it, i love when someone is clearly in love with a character or loathes them. but, in no attempt to not sound egotistical, those are side accomplishments for me. i’m not the type of person that i need much outside validation, i will write if no one is to ever read it. i will write if everyone is going to read it. i write because i want more out of the page, more out of me. 

filling that bottomless greed-pit is the only thing that might possibly stop me, and if it ever gets full, i suppose i already have a shovel and am covered in mud, so i’ll simply dig another hole to fill 

[heatherwitch]

I stumbled upon your tumblr today and was led to ask you this because I got the feeling you would know. So here goes...If you had to do it all over again when you started your path, would there be things you would not do that you would share with a new witch who needed the help? If they were a close friend one on one and sat down sincerely needing your help could you share a few things on what you would say?

That there isn’t just one way to practice. I became interested in the craft young, and mostly relied on what I could find in the library (which sadly were not well-researched books focused on Wicca that were chock-full of cultural appropriation). At that point I thought that was my only option for witchcraft, but I never fully got into it. I ended up giving up because it didn’t fit for me. I wish someone had told me that there are infinite ways to practice, and your craft can be unique to you. You don’t have to follow every rule written by some random author. 

That you don’t need expensive tools. I spent so much money on crystals and candles and other fancy tools when I was younger, and now I rarely use any of them! I’ve found that the rocks from my forest, a simple beeswax candle, and household/homemade items work better for me, because they’re personal to me. (I do have some crystals I still use, but the small tumbled ones are usually more convenient than the big fancy spheres).

Along those lines, you don’t need fancy herbs all that often. Most herbs/plants I use in my craft can be found in my spice cabinet, in my teas, in most gardens, or in the backyard (wild plants). 

You don’t have to worship deities or be in a coven. Simple as that, those things aren’t required in order to be a witch.

Do what calls to you. Try to avoid basing your craft off of what you think it should be. Why were you called to it? Do you thrive in the city? Practice in the city, incorporate it into your craft. Do you thrive in the forest? Practice in the forest, incorporate it into your craft. There’s no right or wrong way to practice (although there are some ethical things), so do what feels right to you!

[minnesotadruids]

I applaud your stand on racism. Could you give examples of the racism you see in the druid community? What exactly has been said or posted. Also would there be any history supporting the isolation of the druids? Did they ever come in contact with people of africa ever?

The first one that comes to mind is one of my ex-grovemates whose membership I terminated a year or two ago when someone sent me video proof of him harassing people in public. I actually don’t want to give out specifics on that incident because it actually made local news briefly. At the time he did have symbols of racial bias. He later attended a private social gathering and allegedly harassed a transgender person and got into a verbal altercation before being removed from the vicinity. After he was booted from Oakdale Grove, other grovemates came forward with complaints against him I wish I would have been informed of sooner, as he was an all-around asshole in addition to being a racist.

My YouTube videos on druidry occasionally received comments from people who subscribed to racist channels. One of them commented that since I’m hispanic I can’t be a druid because they don’t have Celtic blood. I’ve stated before there’s no genetic requirement to be a druid, so not only was this racist individual incorrect about that, but he’s also wrong about me not having Celtic blood. There were Iberian Celts in far western Europe in the Iron Age, including what is now Portugal and Spain. They’re still there - the Basque people are ethnically Celtic still today.

I don’t need to defend myself with caveats that I do have Iberian Celtic ancestry, nor do I need to tout my DNA test results for validation. A mantra growing in the druid or Celtic pagan community is (paraphrased) leave genetics out of it. Don’t let ancestry be the sole reason for exploring any given modern spirituality.

As a morbid fascination, I watched a couple YouTube videos of a conservative druid in Poland to try to understand how they rationalize their way through their beliefs, and he started rambling about protecting “white heritage” in Europe, and called it a dying culture. He segued into promoting total abstinence until marriage, and restoring women to what he described as their proper submissive roles. The longer I watched, the more disgusted I was with his backwards rhetoric. He kept circling back to rambling about white culture and pride. I watched one more video and it was just more of the same, ranting against interracial marriages, claiming it’s “white genocide” and right then I was just done with him. 

Unfortunately YouTube’s algorithms assumed I was interested in watching more of his videos and kept recommending them to me. That’s when I remembered to just report his content and channel. A few of his videos got taken down, but YouTube said some of them did not violate their guidelines and his channel stayed up, so I just blocked him.

Then there was the Neo-Nazi who liked Oakdale Grove’s Facebook page. His profile page banner was a photo of a Nazi flag over his bed. On his timeline he said he was a self-described asshole and didn’t care what anyone thinks. He had also posted a selfie of his swastika tattoo. His Likes page was rife with Folkish, Heathen, Odinist interests. Heathenism in itself is fine, but it’s being hijacked by racists. He also had Celtic and general pagan interests. But there were a lot of Neo-Nazi likes and a lot of confederate flags to boot. I felt nauseated that a person of that character had liked Oakdale Grove’s page. Luckily I was able to remove his “Like” from my end, and banned him from the page, then reported his profile and Facebook suspended his profile (whether permanently or until he cleaned up his content, I do not know).

As for your questions about ancient druids, I don’t believe they were very isolated, as some may have traveled beyond the druid schools to acquire more knowledge. One druid who we know by name, Divitiacus, was an acquaintance of Julius Caesar and served as a representative of the Aedui tribe of Celts. The ancient druids did not write down their own customs, but some druids were probably literate. It is possible that some druids may have made their way to Alexandria, Egypt to visit the Great Library to acquire more knowledge. 

Unfortunately I don’t think there is any surviving documentation from ancient times that would indicate to what extent they had much interaction from the peoples of Africa. Furthermore when the Great Library of Alexandria was burned, so much of the historical record was lost forever. However, during the Bronze and Iron Ages, tin ore was widely exported from southwestern England, and copper ore was exported from Wales. This fostered a vast trade network of other goods circulating around the known world at the time, and I think there is archaeological evidence that these trade routes that extended to North Africa and the Middle East, but it’s been about seven years since I’ve read about it so I’m foggy on the source.

[nobody7102]

Since you are a tea drinker, what is the best way to totally ruin a good cup of tea in your view? What is the number one DO NOT DO THIS ?

Adding milk or creamer to a floral or fruity tea. Especially if it’s a cold brew fruity or floral tea.

Normally I don’t care what you do with your tea, but personally I can’t drink floral or fruity tea If it’s brewed hot I just can’t. But then the thought of adding mild or creamer to it. Nope! Dat ain’t it.

[nashilayladragneel]

What house should be number one in the potter series regardless of where the main character ended up?

Hufflepuff! Because all the other houses have definite traits but Hufflepuff just accepts anyone. So if someone's brave, smart or cunning, but don't want to be stereotyped then they will be accepted at Hufflepuff.

So do you know what that means? Diversity(not to be confused with cultural or racial diversity). That means more traits than just "meathead", "brainy" and "evil". So Hufflepuff should definitely be the number one house.

[whysperingwoods]

When it comes to the culture of the craft where you live, do you find a lot of involvmement in the craft or the occult or is it still rare in your opinion?

It depends what you define as “craft”. 

As far as ceremonial type magic goes, it’s a very small group. There are a few covens and there is a witchcraft shop that hosts any-faith rituals on sabbats and esbats and they have practitioners of all stripes use the shop for supplies, but it’s not well-known at all. 

Folk magic has a big place here, even though it’s not always conscious or acknowledged. If you ask people whether they believe in magic or practice witchcraft, they will say no. But if you ask them if they have any “recettes de grand-mère” (grandma recipes i.e. usually use local herbs and prayers), or who in their family is “un arreteur de sang” (blood-stopper), or who they know who has premonitory dreams, almost everyone will have an answer for you if they are from Quebec and have a family that has been here for multiple generations. 

Since my craft is mainly around folk magic, I’m probably biased. With that lens, I find there is a lot of occult belief and practice here, but I have met other types of practitioners who heavily disagree and “don’t count” those types of cultural practice. 

[strawberry-and-neon]

Have you ever been so scared you literally could not move, speak or do anything? If so what caused that fear?

I have not, but I have been so scared that I didn’t sleep for an entire week because of a series of really bad nightmares

[minnesotadruids]

As a druid, what has been the lowest point of being a druid that you recall?

That would probably be in October 2013 when we went to my nemeton or sacred grove, a ring of oak trees encircling a much older oak in Oakdale Nature Preserve and discovered the last limbs had been blown down in a recent storm. It choked me up when I realized there were no leaf-bearing branches remaining. 

I had been working with that tree for two years, offering her libations and healing energy. I even lovingly nicknamed her Ema. The mossy limb has since fallen away completely, but now serves as a bit of an irregular bench for when we go there for rituals. Her trunk still stands, but the bark is gradually delaminating and the rot is accelerating.

The circular grove of oak trees is much more evident in this photo from the time I discovered it on a nature hike. Ema stands at the heart, presiding over her children.