Episode 3 - Witch Wednesday - My Journey To Witchcraft & Exploring My Grimoire

8.4.21 Episode 3 – Witch Wednesday – Types of Witches and a sneak peek of Grimoire

Hello! And welcome to Episode 3 of the Recovering Trash Person Podcast! Today is Witch Wednesday and I thought it would be appropriate to begin with discussing some of the (many!) types of witches, which types I identify with and discuss what a Grimoire is (sneak peek pictures available in the blog version as well as on IG and FB, see Linktree).

Let’s start with the definition of a witch and witchcraft, since those seems to be a highly charged words and summons a stereotypical image of a person flying around on a broom hexing people. Wikipedia defines witchraft as: “…the practice of what the practitioner ("witch") believes to be supernatural skills and abilities, such as the casting of spells and the performance of magical rituals.” Honestly, it’s amazing how difficult it was to find a definition of witch and witchcraft that didn’t say a woman with evil, supernatural powers. And that difficulty speaks volumes to why I am devoting my first Witch Wednesday episode to defining witchcraft.

The genesis of my learning, researching and identifying as a witch has been a 20 year journey and I still learn new things everyday. When I was 18, I was in an evangelical Bible-based cult for 9 months. It was abusive, demanding and resulted in much spiritual trauma that led me away from organized religion. After I left, I began exploring non-Christian religions and found myself revisiting the same section of my hometown’s library, picking books on earth based religions. That is when I first discovered Wicca. I no longer identify with Wicca, as my spiritual beliefs extend beyond religion, but learning about Wicca was a great start to learning about my own abilities and finding my own path to spirituality.

In 2003, I dedicated myself to the ‘Craft in an authentic and solitary practice. I hiked to my favorite secluded spot in Sleeping Giant State Park in my hometown, grounded myself to the earth and made a promise to myself and the elements to respect, revere, and worship nature in any way that felt authentic. Less than 6 months later, I began what would become an abusive relationship with someone who was recently disassociated from Jehovah’s Witnesses and who abhorred my connection to witchcraft. That was the first time, of many, I went back into the broom closet.

In 2005, during one of the MANY break ups with said romantic partner, I stepped out of the broom closet and actually practiced witchcraft for the first time ever. Immediately, I noticed positive changes in my mental, physical, and emotional health. I also noticed my intuition and psychic abilities were heightened to almost unbelievable levels. When I did resume my relationship, she was a bit more understanding about my spiritual beliefs and actually bought me what is still one of my favorite reference books (picture on IG and in the blog). That being said, it was made clear learning about witchcraft was somewhat accepted, but practicing was out of the question. The same was true for other romantic partners. The stigma of witchcraft and it “inviting evil spirits into the house” was a constant vibe and the people pleaser in me chose to keep it private and internal. Over the years, I lived with my grandmother and then with my parents and I slowly began to feel safe having an altar (although for my Catholic grandmother I had to kind of Christianize it in a way that wouldn’t invite her skepticism and fear).

Thankfully, 4.5 years ago, when I met my wife, my spiritual beliefs were accepted with open arms and Laura has become one of my main witch supporters, making sure each birthday and Christmas I have all the tools I need.

Because I was given that space to express myself, I learned there are many witches who do not identify with Wicca and who do not identify with any religion. Typically, they are referred to as nontheistic witches and I was so excited to learn about this group a few years ago, as the idea of organized religion (even Wicca) didn’t feel authentic to my experience. I now identify as a solitary, eclectic, chaos, hearth witch. What does that even mean?

Just to show how various places on the Internet defines witch differently, the article from which I am taking the description of different kinds of witches (link in notes) defines witch as: “‘wise person’ so if you are interested in energy work, the pursuit of enlightenment, and learning traditions of the old ways across the globe, you might just be a witch.”

This article defines solitary witch as: “a witch who practices alone rather than in a coven”, eclectic witch as: “a witch that incorporates many different traditions into their craft; slightly similar to the chaos witch, but they may follow strict guidelines if desired”, chaos witch as: “a witch who has a contemporary practice that incorporates many types of magic and is guided intuitively rather than with strict steps as seen in high magick” and hearth witch as: “a witch who focuses on magick in the home.” What this boils down to is I do not belong to (and have no desire to belong to) a coven, I prefer to practice alone or with trusted individuals, preferably one on one. I educate and inform myself on different types of witchcraft that connect with my ancestry, so being that I am Irish and Italian, I relate to the Celtic and Roman deities and I am respectful of cultural traditions I was not born into or raised with and work hard to not appropriate cultures that I do not belong to. I rely on my intuition when spell casting and working with divination, rather than focusing on following a step by step spell or practicing high ceremonial magick. And lastly, my home is where I feel most comfortable learning and practicing my craft. I will often incorporate witchcraft into everyday activities, such as stirring my morning tea, cleaning/spiritually cleansing the house, cooking, caring for my dog and feeding the woodland wildlife that enjoys our backyard, watching the sunrise or sunset, sitting outside in the rain (to name just a few). In addition, I dabble with other types of witchcraft as I respect and track the sun cycles, moon cycles, and astrology. And I participate in using divination in my practice, namely rune readings and tarot card readings.

What is so refreshing about witchcraft is there is literally something for everybody and there really is no right or wrong way to practice. Some folx will purport there is good (white) magick and evil (black) magick, but as a whole the community has come to see that dichotomy as racist, divisive, and ill-informed. (Link to article about racism in witchcraft in show notes). When I was first learning about witchcraft, I was indoctrinated with thinking “black magick” was evil, it would invoke evil spirits and hexes and curses were never okay. That very whitewashed view of the craft is so dangerous and, thankfully, I don’t believe that any longer. Most witches believe in the law of attraction (what you give, you get back) and so understanding that I have no limits on my practice, but I’m also responsible for the consequences, puts the ownness on me. And I stay in my lane. I don’t participate in closed, sacred practices that are Indigenous, Native, or derived from Communities of Color, Latinx or Black communities.

Next, I want to discuss what a Grimoire is. According to Wikipedia: “A grimoire (/ɡrɪmˈwɑːr/ grim-WAHR) (also known as a "book of spells") is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities and demons. In many cases, the books themselves are believed to be imbued with magical powers, although in many cultures, other sacred texts that are not grimoires (such as the Bible) have been believed to have supernatural properties intrinsically.” Grimoires are very personal and just like witchcraft itself, there is no right or wrong way, just your way. I’ve had many Grimoires over the past 20 years. My first was a simple one-subject notebook, mainly where I took notes from the piles of books I brought home every week from the library. Next, I went to a three-ringed binder with sheet protectors. At one point I had a word document Grimoire where each subject was denoted by different folders. I’ve even used journal apps on my phone to create Grimoires. My current Grimoire was birthed from the pandemic. I had been saving and pinning hundreds of images on Pinterest and after work, on the weekends, in the evenings, I printed out said images, colored them, and put them in a blank sketchbook I found at Mr. K’s Used Books, Music & More (a staple in Asheville, NC). I have included some pictures of my grimoire on Instagram, Facebook, and in the supplemental blog where one can find transcripts of podcast episodes.

It started as a fun project, since leaving the house during the beginning/height of the pandemic was not an option, and it became a labor of love. My Grimoire (which is not finished and probably never will be) not only holds information about my journey as a witch, but tools and techniques, The Wheel of the Year, meanings of each moon phase, and all kinds of information on divination. I recently started making Witch Flashcards so I wouldn’t feel the need to refer to my physical materials all the time and I use my Grimoire for most of that.

I’m going to list everything I have in my Grimoire to give an open, well-rounded look at one person’s Grimoire. (All of the printed pages can be found on my Pinterest under “Witchy Board” on my Linktree and the parts that aren’t printed I Googled or took from my extensive library of witch books.

The first page is The Law of 3 which states: “Ever mind the Rule of 3, 3 times your acts return to thee. This lesson well, thou must learn. Thou only gets what thee dost earn” and the 13 Goals of a Witch:

1. Know yourself

2. Know your Craft

3. Learn & Grow

4. Apply knowledge with wisdom

5. Achieve balance

6. Keep your words in good order

7. Keep your thoughts in good order

8. Attune with the cycles of the earth

9. Celebrate life

10. Breathe & eat correctly (read: what is correct for you, no specified “diet)

11. Exercise the body

12. Meditate

13. Honor the goddess & god (deity work in not required for nontheistic witches, so this could easily be replaced with whatever you view as your high power, including God, Higher Power, Universe, Life Force, Nature - literally whatever you connect with)

I started with these two, because, for me, it’s a good base to remind me 1) who I am 2) what I put out into the world will come back and 3) how to keep myself aligned.

The remainder of my Grimoire houses the following information (this list is exhaustive deliberately to show there is no “right or wrong” way to make a Grimoire, it’s about intuition, knowing, and personal choice:

· Elements, what they are and represent

· Moon phases

· The Wheel of the Year

· How to celebrate each Sabbat in the Wheel of the Year

· Zodiac Signs

· Ethical Dos and Don’ts of Divination

· Casting the Magickal Circle

· Common witch phrases and meanings (its important to know WHY you are saying what you are saying so the intention is meaningful)

· Moon Rituals

· How to make Moon Water

· Witchy activities for each season

· 9 parts to Radical Remission (not witchy specifically, but coincides with the 13 goals of a witch)

· 13 Rules of Kabbalah (this is YOUR Grimoire, feel free to integrate other practices, such as Buddhism & Kabbalah or even other religions and YES you CAN be a Christian witch – another episode!)

· Planets and their symbols

· Spell Timing with Weather

· Chakras

· Charging Magickal Tools

· Banishing & Warding

· Simple Charms

· Days of the Week for Spells & Rituals

· 5 Rituals Under 5 Minutes

· Cleansing Magickal Tools

· Elemental Magick

· Connecting with the earth

· 21 Spiritual & Magickal Uses of Rain Water

· Are Faeries nearby?

· Full Moon Invocation

· The Four Noble Truths & the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism

· Recharge Yourself

· Everyday Witchcraft

· Balance Wheel

· 6 Types of Self-Care (I told you! I fucking love self-care!)

· How to Fill a Spell Bottle That Radiates Positivity

· Witches Runes

· Ruling Planets

· Spells for: positivity, self empowerment, releasing the past, gain money, banish stress

· Raise Your Vibrations

· Methods to Bond with Deities

· List of Deities: Egyptian, Celtic, and Norse

· Raise the Vibe at Home

· Rules of Manifestation

· Zen Things

· 3 Rituals that will send good vibes your way

· Monthly Moon Meanings

· Room Cleansing

· Common Witch’s Tools

· Tarot: cleansing, charging, using

· Numerology and Angel Numbers

· Blessing an Object

· The Wiccan Rede (even though I don’t identify as Wiccan, I identify with the Rede)

· Pentacle meaning

· Candle Color Magic

· ABC’s of a Kitchen Witch

· Little Things to Do to Connect to the Universe

· What’s in my control, what isn’t

· Daily Affirmations

· Happy Home Spell Jar

· Processing Emotions

· 5 By 5 Rule (If it’s not gonna matter in 5 years – don’t spend more than 5 minutes being upset about it)

· Meditation frequencies

· Home Protection Spell

· Smudging

· Vision Board

· 31 Morning Routines

· 12 Ways to Heal Your Inner Child

· 7 Questions to ask to uncover your Self-Limiting Beliefs

· List of Types of Witches

· Dollar Tree Witch Supplies

· Start of the Week/End of the Week Check In

· 7 Day Law of Attraction Guide

· How to Create Sigils

· Convenient Places for Sigils

· All Purpose Witch Items (white candles, clear quartz, rosemary, rose, frankincense)

· Types of Spells

· Witch Tips

· Herbs and their uses

You’ll notice that not everything in my Grimoire is specifically related to witchcraft, but rather relates to my personal needs and how I can elevate my practice in a way that makes sense to me. What I love about witchcraft is (and I think this is my 3^rd time saying this) there is no prescribed “right way” there is only what feels good for you.

I remember when I first began learning about witchcraft, I was exposed to a very whitewashed version of the craft, claiming hexes and curses were never appropriate and now that I am older and understand their place and power, I realize hexes and curses may not be for me (not yet at least) but they have a place. The duality that is discussed in witchcraft shows the need for darkness as much as the need for light. Winter is just as vital as Summer, night as vital as day.

I hope this mini intro to witchcraft and how I practice inspires you to learn more about what impassions you, even if it isn’t the same as me. At the end of the day, we are all just trying the best we can with what we have. I end this podcast with a common witch’s farewell: Blessed Be, often used “to wish good and positive things upon others.”

Grimoire Images: