By Rev. DeeDee Stinson, Priestess
It’s the Season of the Witch and it seems that folk still wanna practice the Craft without realizing it’s not just a fad, a silly way to pass time, or use to your advantage once or twice. I’m not gonna yuck someone’s yum but as a Witch of over two decades of experience and a recently Initiated First Degree Priestess, as well as an Initiate by my First Teacher and Initiator, … it’s my solemn Oath to speak logically and cautiously.
Why do I believe Witchcraft can be dangerous if not properly learned, practiced, and even taught? Two quotes:
“The amount of silly dabbling in the Occult that goes on today scares me. These people think that they are doing something terribly clever and terribly with it and it’s all great fun. And what they don’t understand is that they’re invoking forces which they can’t fathom and they’re making themselves a channel by which those forces can come through into the world.” – Doreen Valiente , “The Power of the Witch” a BBC Documentary, 1971.
“Don’t delude yourself. The minute you set foot upon the path of witchcraft, a call rings out in the unseen world announcing the fact of your arrival,” – Paul Huson, Mastering Witchcraft
Some may still feel, “Oh Witchcraft and Wicca won’t hurt me!” I daresay be cautious. Being a Witch is a beautiful thing and a delicious thing. It is also a terrible thing and an intense thing. The Power can even be intoxicating and freeing. It can also be mesmerizing and consuming. But ever guard yourself and pay attention to all basics of protections, guards, and wards. This doesn’t mean become so retentive and detailed that you cannot experience the joy of the Craft, nor does it mean to become so passive and obsessed that you cannot control the Power and instead it controls you.
The Dark may have its own cautions. But even staying in the Light too long can burn you or set a forest ablaze.
DeeDee Stinson is a Southern Appalachian Wiccan and Traditional Witch with over two decades of solitary and eclectic practice and experience. She is currently a First Degree Correllian Nativist Priestess and Witan Shrine Keeper of Scarlet Triskele Witan Shrine. She also is the Keyholder and Matriarch of the Asbury-Stinson Lineage of American Wicca which is a Family Tradition of Appalachian Folk Practice and Eclectic Wicca. DeeDee currently resides in Maryland but still holds troth to her Southern Roots: Country Roads, Hollers, and Fried ‘Maters, O’ My!