Category: Witch at the Crossroads by Katrina Rasbold

Author & Professional Witch, Katrina Rasbold, writes this blog for Green Egg

Posted on by

The Great Quickening: Forging the Healing Flame

By Katrina Rasbold

The crossroads is not merely a place of meeting, learning, and magic. It is also a place of decisive power.

For too long, the magical community has been told to “keep the peace” or retreat into private practice while the world outside bleeds. We have been sold a diluted version of spirituality that is, in truth, toxic positivity, that asks us to simply “vibrate higher” while the soil is poisoned and the collective psyche is fractured by calculated cruelty.

Enough of that. We are not here to bypass the darkness; we are here to transmute it. We are the darkness and we rule those shadows.

Continue reading The Great Quickening: Forging the Healing Flame

Posted on by

A Witch’s New Year Ritual: Releasing the Old and Weaving the New

By Katrina Rasbold

As the final days of the year dwindle, a hush falls over the world and we feel a moment of potent stillness before the whirlwind of a new beginning. For those of us who walk a path less trodden, who feel the hum of ancient energies beneath the modern world, this isn’t just a time for champagne toasts and fleeting resolutions. It’s a liminal space, a powerful threshold brimming with magical potential.

This New Year’s Eve, let’s cast aside the fleeting promises and instead, weave intentions into being with the wisdom of the Craft. Continue reading A Witch’s New Year Ritual: Releasing the Old and Weaving the New

Posted on by

The Great Turning: Standing at the Crossroads of Dark and Light

By Katrina Rasbold

 

Welcome, travelers, to the ultimate crossroads in time.

 

The nights have stretched impossibly long, consuming the days in shades of indigo and charcoal. The air bites, the sap has sunk deep into the roots of the trees, and the Earth seems locked in an impenetrable slumber. We have reached the depth of the year.

Here at the Winter Solstice—Yule, Alban Arthan, the Longest Night—we stand at the most profound liminal space on the Wheel of the Year. As the Witch at the Crossroads, I am familiar with these in-between, liminal places where choices are made and realities shift. But this… this is the cosmic pivot point.

Many modern celebrations rush toward the light, eager to drape tinsel over the shadows and dispel the quiet with forced cheer, but the wise know that we cannot truly welcome the dawn if we have not first sat vigil in the dark.

Continue reading The Great Turning: Standing at the Crossroads of Dark and Light

Posted on by

The Longest Night and the Promise of Light: Why We Need Yule More Than Ever

hand lighting candle

If you look out the window right now, the world probably looks a little sleepy. The trees are bare skeletons against a steel-grey sky, the ground is hard (or slushy, depending on your latitude), and the sun seems to have packed its bags and left the office by 4:00 PM. Continue reading The Longest Night and the Promise of Light: Why We Need Yule More Than Ever

Posted on by

It’s Witch O’Clock Somewhere

By Katrina Rasbold

Witches have a different relationship with time than most people. We feel the tug of moons and seasons, yes — but also the strange elasticity of hours that stretch and contract depending on the work we’re doing. Time is not a straight line to us but a soft, breathing thing. It bends. It listens. It waits until we’re paying attention.

Magic teaches us that time is never just one thing. Continue reading It’s Witch O’Clock Somewhere

Posted on by

Where We Stand When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

By Katrina Rasbold

There is a quiet place in the life of a Witch that the outside world rarely witnesses. It isn’t dramatic. It isn’t cinematic. It doesn’t look like a movie scene where the moon hangs low over a forgotten road and bones rattle in the branches.

No, the real crossroads lives in far more ordinary places. Continue reading Where We Stand When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

Posted on by

My Top 10 Witchy TV Shows & Mini Series

By Katrina Rasbold
Recently in the Crossroads Occult Newsletter, I listed my favorite Witchy TV shows and mini-series and I thought I would share them with you here. These are my favorites and I do not expect them to agree with anyone else’s. If you think of some you feel I overlooked or didn’t list, it is likely I didn’t see the show or it was not one of my favorites.

Continue reading My Top 10 Witchy TV Shows & Mini Series

Posted on by

Samhain: Gateway Between Worlds and Seasons

By Katrina Rasbold

As the last leaves fall and the year’s light wanes, the veil between the worlds thins. Samhain (pronounced SOW-in or SAH-win), one of the four great fire festivals of the Celtic calendar, stands as the final spoke on the Wheel of the Year. It is both an ending and a beginning—a time when the harvest is complete, and the dark half of the year begins. Continue reading Samhain: Gateway Between Worlds and Seasons

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: The Power of Words

By Katrina Rasbold

Humans often consider the power of speech and written word to be the defining quality that sets us apart from the rest of the animal world. With the exception of some animals specially trained to communicate, Koko the Gorilla, for instance, humans alone possess the demonstrated ability for the ongoing use of language. There is little denying the power of words. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: The Power of Words

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: Container Magic

By Katrina Rasbold

There are two things that almost universally Pagans, and especially those who also identify as Witches, love to do: Burn stuff and put smaller things into bigger things. All seventh-grade tittering aside, you can summon a Witch by leaving a box of various sized jars on the side of the road with a “free” sign on them. Oh yes. We will stop. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Container Magic

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: Purge, Protect, & Burn Stuff at Midsummer

By Katrina Rasbold

Of all of the holidays, it can be argued that most cultures at some time or another celebrated Midsummer. The Sun reigns at its full power and dominates the sky for the longest day of the year on Litha. It is commonly believed that the Faeries are most active during this time; an idea perpetuated by William Shakespeare’s famous play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The power of herbs and plants is said to be strongest at this time, so many of the summer herbs are harvested on this day. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Purge, Protect, & Burn Stuff at Midsummer

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: When Bad Stuff Happens

By Katrina Rasbold

We spend a lot of time talking and thinking about why bad stuff happens, especially to people who we consider “good” and undeserving of strife and particularly when it comes in what feels like a disproportionate avalanche. We become deeply angry and philosophical when we try to understand why bad things happen to innocents like children and animals. Often, we become so mired in our determination to understand why something happens that we fail to effectively manage the situation at all. The assignment of blame is one of the greatest time eaters and malice fertilizers ever and is usually the focus of tremendous attention. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: When Bad Stuff Happens

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: Magic & High Emotions

By Katrina Rasbold

Emotion magical practice because spell work begins with what you want to have happen. If you cannot feel, then you cannot want and feeling is emotion. All intense emotion is high energy and you can, with rational thought and careful planning, direct all the intensity of that energy toward your goal. Passion will spike energy right off the meter, whether that passion comes from lust, anger, fear, or exultation. High emotion of all kinds: love, fear, sadness, anger, frustration, etc, can fuel your magical energy like a stoked furnace. But should you? Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Magic & High Emotions

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: Forming a Magical Working Group

By Katrina Rasbold

Creating a new magical group is exciting, rewarding, and a ton of work. Often, particularly in eclectic work, the group forms spontaneously around a common desire to learn and practice more. Even in the most desirable circumstances, certain decisions must be made. This post takes you through some of the most vital points of forming your own spiritual group. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Forming a Magical Working Group

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: Ceremonial Interruptus

By Katrina Rasbold

It can happen to all of us, although thankfully, not usually to the degree we see in the graphic above. Rituals fail. It is easy to raise one knowing eyebrow and say that it failed because it was intended to fail and all things are exactly as they should be and blah, blah, blah, but there is a huge difference in knowing that rituals sometimes do not go as planned versus understanding why rituals sometimes go in the ditch and how to manage that inevitability. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Ceremonial Interruptus

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: Third Eye Sight

By Katrina Rasbold

The “third eye” is a concept embraced by many cultures. This uniquely empowered area of the physical body is associated with the brow chakra and with the color indigo. Friar Richard Rohr speculates that “First Eye” is what we perceive with the five physical senses. The “Second Eye” is our reasoning and reflection. The “Third Eye” goes further still and is, as Rohr puts it, “Having the mind of Christ.” It is a coming together of sacredness that puts one in a very holy and receptive state of mind. Many paths of yogic study use the third eye for inner focus. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Third Eye Sight

Posted on by

Witch At The Crossroads: All Hail The Mayhole

By Katrina Rasbold

In our circle, we work a strong duality between male and female energies and although we love the traditional celebrations, we always like to put our own spin on things. Beltane is a delicious High Holiday, ribald with innuendo and fun, celebrating the union between the masculine and feminine archetypes. In this blessed time of coming together, we honor the fertilization of the land and revel in the pleasures brought to us by earthly existence. That being the case, we always thought it as a little one-sided to ritualize this sacred day with only a maypole, the representation of male virility, thrusting its mighty prominence up out of the ripened land. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: All Hail The Mayhole