All Witchcraft deals in transformation of some kind in varying degrees. We are either binding or unbinding energies to create a specific outcome. I feel every human does this on some level, but Witches do it consciously and with a deeper understanding of those energies and how to blend them together or break them apart.
Witchcraft or Magic is also a broad term and incorporates a wide array of styles and practices. There are many labels such as Green Witch, Kitchen Witch, Crystal Witch, Cosmic Witch, Hedge Witch – there are as many “types” as there are types of magic. The labels can also change slightly from person to person depending on their personal practices and perspectives. Labels can be helpful in a public setting to give others a quick overview of the primary type of magic and energies you work with. They can also become a box for us personally if we allow that label to confine us to that magic. Most witches are a combination of many labels, doing a variety of spell work, with a variety of tools and energies. That label is more to help other people in the wider community, not so much for ourselves personally in my opinion.
With all that being said, I describe my primary skills and magic as a Transformation Death Witch. As I said before, transformation is in all magic but it takes on a different significance for me. My work contains a very specific cycle of Death – the Well – and new creation. It contains both destruction and creation in delicate balance.
What our community calls Tower Time or Storms is where my destruction is found. In order for change to occur, we must first burn down and clear all that does not serve the person, system, or cycle now. This happens on a small scale all the time in life – I deal with it on a deep and life altering level. My destruction aspects are about dramatic change at the core, not just a surface level change.
Core Destruction – This type of magic takes a lot of energy and time because you are deconstructing many layers. Each layer requires honest evaluation to determine which parts, if any, need to remain when the work is complete. If some aspects need to remain, they must be untethered from the aspects that need to be burned away. It requires a lot of foresight, clear understandings of the goal, and a careful hand. Destruction is not something I take lightly but also understand is a necessity in order to grow and evolve.
After all the destruction is done there is a period of Ice – a period of rest – the Well. This is much shorter but a necessary part. It allows everything time to settle, come to peace with where the subject of the work is now – and a time of imagination to dream about what could be next. Starting to build the blueprint for what is to be created from the ashes.
Then there is always creation that follows destruction – for we destroyed for purpose. The destruction cleared the way for something completely new to emerge. This again is another long process with many steps.
So when I speak of Transformation, this is the kind of transformation I am speaking of. I am usually dealing with people – their foundations/ shadow work, or complex systems, so it is long work with many steps and spells in each. It’s good work but does require a lot of dedication and patience. An understanding of the cycles, dualities, and complexities of all the energies at play in every stage.
Even though Death is involved in the Transformative work, I separate it because I have a whole other side of Death magic. It’s a connection that allows me to communicate with and see patterns, cycles, and connections of the seen and unseen and ties between them. It’s a skill of psychopomp – guiding those facing death, through death, and onward. Skills of healing those left behind and those who get lost in the mist. Healing/ breaking cycles and patterns. It is also where my overall healing skills, physical – emotional – mental, come in. I know that may sound strange to some because we are talking death – but I am also Transformation. The two go hand in hand when truly healing and not just covering a wound. My Death magic has a lot of sides to it but I feel these are probably the main points. It requires me to walk in both the physical world and the world of spirits at the same time, all the time. This has taken a long time to develop the balance to do this and as I grow it requires adjustments and tweaks to stay in balance.
Many of these skills have been developed throughout my life. My work as a ICU nurse, death doula, community development, problem solver, researcher, are all mundane skills that went into preparing me for this work. They gave me tools, perspectives, and knowledge.
My work with The Morrigan gave me the foundations and skills needed to connect and take that work into the unseen – the spirit world. She taught me how to build bonds in order to feel, hear, see, and understand those unseen energies. Their own words, their own stories, and their own perspectives. In the beginning it took a lot longer. One because it was new, but mostly because I put in a lot of different “checks” to verify the information and make sure that it held. Sometimes this would be physical research but the most common was to ask the same question over a three day period to ensure I got the same answer. I also employed different methods and tools to ensure the message stayed the same. Much of the time there wasn’t any written works on them, just a genealogy or a small mention if anything. When you first start this work I feel checks are super important to ensure you are connecting and interpreting correctly. Our minds can be tricky things. It is a skill that continues to grow the more it is used.
I would not call myself a medium in the sense you see on tv. I don’t just connect to everything – I connect to that which I am specifically working with or that comes in for a purpose. I receive messages for other people to pass along to them – but those are not usually a back and forth conversations that I stay in the middle of. Over the years I have had several forgotten/ Primal Deities come in to tell Their stories and ask for those stories to be shared. That has been interesting work because it requires a lot of time and checks to ensure all the aspects are understood correctly. I have also done a lot of work with Ancestors in a similar fashion but their work is a lot more than stories. I have particular ancestors that come in to create and direct spell work they feel needs to be done. These tend to be more personal to me and my work, but also allows me to share them for others to use.
The last part of the communication aspect of my Death work is what I call “downloads”. The deeper I went on this path the more it started to happen. Downloads are exactly what it sounds like. I would be talking to someone or doing something, and then out of nowhere I would start getting instructions. Things such as a spell, ritual, something that needed to be researched, or an action that needed to happen. It would be a combination of words and visions. In the beginning it usually had nothing to do with my physical activity or person I was interacting with at the time. Just a random download. It got me in the habit of always carrying around a notebook and pen so I could write it all down and go back to it later. Over time it has gotten more aligned though. A good example of this is when I am talking with other practitioners or mentees, helping them work through something – and I’ll get a download of exactly what they need to do – and it works. Lesley, my witchy partner in crime, experiences this a lot from me since we work so closely together, and it seems to always be spot on. Sometimes it is a spell that has nothing to do with my work, but the mechanics look sound, I share it somewhere, and someone immediately latches onto it. It also happens, alongside channeling, when I am doing readings for people. I can’t really explain it beyond that because I don’t think about the mechanics of how it works anymore. I know it works and gets good results, so I just go with it now. Sometimes I think we get so bogged down in figuring out “how” something works that it distracts us from the message itself.
This isn’t the extent of these aspects but a good overview. I do all kinds of magic, working into many “label” areas, but at the core of all of them seems to be my Transformation and Death magic. So this is a little glimpse into my work, what it looks like, and what I do with it. I use “labels” in the sense to bring understanding when talking in the larger community, but I don’t really think about them in my practice – I just am what I am and that is always growing and evolving.
What about you?
Are you new and just exploring to discover it?
Are you seasoned and have a developed personal practice around your specialty?
How do you use labels? Is it just in community connections/ understandings or do you personally own the label as part of your identity?