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The Witch Wound

Posted on by Michelle H

I want to talk about this for a bit.

This keeps coming up around me so I think it’s important to get my thoughts around it out, if only for myself.

Maybe it’s because it’s spooky season – our season.

This time of year The Burning Times are often on my mind.

If you’re unaware, this is often what witches call the inquisition, which occurred in Europe between the years of 1478 to 1834. 

That’s 356 years of horrors.

The Inquisition’s goal? “Purify” the land from evil spread by the Devil and his minions.

The actual result of the inquisition was millions of people, mostly women, dead.

But not until after they were tortured. 

Many died during their torture.

Have you heard the term “the third degree” in reference to questioning someone aggressively?

That’s from the inquisition.

That was the level of torture that would kill a person.

It was to be used on those who kept insisting they were innocent.

No one, once accused, was allowed to be innocent.

The Inquisition, and everyone who took part in it, were the true evils raveging the lands.

I won’t go into all the documented atrocities – they’re easy enough to find should you want to have nightmares for the next several nights.

That’s not what I wanted to talk about, but I did want to set the stage for where many witch wounds come from. (There’s a near 100% chance I’ll talk about religious harms in a post at some point.)

What is a witch wound?

My basic definition is the fear of retribution due to being a magickal person.

I believe many of us lived through The Burning Times. Maybe several times over since it literally spanned centuries.

Our souls remember, even if our conscious minds don’t.

Additionally, science shows us that trauma can be written into our DNA.

356 years of fear mongering and hate? 

Watching your friends, the local healer, your mother or grandmother being accused of being a consort of the Devil? Seeing what happened to those who were accused?

Fearing someone may name you in a desperate bid to end their torture and be allowed to finally die?

Sounds pretty traumatic to me.

It is still not safe in many areas of the world to practice witchcraft.

Ostracisation and death are still very real possibilities if someone is accused of being a witch (and it’s likely they’re not witches at all – just like old times).

So this fear of being seen as the magickal people we are is ingrained in our very genetic makeup and within our very souls.

This is the witch wound.

And we must heal.

We must do so collectively.

We must embrace that fear. That deep knowledge of the atrocities that humans can visit upon one another out of fear, misunderstanding, and hate.

We must love it. We must show it that we are safe now.

We are safe.

We can honor our gods and goddesses (if we have them).

We can practice our magick and love nature.

We can heal others as we heal ourselves.

We must do this for all the people who cannot.

We must do this for all those murdered in the name of the Abrahamic god.

We must do this for the generations yet to come.

The lives yet to be lived.

They deserve to know they are safe.

They deserve to connect with the divine without fear of retribution.

They deserve to know that pain is history, but that we must never allow such horrors to be visited on the world again.

But, how can we do that?

This is Shadow Work loves, albeit of a different sort than we’re used to.

I’ll be starting with tarot.

I’ll be doing some past life readings to uncover some of this trauma.

I will allow my guides to, well, guide me to what I need to heal those traumas.

When I have moments of fear in the here and now around being a witch (and I do) I will remind myself that no one in my world can harm me. 

They can stay or they can go, but they cannot hurt me.

If my blood family still can’t handle it, they can move along.

I have built a beautiful online chosen family, and they know me for who I am.

This healing will take time, nothing like this happens overnight. 

And that’s ok.

I’m ready.

Are you?

Grace

Posted on by Michelle H

This post was entirely unplanned, but seems to be pretty needed.

Including by me.

A couple days ago I shared a post on my personal Facebook page from a disability page I follow.

It was regarding the fact that it’s ok to be disabled, and all the things that go along with being disabled are also ok.

I know a lot of people with chronic illnesses, who are neurodivergent, or both.

Including me.

Many of them have been posting lately about feeling like burdens.

Like they have to fight through their pain, or battle with their minds, just to survive in this world.

I have never really considered myself disabled; though by virtually any definition I am.

I too have multiple chronic illnesses. I too am neurodivergent.

I’ve never made either of these things a secret in my writing.

But I’ve never once truly allowed myself to follow those facts to their logical conclusion: I am disabled.

I am disabled.

Yes, I can often function in a world not made for me.

But it costs me so much, and then I absolutely cannot.

That’s a huge part of why I started my businesses. 

I can make my own accommodations without worrying whether or not my boss will try to figure out a way to fire me – because they have, can, and will if they want to.

That’s why I’ve never disclosed my neurological conditions to any employer. They weaponize it and find ways to work around laws intended to protect people like me.

Working for myself allows me to rest when I need to and work when I can, in the ways that work best for me.

Allow me to meander a bit.

I have been, over the past 2 months, poisoned by my own medication.

I have Celiac disease.

My Celiac caused my Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

I take a desiccated thyroid medication because my thyroid is mostly for show.

There is only 1 local pharmacy in this little town we moved to (you know, the move that caused my tailspin that I’m not quite out of – thanks in part to this poisoning I’m talking about…).

They do not carry my brand of thyroid medication. So they subbed it with the name brand. 

The one they happen to make exponentially more money on, and the one that costs me nearly 4x the copay of my normal medication.

I’m sure that’s totally unrelated…

Turns out that name brand is sometimes made with a wheat based ingredient – even though it claims to be gluten free.

Celiac disease means no gluten. No gluten means no wheat in ANY DAMN THING IN ANY DAMN WAY. 

EVER.

I have been so tired. Scattered. Foggy. Struggling to breathe. Losing weight (and I really don’t need to). My stomach has been a wreck. 

And my hair… oh my gods, my hair has been falling out like wild.

Now we come to my point.

I have not been able to work anywhere near my full capacity for two months now.

And I have been beating myself up for it.

Even though I knew I had no control over why I couldn’t breathe.

Even though I couldn’t figure out why I was exhausted after a full night’s sleep.

Even though I know I cannot control the brain fog when it falls.

I was not giving myself the grace I so often encourage others to give themselves.

I know better than this.

I comfort and encourage others when they’re suffering from their disabilities.

But I couldn’t – wouldn’t – do it for myself.

So, all this is to say I’m taking a deep dive into giving myself the grace I deserve.

Things I had planned for you, for this business, for this page are all going to stay on the back burner.

I may post from time to time about this journey I’m about to take myself on.

I may even make a program out of it – gods know it’s needed.

I hope this healing, both mental and physical, doesn’t take too long.

I’m excited about and in love with the things I want to bring you.

But I can’t put my full energy into them right now, so they need to wait.

I don’t want to short change either of us.

We both deserve my all.

I just got my notification from a new pharmacy that my proper medication is ready.

I’ll be better soon.

Tarot and Mental Health – The Moon

Tarot and Mental Health – The Moon

Posted on by Michelle H

I had intended for this week’s post to be about The Tower. But that post just wouldn’t come out when I tried to write it.

The Moon wanted to come first. Maybe because we have a supermoon lunar eclipse this week?

This is a weird card my friends, I won’t lie. But I love it.

And at first glance, it’s easy to wonder what it has to do with anything in life, let alone mental health.

The moon in this card is actually a solar eclipse.

Historically in many cultures throughout the world, an eclipse (lunar or solar) was a bad omen. 

Think about it: day abruptly interrupted by a really weird night, only to return to day again (or chunks of the moon disappearing and/or the whole thing turning red), and you don’t know why. 

Scary stuff indeed.

The main theme of this card is fear. 

But it also asks us to look at who we are, to look at the face we show the world, and to question everything.

This card can mean many things, but ultimately for me it speaks to our Shadow.

You probably understand by now that Shadow is kinda my thing.

I think it’s one of the most important, and most overlooked, aspects of mental health.

Let’s recap a few of the ways Shadow can manifest shall we?

Projection: Seeing in others the aspects of yourself you dislike (often without “knowing” you also have these traits. Classic example? The raging homophobe who lives deeeeeep in that closet of theirs).

Anger. Anger at yourself. Your failings. Your attitude. Your everything. Everyone else sucks too, and they may need to know it.

Shame. Fear. Self doubt. Self sabotage. Self loathing.

All that and more lives in your Shadow. 

And The Moon? The Moon wants you to look at it all.

Let’s look at a few other aspects of this card. Because again, it’s just weird.

The path: That’s our life’s journey. We must walk this path. In so doing, we become our higher self.

The mountains: That’s the end of our journey. When at last we reach our higher self, we will find ourselves in those mountains.

The dog: That’s our good self we show to the world. The face we show for approval and to get people to like and care about us.

The wolf: That’s our base instincts. They don’t care what other people think. They just act.

That random ass lobster???

THAT is our shadow in all its glory.

Look at it. It’s kind of ugly. Not friendly looking. And don’t think it won’t pinch the crap out of you if you try to get near it.

But, if it were to climb onto the land in front of it, it would be perfectly situated to journey with the dog and the wolf to the mountains.

That is what this card is asking us to do. 

It is pushing us to look at what lives in our darkest depths, bring it out into the open, and teach ourselves to grow.

The Moon knows that’s scary. It knows we want to toss that lobster back in the water and run off the wolf.

It knows we want to pretend we are the dog. But even the dog is affected by The Moon, just look at it howling.

There is no escaping from the aspects of ourselves that we need to confront and heal.

To book a Shadow Reading to learn more about what is hiding in your Shadow, click here!

Ready to tackle your Shadow head on? Reset Your Mindset is an introduction to Shadow and Mindset work. Click here to learn more!

Already have some experience with Shadow and Mindset work, and you’re ready to dig deeper? Deconstructing Shadow is for you. Click here for more information!