| Green Witchcraft |
| "To be a Green Witch is to be in touch with the Earth. A Green Witch notices the subtle changes in the seasons and watches the moon move through the night sky each night. The Green Witch sees beauty in all of nature . She uses herbs, trees, stones - all objects the earth provides for her, in her riruals and spells. The Green Witch lives their life in balance. They are aware of their feelings actions and attitudes. The Green Witch strives to help people whenever needed. They help others connect with the Earth and see the beauty in what the Goddess has created. Green Witches live like the Witches of older times did. They were healers, farmers, wise men and women, herbalists and people who honored the Old Gods. Green Witchcraft is not a path for everyone. If nature is not a part of your life. then the path of the Green Witch is not for you. If you take no notice of the beauty of the Earth, and have no use for all the objects found in nature, then its best to look elsewhere. If you do seek trhis path, then you will find it is richly rewarding and will fill you with much love and peacefullness." -Rowan Green Wiitchcraft is the name some people have given to describe their way or practice that is very nature oriented. They may live in the country and be very connected to nature and the landscape. For whatever reason, they are more comfortable practicing a more natural, more earth-connected spirituality. There are some authors who have written books on Green magic (Marian Green) and natural magic (Doreen Valiente, Ann Moura, etc) and I really like this approach to witchcraft. You see too many books written where the author doesn't connect the craft to nature very much, but I think that that is an essential part of Wicca and witchcraft. So, I call my practice Green Witchcraft. I do not follow most Wiccan practices, however, I very rarely cast circles and I don't put much stock in the Three Fold law. I give my practice a more natural, and simpler approach. For instance, I rarely give the God and Goddess a name, I simply call them Lord and lady or Mother and Father. The reason for this is that I want to reach a a more universal diety, I dont want to limit them to a specific correspondence, I want my dieties to symbolize everything, not just be the Goddess of love and friendship, or the god of argiculture. When you use specific diety names, like Athena, Diana, Herne, or Pan, you are only calling on the features that each god/goddess represents. I see my dieties as being primordial and omnipresent and throughout everything. To me its impossible to limit myself to naming my Gods, they are everything and I refuse to restrict myself. I use natural objects for tools, like a stick for a wand, a wooden bowl to hold salt, a seashell to hold the water, as well as decorate the altar and ritual area in natural objects, like flowers, leaves, shells, stones, etc. I like to work outside, which I understand is hard for people who don't have yards or woods near them, but that's not necessary. Even if you can take a walk and feel the wind, lay on the ground and connect with the earth, listen and watch the birds sing as they are pertched on a building, or plant some herbs in pots on your windowsill. There are many ways to connect with nature even if you don't have access to natural places. The sabbats are particularly fun to celebrate, as I incorporate ancient folk practices in as well. I like to add any form of nature into these celebrations, because they are in fact celebrating the passing of the seasons. The main focus of my sabbat celebrations in the turning of the wheel, and how nature changes. Long ago, people based their lives by the changing of the seasons, so I try to do that also. If you are celebrating the turning of the seasons and nature is not present in your ritual and mind, then you have forgotten what the sabbats are originally about. Although we no longer need to grow our own food and hunt or own meat we still need to celebrate the processes of nature. Some sabbats are based on argiculture and others on the changing seasons, so once we step away from this we loose the main purpose. Green Witchcraft is for those who can connect to nature in some way. If your the type who uses man-made, symthetic tools, isn't aware of the changing of the leaves in autumn and the budding of the trees in spring, lives disconnected from the natural world, who is too ceremonial in their rituals, who likes structure, and doesn't care much for plants and herbs , then Green Witchcraft is not for you. |
| A Green Witch is a woman of power, whose religion is her life, whose life is her art, and whose art is the wise use of the green. ~ Susun Weed |
 |
|