Elspeth: Cat and I
have only met recently having been in the same coven last year but at different
times. I had left this coven quite some
time before Cat and she has also since left that group, inciting her to form
her own grove and take on a leadership role in the Craft. In this interview, Cat tells us all about how
she formed her path and career, how she practices her craft, what the
difference is between a grove and coven and what advice she has for those just
beginning to discover Wicca. With many
years of experience, I hope that readers can benefit from what she has to say
and enjoy her great history and experience in pathworking.
Cat: Being on a solitary exploration of the craft is a
personal journey that is unique, potent and often natural. For me to explain my
definition I have to describe the path that was laid before my feet and
basically, how the goddess has guided me to where I am now. That is a long,
organic story. For me being a teacher is drawing on these stories and teachings
I’ve been so blessed to receive from the gods.
I had a haunted childhood and my first memories are of
seeing the dead. Despite a haunted childhood with time I came to accept that I
could see between the worlds. I’ve returned to the occult time and time again,
reading and thirsting for knowledge, as a young witch I was starting witch
clubs at school and reading gypsy cards before puberty. I later met with like
minded brothers and sisters, some experimenting in shamanism, others in
ceremonial magick and others still in witchcraft. I discovered Carlos Castaneda,
Eliphas Levi, Budapest, Starhawk and Cunningham to name but a few, as well as
experimenting in shamanic trance, magic mushrooms and sex magic. It was a
potent time, and I was devoted to Aphrodite and Dionysus.
I then heard the calling to walk the life of a healer. I left
art school and replaced paint brushes with acupuncture needles. I left the wild drugs behind and I discovered
Taoism, yoga and eastern philosophy. I kept growing on my path and the goddess
came to me frequently, in dream, in vision and in child birth in her different
faces. But the face she showed me the most was that of Hekate. I started to focus on women’s health, pre and post natal
care as well as supporting women through labour, and once again I found myself
at the gates. I am honoured to be asked to be teacher, but I can only
teach that which I know.
E: Indeed, there is always so much to learn! You’re
not just a regular witch, you’re a hedge witch . For the purpose of education our readers,
what does it mean to be a hedge witch and do you have your own way of
practising these old ways?
C: In times gone by a hedge witch was the old solitary
woman who lived at the very edge of the village, just at the boundary between
the village and the forest. This is
considered an ‘in-between place’ and holds great power. She would know the teachings of the nearby animal
and plant kingdom and pass this learning down her lineage. These were the women you would consult for
hexing and for healing.
As a
witch, I follow the wiccan reed of ‘harm none’.
Therefore I am a healer, not a curse or hex maker. Having said that, I have known hedge witches
who wouldn’t think twice about using a hex or curse, but personally this is not
my cup of tea. I believe everything we
put out into the universe will return to us, it’s the natural law.
I am a hedge witch because I walk ‘between
the worlds’. I use trance and sacred
dreaming to walk between the veil retrieving information, speaking to the old
ones or other such things that can be used on my earth walk or for others. I also have many teachers among the plant
kingdom, making me a herbalist, which I pass onto my charge. My practice is very traditional in some
ways. For instance, I believe a degree
should be a year and a day and to rush forward before you are ready can be
foolish. Also, I work within the cosmic
law, following the course of moon and sun for my spell crafting. However, there
are always exceptions to the rule. I believe that following the wheel opens you
up to the Old Ones, and it is they who reveal their mysteries and offer true
initiation. I think all hedge witches
practice in their own ways, and its something I encourage everyone to do. Follow the path that has already been laid at
your feet. Keep to the traditions and
when you are ready and know your stuff, follow your intuition and find your own
expression of the Craft.
E: I see on Facebook
that you’re very ecologically minded, tell us about that.
C: I’m very much a green witch, I believe we need to
reconnect with our microcosmic orbit and through this we are able with the
macrocosmic orbit. I help my sisters reconnect with mother earth, recycle their
waste, keep their impact to a minimum, raise pagans, celebrate the old holidays
and remember the old gods. Grow their food & herbs... and give thanks for
that which they take. I teach simple, old forgotten ways, but things that need
to be remembered.
My work and my spirituality are heavily linked. I live the
way of my craft; everything I do is in accordance with these rules. I care
about this planet we live on, I grow my herbs, I rescue animals, I birth my
children at home. My husband and I have been together 18 years, I performed our
first hand fasting after six months, and last year we got married, and the high
priestess Seline performed our hand fasting ritual at home, during Beltane, in
front of our family and very close friends.
As a healer I am of service to my patient. As a witch I am
of service to my family and mother earth. Now as a teacher I am of service to
my sisters. Dion Fortune has influenced me greatly.
E: I’m overjoyed at how much you are caring both for the
earth and others – if you could coin a Wiccan phrase or a sentence of your own
to guide you through that kind of work, what would it be?
C: “To be of service” to be of service to your gods and your family, be of service to the earth and her myriad of creatures. ‘To honour your work’, practice, be dedicated and patient, for this is the Great Work.
E: What is the gender
balance like in your grove? What kind of
work are you doing?
C: These days I attract more sisters than brothers who want
to learn from me. I am currently working on a workshop about ‘esoteric
acupuncture’. A way of activating meridians, chakras, qabbalsitic tree of life
and sacred geometry as well as helping people’s ascension process. I teach my sisters
the basics, but what I feel is the important stuff. How to break things down to
their basic parts, their elements, how these elements affect you and your body
and our planet. I also show them how I have raised my three pagan children, the
oldest being 17. These are all crucial to saving our mother earth.
On a personal level to silence my mind I utilize yoga,
pranayama breathing, diet and fasting, and treat the body as the ultimate tool
in spiritual practice and magic. I have strong Taoist roots. And Chinese
medicine with its use of elements and energetic systems of the body works in
great harmony with magic.
For me being a hedge witch at the present time, is just
walking my path and balancing my mundane world with my magical one. It doesn’t
always have to blend; at times it needs to be kept separate. That is what I am
trying to master in my life now....
The Goddess has come to me in vision and dreams many times
during this journey. She calls my name. At times the journeys she takes me on
are long, hard and involve much shadow work. I also work with the dying; I am
honoured to be part of the passages of birth and death. I am now devoted to the goddess Hekate and
have always felt her by my side. I connect with her as midwife, cutter of the
cords, keeper of the keys, shadow work and her canines.
E: I’ve always felt that the Requiem (or Wiccan funeral) is
the least talked about matter in the Craft.
Why do you think that is?
C: Personally,
thus far, I have not encountered this
issue. What I have found is the witches
I've spoken to have no fear of death and hold clear vision on
how they wish their Requiem to take place. We understand the cycle of life, and
that life continues after the body has died.
We know the art of giving birth, the art of living life and the art of dying.
In my home we get the opportunity to discuss and explore these issues in more
depth, when the year wanes and we approach the harvest festivals. Samhain offers the perfect opportunity to
discuss such things. A wonderful book I
recommend on the subject is Starhawk’s The Pagan Book of Living and Dying.
E: You were also a
part of the coven that I had left last year – can you tell us some more about
that experience and how that’s lead you to create your own grove?
C: I perform magick, but it’s something I keep to myself and
keep hidden. I was friendly with the sisters
that followed me out, but I was closer to others within the coven. Their
leaving was a complete surprise to me, in my mind I had left alone, and that is
how I stood for a week, but then it became a domino effect. I was actually
quite mortified, and this created a very messy ending unfortunately. I ended up leaving with several other sisters from that coven and soon found myself with sisters asking me to teach them!
I had a good long hard think about it and after talking with some wise council
decided I could do it as I was at a stage where I needed to share the knowledge
I had. I teach them to live the wheel of the year, celebrate the changing of
the seasons, celebrate each Sabbat, full moon and dark moon and through this learn
about the gods, their dance and their lessons. I also teach them about their bodies, magical
cooking, fasting and detoxing, how to raise pagan kids and basically just share
what my life has taught me so far. And
at 42 I do have some wisdom and knowledge worth sharing. Luckily I have some
wise elders who offer me good advice when I don’t have all the answers.
Soon after this, I got an email stating that the hedge
witches site on Meetup was going to close down if someone didn’t take over as
organizer. After consulting my sisters I decided to take it on but only with
their input and support, and so our grove was born and we decided to keep our
little coven closed between the three of us.
To be honest, I couldn’t take on any more into my home and life - it’s a
big commitment I have made to these 2 sisters, and I want to honour it and give
them my best. It’s a commitment I’ve made for one turn of the wheel.
E: That sounds both wise
and realistic, I like your approach.
C: Now the grove has an interesting twist to things, but I also
had three wise witches separately council me that my path was that of teacher:
it was time. So I thought I would
conduct open courses to the general public, introducing them to green
witchcraft ideals would be good for us, the community and mother earth. So far
we do an intro to witchcraft, candle making, tarot courses, gardening bee,
esoteric acupuncture, magickal food workshops and lots of fun projects to bring
paganism and hedgewitchery to the general public. I hope to make contacts with
those of the old traditions so that I may be able to direct seekers interested
in ceremonial magick, Gardnerian or Alexandrian traditions to the right paths.
I hope to network with the wider pagan community.
E: What advice would I
give inexperienced witches and those first starting out?
C: Firstly, you should always be empowered by the process, if
you are left feeling disempowered then move on.
The craft attracts a lot of people looking for answers. These answers are found within yourself. A good teacher should facilitate that sort of
learning in an empowering way.
I think the most valuable guidance IS the one you receive in
the very beginning: it sets you on your path and life’s journey. Having said that, I am always grateful to
learn new things and am very blessed to have some wonderful teachers appear
recently from friends, old and new but the impressionable beginnings can shape
a practitioner for the rest of their lives.
Don’t always believe what people tell you. There are many pitfalls within this practice,
and some can be quite dangerous. If
someone offers you an energetic diagnosis, make sure your reach out and get
another, and another. But if in the end
none of it sits right with you, then trust your intuition above all else.
A high priest or priestess from a coven should not charge
her initiates. This is not how a coven
should function. A grove is a different
matter entirely as students are paying for a service. A high priest/priestess may ask support with
ingredients, food, or others, but money should not exchange hands. Our belief
is that it is not ethical to derive an income or profit from what is to us part
of our service in the names of the Old Ones.
Enjoy the journey and not the final outcome. Just like food, there are many different
types of spiritual practice. Ask yourself: which do you prefer? The get there
quick programs that have you initiated within 8 weeks? Programs that lack all
substance but give you titles without the work? Kind of like fast food chains?
Or would you prefer to sit to a three course meal with just a few special
friends, enjoying and savouring every moment? Dining in some fine restaurant
where there may be a waiting time to get in, but the food is divine? Of course
you pay a higher price for this type of learning, for the challenges are
greater? Sometimes, fast and easy isn’t what is needed to help fill your
spiritual belly.
In this society we live, we want everything fast, we want it
now and we don’t want to work hard to get it. Now spiritual and magical
practices are treated in the same way. Homogenized and watered down to suit
everyone’s palate. Let me make something clear: if you decide to dedicate
yourself to the easy path, don’t expect much in return. It’s the hard path, the
one that requires hard work and honest dedication that gives the greatest
rewards. It’s not meant to be easy, it requires patience and practice. There is
a reason that a single degree usually takes a year and a day! Some things just
take time to learn. Enjoy the journey
and do not worry about the destination or the titles.
This easy style of initiations are usually run by those with
no direct experience with the divine, so when that connection is missing: what
is the driving force? Also, if you have not crossed that river how are you to
show others how to cross it? A high priestess is a connection with the divine,
a human face of the goddess... Not a facilitator, or an organizer or other
mundane meaning you wish to use. If you do not have the knowledge or experience
it takes to be a high priestess then do not take that title and instead call yourself
an organizer or just plain witch.
E: I agree, it’s a huge
title to take on. I really enjoy
organising for our sisters to meet up without all of the responsibility of
being a high priestess (for readers: our sisterhood is a general gathering of
friends rather than a coven and is completely separate to the grove). Just personally, I’m not interesting in a
hierarchy, however, in your situation you’re a leader and a teacher and I think
you’re marvellously brave for taking that on.
That takes real guts! There are
so many teachers out there who seem to skim information off the surface –
teaching is a hard thing to do.
C: Unfortunately it’s a reflection of the society we live in:
people skimming the surface of things, unaware of what is driving them, looking
to gratify their ego and titles... power trips and all sorts of traps any
beginner would fall into... to teach is a service... teachers are of service to
the seeker... and that act of generosity... the one where teacher gives freely,
is an act that reaps great rewards. But
it can only reap the rewards when given freely, both monetarily and
spiritually... the bond between teacher and student is karmically connected ...
how can you get the very best out of it and utilize it to its full potential
without trust? Love? Surrender? Can these be given after 8 weeks? How can a
high priestess connect with 15 neophytes and give the guidance they deserve,
with minimal interaction? Before joining
any coven ask yourself all these questions.
Traditionally you would spend a few months working and learning with the
group making sure your dynamic is right.
This is imperative before taking any vow before the Old Ones.
That’s some really
sound advice there. It’s hard for people
to have that outer perspective to make sure that that dynamic is right before
they settle on a coven. So many people
feel that they ought to be loyal to a coven the minute that they walk into it,
but you have to take a step back and think about whether that coven really
suits you or not – it’s a relationship of its own. Just like when you enter a romantic
relationship you have to ask yourself: does this serve me? If I have misgivings, what are they and why? Be really honest with yourself about whether
you have a healthy relationship with the coven that you’re entering. Cat your guidance here is wonderful for those
starting out in a coven and your path is fascinating. I hope our readers learn a lot and find new
inspiration from this interview.
Blessed Be,
)O( Elspeth.
