#heling

Recently On two separate occasions, i have been approached online by fellow practitioners who wanted to know my experience being a practicing Witch and modern cunning person while being treated for and living with mental illness.

firstly It is not easy, i often go through periods of time where i cant bring myself to practice. it took me three years to get back to my spirits and my craft. All through covid season I found myself unable to connect ( without saying too much, my Covid living situation was less than ideal, and completely retraumatizing) I felt powerless and therefore i was.

I was thankful for my amazing therapist and our weekly sessions via Skype, it was therapy and a strong support system that got me through the lockdown. But i was lost without my magic and the spirits that i have come to get to know.

it wasn't until this year that I started to connect again. stepping back into my personal power as a person, and as a Witch. My Witchcraft demands that I rise when i fall, My spirits demand that I always try again. you can call it ataraxia, apotheosis, or self-individuation but that seems to be what i strive for. never letting myself stagnate, stagnation like my avoidant coping isn't living, it's more like a living death.

I for one would like to live as much as i can, experience as much as i can, learn as much as i am able, and accomplish things i have always wanted to accomplish. my Sever Dissociative disorder has hindered much of my life and now at 31 years old im finishing my associate's degree, and looking forward to my BA program and in the future grad school ( for a MA in clinical psychology).

Witches don't bow, we don't surrender, and our Will and Desire is made manifest by our work and arte. no one is a fault for enduring trauma and mental illness we are all innocent, however, all people are responsible for the healing of that trauma, and for Witches, mystics, cunning folk, etc that work is a must, it connects us to our will. As people and as Witches We must always become.

And yes, its easier said than done. but nothing worth doing is easy , magic itself is not an easy task. But for us to have honest spiritual experiences those of us who experience mental illness must work toward healing, it is important. now read what i said, we must work towards healing, not be healed. in my opinion, the journey seems far more important than the destination. ever moving to self-betterment as much as one is able.

That is how i practice magic and live with mental illness, with empathetic and compassionate radical self-honesty. therapy, magic, and spirit work. This is not a perfect process healing is not linear,  "healing isn't a task, it's a practice"

Untitled ("When the heart is cut")

When the heart

Is cut or cracked or broken,

Do not clutch it;

Let the wound lie open.

Let the wind

From the good old sea blow in

To bathe the wound with salt,

And let it sting.

Let a stray dog lick it,

Let a bird lean in the hole and sing

A simple song like a tiny bell,

And let it ring.

- Michael Leunig

this reminds of Berry's "I rest in the grace of the world, and am free" and Wilbur's "Love calls us to the things of this world."

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