Sunday, November 05, 2006

A wonderful book came to me

Bright Blessings Be!

As I have traveled through my life and through my studies, I have found that I have met great people of faith, of Wiccan and Pagan and Christian, practicing Craft or just curious about the Craft. From time to time I have met resistance and not just from Christian friends who have noticed that my library leans heavily on the occult, but from Craft friends who say I cannot practice Craft and be Christian. One of these friends who expressed doubts, but does not hesitate to call me when she needs advice, called me about a month ago and said that I should get this little book called The Hex and Spell Craft of the Pennsylvania Dutch. I meant to get it, but then Celeste, my circle leader died and I started a temp job and I completely forgot about it when I saw it on Amazon.com. I went on and ahead and ordered it and when it came in, I immediately devoured it. For a long time I wanted to find a book that very closely resembled or explained what I did as a witch, and though I still lean heavily on the Wiccan side of things like ritual and symbol, this book explained so much about what I believed in as a Christian and a worker of the Craft.

The book also delved into the magical practices of my Appalachian culture, and there are tons of magical spells and rituals in my culture that I have been collecting for years. This sort of magic is loosely referred to as Pow Wow and mixes some Native American Practices with Appalachian, sort of a non-Catholic, Protestant Appalachian Hoo Doo. It is mostly cures and herbs and prayers but there are also some spells and castings and other magical rituals one would be accustomed to.

This form of magic is practiced by the plain people, the Mennonites, Amish and the Lutheran brethren and there are some who say that they look at the hexes and the spellcraft with embarrassment because they are condemned as superstitious. This is not true because witches are not superstitious and they are not given to practicing superstition. They are practical people who wish to be of help and are in tune with the world of nature.

While I needed no book to vindicate me and my beliefs and practices, I feel as though a friend has been taught that there is a wide world of magics and an even wider world of witches tan she has ever imagined.

Merry Meet, Merry Met, Merry Meet Again.....

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

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