Witch

Everyone loves a witch till she tells the truth

Wee SA trigger warning in this post <3

Since a cousin visiting from Zim put the first Harry Potter book in my 9 year old hand, I have always identified with the idea of being a witch .

In a few words, a witch isn’t a warty and creepy woman. She’s maybe a little odd, but she was also critical of the status quo, she cares for anyone and every creature and tries to see beauty in everything. She’s flawed, and believes in vulnerability, and healing, and power. She is also someone who is either sought out , or othered because of her beliefs and values. She doesn’t have to be wiccan, or dance naked outside under a full moon. She also doesn’t even have to be a woman.

Saguaro National Park

During Halloween season, the caricature and depiction of a witch is popular. We don pointy hats , boots , we pretend to ride brooms and decorate with cauldrons. Everyone loves the witch. Until she shows us parts of ourselves we did not want to face. Every single time I’ve been othered in my life it has been because folks have been uncomfortable with the truth I was asking us to face. At 16, the youth pastor in my church gripped my thighs and tried to run them up my legs and asked me if I liked what he was was doing. Shocked, I was able to run away to safety. And when I told the truth. I was othered by all the adults in the congregation. “You must have misheard him” , “You must not have understood”. I had grown up in this church and they had known me my whole life. They chose the easier route. I left the church, and several years it came out later that he had been doing it to other young girls for years. But that has always been the pattern for me, and other women, when we share our truths.

Truth is hard, and uncomfortable. But it is freeing. To live in fear of the truth is suffocating, and stifles growth, and without growth there is death. And I don’t know about ya’ll, but I am trying to live. So for every painful experience where I am othered, for being my authentic self. I lean on the idea of being a witch. Someone who moves with love. Who stands up for what she believes in. Who takes no shit. Who can take a few ingredients and in her heavy bottomed cast iron pot make something that can nourish herself and those who want to sit around her fire. People may try to burn you with the flames of their insecurities, but if you are sure of your substance, you can work to repel them.

So in the wake of this election results, with everything we are feeling. I encourage my fellow witches. Stoke your fires, make yourself a nourishing drink or food. Do not let the flames of those who would other you with their insecurities scorch your feet. Stand in your truth.

Rootin Tootingly yours

Farai