Today I was interviewed for a season 2 of Luna Soul that is being launched on March 3rd called The Underground Spirituality of the PNW. They can also be found easily on Facebook. Things are fresh on my mind from going over the conversation we had as well as some of the other memories it brought up when being asked some of these question.
It reminds me of who I am and how I got to where I was.
Being able to practice openly allows for more acceptance in other aspects of life and culture, since witch is synonymous with the marginalized and the reclamation of the disempowered.
Before the podcast I was provided some topics that may be asked and they had to do with my practice, DNA, ancestry and such. Another thing I realized is how much I don’t like to share specific details of my practice, that it is coveted in some way or I will be judged for how simple, yet powerful something can be. I think as a solitary practitioner, it is common to not exactly share details because that is the day to day experience as a private practitioner.
One thing that I really miss is traveling for both ancestral and magickal purpose. I have a kiddo and run my businesses and really don’t have the ability to travel. I really wish I had the funds to do so, but when I was living in Berlin, Germany it really was much more affordable to take a quick weekend-week trip on something as frivolous as a sacred site self-guided tour through West Ireland.
Now I’m adulting, almost 42 and am working myself to the pandemic bone to keep my retail business afloat. I can barely get away to even go on a hike. I’m locked away in this pandemic-complex world with hardly any desire to socialize and sometimes even put on real pants.
I have sat here countless times thinking of what I need to find my writing voice again.. but I just haven’t been able to even think anyone is listening.
So, what have I been doing magically?
I practice lots of herbal witchcraft, because I am a serious plant person. The plants get all my money. I like to think my garden is epic, but it is always a work in progress and I find myself struggling with these poor plants indoors in their PNW grey light.
Also… tons of Ancestry. I also have found it to be somehow soothing on my time off. It is like history, gamifying, and part sleuthing to discover all sorts of things. This can become a magickal practice when you can’t find the answers and you have to just dig deeper.
Since I have mostly non-indigenous ancestry, I think it is important to talk about my perspective. I pass as 100% white, was raised as such, and claim no knowledge of what it would have been like to be raised otherwise which gives me a very specific and privellged view into my ancestry.
My families practice (outside of known religious dogma) is completely disconnected from what I wish I knew, but I have been able to piece the stories and understand some of the practices myself. I have connected with what I feel to be the most intuitive people in my ancestral lineage and have focused on them specifically for answers. I’ve found a few definite Welsh and Scottish witches that I ran across but they didn’t seem to chatty or keen on my working with them.
My somewhat recently passed grandfather was a water witch in Kansas during the dust bowl. He was very religious and came out as gay just as he was diagnosed with Alzheimers. I do work with him on occasion but even after his passing he still feel quite religious and doesn’t really connect on those things. I think he prefers to check in on our cute little kiddo running around and leaving gifts to her ancestors on the altar.
On both sides of my parents lineage I have found English, Scottish, Irish, and French royalty which were responsible for much of the religious hatred and control over many cultures and of course witches. Not the best place to energetically visit.
I have also found many more things including just a few… Vikings, Grand Masters of Scottish Free Masonry, as well as some of the early American settlers, and that would begin the connection with the Indigenous lineage here.
Have you ever traveled to your ancestral homeland(s) to connect with the energies and the spirits there?
I have fond memories of some time in Scotland, Ireland, England, and Germany to try and connect with the land there and the flavor of the magic. The Fae are really interesting there. I’ve spoken about this some more on a podcast about the Fae connection being similar here to that of Ireland because of our forests on Oregon (Real Witches of the End Times – Episode 16).
I had a really interesting run in with a Leprechaun in Kilkenny, Ireland and had to do a double take. Mischievous for sure! Then there were some experiences in the stone circles in some random pasture where some of the most powerful moments I have had just connecting and taking a quiet moment for myself. Visiting the Portal Tombs and Dolmens while navigating the back roads of Cork County via Ogham markings, or getting naked where the water meets the earth at the cliffs of Moher (It was completely empty at the time somehow) . I have had some “guardian spirits” come back with me from some of these travels.
I am connected to Cherokee (most early American settlers are), Powhatan (yes Pocahontas is my cousin and is in my family tree), and the Lenape. Unfortunately, I have had no exposure to any of these tribal and spiritual teachings other than what I have gleaned from trance work and readings on the tribes and their stories I have found. I have also felt a deep connection with different tribes in the places that I have lived or traveled, and I have taken moments to connect in ritual with these spirits.I remember the most intense experience was when I went to Chaco Canyon and went on a dusk hike. I did a small ritual to connect with my ancestors and thank them for allowing me on their sacred land and to somehow let me hear what I needed to know. I turned around to watch the sun go back behind the rocks and there were people everywhere, standing, watching me walk away and giving me a sense of support and recognition I needed to feel welcome. I was both in awe and really moved by the experience. Those goose bumps came on strong, the light was just right, and there was a scent of sagebrush in the desert air. I know that different tribes are not the same people but they have shared a common land and common early ancestors. This place, Chaco Canyon is known as a gathering place where all tribes were welcome and is quite a magickal place to visit, so it was a very special moment for me indeed.
Chaco Canyon, the last hike. Photo Credit: Erika Fortner
I have plans to travel more, but it just isn’t happening anytime soon.
So all that in mind, what can I do from home or in my backyard? I work with the sprits of the land just in that little patch of grass in the back. And of course, I connect with the more recent ancestors I work with on my altar.
But one might ask… how do I connect with these spirits if I don’t have any training to do so?
Intuition.
Hone that shit.
We are not talking about the “I feel… so I know” kind of scenario, but double checking and really trusting the things you do know and removing your ego out of the way to see what more there is to learn in the moment. Meditate and use trance to walk in that grey space. This can take many years of practice. Divination is another great way to practice this, but really getting good at it takes a certain amount of discernment. I think people can be naturally good at it, but it is also human nature to lie to ourselves and others… and just interpret what we want things to be or most fear them to be.
I feel like the connection to the land, the spirits, and the plants really offer more than what people realize. By connecting with the land you are on, the energies of the plants, nature spirits, ancestral sprits, and the spirits of the people that came before (not related to you) will only help support both your magickal practice and humility required to really walk your path with open eyes. If you are connected to all of those things, that information is there if you listen to and will show up when you need it.
That brings me to the story about working with one of my ancestors and how I used intuition, divination, and gamifying Ancestry to find out more information about her.
In the last few years, I have found a direct connection to my Lenape (Turtle Clan) ancestors, and it happened by happenstance through a photograph. It said her family was from England, but the picture was obviously not of an English woman. (I have heard these types of stories from others where these things were hidden). I worked with my grandmother, Hannah, quite a bit last year to help discover and tell her story. Upon further investigation of facts and trance work with my ancestor, I have found her mother Sarah, who was a prominent figure in that area and there was an entire book written on her life as the last of the Lenape. That is incorrect that she was the last Lenape, but there was such a release to read this story. I feel like Hannah’s story was so important to reveal and really important to the healing that needed to happen for that lineage. I found that her mother was also an Aries, traveled around healing people with herbs, making brooms, and telling fortunes.
WTF. Full Circle!
It was the final push to get me to make those brooms I have always wanted to make but felt like I had no connection with such things. I do not know how the Lenape made their brooms, told fortunes, or what herbs they focused on, but I do know that I have embraced that path of plants and divination for many years. I also have ben studying some Lenape textiles and pouches for inspiration. I found a quote that sums up her vibe.
“After trying out a broom made by a white person she said disgustedly “Pooh, Pooh, just like hen scratches”.”
I am also working with the Lenape Heritage society to reconnect the history with the dates and evidence that I have uncovered. I don’t believe I would have found this without the deep ancestral work I had been doing the last few years.
Photo Credit: Erika Fortner
I have had many of these little moments in my life, but I do miss them.
It happened when I visited the Appalachian mountains for the first time, spending time on family land in the high desert of Anza, California, or just walking the streets of Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk on all the amazing places I have managed to visit and have a personal experience with.
Maybe next time you do get to travel… if the world gets back to normal, keep in mind those special moments you may have, that can bring so many things together or just be quick little connections to the spirits that roam the area. They will really change the way you practice magick.
-
Today I was interviewed for a season 2 of Luna Soul that is being launched on March 3rd called The Underground Spirituality of the PNW. They can also be found easily on Facebook. Things are fresh on my mind from going over the conversation we had as well as some of the other memories it […] -
Today I was interviewed for a season 2 of Luna Soul that is being launched on March 3rd called The Underground Spirituality of the PNW. They can also be found easily on Facebook. Things are fresh on my mind from going over the conversation we had as well as some of the other memories it […] -
Today I was interviewed for a season 2 of Luna Soul that is being launched on March 3rd called The Underground Spirituality of the PNW. They can also be found easily on Facebook. Things are fresh on my mind from going over the conversation we had as well as some of the other memories it […] -
“All that fire, all that pain.
Perhaps the visit from my ex through this thinning veil was more about me than them not being able to move on? I had to do some serious inventory here and allow the crystals and trance-like state to bring up these feelings to even expose them. I needed help getting rid of them because my growth as a partner will depend on it.
Once I had identified this pain, I noticed it sitting on my heart, like a scar. It felt foreign and not meant to be there. I asked Santa Muerte to help me, in which she confirmed simply as pain. I asked her to take it from me and she willingly did.
I then energetically removed my old skin, and handed it off to her to throw onto the pile to burn.
I invite you to do the same.”
New writing today for a full moon ritual by yours truly, Erika Fortner of #thehouseoftwigs Q. Meb – Queen Meb and Keven Craft Rituals – ‘Kəvən
Chiron, Saturn, and Mars; A Ritual to Shed Your Skin with the Full Moon
-
Today I was interviewed for a season 2 of Luna Soul that is being launched on March 3rd called The Underground Spirituality of the PNW. They can also be found easily on Facebook. Things are fresh on my mind from going over the conversation we had as well as some of the other memories it […]
NO COMMENT