Who are you and what are you?: Personal styles of the craft

The power, the energy that ebbs and flows from inside of you and emanates from your pores is in many ways like a thumb-print. Your style of practice is all about you and should never be a copy of another witch.  How you practice your craft, for most witches, is entwined with your identity as a person and laced with elements from your own personal style, your favorites of life and a sheer YOUness.  



Recently, my friend Fox decided to begin to take up her craft again.  She and I had worked together in a circle since we were kids, since we were neo-wiccans.  She met me, an already practicing witch and we began to learn together, experience life and became best friends pretty quickly.  

She took a hiatus from the craft a few years ago while she dealt with the mundane aspects of her life and focused on her child (my goddaughter).  She's been in a serious mode of transformation over the last few months and part of her transitioning period involves getting to really know who she is as a person, as a mother, as a friend and as a witch.  She's learning how to meld all aspects of her life cohesively and is making some healthy decisions about herself.  



I was inspired to write this entry today after having a nice chat about how her life is going as a lone practitioner and we discussed something that really caught my attention: the importance of personal style. 



Personal style in your every day life has everything to do with the way you orient your style in witchcraft I assume (though who really knows?).  The little things speak as loudly as words and actions, because they are the details that fascinate the onlooker.  

I should think my style as a witch is obvious by this point in my blog lol.  I have a penchant for the color green.  I associate almost everything I do with flowers and plants and always involve flora in my work, no matter what the hell I'm doing, and even decorate my cunning book pages in flora.  I like the look of handmade wares, especially woodworking.  I can be intense in my opinions which reflects my intensity in the craft.  My personal style is floral, herbal, wood laden and earthy.  

That's how my energy is too.  It's intensely oriented towards green growing things, sunlight, sexual symbolism (my yoni obsession) and for those who know me better, know that deadly and darker things, poisons, banes and baleful herbs are also a huge part of my style (my sister will remember this well lol).  As a witch and in every day life, I am someone who appreciates the use of the strange, the decrepit, the simple and the antique.  That's my style and it changes like a mood-ring (my Libra indecisiveness).  You can see ME in my craft and no one else in the world is just like me.



Again, my friend Fox is at this crossroads (no pun intended as she is a devotee to Ekati), and is trying to figure out her weaknesses, her strengths, her true interests, the stamp of her power and best ways she can be at full potential.  I think when you're reevaluating your  life, it's important to observe every option as if it were a possibility. 

My advice to her and to anyone struggling with their own personal style is to start at ground zero and work your way out.

Example:  I can only do a personal example and I'd love for people to tell me about your own personal style as a witch!

• I like hand-painted antique porcelain plates, so I use them as altar offering plates, or, I also love gourds, engraved brass bowls and wood.  I don't like a lot of metals and I really don't care for glass.  Sometimes, I use shells and hollow geodes.

• I tend to involve flowers in everything I do or plants- I draw power from their presence.

• I like to make ritual circles (not wiccan-style circles mind you but an actual physical ring) with candles and ivy or any vine plant.  I dig the look of fire (passionate power) linked with vines which are vehicles of earth and water and have energies related to connectedness, growth, protection (bindweed has this in spades) and intuition.

• My interests lie in intuitive energies, connecting to the otherworld by way of the natural world, and sexual energy.  These things don't define my craft but are some of my main interests. 

•  My personality as a witch is wrapped up in beauty, art, freedom and inspiration (wisdom) so what I do and the objects around me reflect that magic- my woodworking, my collection of the strange and beautiful, sexual symbolism (like my Yoni mother, Aphrodite and phallic symbols), my tendency (which was pointed out to me by a reader a few weeks ago) to work with herbs that are almost always associated with lust, aphrodisiacs, intuition and the spirits.  Sex and Spirits- primal actions of life mixed with the ever looming presence of death.

• Natural and simple- hand dyed simple cotton cloths instead of ornate decorative cloths.  Plain yoni mother instead of embellished Gaia.  Wood rather than metal, handmade paper rather than processed, organs, blood and bone rather than symbols of those things.  

• I change depending on the season.  In spring, I am all about sun and soft colored flowers, in summer I'm all about shells, sand, salt and tall grass, in fall I am all about foods, harvest, bones and fur, and in winter my life is decorated in wood, vines, thorns and soil.  The way I practice doesn't really change, but the setting simply MUST.  It's a part of my growth, my devotions and myself.

That's just MY style- it doesn't mean it's right, wrong or the only one, these are simply my own preferences.  Some witches love, crave and need the direct opposite of my own style, and that's how it should be.  You'll never feel your own power and energy if you're spending your time copying someone else.  Learn and gather inspiration from any and every source, but own who you are and make your style all your own.



I'm not sure if any of this was helpful, but I thought I'd talk about it.  I'm hoping my friend Fox will begin taking notice and making notes on what it is her style is and could be.  She's been making a lot of progress and every time I see her, she's a little more focused on the direction she wants to go.  I don't know if I'm a very helpful person or not lol so I'd love if others (looking at YOU Danni) can share some of your personal style too!!