How to Treat Your Witchy Friends

~ well, this one anyway; I can’t speak for all ~

1. Please don’t give me jewellery!

Well, you can if it’s a brooch or a bracelet, or even earrings. But you’d best be cautious re things to hang around my neck.

My pendants and necklaces usually have some magical significance. They are crystals with particular properties ascribed to them, or symbols with some mystical associations for me. 

I won’t be offended if, in the kindness of your heart, you wish to give me a gift you think I’ll like. I’m sure to accept it politely, with every sign of gratitude. It’s just that I might not wear it – because there are only so many things I can wear around my neck at once, and things I use energetically will always have preference –  and I’ll be disappointed to disappoint you. 

Then again, I could use it as a pendulum! I can never have too many of  them around the house. (For 'yes' or 'no' answers to things I can't ascertain so quickly some other way.) Or I might turn it into an earring, or a set of earrings. Fine if it makes only one; I do wear odd earrings on purpose quite a lot.

That being said, most of my earrings and brooches have magical significance too. 

I choose my jewellery each day according to what I feel I need energetically at that particular time. I learned long ago to trust my intuition on this. I would let  myself be guided to a particular crystal, then check its reputed properties – and they always suited perfectly whatever my needs were at the time. (While I’ve done courses in both crystal healing and colour healing, and still have the notes to refer to if necessary, I don’t find it necessary when I select for myself.)

 

2. Do assume that I’ll like depictions of cats or dragons (even in jewellery, even around my neck).

Doesn’t everyone?

3. Don’t show me funny pics of witches with hooked noses, hunched backs, warts etc., and expect me to laugh heartily.

We get a bit sick of how we are portrayed – like cartoon characters, figures of fun to be mocked; and repulsively ugly, too.

3a. Pictures of very sexualised witches with flowy, semi-transparent  garments, long red nails and huge boobs, are only marginally better.

Surely I needn’t say more.

3b. Do realise that you can’t necessarily tell by looking who’s a witch and who isn’t. 

Many witches dress just the same as everyone else. 

Some non-witches like to dress up in outfits which might appear magical to some eyes, or even in their own – but they are just dressing up, not meaning to be taken perfectly seriously.

4. Don’t assume that the god Pan is equivalent to the Christian Devil.

The early Church coopted Pan for that role, not the other way about. He has his own stories, quite separate from any aspect of Christianity.

(Are there still people who think witches worship Satan? Nope! We actually don’t believe Satan exists. As far as I can discover without being personally involved – and with some help from AI – most contemporary Satanists do not believe in nor worship a literal devil. What they ‘worship’ is usually personal autonomy, reason, and self‑determination.  Most witches do not regard themselves as Satanists, indeed reject the very notion of a devil; and most Satanists do not regard themselves as witches – in fact, most are atheists.) 

5. Do treat the natural world with respect, even reverence. 

We witches do!

6. Do understand that, just as you may be suspicious of witchcraft and reluctant to engage with it closely, I may have great reservations about Christianity (and others of what witches call ‘the book religions’) and prefer to stay as aloof as I can manage in contemporary society.

This doesn’t mean I’m out to convert you, or push my ideas on you. Witches don’t do that!

‘To each their own’ – except when that threatens mine.

When it comes right down to it, I think God is God (even if I say Goddess) and that many different paths may equally lead there. I personally have love for both Jesus and Mary, and for Jesus’s teachings. It’s churchiness I object to.

7. Don’t ask me to do a spell to make someone love you. And don’t ask me to put a hex on anyone. 

I regard it as a very bad thing to try and interfere with anyone’s free will, in any way. (Unless they are seeking to do harm, in which case I would want to stop them if I could, preferably without harming them.)

By the same token, I don’t do ‘black magic.’

8. If you’re my friend and you have a problem in your life, do feel free to ask my help if you’d like to; perhaps I’ll have a way.

(That way may be to teach you a method you can use yourself.)

9. Don’t broadcast the fact that I’m a witch

 

… even if you know that some people already know; even if you think everyone knows, and even despite this public avowal here. There are still risks associated with such a disclosure, in some places, and some of them are serious.

Leave it up to me to make my own disclosures.

10. Do feel free to to wish me Happy Christmas (or even Happy Easter)!

There are Pagan festivals which happen at those times; I can make the substitution in my mind. I even join in Christmas dinner with friends or family when invited, as a celebration of our affection. In any case, I’m grateful for any and all wishes and prayers for my wellbeing; thank you!