A Witch is for life, not just for Halloween

 

'They say that if you know a witch in depth, never again you will be the same because she will teach you to love yourself and to love everything that exists on this earth. If you are a witch, you are light, shining in all darkness, you are a legacy, a teaching for others because from the deepness of your being you spill love. I bow and honour the most profound of your being...’ – Rosa Miriam

  So many of us shy away from the 'darkness' of the witch, seeing her in the scary way that all the spooky stories have made her out to be for decades. Her fearful myth has us terrified of the witch as an ugly, old hag or a symbol of evil — leaving us only really embracing her magic at Halloween. As we don our witch’s hat and broomstick for fun, what if the witch was a healing remedy for us — and one that wasn’t just meant for Halloween?   The witch as a healing remedy A few years ago, I began to journey with the witch as a healing archetypal remedy — which could also be described as a personality profile and energy remedy for our deep self-discovery and self - illumination. At the time, I had been hiding the ‘witchier’ aspects of myself, and I remember admitting to a guide of mine for the first time that ‘I think I’m a witch’. The next thing I knew, my house set on fire, as if confirming that this remedy of the witch was indeed working her magic. An archetype is a universal symbol — and when worked with as a personality profile — or as a mirror for aspects of us that we have shoved down, we can create profound healing for aspects of ourselves that we have maybe shamed, feared, denied and outcast. We often do this in an attempt to stay safe and loved, and I call women who hide this part of themselves ‘secret witches’ for this reason. As I dived into exploration, I discovered that I had shamed and hidden my inner witch, and her secret gifts, in order to keep the world’s approval. She was actually a vital part of my self-expression in this world to create deep healing, for both myself and others. The archetype of the witch offers us a powerful mirror for our inner feminine power, magic and authentic expression. She represents to our culture the fear of our truth, magic and power, and she can help us heal and reclaim these aspects of ourselves.   How does the ‘secret witch’ show up? These are all ‘symptoms’ of being called to work with the witch to heal your ‘secret witch’ and reclaim your true, powerful, unapologetically magical full expression, so that you can live your destiny: ● Feeling like you can’t express the ‘real’ you ● Feeling yourself to be an empath who picks up on the energies of others ● Experiencing a deep emotional sensitivity, which may express itself as rage or sadness ● Struggling to fit into the ‘normal’, mundane world ● Feeling like an old soul who was born in the wrong time ● Doubting your creative power ● People-pleasing, or struggling to set boundaries ● Saying ‘yes’ when you mean ‘no’ ● Experiencing mysterious physical health challenges, such as burn-out, exhaustion or fatigue, or challenges related to the menstrual cycle ● Sensing that you’re here to gain wisdom and help others ● Experiencing other-worldly things that you can’t explain ● Feeling a secret call to all things magical, such as moon magic, herbs, energy healing, mediumship, or divination, but not embracing them in case people think you’re ‘weird’ If you relate strongly to the list above, it may mean that the witch is not just for Halloween for you, but for this lifetime – and maybe beyond! It’s likely we will feel fear when we first realise this. That makes perfect sense, because this is what we’ve been conditioned to think that the witch is all about black magic, and is to be feared – which is what has us shutting down our magic, power and truth in the first place. Fear is how archetypal remedies begin to heal us, if we allow them to. The main principle of healing that underlies archetypal remedies is similia similibus – ‘like cures like’. Fear and shame of the witch can be cured by working with her as an energetic remedy: by getting honest with ourselves about where we don’t embody our feminine power, and where we deny our magic and suppress our truth in order not to be chased out the village with pitchforks. This helps us get up close and intimate with our fear of not being able to be our true selves, and helps us love these parts of ourselves.   Faces of the witch Over the years, I’ve come to see that there are different ‘faces’ of the witch that can be used for healing. Two of those faces that are especially important are the Creatrix, a powerful manifestor of her own life, and Medicine Woman, an amazing healer in service to the world. We can begin to reclaim our creative expression and healing powers by working with these aspects for self-expression and opening to our gifts. Through this alchemy, we can become the powerful, magical creatrixes of our own lives and live our authentic expression and destiny as healers. I’ve also seen how as we allow ourselves to love, welcome and embody the witch as an archetypal energy, we begin to access her self-healing powers. I came to see that once we’ve activated this aspect of ourselves, we have the tools to access our own ‘inner apothecary’ of archetypal remedies to help us reclaim our inner magic and create lives we love — from Halloween and beyond.   Witch Healing Ritual Here’s a self-healing ritual for you to try this Halloween to begin the journey of reclaiming your witch. 1. The Samhain new moon is the perfect time to begin to connect with our inner magic, so firstly, I invite you to carve out half an hour to create space for your inner witch amongst the calls of everyday life – a challenge that can often be very real for secret witches. 2. Set up your sacred ritual space by grabbing some cosy blankets, lighting some candles and incense, allowing yourself to get unapologetically magical and bringing in all your favourite symbolic ‘witchy’ things. 3. Grab your journal and reflect on the following: ● Where do you relate to the symptoms of the secret witch discussed above? ● What witchy aspects of yourself have you suppressed? ● Why do you sense you have suppressed your inner witch? ● What are the underlying fears that arise as you think about owning your inner witch? ● Can you love yourself despite these fears? ● What’s in your heart about cultivating a relationship with this part of you? Is this something you will choose? 4. Contemplate one intention to take forward with you around opening to your inner witch and speak this out aloud to the new moon. Remember, this is just the beginning. Notice if anything is revealed to you over the coming weeks about aligned actions to take next, or any fear that might be revealed. This is showing you where your deeper healing is. Happy Halloween, magical ones.   To read more of Nicoles articles click here, and her website can be found here.