This episode is going to be somewhat different- it was recorded live, in a variety of spaces, at Anahata's Purpose. So the sound quality isn't what I'd call exceptional. The content, however, is just as great as ever- a variety of people from all over the US (plus one friend of the maple persuasion in a later episode) answered the questions about choice, and told a story or two. These are just the snack-sized questions. Be sure to catch the longer interviews about Anahata's Purpose, similar to my AP 2021 episode last year, later on. As usual, it was filled with both laughter and tears.
anahataspurpose.com
Snack Size 6.
Anahata's Purpose 1
Welcome back to Your Average Witch, where we talk about witch life, witch stories, and sometimes a little witchcraft. This is the Snacksized Edition. This episode is going to be somewhat different. It was recorded live and in person in a variety of spaces at Anahata's Purpose, so the sound quality is not what I'd call exceptional. The content, however, is just as great as ever, a variety of people from all over the US, plus one friend of the Maple persuasion in a later episode, answered the questions about choice and told a story or two. These are just the Snacksized questions. Be sure to catch the longer interviews about Anahata's Purpose itself. Similar to my Anahata's Purpose episode in 2021, last year, later on. As usual, it was filled with both laughter and tears. First up, I talked to an Anahata's first timer named Bonnie. The way I introduced myself to Bonnie was to walk into her cabin and announce that she's in my bed. She was in the same cabin and bed that I was in last year. And luckily, she thought it was funny and she agreed to an impromptu interview. Here's what she had to say.
Kim: First off, can you tell me if you believe that being a witch is a choice?
Bonnie: I believe that we choose to follow the pull or not. I don't feel like, I feel like for a long time before I identified myself as a witch, I probably was already using small practices, but I didn't want to view myself in that lens potentially.
Kim: So is it a choice?
Bonnie: I think we choose to walk down the path.
Kim: Do you think practicing witchcraft is a choice?
Bonnie: I do. Because you can deny that in yourself, even if you feel called to it.
Kim: Can you not do it? You, you?
Bonnie: Probably not. *laughs*
Kim: So for you, it's not a choice.
Bonnie: Probably not.
Kim: I don't know why I'm so obsessed with hearing everyone say that. But I'm realizing here that I am like, "You're goddamn right you can't stop. You're goddamn right. You can't stop. You'll be with us forever."
Bonnie: I feel like it is ingrained enough in my daily processes that it would be hard to pick those things out and change my direction at this point.
Kim: Thanks, Bonnie. For the interview, the insight, and for having grace about letting me abruptly walk into your cabin. Next we hear from Adorée. Adorée had been to the mini-retreat put together by Rachel, the founder of Anahata's Purpose earlier in the year, and it happened on the same grounds. She had not been to the full event, though. I also already know Adorée because she is a patron of mine, so we interact semi-frequently on Marco Polo.
Kim: Would you please tell me if you think being a witch is a choice?
Adorée: I do. I think that it's a choice to do the research, to even find out what, I even hesitate to say modern witch, but just what's involved, what your talents are, what your skills are. Yeah, I think it absolutely is a choice.
Kim: Do you think practicing witchcraft is a choice?
Adorée: Yes. I think, again, there's probably innate skills that some people would call being witchy. That if you don't even realize that's what you're doing, you may be, you know, say reading energy, or just all of that different, you may be doing that without even realizing it. So, to some of those, those natural, no, it's not a choice, but to, again, just to make the decision to learn and try and try new things and learn from the mistakes you make. That's absolutely a choice.
Kim: Just want to point out to people who just heard a bunch of weird sounds that we're still at Anahata's, and that was the rhythmatrix, RhythmetriX Trauma class that you hear right now as I'm speaking. It's drumming. It's awesome. Come do it. Please tell me the story of a spell that you've done that worked out great, or terribly, or...
Adorée: I haven't actually done much spell work at this point. I'm very new to even considering witchcraft. I do have a spell bowl, money bowl going right now, and interestingly... Well, I actually wouldn't even say I wasn't focusing specifically on money. It was abundance. I was trying to draw abundance. Now, whether that takes the form of money, or joy, or experiences... That was what I wanted to be open to. And being here at Anahata's, I think that's definitely that willingness to be open and draw that abundance. I think it's definitely been working.
Kim: Mhmmm.
Kim: I love that Adorée's spell actually helped bring her to Anahata's and sort of self-actualized as Anahata's. Thank you again, Adorée. When I talked to Lisa, who I met the year prior, when we both attended Anahata's purpose in 2021, we got to know each other a little bit better over Marco over the past year, but this was actually the first time that I got to sit down and talk with her one-on-one. The audio is a little bit... Tetchy on this one, but I promise it's worth listening to. Plus the extra little festival noises, I feel add, ambiance.
Kim: So do you feel like being a witch is a choice?
Lisa: I honestly don't think it's a choice. I think it's something that you've known all along. You just don't fit in with anything else virtually. You don't fit in. Nothing else makes sense. And then once you start learning it, you're like, oh, this is what I've been missing, this is what I've been getting called to. I'm at home, finally.
Kim: Do you feel like practicing witchcraft is a choice?
Lisa: Yes.
Kim: Can you stop doing it? No.
Lisa: So it's not a choice for you.
Kim: It is not a choice for me, either.
Lisa: It has helped me work through so much trauma. Like I can't go back.
Kim: And do you have a spell story to tell?
Lisa: So it might be because I was trying to do too many at once, but I was trying to do like money, prosperity, increase love, cut out toxic people. So I had all the different colored candles and oils and herbs and all this stuff. It went really well. Everything burned for a couple hours. And I had it set up in my living room and everything. And then my son, one of my sons, he's like, "Mom, do you want me to put that out?" "No, I don't want you to put it out. It needs to stay." "Okay, well, it's getting big." I'm like, "Oh, it's fine. It's fine."
And then like 30 minutes later, it had engulfed the entire tray of like, I guess, a flame got to the oil, and then to the herbs that all mixed together, and it was a huge fire. And I'm like, okay, okay, we can contain this. It's fine. I have it on like a metal tray. It's not going to go anywhere. And I had it sitting on an old antique box, storage box that I bought. It was like made back in the 40s and it was in amazing condition. And my daughter's blanket underneath it. Oh, it melted through her blanket and a big huge spot ruined on the antique box. And it got so big, I had to take it outside and I couldn't get the fire out. And I burnt part of the railing on the front porch. And I I'm like oh, fuck. So I'm going to do those outside from now on and maybe stay so one spell at a time. It was like super excited, overexcited, overambitious.
Kim: Did it work?
Lisa: No.
Kim: Oh, no!
Lisa: I think with all of it happening, I lost my intention focus. So it's like, I just like...
Kim: Just don't burn the house down suddenly. Success!
Lisa: Yes. That's it. And my husband's like, if it catches fire, just leave the house for like 20 minutes before you call the fire department, that way we can get our full internet from the house. And I'm like, you got to be kidding me. "What burned your house down? Witchcraft!"
Kim: "Someone put a curse on me."
Kim: Thank you again, Lisa, for sharing those thoughts with me. I love hearing how we are all learning and taking from this experience to grow within ourselves. I'm also super glad you didn't have to make any sort of insurance report. Next I talked with Jamie. I met Jamie's partner, Lisa (not the one who I just interviewed) last year and we briefly interacted on Marco, but I didn't, and honestly still feel like I don't, know her that well. And she's agreed to come on the show as a regular interview. So be sure to watch for that later on in the future. I found Jamie's interview and responses especially interesting because he's just starting out on this process, and doesn't, yet, parentheses, consider himself to be a witch.
Kim: Can you tell me if you think being a witch is a choice and explain why you think so?
Jamie: I think being a witch is a choice just because everything is a choice in life. People can choose to do something or not to do something. Nothing is set in stone. But if you feel called to something, it'll seem like less of a choice I think. It'll just seem more natural and that is the way that you should be.
Kim: Also, I forgot to say this part. Do you consider yourself to be a witch?
Jamie: I don't yet. I think I might eventually but I don't yet.
Kim: And that's important for this particular conversation because... I interview witches.
Jamie: Of course.
Kim: So for everybody listening, that's why some of these particular questions might turn out differently than we're used to. Do you think doing witchcraft is a choice?
Jamie: No. I think... witch... I mean, everything is a choice, but I don't know. I think witchcraft is such a more prolific thing than what some people may think of it, in my mind, as an outsider looking in. I think there's sometimes some things I do to try to protect myself or try to do something to give good energy, and I think a lot of people do it, but they don't realize it, and it's just acts that they do that is their own little thing. But I think it really is witchcraft, to a certain degree. But people just don't want to agree with it. So my mother-in-law, who is Catholic and very, not super devout Catholic, but very much into Catholicism.
Lisa likes to say that she is actually a green witch in hiding or something like that because she loves growing plants and she has all these witchy herbs and things around the house, and all this stuff that she's really into, and really just neat things that she does, that she doesn't think is that sort of thing. But really, if you look at it, it's just a way that you're dealing with something that makes you happy that's helping you, and she just doesn't call it that. But I think it is. I think it just is. You're going to gravitate towards those practices that you want to do.
Kim: Have you done any spells?
Jamie:
I don't think so. I've maybe done some mantras or some little things to me, but I wouldn't say that I've done anything that I would consider a spell as of yet. Kim: Okay.
I really love the insight Jamie brought to the longer interview about Anahata's itself, which will come out later this year. Thank you again, Jamie, for talking to me. It was really nice to meet you. After Jamie, I talked with Ruth. Ruth was actually one of my cabin mates last year. She was in the bunk directly across from me on the bottom bunk. I think she's actually the one I interacted with the most in the cabin while we were there. Ruth comes from Washington State, which is obviously a very different environment from the desert where I live. We kind of poke fun because she likes it cool and rainy and I super do not. We both detest what the other person loves as far as weather goes. But we're also very into Norse stuff, so there are similarities.
Kim: Do you think that being a witch is a choice?
Ruth: I think that everybody is born with the capability. It's just a matter of if you tap into it or not, and choose to go down that path. So I think everyone has the capability for it. But it may be a personal choice, yes.
Kim: Do you think doing witchcraft is a choice?
Ruth: Yeah. I mean, along the same lines, but at the same time, we just have, everybody does something.
Kim: Can you not do witchcraft?
Ruth: Sometimes I go through my own ebbs and flows. So sometimes I can't do witchcraft, but I always try.
Kim: But can you stop?
Ruth: No. Not me, no.
Kim: Do you have a particularly memorable spell that was good, bad, scary, funny, burning your house down, etc? That you'll share?
Ruth: I do have one. It was actually, it wasn't bad. It was just kind of like a "Oh shit, holy crap!" moment. Where I live, we were going through a very bad drought. And I decided to do a little rain spell. And I tried adding lavender for calm, so hey, don't let it just be a straight downpour, right? I looked at the weather forecast prior and they weren't expecting anything. It was supposed to be 95 degrees and just bright, sunny, just the earth is going to burn kind of feeling. And I did this...
Kim: That sounds nice to me.
Ruth: You're from Arizona, I'm from Washington, this is normal. But I did this little rain spell and it turned out to work two days later when they weren't expecting any rain. We actually got a freak thunderstorm that came through. It was super heavy. I was like, "This is fucked, did I not add enough lavender? Why? Why was it so strong?" But we got rain, so I mean I can't complain. Yeah. I guess it worked.
Kim: Thanks so much Ruth. I really hope to see you down here in Tucson, eventually for the gem show one year. Get away from the cold. I know you like the cold, but it's still this kind of cold in February here. And I will take you for some bomb ass tacos. Yes, that is a bribe. Next I talk to Melanie, another second year, attendee of Anahata's Purpose.
Kim: Can you please tell me if you think being a witch is a choice?
Melanie: It's kind of a complicated thing for me. I think identifying as a witch is definitely a choice. I think maybe having personal power is not necessarily a choice. It's just whether you choose to acknowledge it. I think everybody has some inherent power in them. I think everybody has their own personal power and everybody can tap into it. I don't think that you... I don't put much stock in the hereditary witch thing, that you have to be born a witch. I think we all have it, but I think identifying as a witch is a choice, definitely.
Kim: Do you think doing witchcraft is a choice?
Melanie: That is a choice. Whether you choose to practice or not is a choice because you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. But I do think there are times when people are doing witchcraft and they don't know they're doing witchcraft.
Kim: Yeah, I was going to ask that.
Melanie: There are a lot of things that are inherently witchy that just had become mainstream. And I don't think that people realize they're doing witchcraft. But I think realizing that what you've been doing for a very long time is already in that field. It's a lot easier to self identify.
Kim: Could you stop doing it?
Melanie: Probably not. Probably not because these are habits for me. These are inherent things that I do. I could stop identifying it. I could stop calling it witchcraft, but it wouldn't change what I was doing.
Kim: I didn't think of that.
Melanie: Yeah.
Kim: I'm not even going to stop calling it that. I'm just going to keep doing it. Do you have any particularly memorable spell that you'll share?
Melanie: I think the one that stands out to my mind the most for me was this past year. I was in a really bad place and I was really stuck emotionally and spiritually, but also financially, and practically. Like, in my life. We were in a place where we needed to make a decision and we didn't know which way to go. And I did like a giant combo, mamajama spell that was blockbuster and road opener and ancestor work. I just did this giant, huge, like covered the kitchen table. Basically made the whole kitchen table into an altar. And I've never seen my candles burn that high before. I thought I was going to burn something down, but it was very effective. It was a very, very effective spell. That's the first time I've ever tried to invoke ancestors and they definitely came through. Major change after that.
Kim: Do you do ancestor work now because of it?
Melanie: Yes. Absolutely.
Kim: How cool!
Melanie: Yeah. I always acknowledged ancestors, but I'd never actually tried to invoke or ask them for anything before. I would just honor them. We definitely have a relationship now.
Kim: That's cool. That's what I'm trying to work towards.
Melanie: They're very, they're very generous.
Kim: Thanks Melanie for talking with me. I recently found out that Melanie did not really interact with the group very much last year in person. And we all got to know her on the Marco group. And I... she was so free and open in the Marco group there. I thought she knew everybody. So it's astonishing to me. And as you can see, we are pretty familiar with one another now. Anahata's is the spark for this. And it's up to us as individuals and people to fan the flame of friendship and community.
In our case, it was through Marco Polo. But it can be through Facebook or Instagram or private messaging through wherever. I don't know. ICQ. Does that still exist? I never used it. AOL chat. That was me. Finally, I talked to first time attendee Sarah. Sarah is another patron of mine, and we have a busy little beehive of community over on Marco where we've all gotten really close.
Kim: Hi Sarah, how are you?
Sarah: Hi Kim. I'm doing great.
Kim: Cool.
Sarah: Yeah.
Kim: First, would you please tell me if you think being a witch is a choice.
Sarah: Hmm. So I think that calling yourself a witch is a choice. But really, I feel like... I've been talking about this with some other people, that like a lot of spirituality kind of bounces itself off of each other. So it really kind of just comes down to language, and like what you choose to call yourself. So I think that a lot of people are witches, whether they think they are or not, but it just goes down to like the language that they used to describe it. So for me, I don't think for me being a witch is a choice. I think it just like is a part. And then I find witchy things in the different things that I'm doing.
Kim: Do you think doing witchcraft is a choice and could you stop?
Sarah: I don't think I can stop because it's become my default of how I'm reacting to things. But I think at the very beginning, I could have stopped because I haven't called myself or actively been doing witchcraft for that long. I don't know. I feel like once you're in it, then it's really hard to stop and you probably won't.
Kim: We're all addicts.
Sarah: We're all addicts. Pretty much. I'm just addicted to witchcraft at this point and that's fine. For me, being a witch is not a choice. It's just how my spirituality has evolved and the practice of it. I feel like it's been the same because I grew up very Catholic. And my family's Catholic and my mom works in the church and all those other things. But the saint that I chose was Brighid of Ireland. And so it's like, and the dude who did the confirmation, I don't even remember, looked at me so funny because he was like, which Brighid? I was like Brighid, but with the D, of Ireland. And he was like, all right. But it looked like he was giving me a "...okay...", kind of, with it. And so it's like, that's one of those things where it's like even though I was not calling myself a witch, I did not know...
Kim: Homie thought you were a witch?
Sarah: Homie thought I was a witch. So yeah, no, I don't, I don't think it's a choice. The more like I think about it and more I talk about it, the less I think it's a choice.
Kim: Me too.
Kim: Thank you, Sarah, for being so willing to be open and share during this interview, and on Marco. I love you and I love all my little bees so much. And I am excited to see everyone in Hivehouse next year. I don't think you'll be here before the end of the year. I really hope you guys come see me for the championship. Please come see me. I love you. Your mother wants to see you. And that's it for this week's Snacksize.
Be sure to tune in on the next episode of Your Average Witch where I interviewed the utterly delightful, charming, hilarious, beautiful, Lera Street, designer and artist. And also the one who turned my logo into the glorious, purple and blue beauty that it currently is. And her episode will be released on the new moon of September 25th, which coincidentally is my husband, Ken's birthday. Happy early birthday, honey. I love you. I don't know what to get you for your birthday, but you don't listen to this, so it doesn't matter. You won't ever know. That's it for this week. Thanks for listening, and I will see you when the moon changes.