Interview with a Witch - The moon is full and deep - in a woodland glade the witches meet and dance the spiritual dance .....

This is how many people in Britain today view witchcraft. Others see it simply as a new age Goddess based religion pretending ancient lineage. With the help of several informal discussions, and in-depth interviews what follows is an overview of a modern Crafters lifestyle.

"Witchcraft," or as we call it The Craft, is a way of life... it's more than a way of life, it's a way of living. Through discussions with Elizabeth and others it is obvious that Witches do not consider themselves to be a part of same antiquated belief. Their way is living, vibrant and continually changing with each member trying to live his or her life in harmony with the natural order of things. At the base of everything is the ethos that all knowledge starts with a knowledge of oneself. What was it written over the gateway of the temple where the Eleusian initiates entered ? "Know thyself" -Nothing much changes does it? Craft is a heightened sense of awareness which really has to start with self-awareness. However, this self-awareness is not that profligate by the new age movement, they put self first and foremost, in Craft `self must be seen in the context of others not in a vacuum. Every witch must "find" herself. It is not possible to understand or be comfortable with other people until or unless you first understand and feel comfortable with yourself.

Once a witch is in control of her own thoughts and actions, and only then, can she begin to practice the skills that she has acquired, and link these with others. When we come together we can be ourselves, as we are, we can just relax and be ourselves --- kind of family --- You can't raise energy with people unless you love and trust them. Being with a group is about maintaining harmony. If a witch arrives for a meeting but for whatever reason finds herself out of kilter with the others, then it is up to her to wait until the energies balance out before joining them.

Meetings often coincide with specific phases of the moon. New moon is a time for planting; and for new beginnings, new moon to full moon (waxing moon) is always considered a positive time. While Full moon is a time of celebration, of family, of life, `a time when male and female energies unite and make the air crackle.' Full moon to Dark moon (waning moon) is a time of dark energies, a time when the Dark Goddess is at her most powerful. Both male and female witches learn to observe their physical and emotional states in relation to the moons phases. The moon controls the tides, and water everywhere, everyone accepts that these things are real.

Each season has its own celebrations. The year ends and begins at Halloween, (3lst October) but like the gestating seeds we do not feel the quickening of the earth until Imbolc ( also known as the time of the fist shoots) Beltane (also known as the time of the may blossom) follows with nature exploding in a rush of life. By Lughnasad (known as harvest time) the land is ripe and full, and the first harvest completed. Then Samhain, Halloween (the dark times) 'time for thinking and looking at the past; in the old times of course it was a time of death. It was when they slaughtered all the animals that couldn't survive the winter, Now it's a time when we feel the veil get thinner, and honour our ancestors. You can reach out and feel those that have gone before..... all the ones you've loved and lost ..... people in the family who.have died. It's also a time when we come to terms with our own mortality, and recognise that all of life is cyclic.

The Solstices and equinoxes are less important to me. That is not saying that they are unimportant. Yule, the Winter Solstice is a lovely time, especially for the children. It is the time when the sun begins it ascendance... we know that summer will come eventually. The Summer Solstice is the time of the sun's greatest strength, a happy summer time, and the Equinoxes are a time when the woodland guardians hand over their watch of the land one to the other. At the Spring Equinox, Holly hands over the guardianship of the forest to the Oak, and at the Autumn Equinox, the Oak - now tired and withdrawing into himself - hands back the mantle of guardianship to the Holly.

Getting in touch with the Land is what the Witch most enjoys. You reach out, you hook onto it, it's an energy, it's life flowing all round you; it's this life force that you can reach into, it doesn't matter where you are, it's there. The Witch believes that everything has a life force, energies that are within the individual, or the group, and are consummately obvious in the phases of the moon, the ebb and flow of the tides, and the cyclic nature of the seasons. They are in the air, in the wind, in fire, in water, in trees, in the rocks and beneath the earth, in crashing roaring things, and in what the Irish call a soft day, in the rocky mountains and in all growing things, they are the spirits of everything we touch..... they're just everywhere.

To achieve her purpose, to do her work, the Witch learns to tune into these energies. In themselves they are not good or bad, they are neutral, but they can be harnessed, and it is the intent of the user that is paramount. Why do people "Spring clean"? Could it be they are unknowingly tapping into the energies of Spring... a young, vigorous, new energy? Witches and Herbalists use their knowledge of herbs to make up medicines, or creams. Bach Flower recipes use the energy/essence of the tree or flower.

It is the harnessing of these energies, or power that is the main work of the Witch. Time and time again the work is mentioned, it is achieved through self-awareness, group working, moon and tide rituals, and seasonal festival. Through her work the Witch seeks to become in tune, in harmony with herself, with others, and with the energies that flow throughout the universe. It is the coherent force that keeps the web spinning. Our way is very simple; we are part of the earth, the way we work is to get close to the land, close to the elements - that's how, if you like, you bend things a little. It's something you do inside yourself even when you're working with other people.

The work of the group covers so many things, we often work for healing, or for fertility of the land, even the celebration of the seasons is a form of work. The work is what we strive to do. It takes a long time to understand, to feel the energies, and we never complete the work, I'm still learning and hoping to get better at it.