What is a witch?
{By Sarai Peotdi} What is a witch?
What is a witch you ask? Totally valid question. And it wasn’t too long ago I was asking the very same question. There’s 1001 ways to explain who a witch is and what she does, so to keep it simple I’m going to tell you about what drew me to the craft.
First let me start off by saying that I used to be really scared of anything witch-related. I was raised religious and I believed witchcraft was evil, bad, devil worship. But a few years ago I was exploring the arena of personal development & decided to become a life coach. I thought I was just going to learn how to make money but the program I enrolled in led me through a series of meditations, and in less than 2 months, I had a full blown spiritual awakening (btw if you haven’t had one of those – they are MESSY).
I went through some very eye-opening spiritual realizations and other-worldly experiences during the process of becoming a coach, and I emerged from the program with a totally changed perspective on the world as we know it. I furthered my studies in all things spiritual – reading books, taking courses, speaking with gurus, attending events – and one thing became VERY CLEAR: what we believe our physical world to be is nothing more than the non-physical world we deny. What I’m trying to say is that we are all made from the same “stuff”, aka energy. But not just random atoms, I’m talking CONSCIOUS LIFE-FORCE ENERGY. From dirt, to the breeze, to a snail, to a beating heart, to a chair, to a thought: We are all the same CONSCIOUS energy, just vibrating at different speeds. This is relevant because what I discovered is that being a witch, at it’s core, is about this recognition that we are all one. And Witchcraft aka magick is the art of taking the invisible and making it visible.
One of the most appealing things about Witchcraft is the idea of “acceptance”. Since we are all literally the same energy just in different forms, it means there truly is no right or wrong way to BE: to be spiritual, to be human, to be alive. It’s all perfect. Because it simply IS. And to fight it is to resist the very nature of LIFE. Which also means any way you choose to practice (be spiritual) IS the right way. And that all ways are accepted, including those ways that DON’T believe witchcraft principles. A witch accepts herself as she IS. She doesn’t have to change or be more or do anything different to be accepted and loved by a higher power. Simply by living her life with as much balance as possible – working with the yin and yang, ebb and flow, dark and light that we all have inside of us – she accepts life on life’s terms. By being present in the moments of her life, without trying to change or judge them, she shows respect to life itself. To me, THIS is the very core of spirituality.
A witch is someone who listens to her innate knowing. She trusts her authority and intuition above all else. And if for some reason she doesn’t honor herself the way she should, she seeks to understand why by diving in her shadow – the parts of her that create resistance and remain hidden. Because a witch knows the answer is always inside of her and by looking inward, she takes accountability for how she shows up in the world. A Witch knows that what happens inside of her determines what she experiences around her. She is intentional and deliberate with what her thoughts are focused on and she takes care to shift them by focusing on the positive aspects of what she want to experience, not just for herself but also for the good of the collective.
As a society, we run around so focused on our actions that we forget, ignore, or were never taught that all action starts internally, in our mind. This is why there’s so much talk about a positive mindset and the importance of how you speak to yourself. This is also why I love coaching, because it helps shift your mindset so that your actions align with your goals. So, when I heard that witchcraft was all about learning to control the world within you so you can affect change in the world around you (aka changing your thoughts to create the outcome you want), I was like wait…whoa…ok so witches have been doing self-help for thousands of years? Yep. You heard right, it’s true. This is why witches believe in magick – because they’ve seen the result of focusing their invisible (thoughts) to change their visible (results). And they’ve been doing it far longer than Tony Robbins.
A witch is also connected to nature. Not just being out in it, but being ONE WITH IT. Remember that we’re all made of the same stuff? Well if you get still enough, for long enough, you can feel it. And see it. Literally. You become synced up with it. Your breathing and heart rate slows down to match it. Your energy sinks down into the Earth, becoming grounded and centered. A witch uses nature as a reset button. Sometimes the inner truth and wisdom that lives in the body can be muted, muffled, distorted due to the hum-drum of society, so returning to nature is a way to release the energies that don’t belong, and gives her a chance to restore this clarity.
Being connected to nature also means becoming aware of the cyclical nature of the seasons, the moon, the Earth, the cosmos and even ourselves. Our bodies are microcosms of cycles: hormonal, emotional, energetic, digestive, etc. The more we can become aware of & in tune with the cycles around us, the more we learn about ourselves – what we need to survive, what we don’t need, and what we want to THRIVE. A witch follows her natural rhythms, especially when it comes to business. Our society is so caught up in hustling to make the money that our health is often affected. A witch leans into her own cycles to create a unique version of consistency that works for her so that she can THRIVE while building a life of her dreams.
There are so many other beautiful things about being a witch and practicing the craft that I’d like to share with you but let’s end with this. Nothing is more important than the relationship you have with yourself. It’s the one constant in an every changing world. By showing yourself respect, spending time with yourself, finding ways to nuture your body, mind and soul, slowing down, tuning in, and listening to what YOU have to say, the more connected you’ll be to nature, your truth, and your higher power. And the more of us that choose this way of living, the more we heal the world.
Now, like most things, being a witch means something different to anyone that identifies as one. But this is my take on what it means to ME and hopefully this message will help you feel comfortable exploring your ‘witchy’ side should you feel so inclined.
Thank you for joining me on this exploration of What Is A Witch. See ya next time!
Sarai Peotdi
FB: https://www.facebook.com/saraibaker/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/the_witchy_coach/
P.S. – I refer to a witch as “she” because that is how I identify, but anyone can be a witch! Just give it a try!
