In the Broom Closet By Avalonia Storm, a Solitary witch living in Greece
Are you a witch? The chances are you have never been asked because if you hang out with like-minded folk, they already know. If you don't, folk are unlikely to have any reason to ask you. But if they did, what would you say? What could you say? My answer would be 'No.' A clear resounding no, perhaps even laced with derisive laughter. Yet the truth is, I am. I am a witch. Four very scary words, for me. So why am I telling you? Because, I love to connect with like-minded individuals, and the Net is a way of preserving anonymity which sometimes is paramount. I don't know what type of witchcraft you practice, but I wish you were my neighbour - I'd like to have a friend to spill some enchanted brew with. Alas, my magickal life has to be a lonely affair, unless you count communing with spirits, plants and pets. I imagine that you, like me, create protection spells for your home, but the difference is that if I'm asked, it's just air freshener or I'm adding fertilizer to the garden. Perhaps you too cleanse on Saturdays, top to bottom, back to front? You know the correspondences behind this practice, but to the uninitiated, it's simply my day off and the most logical way to clean my home. I do a lot more than that, if you are in-theknow, you could probably tell from the rather sumptuous collection of herbs in my spice racks, the random natural items gathered on a table in the corner, or even the layout of my garden. Except, I cannot tell anyone, I do not share my practice. I am a solitary witch because I am in the broom closet. Let me be clear, there's no law against witchcraft, Wicca or paganism, or at least not that I can find out from my incognito searches. In fact, Greek Neo Paganism or Hellinism, has been recognized as a religion in Greece since 2017 but only has around 2,000 official followers. Greek magickal groups on Facebook mostly have fewer than a thousand members and the groups are all private. The perfectly acceptable, though often mocked, tradition of the 'mami' the village midwife, coffee ground reader, and lifter of the evil eye - all things recognizable as folk witchcraft these days, is still in living memory.
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