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.

So why do I choose to live this double life? And it is a choice. It is a conscious decision for many reasons. I am not drawn to following the Hellenistic path religiously, nor would I feel comfortable in doing so as a foreigner. Not to mention that there is a strong connection between Hellenism and the far right, particularly the now outlawed political party 'Golden Dawn' . What's more, the despicable cases of ritual human sacrifice, namely those committed by 'the Satanists of Palini' (1993) and Alexandros Papageorgiou (2014) are bitterly fresh in Greek minds and there is a real danger of being 'tarred with the same brush' as barbaric acts of insane cruelty, satanic worship and witchcraft go hand in hand in the eyes of the ignorant. I have no connection to such ideology or events and I do not condone them. More practically, I might find myself without work. I live in a provincial town, I hold a wellrespected job. My employers would find a way to 'let me go' . If you think I am being extreme, I was recently asked to carry out research into a charity some money had been raised for, to ensure it 'was not connected to the Free Masons or any other occult, witchcraft or satanic organization' . (The irony of asking me to conduct this research was not lost on me!) I made it clear that these groups and ideologies bear little or no relation to each other, only to be told that was of little consequence in comparison to what people believed. And there is the crux of it; what people believe. My husband runs the family business and were I to speak openly about what it is that I do, I'm pretty certain that my husband's customers would find products elsewhere. In fact, if I put the witch title on what I do, I fear my husband might even seek love elsewhere! He knows a lot of what I do; he sees me reading books on witchcraft and sees the channels I'm subscribed to on YouTube, but naming it is another thing all together. (The latter, I am working on before I am bombarded with comments!) So how did I find myself to be in this predicament? I'm a love immigrant to this country. I fell hard in love with my husband before either of us knew enough of each others' language to discuss my practice, which was a mere fledgling effort then and I certainly did not consider it witchcraft. I practiced herbalism, read the tarot and manifested what I needed with very haphazard chaos-like magick. I was raw and unashamed. Little by little, as my language comprehension improved, so did my sensitivity to others' judgement.

It became clear that I would have to close a part of myself away in a protective cocoon to ensure my success in other areas. So that is what I did. It is true that if I were back in my home country, virtually none of this subterfuge would be necessary. Thankfully, the mindset is changing here. Witchtok, of all things, has freed the young from the cultural constraints of my generation, by opening their eyes and allowing them to connect with like-minded individuals worldwide, all the horrific associations consigned to the dim past. My daughter has a talent with tarot and astrology and feels perfectly comfortable doing readings and charts for her friends, who readily accept her interpretations. She asks me for advice and knows she can come to me and ask almost anything, though we do not practice together. Her craft is her own. My broom closet affords me home comforts others don't have, I appreciate that. There are witches whose lives, as opposed to livelihoods, might easily be in danger if they were discovered, either because their society or religion does not accept them or because their family would not tolerate it. I feel this is especially true for younger practitioners. Even though tolerance comes through education about, and exposure to the object of one's fears, to those who advocate 'outings' , I advise caution. It is truly hard to put oneself in another's position, especially when immersed in the magickal community and only house brooms in closets. To some, my fear might seem no more than a figment of my imagination or a mistaken perspective on reality, and that is a possibility, I admit. However, right now, I cannot be sure. Is it worth putting my personal life, family harmony and my job on the line for greater understanding? Not just yet.