Real-life witches walk among us
Gone are the days of witches being associated with black magic or Satanism
WATERLOO REGION — Sherri Molloy may be a witch, but she doesn’t fly about on a broom or cast evil spells in a dark basement.
“The idea of magic is not about shooting fireballs out of my hands,” she says.
“Magic is to improve your own person and your own world view. For me, it’s a sense of empowerment.”
Modern witches are not a bunch of cackling ladies (they can also be male) who brew potions made of newts. Nor are they the vindictive children-hating beings from folklore like “Hansel and Gretel” and Roald Dahl’s book “The Witches.”
Witchcraft is part of many pagan belief systems and draws on feminist empowerment, a reverence for nature and social justice.
Whether it is through meditation, spell work or communicating with spirits and pagan gods, witches use their magic to take control of situations around them.
Molloy practises Wicca, a pagan faith also known as the “mystery tradition” because of its initiation practices and deeply personal rituals.
“Meditation is a key tool for most people on any kind of pagan path or any practitioner of magic. You really need to have a good understanding of yourself in order to do any effective ritual or effective magic,” she says.
Long gone are the days of witches being treated as devotees of black magic or a sadistic form of Satanism.
As a decades-long believer, Molloy has seen a shift in social attitudes toward her beliefs.
“It has become a respected belief system,” she says. “It changed a lot in the ’90s with
popular depictions that were also positive.”
She pointed to popular TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” recently rebooted on Netflix just in time for Halloween.
Mary Bart and Amy McCann, pagans from Guelph, have also practised witchcraft for decades.
Like Molloy, they were drawn into paganism as young teenagers fascinated with tarot cards, occultism and mythology.
“People are more accepting now. When I was young, being called a witch was a bad thing. Now it is being used as a feminist power word,” Bart says.
McCann says she thinks a rise in environmental activism also has something to do with the popularity of paganism today. Pagans believe in the power of nature and the Earth, she explains.
“As pagans we have a reverence for nature,” she adds.
“We believe all life is sacred, all life is connected. So in order to be a witch, you have to feel that connection, you have to believe in that connection to all living things,” Molloy says.
Alexandra Loop, a recent Wilfrid Laurier University graduate, is a newer witch. While her pagan beliefs are similar to her seasoned peers, she chooses not to dress the part.
“I’m not a very flashy witch,” she says. You wouldn’t think she was a witch just by looking at her. She doesn’t have an affinity for Celtic jewelry, flowing black lace clothing or other mystical garb.
The only witchlike thing you will find in Loop’s closet is a pointy black hat, but that is just for handing out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.
While contemporary Halloween celebrations have their place, these witches have already practised their ritual of the season.
Samhain, the Celtic festival to celebrate the end of the harvest and darkening of the world, falls around the same time as Halloween. It is a sacred period for pagans.
It marks the dying of one year and the start of the next. It is also a time when pagans believe the veils between the worlds are thin, so many will remember and honour the spirits of the dead.
Bart says it is a great time for divination because it is easier to communicate with spirits.
For others like McCann, it is a fresh start to a new year and a time to make private resolutions.
Many pagans also have their own rituals to honour the dead during Samhain, and they may vary from person to person.
Bart spent her Sunday evening meditating and honouring spirits with fellow witches, including McCann.
Each year, Loop will carve her resolutions into an apple and bury it in her backyard for Samhain.
The idea behind this ritual is to ground her resolutions in the soil to help her deal with her anxieties throughout the year.
Molloy puts out a plate of food for the dead and lights candles. She focuses her Samhain ritual on spirits she calls the “unnamed dead,” the ones who no longer have anyone to remember them.
Once their Samhain rituals are complete, these witches will trade in their tarot cards for jack-o’-lanterns, spooky ghosts and Halloween candy.