Witches with a feminist flair
Rise in environmental activism has promoted pagan ideology
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.”
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 pa- gan 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.
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 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 teenag- ers 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.
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 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.
Molloy puts out a plate of food for the dead and lights candles. She focuses her ritual on spirits she calls the “unnamed dead,” the ones who no longer have anyone to remember them.