We’ve got but eleven days till Christmas, and I am celebrating this year, but celebrating from a secular, not sacred, point of view. I’ve got my little four-foot tree up and decorated with lights, and that’s about all it will get this year. Its been a slow process of getting back into the Christmas spirit after observing Jewish traditions a couple of years ago, with my Chanukah menorah and candles.

Last year, I had my Precious Moments Sugar Town display out and decorated with a nice tree and all; this year, it won’t be out and up, because I’ve turned the cabinet where it would sit into my permanent altar. Yes, I am once again embracing my witchy ways and practicing witchcraft. I practice as an eclectic witch, more toward white, or healing, magic, but am not afraid to cast the occasional banishment or binding. And am rewriting a new Book of Shadows for my craft, while also trying to make new connections within the community, though that’s been primarily through WitchTok.

One aspect that I appreciate in modern witchcraft is that, regardless of what other practitioners may say, there is no right r wrong way to engage in the craft. Back when I was really into witchcraft the last time, in the early 2000’s, the practice was mostly Wiccan, subject to various rules and rituals. Though I do like the rituals of Gerald Gardner, and particularly the writings of Doreen Valentine, they can be extraneous to the actual magic crafting and spellwork. If I feel like casting a circle and calling the Quarters I will do so; do I think it’s always necessary? Not really. And most modern day witches would agree with me.