Keeping the Faith: Carrying the Flame of Hope in Uncertain Times

I've just read Rewilding Witchcraft, an article posted by Scarlet Imprint. It's a powerful piece about the health of our planet and how that impacts witchcraft, and it has me all roiled up. This post is my response, so it won't fully make sense unless you read the article.

I reject despair. I reject the notion that witchcraft is broken, fading or failing. I reject the notion that our rituals must be a lament for a dying Earth. This article is full of such pain, and for that, the author has my sympathy.

I agree, Earth is at a crisis point. Human beings have had an unimaginably huge impact on the ecosystem. We are beginning to see all sorts of changes as a result. I have been angry and upset about this situation for as long as I can remember. By middle school, I was known as "The Crusader". I circulated endless petitions and spoke passionately to anyone who would listen about the need for environmental restoration and conservation.

But I also found that activism is largely pointless in terms of creating policy change. The US government is inextricably linked with corporate interests. By and large, those corporations are interested in just one thing: making money, at any and all costs to the human population and to our environment. They just don't care that people wave signs. They won't care until the last drop of oil is extracted, and the environmental ruin comes to the gate of their compounds. Or until the group of people demonstrating becomes the majority instead of a vocal minority. Even then, I wouldn't rule out military law.

I don't say this to disparage friends and colleagues who choose to engage in this way. I respect their commitment and their valiant efforts. But I also know that I can't do it anymore. I have an inflated sense of justice, and when I spend my energy in this way, I descend into anger, hatred and despair. That means that I can't do my work. I can't lift others up or open their minds, especially in my environmental education work, with this sorrow eating away at my heart.

I also agree that witchcraft needs to regain its wild roots. That is exactly the work I want to do in the coven I am forming. We need to get out of our living rooms and onto the land. This is no time for esoteric, cerebral ritual. This is a time to get our fingernails dirty, our hair wind snarled and our faces glowing with the kiss of the sun. We need to connect with the spirits of this place, not just give a generic "thanks to the Earth". Ritual thanking plants and animals is hollow if we don't know those plants and animals personally.

But there too…that is my path. It may not be the path for all, and as a fiercely independent person, I can't ethically say that others should do what I do. Not everyone can, for starters. Some of the most powerful spiritual experiences I have had have been on mountaintops or in remote wilderness. Places one can only get to with a lot of physical effort and a minimum of physical impediment. It is not for me to say that other experiences are less valuable, less witchy, less anything. I don't believe that they are, and I resent any implication to that effect.

The article feels disjointed, as if the author is trying to jam disparate concepts together. The land is suffering, yes. But that doesn't mean that witchcraft is broken, or that our spirituality must become something ugly to reflect the pain of the Earth. Nor does every witch bear the responsibility of activism in order to justify their faith. The author seems to be calling for a revolution in witchcraft. A re-imagining of the craft as some some of zombie movie-esque apocalyptic funeral mass. But it also sounds like that is the path of this author. Which is fine. He or she is angry. He or she is full of despair and sadness. Express that. Do as you will. But don't for a second believe you have the right to dismiss the faith of the rest of us.

I refuse to stop honoring the land on which I live. I refuse to stop singing to the Cape Fear River which flows near my home. Are the land and the river impacted by industrialism? Surely. Most of the land here has been cash cropped for generations, producing mostly tobacco and cotton. I have no doubt that the methods used have exhausted the soil and contributed to erosion. The Cape Fear River has been the center of controversy lately because of Duke Power's coal ash contamination.

But must I wail in lament? Must I hold a funerary mass for my dying home? I say no. The Earth is not dying. She will correct Herself, and that may involve exterminating humanity in the long run. But She has been here for untold eons and will remain for eons to come. The Earth as Mother Gaia does not despair. The plants and animals as the Horned Lord simply keep growing. Keep striving for existence. Plants grow up through the cracks of untended cement. The forest returns to barren meadows every chance it gets. Foxes adapt and live in cities. Life never gives up.

This author may do what he or she likes. As for me, I will sing. I will dance. I will celebrate the beauty that still surrounds me. I will live in as ecologically friendly a manner as I can. I will educate others about humanity's true place in the world - a member of the global ecosystem, not as the master of it. I will get wild, be poetic and will never give up hope.

For as long as one person carries the flame of hope, humanity and our capacity for faith, beauty and reverence will never die.

So mote it be!