Original Link: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/3pagansandacat/2020/07/green-earth-witch-honoring-earth-mother-in-nature-based-witch
BY GWYN
So, it’s always interesting to have a spiritual epiphany. My moment is now, writing out who I am as a Witch and the path that most accurately defines my practice. And while I have devotional relationships with several goddesses, I have come to realize my witchcraft centers around one deity. The Earth Mother. Now, I’m working out how I honor her with intention through a personal path I’m calling Green Earth Witchcraft.
Green Earth Witchcraft: Honoring the Earth Mother As Planet and Deity
For years now, I have called myself a Green Witch. According to Ode, this is not new although I did not use that specific terminology back in the day. They remember my magickal path coming to focus on the Earth Mother twenty years ago. Hearing me talk about her as I do now. Because of a “Christian retrograde” of about eight years in the middle, I’d not realized I’ve been unconsciously crafting this path of Green Earth Witchcraft for myself since the beginning of my journey as a Witch. Even in the last year when Modern Hekatean Witchcraft seemed to be my direction, the Earth Mother has remained an important part of defining me as a magickal practitioner and how I practice witchcraft. And when I say “Earth Mother” I do not mean Gaia, Demeter, Spider Grandmother, etc., these are separate deities with individual mythologies and followers (although Oberon Zell’s “Millenial Gaia” is an image that reflects my understanding of the Earth Mother pretty well).
For me, the Earth Mother is the planet upon which we live and a deity in her own right among all the other gods and goddesses. She is “Mother Nature” who works in concert with the Sun and Moon as a life-sustaining force for all life on her sphere. I’m coming to view the sun and moon in a similar way as the Earth Mother. I’ll have to explore that at some point. Also, the Earth deity is a “Mother” to me because I resonate with “goddess” more than “god.” That’s just me. Another Witch may experience the Earth as a deity as “Parent” or “Father”, whatever rings true for them. In my UPG or “unverified personal gnosis”, the Earth Mother is a sustaining goddess and source from which “nature” derives and is ordered. Plants. Trees. Animals (including human beings). Insects. Rocks, soil, minerals, stones, and magma. Water and desert sands. All of it. She sets the patterns of the oceans, the winds in the atmosphere, the changing seasons. And it is my belief that all things thriving or existing upon, below, or within the realm of her sphere are connected (energetically, spiritually, emotionally, magically) allowing us to become spirit allies in our various workings and paths.
Green Witchcraft vs Green Earth Witchcraft?
I have decided to write all this for various reasons. Clarification for myself and readers/3PaaC podcast listeners so that from now on when I speak or write of the Earth Mother or Green Earth Witchcraft, you understand who and what I mean. Also, writing this out is helping to define into words a path I’ve been practicing intuitively for many years. Until now, Green Witchcraft has been the best way to express what I practice and believe. However, expansion is needed because the Earth Mother is my goddess. Modern Green Witchcraft does not necessarily reflect what I believe or practice on the whole. Therefore, Green Earth Witchcraft better describes this self-styled path into which I have initiated myself. And I’ve discovered it is natural to me. Even the guided meditations I lead tend to gravitate toward the Earth Mother. Why?
Because I am a Green Earth Witch.
I’ve written a lot about my beliefs and practice under the modern understanding of “Green Witchcraft” when it should have been “Green Earth Witchcraft.” So, from now on that will be how I title any post of a similar nature (no pun intended). Additionally, I believe the Earth Mother is reaching out to those who would seek her guidance, strength, stability in a new way. I’m hoping that writing this out helps others who may seek to define what they have been experiencing or feeling drawn toward if “Green Witchcraft” isn’t quite enough to express or understand their practice.
Green Earth Witchcraft: What Is It?
For me, it is a witchcraft path that honors the Earth Mother while working with the four elements as spirits, cultivating relationships with plant and other nature spirits, celebrating the seasonal changes, while practicing nature-based spellcraft. As with Green Witchcraft, there is a connection to eco-concerns that include bringing principles of recycle-renew-reuse into daily life as much as possible, lowering our carbon footprint as is possible, etc. Protecting the planet through our actions is part of honoring the Earth Mother. Herbalism plays a large part (magickal and mundane) although one does not have to study herbalism to be a Green Earth Witch. Also, honoring the Moon and the Sun as partners of the Earth Mother (unless your JP the Dark Druid Goth who does not like the sun lol). The three who work in concert so we may live. I tend to be drawn toward “green” things: rocks, stones, herbs, oils and natural wax, textiles, plants, flowers, seeds, fruits, trees, and the elements of air, earth, fire, water in my spellcraft. Sometimes my personal practice will include working with animal, bird, insect, reptile spirits but not very often. Depends on the circumstance calling for spellwork. And yes, Green Earth Witchcraft includes baneful magick because nature has teeth. I suppose the greatest difference between Green Witchcraft and Green Earth Witchcraft is that the Earth Mother is revered as both planet and deity. And I do not work with the Good Neighbors. I do not feel drawn to do so, although I do respect them. And while my practice as a Green Earth Witch has been solitary, I am toying with the idea of creating an online coven if there is interest expressed by others to learn more or share rituals. It’s funny. Ode asked me during our recent episode on Initiations if I feel called to be a priestess of a particular deity. I suspect the Earth Mother has been calling me to the job and I’ve been missing the message. Time will tell.
It’s Okay To Change Course Mid-step
Over the years, I have learned that it is okay to change course when you realize you are going down the wrong path as a Witch or Pagan. Hell, if I didn’t believe that I’d still be a disenfranchised Christian. My point is that there is more than one way to practice witchcraft, spirituality, deity worship, etc., even if you have started a journey somewhere else. I have been an Eclectic Wiccan, Traditional Witch, Secular Witch, Green Witch, Modern Hekataen Witch. As a solitary practitioner, I define myself and it can take time to suss out. Also, we grow and change as people, therefore our witchcraft and/or spiritual path develops (or recedes) with us. Or at least, that has been my experience. Others may find one thing and stick to it for life and that’s great. Or you may find you’ve created a path to tread but it takes time to recognize it. So, this is me. Taking time. Paying attention. Defining this path I’m on as a Green Earth Witch. If you find yourself in a similar position then take heart. While it may not be easy, you can move toward the practice, path, or tradition that suits you. Who knows. You may lead others to a better path as well.