🤫 WITCH CHALLENGE - Discreet Witchcraft

[MeryWynd]

yes - Southern Baptists are a unique kind, and I was raised in this very religion

I totally agree and I’m so glad someone else gets it. ☆

[Feathertip]

I do get it - and “unique” is a very kind word here.

[Moonbeam]

Challenge Entry - Discreet Witchcraft in the Workplace and Public Areas

Firstly, after reading your entries so far I am sorry that some of you have experienced pain and distress for just being you.

Prejudice against us started long before the Witch Acts were implemented in 1562 by their communities who believed that women who were different and of menopausal age were said to have forgotten their own salvation and deviated from their faith committing abuses with incubus and succubus demons and acts of sorcery and was said to have Witch Craze

In Lancashire this is very much evident of this time. The Demdike,The Chattox families and The Makin Tower Group & Others were executed in The Pendle Witch Trials of 1612. As I can see Pendle Hill from all my front elevation windows I feel a connection to “Alison Demdike who was only 18” - my own name is Alison.

Stonehenge is one of the most well known landmarks with around 1.4 million visitors a year. There are also other important landmarks from Scotland to Devon and Cornwall.
Generally being a witch is acceptable and we are protected by Law, Solstices are broadcast on the News Channels and Beltane and Samhain are celebrated throughout the UK. However, there will still be pockets of society that will be conservative and will see us as a threat.

I agree with @TS5 observations and historical knowledge interpreting the same into our lives as Witches today was both comforting and has given me hope that the Scientific Shield exists and protects us as we move forward into the future.

I am a private person and have been blessed growing up in a family where my gifts have been acknowledged, respected, my best friends have supported me and my Husband. I keep my personal life separated from my professional career.

These are some ideas that I have come up with which I hope might help

Mobile Phone & Watch

You can use the background of your phone or iPhone watch as a Spell. Your Lock Screen can be Sigil, a nature scene, a candle or a word you want to invite into your day.

Send an emoji in a text message or computer etc

Mediation or listen to some music with ear buds if travelling on public transport

Workplace

Add an Element Altar with Crystals (Sunstone , ,Plant​, Essential Oil Diffuser and a Crystal Water Bottle filled with Sun Water​. I have one on my desk in an open plan office with 60 other colleagues. No one has asked questions as I think they see crystals as ornaments but to us they are much more than that. you even just add an Abalone Shell - which I think I will do.

Intentionally stirring your drink in the office kitchen or if you are in a coffee shop.

Make a spray or a essential oil rollerball so you can use and have in your drawer

Colour pencils to draw sigils in margins in a book, an intentional pen, post-stick notes, highlighters pens

whisper intentions while washing your hands. Let the water symbolically rinse away

• Stress
• Irritation
• Someone else’s negativity

If you have your own office you could hang on the walls all The Elements

Earth - Landscape for North

Air - A bird in flight for East

Water - Seascape - for West

Fire - A Sunny Day - for South

Vacation Ocean & Beach & River or Lake

Stand at the ocean edge or even in take 3 deep breaths and say a chant

Draw a sigil in the sand with your feet

Look for a “Wish Pebble” they have a white strong line all the way around - take it in your left hand and turn saying your wish. Then swap to your right hand and then throw it into the sea or wherever there is water as far as you can" to cast

Personal

weaving coloured braids into your hair in Spring/Summer as it is Festival Season, colour nails. I have different coloured tips on my toes

Carrying a Talisman in your bag or in your car.

Add a lapel pin to your coat. I have a Hare & Moon

I have a Pentacle on my house keys

I wear Moon bracelet and anklet

We must honour our Ancestral Witches who were persecuted and put to death by continuing our way of life and hold our heads up high and just be us.. I know it will be easier for some.

Remember that we are Infinite Roots and we can communicate through our collective thoughts and feelings, knowledge and each of our unique gifts. Our Coven is strong.

Blessed Be

Y

[BryWisteria]

One week to go!

I’d love to shout out about all the lovely entries shared, but we’re keeping everything on the DL this challenge! So in my whisper voice: a big thank you to everyone who has shared your discreet witchcraft tips, wisdom, and experiences so far. Thanks for helping to keep fellow practitioners as veiled in their practice as they wish to be

For those still pondering about the theme, rest assured that plenty of time remains on the challenge clock. There is one more week until this challenge closes.

Looking forward to reading your entries!

Blessed be

[kat1]

DISCREET WITCH CHALLENGE POST

This one was definitely a challenge for me. I’m not technically in the broom closet, but I am a fairly private witch unless I get a sense that a person can handle the knowing of the things without turning into a jackass. To give a little context or insight, I’ll share a little about me… I have zero problem telling people what I think. I am passionate about authenticity, mine or that of others. I’m also loud, emotionally intelligent, and fiercely protective of my loved ones. I read human behavior/emotions like they are data sets, and typically can tell you their motives, values, and their next steps within just a few seconds. This is both a gift and a curse and I use it wisely.
That said, I can usually tell if a person has the capacity to learn about my beliefs or practices and make my decision to share in the moment based on what I read from them. Have I gotten it wrong? Absolutely. I even lost a job because of it. But that’s the rare occasion.

As far as advice, I would say to pay attention to what they talk about and ask yourself why. For instance, if they talk about their devotion to their faith straight away, try to answer ‘why’ they are sharing and decide if they are safe or not. Personally, I would keep things to myself. I instinctively feel it will not go well if you challenge their ideas by simply not being of the same faith. When someone starts spilling intimate details after meeting for the first time, I remove myself almost immediately. In my experience, that behavior is a red flag indicating manipulative intent.

As far as fashion goes, I hit my idgaf button quite some time ago. A couple years ago I was struggling emotionally, and my husband went to my favorite metaphysical shop and bought a tigers eye necklace in the shape of a moon to bring me peace. I cherish it, and I wear it proudly. But my cage necklace in which I can change the crystal? That either goes in my pocket closest to my heart or simply inside my top. Everyone who has interacted with me pretty much expects my wardrobe to be unique. I might wear neon colors one day, and all black the next day. I have dresses that are a combination of dark and bright and have different patterns on the same dress. I wear them with confidence and refuse to give free rent in my head to the people that don’t like it. Years ago, like 25 of them, I would have certain pieces from my closet that were for practicing only, but that was honestly a pain in the rump roast so I consider it done when preparing myself for a ritual.

All-in-all, I feel that how much you do or don’t share depends on how much of an influence your loved ones have on you. For me, that would be zero influence so I do what I want but still respect others.

Tootles,
Kat

[Moonbeam]

@kat1 you have made me think about interacting with other people be that colleagues at work and people you meet. Lot’s of people can be manipulating and try to extract information. This has happened at my place of employment, I do give 110% to everything I do which can have it draw backs as I will go above and beyond especially when I covering a Solicitors/Lawyers by working late. However, I do know that my work colleagues are completive with each other so I do have to be careful as they will ask questions. It is not nice that people are only invested in themselves. I cannot change my nature to work hard (and I am definitely a Saturday’s Child - if you know the rhyme). However, I am definitely more guarded in general and keep my private life private. Only my Husband, family and close friends know. But it is a good lesson to learn that firstly you need time to observe and read a person your advice is both intuitive and the right approach. Thank you for posting as my Husband has said that sometimes I can be a little gullible and believe what people tell me.

Brightness Blessings

[Feathertip]

CHALLENGE ENTRY - Discreet Witchcraft

This Challenge is both simple and hard for me - mainly, because while most of my immediate family and friends take me at who I am, the one person I keep a low profile around is my mother.

She is the one who called me “weird” when I was younger, and when I grinned and was genuinely pleased at this, I think this annoyed her even more. There has been a tension between us since I was old enough to announce that I didn’t like going to Church on Sunday and wanted to be left alone. I didn’t have words to express how “outside” of that world I felt.

What I knew was that, the older I got, the more Christianity was something that was being forced upon me, and I really didn’t like any of it. I was taken to Sunday School every week, which was followed by going to the main Sanctuary (it was huge and kind of pretty with all that carved wood and stained glass) for scary adult sermons that mainly threatened hellfire and suffering if we didn’t act a certain way.

Ultimately, my mother signed me up for weeks of special instructions - and then one Sunday, when I got to church I was told to strip off my clothes in a back room and step into a white robe to get baptized in front of the congregation. As Baptists, that big Sanctuary had a special tub up front, and I (along with several other kids in white robes) was instructed to step into the water where the smiling preacher waited. He held up a Bible and babbled some words, put a handkerchief over my nose and gracefully dunked me completely under the water. I came up gasping and dripping and wanting to get the hell out of there. But I just staggered out and was dismissed to be led back to the changing area to dry off and put my Sunday-best outfit back on.

Afterwards, in the car on the way home, my mom turned around beaming and asked me if I felt different. I stared at her, my kid brain weighing the options between an outright lie that would make her happy, or telling her how I really felt. I opted for the lie, which made the rest of my day very easy, even celebratory. Hell, I got cake and ice cream. And all I had to do for the treat was lie through my teeth after being led around like a dog on a leash by grown-ups, and do weird stuff that meant absolutely nothing to me, and was making my skin crawl internally.

So I learned to lie and meekly go along to get along, and I did this for a few more years - until I just couldn’t stand it any more and flat out refused to go to Church.

Over my teenage years, there were numerous “You’re going to burn in Hell/Where did I go wrong with you/Why are you like this?” awful arguments. Eventually, I was older, better read, and able to counter her arguments better.

We both had to come to grips with who we are. I eventually moved away, was married and started a family and worked full time and was able to follow my own path - having to disengage mentally from my Christian upbringing and, with more reading, understand that I was and always had been a Pagan.

I am still discreet around her, at her ripe old age of 99. When she comes to my house, it’s quite easy to put away my Lenormand cards, stash my books on Neo-Paganism and remove all signs that point to my efforts to enchant my world.

I don’t bother with this in front of anyone else - at the Crone stage, I think most folks can just pound sand if they don’t like what they see.

The lesson I learned at a young age - that it’s easier to tell lies to keep the peace - is a lesson that got me through my professional work years and in certain public spaces. This was my experience with being “discreet.” Fortunately for me, so much of my worldview mirrored the “hippie” label that my persona was more acceptable and I didn’t have to be too tightly wound. Grow those herbs, silly girl! Recycle! (What church do you go to, again?)

But the beauty of aging is to realize that concerning myself too much with other people’s reactions is little more than a distraction from my practice. My mother knows exactly who I am - and she is, if not exactly reconciled to it, at least resigned enough to it to have not uttered a further word about it. Her heathen daughter, after all, is the one who sold her home in Georgia and came straight back up here to help her clean out her own home and transition to her assisted living community.

We get along much better these days, and the only effort I make is to not put certain items within her view - I don’t need to put anything in her face to “prove” anything. She knows, and says nothing. There will be no more arguments, and this is a firm choice on my part since she won’t be around for too many more years.

And all I have to do is keep being me. I don’t lie anymore.

[georgia]

@kat1

When someone starts spilling intimate details after meeting for the first time, I remove myself almost immediately.

Just out of curiosity, how have you felt about joining in an ongoing conversation like the forum? I ask because my mother believed that keeping secrets of any kind was evil incarnate. Thus I don’t have much of a filter. I would be upset knowing that I was off-putting to someone like you. I’d rather learn from you.

[Moonbeam]

@Feathertip I am honoured that you have been able to share your childhood experiences which will have no doubt brought back some painful memories that you have relived writing your entry.

I think that your Mother’s generation were themselves expected to conform as I know that Mum also went to Sunday School at our Church of England when she was a child. 1950’s in the UK 95% of the population was either Church of England or Catholics and families were expected to attend also get married there as well.

I can imagine your turmoil trying to scream out especially your baptism and feeling overwhelmed to please her. I am glad that your relationship is better. It is easier to put everything away so that you can just be together. You have become stronger through it all.

Much love and many blessings and happy Litha and Summer Solstice

[Feathertip]

Thank you so much! It’s one of those experiences that stay with you on a subconscious level, I think. Once you’re older you can put it in context better.

Yes, I agree a lot of it is a generational thing.

[BryWisteria]

Just dropping in a friendly reminder:

~ Today is the last day to join the challenge ~

If you haven’t already shared an entry with the coven but would like to join in, you still have time!

Whispers on the wind say all the entries shared so far are fantastic - a big thank you to everyone who has shared their discreet tips, wisdom, and more. Thanks for helping fellow witches keep their practice as personal as they wish

For those who haven’t yet shared an entry, this is a friendly heads up that the challenge is approaching its end. It will close to entries tomorrow: Tuesday, June 23 at 7:00 AM ET (Eastern US Time). Please join before the deadline if you’d like to receive the award badge and shout-out.

Also, please don’t forget to vote for your favorite challenge badge if you haven’t already!

Blessed be!

[BryWisteria]

The Props and Presents award post for this challenge is now live in the forum and badges have been sent to all entrants!

→ Award Post for the Discreet Witchcraft Challenge

Thank you once again to all those who joined the challenge! I hope you enjoy your new badge

While no additional badges will be given out now that the challenge has officially closed, this thread has been reopened for discussion- feel free to comment on the theme, ask questions or reply to entries.

[Moonbeam]

Undercover Witches Congratulations on your new badge