hi! i’m willow, a death witch who’s been practicing magic for about as long as i can remember, with active participation for ten years and the claiming of the name witch for three-ish years. i can never remember dates accurately, but suffice to say magic has been imbued in my life since day one.
i wanted to give y’all an introduction to what i practice as a folk witch/christian descendant. i’m not claiming to be a christian witch or christopagan, but i’m trying to illustrate the folk christianity my family handed down to me.
in particular, i received this tradition from both sides of grandparents. my paternal grandfather came from the hills of west virginia, while my maternal grandparents came from ohio, and all of their families were deep in appalachia. my grandfather was more of a loose christian, while my maternal grandparents were heavily spiritual and involved in their own syncretic magic (although they’d never call it that.)
what is syncretic folk religion?
syncreticism refers to the blending of multiple practices. my grandmother (who i’ll be talking about most) was catholic in name, but believed in spirits, ghosts, spooks, and magic. think of your family superstitions – that’s your own form of magic, in my experience.
folk religion refers to the practices of small groups which form their own culture and religion in the name of other religions. my grandmother may have been called a christian, but she had to live in harmony with the desperation of urban poverty in the great depression as a child, and had to make her own way through the world without the help of anyone else. her religion naturally grew from that. she was not adherent to any form of christianity but her own.
why are you not a christian?
simply, i don’t follow christianity – i follow a folk version of christianity. i can go further in depth about my relationship to Christ and the other christian figures, but suffice to say for now i am not a christian.
what do you do as part of this practice?
a lot of what i consider to be magic in this tradition is the practice of life. for example, have you ever spit on a broom that hit you? that’s supposed to protect you from going to prison. have you twisted an apple stem until it broke, telling you who you’ll marry some day? have you taken food to your neighbors when they’re in need, fed your loved ones after loss, or visited graves and tended to the ones that aren’t connected to you by family but lived and died in the same place? these are all folk superstitions and practices that have survived from my converted ancestors.
here is a list of ways my catholic/christian ancestors have steeped me in magic:
superstition. appalachian folk magic has a lot of superstitions, like beating a rock with a wet rag to bring rain or the aforementioned spitting on the broom.
guidance. my family has always turned to spirits, and in some cases angels, for help.
folk healing. this is a big part of why i am studying herbalism – from tobacco on bee stings to whiskey for toothaches, doctors were too expensive so we found our own remedies, and i am reclaiming that knowledge.
bible inspired magic. from ezekiel 16:5 healing wounds to the lord’s prayer healing alcoholism, a built-in religious framework provides me with guidance when i need it and help when i seek it.
relationship mores. there are a set of norms that go along with folk christianity about how you treat others. this ties heavily into death, relating to how you express condolences (casseroles and baked goods, sitting with the deceased, comforting loved ones), how you treat the dead (my uncle carried my grandfather’s body to the transport for the morgue, you can ease the passage of the dead with your eulogy by tying up unfinished matters), and how you relate to those who have passed (sitting on the grave, speaking to them through prayer).
spiritual knowledge. even if i don’t follow the bible’s teaching or believe in Christ, i get the robust text of the bible to base my practice in.
this is just my experience with folk christianity! i hope it’s illuminating!
fair--y backup 