Over the years I have been asked by many to teach them. I dont do this. I am not a teacher. I am a student for my entire life. I will not stop learning until the day I leave this existence and I hope even beyond, I am still learning. I will guide, advise, gather, help resolve, fix, repair, cast away, protect, give, share, stand by your side, show you the signs when they appear, grow, harvest, birth, bury, sacrifice, blood-let, bind and many many other acts of divination of the craft with believers. But I do not crown myself a teacher by any means.
What is a teacher anyways? Someone that has gone to some fancy (expensive) school where someone who is supposedly qualified to show them the ropes? I do not believe in this nonsense. You can not go to school to become certain things. You either are or you arent. it is in your soul or it is not. Especially in terms of Magick. I was not taught to be a witch. I was born a witch. I did not choose this path. It chose me. Yes I have communed with other witches in the past. Yes I have been part of a coven and yes I still commune with other witches to this day. Commune is the key word. We learn from each other. we take what sparks in our soul and we gather these tidbits of information we pick up along the path and create our own stew of faith. This is the way of the HedgeWitch.
We are called by many names. HedgeWitch, HedgeWalker, HedgeMystic, GreenWitch and Natural Witch. Walkers of this path are very free spirits. We do not follow rules, yet we have explicit morals, traditions, values and belief in the God and Goddess. Most of this path follow a Shamanistic path. We are walkers between the worlds as the term "Hedge" suggests. Traditionally and historically throughout the world most villages were protected by a wall or hedge, tree line or man made structure of some sort. The "enlightened one" usually lived just beyond that line. They needed to be near the village, yet removed and somewhat isolated in order to commune with nature. In our path nature is everything. We learn most of everything from word of mouth that has been passed down through others and communing DEEPLY with nature. A Hedge Witch will learn most of her "work" through much time spent in solitude or with a small group of other witches in forests, woods, jungles, mountains, deserts etc. We are deeply connected with animals and "signs" We walk both worlds. this is not something that can be learned. You either possess this ability or you do not. We are not psychics, although some do possess that ability, it is simply something that is in our soul. We simply know these things. Our spirit is connected with the ground and everything that comes from it.
Hedge Walkers are outcasts even among other pagan paths, bc of their complete defiance in not being "followers" they are extreme free thinkers and will only accept something that speaks to their spirit. In our spellcraft many of us do not use the common tools that other pagans or wiccans will use. we do not buy our supplies. everything comes from the earth we tread on and we return favors or "trinkets" when we harvest. we trade with other walkers and only in cases of not being able to find something we need will we then seek out to purchase supplies, but even in those cases hedgewalkers are extremely practical and will often find another item to substitute, or will try to create their own. The reason for this is our desire for simplicity. We crave living in sync with mother nature as much as possible. We create our own staffs, athames, chalices etc.
We are often seen as mysterious yet in full view. this is also a skill that can not be learned. 36 years into this journey and i still have a hard time describing to people when i am told this, why it is they perceive me this way. I have a very vague answer, so far (as would be true to my charater) I am full in my heart, meaning I am passionate about everything I do, believe in, love, and exist with. Yet in order to continue to be that person, I must be able to sit still and in silence at times to observe the beauty that surrounds me. My soul will only then connect with every breath surrounding me whether it be that of a person, animal, tree, waterfall or river. My silence allows me to feel with my mind. And even in that description, only another walker between the worlds will understand this. Hence the mysterious creatures we are coined as. The clinical world likes to label us as "introverts" but quite the contrary, we are usually not self centered, we are simply connecting when we are silent. When I sit with another soul, and let them talk and i sit silently and listen with not much to say, in my world something else is happening. My soul is reaching into the other soul through their thoughts and words and we are dancing spiritually and linguistically. We are connecting on a soul level through shared breathe and vibration of sound frequencies that my mind understands and speaks this rare silent language fluently. Some view this as a very basic and primitive form of telepathic communication, that was in existence before language. Others view it as an advanced form of soul communication that most humans have not "tapped into" yet. Whichever way it is. This is the language we speak. We are natural healers bc we are open channels of energy. our ability to seek within gives us the open spirit (heart) to allow a person to heal. often just being in a walkers presence is "healing" we do this without even knowing we are doing it most of the time. when people tell me " I feel better after I talk to you" my answer to that is this, when you are talking my soul is holding your heart and surrounding it with light and telling you everything is fine, you are beautiful and you are love. It is that simple. When you feel this in another person, you are in the presence of the Mystic of Nature, The Walker of the Hedgewall, and the Greenwitch. You are safe ~
