Do you believe in fate? Many like to believe in fate, in destiny, as a romanticized idea that we can never stray too far from the right path. That we need not stress over taking responsibility for our thoughts, actions, and the worldly reactions to our choices, because all will be well. We comfort one another with expressions such as ‘What’s for you, will not pass you by’ and ‘what’s meant to be, will be’.
Conversely, some prefer the comfort of believing that there is no such thing as fate, as to believe in fate would be to give up the reigns of control over one’ path and one’s future.
As a Witch I challenge the idea of ‘fate’ head on, by using magick to manipulate the reality around me and bring forth my desired changes in the world. Yet I find myself wondering whether I am really paving the path ahead of me, or simply following breadcrumbs laid out by the entities I work with.
You see, every time I believe I am navigating, the signs appear to tell me that the path I’m walking has existed long before me and is simply waiting for me to catch up.
As I sat to write this blog, I had a firm intention. It is March 1, and I would write about the significance of this date in relation to the Salem Witch trials. I created my heading and collected the information on my chosen topic. On March 1, 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, the first interrogations began, in what would become known as the infamous ‘Salem Witch Trials’. Now, of all the articles I could have opened, my eyes were drawn to one that mentioned the ‘Gallows Hill’. This stunned me for a moment as I considered that this is the name of the hill in the north of Scotland, where I spent all my childhood vacations. It was indeed a hill where the gallows once were, yet I had always associated this with criminal executions and never once considered the link between gallows and witch trials.
This led me to think less about the topic I had intended exploring and more about the uncanny phenomenon of what the scientific minded would describe as ‘coincidence’.
As I pondered this, my cat jumped onto the table and walked across my computer keyboard. His little paw pressed the keys and he manipulated the text in front of me. I had typed the following words: More than 150 men and women in and around Salem were jailed on charges of exercising “Certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcrafts & Sorceryes.”
My cat, somehow deleted part of this text, merging the next sentence with the last, therefore manipulating the paragraph to read: “Certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcrafts & Sorceryes.” called d us.
Certain detestable arts called witchcrafts called d us….
Called us.
Now for anyone dim-witted enough to assume I am claiming my cat has some kind of magickal touch-typing ability, let me clarify. What I am referring to here is the act of ‘coincidence’ that leads to a sign or message that should not be ignored.
For me, the message is clear. Witchcraft called us. We did not choose it; we did not call upon it and neither did the witches who were hanged and burned. Witchcraft called them. Magick beckoned to them come closer. It is a living and very conscious life force in its own right. It is the Lion that we kid ourselves into thinking we can tame, but truth be told, with every act we risk destruction. Yet it is worth the risk. It is worth the trials and the punishment we receive. It is worth risking everything for, because it makes us feel alive, being so close to death and living to tell the tale. It makes us feel like the God of our own destiny, that we can not only star in, but write, direct, and edit the story of our life. We can refuse to settle for that which fails to serve us and pursue something greater.
The detestable and delectable art of witchcraft called us…and so we follow.
Zeraphina Angelus, 1 March 2022