Hello everyone! I’m back with another blog about witchcraft, which is something you’ll probably be seeing a bit more often than you were used to. As I told in my previous blog I’ve started digging deeper into the lore behind witchcraft, and yesterday I finished reading ‘De Weg van de Heks‘ by Lunadea. I’ll be posting a full review on the book later this week, both in English and Dutch, because the book is written in Dutch.

My first encounter with witchcraft

Growing up, around the end of my teen years I started to really like metal music. For me, that musical road led from hard rock to heavy metal and many more sorts, including numetal, metalcore, power metal, death metal, black metal, gothic metal, rap metal, tribal metal, progressive metal and so many more types of metal! It was also during that time I had my first encounter with witchcraft. A lot of girls that I knew back then who were into gothic metal and industrial music were proudly proclaiming that they were Wicca. It was a huge trend back then, also thanks to some television series back in those days, I think. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. I never really got into it myself, but that’s mostly because it seemed something that only the girls were into, so I never bothered to really find out anything about it, other than some rule of three and how they formed covens and did all kinds of dark things (at least, that’s how 18 year old me viewed it).

Crossroads

Fast forward about twenty years and we’re at the point where Bren came into my life and reintroduced my to witchcraft. Her type of witchcraft. Which has about zero to do with Wicca. I have to admit that I was a bit reserved when she told me about it, because I had been going down the road of the Stoa myself and while the Ancient Greeks were way more in touch with nature than we are in this day and age, I am also a logic driven person and I have embraced both the scientific method and skepticism as ways to determine whether something is bullshit or not.

Bren managed to ease me into her way of life by slowly introducing me to different aspects of it and before too long, I saw the merit and benefit of most of it. The rituals she performs during the different Pagan festivals all have a certain mindfulness to them and are all about intent and setting goals for yourself. Another aspect I really love about Traditional Green Witchcraft is that you’re supposed to continue learning and developing yourself. A thing that I strive to do on a daily basis. Every day I want to become a little better at being me, I want to learn, I want to know and understand, to create and be there for the benefit of others and help them on their journey. So when our roads crossed, I think it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.

So why are witches metal?

While reading Lunadea’s book, she tells about how there’s many types of witchcraft and that if you ask ten witches what witchcraft is, you’ll get ten different answers. The same applies when you ask a thousand. It’s because it’s different for every person and it brings something for everyone. But she also named a couple of different types. You have green witches, white witches, kitchen witches, hedge witches, wiccans, solitary witches, hereditary witches, eclectic witches, SASSwitches, and so on! And this made me realize that there’s about as much types of witches as there are types of metal. It’s truly an endless amount of different types. And that’s why witches are metal! It’s also no coincidence that a lot of witches I know love metal. So there you go!

Have a great Monday, and stay safe and healthy!

Jeffrey