The Real Reason Not to Insult a Witch

The Real Reason Not to Insult a Witch blog post by Magickal Path WAY OF THE WITCH: Witchcraft 101 and Witchcraft 201 graduate, Margaret McNellis.

Maybe don’t insult a witch… but not because we’ll hex or curse you

Earlier today, someone sent some big insults my way. This isn’t someone I know personally, so it won’t affect me outside the moment. I went to my altar and immediately cast some magick to protect myself and my energy without harm to anyone, and asked that Justice prevail and karma teach this person not to be abusive.

I commented to a friend of mine, “Maybe don’t insult a witch…” This brought on a discussion of how that phrase can easily be misinterpreted to suggest that we witches should not be insulted because we’ll then hex and curse, and this is why people who are not tolerant fear us.

But the real reason not to insult a witch is not because we will hex and curse. Personally, hexing and cursing is not part of the magick I practice. Not out of some effort to be holier than thou—for those who do hex and curse, that’s up to them. But personally, I choose not to affect and use my energy in that way.

Abusing witches though is triggering.

Let me share a past life regression experience with you

I love past lives and past life regression. It’s fascinating to me because I believe in reincarnation. The fact that past lives have lessons to teach us in this current life is a mystery and a truth I hold in the core of my being. If you don’t agree with me, that’s fine. But it’s what I believe. No, I can’t prove it… but if i could prove it, I wouldn’t have to believe in it.

Anyway…

One night, I was at a past life workshop. I meditated with the group and my past life I saw and experienced was the last moments of a previous incarnation in which I was hanged for witchcraft. It felt very much like I was in England, but that’s not the important part.

I could physically feel the irons on hands and wrists. I couldn’t lift my arms or move my feet, in this life. I could feel the roughness of the rope around my neck. I could hear the jeers and curses to damnation from the crowd. I could feel the rope tighten and I found it hard to breathe. This got increasingly difficult until, in the past life, I perished and my soul ascended up through the trees toward the stars… then I was in a place of peace, but not without the knowledge and feeling of how I got there.

Even writing about it brings back those feelings.

The person who ran the workshop asked if I was okay because usually people don’t feel pain in past life regressions and she, as an empath, could feel some of mine (for which I apologized).

There is a history of oppression, persecution, violence, and cruelty against witches

I’m not going to delve into the history in this blog post. You can read about it in this book if you’re curious or you don’t think “it was that bad.” It was horrible. It was beyond horrible, really. Fair warning, there is a chapter about how one family was cruelly tortured before a crowd that recounts historical evidence which is particularly gruesome. The numbers of mostly women (but also men) who were tortured and murdered across Western Europe and into the present-day United States is boggling.

When someone abuses or insults a witch for her beliefs, for her practice, it triggers this. She doesn’t have to have suffered in her genetic line or even in a past life to be triggered. But if she has, it makes the pain all the worse.

I was happily going about my Friday, looking forward to an afternoon of baking and Yule prep when this abuse rolled across my desk.

It was unnecessary, it was cold, it was fear-filled, and it was triggering. I was back on that scaffold feeling my throat tighten. It was not direct, this abuse, but there was plenty in between the lines (and I’ve been trained in story so I know how to recognize subtext).

So, the phrase should be:

Maybe don’t insult a witch… because it can trigger immense amounts of emotional and psychological pain

How about we practice kindness instead? Empathy? The abuse this person engaged in was irrelevant and unnecessary. How about some tolerance? I’m fortunate that I work somewhere where my witchcraft is a non-issue. Where abuse is not permitted. Where I feel safe.

Not every witch has that luxury. Sometimes they can’t say anything about that abuse.

I know the person who insulted me has been to my website because they know I weave tarot into my book coaching. If you return, person whom I shall not name, I invite you to engage in a dialogue with me. Open your mind and detach from the fear and hatred of what you might not understand.

There was no need to insult me in order to get what you need, in part because it’s irrelevant and in part because it’s unkind. You have an opportunity, if ever you read this post, to walk a different path. A more compassionate path. And I’ll be right there to walk beside you if ever you need that.

So please, folks, don’t insult witches

Not because we’ll hurl hexes and curses your way, but because we’re human. Don’t dehumanize us. We are human and we connect with a long and painful history of persecution that included wrongful abuse, torture, and murder.

Whether we remember because of our bloodline, because of past lives, or because we are tapped into our empathy, or some combination, we feel those insults deeply and while we may have magick to protect ourselves so we can go about our day, our lives, etc., your abuse—whether direct or not—contributes to a long line of cruelty and persecution that still, after hundreds of years, has not gone away.

I live my life out of the broom cupboard

That is because I feel safe doing so. I feel safe doing so because I know I am a kind person and I surround myself with kind and supportive people. There’s no need to belittle what I do. If you don’t like it, don’t engage with it. If it offends you that I combine tarot and magick with book coaching, don’t hire me. I’m not for you and I am certain you are not for me. But that doesn’t mean you need to be unkind about it.

That doesn’t mean you need to suggest that because I use tarot and magick to help writers and other creatives navigate the difficult emotions of being creative that I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m a trained and certified book coach. I’m a published author. I have two graduate degrees in creative writing. I’m a lifelong learner and empath.

I hope for your sake, if you’re reading this, person who felt it necessary to insult me, abuse me, trigger centuries of pain and persecution, that you find a kinder, more empathic way forward in life. Tolerance asks little of us but an open mind, and I feel pity for those who willfully close theirs. This Universe of ours is beautiful, mysterious, and magickal… anyone with a closed mind is missing out on so much.

Margaret McNellis is an author, certified book coach & witch. She holds an MFA in fiction, an M.A. in English & creative writing, and a B.A. in art history. She writes historical fiction for adult and young adult readers.

Margaret is also a graduate of The Magickal Path’s WAY OF THE WITCH: Witchcraft 101 and 201 Training & Coaching programs.

Discover her personal brand of magick through her writing and her book coaching websites.

https://www.mcnelliswrites.com/

https://getabookcoach.com/