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hedge witches....
- Thread starter cmdeford
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cmdeford
New Member
It's not always what you want to believe, it's more of what fits you, as I understand it a hedge witch is a form of eclectic witch, when not just one religion suits you. as an eclectic witch you pick and choose from different traditions to make, per se, a lifestyle that suits you. So that would be why, when you search and search for a religion to suit you, for whatever reason, and you believe parts of one religion, and parts of another, but not one religion suits you fully, whatever feels right. To each his own.
I have yet to see much in the way of a cohesive, agreed-upon definition of what that means. There are usually two streams of thought that I've observed.
One stream of thought places hedge witchery in the realm of what is roughly analogous to Green Witchcraft. The "hedge" is interpreted as a metaphor for being out on the boundaries of society, a wild witch of nature. It means one's path stems from interactions with what are commonly called "nature spirits" of your local area instead of through the historically-recognized pantheons that seem more common amongst Neopaganisms. This interpretation of hedge witchery is pretty clearly a religion; it's not just the practice of spellcraft, but a way of interacting with and deriving meaningfulness from the world.
The other stream of thought places hedge witchery into what seems roughly analogous to being a Shamanic practitioner. The "hedge" is interpreted as a metaphor for the veil between this world and the otherworlds, and this interpretation of hedge witchery means a person who is an intermediary between these worlds. This makes it more of a practice (i.e., much like kitchen witchery) than a religion in of itself, but functionally you never see Shamanic paths devoid of a religious underpinning. That underpinning need not be as explicitly Pagan as in the first stream of hedge witchery, though.
There was a time I might have used that label, but it was never cohesive enough for me to want to use it. I have used the title "Green Witch" to describe myself, but as of late I've opted for "Druidic Witch" as it probably gets across what I actually do a bit better (maybe).
One stream of thought places hedge witchery in the realm of what is roughly analogous to Green Witchcraft. The "hedge" is interpreted as a metaphor for being out on the boundaries of society, a wild witch of nature. It means one's path stems from interactions with what are commonly called "nature spirits" of your local area instead of through the historically-recognized pantheons that seem more common amongst Neopaganisms. This interpretation of hedge witchery is pretty clearly a religion; it's not just the practice of spellcraft, but a way of interacting with and deriving meaningfulness from the world.
The other stream of thought places hedge witchery into what seems roughly analogous to being a Shamanic practitioner. The "hedge" is interpreted as a metaphor for the veil between this world and the otherworlds, and this interpretation of hedge witchery means a person who is an intermediary between these worlds. This makes it more of a practice (i.e., much like kitchen witchery) than a religion in of itself, but functionally you never see Shamanic paths devoid of a religious underpinning. That underpinning need not be as explicitly Pagan as in the first stream of hedge witchery, though.
There was a time I might have used that label, but it was never cohesive enough for me to want to use it. I have used the title "Green Witch" to describe myself, but as of late I've opted for "Druidic Witch" as it probably gets across what I actually do a bit better (maybe).
BSM1
What? Me worry?
Makes sense. In reading it seemed an extremely solitary endeavor, that's what I meant.
GoodbyeDave
Well-Known Member
The term was popularised by rae Beth in her book of that name. She just used the term to refer to solitary Wiccans, raher than coven members. A very good book is Raymond Buckland's "Wicca for One". He was initiated by Gardner and introduced Gardnerian Wicca to the USA.