How to Learn From a Witch

A witch won’t just give you her magic and her secrets; they have to be seduced from her at the right time, with the right questions. A witch won’t answer the too soon or the too abrupt questions, but he will take note of what ones you asked and ponder why. Though she will be stretching you, she will not be testing you. That she has done already far before you realized. The witch skilled in the Art will gently stretch you in every direction, feeling out where you give and where you resist, before applying any pressure. –For teaching is healing by another name. If you want to learn from him pay attention to everything, to the way he sets out his home and the meaning of common seeming objects. When the moment feels right, ask questions about the things you notice, but don’t assume they are just common things or that because you’ve heard about them once you know all there is to know of them. There are stories upon stories to be unpacked there. Always ask a witch the silly questions, you may find she values your vulnerability more than your cleverness. Is that little jar just a pot or a spirit vessel? Why does it look like that and why do you place it there? If you want to learn from a witch you need to learn from the idiosyncrasies of her Craft, for there the reddened richness runs deepest. After all, Fate sent you to this witch, not to another.Do not touch things in a witch’s home without asking, for you never know what spirit hides in a common seeming object or what was not placed there by accident. Above all pay attention. And when you think you’ve become good at paying attention, pay more attention. Practice noticing the way in which you listen, and when others have begun to breathe differently. When you’re around a witch try to be quiet enough to sometimes hear them breathing and to enter silence with them. A witch skilled in the Art will have hidden the magic under the tea cozy and next to the knives and forks and inside the most secret recesses of her home and heart. But every secret will only unlock for you to the extent that your own heart comes unraveled in the secret’s hands. If it stays locked shut, the secret will remain a common place thing to you, hidden in plain sight, right before your eyes, and unmarvellous even when revealed.-Lee Morgan, 2014