The fires happened fast.
The following is an excerpt from my new book “Sacred Tears: A Witch’s Guide To Grief,” now available for pre-order.
One afternoon at the end of summer of 2020, the air carried a faint hint of smoke. By that evening, the sky across most of the state was a scorching Halloween orange; something I’d only seen in apocalyptic nightmares. Even our dog refused to go outside. Rare, high-force winds had knocked down power-lines at the end of a brutal dry season, inciting massive forest fires around Oregon and Washington.
It was nothing I’d experienced before, even growing up in Oregon.
Climate change has made our summers hotter and drier, and a century of fire suppression and prevention of indigenous burning practices has packed the beautiful green forests with the kindling equivalent to a garage packed with newspaper and cardboard boxes with a spewing furnace in the middle.
We didn’t know if we needed to evacuate or if we were safe to stay, and even if we left, we didn’t know where would be safe to go. The fires were everywhere. It all depended on where the winds blew.
I prepared a “to-go” tote, something that my Californian relatives had done for years, but not something I had ever done before. I didn’t have time to grieve over the potential glimpse of the new world I may be living in, where such fires loomed. I could only think about what was most important to take if I had to flee: marriage certificate and passports, medications, my grandmother’s cookbook, pet food and leashes and carriers, the totes of journals I’d kept since I was a child.
While I packed, I passed one of our many altars in our house. I looked at the statues, the offerings, the trinkets, things that I once thought invaluable to my Witchcraft practice.
“I won’t bring any of it with me,” I said to the altar. It was not an apology, but a statement. “I can rebuild all of this.”
Grief changes Magick because grief changes us.
For many, grief changes their approach to Magick. You may find yourself drawn to new deities, traditions, or paths. Sometimes, grief and loss can empower latent Magickal abilities, whether they be ones long unused or ones you never knew you had. Many will embraced a new path, or abandon Magick all together.
Questioning beliefs is normal to the process of grief. Some of us will return to our pre-loss practices. Others won’t. Many will find new paths all together.
