Welcome to the very first edition of The Muse. We are so excited to be launching this publication alongside The Golden Thread Directory. We are honored to have you as a part of this growing community dedicated to weaving a better world.
This first edition coincides with October - the witchiest of months. In honor of that, our team has decided to delve into the topic of “witch” - what is a witch, exactly? What defines a witch, and what has defined witches across time? Why have they historically been persecuted? Questions like that.
This newsletter is an invitation to think about the witches in your life, and perhaps to lean into your own witchiness a little bit. Please listen to the beautiful conversation I recorded with Kristen Caissie of Moon Canyon Healing, below, about what a witch is, how to walk the at-times-terrifying path of the healer, and how we can lean into embodiment to heal our nervous systems. And if you want to practice some magic, we wrote up a little ritual for you at the end.
With love,
Olivia, founder of The Golden Thread
a brief astrological weather report:
Well, we're feeling it. I am not an astrologer (maybe someday!) but I have always been very sensitive to the energies of the cosmos. So my own personal note is: if you're feeling a little ANGRY or edgy this week, that is normal. Me too! Chani Nicholas (one of my fav astrologers) 's email subject for the week, yesterday, was “big week for being annoying.”
And here is why, according to astrology: TODAY we have a full moon in Aries (which was at its peak at 7:26am EST). Aries is fiery to begin with, but there is other fiery stuff amplifying it (I won't get technical because.. I am not an expert). “This week is salty. Like a text from an ex, the astrology will get under our skin,” Chani says.
This is an intense moon on the heels of an intense eclipse season, which began on September 17th with a Lunar Eclipse in Pisces, leading up to a solar eclipse in Libra on October 2nd which we are still feeling the effects of in many ways. Eclipse season is meant to clear out what is not meant to remain in our lives; this can be painful. This eclipse season, on the Libra-Aries axis, particularly has to do with relationships. Many of us have been in grief individually and collectively. So maybe this salty week is for washing our wounds - getting deep in there so we can heal more fully on the other side.
In short, find ways to healthily express anger. Move your body, sweat, do some breathwork, scream into a pillow, vent to your friends, take some space alone to journal it out or channel it into your next masterpiece. We've included a ritual at the bottom of this newsletter that may be helpful, as well. It is going to be OKAY !
double,
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toil and trouble
When we think of “witches,” most of us think of spell books, pointy black hats, and creepy old women. But what is witchcraft, really?
The origin of the word “witch” is Germanic, and connected to root words meaning “sacred” and “to separate/divide,” possibly alluding to early Germanic practices of cleromancy (whereby people would cast lots, sort of like dice, to practice divination. The word “sorcière” in French also alludes to divination at its root.
Divination, certainly, is a form of witchcraft, and occult practices have always fallen into the category of “witchcraft.” But what is a witch, really?
The European witch trials, which began in the 1400s and lasted into the 1700s, contributed to an expanding definition of witchcraft. According to The Library of Congress's Resource Guide on French Women and Feminists in History, “magic, sorcery, and the ideas of the supernatural had co-existed with Christianity — if somewhat uneasily — for centuries before witch hunts became so prevalent.” But in a time marked by sociopolitical pressures and preceding the Scientific Revolution, the church decided that it needed someone to blame for inexplicable and frightening medical phenomena like “paralysis, a sudden seizure, or a baby born ill or disfigured.” “Witches” became the scapegoat. Between 1400 and 1775, about 100,000 people were executed. The Church typically targeted marginalized women and people who had knowledge of healing practices (men included). “Witchcraft” came to encompass any knowledge of the healing arts – “if they had the power to help, then by extension, they had the power to harm.” “Witchcraft” also extended to any direct relationship to the divine (for how could anyone connect to the divine without the Church as interloper?).
Joan of Arc's signature at the bottom of a letter to Sully, March 16, 1430, France
Jeanne d’Arc is an example of a “witch” persecuted for her direct divine connection. Jeanne d’Arc heard divine voices instructing her to save France during the Hundred Years War, and found a way to convince the eldest son of the King to let her help. She led French forces to victory, paving the way for Charles VII to be crowned king. However, once her purpose had been served, she was captured, accused of heresy and witchcraft, and burned at the stake as a witch. The church and state have recognized their grave error, since - she was canonized as a saint in 1920, and Sainte Jeanne d’Arc is celebrated in cities across France as a symbol of female courage.
Though the practice of casting spells is what witches have been known for in popular culture, a witch, really, is anyone who understands the alchemy of heaven and earth - who knows to channel and combine these elements. By this definition, shamans across cultures are included; as are yogis, herbalists, midwives, priestesses, and artists. Some witches do cast spells, but anyone who can channel the divine and bring it down into physical reality is practicing magic (whatever word you want to give to it).
Georgia O'Keeffe with ‘Pelvis Series, Red with Yellow, 1960. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Witches are making a comeback in modern society – for the first time in recent history, the healing arts are flourishing. Psychedelics are being openly talked about and sought out. Shamanism is a kitchen table term. Astrology is an everyday topic of conversation (at least in my circles). And herbal guidebooks (and spell books, and tarot decks, and crystals, too!) are in every bookstore. Ancient forms of magic and healing are rising to the surface, unafraid, for the first time in a long time, to be seen out in the open.
How do you channel? What are your rituals? Is “witch” a word you would ever consider referring to yourself with? And where do you see folk healing traditions and spiritual connection, still, suppressed and silenced?
Kristen Caissie, founder of Moon Canyon Healing, joined me last week for a conversation about the path of the healer, why it's scary, and how to turn toward our emotions and tend our nervous systems using plants and other humans as allies. Listen here.
a ritual
Here is some beginner witchcraft for you. This is a simple and very old form of spell work, commonly called cord cutting. This is a perfect ritual to perform today or in the upcoming days to release any attachments that are no longer serving you – whether they be to another person, a situation, an emotion, or a habit. The full moon is a great time to perform spell work because the energy of the moon serves to amplify the intention and energy of ceremony, and this particular Aries full moon is juicy for separating our energy from what is no longer amplifying it.
golden thread updates
We hope that you've enjoy reading (and listening!). If you know of any witch-related resources we should have in our resource library, send them in here! And consider submitting your writing here for future editions, if you write anything having to do with spirituality, ecology, magic, or weaving a better world.
If you haven't yet explored the website, please do! We have a growing group of members in the directory, so if you are looking for a healer or therapist, we invite you to look there! If you are a healer yourself, please apply to join us. We will be hosting our first council circle this Sunday for directory members and would love to have you there.
lastly - calling all familiars !
Ralph Crane, "Black Cat Auditions in Hollywood," 1961. Life Magazine
Drew, an integral member of the Golden Thread team, has come up with the brilliant idea to gather portraits of witches / healers (of all genders) to share portraits of themselves with their familiars – we will have a “The Mews” page dedicated to this on the site. If you have a portrait to share, please email it to info@the-golden-thread.com.
