By Anna Franklin
Chapter 2 - The Sacred Hearth
The Hearth Goddess
Hestia
Vesta
Brighid
Gabija
Svasti
Fire Magic
Tools of the Hearth Witch
A few years ago I
invented the term 'Hearth Witch' to describe the witch who sees the sacred
within the physical, the magical in the mundane, and uses this knowledge to
incorporate spiritual practice into her everyday life. The way of the Hearth
Witch is an uncomplicated, direct form of magic, deceptively simple and
unspeakably profound. She draws her strength from the sacred flame that burns
in her hearth, from the earth that sustains her, the water that nourishes her,
and the inspiration of her breath. She finds her gods in the land around her:
the spirits of water, stone and tree, Earth, Moon, Sun, Stars and Sky. She
needs no watch, calendar or magical almanac to tell her when to work her magic,
but works with the observable ebb and flow of the changing seasons, the rising
and setting of the sun, and the waxing and waning of the moon. A Hearth Witch
is drawn to the traditional ways, the rhythms of nature and the call of the
wildwoods. The Hearth Witch of today inherits the mantle of the village wise
woman or cunning man. She is part shaman, part seer, part herbalist, part
spiritual healer, and all witch. Hers are the Old Ways of the countryside, once
passed down from mother to daughter, father to son, crone to apprentice. It is
as old as time and as new as the newest witch.
Herbs have always been
part of the wise woman's armoury. In the past, every woman had to be something
of a herbalist and healer, responsible for her household’s health, since
professional medical help was either unavailable or too expensive- and possibly
ineffective or dangerous to boot. Nearly every home had a still room, so called
because it probably contained a still for distilling flower essences used for
medicinal purposes. Set aside from the kitchen and kept clean and sweet
smelling with drying herbs and flowers, it was the place for making herbal
infusions, powders, oils and poultices, inks, dyes, soaps, household cleaners
and perfumes, for brewing wine and ale, preserving fruit, making jams and
jellies, pickles and chutneys. The woman of the house kept it under lock and
key, and wrote down all her recipes in the same household book that recorded
her mother’s and grandmother’s ‘receipts’. A girl was initiated into the
secrets of these family formulas by her mother, along with her knowledge of
folklore, stories, healing potions, minor surgery, gardening, brewing and wine
making, spinning, weaving, dyeing, childcare, home management, animal
husbandry, bee-keeping, fortune telling and cookery know-how.
It is in our homes
that the first resonance of the sacred lies and where we create a reflection of
hallowed space. The business of the home rotates around the hearth- it is the
place where people meet to cook, eat and talk together. It is the traditional
place to house the shrine of the guardian spirit of the dwelling, and should
provide a focus for religious meditation and worship within the household. The
hearth has been the centre of human life for at least 400,000 years. In Celtic
tradition the ty teallach or 'hearth' was the heart of the home, and fire was
often literally placed centrally in ancient dwelling places, such as Bronze and
Iron Age roundhouses. Imagine frozen, blustery winter days, when there was
little work that could be done on the land, and when the hours of daylight were
short and the nights long. Fire meant the difference between survival and
death, between comfort and cold pain. It was the centre of activity, where
everyone gathered to eat and cook, to sit and warm themselves, and listen to
the stories of the bards. The Latin word for it was focus, since it is the
focus of the home. We call our coven a hearth, because it is the spiritual
nourishing place of its family of members.
- Sources:
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