| Halloween is a time that most of us connect with | | | | friend's garden of her rented home. The priestess |
| witches and the supernatural, trick-or-treat, and | | | | taught my friend how to cook with apples, making |
| pumpkins. Signaling a change of seasons, Halloween | | | | many delicious dishes with this freely-available fruit. She |
| also was a time when my grandmother cooked | | | | taught that this is the fruit of the land and we must |
| special dishes for the whole family. It was a time of | | | | respect the land and the earth. Pagans respect nature |
| togetherness and love. Halloween has origins in pagan | | | | and live with nature as ecologically as possible. She |
| tradition, and it is my own delightful experiences with | | | | taught that if we eat what nature provides in its |
| witches in the Celtic tradition that I want to share with | | | | seasons, we will be well and healthy. So my friend |
| you. | | | | cooked plenty of apple soup that weekend, enough to |
| Between the childhood times spent with of my | | | | feed about twenty people who had come to visit my |
| grandmother and the time I met modern witches, life | | | | friend that weekend. All this from a single parent who |
| presented me with the challenge of all challenges. I | | | | got the apples for free. She could have dwelt on being |
| caught a life-threatening virus and became chronically ill. | | | | unable to provide supermarket food for us, and she |
| When traditional medicine could not help me, I was | | | | could have not hosted the gathering. Instead, she |
| finally persuaded to try alternative medicine. With this | | | | opened her doors to us and gave, and nature gave, |
| came a new lease on life, and so I naturally wanted | | | | and we all enjoyed the abundant goodness of nature. |
| more of this goodness. Eventually, I was introduced to | | | | We had an abundance of tasty nutritious food and |
| Reiki, and my Reiki education started. This is how I met | | | | were in good spirits all that weekend. |
| my first modern witch. | | | | My pagan friends also taught me about the power of |
| Suzie introduced me to Reiki and became my Reiki | | | | three. The power of three or the rule of three goes |
| Master and teacher. As well as Reiki, Suzie introduced | | | | something like this. If you wish harm upon another or |
| me to modern witchcraft, often called simply "the | | | | direct negative energy towards another, it will come |
| Craft". Although I did not take it up myself, through | | | | back to you threefold. Because my friends were white |
| Suzie and her friends, I learnt a lot. Most of all, they | | | | witches, they did good witchcraft, which translates as |
| taught me the Law of Attraction. | | | | healing and nurturing. They taught me to only have |
| I was invited to gatherings and social events of | | | | good thoughts for others, no matter what. Because |
| witches, warlocks, priests and priestesses of modern | | | | thinking good thoughts attracts good energy, and my |
| times. I attended pagan weddings called hand-fastings | | | | life will prosper with goodness. They taught me that |
| and was told of pagan christenings called baby-naming | | | | there is good and evil in all of us, and that we can be |
| ceremonies. My new friends were nothing like what a | | | | calm about both and use the good in us to attract |
| witch was portrayed to be. My eyes opened to | | | | goodness to us. |
| ancient wisdom passed down through the ages. And a | | | | How wonderful this education has been. I am still in |
| whole new world of possibilities unfolded. | | | | touch with my friends, whom like anyone else in the |
| One weekend, I traveled to the home of a new friend, | | | | universe, I love unconditionally. My business has grown |
| who was a single parent. She had befriended a local | | | | and I am happily partnered, both huge successes for |
| priestess who found an abundance of apples in my | | | | me. I am indeed blessed to have been shown the way. |