They were innocent
The ones who walked this path before me
The ones who never did any wrong
Who committed no sin
'Do what ye will but harm none'

They were the ones who loved the earth
Listened to the cries of the wind and the heartbeat of the sky
Saw the dawn kiss the night sky goodbye
And how the moon would watch over them all
The ones who fell in love with all of Earth's mysteries

The ones who loved to heal
Who cherished all life, and wasted none
The ones who saw everything and nothing
Who ran with the rain
And sang to the storms
Who thanked the crops and respected the Earth
The ones who wrote in runes
And spoke in code
To save our craft and protect our herbs

They were stripped of dignity, but not of pride
Dropped into the water but embraced by the gaurdians of the West, resting in defiance on the surface of the sea
They burned their bodies, but not their souls
They wounded their flesh, but not their will
And like a Phoenix, they rose again
Reborn more powerful, more proud

If again we must, again we shall
No longer will we hide our pride
Our symbols, our spells, our rituals, our magic
No longer shall we fear the ones who do not love the earth we live upon
The ones who burned our brothers and sisters out of hate and refused to understand
The ones who slaughter the land and do not value
all the life that exists together
For we are witches who honor our past and rise together as a Phoenix, rising from the ashes of the ones who crumbled so we could soar

It's Halloween!
by Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;
if shadows fly
the sickled sky,
while children toss their heads
uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;
if birds give up their verse
to comfort chicks they nurse,
while children dream weird dreams
of ugly, wiggly things,
beware the serpent's curse!

If spirits scream
in haunted dreams
while ancient sibyls rise
to plague nightmarish skies
one night without disguise,
while children toss about
uneasy, full of doubt,
beware the Devil's lies . . .

it's Halloween!

Keywords/Tags: Halloween, graveyard, shadows, sickle, moon, witch, witches, goblins, serpents, spirits, ghosts, sibyls, Devil

the witch
by michael r. burch

her fingers draw into claws
she cackles through rotting teeth ...
u ask “are there witches?”
                                              pshaw!
(yet she has my belief)

Keywords/Tags: witch, witches, Halloween, fingers, nails, claws, talons, cackle, cackles, teeth, rotting, rotten, broom, broomstick, cat

I often dream of a place
Far from home
Deep in the woods
I’m sure you know.
Away from the people
The buildings
The noise
Where the witches dance
And the fae rejoice
In their absence.

They hate that we stop clinging, try to surgically glue us back to branches that are no longer our home
We fall, provoking, for maidens and mothers are coming and we must cede, reach for destined roots, furrow down like our etchings this time round
Our bones are thin whispers at every trunk storing our emerging crone song. We are crushed as our wrinkles are blown up, gushing wisdom in ruby, copper and gold
We are pushed into mounds echoing every impersonal violence to our subjected younger bodies
Well, witch please
I demand my wrinkles be removed from the firing line of instant disposal, be allowed to mark out some path for some sisters IF they want it
and if they want it
ONLY

brewing potion with ritual
reciting chants, merely verbal
niching these little caviar
a mixture of gravitas and war

such ladle so long enough to combine
a ******'s blood with a spoon of wine
perhaps adding a buckskin would suffice
this hellcat's hellacious bliss

a bushel of a misogynist's intestine,
must not forget to hitch gobs of sharks fin,
augment a pair of an old man's sight
then smatter the hogs' teeth bite

sing song this dark lullaby
you ought to hear plead and cry
smell and smear this fatal brew
any life it shall take and shoo

death will come and it will reign
blood will begrime and it will stain
thoroughly toting the daring deathly hex
seeking a prey who must be next

What was this spell you put on me bruja?
What were the words you spoke into existence?
The fire you lit still burns hot and deep
I wish we both could have tasted the flames
Before you slipped back into darkness to pay for your sins

Come dance with us.
All glowing skin and long hair.
Come dance with us.
You with your gentle touches and sharp eyes.
Come dance with us.
With all your deep cutting love and laughter like a coyote in the night.
Come dance with us.
Bearing your toothy smile,
Offering your kindest words,
Compassion dripping from your mouth,
Blood dripping from your hands.
Come dance with us.

The witch of the woods
makes a home in my heart and
conjures her magic

4:06 PM
24/9/19