Episode 98: Healing The Witch Wound

*some links included in the show notes may be affiliate links (see disclaimer below)*

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Healing The Witch Wound Retreat (October 2023)

Witch Wound Books…
Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic by Lisa Lister

Heal The Witch Wound: Reclaim Your Magic And Step Into Your Power by Celeste Larsen

Heal Your Witch Wound: A Magickal Depth Approach to Reclaiming Creative and Intuitive Potency and Reawakening the Feminine Soul Voice by Annalise Oatman, LCSW

In Defence Of Witches: The Legacy Of The Witch Hunts And Why Women Are Still On Trial by Mona Chollet

Women Who Run With The Wolves: Myths And Stories Of The Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

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🏔 Connect on Instagram for more practical magick for your life and business.

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DISCLAIMER

Some links included in this description may be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission, however there is no additional charge to you. Thank you for supporting Mountain Practice Journeys so I can continue to provide you with free content!

Links to other websites, products, and services do not endorse or guarantee the services, products, or information contained at the other sites. The information, products, resources, materials, services, and documents found here are not intended to be a substitute for legal, financial, or other professional advice, nor does their use establish a professional relationship between you and Cindy Norton or Mountain Practice Journeys.

INTRO

This is the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast and I’m your host, Cindy. I gladly welcome you to this comfy, cozy space for introverts, highly sensitive people, and solopreneurs who help and heal. This is the place for practical, nature-based, magickal support for your business and life. Gather around the hearth, get comfortable, and settle in. I’m glad you’re here.

MAIN

Hello there, and welcome back to the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast! I’m your host, Cindy. Here in Episode 98 I’m going talk about how to go about healing the witch wound by first recognizing how it shows up in your life.

The first step in healing the witch wound is to understand what it is. So be sure to listen to last week’s episode where I share a bit about the history.

The second step is to begin to recognize how the witch wound is showing up in your life. So, that’s what I’m going to focus on in this episode.

The witch wound can show up as a suppression of your intuition, a fear of being seen, and in many other ways where you are of denying parts of yourself and keeping yourself small.

Here’s a small list of some other ways that you may be able to recognize the witch wound within yourself.

-Feeling unsafe to voice your opinion or speak your truth.
-Being afraid of what others will think or say about you if you show up as your authentic self.
-Diminishing, stuffing down, denying, or ignoring your intuition and intuitive gifts.
-Repressing your emotions for fear of being judged or appearing unstable.
-Feeling that it may be dangerous to let people get too close to you.
-A distrust of others who are not in your “inner circle.” 
-Feeling disconnected from yourself and your true nature. 
-Staying small, quiet, and denying parts of yourself so that you can never be accused of any wrongdoing. 
-A looming fear of violence being used against you.
-Feeling like you are too much, or not enough, for society. 
-A disconnection from your ancestry and culture, as well as from their expertise and healing. 
-Hiding your mystical practices out of fear. 

This is not an exhaustive list, but maybe you’re able to recognize some of these feelings within yourself.

You’re not crazy, and there’s nothing wrong with you for feeling this way. When we think “logically” about it, it doesn’t make sense. We don’t understand why there’s this underlying fear. But I hope this helps you to make some sense out of what may be going on when it comes to following your desires, sharing your gifts, showing up in your business, stepping into your power, or even just becoming more of who you really are (without all the suppression, restriction, and societal pressures about what it means to be a woman).

So, to recap, step one of healing the witch wound is to understand the history of the burning times, which I lightly scratched the surface of in last week’s episode.

Step two of healing the witch wound is to begin to recognize how the witch wound is showing up in your own life, which was the focus of this episode.

I don’t want to trivialize this devastating generational trauma by having a three step plan, but I do want to make the path to beginning to heal this trauma accessible. Healing the witch wound is not simple, but I do want to provide a simple way to get started.

So, as I hinted, there is a third step to healing the witch wound. And I believe that this step is always ongoing. Just like everything in this world, there are no quick fixes – especially when it comes to trauma.

I would say that the third step is practice. And by practice I mean take time out to learn, to care for yourself, and to incorporate deep healing. There are many different ways to practice and that can include making space for journaling, reading, meditation, and yoga that are focused on this type of healing.

So, before I close out this episode, I want to leave you with a simple exercise to get started on this journey of healing. This is the first step of a 6 part ritual from the Healing The Witch Wound retreat that I host.

This is a journaling exercise, so you may want to come back to this section when you have time to sit down for a little while with a pen and paper.

I want you to write down all the ways in which you believe the witch wound is showing up in your life. It may be some of the ways that I mentioned earlier in the episode, or something that you just feel is connected. Trust yourself and write down everything that comes up for you. And, as you are journaling, I want you to be free of judgement that is directed toward yourself or the witch wound. Let this be a neutral exercise.

Remember, what we’ve been doing in this life as a result of the witch wound has served to protect us. Granted it may not be serving us well in this lifetime by keeping us small and afraid, but as we continue our healing journey we can begin to honor the role and mission of the witch wound and start the process of lovingly releasing it.

We don’t have time for the full ritual here, and I also believe that it is best done in a safe space with a small supportive community, so I’ll end it here. But we will be continuing this ritual at the Healing the Witch Wound retreat in Black Mountain, North Carolina, October 23 – 26, so if you’re interested in applying you can go to mountainpracticejourneys.com/witch-wound to find out more.

And if you can’t make the retreat, I’ll likely be hosting some similar online gatherings within The Forest, my free online community for mystics, introverts, and highly sensitive souls, so you can visit mountainpracticejourneys.com/forest to join.

ACORN (Tarot Card Pull)

Welcome to the acorn segment. With each solo episode I’ll be drawing a tarot card to help provide some magickal inspiration and insight.

The card for this episode is the Queen of Pentacles.

I’ll describe the card for those of you who may not be familiar. This card features a woman sitting on a throne in nature surrounded by plants and flowers. She holds a coin, or pentacle, in her lap and looks at it lovingly.

This card has a nurturing feeling, as well as one of patience and success, and is associated with compassion and practicality.

In the tarot, the suit of pentacles is about earth and the material world. And I believe that this card brings a message to us of being grounded in this present moment. Many of the past hurts and traumas we carry with us, whether from this life or another, can haunt us in the present – even when the danger has passed. So take some time to ground yourself, and if you physically have access to do this, go outside and lay directly on the ground and feel the earth beneath you.

This card is asking you to be kind and compassionate to yourself as you heal, because better days are coming. Continue healing even when you are afraid and you will begin to see changes.

Another neat connection I have between this card and the topic of this episode pertains to the rabbit at the base of the Queen’s feet on the card. So, the meaning of the rabbit is sometimes associated with anxiety. But the Queen is focused on the coin in her lap. I take this to mean that even though you have anxiety or fear related to the witch wound, you can still have abundance and healing in this area as well. The Queen isn’t chasing the rabbit away. She knows it is there, yet it is not the focus of her attention.

The same goes with the first step of the ritual I shared with you earlier. The witch wound is there and it’s not something that we hate or try to angrily get rid of or chase away. We start by understanding it, why it is around, how it is trying to help, and have compassion for it. Only then can we effectively heal it.

I’ll post a picture of the card along with the message today on my instagram @mountainpracticejourneys so head on over and let me know if this message resonates with you at this time.

THANKS

Thank you so much for joining me today. This episode concludes Season 11 of the podcast. Enjoy the break and I’ll be back soon with more magickal content and inspiring guests.

If you haven’t yet listened to Episode 97, I urge you to do that. In that episode I addressed the question, what is the witch wound.

OUTRO

I’m truly grateful that you choose to join me here for practical, nature-based, magickal support for your business and life. For more inspiration and to see what I’m up to, join me over on instagram @mountainpracticejourneys If you’re enjoying yourself here, please head over to Apple Podcasts and hit those 5 stars and I’ll be over the moon. If you’d like to work with me, join me in Forestmind, my cozy, supportive, small-group mastermind for introverted, highly sensitive solopreneurs who help and heal. And I’d love to see you at a Tiny Retreat sometime. May the forest be with you.