Wicca Witchcraft Paganism | Interview with Ella Harrison & Scarlet Ravenswood

Today I am doing an interview with the wonderful pagan YouTuber Scarlet Ravenswood and the Wiccan YouTuber Ella Harrison. They both will be sharing more about their specific paths and witchcraft practices. I will be talking from my point of view as an agnostic secular witch. In general, this video can more be treated as a witchy podcast - I apologize for the wonky audio and video at times (I just really really really suck at tech xD).

#witchcraft #wicca #paganism

00:00 intro
01:33 What does your path in Wicca, witchcraft, or paganism entail?
07:11 Do you work with specific deities? How do you work with them?
10:52 What are deities to you?
15:50 What do your spells and rituals look like? How does a magic spell work in your opinion?
24:16 How does your daily Wiccan /pagan practice look like?
30:25 Do you celebrate the Wiccan sabbats / pagan holidays by the date or by season and your physical location?
34:57 Do you incorporate witchcraft / pagan traditions from your place of residence into your practice?
42:04 WHat research sources do you mainly use and are you also working off-the-books?
45:51 How do you work with magical correspondences like colors or herbs?
52:30 What is your most important bit of advice for witchcraft /paganism / Wicca beginners?
56:38 Is there anything you find problematic within the Wiccan / pagan / witchcraft community?
01:03:00 How do you feel about being a 'professional witch' and having your spirituality be a big part of your job?

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[Thewitchescookery]

Hi lovelies, today's video is more like a podcast and less of the usual visual piece of magick :D As we recorded this through Skype the audio and video quality is not top-notch but I do hope you will still find it to be an interesting witchy chat to listen to while folding laundry or having a relaxing cup of tea ;-) Enjoy our musings about Wicca, paganism, and witchcraft and please let us know, how you practice your craft and spirituality. What path are you currently on? 😊🌿🧙‍♀️

[autumnsulick]

I hear a lot of witches saying “You have your whole life to learn, you don’t have to be an expert right away”… Which I NEVER would’ve heard in my church growing up. As an ex-evangelical witch of a few years now, I still find things all the time that affirm to me that I am on such a healthier and more understanding and open minded life path and it makes me feel so at peace not only with my path now but with my past and the things I was taught growing up that I don’t actually believe in or believe about myself that I am slowly but surely healing from. The pressures I put on myself to know everything right away are a trauma response and it’s okay to grow slow ❤️

[j.l.thurman]

I like how you take such a wonderfully neutral view on this witchcraft. Edit: I remember back in about 1996, I was talking to an online friend and she said she was Wiccan, I asked her what it was. She explained it was witchcraft. I realised then, that this was the term for what I was. I knew I was a witch back in 1988-89 and I did not know it was actually a thing. I dabbled with herbs and gardens for years, I made brooms and tools. I just knew what I was. I've explored Wicca, but ultimately I decided that I am of no actual religion, I work with energies of the sun or moon, and a lot like Scarlet, I want to know why it works. I have always said that Science is Magick that has been explained and that Magick is science yet to be understood.

[daygomermaid]

I have changed my path from Wicca to being a more Eclectic Witch. Self care, finding signs in nature, cooking/eating/drinking with intent and finding meaning to life by serving my highest good are ways I practice. I loved hearing all of your perspectives! This video was quite insightful.

[ScarletRavenswood]

This was a super fun chat! So glad we connected :)

[reverendphillsschoolofmaji]

I am a male witch and have been practicing for about 30 years. Once I found YouTube I have moved my practicing to a new level. I enjoyed the talk with the two aspects and your opinions. I am now starting to teach others and these channels help greatly. Thank you for doing this great work.

[PatchouliSky]

Having come to Wicca 20 years ago, it’s refreshing to see the more open minded attitudes of the younger generation of witches. Like it or not, this is a path that is evolving to stay relevant with today’s practitioners. Even long time practitioners such as Janet Farrar, point to the changing nature of the path. This was a refreshing interview.

[EllaHarrison]

This was so much fun! I loved chatting to you both 🤍🙏🏼

[reverendmothercheryl]

I’m a secular and hereditary witch. It’s handed down from my mother and her grandmother. She gave me wise woman foundations and encouraged my searching for the balance that works for me. My focus is based in herbal knowledge and experimentation. My spiritual focus is somewhat Shinto with the understanding that everything is alive and has a fundamental energy, spirit, Kami; including myself. In this context everything and everyone is from the same origin either on a quantum level of fundamental wave functions or I simply experience having a conscious sense of respect and compassion that brings everything together.

[craftchild_]

I love how everyone is so open and not gatekeeping at all. 👍💕 toller video!! Sehr informativ.

[WhippedCarpet]

For me, Paganism and the practices I use is a tool for me to expand my consciousness & creativity, to better myself emotionally, mentally & physically, to cook intuitively, to heal my damages, to make myself a better person, to actualize my goals, to find fulfillment in my life and to explore who I am.

[KimberlyBarkdoll]

I love to see that the collab idea is being worked here to create community, which is wonderful to see. As a person that has always been solitary, I never wanted to join any group meeting, but I do like to interact with elders and persons actively working their craft.

[monkeymita]

I really appreciatethis a lot. I'm an atheist, born in a christian home and always had an interest in things more geared towards the craft, but more because the aethestics caught my eye. My first comic I made as a kid was about witches but as I grew up, I couldn't possibly think of venturing towards learning about it due to my parents being highly against it. Now that I'm 29 and living on my own, I'm able to at least research these things just for fun :> I was super scared that being a non-spiritual person who just has an interest in learning about paganism, wicca, and witchcraft because I thought they looked cool, I'd be frowned upon. But this video helped me feel less like I was doing it for trends and more just because I'm drawn to it. I have no idea if I'll ever practice witchcraft in the future. If anything, I just wanna learn as much as possible about it and make stories based on these things to express my love for it in general <3 Thank you for this wonderful and informative video!

[octaviaravenstorm]

This was a very interesting video. I personally mostly work with the elements and Hecate.

[AbiShenanigans]

This is the best video I've found for a beginner. I've been studying and collecting crystals and herbs for a bit now and starting to learn more and love it. Very thankful you guys did this to tell the differences and what all goes into it! 💜

[themagnus]

"Syncrinicity" is how I know things in this reality are more than than what they seem.

[rockjlc]

I like the fact that a witch can choose their own path. I'm a spiritual person and like to meditate and interact with spirit, especially during a full moon.
Although coming from a religious background, I was always drawn towards mediums and sitting in a circle communicating with spirit, which is considered a big no no by religion.
Thankfully I have evolved beyond narrow minded religion. It's great to listen to and interact with other types of witches.

[AliciaNyblade]

This is gonna be a long post because this video covered so much!

Listening to this chat was such a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I love how everyone was just open to talk, no sense of gatekeeping or any of that nonsense. This is exactly what conversations between various Pagans should be like.

As for me, I started my path as a Christo-Pagan because I'd grown up with Christianity and therefore was used to its figures and traditions, so I simply incorporated them into a more outwardly Pagan path, with Jesus/the Christ representing the Divine Masculine and Mary Magdalene the Divine Feminine. As I continued on my path, however, I felt more drawn to nature-centered practices and deities. I now label my path as Wiccan and the two main ones I work with now are Cernunnos (Celtic antlered god of the forest) and Freya, though other deities such as Odin and Dionysus will occasionally appear or I'll invite them in depending on what I'm working on or at which time of year. I also think that, while there's nothing wrong with working with specific deities if someone chooses to, "the Goddess and God" are such vast, primal, and universal forces/energies/figures that the closest us humans will come to understanding them is if we recognize first and foremost the archetypes they can represent rather than trying to pin them down into specific traditions or only having particular names/faces. It's a case of, "Sure, you can enjoy your neck of the woods and what it means to you, but if you get so wrapped up in it you can't see the forest for the trees, you're missing the point."

As for how I practice, I'm mostly solitary and haven't been initiated into a coven, but I'd very much like to find a physical group to participate in (once it's safe to do so, of course; I'm in California and, as of March 2021, we're still advised to stay mostly at home). I practice magic through little daily things and am really into kitchen witchery (I was practicing magical cooking before I even knew it had a name; my mom, grandma, and aunts always taught me to put love and care into food). I'd also love to learn more about herbs/herb magic, charms, etc.

Problems in the Pagan community?
Like Scarlet said, Norse Paganism is being infiltrated by white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and similarly-minded nasty people, so that's a big issue. It's the main thing that has kept me from looking into Norse Paganism even though I have Swedish ancestry: I'll start looking it up and come across a source that seems nice, then it takes a turn into Racistville and I get discouraged.
I also get frustrated with "Reconstructionist" Pagans turning up their noses at people they deem "fluffy bunnies". Yes, historical research is important, but the idea that one tradition is better than the other because it's "more accurate/older" is ridiculous. Let's face it, we don't have ALL the records we need to perfectly recreate historical paganism, and some of its practices should rightfully be left in the past, like animal sacrifice. As long as people aren't hurting others with their path or culturally appropriating another tradition's traditions, let people do what feels right to them.
And as for Wicca now being trendy, personally I'd rather weed through the "witches for a week" than have to go back to the days where witchcraft/Wicca was so taboo people had to be in the broom closet about it.

That's me and my path. :)

[cherylpump]

As I still try to determine my path, I love this video. I just listened to a vlog with Scarlet and loved the simple message to not let it overwhelm you. Take your time. Thank you for putting this interview together.

[waltervega]

Great video and amazing content ladies. So interesting to watch. I'm Wiccan myself, however i find myself having a bit of all three. Wicca, Cottage Witch, and Paganism. The beauty of Wicca, Witchcraft, and Paganism is that you don't need to follow any one path. You choose to follow your heart and practice with what feels right to oneself. Unlike Christianity, that you are forced to stay away anything that's not God-like. I left my Christian roots almost two years ago.. However, ive always been attracted to the study of the occult and spirituality. And practiced spells before i ever knew what it really meant or was .But Christian upbringing kept me from exploring and following my true self. I left my Christian guilt back in my rear view mirror! Learning and practicing as a solo witch is my path for now. However, as you stated Scarlett, our paths are always changing and there is nothing wrong with that. Thank you for sharing this and bringing closer a community of witches from all over the world. It's definitely beautiful and inspiring. Blessed be