Witching Culture by Magliocco Sabina;

Author:Magliocco, Sabina;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2004-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The participants danced a Spiral Dance to raise the cone of power, weaving a web of life and interconnectedness around Susan to heal, create, and bring about change, singing:

We are the power in everyone.

We are the dance of the moon and sun.

We are the hope that will not hide.

We are the turning of the tide.

Despite terrible odds, Susan did survive her harrowing treatment, and at this writing, five years later, is cancer-free. I saw her the following Samhain at Reclaiming’s Spiral Dance in San Francisco. She stood, alone and proud, in the center of the cavernous ritual hall with eyes that had seen death and come back to tell about it, and sang an a cappella solo of her song “Spirits”:

Spirit of the waters, soothe away my anger

for I am soon to leave here in great fear and pain.

Surround me with thy beauty if it please thee

that I might lose my fear of the flames.

Spirit of the fire, hear me when I cry

For I am soon to die and leave a daughter to mourn.

Let me burn brightly if it please thee

that she might see my light and be warned.

Spirit of the air, lift my ashes, quietly

high above that gathering, then let them fall again.

And this shall be a sign if it please thee

that I shall be returning on the north wind.

Spirit of the earth, I give my body to thee.

Oh, let my bones, scattered, be among the growing things.

Then let the forest grow if it please thee

o’er this place of death and suffering.11

In this is a song, a woman about to be burned for practicing witchcraft invokes the four elements to watch over her, to take her back into them, and to look after a daughter she leaves behind. I wondered how many times Susan must have thought of her own children as she faced surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and stem cell rescue treatments during the year; and I thought that whatever the final result, the rite of crisis had done its magic.

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