CrossRoads Farm

The Song of the Witches

29 October, 2004 - 8:35 am

This morning the moon was just stunning. It was just starting to set at 7 o’clock when I came out to the family room to turn on the news. The sky was a lovely shade of blue violet and the moon was so bright you could clearly see the craters. Awe-inspiring to say the least.

I have a busy day ahead. I have to finish cleaning the house and pack for the RI visit. We will be spending the weekend running hither and yon seeing family and end with trick or treating at Grandma P’s house. After the festivities we will drive back here. With any luck the kids will sleep in the car on the way home and still go to school on Monday, but I’m playing that one by ear.

Double, double toil and trouble;<
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Every Friday K brings home a poem to copy into her poetry book. On the following Friday she recites the poem in front of the class. This weeks poem is “The Song of the Witches” part of Act IV from MacBeth. I thought it an excellent choice. Seasonal, classic, yada-yada. Well, the teacher had to send home an alternate poem for one of the students because of the content. Yes, it seems one of the parents can’t understand why you would want to celebrate something as evil as Halloween when you aren’t allowed to celebrate something as beautiful as Christmas. And her kids and a few others in the school will be staying home on Friday because of the festivities. There will be a Halloween costume parade at 2 o’clock.

In a strange way the parent is right but I think she has it backward. Yes it’s an all or nothing deal but I think we should err on the side of all rather than nothing. If we all talked about our respective holidays we’d get along much better. I don’t know what evil stuff this parent thinks we Wiccans are up to, but if she’d unclench her brain for a second maybe progress could be made. And yes, I am all for school ‘prayer’ - a moment of silence in the morning is good for everybody.

The Pagan community isn’t any better. I’ve run across a number of Wiccans that are even less tolerant of Xtians than they are of us. And it’s all based on the fear that the other side will try to brainwash our children.

Samhain is such an interesting time of year. On the one hand we have a Xtian contingent that feels the school shouldn’t celebrate because it is a Pagan holiday; on the other hand there is a feeling among pagans that the holiday has become so secular that they don’t want their children participating. I suppose that at some point only Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish children will be dressing up. Bizarre.

In Washington state a principal banned all Halloween related activities because the stereotype of witches is offensive to some Wiccans. Fair enough. Some Wiccan get uptight about the stereotype. I used to be one of those people. I’ve since let it go. I’ve decided to just go with it. I even have a doll sized witch hat and broomstick on my altar.

When K finished reading “Song of the Witches” to me. She paused and said, “That just doesn’t sound right. I don’t think witches are like that. I explained to her for the first time about how in Shakespeare Day that was what people thought witches we all about. And that some people would call us witches because we call God – Mother Nature. She thought about that for a second, turned to H and said, “Wow, we really will be dressed as twin witches on Halloween!” She is thrilled. I’m not sure if I made the point or missed it.
D is just wondering if she will try to explain it to his grandmother on Halloween night.

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