Mommy Magick

This story was published on Medium in the fall, but I was reminded of it again when I was talking with my daughter. It was originally published in the first issue of one of my old newsletters, HearthStones, which came out at Samhain in October, 1994. I later shared the story with members of a UK-based online community I belonged to in the early days of the 21st century, Ayla’s Cave.

It is the Mothers Who Have Remembered

In the circle

The women dance

Chanting, Calling

Powers almost

Forgotten.

It has been

The mothers who

Have remembered,

Secretly

©1 July 1994 All Rights Reserved

Many years ago, my mother told me that all mothers are witches. I’m sure she only meant to stress the fact that mothers have ways of knowing what their children are up to, sort of like the old “I’ve got eyes in the back of my head” bit.

Mom later denied this, but I suspect she simply didn’t remember saying it. Though it may have only been a passing comment, it had a great impact on me. Now, I didn’t walk away at that moment thinking, “I’m going to be a mother someday, so I’m going to find out how to be a witch.”

No. That comment was filed away, periodically passing through my thoughts. As I began my metaphysical studies when I was 12, I thought about it. As time passed, and I followed the meandering path along my spiritual journey, the idea that “all mothers are witches” began to form as a statement of truth.

Itis in the small things that mommy magick appears. For most biological mothers who choose to give birth, it begins when she knows that a new life has begun within. Throughout the gestational period, the mother communicates with the child through telepathic and spoken means; with thoughts or a gentle touch upon her belly. Many pregnant women have dreams of the child, and sometimes know the birth gender of their child, or even the day the child will be born.

After the child is born, the bonding time is magickal in itself. The mother and child exchange looks that hold the wisdom of the ages. Perhaps, unknowingly, they remember past lives and past connections to one another. Mothers usually know their own child’s cries and what it is their baby needs.

As the child grows, it is Mommy’s kiss that heals the wounds. Mommy is the one who knows, uncannily, when her child is upset or in trouble. And it is Mommy that the child wants during illness and pain. Even as the teen years come, and into adulthood, the child has moments when the only way to make it through is with mommy magick.

For me, the mommy magick that works best when I’m not feeling well is a bit of mentholated rub, a warm drink, and a familiar book or a television show I once watched with my mom.

The same holds true for adopted children, whether they came to us as infants or later as new members of a blended family. It is true for all children we nurture, whether they be our own, children of our friends, or friends of our children.

In fact, it is true whether those whom we nurture are actually children or other people in our lives who come to us for support and love. While mommy magick seems to be associated with cis-women, it is not restricted to women at all.

As I often discuss at Mother’s Day, sometimes the one who nurtures us best is a father, an uncle, a big brother, or a male teacher. Those who care for us in this way are drawing upon their own mommy magick. The feminine divine is a part of all of us.

Mommy magick doesn’t take candles, or incense, or chanting to unseen deities. It doesn’t even take knowledge — or even awareness — of the Craft. What it does take is an extreme love for the life that is the child and a great respect for that thing which connects us all — whether we call it Goddess, God, The Universe, All That Is, or, as one brilliant poet I once knew called It, “Gumby.”

These things may seem as nothing to those who find their power in the intricacies of high magick and dogmatic religious hierarchies, but I believe that mommy magick is a basic building block of spiritual growth. Even Shiva was inert consciousnees before Shakti provided the divine spark of creative energy.

For those of us who find magick in the activities of daily living — the hearth witches, the kitchen witches, the hedge witches; our family is our foundation. It is from within our family, whether it be blood family or chosen family, that we will grow.

It is within our family that we find our power. Mommy magick is our security. It is our foundation. Only from there can we truly set our feet on the spiral path of spiritual growth and empowerment.

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