Witches Wage Change

Witchcraft is applied spirituality. Witches don't just think and talk about our Pagan principles, we act on them — both inside the magic circle and outside in the public square. But how do you reinforce healing spells with healing deeds when you're just one Witch solitary or Coven among eight billion souls in a world where pollution and disease seem to be spiraling cataclysmically out of anyone's control?

You start with the piece of the planet you can most directly affect: your own backyard, your own locale — your own environment.

Here are some examples of what Witches can accomplish despite a pandemic, simply by acting on their Pagan principles:

1. Counteracting climate change by protecting and preserving our community's trees: A “long spell” we cast 13 years ago, while living beneath Magnolias in front of Asheville City Hall, to save them from a developer's ax, came to fruition two years ago when we worked together with tree activists and experts – and even NASA, which provided us satellite images proving how the devastation of our city's trees by overdevelopment directly correlated with dangerous increases in heat and flooding – to successfully pressure our city council to pass an Ordinance to preserve & restore the entire town's tree canopy. Now, monthly monitoring reports show that the new law is actually working.
   (For deets on our tree-sit saga, see The Magnolia Chronicles at oldenwilde.org. To advocate for tree-canopy protections in your community, reference "Climate Adaptation Actions for Urban Forests and Human Health" from the U.S. Forest Service, at https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs203.pdf.) 

2. Counteracting noise pollution with the Power to be Silent: If you have to wear earplugs just to sleep with your window open, or to walk anywhere without literally being driven deaf, your community has become dangerously noisy. We worked with a large coalition of other city residents to craft and compel our city council to pass a thorough, scientifically based revision to its Noise Ordinance to reduce decibel levels, institute penalties for infractions, improve the citizen complaint process, and establish a Noise Ordinance Advisory Board. It went into effect on Sept. 15.
   You might think passing a citizen-driven measure to reduce unhealthy levels of outdoor sound would be a no-brainer, but of course there's always someone with a vested economic interest who will sanctimoniously condemn everyone else's noise while selfishly insisting on the right to blast theirs at full volume whenever they want. Our group successfully parried such lobbying by giving city councilmembers a tour of decibel levels and the real-life noise pollution residents have been enduring.
   (See more info about Asheville's new noise ordinance at https://www.ashevillenc.gov/service/file-a-noise-complaint/.)

3. Counteracting powerlessness through grassroots organizing: We also worked with others to establish our Rhododendron Creek Community neighborhood association to press ongoing local social and environmental needs with our city government, in alliance with other neighborhood associations throughout the city. Shown here is the approved logo we designed.

 

 

Donate to Coven Oldenwilde

Of course, we're not compensated for the time we expend on Pagan trail-blazing. Please show your support and enable our nonprofit Coven by making a tax-deductible, secure PayPal donation at paypal.me/oldenwilde or on our website, oldenwilde.org.

 

 

Blessed be,
Lady Passion, HPs, & *Diuvei, HP
Coven Oldenwilde
Asheville, North Carolina, USA

• Website: oldenwilde.org
• Phone: (828) 251-0343
• Email: oldenwilde@oldenwilde.org

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