For my first entry, I thought I would look at the term "kitchen witch." In the nine or so years I have been pagan, I have seen the title undergo a couple of changes in connotation. It seems to have become synonymous (at least to a certain extent) with "hedgewitch," although, in my mind, "hedgewitch" denotes a level of shamanism that isn't as prevalent in the understanding of "kitchen witch." It is possible for kitchen witches to be Wiccan, but not 100% necessary. In my mind, kitchen witches use nature and every day tools for their altars and probably wouldn't be caught dead in a metaphysical shop. There seems to be a trend in kitchen witchery to claim to be descendants of a long line of witches, as opposed to Wiccans, who, by definition, inherit their tradition from Gerald Gardener in the first half of the 20th century.
Although I am not descended from witches--in fact, the majority of my ancestors were Italian and Roman Catholic--I claim the title of kitchen witch. While I can appreciate the pomp and circumstance of Wicca--the rituals, altar tools, and so on--it simply doesn't "jive" with my personality. I lack the discipline that Wiccan rituals require. I identify with the wild woman whose magical practice is part and parcel of her day to day life. My spirit objects to the compartmentalization high ritual imposes on my lifestyle. Perhaps it is my distaste for theatrics, but Wicca--although its theology speaks deeply to me--never made its way into my daily routine the way kitchen witchery did. I tend my herb garden, I make poultices, I cook healthy (and not so healthy) natural meals, while thanking the Goddess for her blessing and bounty. I celebrate the seasons not by casting circles, but by feasting with friends and family--even if they don't recognize the "reason for the season," as one might say. I celebrate the Goddess by living, day to day. That is what kitchen witchery means to me.
Of course, the premise of this blog and my related twitter account is my continuing interactions with the Catholic Church via my job at a Catholic organization and my education at a Catholic university. How did a kitchen witch end up here? Like anyone else, my current position in life is the result of a long series of both good and bad decisions, but I suppose I stick with it with the hope of serving as a liaison between two contentious groups. Certainly, in the Catholic community, there are essential misunderstandings of the modern pagan movement. Pagans, on the other hand, tend to have at least some understanding of Catholicism, gleaned from the culture at large or personal experience. Certain specifics of Catholicism may escape them. The funny thing is that these specifics escape most Catholics as well. Even the nature of their god remains a mystery to them.
The Christian God is both immanent and transcendent, unchanging, existing outside of time (as humans experience it). As Starhawk says, the Goddess IS immanence. (See pg. 9 of Dreaming the Dark, 1982). She not only exists in time, she is time. The cycle of her life marks the turning points of our year--season by season, year after year. The Christian storyline for our lives has a beginning, middle, and end. For the witch, time is cyclical, and so are our lives. I cannot understand the appeal of a god that is unknowable, as the Christian God is. What does the human being gain by appealing to a being entirely outside their ken? Catholics take comfort in the so-called "mysteries of the Church," such as transubstantiation (the Eucharist becoming the Body and Blood of Christ without changing the form/accidents of bread and wine) and the hypostatic union (Christ being both fully human and fully divine), but acknowledge that the human intellect cannot ever fully understand these truths. There is nothing analogous in nature for these mysteries. Perhaps that is why I take so much comfort in the phrase, "As above, so below."
