Borrowed Interview Questions

DISCLAIMER:  I borrowed these interview questions from Ellen Evert Hopman’s book: The Real Witches of New England, 2018.


Yet, the answers to these questions are my own:

I. Question: Can you say who you are, where you live, and what do you for a living these days?

I am Ms. Lee Woodling. I dwell in the Mid Atlantic area.  In 2023 I retired from teaching. My husband and I used to be very active in our local community, Free Spirit Alliance.  We were among the founding members of Free Spirit Alliance back in May 1986.

My husband, Thoron Woodling (FSA Treasure), proposed in 1989 at a general membership FSA  meeting that FSA could organize a teaching tour for Janet & Stewart Farrar of the USA & Canada and could serve as Primary Sponsors.

Mind you, this was back in the 80’s:  The days of “postal mail”, rather than "email". We had, according to one FSA member, "typewriters, primitive home computers, and smoke-signals”.  

II. Question: How and when did you decide that you were a “Witch”?
a: Hmmm, I wasn’t at all content with the religion of Christianity. The entire concept of a semi-divine, human-god dying to absolve “Original Sin” seemed ver-r-r-y confusing to me.

b: Besides, all Christians had to constantly pray for forgiveness…because the “sins of the fathers are visited upon their children unto the third and fourth generation”. We were ALL SINNERS. [Doubt me? See the two bible quotes under Biblical Sources.]

c: Furthermore, our personal prayers were to be directed to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our petitions were supposed to be constant prayers of thanks for Salvation…not petitions for help. I was utterly perplexed about this notion, because my mother was manic-depressive; the contemporary term is bipolar. The Christian God did not seem to be forthcoming with any divine assistance in response to prayers. ...Aside from that, I wasn't doing well in school. I had dyslexia (can't spell) and dyscalcula (can't do math). My late mother--may God keep her soul--accused me of just being "lazy". (She sometimes accused me of writing things down wrong ON PURPOSE to embarrass her.)

d: I began to randomly read up about other spiritual systems. This was during the groovy 1960's counterculture which explored Zen Buddhism meditation--and other counter-culture mystic notions--spread throughout the metaphysical religious and occult communities thru the 1960's-1970's counterculture. It was then I learned about people genuinely attempting to practice “witchcraft” or “magic(k)”.  

III. Can you more specifically explain why you chose this path?
a. I decided around age 20 that practicing magick and venerating the old Pagan Goddesses and Gods might work out better for me. I would instead joyfully venerate the Goddess Gaia (Mother Earth), as well as other Pagan deities.  In 1979, both Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today and Starhawk's The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, were published. I bought them both.

b: Those two books provided the beginning—and I decided that I could learn to practice Witchcraft and Magick. In the back of Margot Adler’s DDM was a bunch of addresses to which one could send inquiries. I also found out about Circle Network News in WI in the early 1980’s. From there, I located more contacts in Maryland. One was a coven called “Tapestry” run by “Lady G".

c: While I was in college, I also met the “love of my life” Thoron…and we married in the mid 1980’s. He was a mystic and intrigued by both Witchcraft and Wicca. He once stated that Wicca was something for which he had been looking but did not know its name.

d: We were active members of "Tapestry" for some 3 years. Then, we had a family crisis involving my older bipolar sister. I had to drop out of the coven because my older sister was freaking out on account of she married an abusive husband.

e: After focusing almost solely upon and dealing with these family problems over several years. We did NOT get reconnected with “Tapestry”.

IV. Question: Which traditions do you now follow?
a: We later became connected with the Protean-Wicca Tradition. It is the one we follow now. The Protean-Wicca Tradition has a proud lineage from Margot Adler to Judy Harrow.  Thoron and I eventually became active again in Free Spirit Alliance (FSA).
V. Question: How did you find that tradition?
a: When we reconnected with FSA, we also reconnected with S. She was a HPS in the Protean-Wicca Tradition, and S. had known us for about a decade. She initiated both Thoron and me into the Protean-Wicca Tradition.  
VI. Question: What makes your Tradition—or approach—different from any other one out there?
a: Some call Proteus the God of "elusive sea change", the notion of the constantly changing nature of the sea.

The Sea-God, Proteus, was a Shapeshifter. Proteus will change his shape as necessary. Proteus adapts; Proteus changes; furthermore, Proteus will only answer those who are capable of capturing him. (I should add that the Protean Tradition does not specifically worship this Sea God himself. He serves as an example of the ability to adapt and change as needed.)

Judy Harrow foresaw that the religion and practice of Wicca would need to adapt and change as necessary thru the forthcoming decades.

b: From this ability of Proteus to change as needed came the adjective “protean”, meaning "versatile", "mutable", or "capable of assuming many forms". The very term "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability.

c: Proteus is known for “Protean shapeshifting”. Thus the Protean-Wicca Tradition will adapt and change—as needed—thru the years and decades.

(In my solitary practice, I will sometimes invoke the Italic-Roman Goddesses Aradia, Diana, Hecate, and the Italic-Roman Gods Bacchus and Faunus.) 

VII. Question: Would you say that Witchcraft is a “Craft” or a “Religion”?
a: My husband and I believe that what we do is both a religion and a craft. Wicca is a religion in that it involves connecting to the Divine in ritual.  We celebrate the deities. The Goddesses and Gods under many different names in many different forms—as well as spirits/elementals—can be called: Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Mother Nature, Mother Earth, the Greenman of the Woods, Hearn the Hunter, Cernnunos, and other deities.

b: Yes, Witches really do spells. Witches craft and create spells. Witches also glean spells from sources  either ancient or modern.

VII. Question: Do Witches really do “magick”?
Yes, Witches really craft their own magick. It's why we do spells.
IX. Question: If you do any spells, could you give an example.
a. Aradia "Candle Spell" to bring renewal and blessings. The waxing crescent phase is often referred to as a time of renewal and growth. It is a good time to set new intentions for the month ahead and work on self-improvement.

Assemble your objects:

(Cinnamon traditionally has magickal attributes such as attracting money, physical protection, and healing power)

b. Prepare magickal space

Below are two biblical source about how humanity is composed of sinners who need to suffer. (The religion I grew up with, not what I practice now.)

Biblical Sources:

Rarely Asked Questions
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