Embracing the Flow: Annwyn Avalon's Journey through Water Witchcraft and Spiritual Guardianship

Join us as we sit down with the mystical Annwyn Avalon, a water witch whose life's work with the fluid elements has ushered in an era of profound spiritual connections. Our journey unwraps an extraordinary tapestry of events: from Annwyn's enchanting experiences as the lead ceremonialist at the White Spring Temple to her transformative encounters with deities. The tales from her time in Dion Fortune's former home weave together a narrative that blurs the lines between a witch's devotion and their stewardship of the Earth's sacred waters.

Embark on a voyage through the transformative power of witchcraft, as Annwyn Avalon shares how her path was forever altered by a pilgrimage to Glastonbury's White Spring. This episode reveals the serendipity of life-changing moments and the importance of heeding spiritual nudges, even when they challenge us with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. From her rapid ascent in social media to the pivotal decision to relocate based on otherworldly guidance, Annwyn's story is a testament to the magic that surrounds us, ready to be embraced by those who dare to listen.

As we cast our gaze forward, we ponder the integration of witchcraft and technology, musing over the potential of AI and digital communities to enhance our magical practices. Reflecting on the continuity of tradition and innovation, we invite listeners to consider how their own spiritual tools might evolve. The conversation also ventures into the realm of ecological awareness, drawing inspiration from ancient legends to address today's environmental challenges, and culminates with a message of empowerment. This is an invitation to join a movement; to become guardians of our planet, just as the well-maidens of old, using our unique gifts to heal and protect our precious water sources.

Learn more about Annwyn and about becoming a water priestess here!

Transcript

Kim: 0:04

Welcome back to your Average Witch where every Tuesday we talk about witch life, witch stories and sometimes a little witchcraft. Your Average Witch is brought to you by Crepuscular Conjuration. If you're looking for community, for accountability, partners, for new witchy friends, check out Crepuscular Conjurations and Hivehouse. The tiers range from the free tier, where you get a small sampling of all the digital offerings, the Witchy Wonderment tier, where $6.69 gets you access to the monthly spells, the private Facebook group and the Marco Polo group, and finally the monthly magic group for $11.11, where you get the whole shebang. I offer monthly spells, printable downloads like journal and coloring pages, podcast bonuses, guided meditations, spell crafting videos and tons more, but more importantly, you get access to the monthly Magic Marco Polo group. It's basically an instant coven if that's what you're looking for, and just a bunch of uber supportive hilarious friends if that's what you need. Instead, visit crepuscularconjuration. com and click on subscription services to learn more.

Kim: 1:10

This week I'm talking with Annwyn Avalon, a water witch. Annwyn talked about her relationship with water, her first experience with a magic spring and how she ended up living in famed occultist Dion Fortune's home. Now let's get to the stories. Hi Annwyn.

Annwyn: 1:31

Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me.

Kim: 1:34

Thank you for being here.

Annwyn: 1:40

Can you please introduce yourself and let everybody know who you are and what you do and where they can find you? Yes, so my name is Annwyn Avalon. I am a very magical person and my niche in magic falls under the watery umbrella. I'm a water priestess and I am a water witch. I am an Avalonian and I'm also an author. I've written a couple books and I live in Glastonbury in the United Kingdom, right at the base of the tour, in the former home of Dion Fortune, the famous occultist, and we're restoring it and I'm broadcasting from one of her sleeping sheds that she and the Temple of Inner Light built that has just recently been restored. And I serve as a volunteer and the ceremonial keeper or ceremonial custodian or I guess ceremonial custodian is the official word, but to translate into kind of American English, it is the lead ceremonialist at the White Spring Temple here in Glastonbury.

Kim: 2:51

You live there? Oh yes, In that Holy crap, I mean in one of her sleeping sheds.

Annwyn: 3:01

Yeah, that's where I'm at right now.

Kim: 3:03

I mean, you don't live in there, but it's kind of.

Annwyn: 3:13

I, partially, am living in it. It's my temple space, my workspace. It's so dark right now. I'm so sorry, but that's just because the weather's terrible today and I don't. We just recently finished renovating, so I actually don't have really good lighting, except for my ring light. But my house is just right behind and that is the house that is called Chalice Orchard and that, when you read like Glastonbury at the heart and Dion Fortune kind of signs like the end of it, you know like Dion Fortune, chalice Orchard, that's this. That's wild. Oh it, orchard, that's this. That's wild. Oh, it is so great. That's wild. Like I've been here now two years almost November of 2022. And I still have to pinch myself and be like is this real? It is, though it is. Every day I wake up. It's not nearly as cool or as glamorous as it sounds, and that is because the home is in need of renovations. So, like next week, we're going to be doing the sacred service of putting a new roof on. So, basically, it's going to be pure chaos. Oh gosh.

Kim: 4:22

I'm glad we're doing this. This week, pure chaos, oh gosh.

Annwyn: 4:26

I'm glad we're doing this this week, then, oh, yeah, all those sounds. Oh, I know, I know.

Kim: 4:37

So tell me what it means to you when you call yourself a witch.

Annwyn: 4:40

Oh, okay, if you do, I do, I do. I do so when I was a young lass no, actually about. Well, actually, when I look at the date of the year, it's been nearly 15 years. So I actually went through a year in a day program about 15 years ago and was initiated formally into a witchcraft tradition and when I was initiated I was given the title of witch and priestess and I oftentimes use priestess a lot more, especially these days, more especially these days.

Annwyn: 5:32

But there's not a big difference when it comes to my witchcraft and my priestess work. They're often overlapping. It's very much like baklava, where it's like lots of layers but you can't really peel one off the other without them like mingling and becoming like stuck. So it's real sticky to take the priestess out of the witch. But witchcraft for me and that's actually what really led me to start using priestess more publicly is about spirit work.

Annwyn: 6:03

Because, ultimately, when I started out and I was doing spells and doing rituals and working with these things, it was the connection with spirit, whether it was the spirit of the plant, the spirit of the water, a deity, a fairy, another type of spirit Um, it was this, this understanding that everything had a spirit and that I was working intimately with those spirits.

Annwyn: 6:35

It was then, through that work as a witch and really connecting with spirits, they started tapping me on the shoulder and were like go public with your priestess practice and bring in this aspect of sacred service. So for me it's about working with water spirits in sacred service to them, to this planet, to the water. Ooh, and we're recording on Earth Day although I'm not sure that's when it will air, but how perfect. We're recording on Earth Day, which is all about connecting with nature, and that was a big part of my witchcraft practice as well was being a witch means being intimately connected with nature, the spirits of nature, whether that's the spirit of a tree or a flower, or a body of water or a being that dwelled within the water. So there's definitely this connection with nature, this deep, intimate relationship with the spirit world and sacred service to that hmm, I like that.

Kim: 7:48

That's cool. Thanks. So I know you said that you started your year in a day 15 years ago. Did you grow up with any sort of witchy things happening as a kid any? What was witchy things happening as a kid Any? What was your spiritual life like as a kid?

Annwyn: 8:09

Oh, it was wild, and I really mean it like wild. So it again it's baklava, it's layers and they're sticky. So I was. Are you a Taurus? I'm not. No, I'm super watery, but I do have Capricorn rising, and so that that's an earth sign.

Kim: 8:30

The baklava thing. The baklava thing is getting me.

Annwyn: 8:33

But think about it though, Like when you've got layers and there's sticky, you know it's just like the perfect. Oh, it makes sense. So, okay, what was? What was the question?

Kim: 8:48

spiritual kid kid.

Annwyn: 8:50

Right, okay, thank you, wow, sorry, um, okay, so it's complicated. So, um, there's a couple important things that happened in my childhood that led me to where I am now, and one of them I guess we'll start with is I was raised in a evangelical Baptist born-again upbringing and I was it was very cult-like, almost kind of a rapture type of cult, where they're very obsessed with the rapture and all of this stuff. But there was also this emphasis on deeply understanding that there were spirits in the world, that there were spirits in the world. Now, unfortunately, it came from a place where those spirits were bad and evil and demonic according to my upbringing, but there was always this acknowledgement that they existed.

Annwyn: 10:01

Now, simultaneously, I was growing up in Florida and our house was on the edge of a wetland preserve and I was homeschooled. So I finished my homework at around noon and none of the kids were out of school yet I'm not really friends with them because I don't go to public school and I would put on my wellies and I would head out into the swamp and I would be in the swamp until dusk until I was called home for dinner. And can you tell, I was a 90s kid. It's like, what did you do growing up? Oh, you know, played with alligators, caught poisonous snakes in mason jars. You know, just your average 90s Tuesday, playing until it went, playing outside until it was dusk, you know, and then you got back home. But this was so impactful to me because I had this deep connection with nature, this really really deep connection with nature, and I was spending so much time by myself, in silence, in contemplation, just out there, and I was, I was doing weird things like catching snakes and frogs, and just so much time was spent in this watery, swampy area.

Annwyn: 11:19

And also around, like 11-ish years old, I went to a spring in Florida and I'll probably refer to it as a sacred spring, but honestly it's like a recreational site. I do believe that it was sacred to the First Nations. At some point it had to have been. It's really magical. But because I grew up in this like home, where I didn't feel like I belonged, where I knew that my connection was to nature and water, but I never fit in with this very Christian dynamic, there was always conflict and I remember being very upset and running to the top of the spring like dramatically throwing myself into the water and screaming underwater and, long story short, I asked for help and to be saved from this like crazy upbringing that I obviously didn't fit into, and I got an answer. I got an answer and, like I, I and like I, like it resonated through me, and I just was like, well, ok, I made that up in my head, you know, and it's I thought for years and years that I had made it up that I was just a crazy person, until I graduated high school and got into the big wide world and started realizing that there was something called the occult, that witches weren't something that you saw on TV, and I went from like zero to witch really fast, like the second that I was like it's real, I was ordering books, and then I opened the book and I was like this is me.

Annwyn: 13:04

I had never, ever, read a book and been like this is describing everything that I believe, like in my core, like what I know is true, and it was witchcraft. It was labeled under witchcraft, and now it was that, after that, I knew exactly who and what I was, and I ran with it. The truth is, though, there was a little bit of you know, give and take and like oh, you know, it's hard to break free from those fundamental religions and such. So I just want to be very clear that, like I say, I took it and I ran with it and in a way I did, but there is still the very sticky like baklava, um, um, peeling of those layers.

Annwyn: 13:50

But I ripped my baklava right in half and said you keep this side, I'm taking the witchcraft and run with it, and what got left behind got left behind, um, but yeah, this like really, um, just this, even even this like really weird evangelical upbringing that I was in, like there was. You know, we read the Bible and the Bible is full of magic, and so I always wanted to read those stories. Like I was obsessed with the book of Daniel, which is all about prophecy, like speaking in tongues, like spirit work, magic, like all of these different things. I was like obsessed with it. So as I grew up, that came with me, but I started looking at life much differently from this perspective of like everything has spirit, there's spirits that exist in this world and I can also interact with those spirits in this world and I can also interact with those spirits.

Kim: 14:54

Can you share some of your practice with us now? Do you have any consistent things that you do on any kind of regular basis?

Annwyn: 15:00

Yes, yes, okay. So let's see Regular basis First. Daily basis is all about just kind of grounding, tapping in and being in resonance with this particular environment, the local energies that are. Here in Glastonbury, I also have my temple space, which is this one Um, and so, um, I've got my altars and I'm consistently coming to my altars, working on my altars. Um, there were more candles going, but they have run out. Um but um, showing up at my altar, um, I am a devotee of the goddess Sulis um, who is a?

Annwyn: 15:47

Um thermal spring goddess, a Celtic thermal spring goddess, um and um, her altar is right behind me and so I connect with her um, as well as, uh, working with the lake ladies and other water spirits and such Um. But like really simple things, like daily, like simple things, because sometimes I think working at an altar can be very daunting, right, and also sometimes it happens, and it's not every day but just like little simple things, like what you're wearing, like the rings that you're wearing, the jewelry that you're wearing, incorporating things like protection into those. You know if you've got a protection ring or you're going to wear this necklace because it connects you with a particular goddess or it connects you with a particular energy or maybe it has a purpose, because you're going to be doing a lot of work with money and it's all about prosperity and so simple things like that and really weaving the magic into everyday things. We're in green for prosperity, blue to connect with the water. On the full moons I like to wear white dresses and really like embody that like lunar energy, dark moon it's all about like maybe wearing blacks and like really connecting with that, um, like nocturnal energy, um.

Annwyn: 17:15

But one of the things I think that I do most is charge my water, my daily drinking water, um, and it's so simple because you don't need any tools. All you need is your voice, a glass of water and the ability to transfer vibration, whether that's through energy or sound, and the ability to then drink the water, and so I will simply just start my day by charging my water with a particular intent. You know we do this for moon water, right, all the time where it's like, oh, it's a full moon, we've got to get our water out. But it doesn't have to be always on a full moon, it can be on a daily basis.

Annwyn: 17:59

So if you're, you know, going to be doing a lot of protection magic that day. Then you charge your water in the morning with protection by simply just speaking protection into it and and just holding it to your mouth and just feeling what protection energy feels like and really like breathing it up and like blowing that energy or charging that water with that intent. My water science friends tell me that our blood becomes the water that we drink, becomes our blood in five minutes. So when you charge your water with protection, prosperity, abundance, whatever it is, and you really have that water, which we know water absorbs and amplifies, right, so that water pulls in that energy, it absorbs it, it amplifies it, and then you drink it and it pushes it into your blood and then it becomes your blood, then you've also charged your own physical body with these energies that's a lot sorry.

Kim: 19:08

I like that. That's cool. That's cool. Okay, I'll be doing work with that later. How has witchcraft changed your life? Oh my god, the fact that you live in the uk now has to come into play in this story somewhere spirit work, um.

Annwyn: 19:39

Okay, so going back to that question about, like, what is witchcraft to you? Right, it's like that connection with spirit, spirit work, um, I feel like I have been guided by spirits my whole life and then, like as I became who I am, I really looked back and realized that they're all water spirits, um, and it was through this connection with these water spirits, from lake ladies to the fairy king of Avalon, who's connected with water, um to who's, who's also a horned God um fits into that archetype of the horned God um to Sulis, who is a um, a Celtic water goddess. So we have all these influences, these spirits, right that that, as I started learning what witchcraft was, um, like, I really started connecting with these spirits. Some spirits have been with me for so long that it wasn't until I started peeling back the layers to realize, oh my gosh, this deity, this being the spirit, has been with me, and sul Sulis being one of them. So Sulis is the goddess of the thermal spring. She lives by. Her temple is about an hour North of where I live now and she was really influential.

Annwyn: 20:58

And I came to England when I was really young and I remember going and visiting this temple and I remember having this like connection with her and like I remembered her, um, and I kind of carried her throughout my life. But things really got weird and really started like shaking my life up when I ended up here in Glastonbury. So I came to Glastonbury for the first time in 2012. And I walked into the White Spring and I kind of was in awe of what this place was. It's an old Victorian well house with these like sacred altars and water running through it. It's all candlelit. It's just mind blowing magical. And I was sitting in the shrine to the fairy king of Avalon, who's Gwyneth Meath, who's an antlered horned god, and I remember kind of meditating and speaking to him and just basically saying like okay, look, I've done the thing.

Annwyn: 22:03

I went through the program, I completed the program, I've been initiated. I'm a priestess, I'm a witch, like what do I do with that? I have no idea. Now that I've like got the check in the box, like I have no idea what to do with it, and I got this answer of teach water magic, and at first I was like no way. I actually went and looked up other people that I thought might be appropriate to teach water magic and came back to spirit and was like I found, I found you the right person, and and and basically, spirit was like no, we asked you, we told you, and so I did. Eventually, it took me about a year, but I did start teaching about water magic. That turned into classes, which turned into a course, which turned into my first book, which was Water Witchcraft, magic and Lore from the Celtic Tradition.

Annwyn: 22:55

And about the time that that got published or was in the shoot to be published, I was on pilgrimage with the Sisterhood of Avalon and we came back to Glastonbury and I didn't expect it to be like that big of a gap. When I came in 2012, I thought I'd be right back, but it took me several years to come back and eventually I did and I went back into that same temple space and in that same spot and I basically was like, okay, like I did the thing and it turned into a book. And like now, what? And? Um, I got this message that I needed to finish. Like, finish writing, right, like finish writing. And that's kind of how. Um, I had started writing the way of the water priestess. Um, it was actually part of water witchcraft, um, but it got chopped because word count and weird things with publishers that you know. So. So we chunked out like this huge section of the book and so I'm back in the temple and basically the message is finish, finish and publish the way of the water, priestess. And I was like okay, so I did.

Annwyn: 24:01

And that book really shifted a lot for me. It was once it was published. Um it, my like social media started blowing up and I went from having like 3000 followers to like 20,000. Um, and like, now Instagram is like something ridiculous, like it's a ridiculous number. Like 65,000 followers, like what is that? That's, that's crazy. Like that is insane. It's like six small villages, you know, like that's, it's wild, you have an army, it's, it's, it's insane, it's absolutely insane. And like, sometimes I look at it and I'm just like it's overwhelming and I'm like, ah, I don't know what to do with this. Um, but so that really changed it. Um, the, the going to the, this, this white spring the first time changed it with the book. The second book, you know, going to the spring the second time in the second book, really changed it. Um, and then I'm going to give you the shortest version of this story.

Annwyn: 25:08

Um, I came back to Glastonbury again. So after that trip in 2018, I was like I'll come back next year Uh, or maybe it was 2019. I think it was 2019. And I was like I'll be back next year. And we couldn't because COVID, covid hit and all my plans were dashed and I was just like gutted. I was just like, oh my gosh, I can't believe, I can't go. So I ended up eventually finally making it back in 2022, the spring of 2022. And this is literally like listening to spirit and being in the right place at the right time, because I almost missed this destiny by five minutes. Seriously, because I was being lazy and wanted to stay in bed, I almost missed everything that's about to happen that I'm about to tell you.

Annwyn: 26:03

So I'm in Glastonbury again. I'm here, I'm super excited, but things maybe aren't going as great as I wanted them to. There was maybe a little bit of a mean girl situation happening and I just did not want to go to breakfast. I didn't want to. I just wanted to stay in bed and hermit and be an introvert and not interact with the world. Now, put a pin in that because I've gotten ahead of myself. The night before, I have a private booking at the White Spring with my group and I go in with the group and what do I do? I go back to that same shrine and this time I'm like here.

Annwyn: 26:45

The first time you told me to teach about water magic, and I did, and it turned into a book. Second time, you told me a way, you know, to finish writing and publish the way of the water pieces, and I did so. This time it's like a third book, right, and I was starting to work on Celtic goddess grimoire this time, and so I was like it's Celtic goddess grimoire book, right. I think at that time we were just calling it like Celtic goddesses and I was like I've got this, I got it, I'm doing it. Like I know how to do it, I'm doing it, let's do this. And spirit was like no, we don't care about that. I mean, of course they do, but not in that way, right, um, not in the way that it was like here's the next task, right, because obviously all the spirits that are in that book care very deeply about that. But, like in the path of getting here, they were like yeah, no, like we're not tasking you with that this time, like that's not, that's not it, like you're going to move here before the end of the year, of the year, and so this was May of 2022. And I was like that's impossible. For all of these reasons, proceeds to list out like 100 reasons why I can't do it.

Annwyn: 27:55

So fast forward now to the next morning, where I am in bed being a bit of a lazy bum and I decide that I am not going to go down to breakfast. I have decided that I am not going to go down to breakfast. It is a fact. I'm going to stay in this bed and everything will be fine.

Annwyn: 28:15

And then it was like as if, like something just picked me up and kicked my butt down the stairs. And I stumbled down the stairs and, like my nightgown with disheveled hair, like just, you know, um, and be in my swamp hag self and I, I meet a lady. There's a lady there and, um, my friends introduced me to her and I am like what do you mean? You're the financial steward for the white spring? Like I didn't even know that that was a thing that existed, like I don't know, like how. And she's like, well, I can't, I can't talk, like I have to go. And I was like, can we exchange phone numbers Because I want to interview you for my blog series, cause I have this blog series about like water women and water priestesses and stuff. And so we exchanged phone numbers and I keep and she goes off and that's it.

Annwyn: 29:09

And I go down to, like the goddess temple and I'm still getting this message Like you are going to be moving here before the end of 2022. Like return to like, return to me before 23. And I was like it's just impossible. So I keep getting this message. I keep getting this message and I keep saying it's just impossible. So I keep getting this message. I keep getting this message and I keep saying this is why I can't, this is why I can't and I'll get an answer. And I'm like, well, I don't like that, so no, but it was a good solution and it was actually the answer. And it just kept going like this. And so, finally, the trip ends, I go home, I tell my husband all about this and he's like, well, two things One, we should definitely go back before the end of the year, because that's the message that you're getting. And two, like you had a bit of a situation and I want you to have a good time, so I'm going to take you back and so, and you're going to have a good time, and so he does.

Annwyn: 30:00

And all summer I play phone tag with this lady. I text her. She doesn't respond for two weeks. She texts me. I don't respond for six. You know, like we just go back and forth and then finally I'm in London in early September, late August, early September. I'm in London and I say you know, I text her and I'm like I'm going to be in Glastonbury, are you around so I can interview you? And she's like, yeah, amazing, I'm here for just like a couple of days Come. And so I do. I come and I interview her and I start out trying to interview her. She ends up interviewing me and by the end of that meeting I'm running down the street with a plot map in my hand and we have hatched a plan to purchase this property.

Annwyn: 30:49

Because it was up for sale and it was about to go to auction and, to keep a really, really long story short, I still was in denial. I still was like that's good, it's never going to happen. And we ended up putting in a pre-auction bid. That was accepted. But that pre-auction bid was also that I had to sell my two acre homestead, the Creek running through it and my peacock and my chickens and all sorts of stuff in Oregon and like, basically, just like uproot myself because we were going to need the equity from my property to purchase this one.

Annwyn: 31:32

And so, anyways, a really, really long story, short house goes up on the market and the offer is accepted and like, 45 days later, I'm on an airplane with two suitcases and like, walking into a house that I have never seen before, that I have just co-purchased with this woman who I have met one other time. But like, miracle after miracle after miracle, um, the lady that lived here before me gave me her car. Like she gave me a car. I didn't have to purchase a car. She was just like, here, have a car, um, and so cause she didn't want to sell it, and she was just like I'm done with everything, have my car, so I had a car.

Annwyn: 32:25

The lady that I went into partnership with is amazing. Like just, I can't even believe y'all, I have a fairy godmother. Like how is that even possible? I mean, she is just like I can't even tell you how amazing this whole thing has worked out. Now I will say that it's also been tough because, you know um, leaky roofs and hundred-year-old houses that haven't been tended in 40 years and, and you know it, it's not all fairy tales, um, but Um, but yeah, wild, wild, wild story.

Annwyn: 33:06

So it was through the spirit work that I was doing with the spirits of place, this particular place here in Avalon, glastonbury, that not only thrice, that's four, there we go Three times thrice told me to do different things and then I listened and rose to the occasion and did the thing, um, but that changed my life time and time and time again. So I know that spirit work can be like really scary when you start out, because you're like I don't want to invite bad things in, which is totally understandable, and we should always be practicing protection magic, but do not forget to leave space for the miracles and the magic and just the most synchronistic crazy things to happen, because I am like living, breathing proof that it does happen. Also, I had to sacrifice so much. I can't tell you how hard it was to pack up almost a decade of living on this property in Oregon and just walk away from it in 45 days.

Kim: 34:24

That's a lot.

Annwyn: 34:26

It is, it really is.

Kim: 34:35

What would you say is the biggest struggle when it comes to your practice?

Annwyn: 34:40

Okay, three years ago, I think the answer would have been different. Okay, three years ago, I think the answer would have been different than now. And I think even six months ago it would have been different, although I think, as I'm saying this, that the answer, the answer is form, just consistency. Consistency, then, coupled with the like being hard on yourself for not being consistent, if that makes sense. So, like, showing up every single day to your practice is really important, but we're also human beings is really important, but we're also human beings and life happens.

Annwyn: 35:30

And also, like, sometimes you have to pay your bills and work and like, do things in order to make it so that you can have your basic needs met, and those often get in the way of a perfectly, you know, set out practice. And so showing up consistently has been a real big challenge. But then also, when you don't show up consistently, we have this tendency to be really hard on ourselves and like there's a lot of shame around, like oh, I haven't shown up, or like beating yourself up for it. So, finding the balance between you know grace around not showing up every day, but then also, you know, finding that nice consistency of it doesn't have to be every day. But because consistency can look like different things, it doesn't have to be every day, twice a day, at 9 am and 9 pm. It can be, you know, once a week if you want, once a month, like what is consistency to you? So I guess, defining consistency and sticking to it being human, what's that like?

Kim: 36:50

What brings you the most joy in?

Annwyn: 36:50

your practice, the beauty around it, um, and yeah, the beauty around sitting in front of an altar and creating rituals or creating spells and connecting to deity, to source, to different spirits. Also giving offerings, especially offerings that are very beautiful, that carry the energy signature of beauty as well as substance, and that brings me the most joy. Also spending time in nature and finding things sticks, flowers, branches, leaves and bringing them back and creating beautiful sacred geometry or spirals or rituals with them. That brings me so much joy.

Kim: 37:50

Water goblin just popped into my head, water goblin Goblinning all the little things and you pick them up and you put them in your pockets and then you come home and you build things.

Annwyn: 38:01

Oh my gosh, it's so true. So I am obsessed with ammonites right now and, um, glastonbury has just like tons of ammonites everywhere and I see you goblining with your like little handful of things and I'm like here's mine and like these are all little anemones, so cool, found like right here in Glastonbury. Yeah, it really was. This place really was underwater at some point, but, like you can just like walk up and down the lane. And so whenever I'm out doing my exercise and doing things like that, like my partner's constantly like are we going to finish the walk? Are you just going to like dig in the mud? And I'm like 100%, I'm going to dig in the mud Like hello, this is what is wrong with you. Of course we're going to be digging in the mud, do you see this?

Annwyn: 39:02

And or, my favorite, which is my pockets are full, so this goes in yours um, yeah, um, there's a large part of my practice which is basically surrounds um, digging in the mud and looking for rocks. Yeah, and I love it so much and I have found the coolest things ever, um, like ammonites, like I found this little guy recently which is a crinoid fossil, um, and just yeah, if it's not digging in the mud looking for rocks. And it's digging in the mud looking for roots or, you know, getting sunk into the mud because I'm picking flowers. There's, yeah, digging in the hedgerows. Digging in the hedgerows, that is also. It gives me so much joy. My days off I'll often go to the beaches along the Jurassic Coast and literally I will be water goblining, like like that was so accurate when you were like nah, because, like the sun will be setting and my partner will be like hey, it's like time to go, and I was like my, my, my fossil, like there's still fossils to be found. I don't find them, someone else is gonna take them.

Kim: 40:29

So, yeah, what is your favorite tool to use in your practice? It does not have to be a physical thing. That's tough tool to use in your practice. It does not have to be a physical thing.

Annwyn: 40:51

That's tough, that is so hard. Oh man, three years ago it would have been so different than now. Three years ago, I know I would have been like a sacred vessel. I'm a big like bowl person. I do a lot of things in bowls. I put water in bowls, I put crystals in the water, like making flower essences, like a bowl. If I have a bowl, I can do almost anything with it.

Annwyn: 41:17

But having been in this weird transition and having left so abruptly from my home, having everything in boxes, not having my tools, not having sacred space, it's honestly like my voice, my body, like my physical body, is becoming probably my most used and most sacred tool. You know, using my voice has always been a big struggle for me, and I have been doing a lot of singing in the white spring to help cleanse the energy, to open the energy, to close the energy. So, yeah, my voice and my physical body, I think, are my most powerful tools. Now I will say, though, if I had to pick a physical object that wasn't me, it would be a hagstone. They have so many good uses. Put them on a red string protection. Put them in water. You can make holy water, you can wear them. Holy water, right, holy water from the can wear them. Holy water, holy water from the holy stone, isn't it? Yeah, right, yeah, yeah, you get it. Also, if you're in danger, you can chuck them at people's heads. I mean, they're so diverse, right, like they become projectile weapons.

Annwyn: 42:41

So they can make holy water, or they can like harm your enemies. So I'm sorry, um so they can make holy water, or they can like harm your enemies, um so.

Annwyn: 42:57

You can get that red thread and you whip it around. That's exactly what I was thinking about. It was just like it's like circle, circle. You make a flail Back away, back away away. Protection in two ways, right, not just wearing it for, like, spiritual protection, but like don't mess with me or I'll hit you with my, my holy stone. Um, so if I had to pick, like one tool, if the world was ending and it was like you may take one tool with you and one tool only, I probably would grab the hag stone, the holy stone, um, because it does have so many universal, uh, purposes, and also the lore around seeing through, you know, to the other world. And yeah, they're very, they're very dynamic, but simple little tools.

Kim: 43:51

What's something you wish was discussed more in the witch community.

Annwyn: 44:03

There's a lot of things, but I think the one that's coming to my brain at the moment oh man, there's two. Okay, I had nothing and then I had two at once Um, mental health and burnout, I think is something that we do not talk about enough within the magical and spiritual communities and witchcraft communities, um, but also something else I don't see us talking about at all is what does the future of witchcraft look like?

Kim: 44:50

Right, I know, I have not ever seen that.

Annwyn: 44:53

Right, what does the future look like? So I've been around in the witchcraft community very lightly in the beginning, of course, and I've gotten deeper and deeper. At first it was like a little toe in the water and then now it I've gotten deeper and deeper. At first it was like a little toe in the water and then now it's like I feel like I'm fully immersed. Um, but what witchcraft looked like in the early 2000s was so much different than what it looked like to my teachers in the 90s and the 80s, and that looks so much different than what 2010 did.

Annwyn: 45:29

And I remember the shift probably around somewhere between 2013, 2015, really, with, like, the takeoff of social media. That's probably when there was a really big shift and I don't think any of us were expecting it to go mainstream Like we I it was still hidden. Like coming out of the broom closet in 2000 and I don't know seven was like terrifying. And then, for 10 years later, for it to literally be trending hashtags on the internet was like what is happening. So what does witchcraft look like as we move into the future? What does witchcraft look like as we move into the future, especially with how social media is developing, how AI is developing. I mean algorithm. Like these young kids to the young young witches have really blown my mind a lot with like different things. Like the algorithm can be seen as an entity and I'm like Whoa, but oh my gosh. Yes, you know.

Kim: 46:47

I freaked me out.

Annwyn: 46:49

Yeah, are we going to start looking at.

Kim: 46:50

AI. I loved about it and I was like what the hell?

Annwyn: 46:53

Well, and I've had these thoughts recently too it's like if we're looking at an algorithm as an entity, like what is ai gonna be in five years, in 10 years, like well, um, you might not be wrong there, but yeah, like Is it going to be like a familiar or like a fetch, where you're like, hey, ai, do this thing for me.

Kim: 47:25

And it does, it might.

Annwyn: 47:29

I mean, I don't Like if we took this conversation right now, right, and we had a TARDIS and we were like let's quickly go back to our young witch selves, right? So for me that would be early 2000s and be like AI, like AI is coming, or the algorithm is going to be an entity, or you're going to have 65,000 followers on Instagram. I thought that there were like 6,000 witches in the world when I began like, let alone there being 65,000 of them like following me on the Instagram. Like it's wild, it's super wild.

Annwyn: 48:05

And I think that if I went back to my young witch self and was like this is what's going to happen, I think I'd smack myself and be like shut up, you liar. That's bull crap, right. And so when I put myself in like that kind of shoot, like those shoes, when I look at it from that framework, and then I look at like okay, what does it look like in 10 years, in 20 years? Like are we going to see a divide in the in witchcraft, where we have, like the technology witches like doing all this, like cool, new, innovative stuff, where the nature witches are just gonna be like oh my god the evil, ai, or our nature witches?

Annwyn: 48:46

which is gonna really get into that? Are we gonna accept ai in 10 years? Um? Will we have destroyed ourselves um completely in 10 years? I don't know. It seems hopeful, it seems treacherous. It's definitely uncharted waters and there could be sea monsters in those uncharted waters and they can be our friends or they might sink our ship.

Kim: 49:21

And I don't know. If AI actually becomes AI and not just intellectual property, then I absolutely think it can become its own thing, where we ask it to do something Like right now it's just harvesting other people's information, right, right, which is kind of a cheat. If I was going to research something I don't generally, but I could see how you could use AI help me figure out a spell for blah blah blah and it's going to collect everybody's blah, blah blah spells. So I have a point of reference for my own research that. I know that's not really what we're talking about, but I'm super interested in seeing how that affects witchcraft, aside from, like all the planetary, like actual real life finger quotes are happening, real life applications. That never occurred to me until you asked that question. Yeah, it's so hot in this closet. Yeah, it's 11 o'clock.

Annwyn: 50:52

I just don't know what the future is going to bring, because I know, back in 2000, like early 2000s, I could not predict that I would be where I am 2010,. I could still not predict what the next 10 years was going to look like, at least like within the witchcraft community, you know, around 2015,. I I think that if you told me that Pantheacon only had five years left, I also would have smacked myself or whoever told me like to see some of these big conferences like die, but then, like there's new things coming up. Online conferences now are like a huge thing and everybody's got summits and symposiums myself included.

Annwyn: 51:37

I do two a year now and we're building community and we're using technology in a positive way to build community and I would, I guess, maybe to just kind of sum everything up, while I don't feel like I can predict where we'll be in 10 years, I feel like I would love to see more of what's happening right now, where technology is being used in a positive way to bring us together so that we can create change, create magic and educate each other and support each other and grow with each other, because I think that that's been, probably despite some of the negative things that have happened around this. I think that's one of the most positive things and I would love to see more of that moving forward.

Annwyn: 52:29

Shout out to my group, hive House, who developed over COVID and now are people that I love dearly and I'm glad they're in my life and it's because of technology, yay us right, I mean the water priestess confluence exists because zoom and because zoom got big and um, we were like what happens if we do something online and we start bringing a global community together for a weekend? And now I'm running online conferences? Like what? Five years ago again, if you told me you're gonna be running online conferences, you 2018,? Someone was like Edwin, you're going to run online conferences. I'd be like no, not me, but here we are, I'm doing it and technology's helping.

Kim: 53:33

You must obviously be talking about someone else.

Annwyn: 53:35

Couldn't possibly be me. I'm not doing that no are you kidding me? Like I would, no, no, I in 2018, 2019, I still would have like been like, nope, that's that's now I'm over here, you know, planning things and organizing and and we've created this amazing water community. That's a global water community now. And, yeah, it's wild. It's wild to see how technology has helped and changed.

Kim: 54:06

Think about the three biggest influences on your practice, whether it's a person or a book or a philosophy. Thank them for the influence they've had on your practice okay.

Annwyn: 54:22

So, thanks to avalon and the energies of avalon, both the physical world of avalon glastonbury, and the spiritual realms of avalon. Um, and all those who have mentored me and brought me here, mara Freeman being my mentor in in um Avalonian tradition, um. The second would be um Dion Fortune, because she had to be part of bringing me here to live in this place, um, which is to date, the biggest impact I've had. And also, she was there from the beginning. She was always a big inspiration to me. I wrote about her in my second book, the Way of the Water Priestess.

Annwyn: 55:07

I had no idea that I would be here. It was a year and a half after Water Priestess was published and I still like, didn't believe that I would be actually living in her house, let alone like restoring it Wild. And then, finally, the most impactful, biggest influence on my path and my practice has been water, which I know is a huge umbrella, but water, the physical bodies of water on the planet, the sacred wells, the water spirit, the sub aquatic realms. I would not be the witch and priestess and magical practitioner that I am today if it weren't for the water and what the water told me to do.

Kim: 56:03

Do you have advice for any new practitioners?

Annwyn: 56:06

Oh, yes, so much, but listen, listen to what the spirits tell you, be cautious, always be cautious, always protect yourself. Be cautious and protect yourself first, like, just do it, get really good at protection magic and get really good at protecting yourself. Because once you have those skills locked down, you really can open up to the possibilities of what the spirit world and what magic and witchcraft has to offer. And once you start working those things, those magic, and you integrate it into your life, it will open up major pathways for you. And when it does walk down them, walk down those pathways. The great news is is, if it's not for you, you can stop, you can turn around, you can go back, you can say no, thank you, but don't let fear stop you from really walking down those paths.

Kim: 57:07

Fate favors the risky. Oh, I like that. Yeah, that is from Amy Sigel of Unmata.

Annwyn: 57:15

Yeah, from Amy Sigel of Unmata. Oh right, okay, I love it. I love it when dance crosses over into magical things. Oh, my gosh, say that one more time. Fate favors the risky, fate favors the risky. That could be a tattoo that I got like tattooed across my chest. It's a tattoo I have right here because I tell you what everything that I have done in my life were like big risks. You know, getting my books published, that was a risky process. Moving to Glastonbury, I put everything on the line and, yeah, you can show up short. I can't imagine. But I would not be doing what I'm doing and sitting here where I'm sitting having this conversation with you, yeah, if fate had not favored the risky, risky, risky things that I have done. And, yeah, that is amazing.

Kim: 58:27

I love that. Who do you think I should have on the show?

Annwyn: 58:30

Ooh, ooh, okay. Well, there's a couple people I'm sure you've probably had some of these, but cory thomas hutchinson, have you had him? Yes, yes, yes, okay, um, and I'm sure you've also, I'm sure you've also had tempest. Yeah, okay, all right, all right. So those were like oh, have you had mara starling yet?

Kim: 58:59

no, yeah, I don't know how to get in touch with them oh, okay, um, send me an email, I want to.

Annwyn: 59:09

I want to send me an email. I can make an introduction for you if you'd like. Yes, please, yes, please, oh, please, yes. Also, do you know the rest of her coven, moss, matthew and Brett of the Witch of Salopia? No, they are super fabulous and you're going to love them. Both of them have books coming out soon. Moss has books coming out, I think this October, and it's an apostate's guide to witchcraft. Yeah, yeah, it's good.

Kim: 59:46

It's a good word.

Annwyn: 59:47

Brett is also coming out with a book on the goddess Sabrina of the River Severn. Okay, two more. Two more that you might not heard of. Have you heard of Nicholas Pearson?

Kim: 1:00:01

Have had them on the show.

Annwyn: 1:00:02

Yes, okay, yes, okay. And then the last one, who you may not have heard of but also has a bit of a back background in dance, is a, like me, fully fledged priestess and witch. She's been around in community for a long time. She is usually my partner in crime these days, especially around the symposiums, and that is Lorelai Black.

Kim: 1:00:29

Okay, I love the dance crossovers.

Annwyn: 1:00:34

I love it. She's an Aphrodite, priest, priestess, and she's an author, and yeah she's. She's lovely, really lovely.

Kim: 1:00:45

Hey, thanks, cool. Yay, Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? Anything I didn't ask or anything you wanted to ask me.

Annwyn: 1:00:54

Yeah, I have a couple of things happening right now that I'd love to share about. The first thing is that the Water Priestess Confluence just finished and we do have recordings available. So if you've been hearing me say priestess and water a lot, and it's really like bringing the tinglys into your brain and heart, then you got to head over to waterpriestesscom. You can get the replays. They're actually being edited right now and will be sent out before May 1st. I'm also doing a water priestess training. So if you want to become a water priestess, I have different levels where you kind of start like an immersion and then we go into the well maiden and the water bear and then finally like full priestess training, um into the, into water priestess um. But if priestess is also like not something that you're too keen on, that's okay, because I have lots of other cool things and they are in the witchcraft realm. So, um, I do have my um-month Water Magic Master Course coming up.

Annwyn: 1:01:56

In September I'll also be Bewitching the Water Symposium. It's a unique online symposium that features folk magic, sorcery, cunning ways, all focused on water, and that is going to be in November. Water, and that is going to be in November. So we'll be actually gearing up for that and releasing our speakers over the summer and into the early fall, but the most exciting and important thing that is coming up is going to be happening on June 1st and that is a unique, one-time only symposium called Frozen in Stone, and Frozen in Stone is basically a symposium about fossils in magic, so I will be teaching about ammonites and sacred wells and Avalon, as well as how to find fossils on the Jurassic Coast and the East Coast of the US. Nicholas Pearson is going to be teaching about some of the science around how fossils are formed, as well as Amber and Jet Brett, which is the Witch of Salopia, is going to be teaching about, is going to be teaching about mammoth bones and fossilized teeth and how to use those in your magical practices.

Annwyn: 1:03:23

We also have Moss Matthew that's going to be teaching, and Ashley Levy, who runs Love and Light School, is going to be doing fossils for kitchen witchery, and so you can head over to waterwitchcraftcom and click on Frozen in Stone to see the full lineup, all of the descriptions, as well as the schedule, which is run on British summertime, but it starts like Pacific time, like eight or 9. Um, so we've got a really good time zone. Also, the recordings will be sent out to everyone. So yeah, frozen in stone is, um, my, my latest exciting offering. Um, and I'm pairing up with these just like really amazing experts. Um, like Nicholas Pearson is like a genius when it comes to crystals and fossils, and like just I'm so excited for it and to just be able to share all of this. So yeah, so it's a whole week or whole day, sorry, a full day immersion into fossils, in magic and folklore.

Kim: 1:04:38

So make sure you look down below in the show notes, or to the left or to the right, wherever it appears on your screen, for the link. So at the end I ask two things of my guests, and thing number one is please recommend something, anything at all. It does not have to be witchcraft related, just whatever you're into this week, recommend it to the listeners. Oh my God.

Annwyn: 1:05:07

All right, I got involved in reading ACOTAR. Do you know Akatar? A Court of Thorn and Roses, sarah J Max, if you're listening and you have not read A Court of Thorn and Roses and the better follow-up books, first off, let me apologize for ruining your life because you're going to pick these books up and not be able to put them down. And also, it's really good fairy smut. I started, I read a court of thorn and roses like two years ago, and I was like it's not bad, it's all right. And then I just kept, everyone kept telling me like, no, no, no, you got to read the next one. Like you, like you have to get through the first book and just get through the first book. It's not terrible, just get through it, because, like book two and three, it oh my gosh, you're not, like you won't be able to put it down. Um, so it's great and so I highly recommend Sarah J Maas.

Kim: 1:06:25

Um, you're welcome thing number two is please tell me a story.

Annwyn: 1:06:33

Oh, that so broad. I tell so many stories. Okay, this is the first thing that comes up, so, because I was writing about it today, have you heard the story of the well-maidens?

Kim: 1:06:52

Okay.

Annwyn: 1:06:53

So the story of the well-maidens actually comes from a 13th century poem called the elucidation Um, and in it it details a story about these beautiful well maidens.

Annwyn: 1:07:04

They were basically these young maidens, um, and they were called well maidens because they were intimately connected with sacred wells Um, and they lived in this place where the waters flowed freely and they had these beautiful golden bowls, and so they would take these golden bowls and they would fill them with water, and anyone that came and passed by that was thirsty they would just offer this water freely to the passersby. They also had big platters of food and they would also offer those. So they basically spent all day lounging on these beautiful like, around these beautiful lush green areas and all of the sacred water, giving water and food freely to all of those that passed. One day a greedy king came by by and as they approached the well maidens, he saw how beautiful they were and they gave him the golden bowl of water and you know, freely for him to drink, and he did. He drank the water and then realized that he was holding a golden bowl and he took that and then he looked at the well maiden and thought, ooh, she's beautiful, I want her for myself.

Annwyn: 1:08:20

And so he kidnapped her and he took her and assaulted her and all of his men saw this happen and was like, well, we want golden bowls and we want those maidens. And so they also snatched the bowls and they snatched a few more maidens and they took them off and they made these maidens, these young, beautiful women, serve them.

Annwyn: 1:08:43

Now the other well maidens saw this happened and retreated back into the wells. Because these well maidens weren't just young women, they were the voices of the wells, they were oracles, they were water spirits. And because of watching this destruction happen and this aggression happen and everything be stolen from them, they retreated back into the wells. And the wells dried up and they weren't seen for many, many years. Well, they were seen never again, until a little bit later in the story King Arthur hears about this and he decides to bring his men together and they're going to go and punish this evil king, find out what happened and try to restore the wells. Try to restore not just the voices of the wells, but bring the maidens back door, not just the voices of the wells, but bring the maidens back. And they go and they quest, and they quest, and they quest, and they quest and they cannot find anything. So they quest again and they quest again and eventually they come across some knights and they believe that these are the evil men, and so they capture one of them and they bring him back to court where he tells a story of how the well maidens were assaulted and that some of them retreated back into the wells, but they didn't disappear completely. They had children, and some of them were young maidens that they taught how to be well maidens and taught their children how to protect the land and how to protect the water. And so this knight, this guy that was captured by King Arthur's court or by his knights and brought back to King Arthur's court, was not the perpetrator, was not the evil king and his men, but were the offspring of the well-maiden who had then taught their sons how to protect them.

Annwyn: 1:11:05

And when we look at this story from a perspective like a water protector and kind of an ecological viewpoint, we can see the parallels of what is happening in society today how we have corporations, greedy corporations, polluting, destroying our water. We are seeing them, water bodies become polluted, we're seeing wells dry up, we're watching the water table kind of lower, at the same time as we have floods coming in and creating and causing destruction. And so when we look at this evil king and how he power grabbed for that which was not his and because of it the land became barren, the land became desolate, the wells dried up, and when the wells dry up, the plant became desolate, the wells dried up, and when the wells dry up, the plant life dies and everything turns into a desert, and we can see this playing out on a world stage right now where, as this destruction and pollution is happening, things are becoming unstable. The planet cannot continue to produce clean water. The landscape is becoming barren once again.

Annwyn: 1:12:22

But, like the well-maidens of old, we have power in our hands. We have the magic of spells and witchcraft. We have the ability to speak to spirits, like the oracles. We have the ability to speak to spirits like the oracles. We have the ability to pick up a sword, air quoting sword or whatever. Our fierce protection is that restores the wasteland and brings the well-maidens back and therefore restores the earth, the planet life that is here.

Kim: 1:13:12

It's so good. It's so good. Yeah, that desert thing is happening here. I mean it is a desert, but also corporations are coming in and because they can afford to drill like 400 feet lower than farmers can, they're sucking all the aquifers dry.

Annwyn: 1:13:35

Yep, yep, but we like the well-made-ums. We can do something about it, and that is raise our children and teach them how to fight this fight and to restore the water, to restore the planet and to restore the wasteland. We can do it. I don't think it's too late.

Kim: 1:14:04

Oh, I hope not.

Annwyn: 1:14:08

If you catch me on a bad day, I tend to be like it's too late, there's nothing we can do. But today's not that day. Today is a we can make change Good. I do firmly believe we can make change. It's actually why my water priest is saying is such an important part of my practice, and also why sacred service is part of my practice is because I truly believe that I was put on this planet to be in service to water. And if you are in service to water or the earth or or this, anything that is in the physical natural world, you don't have a choice right now, but to protect it there we don't have the, the time, the like. We must protect it. It is our sacred service to protect and preserve.

Kim: 1:14:56

Well, thanks so much for being on the show and for the stories. It was fun to talk to you.

Annwyn: 1:15:04

Thank you so much for having me.

Kim: 1:15:09

And I will see you over on Instagram and everybody, make sure you go, click the links and sign up for those symposiums. Okay, bye and when.

Annwyn: 1:15:25

Welcome to high pal. Thanks for having me first say when.

Kim: 1:15:43

When. What do you believe is in outer space and other galaxies?

Annwyn: 1:15:52

Oh, aliens. I'm a very earthy, watery person and I work a lot with water and I work a lot with water spirits, but I super believe that there is life out there. It is there, there's life in the water. We know water came from outer space. I mean water aliens already plans set in motion to haunt people when I die.

Annwyn: 1:16:18

um, because, okay like it's already a thing, like becoming local. Folklore is like a mission in my life. Folklore is like a mission in my life. I started when I was living in Oregon. My property was like on the road.

Kim: 1:16:46

And I would like go out at dusk in like white dresses To hear more of the Members Only episode. Head over to crepuscularconjurationcom. The monthly magic tier will give you access to the monthly magic Marco Polo group, the private Facebook group and access to the written monthly spells. There's also crepuscular conjurations giving you bonus podcast episodes, coloring pages, guided meditations, spell crafting videos, printable downloads and a lot more. The free Witchy Wonderment level will give you a little sample of everything I just mentioned. The free witchy wonderment level will give you a little sample of everything I just mentioned. You can also visit my shop, clever Kim's Curios, to get spell boxes, one at a time or by monthly subscription, intentional handcrafted jewelry that I make especially for witches and handmade altar tools. You can even listen to the full your Average Witch podcast library, including show notes and transcripts. Check it out at crepuscularconjurationcom.

Kim: 1:17:42

Thanks for listening to this episode of your Average Witch. You can find us all around the internet on Instagram, at your Average Witch Podcast, facebookcom, slash groups, slash hivehouse, at wwwyouraveragewitchcom and at your favorite podcast service. If you'd like to recommend someone for the podcast, like to be on it yourself, or if you'd like to advertise on the podcast, send an email to youraveragewitchpodcast at gmailcom. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next Tuesday. Thank you.