Because she finally realised that she could fly higher without it and that actually, staying on Earth was pretty damn good.

I love to see the great return of all things witchy, yes, I love it!

From women circles, to full moon gathering; from rediscovering the shamanic traditions to openly talk about the spirits’ world are all signs that we are opening up and coming back to some forgotten ancient traditions.

I have always been fascinated by witches. I grew up in a village in Belgium that is renowned for being one of the places where the Catholic church had done some of the biggest witches hunts of all times. Women were burnt in public places all throughout the country side for centuries.

One day when I was about 9 years old, mum took me and my siblings to an enactment of the burning of the witches. I clearly remember it all.

The crowd of people, the beautiful landscape, big piles of wood and the fake witches tied up on poles on top of them.

But what I remember the most, was the way I felt.

I had a ball in my belly and in my throat. I had a weird feeling inside of me. I was uneasy, I disliked it, I was scared.

All of it was so real, it felt like an enactment of some part of my own story, something that was buried deep within my soul and that I wasn’t ready to discover.

When they set the wood on fire and the crowd cheered, I couldn’t help but feel terrified and outraged… “What is wrong with them? Why isn’t anyone saying something?”

After that, I read many books about witches and questioned my mum a lot. I was haunted by their tragic stories as well as fascinated with their knowledge of plants, spells and powers.

It took me years and some past-lives hypnotherapy work to realise that it had been so intense for me to witness that enactment because I had been one of them.

After realising that, I was all about discovering the power of plants, the gatherings of like-minded women under the moon, but most of all, I was all about discovering some kind of power that would help me feel special and happy.

The real witches were powerful, could save lives or kill the bad people with spells and potions. I knew that most of them must have just been regular women using everyday plants. But I was more looking for the supposedly real powers of badass witches.

I learnt about tarot reading, astrology, herbal medicine. I learnt about crystals, past-lives, dream medicine and animal of powers.

I wanted to know more and more and to grow my powers.

All of that was triggered by my needs to know who I was. I wanted to connect to a higher power and to other like-minded women, so I wouldn’t feel lonely any longer. By being a powerful modern witch, I would be someone, I would be me.

Yes, I learned a lot…

But it didn’t take me where I thought I would be going.

Because you see my dear readers, it doesn’t matter how much we learn intellectually or who we were in a past-life. If we are to find inner peace, it will have to go through ripping our ego off.

And all that I was doing was pretty much the opposite.

Wanting to know the future, to remember the past, are all signs that we are not happy in the present.

When we rely on astrology, tarot reading and crystals to feel reassured that today will be a good day, we actually give our power away.

We forget that we are a spark of the divine so, actually, the day will unfold in total perfection for what we need to learn right now. No matter what happens, we are already powerful enough to go through it.

Letting go of the need to control what’s happening, to understand the why’s and how’s is the greatest gift we can give to our self.

It is the greatest gift because it is the only way that we can embrace the day with total surrendering and joy for every moment that passes.

One day, I realised that after many years of going down the witchy path, I wasn’t actually really happy, I felt a lot lighter. The penny dropped basically.

I had to go through that journey because it was my way of getting to understand how I feel with all aspects of the spiritual world.

I understand why I did it and I think I’d do it again because I learnt a great deal along the way.

But the broom I was carrying on my shoulder became very heavy.

I was relying too much on my crystals to keep me safe, on my tarot to reassure me that I was on the right path, on nature to be perfectly clean so it would give me its true healing powers.

I could never find the perfect tribe to hang out with either, because I felt that even in that world, I wasn’t really fitting in.

The way I burnt my broom was when I decided to let go of the need to know. When I realised that that path had been tricking me by taking me where I actually didn’t want to be going: on the path to build a stronger ego.

If God truly exists, surely, I can trust that He’s got me, right?

And because God is the big boss up there, I’m sure I can surrender my heavy broom to Him and replace it with daily prayers and meditations. That’s the way I felt a lot lighter and happier!

My heart showed me the way.

I longed for inner peace and humility. I had no choice but to surrender to it.

I still have my tarots, my crystals and some witchy friends. I honour the power of nature as the great healer, but I don’t depend on its perfect condition to stay healthy.

I don’t reject the path of the witch as something that is wrong. No paths are wrong turns, they are just paths that lead us to new destinations.

Yes, sometimes I like to go and see my friend who reads me Tarot. I follow an astrologer and I still look for signs. But when I do that, I am now conscious that I do it because I need reassurance that I am ok, that the universe has my back. I like that it actually reflects how I am already feeling.

As soon as I realise that, I feel the connection with the source, God, growing stronger. I meditate and I pray, asking to feel love and inner peace within my heart.

I feel that I can fly higher in the spiritual realm this way, living in total trust of every moment that passes. And actually, I feel more connected to life on earth than never before.

Life can be so damn good here, amongst the everyday humans.

Really, it’s not what we learn, who we were or aspire to be that matters.

What matters is to keep our mind and our hearts opened so we keep learning and growing, together. We are all on the same journeys, no matter the many paths that each of us is on.