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Welcome to Between Three 
Witches, where we talk about 

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witchcraft in plain sight. 
Everyday magic lived honestly, 

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and it's hosted by three 
witches. 

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Me. 
GAIL, the witch next door. 

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Me. 
The weedy green witch and me and

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on the anonymous witch. 
We all walk different paths with

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different levels of experience, 
but we share a deep respect for 

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the craft as it is actually 
practiced and not the dramatized

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version people expect. 
Hello, it's Vicky the Wheelie 

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Green witch from Between 3 
Witches, and on today's episode 

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of our Words from Witches or 
Pocket Practice section, it's 

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really trying to sort out the 
confusion of where to even 

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begin. 
So come on in, kettles on. 

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As always, ignore the state of 
the kitchen table. 

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I've been pottering around 
sorting out all the plants and 

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I'm fairly sure half the 
garden's actually followed me 

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indoors. 
There's soil on the side, 

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Rosemary is drying near the 
window, and I've already 

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reheated my coffee three times, 
which I feel is a very fair 

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representation of lived in 
practice. 

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You know, one of the questions I
get asked the most often is 

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where do I even start with 
witchcraft? 

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What tools do I need help? 
I think social media has 

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accidentally convinced people 
that the answer needs to be 

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incredibly complicated and a bit
expensive. 

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You know, like one day you wake 
up, you need to buy 17 different

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candles, 4000 different 
crystals, adopt A crow, rename 

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yourself Moon Shadow, and vanish
mysteriously into the woods by 

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next Thursday. 
Thing is, Folkcraft probably 

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began because somebody just 
needed to get through the 

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winter. 
Most of the old ways weren't 

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separate from ordinary life. 
They were woven directly into 

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those kitchens and gardens, into
the sick rooms, family life, 

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bread ovens and long winters 
where people needed to feel 

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safer, healthier, and simply 
less alone. 

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A lot of what we now call folk 
magic was survival mixed 

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together with belief, 
observation, repetition and the 

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need for hope. 
And most people started exactly 

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where they were, with whatever 
they had, you know? 

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And that really matters, because
somewhere along the line, people

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started feeling that they needed
the perfect tools before they 

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were allowed to even begin. 
The right book, the correct 

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altar, beautiful shelves of 
matching jars. 

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Meanwhile, historically, 
somebody was storing herbs in 

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whatever currently wasn't 
holding onions. 

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Most people weren't building 
practices from luxury and 

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Margaret from 1683 was 
definitely not ordering imported

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moon water from Etsy at 2:00 in 
the morning. 

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Margaret was probably just 
trying to stop the goat eating 

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the washing and hoping the 
cabbage would last until 

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February. 
People used what grew nearby 

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Rosemary. 
If Rosemary grew nearby nettles,

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well, they pretty much grow 
everywhere. 

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Salt was expensive so used very 
carefully. 

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Ash from the fire thread pins 
thread. 

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And honestly you know, I think 
that's partly why I really love 

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knot work so much. 
Threads just well humble people 

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tied in wishes into it. 
They knotted in protections, 

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they mended things with 
intention. 

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Making and meaning just weren't 
separate at all. 

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The same goes for poppets. 
People weren't making elaborate 

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dolls from expensive supplies. 
They used scraps of fabric, 

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wrapped herbs, clay, wool, 
roots, old clothing, bundles of 

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vegetation tied together by 
hand. 

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Those things appear again and 
again through folk Alf 

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traditions. 
But honestly, I think that's 

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absolutely beautiful, the idea 
the ordinary material can carry 

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love and care, hope, protection,
memory, just because somebody 

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shaped them with intention and 
emotion. 

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Historically, people reused 
absolutely everything because no

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one was wasting good fabric on 
aesthetic woodland nonsense. 

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Now, I'm not to say historical 
witchcraft and folkcraft were 

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only symbolic or domestic. 
They absolutely were. 

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Spoken charms, protective 
workings, healing rituals, folk 

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healers, cunning folk, and 
people deeply engaged in the 

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practices. 
People carried written charms in

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pockets. 
They buried objects beneath 

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thresholds. 
They used herbs intentionally. 

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They put shoes in walls, carved 
protective markings into 

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buildings, and they passed 
regional practices through 

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families and occasionally 
through community. 

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The practice and the magical 
weren't always separated neatly 

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from each other. 
Most of this knowledge also it 

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just wasn't written down neatly 
in books the way people 

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sometimes imagine now. 
Huge amounts survived through 

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storytelling, around fires, at 
kitchen tables, in gardens, 

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while working through stories, 
sayings, rhymes, repetition and 

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observations. 
And children learn by watching, 

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usually then being sent out to 
go and fetch something and 

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returning 3 hours later 
distracted by frogs. 

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I am not saying anything about 
my childhood here, you know. 

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Stories help people remember. 
A warning wrapped in folklore 

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survives far longer than a 
lecture. 

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And honestly, I think that's why
part of folk craft survives so 

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strongly, because it meets 
people where they actually 

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lived. 
The same woman stirring time 

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into a soup for a cough might 
just tuck that Rosemary above 

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the door because it made the 
house feel a little bit safer 

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somehow. 
And honestly, modern people 

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still do versions of this all of
the time. 

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We light candles to celebrate 
all when we feel uncertain. 

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We make tea for when we don't 
know what else to do. 

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Certainly if you're British, we 
open windows after difficult 

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days and arguments because the 
room feels heavy. 

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Humans have always attached 
meaning to small acts. 

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And you know what's really 
interesting? 

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If you look through history, 
Folkcraft. 

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Old customs are nearly always 
resurfacing strongly during 

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uncertain times. 
Periods of instability pull 

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people back towards the older 
skills and the older comforts, 

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and you see it repeatedly during
hardship. 

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People return to baking, 
gardening, preserving food, 

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sharing stories and remedies, 
and carrying lucky objects. 

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I mean, just look at the COVID 
lockdown. 

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Everybody went back to doing 
sourdough, you know? 

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And honestly, I think that's 
part of what we're seeing again 

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today, the resurgence in 
witchcraft, people asking where 

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to begin. 
Collectively, I think we're all 

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about 1 minor inconvenience away
from moving into a cottage. 

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Cottage and growing beans. 
And do you know what I've 

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already done That modern life is
so loud it's exhausted. 

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And frankly, some of us are just
being held together completely 

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and entirely by a good old cup 
of tea and some darn 

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stubbornness. 
People start looking for things 

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that are slower again, not 
because they're trying to become

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mysterious woodland cryptids by 
next Thursday. 

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Social media occasionally gives 
that impression, however, But 

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it's more because people are 
searching for small routines 

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that help them feel steadier. 
And there's also something 

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deeply reassuring, particularly 
to me, about the fact that old 

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folk practices are really 
perfect. 

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People adapt them, they adapt 
the methods, and they adapt the 

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way that it fits in with their 
own life. 

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They worked around poverty, they
worked around weather or grief 

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or exhaustion, children under 
foot, disability and ordinary 

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normal everyday chaos. 
Half of folk history is 

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basically essentially people 
saying right then this is what 

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we've got, let's make do. 
And honestly, I think that's one

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of the most magical sentences in
human history. 

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Let's make do. 
So to answer the question if 

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you're someone wondering where 
to start with any of this, I 

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honestly think the answer is 
much gentler and calmer than 

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people expect. 
Start where you are with what 

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you have to hand, and you fit it
in around the life that you're 

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already living. 
You don't need to disappear into

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the woods for three days 
carrying a Lantern and wearing a

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ceremonial cloak. 
Honestly, some of us barely have

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time to disappear into the bath 
uninterrupted. 

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You can stir intention into your
morning tea. 

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Grow herbs in a chipped bug on a
windowsill if that's all you 

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have the room for. 
Open the windows after an 

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argument. 
Tie a knot with purpose. 

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Light a candle when you rest. 
Learn the names of plants that 

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you already have growing near 
your home. 

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Whether you have a garden or 
not, that's all still practice. 

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It's all still the craft. 
It's folk craft. 

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It's a witchcraft, and it all 
still counts. 

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The old ways were often built 
from very, very ordinary acts 

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that were repeated with care. 
And maybe that's all people ever

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have really needed to do anyway.
Kettle's gone cold again. 

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I need more coffee and I've lost
this. 

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I've lost the secateurs. 
Where were the secateurs? 

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Right, I'm off. 
Enjoy yourself and I'll see you 

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next time. 
OK, bye.