In the sleepy town of Barnardsville, western North Carolina, Rebecca Beyer explores the magical connection between land, spirit and heritage.
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A small group of us, all women except for Becky Beyer's apprentice, sit rapt as she talks about the pagan wheel of the year and its European roots. We look out onto a field of pampas grass, its fronds glow gently in the fall sunlight. Before us is an altar with various pagan symbols. We are in a gorgeous and spacious barn on the property where Beyer lives. For her living is about connecting with the land through foraging, growing and rearing food and honoring the heritage of Appalachian withcraft that has been influenced a great deal by European ancient paganism.
Beyer became a witch at the age of 12. She discovered this path through her Wiccan Sunday school teacher at her local Unitarian Universalist church. Since then she has researched the heritage of witchcraft with inexhaustible enthusiasm, and she is currently studying for her masters in ethnobotany. These studious roots have led to her work as a teacher if the old ways as well as a tour guide for the local foraging organization "No Taste Like Home". Through her work she has discovered that the traditions of paganism and witchcraft go much further than the wiccan rituals that were first promulgated by Gerald Gardner in Britain in the 1940s. |
"Paganism is the religion of the people."
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Beyer believes that witchcraft and paganism has to be intimately connected with the land and the people who live on that land. While she delves deep into the ancient past of countries like Britain, her teaching reveals that paganism is a vibrant path that is alive and evolving. Here in Appalachia, pagan beliefs and practices have been heavily influenced by European settlers, who then grew their beliefs to incorporate the land and cycles of the landscape in which they now found themselves. She calls this the "terroire of witchcraft".
While Beyer lives off the land as much as possible, she acknowledges that this isn't possible (or indeed desirable for everyone). "Even if you live in the city, going to farmers markets or going on foraging walks, there are ways you can get more in touch with the land that are accessible". She also wants to teach a form of spirituality that is none culturally appropriative and is influenced by the traditions of life in Appalachia. This would include animal husbandry, foraging, crafts and living a "cottage life". Through this Beyer wants to encourage individuals to find an authentic path that does not appropriate customs from oppressed and marginalized peoples.
Her background has birthed classes that are satisfying in their breadth of knowledge and with Beyer's lively persona one feels the magic is everywhere.
While Beyer lives off the land as much as possible, she acknowledges that this isn't possible (or indeed desirable for everyone). "Even if you live in the city, going to farmers markets or going on foraging walks, there are ways you can get more in touch with the land that are accessible". She also wants to teach a form of spirituality that is none culturally appropriative and is influenced by the traditions of life in Appalachia. This would include animal husbandry, foraging, crafts and living a "cottage life". Through this Beyer wants to encourage individuals to find an authentic path that does not appropriate customs from oppressed and marginalized peoples.
Her background has birthed classes that are satisfying in their breadth of knowledge and with Beyer's lively persona one feels the magic is everywhere.
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