The Witch is Back!

The witch is indeed back. If you're new here, I’m Raven and I took an entire year off from leading, teaching, mentoring and overall doing in the public setting. I have never been, nor is it my intention to become, a social media influencer. I trust influencers like I trust Google AI… however I also acknowledge that I live in the social media era. The majority of my work has been in person but working with the internet interface is essentially mandatory in the 21st century. Taking an entire year off told the algorithm, some sort of social media god as you will, that I am irrelevant. Well I’m not. I am relevant, I am worthy, I am outstanding and all I do is win.

I took all of 2024 off because of severe issues I had with my mental health, community and belonging. In 2023 I was sexually assaulted by a fellow facilitator and close friend. I was not alone in my accusation against my abuser. In the months that followed, after coming out with my accusation against this man I was harassed by his family and friends. My every professional move was scrutinized and they attempted to drag my name through the mud all while leadership within our shared organization watched on and did nothing to protect me or the other people with accusations against him. I eventually left the organization and felt hopelessly lost. I had no community, a large chunk of my friends were either gone or on shaky ground. Dealing with the trauma of the assault, the feeling of loneliness, spending sabbats without community. So I took all of 2024 off. I led no public rituals, I served no clients, I did no readings. When clients came to me, I referred them elsewhere. I mourned. I mourned not only for the community I had, but the community I thought I was building… and even more so I mourned for the me that I lost.

Through the mourning I shrank my circle down. For the first time in over a decade, I actively worked to decrease my circle. I brought it down to just four people: myself, my husband and our children. I focused on our rituals. Enjoying baking our Ostara cake, our Midsummer cookout, and our own harvests. I focused on myself. I rebuilt much of who I am in the year I took off and as the year began to wind down a sense of closure came. While I myself did not see justice done, my abuser now sits in jail. He was convicted, late in 2024, of child sex abuse. Of molesting a little girl. I watched the same organization that allowed him to represent them — even after multiple accusations against him had come forward — continue to defend a freshly convicted pedophile. The entire year plus of mourning came crashing to a halt. I thought something was wrong with me when my accusation was not taken seriously. I thought something was wrong with me when the organization remained silent when my name was slandered, when rumors against me came forward. I thought I might even be the problem. Until the local news covered that he was convicted and that his victim was just nine years old. I sat there and watched the same organization continue to support him. I regret that it took me that long, but that is when I realized that I was not the problem: the organization was.

After his conviction, what felt like a volcanic eruption occurred. On my end, I received direct messages, a few texts and in-person conversations. Apologies for not believing me, people asking to hear my side of the story and people asking what they should do. Oddly, I had the answer because I went through the same thing the year prior. Lean inward. Shrink your circle. Rebuild your base. Take time off and spiral inward. Yes, community is important, but experience has shown me more than a handful of times that when we depend too heavily upon it, we will forget our morals and our values; when that happens, people suffer. Abusers rise to the top when we are willing to turn away from their abuses in order to protect what feels like a safety net of community, but that very safety net is then manipulated to become a net of entrapment. I had been entrapped.

Now, I am free. I do not rely on, nor do I request approval from, my former community. If anything, I learned how strong I am and how supportive my family is. Slowly, I am rebuilding a healthy community around me. A healthy community with a strong foundation. I am back in 2025 in a very different capacity. What I have learned to hold me steady through my painful healing process, a process that is by no means over, I have to offer. I have classes lined up like never before. I have confidence like never before. I have connections like never before and I am strong. Those that have done evil will suffer the just consequences of their actions, and inactions. Those who have been hurt will be healed and those that were left in the dark will find out. May it be so.

In 2025 this witch is back and I very much look forward to the beautiful year, uplifting and empowering others.