Anger and the Witch

I was talking to another witch the other evening & commented that he'd stopped posting on his blog. This was because the things he wanted to post about made him so angry that he felt, for various reasons including that his blog actually identifies him as a figure in public life, that anything he posted would not be acceptable. This conversation set me to thinking about anger, since I don't know a witch who doesn't have 'issues' with anger, frequently some unresolved matter that makes them angry, or there are subjects that will press buttons in them & make them angry.

Despite the much-vaunted embodiment of witchcraft, I'm going to avoid an account of the physiology of anger, for the purposes of this post it is enough to say that anger is the emotional component of the fight-or-flight, or fight-flight-or-freeze, reaction we have in response to a perceived threat.

It seems to me it is one of the less socially-acceptable emotions as well, which raises the question for me of whether people who are angry find their way into witchcraft or whether the kind of people who are witches are also in touch with their emotions, including anger. I would argue that it's actually both, & indeed that anger is actually an essential 'tool' of witchcraft. I would also argue that those who have been taught from childhood not to display strong emotion are a) lying and b) unlikely to make good witches.

Of course it's the displaying of anger that is the socially unacceptable bit. As witches it behoves us to consider the use of all inner & outer technologies as embodiments of the divine multiplicity, so let us not scorn the use of anger management. Many of these techniques aim to quieten the physiological arousal, perhaps the most 'witchy' would be meditative grounding & centering techniques.

It seems that there is much evidence that empathy for the other is most helpful in a conflict, while also being the most difficult. As witches we can stop & allow the divination method of our choice to show us what else is going on in the situation than we think. Methods of conflict resolution should also not be scorned: my personal opinion here is that if we are in touch with our emotions we face another danger of being annoyed by people who think that conflict will go away if they avoid it, rather than resolving it be facing it head on. Sometimes, arrogant bastard that I am, I just like to let a situation ride until it comes up again, knowing that I'll be proved right in the long run!

As magical people, of course, anger has a use. In psychotherapy the word 'transference' is used for the 'stuff' that passes into the therapist from the client. You can't see it, but my G*ddess, it's powerful. As the power behind spells it gives them an oomph otherwise unobtainable.

But of course that requires anger management to direct it into the right place. I don't ground toxic dynamics or emotions, I personally have a toxic waste dump, a stone a friend gave me which is now heavy with sh*t, ready for it to be used to power a spell when I need it. Trying to neutralise it wastes it.

Finally an aspect of anger useful to the witch is that it gives one tunnel vision. Powering a spell with managed & directed anger will help you to do that all-importance focus on the matter in hand.

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