Root & Rise: Witchcraft for Resiliency

Merry Meet and Welome to you magickal souls!!!!

I love a good witchy conference and I was so happy when Wise Woman Witchery announced a Spring-time two-day conference that happened just last weekend on 11th and 12th April 2025! Granted, originally there was no plan to have a conference at this time but I'm glad that there was enough interest for one to happen.

These two days were filled with workshops designed to help me to "harness the power of your Witchery to cultivate resilience, renewal, and strength—for yourself and those around you." I love to sign up to these as I learn so much and paying to have lifetime access to the replays means that in the future, I can revisit each workshop as many times as I feel I need to.

Day One started with a workshop called "Decolonising Self-Love with The Lovers" and it was run by Maria Minnis. This was an interesting workshop but there was no connection with the Lovers tarot card. It felt a lot more scientific and disconnected to me with lots of definitions being given. The mini practical tasks were intriguing, and they did get me to think a lot about how I view self-love and even myself. Something that the next presenter mentioned started to help this workshop sit better within me was that self-love is a community necessity, and this got me thinking that I have said for a long time now that the orld needs more love in it because hatred isn't serving us as individuals, localised communities, nations/countries or as inhabitants of this planet.

The second workshop of the day was "Rooted in Sisterhood" and it was run by the ever-amazing That Witch Karena. I always love when Karena presents a workshop but this was so much fun! Karena mentioned about how many centuries ago, women would come together while menstruating but we don't do this anymore as part of our modern lives. Ritualising moving into each phase of womanhood (maiden, mother, wild woman, crone) also used to be a part of life but now it's a lot more personal, hidden or even ignored. This workshop highlighted the need for community and holding space for others while also honouring our own boundaries.

The third workshop of the day was titled "Underworld Exploration: Going on Persephone's Journey" and run by Michelle Green, who is also known as the Paradox Witch. Michelle spoke about how Persephone became the Queen of the Underworld as well as the Goddess of Spring. I had never been particularly interested in Persephone before but She definitely intrigues me now. While Michelle also led everyone on a guided meditation journey to meet Persephone, I may have "napped" so I will need to do this another day when I'm not feeling quite so tired.

The fourth and final workshop of the day was "Sigil Craft Decoded: How to Create Your Own Sigils to Empower and Protect Yourself and Others" and it was run by Melissa St. Hilaire. This was really interesting as Melissa went over a method of crafting sigils that I occasionally use and so I'm familiar with it. I'm currently on a bit of a health kick so I decided to use this class to help me to craft a sigil to help me with this. Melissa even talked about how to activate the sigil once it is complete, which is completely up to me so I will be employing a bit of Blood Magick before putting it in my weightloss booklet.

Day Two started with a workshop called "Queen of Stars" and it was run by Rachel Roberts. This workshop was focused on what it means to be a Queen to each attendee, and this tied into the Roman goddess, Juno. She is the goddess associated with the stars and the Milky Way, particularly since it is said that She created the Milky Way from the milk She Herself produced. It was really interesting because I don't think of myself as any kind of Queen, but yet we are each in charge of our own lives so I might as well take control of what I can while seeking advice from others when I need to.

The next workshop was "Invoking the Heart: Tapping into the Power of Love" and it was run by Irisanya Moon. Irisanya has a lovely calming energy about her but she holds a lot of knowledge and wisdom too so there's also an almost-unending depth to her too. This workshop was well-timed for me because I'm on a health kick but I'm also wanting to work on the relationship I have with my own self and the Goddess (and God) which means I need to tap into my Heart and the Power of Love. So Irisanya has given me lots of ideas for how I can move forward and progress with this.

The penultimate workshop was "Allies of the Earth: Finding Strength and Support in the Natural World" and it was hosted by the Wise Woman herself, Emily Morrison. Learning from Emily is always a privilege and honour but this workshop really hit home that there are so many allies around us within Nature that I could also learn from. This list wasn't just limited to the plants, trees and animals but also the different types of rock that make up this planet. It was really eye-opening and I'm excited to dive deeper into this topic in the future.

The absolute final workshop of the conference was "Herbal Supports for Challenging Times: Returning to Resilience in Nature" and it was run by the Plant Priestess, Erin LaFaive. It is always an amazing experience to learn from Erin because she knows so much about plants while I feel like I have more of a black thumb. Anyway, Erin presented information about specific plants as well as more generalised information about what herbs might be useful when it comes to being resilient. Some of the plants were ones I wouldn't have thought of but they are definitely appropriate and I have discovered a new plant that I would like to grow in my little outdoor space.

This was an amazing weekend, although it did make my "March Madness" extend well into April but it was so worth it!! I loved being able to learn from new teachers and familiar faces alike. All in all, I will definitely be returning to these workshops and reviewing all my notes because it was just so good.

If you have ever been wondering about connecting with Emily at Wise Woman Witchery, I cannot recommend taking that leap of faith because having the opportunity to attend conferences like this, monthly Full and New Moon rituals, and having a community of like-minded individuals - it's been invaluable to me.

Peace and love to all!!!!