Solitude, Spells, Scottish Secrets with Cecilia Lindsay

Solitary, witty, and steeped in Celtic tradition — Cecilia keeps her magic private, her humor sharp, and her Scottish ancestors’ horse-thieving ways alive in story. She finally joins the podcast, and it’s unforgettable.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hey friends, welcome to Tradition Cafe, the spot where the past bumps into the present and we get to sip our favorite drinks while digging into the stories that make people well people. I'm Anna Xavier, your host, curious, and totally here for the fun of learning about people's lives. In each episode, we'll celebrate heritage, family, and community, whether it's immigrants, the generations that came after them, or chosen families that make life messy, interesting, and unforgettable. So if you're like me, inquisitive, a little nosy, and love a good story, pull up a chair, grab your cup, and thanks for listening. Welcome to Tradition Cafe, everybody. I'm so glad you joined me again. And in the cafe today, I have Cecilia Lindsay. And she's one of my very best friends. And we are raising a drink to you. Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink. Um, gin and tonic, she doesn't even drink gin, but I talked her into it. No, I didn't even have to talk her into it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

That's because I'm Irish and Scottish.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

And that's where we go. Irish and Scottish, huh? Mm-hmm. So from what side is which? My dad is Scottish and my mom is Irish. And do you know the towns? I don't.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

But my dad my dad always said that his family got kicked out of Scotland for being horse thieves. He always said that his family got kicked out of Scotland for being horse thieves, which my dad was very funny. Very like you could never tell what was a joke and what was real. And like years later, somebody was doing like genealogy stuff, and it really does appear that they got kicked out of Scotland for being horse thieves. That's fantastic. I loved that.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

In the misty hills of Scotland, horses weren't just animals. They were wealth, power, and freedom. Steal one, and you could cripple a rival clan or become a legend yourself. William Armstrong of Kinmont, better known as Kinmont Willie, was one of the most daring border weavers of the 1500s. He led raids across the Anglo-Scottish border, driving home stolen horses and cattle with skill and boldness. Once he was captured and locked in Carlisle Castle, a fate that could have ended at the hangman's rope. But his men rode out under cover of night and freed him in a legendary rescue that people still whisper about. Women too played their part in this wild world. Helen Armstrong, known as the Queen of the Border, is said to have ridden alongside her husband, Johnny Armstrong of Gilmaki, guarding stolen stock and helping drive horses home. Fierce and fearless, she showed that in the borders, courage didn't care about gender. In those days, stealing a horse could make you rich, a hero, or a ghost in the midst. For Willie and Helen, it made them legends.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I can't remember where I got that even, but he always said that, and we always thought it was a joke. Turns out it might have been true. That's awesome. I know much less about my dad's side because he was very okay. He's a Taurus. Okay. But he was very like shut down, which if I were to tell you, which I may, about his childhood, you would maybe understand why. Okay. So his dad was an alcoholic who died in a bar. No way. Literally. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Um like from the drinking? Yeah. Or did he like trip on something and hit his head on a bar stool?

SPEAKER_02 3:46

No, like put his head down on the bar, and the drinking buddies were like, What's the matter, Pete? You can't take it anymore? And he was actually dead on the bar. That is the story we heard. Okay, who knows what's true? So who came over to the United States then? The grandparents. Like my dad's grandparents. Oh, okay. So your great grandparents came. Yes. Same with my mom. Her grandparents.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Um wait, she's from Scotland. No, she's from Ireland. Ireland. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah. So my dad has two sisters who were like 16 years older than him. And I think he was nine when his dad died. And then he was 15 when his mom died.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

And then he went back and forth from the sisters who were way older than him.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Until he was 18 and went into the army just to because everybody was drafted then. Yeah. And he just wanted to get out because he didn't have a place, really. So I can you can kind of see why he was a little shut down.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah. I can see that. Yeah. So tell me about your mom's side in Ireland. Well, actually, with your dad's side, do you know how far back it goes in in Scotland?

SPEAKER_02 5:00

No. And that's the thing. Like my again, my dad being kind of like close. Like, I don't know much about them at all. Like I know my grandmother.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

My dad's never talked about your heritage or anything else.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

I don't think he knew much about them. Or maybe he did, but he didn't talk about them. But I know his grandmother um was from Scotland because you know that um roundabout, roundabout went the wee mouse. I'm sorry, what? It's this little thing that like um it's old timey, like roundabout, roundabout went the wee mouse, up a bit, up a bit in the wee house. It's just a little thing you do with like kids and like like and like up. But oh cute. My dad always did it in his grandmother's accent. And it was runaboo runaboo kitschawee moose, up a bit, up a bit, it-wee hoose. Because she was from Scotland and he couldn't understand her at all. At all. So it was runaboo runaboo.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

So did he say that to you when you're so you learned it as runaboo roos?

SPEAKER_02 5:57

I had no idea what it really was. I thought it was up a bit, up a bit, it-wee hoose. But it's in a wee house. But she had such an accent. He's like, that's how I heard it. That's so cute. So that's all I know about, like, I don't know very much about his side of the family. And what about your mom's side? Mom's side, I know that her grandma eloped at the age of 13. Oh. Because in Ireland, what you do eloped to the United States to get married. Like jumped on a boat at 13. Because that was old. Right. Then. Yeah, yeah. Right. Like, and they landed. My mom's family. I know a lot more about my mom's family. They worked in the coal mines in Pennsylvania until the coal mines kind of shut down. And then they moved to Hoboken in New Jersey and worked for the railroad. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

So her family, I mean, aside from Ireland, is from Hoboken, New Jersey, once they came over. And your dad was from which Jersey City. Jersey City. It's just right next to Hoboken. Okay. Oh, okay. Um, so you were born and raised in New Jersey, right? Yes. You're from Joycey. Yes. Does everybody say that to you? Is that super annoying?

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Um it's funny. Like the whole Joe Pisco. New Jersey, you don't call it Jersey, you call it New Jersey. Like nobody from New Jersey. It's like you don't call San Francisco Frisco if you're here, right? So if you're from New Jersey, you don't call it Jersey. Call it Jersey if you're from someplace else.

unknown 7:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Like if you're from New York, you can't. Or Cali. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Cali. Exactly. Crazy. Yeah. It's like, gee, who's the tourist? Yeah. Yeah. When are you going to Cali? Are you coming back from Cali? Where are you? Where do you live in Cali? I don't live in Cali. Where's Cali? Who's Cali? Who's Cali? Who's Cali? Okay, friends, I'm gonna do you a solid. The rule number one of traveling: don't use the nicknames that the locals hate. In the US, say Frisco and San Francisco, and every hipster in the cafe drops their latte. Ugh. Call Chicago Chi Town, and you're banned from deep dish pizza. Trust me, you don't want that. It's freaking phenomenal. Say Nollens in New Orleans, congrats. Your gumbo now costs triple. California Cali, that's it. That I hate that one. Your avocado toast, it's gonna be 25 bucks. And tell a New Jersey and you're in dirty Jersey, brace yourself. Your car might mysteriously not start. But the ultimate sin? Fly to Scotland and call it Scotch land. Nope. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Scotch is the drink. Scotland is the country. Mix that up, and you've just annoyed an entire nation in record time. It's basically like walking into Italy and saying, Oh, so glad to be in Pizza Land. Come on, guys.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

So I was raised in New Jersey. Yeah. And they were both from cities, so we were raised in a suburb because I guess that's your goal when you live in a city, is to get out of the city, right? Right. And then my dad was always like, I don't know why you want to go back to living in a city. Like, not back to living in a city for me, but like when I moved to San Francisco, he was like, I don't know why you'd want to live in a city. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

He was so happy to not be well, those are different generation, too.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

And you know, very at very different ages. Because once you get old, it's like uh a lot of people, maybe not everybody. I I love the city, but I don't know that I'd want to live like in the heart of like, say, New York. But the benefit would be that like the bodega would be right downstairs.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Right. And there's an elevator.

unknown 9:44

Right?

SPEAKER_02 9:44

You could just elevator down to the bodega.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

And the this is why we live in Alameda, California, because we have bigger places than in San Francisco, where it's like a little tiny closet for$4,000 a month. Right. Which would be the problem in New York. Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

And I always thought I would move to New York when I was a kid. Me too. But then when it came time for me to like fly the nest, I was like, oh, New York's too close. Yeah. I can't get out of here. Sure. And I came to San Francisco.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Did you know somebody in San Francisco? No, you just picked up and it was kind of a crazy move. Yeah, I did a crazy move too. Yeah. Moved out to California with$1,000. And really only because my dad gave me money. I think I had like$200. And he was like, no, you're not going to make it, Anna. So I loaded up whatever could fit in my car and drove out here with a friend. And it was just, you know, I was at that age where it was like. How old are you? Um 29. Yeah, I think so. And it was just like, you know, I gotta stretch my wings. I gotta be, you know, and I wanna be in the city. And you know, I knew people here. Actually, my sister lived here at the time. But I barely ever saw her. Anyway, but you didn't know anyone. And I had never been here.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Oh, well, did you like see it on TV or something? I was sitting at my desk at work one day. I just graduated from college and I was working in this stupid job that I hated, and there was a map of the United States for like area codes or some shit like hanging up in front of me. And I was like, okay, there's where I am. What's the furthest I can go? Oh, San Francisco. And I was like, oh, cool, I'm gonna go there. And then when I told people I'm moving to San Francisco, they were like, oh, hey, Ashbury. And I was like, oh, that's there? Like I didn't even occur to me. Like I had no idea. I was like, Wow, okay. I just they picked a city because it was like right across. And I had visited Southern California to visit friends, and I was like, this is cool, but it's not for me. Was it San Diego or something? Um LA. I was like Long Beach. Long Beach. Long Beach, not Long Island, Long Beach. Um, so it's like surf culture, kind of you know what I mean? Like it was really Southern California. It was great, but it was not for you. I don't want to live there. No, I mean I know you really well, and that's not for you. People were like, it's San Francisco, that's great, I can see you there. And I was like, okay, great, I've never been there. And they were like, oh, trolley cars and Lombard Street and whatever. I was like, whatever. And seriously, the minute I got here, I was like, I have not been here my whole life. Like it was so I felt like I came home or something. And it was the early 90s, everybody was moving to Seattle. And that's of course why I didn't go to Seattle because I was like, well, everybody's going to Seattle. And I don't want to do what you don't want to see the same people. You don't want to do what everybody's doing, right? Seattle's fun. And I think I would have had a good time, but I'm I never I've never regretted moving to San Francisco ever.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Me either. I've moved away from it, I think, twice. And you come back. And I always come back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is kind of cool when you find that home, you know, and that's you know, like when your ancestors came over to the United States, I'm sure that they felt well. He was a horse thief.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Well, the horse thief. I I wish I knew more about my dad's family, but it's it was all you can't find podcasts. It's locked down. And the Irish side isn't much better. Like they're all everything's a secret. Everything's a secret. What do you think that is? It's a really good question.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

And is that like a um is that a cultural thing or is that just your family?

SPEAKER_02 13:18

No, no, no. I think it's a cultural thing. Really? My family is really my again, my dad's side, I don't know, but my mom's side, Irish Catholic, and everything's a secret. And I have the most hilarious story about please do the how secretive everybody is. So my mom's dad was one of eight kids. And again, super Catholic. Right. He went to church every day. If it was snowing, he would walk in the snow to church. And so if you're Irish Catholic in Hoboken, um, you're friends with your priest, of course. So you have him over for dinner on Sundays or whatever. So I guess my grandfather um was having heart attacks. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm gonna try not to laugh. He probably smoked a lot and he had worked in a coal mine, you know what I mean? Like so it's really curious that he kept having heart attacks. Um, and it's like the 50s, right? Like, so there's I don't know what healthcare was like, obviously. But um, so he I guess he had a heart attack and he was in the he was very sick, and then he was like didn't die. Right. So it was Sunday, and they were having his mother and the local priest over for dinner. Uh-huh. And so everything's a secret at all times, right? So they say to my mom and her sisters, she had two sisters, we we're not gonna mention to grandma that dad was sick. Dad's just gonna sit in his chair, and they have this whole plan that he's gonna sit in his chair, and they're gonna bring him whatever he needs, and they're just like not gonna address the fact that he almost died a couple days ago because he's feeling better, because they don't want to upset his mother.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Okay. I can kind of see that. So, however. So mom comes over and they're all following the the protocol, and the priest walks in and says, How you doing, really? You look a lot better than the other night when I gave you last rights. Oh!

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Did mom the did grandma have a shit fit?

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Open to vein, I'm sure. Because they were keeping it secret for the last time. Last rites, even. He was really he was really he ended up dying very young from a heart attack. Like he had a bad heart. Yeah. But uh so typical of that family.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Everything's a secret. Yeah. You don't know that you're sick, you don't know they're sick until they're dead, until you get a call and like the funeral's Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Like, why? I don't know. I wonder if that's a Catholic thing, though. Because it's not that different in Latina culture. Latinos.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Maybe it's Latinx.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Um yeah, I don't know if it's a Catholic thing or just not an American thing. Like a Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It just it seems like a a a length to go to that is completely unnecessary. Well, I mean you would think that you know grandma would want to know.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

And in a way, I agree with you. Don't want to upset your blessed mother, you know, your old mom by telling. But again, doesn't she kind of have a right to know that you almost died? That you got last rights. Yeah, no, it's not like it's And they were really religious.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

So last rights is like Yeah, he was at death door.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

He had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

How have I never heard that?

SPEAKER_02 16:50

He was he was so close. So close. But they're encouraging you to lie or to omit truth. Like Which is a lie, which is so dysfunctional. Like, so that's like like so you're raised, you know, big picture. You're raised by these people who have these ingrained ways of dealing with the things. Like, we don't talk about that. That's a secret. Like, you know, I I don't know how old I was before I found out that my mom's mom was an alcoholic. And I didn't know because we don't talk about it. Right. You never talk about anything. Right. So do you find that you're secretive? Oh, yeah. Absolutely, not intentionally, but I think um secretive or private?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Pricles are very different things. Absolutely. Private very private.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Privacy and secrets are different because secrets are something I have to hide or like theoretically. Like something that I would hide because it's wrong or it's bad. Right. Like private, like that um that smacks of guilt, right? Shame. Secrets are different than privacy, right? Privacy is like, I don't need everybody to know my stuff. Right. I don't need everybody to know. And you're on a podcast right now. Yeah. Could I use my real name? This is my friend Cecilia.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yes. So um, you have two daughters. I do. Do you have you um talked to them about their uh ancestry, or do you just know absolutely nothing about it? Like, for instance, your dad's side. That have they asked questions? I know any traditions?

SPEAKER_02 18:29

The only thing I know about my dad's side is what I already told you. Right. About the dying in the bar and the horse thieves. And the horse thieves, which is just fucking glorious. I really hope it's true. I know, me too. Really hope it's true. Um, but my mom's side I know more about because like the coal mines and the and the working for the railroad, it's all very blue-collar. But when you came over from Ireland at that time, you were the lowest of the low. Right. And you did whatever job you could get.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Did you find uh is there a big Irish um population in New Jersey? Oh, really? I didn't know that. Yeah. I mean, yeah, because you only hear about the Italians. Right. You told me that you also identify as a witch. Let's go down that road. So the the reason why I want to ask you about this is because what you told me is that you're a what did you call it? Solitary solitary witch. Okay. So since we talk about traditions a lot um and community, you if you're solitary, you don't have like the community of witches, like a coven. I do not. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

No, I tried, I've tried covens in the past and it does not work for me. It's not my thing. Maybe there's a coven out there for me, but I haven't found it.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

I don't know. Well, but I mean if you're if you're if you're I don't know how to say this, uh like calling or you're um you're feeling your gut is telling you that you're solitary. Yeah. Which I totally buy. Yeah. From that you don't want to mess with other people's, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Well, that's the thing too. It's like a lot of influence and energy. So my mom was very Catholic. Again, as I mentioned, her dad was like so religious, and her mom too, I'm sure. And um, she was very Catholic, but she would also very often reference like, oh, I knew that was gonna happen because I'm a witch. Ha ha ha. Like she she definitely had this like intuition, uh-huh, which makes sense if you think of the Celtic culture in Ireland, and she wasn't very far from it, right? She would always make these ha ha jokes, but she was so Jesus Mary oriented, you know. And um, as I grew up, and we were all forced to go to Catholic school, kindergarten through twelfth grade, which was a shit show, especially as the youngest of five, because she wouldn't let me go to a different school even. So every teacher would be like, Oh, you're this everybody blah blah blah blah blah sister. And I was like, Yes, I can't do it. I just have my own fucking identity, right? Which one of my sisters would tell you that that's why I moved to California, and maybe she's right. Maybe she's right. Maybe she's maybe you wanted your own damn identity. Yeah instead of me, right? But my mom would always make these references, and then I think when I finally like realized that the Catholicism was all bullshit, I was like, but maybe there's something to that intuition. Yes. And I m did some research and did some reading and did some and I was like, uh yeah, this is this is for me. And I have a giant altar at home. You've probably never seen it. I yes, I have. It's in the basement. It's in the basement, yes. Like right outside your bedroom door. Yes, and it's and it's got all my cards, and I do you read tarot cards? I don't, but not for other people. I do I do oracle cards and tarot cards, and I can do it for other people, but it's really hard for me. Like I'm not it's not like I practice every day. Right. Like I usually only do it for myself. Is that part of the solitary like um practice? Yeah. I use it for me. Like I I I and that's my whole thing with all of it. Like it makes me feel like I'm trying to get my intuition where I want it. Right. I have my cards, I have my traditions, I have my rituals. And when my kids were little we did all sorts of I it's it's kind of sad that we don't do them anymore, but we did all sorts of we would do a uh solstice ritual. We would do we would bake like summer solstice we would bake these yellow muffins with chocolate chips because the little chocolate dots were like the little bits of dark that were in all the light. We had winter uh solstice ritual where I would always give them books on on solstice and we or is that just your decision or is that like a thing? It was a couple days before Christmas and I was just like always books on on solstice because there's plenty of time for other stuff. And we would write down our goals for the year on winter solstice and look at the ones from last year and see what we and you know burn the ones. Like I always have a lot of oh rituals too. I do a lot of rituals too absolutely do cleansing stuff and I do a lot of like if I want to stop thinking about something I'll like you know write it down circle it ten times or whatever. You know what I mean it depends on the thing. Like if somebody's I feel like somebody's sending me bad energy you know write their name on a piece of paper and bury it in the backyard or whatever. You know it just depends what the what the thing I'm trying to achieve. But I'm never going to be that person who's like charging people to read their cards or charging them for stuff like to me that like just diminishes the genuineness of it.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

I I I tend to agree because if I was to like nurture some of my own things that I I have this hunch that I do but I'm not gonna go into it. But I feel like it would um sully it in a sense that it would almost like take that away from me. Right. Take that vibe take that energy take that you know the meaning it would drain it in a lot of ways right because I'd be giving it out too much in order to get something back. Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Exactly and I'm sure you've heard me like many times if whether you realize it or not that I'm always just like oh god I'm so tired it's the full moon or whatever or like oh yeah it's such a Taurus you know like I believe all sorts of hokey shit and but I but I believe it it's not hokey. Do you believe in astrology?

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Absolutely do you really absolutely I thought we were always just joking no I take it so seriously and again like why am I learning all this shit about you now you're like one of my very best friends and all of a sudden yes you are fucking private.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

I am very private. But um but when I'm like oh my god he's such a Libra I'm not kidding I'm not just making a joke I'm like that dude is a fucking Libra. Oh my God. And again it's not like I don't know what boy Libras. But again being raised Catholic and having it shoved down my throat I'm never gonna impose my beliefs on anybody else. You're gonna hear it come up but I'm never gonna be like you should believe what I believe right because to me that's bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Do you feel like maybe the the backfire of Catholicism in your life sent you looking for something else and you found something that maybe um do you feel like you I I don't know I don't want you to take this the wrong way but do you feel like you like grabbed onto something that was that's what my bitchy sister would say. Oh really well thank you for stopping by Tradition Cafe.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

She was all a reaction oh really but I feel like it's more getting back to my Celtic roots like Scottish Irish. Come on have you read you know like yeah what's that book like oh god I it's like this thick and it's like Celtic RS yeah it's like you know it's like Dragons in the mist or something like I you know like I read it in like a day I was like oh really this is my heritage you know like that's so great. Well I can't remember the name of it though.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

As we talk about your Celtic heritage and everything is that the part that really resonates with you is like the the um folklore absolutely all that stuff yeah okay yeah absolutely I want to go I've never been to Scotland or Ireland and I want to go so bad. I'll go with you oh man I really want to go. I do too that's been on my list. That's been on my bucket list. That'd be super fun. But you know how frizzy our hair would be oh oy I might shave my head before we go there me you and Sandy the curly girls just so do you have a daily practice of rituals?

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Oh yeah absolutely I mean even if it's just drinking my coffee you know I feel like everything it's kind of like the yoga too like it's like if I take three deep breaths I'm like I did yoga you know like but I mean and I try I do have a lot of things I do every day. I gotta get them in. Um but it's not like going to church on some you know it's like that formal but for me like I I like I feel like a lot of people just kind of like spaz their way through life like whoa which is fine you know but it but it doesn't work so dumb like but I'm a Pisces so like we're the we're the last sign of the zodiac because we're the most evolved sorry sorry not sorry Aries sorry not sorry um so when you do your rituals do you work with herbs or crystals or anything like that do you have like some I burn a lot of candles and incense and stuff um nothing like it depends it depends it depends what I'm trying to achieve okay right so it depends and I'm not above like consulting somebody if I need input or if I'm trying to like when I yeah like I'll I'll I I generally go for like what am I trying to do or what do I feel is lacking or what I what I what do I feel like I need what cup needs to be filled and I'll figure out maybe it's a crystal maybe it's a special wand maybe it's a candle maybe it's something you know and I'll just and I feel like it's just I mean I believe what I believe but at the same time I also know it's just the focus of my energy. Like anything that I am concentrating on can make it happen. Yeah and that's magic.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

That is magic magic with a K. With a Kithic no no stop with the magic no oh my gosh misconceptions let's talk about that a little bit that people think that if you're Wiccan you're a witch or if you're a witch you're Wiccan people have that like they have to go hand in hand. Um I get that they're very I mean I don't get I'm wondering if they are that closely ingrained.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

To me they are um I I think with this like an umbrella kind of term for you know so like some people are like oh I'm a green witch I only work with herbs or I'm a whatever kitchen witch. Yeah yeah or I mean I don't know you know yeah um but again maybe that's about having a community of witches around you which is like again never worked for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

But you've tried it.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

I have um and I think a couple uh did you just know instantly that it wasn't no I tried one in New Jersey before I moved and I tried one here when I got here and I was just like this is not for me and maybe I should try again I don't know but I mean I don't feel like I need you don't need that I don't feel like I need that like I feel like it's for me it's my thing. Like and maybe again that's about like having to go to church or whatever. Like I don't want to be like let's come together and do a moon ritual or whatever. Like I don't I don't want you know I don't have your own I don't want it I have my own thing it makes me happy and it's it's it's I feel like it's just my th it's like it feels makes me feel like I'm in touch with the roots that are back in the old country.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

I was just gonna ask you if if you draw a lot on um I mean we've already talked about it a bit with the Celtic um history and it The Mists of Avalon that's the name of that Mists of Avalon. I've never read that I've heard of it though but I'm I'm not kidding you it's like I will never read that because if it's that big so good so good. It'll take me the rest of my life you read that book and you're like hell yeah this is this is the shit long before the word witch was feared it simply meant someone who knew someone who understood the language of herbs, the rhythm of the moon and the quiet power of intention. Witchcraft isn't just one thing it's a thousand paths each one winding through time and tradition there's the kitchen witch stirring a spell into her soup. The green witch whispering to the roots beneath her feet sea witches who listen to the tides and hedge witches who walk between worlds folk witches conjurers healers seers each shaped by the land the lineage and the need and then there's Wicca a modern pagan religion that grew from ancient roots Wiccans honor the balance of the goddess and the god observe the turning of the seasons and follow a moral guideline called the Wiccan read. It basically means if no one is harmed do what you will it reminds practitioners to act responsibly and is paired with the rule of three which says that what we send into the world returns threefold. Wicca isn't just a practice it is a faith with rituals ethics and community though many Wiccans also practice alone. But whether you call it Wiccan, folk magic or simply witchcraft it's always been about connection to earth to spirit to what can't be seen but can always be felt do you need another drink need or want I need to do a ritual to figure such a bitch no have you ever seen me really like contemplate if I want another drink or not?

SPEAKER_02 32:59

That's the thing about the skirmish and the Irish like are they battle like what do I have to do tomorrow? How early do I have to get up do I drink? No they don't battle except when the Irish this was my friend Maria used to say the only battle you ever have is if the cheap ass Irish uh cheap ass Scottish side is going to let the Irish side buy them a drink.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

She was very funny Do you feel like what drew you to you feel like there's a match between um your which do I say witchcraft is that like sure okay witchcraft and the like the spirit work of witchcraft and uh yoga.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Absolutely so you find like a commonality in that yeah for me I don't know for other people but for me it's because it's all about listening to yourself rather than all that noise that we have constantly before the internet even before phones right just other people saying that's wrong or why would you do that or whatever you should do this or that's by this age you should like you should like you you gotta march to the beat of your own drum the solitary witch practices alone guided by intuition they learn from experience from nature and from the quiet whispers of energy and spirit for Cecilia practicing as a solitary witch feels deeply connected like yoga in motion every spell every ritual flows with her own rhythm guided by that inner knowing magic becomes personal intuitive and alive moving with that subtle current she senses alone yes but never disconnected magic like breath and movement in yoga comes from listening inward trusting what feels right and honoring your own rhythm thank you so much Cecilia it's been super fun uh I can't believe that I never knew all that stuff about witchcraft solitary witchery because I'm private that's because you're so private.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

But it's a good thing because once you get to be a close friend of yours it's like a freaking honor that you get to learn these things. I love you so much you know too. Yeah all right uh thanks for joining us on Tradition Cafe. I really appreciate it. Uh keep sipping that coffee make it nice and hot and raise a cocktail with us next time uh oh I don't want to spoil it I have a good one next time too thanks everybody bye bye this episode is brought to you by the Fireside Lounge located at 1453 Webster Street in Alameda California it's your spot for craft cocktails, live music and good vibes. Check out the fireside com for what's happening this week. Follow Tradition Cafe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. Also swing by traditioncafe.com for more stories culture and behind the scenes fun I'm Anna Xavier and until next time keep sipping your coffee and raising a cocktail let the stories inspire you and we'll see you at the next episode of Tradition Cafe. Thanks for listening