EDAIN McCOY's WITCHY PAGES

This is an open call for submissions for a book to be edited by Edain McCoy and Rhiannon Skye. Whether you're a newcomer to Paganism, or if you've been here a long time, we have all found ourselves slapping our heads and saying, "Duh," usually over something we learned as a 101 student.

We are looking for a smattering of true accounts from our fellow Witches about brew over-boiling, potion self-poisonings, balefires running amok, over-incensing disasters survived, coven miscommuniqués, directional slip ups, ungraceful ritual moments, unexpected manifestations, wardrobe malfunctions such as torching your sleeve on the altar candles, fledgling faux pas such as being a newbie and seriously mispronouncing of the name of a tool, sabbat, or deity. And, of course, we all know the guy whose spell for a new car got him a toy model, and the woman seeking loving companionship who ended up with a dog instead of a man. Yep, we’ve all been there. Please share the laughter with us.

Submit your story via e-mail to either EdainMcCoy@yahoo. com or Rhiannon-Skye@hotmail.com. Please put the words "WITCHES’ GLITCHES" in all caps in the subject line so we don't lose you among all the other incoming e-mail.

By submitting you are giving us permission to print your story in book and/or electronic formats. You will be credited as the author by whatever name you chose. Examples: You can be T.J. from Arizona, Raven Wood, Susan from Canada, The Unknown Pagan, or any other way you wish to identify yourself. Please provide a legal name and contact information in case we need more info from you, and also because we hope to gift our published contributors with a signed copy of the published book.

By submitting to us, you are giving us NON-exclusive rights, which means you are NOT giving us all rights to your stories. Only the precise form in which we and/or our publisher edits and/or introduces your story will be copyrighted, and any commentary or we include. These stories are pieces of your life, and they should always belong to you.

Take all the time you need to look back and remember your mistakes. They may be goofy and even embarrassing, but we've all done them and we can all learn from them. Deadline is not until Beltane 2008. (We are very busy Witches.) This gives everyone a nice long winter to remember and to write.

Thanks so much for considering our request. Happy WitchCrafting!

Edain & Rhiannon

Edain McCoy became a self-initiated Witch in 1981 and underwent a formal initiation in 1983 with a large San Antonio coven. She has been researching alternative spiritualities since her teens when first introduced to Kaballah, or Judaic mysticism. Since that time she has studied a variety of magickal traditions and spiritual systems, including Celtic, Appalachian, Wicca, Curanderismo, Jewitchery, and Irish Witta. She has been a cover elder and is a Priestess of Brighid.

Born August 11, 1957, and raised during the turbulent 1960s, her open-minded parents encouraged her to learn everything she could about subjects of interest to her. Though her father spent almost his entire life as an ordained minister of a liberal Protestant sect, he always supported his children's spiritual choices, allowing them to discover for themselves the similarities and differences that keep us all chasing down different spiritual pathways seeking the enlightenment that we hope will lead us to reunion with our creator. Edain believes few people walked into the Craft during the 20th century with as much support as she was given. After his retirement, her father enjoyed tossing the first few of his daughter's books into the laps of former congregants and said with pride, "My daughter wrote that."

Edain talks about her father with found memories. "Our father instilled in my brother and myself the importance of giving something of yourself to your community. Volunteering time, not just money, to a cause was as important to him as giving us a good multicultural education. He always made time for ecumenical youth programs, community outreach, and was even involved in Civil Rights, voting rights, school integration, and local politics. That was the 1960s and 70s. Everyone was political then."

Edain's father passed into the Summerland in October 1998 and she still misses him. "I admit it. I was a Daddy's girl, and my mother tells more and more often how much of my father I have in me. I hope that's a good thing."

Edain's mother passed up a full four-year scholarship to Ball State University to marry a young minister just completing his last year in seminary. "My mother is the ultimate nurturer archetype. Stray animals, stray people, her children's friends--it doesn't take much for someone to touch her heart, then she takes them under her mother hen wings forever."

Edain admits she's more her father's child, preferring brain work to braun work. She misses the playful one-upmanship games they played since she was old enough to think for herself. Her mother is what she calls a "drayhorse," working and cleaning when it isn't necessary. With a part time job and all her errands and committments, Edain and her brother think she's too meticulous.

"If she's done with her house she'll come clean mine!" say both siblings.

Edain's mother, who turned 74 in January 2007, is still full of energy. In June 2005 she moved in wityh her daughter, and still feels compelled to clean everything, though she would love to find a part time job out out of the house.

An alumnus of the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Arts in history (and an incomplete masters degree from University of Texas and Indiana University), Edain is affiliated with several professional writer's organizations including The Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America, and a small and close group of writers who call themselves Witches-in-Print.

Edain has been writing for publication since she was a high school reporter for her town's local paper. She is a past president and past media chair of Central Indiana Professional Writers, and is listed in the reference books CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS, WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA, and WHO'S WHO AMONG AMERICAN WOMEN. Articles by Edain have appeared in Llewellyn's Magical Almanac, The Witches' Datebook, The Llewellyn Spell-a-Day Almanac, The Llewellyn Herbal Almanac, The Tarot Almanac, and The Llewellyn Witches' Calendar since 1996. During 1996 she wrote a column on magick called The Grimoire for "Out of This World, "the newsletter of the Romance Writers of America's Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal subgenre group. She has also written for the periodicals Fate, Circle, Enlightenments, Branches, and for several newspapers.

In 2006 she received her Paranormal Investigator Certification from Flamel College, an online teaching site created for occultists of all paths. This supplemented her brief studies with her primary Craft teacher who passed into the Summerland just after Edain moved from Texas. She is also persuing a Certificate in Translation Studies (English-Spanish) through the University of Toronto, and is looking at exciting Pagan and paranormal events from Latin America which she feels will make insightful bicultural books.

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Though Edain now calls Indiana home, she's lived in Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, and Illinois, and has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In Mexico she and a friend spent eight months teaching in a rural elementary school by day and being couched by the local curandera in the evening. She continued to work and travel through Central America when she agreed be a summer research assistant for her Latin American history professor.

Edain's feelings about the Central American experience were mixed, but never regretted. "The people in Mexico are the kindest, most generous people I could hope to know. The children adored us. It was easy to share in the communities difficulties when the same heat, dry plants, and sun assailed us all." But all the time she spent in Mexico did not prepare her for what was waiting for her in Nicaragua. "She and I left in mid-May, as soon as the winter semester ended, taking the airline out of San Antonio with the best safety record, which, of course, at that time was Aire Mexicana. We were staying with my professor's relatives in a beautiful house on the outskirts of Managua. The city sits on a lake just inland from the Pacific Ocean--very lush and tropical. I was there around the time Nicaragua was divided over who should be their leader: the man the USA put in power and now wanted to oust, or a leader of their own choosing with no 'help' from Americans. The frustrated Nicaraguans displayed their partisan preferences with sporadic but intense outbursts of violence. During the day the city seemed no different than any other capitol city. At least this was true in the places I went for research material. The people were all very friendly, warm and friendly as are most Latinos--even when I knew a few of them didn't care for Americans. They were very forgiving of my Spanish grammer gaffs. But always at night I could hear gunfire in the distance, and the occasional shouts of a crowd that seemed to rock the earth with the angry stomping on the ground. It took me a long time to get used to the sound of people killing other people over politics only a few miles away from where I slept in comfort and relative safety."

Summer research was not all Edain would have to do to put herself through school. During her college years she spent most of her summers managing fast food and full service restaurants, working as a waittress, serving as a ride hostess at a popular amusement park, and working the graveyard shift in a packaging factory. Those repetative and physically demanding environments made her all the more determined to get herself through college.

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Edain's history education lead her unexpectedly into the world of investments. She worked for ten years as a stockbroker with several large multinational firms. "Trading during market hours is mass insanity and, naturally, it follows insane rules no industry outside of a 'Dilbert' cartoon can comprehend. You work market hours in a constant state of fear," she explains. "You only have a second or two to move hundreds of thousands of dollars--or more--that belong to someone else, and at the same time you're trying to decide if a particular trade or strategy is in the best interest of the client and consistant with his or her longterm investment goals. Press the wrong button, or press the right one too soon or too late, and someone could lose big time."

Edain continues, "Let me tell you how insane is when working with Wall Street. I was only a few weeks into my studies for the Series 7 securities licensing exam when the reality of what I was getting into punch-kicked me in the stomach. I was memorizing a list of what 'offenses' were reportable to the New York Stock Exchange and/or to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and which were not. I learned that committing any type of assault was a big no-no. You could end up with a two-year prison sentence, a five-figure fine, and a two year suspension of your trading license. That didn't strike me as too severe considering the madness that rules the floor of the exchanges during market hours, but then I read a little further. It turns out that going insane--I mean 100% bonkers, funny farm crazy--and being remanded to a mental institution is not a reportable incident. Not to the Exchange or even to your clients. That should have been my first clue that I was being cast into the arms of Discordia. She gave me one way ticket for a front row seat in the house that Chaos built."

Several years of chronic illness caused her hypersensitive immunse system to collapse and to, consequently, curtail her ability to travel and give workshops or attend festivals. The worst seems to have passed and 2005 saw her on the road again.

She is always happy to get e-mail from her readers. Nearly 300 new e-mails arrive each weekday. This traffic jam of unanswered messages has reached the point where she can no longer keep her original promise to herself to answer each one personally. However, she still READS ALL INCOMING e-mail, and still answers as many as she can.

A former woodwind player for the Lynchburg Symphony claims the infamous feuding McCoy family of Kentucky, the hatchet-wielding temperance leader Carrie Nation, former President Richard Nixon, famous clown Emmett Kelly, and the 17th century religious dissenter Sir Roger Williams as branches on her diverse family tree.

Spanish speakers may feel free to write to Edain in Castellano if it feels more comfortable. "Leo castellano muy bien pero escribo ni tan bien, she reminds her Spanish readers. "Mi grammatica no está perfecta." I don't always get it right in English in spite of bring raised by a father who saw himself as part Henry Higgins, part Fred Astaire, and part Florenz Zeifeld."

All questions, constructive comments, and criticisms--the good and the bad--are welcome. "We're all always students of the Craft, just as we are all always teachers. I've never read anything or meet anyone who couldn't at least give me something new to think about." She has no problem in agreeing to disagree or too having her mind changed on an issue. "Have no fear of speaking up if you don't agree with something I write or think, or if you know of a source that contradicts ones I used. I want to continue to learn too." The only messages or letters she finds disturbing come from someone who writes to say they are in perfect harmony with every word she writes and appoint her as some sort of personal guru. "These people scare the Hades out me, and my fear is for them, not for myself. The Craft is for the self-responsible, those who know how to think for themselves without losing their compassion for other Pagans and other's choices. Those who don't or won't think for themselves are in danger of being sucked in to a self-serving crowd whose teachings and practices can harm the body, mind, and spirit. If you learn nothing else from the Craft, learn HOW TO THINK, not what to think."

How does Edain react to negative book reviews? "Books are subjective and cannot please everyone. I try to take negative book reviews and examine them from all points I feel are valid criticisms, then I try to find better information, a better way of phrasing, or confirmation from another source before repeating the same mistake. Sometimes when I'm reading a reviewer I cringe from fear that I actually wrote a sentence that stupid. Then I pray, 'Dear, Goddess, please tell me I didn't really write that?' Sometimes the error is in interpretation. I could have made my statement with more clarity. Other times I just bash my head with the book a few times--a sort of scourging ritual for authors who did not triple check sources. In those cases I'm quite grateful to have the mistake pointed out, hopefully in time to correct it before a second printing."

And what does she say about her positive reviews? "Everyone wants to have their work praised no matter what field they're in. After the initial glow of success burns off I try to read the reviews several more times to try to gain insight into what it was that pleased the reviewer; was it style, concept, voice, use of language, new material, a better way of phrasing old material, etc.?"

Edain has not allowed success to turn her into a prima dona. She wants to learn and to grow from the positive as well as the negative experiences she trips over, and this usually means getting together with a group of Pagans with equally small egos and laughing together over past mistakes, things that go wrong in rituals, and magick that took the path of least resistance much to the chagrin of the Witch who cast the spell.

Has she ever refused to answer an e-mail or letter? "I've never 'refused.' When I can't answer someone it's an issue of time. My inbox can receive 300 or more e-mails a day. Answering each one would be a full time job. I do read all incoming e-mail. I've also been lucky that even the readers who have negatives to point out are mature enough to do so in the spirit of mutual learning, and they approach their letter with polite but firm directness and a harm none attitude. Those I usually answer and, in most cases, I find the person on the other end to be a deep thinker and we get a really profound e-mailing of ideas going for a while. Even if we don't change one another's minds, we've learned to think about an issue in a new light and I just love that. Never be afraid to bring something up to another Pagan. If you're scared, then you're probably not around the right people. I take all suggestions and other's beliefs into consideration while I read or communicate. That's basic courtesy. Sometimes I just cannot agree with them, but that's OK. We shared our views with harm to none. Occasionally, something someone writes will cause me to start thinking in a direction where I eventually change my own beliefs. Either way, it's a great learning experience."

Edain's other interests include reading anything she can get her hands on, journaling, playing piano, working with tarot cards, past-life work, astral projection, listening to and playing vintage music, ballroom dance, Argentine Tango, and absolutely anything at all to do with dogs. "I think I was born loving dogs way too much," she says. She used to show off her spunky Shelties in AKC Obedience competitions. Now her dogs are cherished pets. "They had to learn to live less hectic lives when I decided it was literally going to kill us if we didn't."
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Edain owns an impressive collection of vintage memorabilia on one of her personal heroines, Eva Perón, the First Lady of Argentina from 1946-1952. "To me Evita has similar qualities to Queen Maeve, Queen Elizabeth I, Boudicea of the Iceni, Harriet Tubman, or Helen Keller," Edain says of her number one idol. "Strong women who attain unprecedented accomplishments against all obstacles, and do it with a single-minded drive that ignores the naysayers and all the improbabilities of success, absolutely fascinate me.

"Eva Durate de Perón came from severe poverty and obscurity to become one of the most powerful political figures of the 20th century. Just because she is a personal heroine of mine doesn't mean I agree with everything she did or how she accomplished all her goals, but she is still one of the most remarkable women in history. She was the designer of her own myth: beautiful, rich, determined, and a work-driven champion of the poor. No one is neutral about her, especially in her native country. They hate her or love her. To those who hate her--or any of the other controversial women of the past and present, I want to offer for thought the words author and scholar Laurel Thatcher Ulrich who wrote in 1976:

WELL-BEHAVED WOMEN SELDOM MAKE HISTORY!

"You need a little bit of bitch in you to get where you want to go, and that was as true in Evita's time as in ours, perhaps more so. Evita never forgot the struggles of her poor youth and, like the seeker in the archetypical hero's journey, she returned to her people--the poor of Argentina--with 'the elixir of life' in the form of social assistance that is still felt today. Argentinos can point to schools, hospitals, electricity, plumbing, housing projects, children's welfare, jobs, wages, union organization, and community centers that exist today only because of the tireless efforts of one woman who knew what it was like to be marginalized in a country run--as most are--by the wealthy. She was a woman who was determined to leave her legacy on her country, and she did."

In 2005 Edain was asked to come to Buenos Aires and put to together a book on the ghosts that haunt the city. In late 2006 she made that trip. "At first it was very hard to get people to open up," she says. "There's a stigma attached to having paranormal experiences even though--as a native told me over and over--everyone believes. I collected a massive amount of information and photographs with the help of my friends Jon and Judy (www.tangowithjudy.com), and I hope the book will be released in both countries either in late 2007 or very early 2008.
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Edain's love of Latin American history and dance makes seductive Argentina an irresistible place to travel, and annual visits are now a must. Fortunately technology allows her to keep working while she's away. The temptation to live in this fantastic city has proven irresistable, and within the next few years she will probably be living the majority of each year "south."

Edain facilitates past-life regressions and assists in paranormal investigations when time permits. "I'm not a psychologist or a technogeek, only a curious facilitator. I've regressed so many people successfully that I don't why I didn't think of myself as a professional sooner," she says. "In most cases the so-called 'therapy' of the regression process reveals itself to the client in one 90 minute session. It's an incredible tool for personal transformation, and you don't even have to believe in reincarnation for it to work."

As to the paranormal, Edain looks each case on its own merits. She is a cautious researcher who prefers to present all the facts then allow others decide what they will about the investigation rather than pasting any labels of her own on any single place or series of events.

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*** * For updates on Edain's itinerary, please see the NEWS & NOTES page. * ***


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Abide the law of three
you must,
In perfect love and
perfect trust;
Mind all you say, or
feel, or do,
For all your works
come back to you.

A heart felt thank you goes out to everyone of you who have written to ask questions, pose alternate theories to my own, or to tell me of your successes, hopes, dreams, and growth. I feel blessed to have so many wonderful people share their stories with me. Many have touched me deeply and made me feel a part of their lives. A few of my connections became profound personal relationships I will cherish all my life.

From the beginning of my writing career I made a resolution that I would always answer every piece of mail I received. If someone took the time to send it to me, I felt it was only right that I find the time to respond. I never imagined a day would come when I would recieve an average of 300 e-mails per day. I've tried to keep up with them even though I run months behind.

I'M ABLE TO, AND STILL DO, READ ALL INCOMING E-MAIL AND SNAIL MAIL as they arrive. THAT WILL NOT CHANGE. I always enjoy each one no matter what the issue, tone, or question may be. Many of you have given me things to think about, some that changed my outlook on a particular issue to started me in a new direction of study. Thank you for sharing with me.

The misconception I've noticed is that I don't answer any e-mail now and that is not true. Occasionally I receive a message which compells a personal response. I WILL RESPOND TO E-MAIL of a special nature when I come across it, but if you have a medical, legal, or other problem that threatens your life or safety, don't wait for a response from me or anyone else. Seek immediate help from your local law enforcement, crisis center, or shelter.

I've fought against the enevitable, but the day has arrived, and I can no longer hope to answer all e-mail I receive. I've struggled with options. I've considered the desires of readers, my responsibility to myself, my promises to loved ones, and the spirit of my ethics.

I have attempted tp work with software to try a trienial newsletter only to find I was repeating information posted on my website.

With an increased workload, an elder family member moving in with me, and the other baggage life tosses at all of us I've concluded a newsletter is not the best use of my time in communicating with readers. For the foreseeable future I will continue to try and answer questions and issues that arise most often in my mail here on the website.