Exploring Witchcraft, Inclusivity, and the Goddess Sabrina with Brett Hollyhead

Brett Hollyhead, a Welsh Marches folk witch, shares insights on witchcraft as a practice of liberation, connection to landscape, and challenging oppressive systems. Brett's practice combines Welsh folklore with practical magic while celebrating the liminal identity of the Welsh Marches borderlands.

• Defining a witch as a custodian of wisdom who straddles between spiritual and physical worlds
• Exploring the Welsh Marches as a hybrid cultural landscape shaped by centuries of cross-pollination
• Using crochet as a primary magical tool connected to ancient feminine deities across cultures
• Challenging binary gender systems in paganism by embracing nature's inherent queerness
• Building community through pole dance teaching that emphasizes body positivity and empowerment
• Finding power in Welsh cultural identity and connecting to the goddess Havren/Sabrina
• Combining activism with craft through "craftivism" to support environmental causes
• Sharing the folklore of the Reekin Giant, demonstrating how landscape shapes cultural stories
• Promoting inclusivity and accessibility within magical communities

Follow Brett on instagram!

Brett's book "Sabrina: Discovering the Goddess of the River Severn" will be released on April 29th in the UK and early May elsewhere.

Chapters

• 0:04 Introducing Brett Hollyhead
• 4:15 What Makes a Witch?
• 10:55 Welsh Marches Folk Witchcraft
• 16:34 Motivations and Struggles
• 21:15 Crochet as Magical Tool
• 27:57 Beyond Binary Systems in Witchcraft
• 32:54 Building Local Community
• 39:13 Brett's Three Biggest Influences
• 45:24 Upcoming Book and Events
• 48:26 The Tale of the Reekin Giant

Transcript

Grandpa: 0:04

Welcome back to Your Average Witch, where every Tuesday we talk about witch life, witch stories and sometimes a little witchcraft. This week's episode is brought to you by Clever Kim's Curios. Find witchy jewelry and altar tools made by a practicing witch with Clever Kim's Curios. Clever Kim's Curios jewelry has been used in shows like the Young and the Restless, Charmed, The Vampire Diaries and, most recently, worn by Stevie Nicks in her latest music video for The Lighthouse. Visit cleverkimscurios.com to get your own magical piece. This week I'm talking with Brett Hollyhead, a witch from Wales. We talked about craft magic, inclusivity, and their new book, Sabrina: Discovering the Goddess of the River Severn. Now let's get to the stories. Hi, Brett, welcome to the show. 

Brett: 0:53

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Grandpa: 0:55

Thank you so much for being here. Can you please introduce yourself and let everybody know who you are and what you do and where they can find you?

Brett: 1:03

Yeah, so my name is Brett. I'm also known from the magical circles as the Witch of Salopia. I am an author, public speaker across the UK, and I am a Welsh Marches folk witch. You can find me usually being a complete menace to society on TikTok and Instagram, delving all into the rich folklore and traditions of my home, and you can also find me on Facebook, Threads,  and BlueSky, whereas the social media you'll usually find me.

Grandpa: 1:30

Cool. So I'm guessing you do call yourself a witch, and what does it mean to you to say that?

Brett: 1:35

Oh, that's an age old question, isn't it? What is a witch? I think if you ever got like multiple people in the room and ask them to try and define a sense as to what a witch is, you'll end up with a million bunch of answers, and that's a great strength for you. There's no central tenet as to what makes a witch. I think it's very individual practice and perspective, but, I think there are common streams that we can draw upon in order to try and define the central tenet of what witchcraft is. So, from my own personal perspective, as someone who identifies as a witch, I think it is someone who is basically a custodian of wisdom, I would say someone who straddles betwixt and between the spiritual and the physical world, which is someone who's embedded within the cycles of life and death and rebirth, who celebrate, you know, the rich and fertile foundations of law and traditions that have preceded them from generations who have passed down through oral transmission, all this beautiful wisdom for us to embody within the contemporary, and I would say that's very much embedded in the concepts of connectivity, connection to others, connected to the spirit world, empowerment, and also through cunning as well.

Brett: 2:37

I know that, you know, witchcraft often receives a very negative viewpoint because obviously it's been perpetuated as a stereotypical, malignant or malevolent practice, you know, associated with the devil, as certain texts will say, from the reformation period. But I think there's a great power and draw upon that idea of the folkloric, um malignant witch. And I think being a witch is having the responsibility to enable, when to use benevolent and malevolent magic, I was also being responsible, also to our locale and to our community as well as, I suppose, in a paradoxical way, acting quite transgressive to the status quo, especially to those who seek to oppress. After all, witchcraft is the art of those who seek liberation from the oppressors and it's also through that in which we act out for a physical craft. It is inherently a person who practices a physical craft that involves using magic in order to bring about their will and to bring about connection to the surrounding landscape as well.

Brett: 3:34

So I think, yeah, I hope that's a try and a robust way to try and define what a witch is for me. I mean, I mean personally, for me. I think, from an individual perspective, I identify myself as a folk witch and I know there's a lot of different ways you can classify yourself in today and it's beautiful. But in my central term of my own witchcraft, it is that which I practice, is inherent to my own landscape and traditions of my own culture and of my own home. So that's how I would define a witch. If I hope that makes sense.

Grandpa: 4:01

That was so good and all encompassing!

Brett: 4:03

Oh thank you.

Grandpa: 4:05

Holy crap, holy crap. That was really good. So can you introduce us to your practice? Do you have anything that you do consistently? Or, if not consistently, like, what do you do?

Brett: 4:20

Yes, so well, what do I do? There's a lot of things I do. It really depends, really. Some days I can go on grand, elaborate rituals and other days I feel like, meh, I'll write my ex's name on a piece of toilet paper and do away with it that way.

Brett: 4:34

But I think to describe the more central aspects of my own practice. So I'm a Welsh Marches folk witch, so my practice is inherent within the landscape of the Welsh Marches and for those who don't know exactly what that is, it is basically a landscape of liminality. So the Welsh Marches itself is technically described as a linear division between England and Wales. It's the borderlands, but it's not necessarily rooted in terms of a physical mark that separates the two countries, separates the two countries. It is very much a kind of like a hybridized landscape in which there is an anglo-welsh sense of culture over multiple years of cross-pollination of people, of culture, and mostly that is through the idea of conquest and through subjugation and war. After all, the Welsh Marches is defined by conquest, especially from the Anglo-Saxon invasion, the Norman invasion, and it's created almost this peripheral people who belong to Meva culture, who express that Celtic tenacity and that also Saxon heritage as well, and so it creates a distinct culture and a distinguished practice. So for me I draw upon my folklore of that region.

Brett: 5:41

I draw upon the more Welsh aspects as well because I am also part of a Welsh language coven Cilch, asarfes Goch, which is the coven or the circle of the red serpent, and in my practice I practice certain physical aspects of my craft.

Brett: 5:55

So that's through charms In my everyday. One of my strongest points of my practice is through divination, so I love conducting tasseomancy, which is the art of divining through tea leaves. I love composing poetry, as my craft is inherently Bardic, inspired by the culture and the language of Wales, of Cymru. And also my central practice is through the veneration of the goddess Havren or Sabrina, and she is the goddess of the longest river in Britain and has a remarkable history and legacy that I can draw upon that extends all the way back into the ancient Celtic times of the Cornovi tribe. They were predominant in this landscape here, where I am all the way down to the modern day, where she's seen as a protectress, a mother figure and also someone who can come to those aids if those who rush their riverbank and to pray to her. So that's very much my practice kind of in a nutshell there.

Grandpa: 6:50

I just want to hear you speak Welsh forever. 

Brett: 6:53

Oh, I'm not very good at it.

I do try as better than I am.

Grandpa: 6:56

My first introduction to anything Welsh was the Susan Cooper books. 

Brett: 7:02 Oh, I love it. 

Grandpa: 7:05

That's how I very, very barely learned to say any Welsh pronunciation at all, but anyway, I love it, love it. I'm glad you could not see my reaction when you spoke it just now. It was probably embarrassing. 

Brett: 7:25

No, no, no, not at all. 

Grandpa: 7:26

What would you say is the biggest motivator in your practice and how is it different from your? How does it relate to your biggest struggle?

Brett: 7:38

Oh, oh, my God, where do I even start? I suppose on a very individualistic level. I suppose my main motivator is really to reconcile my own cultural and magical identity by promoting my home, its myths and its magic, and the more hidden, remote areas of my landscape and how that can be applied to my own practice of other people's practice. So growing up in the Welsh Marches, I often felt like how… I felt like an outsider really, and it's difficult because even though I was born in what is technically classed as England, I spent my whole entire life growing up between the county of Shropshire and Powys, which is a really big place in Wales it's mid Wales, basically in a place called Drainairwith or Newtown, and growing up there I always felt like an outsider because I unfortunately didn't go to Welsh school, so I didn't exactly learn the language until later on in life, although my family were half Welsh and half English, so I didn't exactly know whose side to take during the rugby matches. It was always a bit of a fight on that end.

Brett: 8:38

But now, in my own individual practice, it is a way to reconcile my landscape, in which I believe that the counties of Shropshire, hereford, gloucestershire and Cheshire, which all compose the east side of the Welsh, marches, I expose its more Welsh roots, its currents that have been ignored by mainstream paganism, funny enough, and I try and tell people that, hey, there is a culture here that is heavily prevalent in the Welsh landscape but it almost acts as a diaspora in its own right, and how the folklore here is almost transgressive to the idea of boundaries. I've always said that the idea of borders or boundaries are nothing more than an administrative fallacy. They are imposed by those in the higher orders in order to try and contain something for administrative purposes. But that doesn't contain folklore, doesn't contain the transmission of people and how they intermingle over years and years to create this liminal identity. And I think being a witch as well, and mixing with that identity allows me to take power in how I choose to identify, rather than, uh, being obliged to follow labels placed upon me before I even I was born, regardless of where I'm born, like Like where I was born, in Shropshire, the oldest Welsh name for it was Pengwairn, which is the head of the Old Grove, one of the largest kingdoms across Wales, along with Aberfrau in the north and Dehirbath in the south, and it has a rich, beautiful lore that was composed by multiple Englandian poetry, by the bards. In how this land is almost rooted, in that aspect of hiraeth, that deep, almost painful sense of longing for what Wales could have been back in the day, and so I try and promote that in my work.

Brett: 10:12

But on a collective level, I think my biggest motivator is the bridges that are built between the communities that I am in. I absolutely adore being a part of the witchcraft and larger paganism community. I've met some absolutely wonderful people and it's a very accepting place. It's it's so liberating, it's so nonjudgmental, it's extremely inclusive and I do adore it for that purpose. But I suppose my biggest struggle and it might seem a bit strange to be saying this since I am quite active on social media it is, it is basically social media, it's navigating all of social media because it is, it is basically social media. It's navigating all of social media because you do need it, unfortunately, in this day and age to try and get your word out there. I love it so much for the aspects that it builds community, but at the same time it has had sometimes quite a detrimental effect on my mental health, especially with the idea of imposter syndrome, like writing the book.

Brett: 11:02

I can't even count how many breakdowns I had. I nearly threw my laptop out the window. One minute I was happy writing about my folklore and the next I'm listening to dido smoking a cigarette in the corner crying my eyes out. It was fabulous, but yeah, I, I think, yeah, I, I think that was my big, my biggest struggle.

Brett: 11:18

Social media is trying to find my way through orange, trying to spread a bit of joy and positivity in a world that is shrouded in hate and bigotry. And I, I, that's my lighting beacon that I try and be for the world and I suppose on a smaller scale as well. My biggest struggle is how fast I talk. Oh, if there was, if there was a title for like the pagan eminem. I mean, I think I can claim it because I've been to that many conferences now where they're like okay, you have an hour to talk and I can do it in 20 minutes. My Lord and people look at me like what drugs is he on? I'm like, I know, I promise I'm not. I'm pumped for the coffee. That's about it.

Grandpa: 11:52

I kind of I was thinking, oh gosh, this is going to go really fast.

Brett: 11:57

Sorry, I am trying to slow down a little bit and pinch myself off camera.

Grandpa: 12:01

I want you to be who you are.

Brett: 12:03

Oh, thank you.

Grandpa: 12:04

 I just am saying I noticed. 

Brett: 12:06

Yeah, I am quite a fast speaker really, but I'm trying, I'm trying.

Grandpa: 12:11

Well, lucky for me. Probably not lucky for the rest of the listeners, but lucky for me. I usually listen to Marco Polo on two times speed, so I'm good, we're good, we're good. I do have a question about something you said, though. The word that means wishing what Wales could have been like the possibility is that, is that Wales specific, or is that just wishing for something? How?

Brett: 12:41

Something could have been I think the word here, I think it does pop up a lot on social media and I think it's shared outside of its own cultural context. I think it's taken away from the context. So here I is a really complicated work because it doesn't necessarily translate into english. It is like this almost bittersweet longing, some people describe it as homesickness, but it's a lot more deeper than that. It's a very visceral, not necessarily bound by time feeling that's attached to something that's irretrievably lost.

Brett: 13:08

So obviously, Wales as a country has experienced a huge, huge level of conquest, of subjugation and colonization from the English specifically. It wasn't that too far ago when Welsh children were wearing the Welsh knot around the necks and, you know, discouraged to speak in the language, even to the point where they were abused for it. So the idea of hiraeth it is a huge concept within the Welsh language and in the identity that. It is that longing, that deep, painful yet beautiful nostalgia point for Wales specifically and that is coming from the Welsh context. But hiraeth is the Welsh version of a feeling that is almost ubiquitous across humankind. I think most people can feel it, but it's not necessarily here. It's the feeling behind that word, whereas the word is specifically from a welsh context, if that makes sense it does yeah, I think it's a very universal feeling.

Brett: 13:55

I think all, all people can experience that feeling. But to call it specifically here, I think that's attached to Wales specifically. It sounds prettier that way.

Grandpa: 14:09

When I lived in Germany for a while, they had a word that was similar.

Brett: 14:13

Yes, my partner's first language is German. He told me about it and I thought, oh, that's very, very similar. I cannot remember for the life of me what it is.

Grandpa: 14:17

Was it heimat?

Brett: 14:19

Heimat. Yeah, I think it might be.

Grandpa: 14:22

I'm pretty sure it is. I couldn't remember if that was the word or if that was that, just something just stuck in my brain, but that's what I was thinking.

Brett: 14:30

It feels right if there are any German listeners, They'll probably be sure to message and say, hey-

Grandpa: 14:34

Email me. 

Brett: 14:36

Yeah, emails, email, my god.

Grandpa: 14:38

 I mean, I mean dm me, I am young, promise. No.

Brett: 14:45

Or send me by Raven. 

Grandpa: 14:47

Don't, don't message me.

Brett: 14:49

Oh my God, relatable. I've become such an introvert and I love it at the moment, like I used to be such a party animal back in my university days, and now all I want to do is just sit at home and crochet with my cat next to me.

Grandpa: 15:01

Exactly! That's the life, that is it exactly.

Brett: 15:03

That is beautiful, with a snack hello oh, and a great series that you can binge watch through the night. Absolutely, that's living. That's the meaning of witchcraft. 

Grandpa: 15:17

Okay, completely unrelated and tangential. What series are you into right now?

Brett: 15:20

Oh, okay, so I'm currently on the third season of Amphibia. It's on Disney at the moment. My partner watches a lot of cartoons and animated series and he thought, oh my God, you would love this, because I loved Gravity Falls. And, yeah, I'm obsessed with it at the moment, mostly because I love frogs. I've recently also finished watching oh, Shrinking. I think it is an absolutely fabulous TV show, absolutely great. All about various psychologists and then their lives. It's. It's hilarious. It's got Harrison Ford, who I've always had a crush on, since I first saw him as a child in the Temple of Dune Indiana Jones, and I swear to my day he was my gay awakening. So it's a win-win situation for me.

Grandpa: 16:01

 I will have to look for that.

Brett: 16:06

 Oh, it's wonderful. I recommend it for anyone it's. It's heart-wrenching and just so soul-warming as well. It's a really great series 

Grandpa: 16:11

Okay, I guess I'll go back to the regular interview now. What is your favorite magical tool? It does not have to be a physical object, it can be like a song or a scientific theory, whatever. How do you use it and why is it your favorite?

Brett: 16:37

So surprisingly, I think it's my, it probably won't come as a shock to many people who know me, but my favorite tool, and it is a physical tool, it's my crochet hook. So I think when people conjure up the stereotypical depiction of a witch, you know they automatically envision the bubbling cauldron and the broomstick that they can fly on, or the idea of bones and rune sets or stones, which some of them does come into my practice. But my crochet hook is my most trusted tool in all of my craft. I can always count on that to help bring about my most effective magic. And the reason why is because I think there is a huge intersection between magic and the five arts in general that I think's mostly been overlooked by the pagan community throughout history. Things like spinning, weaving even in the modern day sense of knitting and crochet carry a huge amount of potential to be manifest into this creative outlet of magic. There's nothing more beautiful to me than seeing someone pour their love and their devotion into a handmade piece that can't be replicated. And when we look across history, you see that the art of spinning itself or even knitting has a profound connection to the supernatural. You have all these multiple deities attached to the art of spinning, like the three fates, for example, who weave destiny. You have multiple goddesses across all different cultures. You know Athena in Greece, Mokosh in Slavic law, even Grandmother Spider in Native American law. It's huge, and even in my own practice as well, where I come from, the welsh march, there was a huge culture developed around making wool or weaving, and knitting as well, especially within the Welsh Marches, and in one of the pieces I actually wrote for my book, which is about the goddess Sabrina, is that shepherds would often take the sheep who were going to have their wool used to make garments and all sorts of different clothes that would be in processed in the factories, and they would take these sheep specifically and dump them into the River Severn while propitiating the goddess Havren to protect them from any harm. And I find that so beautiful because their wool was almost entrenched with the essence of the goddess and people were completely oblivious to this. And so there's a connection between the spiritual world and that which is just the mundane crochet. And yeah, it's absolutely fascinating when you look deeper into it, and some of the fascinating things you can do with crochet are endless. You can create poppets with it, as you're tying the knot itself.

Brett: 18:55

That is a form of knot magic. It's the weaving of your own intention into something that is physical in order to trap it or contain it, or even to unbind it. So, whether I'm doing a spell or a ritual, I often either spin my own wall while singing an incantation sometimes in welsh, sometimes in english or I'll be praying, or um any of activity that involves that kind of um, getting into the zone, or getting to that liminal zone where I can go into trance, because it is quite a monotonous activity, where you can do it over and over in order to get you into that kind of state. Or even in crochet, I will crochet a figure that will look like someone and, depending on my mood, I'll either fill it with healing herbs or burn the absolute shit out of it, depending, yeah.

Brett: 19:32

And then the hook itself. I mean it's absolutely fabulous. It's almost like a little wand in your own hand and you can get all sorts of different varieties made out of wood, especially if you have such an affinity to a certain tree, or with my own specific one, I would love to. I haven't found one yet, but I'm trying to find a hook that's made out of the roman tree, because in my folklore it is an inherently protective tree. It's such a virtue of apotropaic magic attached to it and that, combined into my own physical craft, I can weave protection more into my, into my um physical crafts. So, yeah, I'd say my, my main tool is my crochet hook, and it comes as great because I can always stab people if they get too close to me. So it's all purpose.

Grandpa: 20:08

I actually know several fiber witches who layer all that intention into their work for people. I really like the layering idea. I love the dunking of the sheep because I like seeing how many layers of magic and intention I can get into the finished object, as somebody who fabricates things from not quite raw materials, because I'm not going out and mining silver but I'm a jeweler, so I just have this flat sheet and wire that I turn into things. So I really love the idea of all the layers, yeah.

Brett: 20:53

Yeah, absolutely.

Grandpa: 20:55

What is something you wish was discussed more in the witch community or the magical community?

Brett: 21:01

How controversial am I allowed to be?

Grandpa: 21:04

All, all of it as long as you're not a Nazi.

Brett: 21:08

Oh, absolutely not. Oh, my God, punch them. 

Grandpa: 21:11

Hell yes, absolutely.

 Brett: 21:17

I think. Yeah, I'll go full tangent on this one. I think the one thing that I wished was discussed more was the abandonment of binary systems within witchcraft and paganism and its replacement with more of a tertiary system. And I may ruffle a few feathers here and I will preface and say I never, ever judge anyone's practice unless it is perpetuating active harm or it's appropriative. But I think the idea of this binary dichotomy that's placed upon witchcraft, specifically the idea of divine masculine and divine feminine I am an inherently queer person and I am loud and proud about that and I get, I grow very tiresome of what's supposed to be a very inclusive space, growing very reclusive and leaning towards right-wing ideology. That's quite insidious. And although people can use the aspects of divine masculine and divine feminine in their own practice and they can try and detach it away from the stereotypical depictions of gender from society, I think it is such a deep-rooted word, the idea of femininity and masculinity in patriarchal society. I think that it has that layer of harm that can really easily slip into something that is quite marginalizing. So you know, you see these people that say, um, oh, witchcraft is only about the feminine and they'll automatically exclude trans women, and that, and I find that quite distasteful, because throughout paganism you're venerating nature, you're respecting nature, and, my God, nature is inherently queer and I absolutely love that.

Brett: 22:40

And if you are a pagan and you stick to the rigid ideas of gender, honey, I've got news for you. Oh, my God, take a look outside to nature and they will show you. And it's throughout history and folklore. You see queer fiends running throughout. You know, you have such beautiful cultures that embrace the people who straddle the in-between, who identify as either two-spirit or third gender.

Brett: 23:02

You see it in, you know, ancient Roman texts, with the Gali, who were the, the, the worshippers of the ancient mother goddess Sibylla or Cabella, who were assigned male at birth, and yet through their beautiful rituals, they became something more, through the art of castration in order to devote themselves to the mother goddess. And I don't need to go into more to how absolutely gender-bending Greek mythology is. I mean, you have to open up a book to find that. So I think that's not talked about enough and I don't think, uh, it's not, it's not talked about enough and I think more needs to be done to promote a more tertiary system, because life isn't binary, it's it's on a beautiful spectrum that should be embraced in all its aspects. I hope that makes sense 

Grandpa: 23:41

I would even venture to go that three isn't enough. 

Brett: 23:49

Oh, absolutely more. There's no limit, no limit. We're all unique individuals. We all have our own identity that's only can be assigned by ourselves and our sovereign selves, rather than people who try and fit us into glass boxes. And that's the beauty of witchcraft that it doesn't comply to any labels, and I think that's. I think that's why, as well, a lot of queer people like me find solace in witchcraft, because it is our safe harbor that how we can utilize our own power against that which stands against this. So exactly.

Grandpa: 24:16

I don't use that. Yeah, I don't have, I don't... I don't feel masculine or feminine. I am also queer, I also relate. I don't use those.

Brett: 24:27

I don't use those things in my practice because it does not make sense to me I don't, and I I preface and say that the goddess I worship haven't, and I say goddess because that's how she's perceived now in the cultural vernacular, but when I was writing my book, you see throughout history how she's embodied multiple figures, like the only evidence that we have, particularly of the River Severn, which is the river she's attached to, is a masculine deity, Nodens, who is more of a maritime deity, who is very much placated in healing and accessing through the liminal state of the dreams.

Brett: 24:57

And so to see the transition from this masculine presenting deity all the way to how we have it now, as this, as this nymph, like goddess, I think it's beautiful because she coalesces, she changes, she's very much the embodiment of water and how she changes her aspects, like water is fluid, it cannot be contained, and I can guarantee in 200 years time time she will change her identity again to reflect the needs of the people, and I am so up for that. I always say to people you know, gods, whatever you worship, don't have, you know, physical genitalia. So the idea that people say, oh, this is inherently a female deity, like no, is it though? Is it? I mean, come on, loki changed themselves into multiple, that is exactly what I was going to say when you were finished and I think that's beautiful.

Brett: 25:40

I think if you can embrace all aspects, then you know that's the best way to practice. Oh, yeah, I can. I can rant about that for a long time because I think it's so. I think a lot of it needs to be unpacked within the witchcraft. It is slowly, slowly, it's coming. Then I think there are some really great voices doing that hard work, but more needs to be, especially in the climate that we're living in, where you know, queer people, transgender people, are.

Grandpa: 26:05

Yeah, I know right okay, I had to take a deep breath at that thought yeah I can't afford. I can't get enraged right now. Let's move on.

Brett: 26:18

Yeah, let me get my molotovs honestly, light them pitchforks. Hello.

Grandpa: 26:26

So let's talk about community. Have you taken any steps to build community near you like actual in-person local community? In-person local community because with as um, frankly, as fucked up as things are over here, I need local community because I don't know if the internet's going to be taken away from me. 

Brett: 26:47

Yeah, that's a suspicion of mine. It does creep up my mind sometimes how so much of humanity relies on the internet to stay connected and how it's really paramount importance that we must forge that within the mundane world as well. For me, I try my hardest to forge community in quite a few different ways. So one of the big ways I do it with me and my the rest of my coven, is that I attend multiple conferences and deliver workshops, and one of the biggest ones I attend actually is the festival of pagans and witches, and thousands of people come to their all different levels of witchcraft, whether they're a complete beginner or they've. You know, they've been practicing for multiple years and it's a beautiful place where all people from all walks of life come together to celebrate that inherent magic of nature and in them, days preceding, I will teach the magic of the Welsh Marches. I'll talk about Welsh folklore, and it allows people to come together and to celebrate their own identity, whether they have a connection to Wales or the landscape of the marcheses or whether they have an interest just in general the Celtic continuum. Personally as well, I also have set up multiple crochet classes, so I teach a class in Bangor in North Wales, where a group of lovely, lovely individuals come together and we crochet together. I teach people how to crochet their own garments, their own bits and bobs, because who knows what's going to happen and if you can make your own clothes, your own jackets, keep warm in the winter, especially with rising fuel prices, and you know gas and electric, that's a really handy skill to have. I teach through online conferences as well, and one of the things I actually do well, which is kind of not necessarily outside or external to my witchcraft practice it is inherent to my spiritual practice but it is separate to my in general is I am also a professional pole dance teacher, so one of the ways I try my hardest to build community is through teaching people pole dancing.

Brett: 28:29

Like witchcraft, it has heavily been stigmatized, especially by people who have no respect for the foundations of pole dance. They just see it as this dirty, abhorrent thing upheld by dirty vagabonds and stuff like that. Do you know what I mean? It's dirty people who dance in strip clubs, when really our pole mothers, the people who were dancing in those strip clubs were the most hard-ass women ever and it's beautiful. They were out there supporting themselves for their own ways, how they had to. They were dancing for themselves and I teach that.

Brett: 28:56

I always say to people pole dance is about empowerment. No matter what you look like, no matter what body shape you are, no matter if you're strong or you're flexible, it's time to fight back the idea of society, society's idea of aesthetics, and to reclaim love of your own body and of your own self, and I think more people need that. I'm so glad to teach that and to say people that, hey, your body is a beautiful thing, no matter what it looks like, no matter how it is, it is beautiful and it is yours and it's something that you should be so proud of. And I love teaching that in pole dance and how strong, beautiful and fearless people are who do it. And there's nothing wrong with strippers and I inherently support sex work. I inherently support it and that's something I promote in my pole dance classes to build community.

Grandpa: 29:40

I like you. Be my friend. 

Brett: 29:42

Oh, thank you, Thank you, yes, please. 

Grandpa: 29:46

Be my friend. I'm serious, we're friends now.

Brett: 29:49

We're besties now, absolutely.

Grandpa: 29:55

Okay, I want you to think about the three biggest influences on your practice, whether it's a person, a pet, a book, whatever. Thank them, but I want you to thank them for, whatever they do, what influence they have.

Brett: 30:11

I think the first and foremost is my partner. That's a bit of a bias, but I want to thank my partner, Moss Matthey. He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be the person I am today. He's so kind, he's so affectionate, he's like me, he's part of the community, part of the coven, and he just expresses his wisdom so beautifully. He was part of um fundamentalist christianity and he was part of a cult that suppressed him, and I find beauty and power in his strength to leave that and to forge his way through witchcraft and through paganism and to spread that joy for other people as well for his first published book and I want to thank him for carrying that light through, especially with me as well, how he supported me in my own personal practice. The second person I want to thank and I do owe a lot to them is Mhara Starling. You may know her as the author of Welsh Witchcraft, you may see her on TikTok, and she is just an all-round beautiful individual, absolutely magical.

Brett: 31:08

I met Mhara a couple of years back, actually at a moot that was happening in Chester, and at that time I was going through quite a turbulent past relationship with someone who was abusing me I'm sorry, trigger warning, I should have said there and I came back because I wasn't allowed to practice my own inherent beliefs.

Brett: 31:25

And when I found that moot it just revitalized me and she taught me the beauty of folk magic, of looking to your own backyard and seeing the magic and the prevalence of beauty that is there for us to utilize and to forge connections to and through her. I thought, oh, because she was a practicing Welsh folk, which I thought, oh, I wonder what's in my backyard. And that's how I discovered more deeper aspects of my own culture that's inherently connected to Wales and other things I never would have found if it wasn't for her. And she's been such a guiding light as well through my practice. So to Moss, Mhara, thank you both so much. And the third is this might sound a little bit weird, but I think, as people who know me, they may think that I'm a bit weird like this. I promise it's not necrophilia, but I have an absolute obsession with Owain Glyn Dŵr, who's been dead a very, very long time.

Grandpa: 32:13

No one's ever said I promise it's not necrophilia before.

Brett: 32:19

Oh God. But yeah, I want to thank the spirit of Owain Glyn Dŵr and people who don't know him. He was the last King or Prince of Wales who led a 15 year rebellion in the 15th century against the subjugation of Wales and even though he was unsuccessful, he ignited something so powerful. He brought people together to say, hey, this is subjugation of Wales. And even though he was unsuccessful, he ignited something so powerful. He brought people together to say, hey, this is worthy of protecting, worthy of the language, of its culture, of its history against the oppressors. And his magic runs rife throughout my homeland.

Brett: 32:50

I'm not too far from aspects where his spirit is so strong. I sometimes go to where he lived in North Wales, in Sycarth, and it is so beautiful. Sometimes go to where he lived in north Wales and sickarth, and it is so beautiful that I feel his spirit, I feel it move through me. Because my second book, which I've just been contracted for, which is all about the Welsh Marches, it is about inherently discovering that which has been um crushed upon, it's been ignored, and through his spirit I feel that I can feel him run through me. Sometimes, I can feel it connected to me and I love talking about him, because I think he is. Although some people see, oh my God, he did a lot of damage back in the days he was burning towns and raiding. I mean he wouldn't have done that if the English didn't invade every five bloody seconds.

Grandpa: 33:25

Sometimes you gotta break a few eggs.

Brett: 33:27

Absolutely, there's nothing wrong with fire. But yeah, I want to thank his spirit for keeping me level-headed, because I do connect with him as well. In my practice, I do uphold him as a guiding light as well, so I want to thank him as well.

Grandpa: 33:42

I love that.

Brett: 33:43

Oh, thank you.

Grandpa: 33:47

Now that you've talked to me and you've seen what I am like as a person and how these questions and this conversation tends to go, who do you think would be interesting for me to have on the show?

Brett: 33:59

Oh, probably my partner, because I think a lot of people struggle leaving really fundamentalist or dogmatic, should I say practices of Christianity or any other kind of religion and I think him being a cult survivor himself, I think he has a strong perspective that can help a lot of people in order to forge their own spiritual ways. Of course, some people leave really strict religions and become atheists, which is perfectly acceptable. There are other people out there who want to reconcile those beliefs, who still hold on to something, but they don't want it connected with something that is extremely hateful or extremely controlling. And I think his perspective on things growing up in that environment all his life near enough and breaking free from it, especially how he became physically disabled through the suppression of his own identity and how he recovered from that, I think is a really prevalent perspective to have for people to listen to. So a little bit biased but, yeah, definitely my partner.

Grandpa: 34:54

Pass my info along to him.

Brett: 34:56

I will do, thank you.

Grandpa: 35:00

Was there anything else that you wanted to talk about? Anything I didn't ask. Or do you have anything going on with you that you want to promote?

Brett: 35:05

Well, actually I've got, I've got a question for you. I'm intrigued, I want to. What would you say your favorite tool is in your practice? How do you identify your practice?

Grandpa: 35:13

I am a dirty folk witch and I go outside and rummage around till I find what I need, and my favorite tool is my studio.

Brett: 35:25

Love that so much.

Grandpa: 35:29

So tell us what you have going on.

Brett: 35:33

Okay. So I think the biggest thing I want to promote is the entrance of my book into the world and that's my first book coming out on the 29th of April in the UK I think it's early made across other places and that is Pagan Portals, Sabrina, Discovering the Goddess of the River Severn. So this is a book that dives into the history, law and magic of Britain's longest goddess of the river, dives all into her magic, dives into her prevalence within the Welsh Marches, how she has evolved from this being shrouded in mystery and who has affected in the most unoblivious ways possible the concurrence of culture, such as in the mythology of the Mabinogion, as well as in forging of british identity, and how she was actively against that. And also how we can work magic with rivers in particular. Especially, they are facing such strong um aspects of destruction from um other people who don't exactly care for our rivers or for the environment in general. So it's definitely a book for those who are wanting to learn more about the aqueous realm, they want to work more with water magic, but also how they can make a difference, how, in their own personal practice, they can help venerate water by helping to save it, by using their voice and by using their activism to get involved with water more tangibly.

Brett: 36:45

I also have quite a few events coming up, so if anyone's listening and wants to attend physically to see me speak, as well as other people, of part of the conference I'm with, I am presenting at the festival of pagans and witches on the second to the fifth of may very big festival. It's absolutely fabulous as well as on moon.com, which is an online festival celebrating the aspects of the welsh goddess, talking about Havrem, and there'll be other presenters. They're talking about other goddesses, such as Branwen, Arianrhod, all sorts of wonderful things going on there. I also have another conference in June, which is the North Wales Pagan Fest happening in the North, which is for a couple of days as well, and if anyone is around the North, especially around Yorkshire Way, around Toppenham, I'm also doing an event tomorrow talking about the magic of weaving and spinning. So it's a talk called Weaver Spins, the Goddess, the Magic and Lore of Yarn. So if anyone's around for that, give us a shout out and I'll also promote as well.

Brett: 37:39

Take the time as well to promote my partner's book, an Apostate's Guide to Witchcraft Finding Freedom Through Magic, if anyone else is interested in reading his book, which has been out for quite a while now. And yeah, that's what's going on for me at this current moment of time. Thank you so much for allowing me to say that as shamelessly as it was. 

Grandpa: 37:56

I love the word apostate. 

Brett: 37:59

Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it juicy?

Grandpa: 38:03

So good to say. 

Brett: 38:05

If someone calls me an apostate in the street. I love it. Yes, I am a sinner, absolutely. 

Grandpa: 38:09

Yeah, that's who I am, bro.

Brett: 38:011

Yeah I see people preaching in the street and they're like you're going to hell, you're the devil's boy and I'm there just voguing in front and I'll drop into the splits. I'm like, yes, mama, call me the devil's child, let me show you sodomy who? Where? Absolutely, sign me up.

Grandpa: 38:23

Yeah, now I ask two more things of my guests. Thing number one is recommend something. It doesn't have to be magical at all, just recommend whatever you're into this week.

Brett: 38:41

Ooh, okay, what can I recommend? So, yeah, actually there is something I'd like to recommend. It's a book that I've been reading recently and I think it's one of the most profound books I've read recently, and I think it's extremely prevalent in this day and age as well. Um, with so much things going on that are so detrimental, I think, but in particular to the human race, you know, the taking away of people's rights, a lot of people are almost um questioning what exactly they can do to make an impact, because unfortunately, we live in such a heavy capitalistic society that it's really hard to try and carve out that time, because unfortunately, we all have to work. You know, we're all beholden to the state where we have to earn basically a pittance in order to make a living and to survive, and I think a lot of people struggle sometimes as to how they can they, what can they do to promote, you know, their causes, or what they can do to help their causes, or how to volunteer their courses, and they haven't got any time or any money or any resources. And the book that I was reading it's a really, really beautiful book. It's all about craftivism, basically craftivism and yarn bombing and how the physical crafts, not just, not just fiber, magic or just anything like that, could be things like embroidery, and even that invests in the creative human spirit. As people we, we are inherently creative and I think tapping into that creative current allows for the most significant changes.

Brett: 39:56

And that book is profound because it tells us all the magical ways in history how people have used things like knitting, things like embroidery, and how that they've made such beautiful change for all different types of liberation marches for people's rights. So it's Craftivism, the Art of craft and activism by Betsy Greer. It is absolutely wonderful. I learned so much from it. Absolutely Like.

Brett: 40:20

The book made me deep dive into all sorts of things. Like I was recently researching the history of knitting and how it contributed to world war two and how people would stitch in secret codes. They would slip under the Nazis' radar to get back to the British Embassy to help fight World War II and in some of those stitches that you see you'll see written codes like fuck Hitler in them and I think that's absolutely fabulous how they managed to get those messages without being suspected, and it's all through the power of knitting. So yeah, that's something I'm really in at the moment the idea of craftivism, how you can do these beautiful things that create communication between people, that creates community and invites awareness into the things to your causes. Yeah, that's a book I inherently recommend.

Grandpa: 41:04

Everybody listening in the U S, go get the book. Yes, absolutely, I mean everybody everybody should get it, but we need it right now.

Brett: 41:11

Yeah, oh, honestly, and it is really great. Like in my own personal practice, I find it really difficult to get down to some marches because, my God, public transport is really expensive and I can't necessarily get the time off work. But one of the things I do in my own venerational practice, especially for my goddess, is that I will crochet certain items and I'll sell them and the money that I raise for that I'll donate to the river Severn trust, which helps, promote her health, and I think that's a really great way to show your veneration to any deities if you do venerate deities or just into nature in general. What great way to show your love and care for the environment by donating your time to a beautiful piece that you can sell on and give that money back.

Grandpa: 41:50

That's so good! 

Brett: 41:52

Oh thank you. 

Grandpa: 41:53

Well, the last thing that I ask is tell me a story. A story from your life, or it can be a story from childhood that you loved. I just like stories.

Brett: 42:06

Yes, I think when I was searching for all the stories I could tell, I could tell you some really fascinating stories from my life, but I think the one that I really want to give out there is one from my childhood. That was I was told every single day, I was basically had it ingrained in my head since school, and that is the story of the Rican giant. So the 

Wrekin is a Celtic hill fort and it was the home of the Coronavi tribe and it's a beautiful, beautiful, almost monolith. Right now it's ingrained into the culture of the Coronavi tribe and it's a beautiful, beautiful, almost monolith. Right now it's ingrained into the culture of the people, so much so that it enters into our language. In fact, when we're talking to each other, we'll say, oh, you're going the long way around the Wrekin, which means basically, you're talking shit. Get to the point. And it's a beautiful walk. But it's a place shrouded in mystery and in folklore specifically pertaining to giants, cause specifically pertaining to giants, and I recently learned in my own research that it is a story not only just about wits and about cutting but also about the cultural relevance of the welsh marches itself, and the story goes a little bit like this.

Brett: 43:04

So the people of the town of Shrewsbury made regular offerings to a giant, a welsh giant to live down the southern coasts, named Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Mynyddmawr, which translates Ríochyn, the son of Sienkin, the son of the Great Mountain. Unfortunately, one of his victims managed to escape his clutches, and when she arrived back to the townsfolk she told them of the awful atrocities that were going on inside the giant's abode and how he was not just accepting these offerings but he was devouring them. Especially, he took a liking to young, virginal women. The townspeople of Shrewsbury were enraged by this and refused to give him any any more sacrifices. So Gwendol are hearing the news of their absolute disloyalty, picked up a giant shovel, scooped up the biggest pile of dirt he could carry and strided his way from the southern coast of Wales all the way to the town of Shrewsbury.

Brett: 43:55

But unfortunately, many, many giants have a very lazy and oafish disposition, and Gwendol easily became lost. Even though he was literally right by the town of Shrewsbury, he could not fathom where exactly it was. On his trail, though, however, a cobbler who had just come from Shrewsbury was making his way back from a long day of work, carrying a huge sack of shoes upon his back. And when the giant saw the cobbler, Gwendol asked him “Where the hell is Shrewsbury?” And the cobbler, seeing his giant shovel, suspected the worst and decided to devise a cunning plan.

Brett: 44:28

And so the cobbler said to the giant “You do not want to go to Shrewsbury. It is miles and miles and miles away. In fact, I have just worn out all these shoes on my back just from walking there.” The giant looked upon the shoes and, being very, very lazy, said you know what? Fuck that. He dropped his shovel of dirt upon the ground, which became the Wrekin. And as he walked back, he scraped off the last bit of dirt remaining on his shoe. And, and as he walked back, he scraped off the last bit of dirt remaining on his shoe, and that became the surrounding forest known as the Arkle. And that is the origin of the creation of the Wrekin.

Grandpa: 45:00

I love stories like that.

Brett: 45:03

Oh, that makes me very happy.

Brett: 45:07

It's absolutely fascinating. I think every hill. You cannot step five minutes outside my front door without bumping into some sacred standing stone or burial chamber or a hill that's attached to a legendary giant. It's, it's wonderful.

Brett: 45:16

I'm very privileged to be able to grow uh up alongside these places and the reeking, in particular, has not just that giant story, has another one as well where basically two giants fight each other for ownership of the reeking and their fight they, they create a chasm on top, which we call the cuckoo's bowl, the raven's bowl sometimes, and people who go up there, who use that water it's supposed to promote I suppose the best way to say is eternal life basically, or health, or healing of ailments.

Brett: 45:43

And you still go see that chasm today, the little rock place where the water sits and it's supposed to never exactly dry up, even during the most highest point of summer. Exactly dry up, even during the most highest point of summer. So that's where I'll go, sometimes spend time without water and even go down to the clatter, the cleft in the rock known as the needle's eye, which, according to our folklore, many young couples would go and pass through in order to secure their relationship, to be on upon a strong foundation and god help them, because, my god, it's a dangerous drop. If you lose your footing you'd be dead in an instant. So yeah, you must be very dedicated to the partner to go through that bloody thing. But no, I'm very lucky to grow up next to the Wreakin and I love it.

Grandpa: 46:14

That is so cool! 

Brett: 46:15

Oh, thank you.

Grandpa: 46:18

So, Brett, I would like to craft a spell with you. 

Brett: 46:20

Oh, okay…

Grandpa: 46:22

So I'm going to make up a situation, and that situation is we are trying to make ourselves happy.

Brett: 46:33

Oh my god, is that, is that possible? 

Grandpa: 46:35

I don't know, let's let's figure it out anyaway. So the way I work is I just wander around my house, my studio, in my yard until I find stuff that would work. 

Brett: 46:57

Okay, I think I'm very, I'm a very, depressive person really. I even get winter blues in winter and summertime sadness, hashtag Lana Del Ray, in the summer. So I'm, I'm depressed 24 7, so I'm in desperate need of the spell, but I think for a happiness spell, specifically drawing from my law, I think, since we're approaching May as well, obviously May, the first being Beltane, or May Day. It was often a tradition for people to go out on the eve before on Nos Galan Mai, which is one of the esprit nos, or the free spirit nights [fades out]

Grandpa: 

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