Hagstone Witchery is a path of Old-Style Traditional Witchcraft that frames the witchβs craft as an ongoing conversation with the spirit world. It is a contemporary tradition of magic that is designed to evolve and change alongside the practitioner. It emphasizes a reciprocal relationship between the witch and their craft, centers the witch or practitioner as the primary source of their own power, and understands magic as an act of collaboration with spirits such as Initiators, familiars, guides, and guardians.
This tradition has academic tendencies. It draws heavily from the broad corpus of European folklore and folk custom, as well as historical sources that can offer the modern practitioner insight into early modern European beliefs about witches, cunningfolk, and their craft. While, in its offline transmission, the tradition has previously incorporated elements of structure inspired by published works in the Traditional Witchcraft movement, Hagstone Witchery is not lineaged through the legacy of Robert Cochrane or any formal initiatory groups. Its βlowercase-t traditionalβ quality lies in its commitment to folklore, early modern belief, folk practice, and spirit-led craft as its primary sources of knowledge and method.
The witchcraft of the Hagstone Tradition is not an ancient or archaic path. It is not even an βoldeβ path. It is a contemporary framework for practicing old-style magic in a modern world. Its goal is not to redefine witchcraft as a whole or to challenge the legitimacy of lineaged traditions such as formal Traditional Witchcraft or Wicca. It provides a spirit-centered, folklorically-inspired approach to practical traditional magic, focused on the use of everyday tools and practiced in the hearth, home, forests, and fields.
The Hagstone Tradition began as a teaching tradition. It was a framework I developed and organized specifically to mentor aspiring practitioners of practical traditional witchcraft without needing to teach them my personal practice.
The Hagstone Tradition is named for the hagstoneβa naturally-holed stone, typically found near running water. In European folklore and magical practice, the hagstone is a powerful charm for protection against harm, a tool for divination and communing with spirits, and a key for Spirit Flight. It is an object of liminal nature, both ordinary and extraordinary, simultaneously natural and magical.
The hagstone is the emblem of Hagstone Witchery not only because of its folkloric associations, but because it captures the spirit of the tradition. As a magical tradition, the Hagstone Path emphasizes the use of found, practical, and commonplace tools instead of relying solely on formal or ceremonial instruments. The hagstone is a reminder that the most powerful tools of our craft are tucked away in our homes, given to us by our great-aunts, or found on walks though the forest.
My name is Anoka or Ania. I have been a practicing witch since 1999 and a professional classroom educator since 2015. I started my witchcraft journey with a close relative as my mentor. My introduction to witchcraft was in the form of charms and cures from familial cunning practice. When I starting exploring beyond that mentorship (in books and online communities), I found myself very unsure of where I fit and what direction to go in. I knew I wasnβt a Wiccan and had no use for Wiccan-influenced practices, but there was very little community at that time for non-Wiccan witches. I started along the path of cottage and hedge witchery and just hoped everything would eventually fall into place.
Almost a decade into my relationship with my personal practice, I still had the unshakeable feeling I had lost my way, that I had lost my own craft in the search for community. I decided it was time to go back to my roots. My mentor being no longer available to help me, I went offline. I purged my book collection. I gutted my grimoire and I started over. I went back to my notes on the practice I had learned from my mentor and began the work of tracking down its origins. I used folklore, symbolism and unique jargon to follow my magic back in time. I learned a new language. I learned a second new language. I started studying another. Little by little, I tracked down the missing pieces and put them back togetherβ¦and then I felt like myself again.
I am now an Old-Style Traditional Witch and Independent Pagan, building my magical and faith practices entirely from my own research and interpretation. I cofounded Crowsbone Curiosities in 2017 and was the official Cottage Witch of the Crowsbone blog until the shopβs closure in 2024 (due to international shipping issues). I created the Thorn & Thread blogring as well as the Hagstone & Toadsbone Discord community in 2024 as a way to cultivate community for witches looking to escape the demands of βsocial media witchcraft.β I have continued to mentor others in the study and practice of witchcraft (for free), and now use my experience as a professional educator to create accessible, affordable witchcraft resources with scaffolded instruction and hands-on opportunities for practice and growth.