Witch on broomstick pendant (sterling silver)

Witch - Way of life, Old path, divinity
Being a witch and practicing witchcraft is a way of life, not a religion. It's based on a belief in nature and the desire to follow the Old Ways. Witches recognise the divine within themselves and have many strands of belief and tradition. They're ordinary people, not scary beings with strange, mystical powers, and have the same abilities as everyone else. However, they encourage the development of extra skills, such as spells, healing and psychic abilities, and it's these activities that are often misconstrued.

Being a witch hasn't always been an easy task. From the 13th to 18th centuries in Western Europe, witches were regarded as being people who misused supernatural powers. They were often seen as servants of the devil, with a scary and harmful way of life. Witches became persons to be fearful of and many suffered the trauma of being burnt at the stake for their beliefs and abilities. When the witchcraft hysteria was in full swing, witches got blamed for every unexpected occurrence, from crop failures, to droughts, floods, accidents and numerous natural disasters.

Witches beliefs are diverse and depend on the particular tradition they follow. However, some common principles include:

The three fold law - that one's actions return three times over. For example, an act of kindness produces three times much as kindness.

The idea that everyone is responsible for his or her own actions.

Just as with other beliefs, witches have their own special celebrations. There are eight major events in the year, termed sabbats (Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon, Samhain, Yule, Imbolc and Ostara).

Despite many misconceptions, witches don't fly broomsticks and aren't always accompanied by black cats, although many of course do choose to have furry feline friends!

Witches broomstick - Fertility
Broomsticks have been traditionally associated with witches and images depict them flying high through the sky on their brooms, often with their black cats curled up beside them.

As quaint as the image is, witches (and certainly not 21st century ones) don't ride broomsticks. In fact, the concept is thought to stem from a fertility ritual carried out by pagan women. They used to jump over a plant whilst straddling a broomstick to try and encourage the crops to grow tall and strong.

It's also likely that the idea of broomstick flying came about after mentions of astral travel and out of body experiences, where an aspect of the body 'flies,' as some witches do partake in exploring such experiences.

Peter Stone Company - High quality jewellery manufacturer
Holisticshop.co.uk has been trading with Peter Stone Jewellery for many years now because we consistently find their products to be of a high quality. The Peter Stone Company purchases raw silver and produces their own true .925 sterling silver alloy in their own factory. All rings are cast to size and craftsmen cut and inlay each stone for a perfect fit. Every piece of jewellery created is hand polished not tumble polished. The gems they use are of excellent quality and the prices we have always found to be very competitive.

Peter Koslowski had been working on merchant ships since 1983 while living in Sri Lanka and was fortunate to be exposed to an abundance of precious stones and he began to purchase and trade them, as well as silver. During this period he also studied gemology and jewellery making in a number of countries. This then lead to the founding of the Peter Stone Company in 1992 in Bangkok, Thailand, where he still resides.