Meet Monica Cox
As a Sagittarius born in the Year of the Dragon, Monica Cox is very much a fiery witch whom I met at a Beltane festival in 2010.
“Dragons are just fun. I like the big, fat, ‘Puff the Magic Dragon,’ cute, fluffy ones. I have to be very careful to have a lot of water around me because I have a very fiery personality. And earth. Earth grounds me so well,” she said of her 170-acre farm, her 45 animals and the mountains surrounding them all.
“We witches are everywhere even though not everyone wears it out loud like I do. I‘m very staunch about my religious freedom. I don’t push it on anyone, but if people ask, I’m glad to answer questions.
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1. Do you have a magical name you’re willing to share?
I do not have a magickal name.
2. In what state do you reside?
New Hampshire
3. How do you make your living?
As a registered nurse working at the only Level 1 trauma center in the state.
4. Are you out of the closet? / Have you felt threatened?
Absolutely out of the closet. No, I’ve never felt threatened.
5. When did you first know you were a witch? How long have you been practicing?
Since 2009. A co-worker lent me the book, “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft.” It was the first book I ever read. It was so me. I realized I’d been practicing the Craft without knowing it. I don’t know why I didn’t know it sooner.
6. How do you define your practice? Do you follow a specific tradition?
I do not follow a specific tradition. I’m a “Whatever Works for Me” kind of witch. I consider myself a gray witch while I don’t practice outright black magic, I’ve been known to use very strong protective spells that result in bad things happening to people who hurt me and those I love.
7. What one object must be on your altar for it to be an altar?
One of my cats.
8. Do you have a daily practice?
I wake up and I’m grateful. At a class at a festival I remember being told that if you live a magical life, you don’t have to do magic and that’s what I try to do. It’s all about doing things with intention. I am grateful for all the gifts from the goddess and find they keep coming. I do more formal magic when I have great need.
9. How do you respond when someone asks, “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”
Nobody’s ever asked me that.
10. Do you have a familiar?
He passed away in 2011.
11. What gifts, skills or powers do you share?
I’m especially good at taking care of animals. I listen to what they’re telling me with their body language. Sometimes I also have a knowing about the medical conditions of others and their outcomes.
12. What was your most magical experience?
Banishing the coyotes from my livestock area. I didn’t want to banish them off my property and onto someone else’s, so I gave them all the mountain, putting a fire line around the areas I didn’t want them to enter, about 10 acres, and then I smudged. It’s worked.
Another magical experience was when I held off a storm until I was finished what needed to be done. When I was done I barely made it in the house before sheets of rain came along with thunder and lightning, but my chores were done, I was inside and dry.
13. What is your favorite:
Sabbat: Samhain
Element: Fire
God: none
Goddess: Artemis and Athena
Animal or other totem: Owl
Tool: my mind
Book: “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft”
Tarot deck or card: I have a lot of decks, but no favorite yet.
Gemstone: amethyst
Ritual garb: my black dress with the big sleeves (pictured)
Fictional witch: Branna, a Dark Witch from the Nora Roberts trilogy.
Music / performer: Fleetwood Mac
Spell or ritual: To find lost objects I chant, “By the power of three times three, let me see, let me see, let me see.” I use that one a lot. I found someone’s cell phone under a pallet with two 400-pound round bales of hay on it.
Piece of wisdom: Never summon something you can’t banish.