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.