Craft Treasures Series: Anna Prati
I started attending Brisbane City Pagan Pride Days in 2002 with my coven at the time. I went back in 2003, and stayed for a week or so with some witchy friends of mine who were a few years older than me and were living in Kangaroo Point. These were both held in the middle of the city, in King George Square, which was mind-blowing at the time to me because of how central and visible this group of hundreds and hundreds of pagans and witches were to a somewhat conservative place. In 2004 however Pagan Pride Day shifted to Boggo Road Gaol, a place I’d later live very close to. This old prison is famously haunted and some horrible things - of course - happened there. This is also all on unceded, stolen Jagera, Yuggerah, and Turrbal Country.
It was at the 2004 Pagan Pride Day where I met Anna Prati - the High Priestess then and now of the Earthwyrm Coven. Something struck me about this woman, this witch. I had made many ivy wreaths at my home in Toowoomba to bring to this Pagan Pride Day, and I handed them out to her and her coven. I also bought a beautifully-crafted Goddess statue she had made from clay which I still have. I attended a talk with Anna about coven-work and how one can do it successfully which really motivated me to try again. I went back to Toowoomba and a few of us tried our best to form the Coven of the Rose (as this was the symbol appearing in all our trances), but alas this was not to be. The Rose had other ideas for me and brought me to move in January 2006 to Meanjin (so-called Brisbane) where a few months later I helped to co-found the Coven of the Wildwood with three other witches who either grew up there or had moved recently.
Just before I moved to Meanjin I took a friend to Earthwyrm Coven’s open Summer Solstice ritual in December, 2005 on the beach in Kombumerri Country (so-called Gold Coast). It was as always a fun and familial feast with a lot of laughter and a lot of energy. Earthwyrm Witches were and are able to hold both mirth and reverence in spectacularly beautiful ways. I think a lot of my sudden transitions from incredibly serious ritual mode to literally “boop” comes from being included in their extended family for several years.
Though our paths and our traditions are distinct and focus on different things in the Craft, I have always felt incredible resonance with Anna. We have both learnt from each other and she encouraged my teaching and writing greatly, hosting several of my workshops and intensives over the years at her wonderful home that she shares with her beautiful husband, the High Priest of their coven.
Here is an interview with Anna - High Priestess of the Earthwyrm Coven.
First of all, Anna, I'd love to know a little bit about the younger you? I know you came to magic and witchcraft later in life, but how was that magical self in you as a younger person? What impassioned you then?
As a child, I was lucky enough to live with a few hundred acres of bushland behind our house and I spent most of my free time out there immersed in nature and finding birds, echidnas, goannas, lizards and snakes. That sense of being a part of the natural world has always stayed with me.
The closest I came to a magickal indoctrination as a Child was my favourite book - The Secret Garden - in which children in an English manor house find a way into a locked walled garden and there connect with the healing power of nature. That book made a deep impression on me and I think, paved the way for true magick and witchcraft when I encountered it later in life. In my teens I discovered another book - The Power of Positive Thinking - and although it was written from a Christian perspective, I found that, being an atheist at that time, I could discard the religious trappings and the core idea still worked. This idea of clearly focusing on your desire and believing in it - to effect change in your life - is I believe central to effective spellcraft and added another paver in the road to witchcraft.
How did you come into discovering Witchcraft? Who were your teachers and what were some of the main things you learned early on?
I think I was 40, or close to it, when a friend suggested I come along with her to visit a tarot reader and though I didn’t believe in ‘that stuff’, I went along out of curiosity. The reader told me some things about my past which she had no way of knowing and that opened my mind so much that I enrolled in a tarot course and there met Marye-Ann Azzarello (1937-2016) who was also in the course. I later found out that she was a witch who taught Wicca and she was such a lovely person that about half the tarot class went on to do her witchcraft course, me with them. Marye-Ann was a wonderful teacher and later became a close friend and coven member. After finishing her course and being initiated by her I went on to join the coven of The Crafted Cup which was initially run by a well-known Pagan in the region who had an amazing depth of knowledge and as well as teaching at 4 different covens, held pagan weekend camps yearly at his property.
I also attended workshops by Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, Starhawk and Australia’s own Fiona Horne. And being at a time when every home didn’t have a computer, I read every book I could get my hands on.
You are the High Priestess of Earthwyrm Coven, how did that emerge and why?
The Crafted Cup was a wonderful grounding for me in how a coven operated and how it was run, but after a while I realised that I preferred a more down to earth style where every member had an equal say in what was done and how it was done. I left with some other members to form Earthwyrm Coven and together we worked out the rituals, meetings and underlying format, deciding it would be run by consensus.
What have you learnt from being a High Priestess of a coven of witches for decades?
That you have to be strong! I’ve always hated confrontation, so of course one of my first lessons was having to tell someone that we felt they weren’t right for Earthwyrm, despite their protestations.
Of course there are many wonderful things as well, like the feeling that we are all one family, that we can open up to one another without fear of being judged and that together we are stronger than alone, both magically and emotionally. But if I had failed that first test, I don’t think I’d have made a good leader.
Who are the main Spirits/Great Ones/Mysteries in your life and magic? How do you lean into/deepen/navigate those relationships?
The Goddess and God that I most relate to come from two different pantheons: Cerridwen, a Celtic Goddess and Pan a God of the Greeks and Romans. Pan, because he’s a God of the forests, the wild things and nature and despite causing pandemonium, he enjoys life and throws himself into it with passion. Cerridwen I feel, chose me. She’s a Goddess who pushes you to change and become stronger, better, than you were before; it can be a steep learning curve, but so worthwhile. Each evening I light candles and incense to both of them and give thanks for the day just gone and ask for help with anything coming up that I feel I need help with. I also honour the Egyptian cat Goddess Bast each evening on behalf of my cat Merlin and ask her to keep him safe.
I don’t necessarily see these deities as individual entities, rather as manifestations of an incomprehensible world/cosmic energy that we can align ourselves with for guidance and spellcraft. I think we treat them as individuals because it’s easier to relate to them that way. My thought is that if we could understand the Gods they wouldn’t be Gods.
What would your advice be to people beginning to discover the Craft? What would you like them to know?
Don’t be afraid to get started. As long as you are careful to harm no one [including yourself] in your spell casting and to avoid interfering with anyone’s free will, you can’t go far wrong. Your rituals don’t have to be elaborate either; as long as you are speaking from the heart the Gods will look favourably upon you.
Some of your important teachers and peers in the Craft have since passed into Mystery and walked through Death's door... what has grief and love taught you about life?
The one constant in life is change. Seasons come and go and so to do the people in our life, some move away and others pass through the veil and although you can ring someone who has moved, it’s only a little different with those who have passed over. Whenever there’s a situation where you think, ‘so and so would appreciate this’, you imagine/hear their voice in your mind saying what you know they would have said and you can enjoy that just as if they were with you. When you plan to ring someone with news, you always imagine in advance what they’re going to say and you’re usually right, so the only difference with those residing in the Summerland is that we don’t physically hear their voice.
And is there anything else you would like to offer?
Don’t forget to laugh! You can take what you do seriously, but that doesn’t mean you have to always do it seriously. If you mess up in a ritual it’s not the end of the world, just have a laugh and I’m sure the Gods will laugh with you, after all, any superior being must have a sense of humour!
