Craft Treasures Series: Luke Brohman
Luke, beloved one, I've known you since 2008. Our friendship has been a star in my life, you have always demonstrated to me earnest responsibility, curious willingness, and deep devotion over seasons and cycles of time. Could you describe your experience of discovering the Craft and stirrings in younger years of magic and enchantment in your life?
Fio, it's a treasure to call you a friend and sibling in the craft. My discovery of the Craft occurred in the same wyrd as our introduction to each other! I was not raised in an overly spiritual family, but there was still a nod to “something other” – knocking on wood to clear out bad omens, hesitation to bring peacock feathers into a home for fear of disrupting harmony, rubbing the statue of Buddha’s belly for luck... These types of little traditions had a place in our family, although they were never overtly spoken to. My mum and dad were outwardly atheist, although for my dad, it was more of a rebellion against his Catholic upbringing. This resulted in a home that denied the church but still allowed space for spirits to gather. The crack that lets the light in.
As a child, I was totally enchanted by motion media. Film and television had captured my heart, and I was committed for life. Through my consumption of media, I was exposed to a lot of different thinking and alternative lifestyles. Of course, I read it as make-believe, so I created a barrier between the content and myself. Shows that really captured my interest were sci-fi and fantasy, especially the supernatural. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was THE show of my teenage years. I was obsessed. Looking back now, I see how that show – with its metaphors for high school and hormones explored through demons and monsters – taught me to see the demons that haunted me and start to love them, work with them, and relate to them. It may sound silly to include this as part of my story, but I credit Buffy and the Scooby Gang for much of who I am as an adult.
So, in 2008, when I met a group of people my age wholeheartedly invoking a circle, calling to the elements, working with mighty spirits, and proudly calling themselves witches... my whole world transformed. What had been fantasy, dream, and philosophical ponderings was here before me – living, speaking, and laughing in conspiracy with Godd herself.
I hear many stories of young witches speaking to fairies, preferring the company of trees, or being fascinated by the craft and playfully performing witchcraft in the garden with plants and dirt. I can’t honestly say I was one of those children, because I believe I’d learned how to mask at a very young age. But still, the witch’s spirit found its hook – in another form – art, media, and pop culture. It’s this, along with that group of witches I met in 2008, that my magic weaves through and reveals itself now, all of which informs the witch I am today.
I know you to have a very strong and beautiful dedication to the Mystery we call Hermes. How did this emerge in your life, how do you tend to this relationship? What does it mean in your life to be a priest of Hermes?
Hermes, my beloved! It’s true—there are two equal parts to my witch’s heartland: Hermes and the Wildwood. This Mystery is similar to how motion media fascinated me as a child—as soon as I heard his name in a specific context, I was stolen away with him. That context seems a bit anodyne now when I retell it, but the story goes something like this: I was traveling with my newly formed witch beloveds sometime in 2009, and at the very end of the trip as we were making our way to the airport, I was distracted by something in a shop we were walking past. I went in and found a necklace with a little coin and a wing pendant, bought it within moments without thinking, and we continued our journey to the airport.
It wasn’t until a few days later when I was showing the pendant to a witchy friend that she asked me what it symbolized to me. I couldn’t answer, so I told her the story instead. She replied, “Hmm, makes me think of Hermes.”
As soon as that name was spoken, it felt like a lightning strike.
Across my life, there has been a voice in my head that helps me with the “bigger narratives.” You know, the dealings of life and death, of dreams and meaning, of the mysteries of wonder and enchantment. It was this voice that told me in my darkest moments that I had more sunrises to discover. When the name Hermes was spoken in that context, I understood that the voice had just revealed himself.
I can see in my early years as a witch how much I idolized him. I wanted to be him. Then, as I matured, I learned that it was vain to try to become him completely, but I could still learn from him. So I read his stories, then read other authors unpacking his stories, then went to him directly and started to listen to him tell his stories. He’s very connected to divinity—a messenger of the divine!—so I began to work with him as an artist. Although I was not seeking him out as a kind of muse of inspiration, I was specific in asking him what work needed to be done, what spirits needed to be heard, what stories were the important stories of our time? I made myself available to receive the messages he was passing on. As an artist, this still informs much of my practice. I keep this vessel (my body, hands, and heart) as skilled, versatile, and agile as within my means so I can act as a chariot with value when the messages come through.
Media/Mediumship is a large part of our work together, but that's just one of the keys to the door that is Communication. It’s here that I have the most to learn from—how to communicate effectively, meaningfully, and with the power of actualization and transformation. So in the witch communities I find myself in, I’m often found in these areas—connecting, bridge-building, door-opening, greeting and guiding, diplomacy, and mentoring. I see myself as the honey that helps bond and sweeten the experience of being in the community.
And since claiming myself as priest of Hermes - my family instinctively caught wind. Although I keep this side of me relatively hidden from them, I’ve been honoured to write and speak the eulogy for many of my family members who have passed. I consider this a part of my work with Hermes.
Being a priest of Hermes is a lifelong relationship that I continually learn from, evolve with, and teach through.
You are an artist in so many ways! In fact we have collaborated multiple times, a photo you spontaneously took of me doing ritual in a storm is now the cover of my most favourite book I have ever written! How are Art and Magic the same or different for you? How does Artfulness express your Magic and vice versa?
Oh Fio, you are one of my most cherished collaborators! There are few people in this world who are as joyously encouraging and receptive to work with as you. I love this question as I think about it a lot and deepen my research on this topic every year. Authors who have helped me understand these threads are Elizabeth Gilbert with "Big Magic," podcasts such as Josh Schrei’s "The Emerald," and artists such as Hilma af Klint - to name but a few.
Both Art and Magic have taken me a long time to understand—in fact, I haven’t completed my font of understanding for either of these realms and doubt I will in my lifetime. I can easily get stuck in the dead-ends of "What is the meaning of all this?" or "What is it trying to achieve?". I blame my modern bleached mindset—the colonized mind that wants to know the purpose of a particular thing or have it's worth written on the label to know how valuable the thing is before interacting with it. For too long, I avoided both art and magic because I couldn’t see the point in them and knew they would not lead to a job, stability, or fulfillment of my material desires. This only created shadows in me—my witch-self formed into a vampire-like personality-thief, and my artist-self struggled trying to make “smart choices for my career.”
Now that I’ve dedicated the past decade to allowing these forces to flow through with less doubt or second-guessing, I can see them a bit more truthfully. For me, art and magic are of the same thread—the same vein—the same current. When I am in Circle, I feel the same things in my body, heart, and mind as when I am in the flume of creativity. When I am practicing witchcraft, my spine and nervous system fires and heats in the same way as it does when I am painting a cloud, or illustrating an idea, or capturing a wave crashing on the shore with my camera. The color of the most beautiful sunset evokes the same feeling as the moment a cone of power is released.
So, this offers me clues to the origin and output of magic and art. This is why I call them the same thread or current—because they move through my body like a current, and they share the same paths. I would add that I include sex in this same current. So for me, art and witchcraft are an erotic act (not literally erotic… well, not always literally), but erotic in the way they stir eros, desire, longing, yearning. The way the heart wants and the body wants and the spirit wants, and the limitations this world responds to that yearning with—the dynamic between these two forces, in my experience, is art, is magic, is eros.
This leads me to the Great Forces of the universe—something that Kabbalah helped me understand—the forces of Expansion and Contraction, of Possibility and Limitation, of Soft Curiosity and Hard Edges. I call to these forces, and their serpentine partners/revelations in this world—Kronos and Ananke.
I believe an artist must work within limitation, just as a witch works with the materials around them. Just as a coven is called from the witches in proximity to the caller. An artist is fooled when they think "I can do everything my imagination will allow," because this isn’t the complete story. Yes, our imagination speaks from the infinity, but it awakens in this world, with finite resources, specific experiences, and only the materials we have at hand. And, if I were to be truly honest, I don’t even believe our imagination is ours; I believe it's connected to something more collective, and that inspiration is a spirit that comes upon artists. It’s only ours in the sense that we—you, me, that person over there—will only ever experience the world from that specific perspective. To me, that’s an invitation—it says, "Each and every creature’s perspective is worthy of making art from, because it’s the only one positioned as uniquely as it is."
Many parts of me try to "give up" on this every day. To tell myself it’s not that unique, it’s not that revelatory—that my story is too similar to that other person’s story—that my experience of the world is common and won’t help anyone understand themselves or the mysteries more; it won’t bring this world to healing and wholeness in any significant way… but that’s a lie. Because I am still a person, and I need to do this so that I can understand. Don’t get me wrong, my middle-world self would still love to be known by history as a significant-artist-who-made-an-impact, but really, as long as I’m still practicing my craft, I believe I will continue my way to meaning and understanding.
You have experienced and relate through a few groups and traditions of modern Paganism and Witchcraft, but you are a Firebrand priest and mentor in the Wildwood Tradition. What about the Wildwood Tradition fascinates you the most? Challenges you? Deepens you?
That group of witches I met in 2008 that transformed my entire life—they are all Wildwood witches. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was meeting a coven of witches who were still coming to understand themselves while also beginning to understand the Wildwood. The tradition had not been formed, but it was bursting out at the roots everywhere—with founders of the coven traveling to different regions or across oceans to live and branching with their own Wildwood covens, and one in particular was writing books and beginning their journey as an author and teacher in the world of witchcraft. The coven I had just found and joined was dissolving... but what came from it was the Wildwood Tradition. To be there, witnessing the witches transform, witnessing the midwifing of the tradition, seeing how it grew and adapted and strained and strengthened—is a phenomenon I can’t quite describe. There’s a tradition-wide convergence called Counsel that happens at the time of southern hemisphere’s Samhain, and I remember at one point during our most recent Counsel, a strange and profound awe overwhelmed me... I am so lucky to be part of this tradition, to witness it grow and change, to see how our magic and dedication have influenced and guided the shape of the community, and how the spirits of the Wildwood have influenced me and my path. The feeling is indescribable.
That’s what fascinates me the most—experiencing the magic of Becoming within myself, and witnessing a Becoming of the Tradition. Wildwood has my heart and holds my home. Of course, there are challenges, as one would hope! Other humans are one of the biggest challenges, but that’s the same for any community I’ve been a part of. If I’m being honest, what really twists at my shadows is the feeling of disconnection and “not getting it.” As if there is some cosmic joke my kin are all laughing at, but I didn’t understand the punchline. I am challenged by what comes to me naturally compared to what I have to work for. Herbs, potions, and green witchery—I rarely practice this. But seership, possession, speaking to the divine, going into trance-space, and witch-flight—all of these are easier.
As an artist, I want to illustrate and illuminate stories that are connected to something deeply truthful and wise, while also activating the modern mind and reconnecting it to enchantment and wonder. Wildwood opens a space for this—with myth, lore, and an ensemble of spirits and Godds that kindle the fire of deep-knowing, and a witchcraft practice that awakens the spirit to what is present and now. A Wildwood witch in practice is a dedicant of the Great Arts. Wildwood witchcraft is the Art of Story. The power of the Wildwood is to simply Become, little flower.
As a devotee of Hermes, travel and communication are big parts of your Craft and devotion. How has travel impacted the way you perceive the world and relationships? How does focusing on communication expand your understanding of connection?
I was speaking earlier about Hermes and his gifts—those two aspects of him, travel and communication, are two I hold dearly. I can’t say I am living them completely—I suspect there’s a collective misunderstanding about patron deities and how they should reflect the personality of the devotee somehow. I believe this, but I know part of my work is to bring these aspects closer to me, and so I am learning through Hermes, not that I am automatically gifted with powers of his domain. I don’t have a magical travel budget; it’s still confined by my real-world income. I don’t have the tongue of a master charmer, but I do seek to continuously improve my ability to communicate.
Inside myself—the system I exist within—it feels like an entire universe. Within me, there is understanding, wisdom, truth, and love. Within you is the same. Within each of us, a universe. So many—billions and billions of universes. Each complex, as deep as infinity, as enchanting as a sunset, as creative as the Goddess herself when she gave birth to herself. This is true for me. But, truth is not singular. My truth is not necessarily your truth. My claim of the Goddess and all the Godds I work with is equally as true as the preacher on the corner of the street saying there is only One True God. For the preacher, this is truth. My truth does not trump his truth. Neither does his truth deny mine. So, the way humans can collaborate earnestly is not through dominating one’s truth over another—it’s about communicating an understanding of our mysteries in a way that builds connection and kinship. That is no easy feat. That, I believe, is one of the most challenging barriers we face as a collective creature/species/entity. So the point is not to prove who is right or wrong, who holds the truest truth—it’s simply about making connection in every moment that we are present to. And connection takes communication. It takes the risk of the leap from our universe of understanding into another universe. Often, I am misunderstood in my circles—even with my closest beloveds—and while this causes its own sadness, it also drives me to continue to try to communicate. Hermes has helped me to see how this takes many forms—my actions, my behavior, my relationships, my art, and yes of course, my words.
And then, to speak about travel, I have to embrace a bit of heartache—I yearn for more. I know the power of travel—how it shapes and informs a person, how it teaches a person in ways a book or a classroom never could, how it broadens the heart and the mind and helps to grow compassion, understanding, patience, and perspective. I see how people can be changed by the places they visit. I see that Land has Spirit, and its creatures, greenery, weather, and patterns—all of this informs the life that grows and stays there. I see culture as a manifestation of the Land's Spirit.
When I first traveled to the land known as Greece, I wanted to meet Hermes and his family. I looked up places to find temples, artifacts, and marks of their presence. I went to museums and art galleries, I found ruins and fragments of old places of worship... but really, the most impactful meeting was the land herself. The mountains, the skies, the water. The colors of the land. The different sensations at different times of the day. The heat and the air. The way the shadows fell across the ground as the sun traveled through the sky. These are the Godds I was looking for. I could “understand” the myths and why they arose from this landscape.
A similar thing happened in Ireland—the trip I met up with you Fio, and other beloveds for your 30th! I wanted to connect with my ancestry, but I couldn’t achieve that by tracing surnames and finding last-known locations... so, I sat with the land. You took us on an adventure to the Loughcrew Cairns—the Hill of the Witch. It was there that I felt it strongest—sitting in a grassy field overlooking a green valley with a cloudy grey sky above and some fluffy sheep gazing up from a farm below... I didn’t literally “speak” to my ancestors there, but I could hear them; I felt connected to them in a way I hadn’t felt before.
Could you let us know of the creations you have on offer in the world? How do we find out more about you and your magic and artistry?
My goodness, I'm honored to! Thank you for asking! To briefly tangent—I love art with my whole being, but the challenge of presentation, sharing it out, finding an audience—this baffles and confounds me. I appreciate you making a space for art and artists through your work. You have continuously uplifted and encouraged the work of artists in your circles, and to have my photography on the cover (and all throughout) your latest book The Witch Belongs to the World is one of my proudest achievements.
The best ways to connect with me are through social media—follow my art & Hermes account on Instagram @yes_mercurio and my photography account @fleetfootpro.
On my website, you’ll also find one of my biggest projects to date—the Omen Deck! It’s a collection of photographs from around the world, collated together into a tool that evokes the same divination skills one would activate when “Omen-walking”—which could be described as “going for a walk around your neighborhood while seeking perspective on a question—trusting the land will be in conversation with you through omens and scenes of intuitive knowing.”
Readers: if you have the Omen Deck, I would love to hear how you work with it! It’s been out now for about four years—one of the most cherished things about it is hearing how other witches use it in their practice. Please feel welcome to reach out to me on Instagram; I love to hear your stories, and I welcome the connection.
And thank you Fio for this opportunity! You are truly a treasure of the craft.
x
