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She Who is Without Oddness, Cast the First Stone

She Who is Without Oddness, Cast the First Stone

Last updated on: September 25, 2026 at 4:03 pm by Heron Michelle

She Who is Without Oddness, Cast the First Stone 2026-09-25T16:03:22-04:00 Heron Michelle

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Lately, I’ve been thinking about relative oddness.

I realize that I must sound crazy as a loon to people who do not perceive the world as I do. I mean, Witchcraft? Seriously?

I regularly question my own perceptions and conduct little reality checks with trusted peers, just to make sure I’m still on the rails. Some days I wonder whether I’m the lunatic; other days I wonder whether I’m the last sane person on Earth.

It’s also hard to forget that being accused of Witchcraft, claiming visions, or hearing messages from unseen beings could once place a person in mortal danger. Human beings have a long and ugly history of punishing people whose beliefs, perceptions, religions, or behaviors fell outside whatever their culture had decided was “normal.”

Ahem.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Working at a metaphysical store means our staff encounters all kinds of people, from all kinds of backgrounds, asking all kinds of questions. Much like being a bartender, standing on our side of that battered glass display counter means that on any given day we may be asked to serve as priestess, counselor, healer, sounding board, or confessor.

Sometimes they come to us crying. Sometimes they are angry, desperate, confused, frightened, or simply searching for someone who will listen without immediately deciding they are ridiculous.

It is our honor to be a safe port in the storm.

Heron at her Store

Their questions often begin with:

“This might sound crazy, but…”

Or:

“I know this sounds weird, but…”

My standard responses have become, “There are no crazy questions here,” and “Weird is relative; we are all weird here.”

No matter what comes next, I make a concerted effort to respond neutrally, informatively, and without ridicule. I am long practiced in the arts of straight-facery and subtle correction.

I think I do OK with this task most of the time.

Aliens? Possibly. What happened?

Faery? Depends. Terrifying and erotic, didn’t you think?

Ghosts, guardian spirits, ancestral visitations? All par for the course around here.

You think you released a demon through your Ouija board? Well, NO, I don’t think burning sage is going to solve that problem; NO, I do not vanquish demons; and perhaps we should discuss exactly what happened before anybody calls a Catholic priest.

The point is that “weird” tells me almost nothing useful.

To a Panentheist Witch, This Is All Normal and Natural

Panentheism derives from Greek roots meaning “all in God.” Broadly speaking, it describes a theological understanding in which the Divine interpenetrates all existence while also exceeding it: divinity is immanent within nature, yet greater than the sum of nature’s parts.

Within my panentheistic paradigm, in which the Universe exists within Divine consciousness, many things considered extraordinary within other worldviews simply belong to the wider spectrum of reality.

For that reason, I have always had an uneasy relationship with words like paranormal and supernatural.

If nature encompasses the whole of existence, what exactly could stand above nature?

If “normal” describes the enormous range of experiences possible within that nature, where precisely does paranormal begin?

These terms arise from philosophical assumptions that do not necessarily belong to my Pagan worldview, so I prefer to begin somewhere else.

Nature, as I experience it, is a diverse and multifaceted tapestry of seen and unseen, matter and energy, life and death, consciousness and mystery. Human beings perceive only some portion of that tapestry, and we interpret what we perceive through culture, religion, experience, psychology, and expectation.

That leaves considerable room for relative oddness.

We can acknowledge that people interpret unusual experiences differently without immediately deciding that someone is foolish, fraudulent, spiritually enlightened, or mentally ill. Those are all conclusions. First, we pay attention to the experience.

Photo by Heron of a class altar during one of our Journeys.

Leveling Up

A fairly normal day at my office may involve taking students on meditative journeys to explore spiritual dimensions, past lives, the heavens, the Underworld, or encounters with Gods and spirits. They return with unique accounts of what they experienced.

Within my teaching practice, I do not need to declare every image an objectively verifiable event in order to respect its meaning. Neither do I need to dismiss the experience because someone else would interpret it psychologically, symbolically, imaginatively, or spiritually.

Different paradigms can ask different questions of the same experience. To some folks, this entire practice sounds crazy.

<shrug>

I believe human consciousness is capable of perceiving considerably more than our ordinary waking habits encourage us to notice. Allow me to illustrate.

Imagine you’re driving down a dark country road at night, seeing only the narrow strip of black asphalt illuminated immediately before you. In the lonely darkness, you might imagine yourself separate and isolated.

Then somebody kicks on the high beams.

The visible road widens and lengthens. Suddenly, you notice that the road is lined with wonders and perils you couldn’t see before.

Then your perception opens further, and apparently you’re in breakneck traffic on a stacked freeway with all manner of spirits, Gods, ancestors, and monsters riding your bumper.

Imagine the “spaghetti-bowl” highway exchanges of Houston, Texas, but on LSD. Your dead Granny is riding shotgun and shouting directions. At first, these new perceptions can be overwhelming.

Eventually, dawn breaks and patterns begin to emerge. A detailed map of the Universe seems to unfold before you. Then you discover it wasn’t even a car you were driving all along, but a TARDIS, rendering time and space fluid and luminous.

Well, hell. Try putting THAT white rabbit back into the hat. In a Witch’s world, “normal” can be spectacular, and “natural” can blow your mind.

Who am I to dismiss someone merely because they perceive something I do not?

She who is without oddness, cast the first stone.

Since we opened the shop in 2009, I have watched more and more people become willing to talk openly about experiences they once might have hidden. Whether we call that an awakening, a cultural shift, a changing religious landscape, or simply greater permission to discuss human experiences that have always existed, I find it fascinating.

More people seem willing to ask: What exactly did I experience? Sometimes, inevitably, that question becomes: Have I gone mad?

CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay

Spiritual Experience Still Requires Discernment

Here is where things get considerably more complicated.

Respecting unusual spiritual experiences does not mean abandoning discernment.

At PantheaCon in 2015, I attended a workshop with Diana Paxson about mediumship and divine possession. One of the most valuable lessons I took from that workshop was the importance of reality checks: maintaining trusted people with whom we can discuss extraordinary experiences and exercising discretion about how we interpret and act upon the messages we believe we receive.

That remains one of my rules.

I may believe that Gods, spirits, ancestors, and other intelligences can communicate with human consciousness. I also possess a human brain capable of fear, fantasy, projection, wishful thinking, misunderstanding, dreams, intrusive thoughts, symbolic associations, and plain old-fashioned mistakes.

These possibilities are not mutually exclusive. Discernment is part of the Work. When evaluating a spiritual message, I ask myself questions such as:

Is this consistent with my deepest ethical values?

Is it reasonably consistent with what I know about the spirit, deity, or intelligence I believe I am encountering?

Does acting upon this message encourage greater health, responsibility, compassion, balance, agency, and connection—or does it demand fear, obsession, isolation, domination, or harm?

Can I question the message?

Can I say no?

Can I discuss it with trusted people who are willing to disagree with me?

Can I entertain another explanation for what I experienced?

That last question is key…

The ability to say, “This experience was profoundly meaningful to me, and I may still be mistaken about what caused it,” is not spiritual weakness.

That is good discernment.

Modern mental-health guidance likewise distinguishes extraordinary perceptions from the larger patterns that may indicate someone needs professional help. Difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy, confused or disorganized thinking, deterioration in everyday functioning or self-care, and symptoms that intensify or persist are meaningful reasons to seek evaluation. When experiences involve commands or impulses to harm oneself or another person, immediate professional intervention becomes especially important.

Spiritual interpretation and mental-health care do not have to be enemies. Sometimes the responsible answer can be both.

Relative Oddness and the Reality Check

While I may not perceive the world in precisely the same way as every person who walks into my shop, I can coexist with them lovingly and respectfully—even if sometimes that coexistence occurs at a distance I define.

Namaste Away.

I can also serve as a reality checker when invited, and I hope the people I trust will return the favor.

If you come into my shop asking the village Witch for advice, don’t you want me to be constructively honest with you?

These days, I am less interested in drawing some absolute line between “normal” and “weird” than I am in asking what an experience is doing in someone’s life.

Does it expand curiosity or imprison them in certainty?

Does it support agency or erode it?

Can they question it?

Can they function alongside it?

Does it deepen relationship, responsibility, wonder, and meaning—or is it producing escalating distress, isolation, fear, or dangerous behavior? Most importantly: What are they doing because of what they believe?

A wild idea is one thing; harmful action is another.

If someone I care about appears unable to reality-check an experience, is becoming increasingly distressed or unable to function, or seems in danger of harming themselves or someone else, then compassion requires more than nodding solemnly and reaching for the sage bundle. That is the moment to encourage qualified professional help and, in an immediate crisis, appropriate emergency assistance.

There is no betrayal of Witchcraft in that. Quite the opposite! If our spiritual practices are worth anything, surely they should make room for wisdom, discernment, compassion, and care.

We Are All Weird Here

To practice Witchcraft is to cultivate a certain comfort with mystery.

We deliberately approach the crossroads. We talk to Gods. We listen to dreams. We read cards and omens. We enter altered states of consciousness. We entertain possibilities that much of mainstream culture considers improbable, symbolic, imaginary, or simply odd.

Fine! Let us be odd. Let us also be discerning.

We can remain open to mystery without surrendering reason, and we can practice reality checks without reducing every extraordinary human experience to pathology. Those two capacities belong together.

So be free in your oddness! Be the brightly colored, glittering, strange flock of my like-feathered kindred. Y’all make my peculiar little corner of the world a far more interesting place to inhabit, and I am grateful for that.

Just promise me we’ll keep reality-checking each other along the way, okay?

She who is without oddness, cast the first stone.

Blessed Be!

~Heron

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Theology, Ethics, Philosophy

About Heron Michelle

Heron Michelle is a Witch, author, artist, shopkeeper, and priestess whose work explores the intersection of Modern Witchcraft, Hermetic philosophy, devotional practice, and personal sovereignty. She is the author of Elemental Witchcraft: A Guide to Living a Magickal Life Through the Elements (Llewellyn, 2021) and the forthcoming Lunar Witchcraft (Llewellyn, 2027). Since 2009, she has owned The Sojourner Whole Earth Provisions, a metaphysical shop in Greenville, North Carolina. Contact her through HeronMichelle.com, and subscribe to her continuing work at HeronMichelle.Substack.com. You can read more about the author here.

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