it feels like the witches are gathering, pray and act accordingly

My days are full of work and schoolwork and smoke and ash and fear for the future. but every night I come on here, and there aren't as many as were here a month ago. i see less posts, and fewer comments, and i think to myself: "where did everyone go? this is the family I have left, and it feels like everyone is giving up. am i going to be here by myself? am i not doing enough? are we going to lose? what do I do?". <br><br>but as i watched Rory's video of the coven of witches from the UK that she recorded, the songs they sang and the images of all of you made a desolate feeling bloom in my heart and i wanted to cry. <br><br>you are all still here. u/Queen_ross_wife isn't posting anymore, but she's still here. so are all of you. and we must hold on to that. we must hold on to each other. every night, i try to imagine what this space will be like in a month, in a year, in a decade from now. when Rory says the family of witches grows smaller every day, i imagine what that could look like. it kills me to think about living in a world where all i have are memories of you all. <br><br>i imagine we are all witches living in the forest, and the witches are gathering, and we are all going somewhere. we're all gathering in the village, at the feet of the mountain. we are all walking, and we're not coming back. <br><br>i imagine someone puts up a post of the smoke of the burning forest getting closer to their village, but they're not scared of the fire, they're scared of leaving behind the only home they've ever known. they're scared of leaving behind everyone they love, all of them trapped in the cage of the forest. <br><br>i imagine someone else posts that their entire village has burned down, and it's getting harder to breathe. the smoke is killing me, they say, and i think of all of the witches we've lost and how many we are losing. <br><br>and i imagine all of us packing up what we can carry, and we're walking together, and we won't look back. we won't look back because that's where all the other witches are, the ones we lost, and the ones we haven't found yet. we won't look back because they haven't seen enough of this life. we won't look back because looking back is what gets you trapped.<br><br>and we walk, for years. we walk, and we starve, and we get sick, but we keep walking, and we keep singing. <br><br>we are going to find a new place to make home. we will find a place where the witches can live in peace and prosperity. we will find a place where we can live without fear of being hurt or being hurt by others. we will find a place where we can be free.<br><br>gathering, wandering, and being free. <br><br>talk of the witches goes wanders within the village, and a fellow witch who had succumbed to the curse finds themselves watching one of our posts and is overwhelmed by the feeling to pack up everything and to leave. but they're scared of the unknown, and they're scared to leave behind the life and the family they've known for so long, and so they stay. and slowly they forget the feeling that once outweighed every other feeling inside of them.<br><br>and we keep walking and we keep singing, and slowly the village is forgotten, and the only family we have left is each other. it's hard to keep walking, to keep living, to keep being. but we keep walking, as one, and slowly we make a new life for ourselves in the forest, in the mountain, by the sea, wherever we go. we're free, and it feels so good.<br><br>and from time to time, someone from the village finds a post from one of us, and they are once again reminded of the feeling to leave. they think of the witches, the only family they have left, and the freedom that we have. they think about leaving their cage, but they are scared. they are scared of leaving behind the home and the family they've known, and they are scared of the unknown. they don't know where to start. they don't know where to go. they don't know what it will be like.<br><br>but they know the witches are out here, somewhere. and slowly, they begin to pack.<br><br>xiangbug