Here at WitchLab, we try to offer unique services to benefit and help nurture our community. Our dear friend Michael J Morris offers one of the most complex options to our clients. We decided to do a little interview with them, to give you more insight into their background, and practice. Please let us know if you have any questions, as we would love to help you find your path!
Hello Michael! Before we get started talking about your services, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Sure! I’m originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’ve been a practicing witch for almost 20 years; I was born and raised in a conservative Christian family, and I took refuge in Wicca and Goddess spiritualties at the end of high school and beginning of college. I moved to Ohio in 2008 to pursue graduate studies at OSU. I now hold a PhD in Dance Studies, and I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in Dance, Queer Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Environmental Studies at Denison University. Throughout these years, I’ve continued to develop my practice of witchcraft, studying with different teachers and traditions, incorporating critical feminist and queer perspectives into how I think about and practice the craft, and finding more and more connections between my witchcraft, my art, my scholarly research, and my activism.
People can learn more about me and my practice on my website: http://www.michaeljmorris.co
What is Co witchcraft?
“Co” is the name I gave my consultation practice in which I bring together different traditions and techniques that I’ve studied and practiced over many years—including astrology, tarot, Wiccan ritual practices, breathing and meditation techniques that come from the yoga tradition, and other embodied practices. Co stands for: connect, collaborate, cooperate, commune, conjure, combine, compose, co-create, corporeal, continuity, contradictions, contentment, co-presence, companionship, compassion, configure, contact, conjoin, courage, and collective liberation. It’s a list that could go on and on. These are the words, ideas, values, and practices that shape the work I’m doing with people. The prefix “co-” means “together, mutually, in common,” and these sentiments are at the heart of what I believe about magic, healing, and justice: these are practices that we do together, in connection with others, including both the human and the more-than-human—the earth, the elements, the stars and planets, the ancestors, and so on. Our collective liberation is never separate from our personal healing, and doing this work together is one of the ways that we can begin to repair the disconnections that are the source of so much of our suffering.
For me, witchcraft has become a kind of “carrier bag” of practices, traditions, and techniques that I use for making magic. Wiccan High Priestess Dion Fortune famously said that “magic is the art of changing consciousness at will,” and for me, witchcraft is a whole array of practices with which we practice shifting and expanding consciousness. Through Co Witchcraft Offerings, I provide resources and support for people in shifting their own consciousness and creating magic in their own lives.
What inspired you to bring this service to the table?
We are living in relentlessly troubled times. Between climate crisis, racism and white supremacist nationalism, the ongoing assault against women and femmes, constant violence and harassment of queer and gender-nonconforming people, the crippling weight of capitalism, and what feels like unprecedented experiences of loneliness, isolation, and despair, it seems like we need to be offering and developing more strategies for surviving and flourishing. These practices have sustained and inspired my living again and again. It’s time to share them with other people, offer them as resources for others trying to find meaning and purpose as they navigate the complexity of our world.
Who would this service benefit?
I think these consultations are for anyone looking for a collaborator or companion in their journeys of healing, of working to know and understand their place in the world, or of trying to make sense of big or challenging questions. I’ve worked with people who consider themselves to be witches and simply wanted an ally in examining their natal chart or reading tarot cards as they faced major life decisions. I’ve worked with people who had some familiarity with astrology but wanted help synthesizing and making sense of their natal charts. I’ve worked with people who had no experience with astrology, tarot, or witchcraft, but had an abiding sense that there was more they could know. I’ve worked with queer and trans folks who were trying to find their places in a world that regularly tells us that there is no place for us. I’ve worked with people in ongoing practices of healing particular traumas, and astrology gave them another perspective and set of tools with which to support their healing. I think something all of these folks have in common is that they weren’t looking to me to be an authority on their lives or to give them some kind of prophecy about their future; rather, they were all engaged in processes of making meaning of their lives, they were committed to expanding their own view of their situations, and they invited me into those processes to use the tools I can offer to support them in the work they were doing.
Can you please tell me why you think people should try it out?
Honestly, the first thing I thought when you asked this question was that I hope people try it out if they feel alone. If they feel like they’re waking up day after day to a world in crisis and struggling to experience connection in ways that support them. If they’re exhausted with living in ways that are habitually depleting, unfulfilling, or disconnecting. I hope people choose to work with me because they want support in making meaning and finding healing in their own lives, and they’re open to astrology, tarot, ritual, and meditation practices being useful tools in these processes.
What should someone expect the sign-up process to look like? What will they need to provide?
People can sign up for sessions through the contact form on the bookings page on my website: http://www.michaeljmorris.co/bookings.html
There are two main decisions they need to make before booking a session:
1. Do they want to meet in person at WitchLab or would they prefer to do the consult over Zoom video call?
2. Would they prefer to work with astrology or tarot as the center of our work together? In each session, I begin and end with simple ritual and meditation practices that support us in integrating what we learn together, but at the heart of the consultation is either reading their natal chart or reading tarot cards. These are two distinct traditions, and each offer different approaches to making meaning. If people are unfamiliar with astrology and tarot, they can read my description of these practices on my website: astrologyand tarot.
If people want to work with astrology, the information I need at the time of booking is:
-Their date of birth
-Their exact time of birth (usually found on the birth certificate)
-The city where they were born
How long should a client expect to be in session?
Sessions are between 60-90 minutes. This work takes time, and a lot of our time is spent in discussion. Sessions usually go a full hour, then we have some flexibility in the last 30 minutes to talk more or work through things that have come up. It’s not uncommon to use the whole 90 minutes, but the length can be tailored to what people need.
What sort of fees are associated with the service?
The majority of sessions are available at a sliding scale ($100-$150) in recognition of income inequality in order to make these services available to more people. What that means is: if you make more money, please give commensurate compensation in order to support those who cannot afford to pay as much; if you make less money, please pay what you can within the sliding scale.
As a participant in reparative justice, I also hold sessions each month free of charge for people of color and Indigenous/First-Nations people. These sessions are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. If these are communities to which someone belongs, they can let me know at the time of booking, and I can work with them at the next available time free of charge or for whatever amount they feel comfortable offering as compensation.
Thank you!