In just one visit to Crow Song Healing Arts—a light and airy studio and apothecary just north of Greenwood—I quickly learn that a witch is a whole lot more than just a mean old lady in a pointy hat.

"The traditional witch, as healer and initiator, is an age-old archetype that's returning to power," Mykol tells me. "The magic and medicine of the witch has been shrouded by ages of collective cultural suppression of personal power, oppression of the earth, and also a disconnection to ceremony. A witch is someone who is, or seeks to be, deeply connected to nature—someone who seeks to make sacred, through the art and craft of magic—the power of nature. A witch can restore a sacredness to the modern world."

And what sort of classes does Mykol teach at the school? "I teach a three-year program, Healing Craft Practitioner Training, where students learn techniques to create healing ceremonies that can benefit individuals, places, and nature—many in the tradition of seidr—shamanism techniques that date back to ancient European, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon societies.

"There's also stand-alone classes that explore magic in everyday life: like Kitchen Witchery, Psychic Protection, Introductory Elemental Magic, and two of my favorites—Curse Unraveling, and a form of energy clearing called Compassionate Depossession, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is."