By Raphael Jerripin Bodjarn

I Begin With Blood, Land, and Lore

As is traditional protocol, I begin by naming who I am and where I come from. I am Monero Ngarigo Yuin Ngargan, a descendant of resistance and deep cultural connection to lands that were violently stolen and occupied by colonial settlers. My Grandmother, Rae Solomon-Stewart (Nan) came from the Snowy River Country of the Monero Ngarigo people. My Pop, Claude Stewart, was a saltwater man of the Yuin nation, fishing the southern coast of so-called New South Wales.

My Nan was born on the banks of the Snowy River, midwifed into the world by her Aunty Kitty, watched over by rebel women who, under the threat of colonial violence, refused to speak English. They spoke our traditional language with fire in their bellies and spirits unbroken. Ngubby, Nan’s grandfather, told her, “You must know your language. If they ever take you, it’s how you’ll find your way home.” These words weren’t just survival, they were spellwork, incantation, prophecy.

Nan would later tell me, “They were real mean back then. If we practised our traditional ways, they would burn our huts down.” So our people prayed under the guise of Christianity. We hid our culture in plain sight, cloaked in the enemy’s language, but never surrendered.

My Pop passed young (only in his 40s) but his stories live in our bones. He fed his family with fish, octopus, and crab. He carried saltwater in his veins and ancestral memory in his hands. He moved between La Perouse and the South Coast, always returning to his roots, as we all must.

I stand on the shoulders of these warriors. I am an artist, facilitator, ritualist, and Witch. I am an initiate of the WildWood and a devotee of the Reclaiming tradition. My magic is rooted in Country, guided by Ancestors, and in service to truth, land, and justice. My Monero Ngarigo spirituality is not a layer on top of my witchcraft, it is the soil, the stone, the bones of my practice.

Let me be clear: I speak only for myself, not for all Aboriginal people. We are not one story. We are over 300 sovereign nations, each with unique culture, language, and lore. This is not a book of answers. To truly decolonise would mean the return of land, power, and autonomy. This work scratches the surface, it is an offering, a provocation, a spell to stir your spirit into right relationship with this place and its people.

‘Three Souls’ - Raphael Jerripin Boodjarn

Why Witchcraft Must Be Decolonised

If your witchcraft lives in the Southern Hemisphere but speaks only the language of the North, then you are not practising here, you are overlaying elsewhere. That’s not witchcraft. That’s spiritual colonisation.

I’ve been part of the witch/pagan community for two decades. I’ve sat in circles, danced at camps, invoked elements in foreign tongues on stolen land. Too often, I’ve witnessed ritual that honours deities from across oceans while ignoring the spirits beneath our feet.

Witchcraft without decolonisation is spiritual bypassing. It is harm dressed in candles. Real magic must consider the land it is on, the spirits it awakens, and the people it displaces.

To decolonise your witchcraft is not to adopt Aboriginal spirituality but it is to show reverence, accountability, and care. It’s harm reduction. It’s spiritual integrity.

The Land Is Watching

We do not walk on the land. We are the land.

We are not separate from the rivers, bees, and roos, we are kin. In my culture, every act is spiritual. There is no division between sacred and mundane. To us, land is not owned. Land is loved. Land is held. Land is ceremony.

When you cast a circle, chant a spell, or offer incense on this continent, you are doing so on a land that has held 80,000 years of ceremony and story. Every inch is sacred. Every grain of sand remembers. You are not alone in your work. The land is listening. The Ancestors are watching.

Ask yourself: How does your magic affect the spirits of this place? What agreements have you made - or broken - with the land you stand on? What harm might you be doing without knowing?

The Three Altars: A Healing Map

We offer three sacred circles—altars to truth

Ancestors Circle – For what came before. For oneness. For the lives we lived before invasion. For medicine, for astronomy, for environmental science, kinship, spirit and lore.
Sorry Business Circle – For the grief. For what was stolen. For the burning huts. For the attempted genocide. For the silenced tongues.
Thriving Survival Circle – For the resistance. For joy. For culture. For the unbroken songlines. For the reclamation. For the future.

Bring your offerings. Bring your truth. Bring your tears. This is not light work. This is sacred disruption.

Acknowledgement of Country: More Than a Formality

My first Reclaiming Witchcamp was CloudCatcher 2017. I hadn’t even read the info pack. But somehow, I was asked to offer the Acknowledgement of Country at the opening ritual. It was a sacred responsibility. I pulled over on the way to camp to introduce myself to the land. I spoke my name, my mob, my intent.

I felt the spirits listening. I saw flashes of past camps, colours and chants echoing through the trees. The land remembered the witches. The land remembers everything.

To Acknowledge is not a performance, it’s a pact.

Too often I’ve seen witches mumble an Acknowledgement like an afterthought. But in the old ways, to enter another nation’s land without permission was to invite illness, danger, or spiritual retribution. Welcome to Country is spiritual protection. Acknowledgement of Country is a living spell of respect and alignment.

Speak it from the heart. Know the Nation. Acknowledge the Ancestors. Honour the spirits of place. Honour the laws and responsibilities of the land. Name the harm done. Name the survival. Acknowledge that this land was never ceded. It was taken. Paid for in blood.

If you invoke the Goddess with reverence, then speak your Acknowledgement the same way. Anything less is spiritual theft.

Deep Listening and Spiritual Consent

To work magic here, you must ask permission.

Sit with the land.
Introduce yourself. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you want?
Listen. Not just with your ears, but with your whole being.
Pay attention to gut feelings. Pay attention to the messages of the land.
Don’t assume you are welcome. Ask once. Ask again. Ask again.

For cultural protocol and spiritual protection, please don’t summon Indigenous spirits. Don’t perform rituals on sacred sites. Don’t take things from sacred sites. Don’t perform our ceremonies unless you are invited and initiated.

What Do Indigenous People Want?

Let’s be clear. Our communities have spoken. Here is what we want:

Acknowledgement of sovereignty – This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
Truth-telling – About genocide, massacres, child removals, cultural destruction.
Protection of culture – Physical and spiritual heritage must be safeguarded.
Respect – For the oldest living cultures on the planet.
Representation – Real voice in civic life and spiritual space.
Reparations – Not charity. Justice.

Now ask yourself: What can your practice do to align with this?

‘Star Goddess’- Raphael Jerripin Boodjarn

Ancestor Work: Who Walks With You?

In our ways, there are three types of Ancestors:

Of Blood – Your kin, your family line.
Of Land – The spirits of the Country you live on.
Of Great Spirit – The Ancestors of all things: the big boss women, the big creator beings, the ancestors born of the stars themselves.

To connect, open your heart. Listen deeply. Let the birds, trees, and insects teach you. They carry messages. They are more than symbols, they are kin.

Allyship as a Spiritual Practice: Walking Beside, Not Ahead

If your witchcraft is truly rooted in honouring land, spirit, and justice, then your allyship must be woven into every spell, circle, and gathering you take part in.

Allyship is not a label or a performance, it’s a living commitment to accountability, action, and deep listening. It means supporting First Nations-led movements, standing up against ongoing colonisation, and redistributing resources to Indigenous communities. It means learning protocols, respecting sovereignty, and never speaking over the voices of those whose Ancestors have been in relationship with this land for tens of thousands of years.

Allyship must be spiritual practice, not separate from it. Because if your magic ignores the survival and thriving of First Peoples, it’s not liberation, it’s just more colonisation dressed in ritual robes. Decolonising your witchcraft means being in active, ongoing solidarity with living, breathing First Nations people - anything less is harm.

Final Words: Integrity is a Spell

This is not a feel-good read. This is deep work. This is a mirror. If your magic ignores the people, spirit, and sovereignty of this land, it is not healing. It is harm.

Be in active solidarity with First Nations people. Show up. Speak up. Learn the protocols. Listen to the stories. Support Aboriginal organisations. Amplify Indigenous voices. Let your spiritual work be accountable.

Books are not how my people learn. But I see you, witches. You read. You write. You quote. So let this writing be a doorway and not a destination. The real work begins when you step outside, place your hand on the earth, and ask: “How can I serve you”.

May your magic be rooted. May your heart be open. May your work be accountable. May your presence be a blessing, not a burden. May you be in right relationship.

Decolonising Witchcraft: A Call to Integrity