Here's the second witch interview I promised a couple days ago.
Let's meet Beth Schreibman Gehring.
Hi Beth, please introduce yourself.
My name is Beth Schreibman Gehring and I’m affectionately known as The Windesphere Witch. You also might know me from my Outlander themed facebook page – My Outlander Love Affair, also home of Milady’s Magical Pantry & Stillroom. It’s 11,000 strong and we have a wonderful time discussing all things Herbal and Scotland!
I'm a good old fashioned greenwitch/herbalist/aromatherapist/life-coach. I’ve written a book that I’m very proud of Called “Stirring the Senses” that can be found on Amazon. My next book titled Milady’s Pantry - Garden Spells, Kitchen Alchemy and Other Sexy Secrets from the 18th Century and Beyond! will be coming out this holiday season!
I'm a good old fashioned greenwitch/herbalist/aromatherapist/life-coach. I’ve written a book that I’m very proud of Called “Stirring the Senses” that can be found on Amazon. My next book titled Milady’s Pantry - Garden Spells, Kitchen Alchemy and Other Sexy Secrets from the 18th Century and Beyond! will be coming out this holiday season!
Yes…I really am a witch. I’m a good witch though…I’ve got no time for troublemakers. I believe in the words “Harm None!”. If you want manipulations and curses, I’m not your girl! What I teach is a holistic way of looking at your life. I love nothing more than to spend long days in my gardens tending my healing herbs, fruits and vegetables, promoting healing through herbalism, flower and gem essences, aromatherapy and Reiki, cooking gorgeous, healthy and delicious meals for my family (4 legged and 2) and friends while brewing delightful herbal potions to help keep you healthy, gorgeous and sexy all over, inside and out! That's what I love to do and I've learned over the years how to create the life where this is possible.
I believe that in designing powerful rituals for your life, healthy and satisfying food to eat and beautiful environments to live in, that we can begin to create a life that you will love no matter your financial or cultural means. Clearing the emotional and physical space to have a life big enough to be filled with incredible joy and celebration will supply all of the magic necessary to create any possibility that you could ever dream of!
If you’d like to work with me I do offer a 30 minute, free of charge gift session so you can discover what's possible through your participation in this program. I’ll answer your questions one on one and explore the specific dreams you have been yearning to bring to life. There’s no obligation to work with me further after that, but we’ll have fun, I promise! Sign up for a gift session here.
What was Halloween like for you as a child?
I grew up in Pepper Pike, Ohio and we just didn’t have a lot of Trick or Treaters which made me so sad. Very early on I knew that I was a witch, but I had to wait to grow up and get married to celebrate the season the way that I wanted to. My husband and I bought an old century farm (1848) out in Burton Ohio and named it Windesphere, hence the Windesphere Witch! It turned out to be very haunted which was definitely a plus! We spent every Samhain with our neighbors and we threw wonderful parties, complete with hayrides , bonfires and midnight walks to go owling . Sadly, I don’t have pictures of those, but the memories are locked forever in my heart. When we moved back into Cleveland Heights several years ago, (Cleveland Heights LOVES Halloween!) I found myself immersed in a wonderful neighborhood full of children.
To get to know my neighbors, I decided to throw a huge Halloween party and now I do it every year. Autumn in Ohio is wonderful, fall leaves, pumpkins and a real harvest experience. It’s also spooky too, because as I said, Cleveland Heights really loves Halloween so on Trick or Treat evening the entire neighborhood for miles is filled with spooky sounds! I cook all day, huge copper cauldrons full of pumpkin soup, Chili and a spicy witches brew for the adults. The kids get root beer floats dyed black with scoops of homemade black vanilla ice cream and the parents get root beer flavored vodka in theirs! There’s lots of candy corn, homemade caramel apples (dipped in real homemade caramel!) and always a skeleton piñata. I make platters of barbecued drumsticks and lots of salsa and guacamole.
Come Halloween eve, I can be found sitting on my front porch, with Halloween radio blaring out lots of music and a TV screen playing old shows like Dark Shadows , the Munsters and the Addams Family. Because it’s usually freezing cold on Halloween here I’ve always got hot adult beverages for the parents! This year I’m going to load up the Yamaha piano in the basement with a creepy soundtrack that will shake the house. I can’t wait!
My favorite year of all time was the year that I dressed up as a witch…well to be fair I always dress up as a witch but this was different. I’d just gotten back from Salem and I decided to put on simpler cloths and my cape as usual, but instead of decking myself out with glitter, I rubbed dirt all over my face and put leaves in my hair. I’m naturally very pale and I used a blue urban decay lipstick and eye shadow. The whole effect was a bit like the corpse candle, the strange electric blue fungus that creeps onto dead bodies that’s never seen anywhere but on a battlefield. To complete the effect I put a rope around my neck and had a friend tie the 13 knot hangman’s noos . Then I drove to work. I walked in the door and my mother screamed and fainted. My aunt, with whom I had a difficult relationship with said, “That looks good on you dear”. My next customer said “Well hello Miss Salem…I just got back from Boston and I saw your picture in a museum.” I tell you...my day was made!
I wish I had a picture of my favorite. I wore a lion costume from the time I was 3 until I was 12. I love lions…and I used to love Halloween so I could put on my costume. I just knew that I was really a lion trapped in a human body. Sometimes I still think that I am!
Like I mentioned, I always have a wonderful party. Not too scary, but just enough! Then because my parents have both passed, I drive to where their ashes are scattered and I leave a wee dram of my father’s favorite single malt and my mother’s favorite Bristol Cream sherry under the tree while making a wish for the New Year..Samhain is after all the Witches New Year…our Highest Holy day….the greatest and most powerful of our Sabbats and of course I read Tarot for the New Year.
I always watch Practical Magic at least once and definitely Bell Book and Candle! Definitely “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!” I adore Interview with the Vampire and the Lost Boys.. and sometimes The Omen. Never the Twilight Series…I’m old school that way. In my witchy world Vampires just don’t sparkle. (Amen!)
I generally re-read Anne Rice’s Vampire Series from start to finish and of course lots of Edgar Allen Poe. I listen to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein on Audiobook, because no matter how many times I hear it I love it! I always go to the small family cemetery in Burton Ohio where Lucy, our resident ghost is buried. There are lots of children buried in the cemetery with her so I always decorate the graves with pumpkins, candy corn and Indian corn. I will usually get up at 5:00 in the morning on the second weekend of October to drag out the copper cauldrons at the Century Village in Burton to stir apple butter over open flames and watch the apple butter spirits dance around in the fragrant steam. I always love to listen to Halloween Radio, and of course there are a million wonderful symphonies composed for the season such as Saint Saens, Danse Macabre and Berlioz’s Dreams of a Witches Sabbath. How about Franz Liszt’s Totentanz? Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead is pretty compelling too!
I can’t speak for anyone else but I love a season where I get to be myself and quite open about it! I love to play dress up, I always have. Halloween gives us the opportunity to try on different personalities that we wouldn’t normally feel comfortable with, so it’s a fun excuse to role play! Besides, there’s the possibility of all of that leftover candy!
The worst thing to get while trick or treating was Reeses Peanut Butter Cups! I know that’s sacrilege, but I’m just not a peanut butter and chocolate kind of witch!
My favorite thing to get was a Heath Bar! Any Size! And Malted Milk Balls!
They can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and of course at www.thewindespherewitch.com
I had a blast! Thank you for including me!
To get to know my neighbors, I decided to throw a huge Halloween party and now I do it every year. Autumn in Ohio is wonderful, fall leaves, pumpkins and a real harvest experience. It’s also spooky too, because as I said, Cleveland Heights really loves Halloween so on Trick or Treat evening the entire neighborhood for miles is filled with spooky sounds! I cook all day, huge copper cauldrons full of pumpkin soup, Chili and a spicy witches brew for the adults. The kids get root beer floats dyed black with scoops of homemade black vanilla ice cream and the parents get root beer flavored vodka in theirs! There’s lots of candy corn, homemade caramel apples (dipped in real homemade caramel!) and always a skeleton piñata. I make platters of barbecued drumsticks and lots of salsa and guacamole.
Come Halloween eve, I can be found sitting on my front porch, with Halloween radio blaring out lots of music and a TV screen playing old shows like Dark Shadows , the Munsters and the Addams Family. Because it’s usually freezing cold on Halloween here I’ve always got hot adult beverages for the parents! This year I’m going to load up the Yamaha piano in the basement with a creepy soundtrack that will shake the house. I can’t wait!
Do you have a special Halloween memory you'd like to share?
My favorite year of all time was the year that I dressed up as a witch…well to be fair I always dress up as a witch but this was different. I’d just gotten back from Salem and I decided to put on simpler cloths and my cape as usual, but instead of decking myself out with glitter, I rubbed dirt all over my face and put leaves in my hair. I’m naturally very pale and I used a blue urban decay lipstick and eye shadow. The whole effect was a bit like the corpse candle, the strange electric blue fungus that creeps onto dead bodies that’s never seen anywhere but on a battlefield. To complete the effect I put a rope around my neck and had a friend tie the 13 knot hangman’s noos . Then I drove to work. I walked in the door and my mother screamed and fainted. My aunt, with whom I had a difficult relationship with said, “That looks good on you dear”. My next customer said “Well hello Miss Salem…I just got back from Boston and I saw your picture in a museum.” I tell you...my day was made!
What about a favorite costume? Although that last one sounds great!
I wish I had a picture of my favorite. I wore a lion costume from the time I was 3 until I was 12. I love lions…and I used to love Halloween so I could put on my costume. I just knew that I was really a lion trapped in a human body. Sometimes I still think that I am!
How do you celebrate Halloween these days?
Like I mentioned, I always have a wonderful party. Not too scary, but just enough! Then because my parents have both passed, I drive to where their ashes are scattered and I leave a wee dram of my father’s favorite single malt and my mother’s favorite Bristol Cream sherry under the tree while making a wish for the New Year..Samhain is after all the Witches New Year…our Highest Holy day….the greatest and most powerful of our Sabbats and of course I read Tarot for the New Year.
What other things do you do for the season?
I always watch Practical Magic at least once and definitely Bell Book and Candle! Definitely “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!” I adore Interview with the Vampire and the Lost Boys.. and sometimes The Omen. Never the Twilight Series…I’m old school that way. In my witchy world Vampires just don’t sparkle. (Amen!)
I generally re-read Anne Rice’s Vampire Series from start to finish and of course lots of Edgar Allen Poe. I listen to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein on Audiobook, because no matter how many times I hear it I love it! I always go to the small family cemetery in Burton Ohio where Lucy, our resident ghost is buried. There are lots of children buried in the cemetery with her so I always decorate the graves with pumpkins, candy corn and Indian corn. I will usually get up at 5:00 in the morning on the second weekend of October to drag out the copper cauldrons at the Century Village in Burton to stir apple butter over open flames and watch the apple butter spirits dance around in the fragrant steam. I always love to listen to Halloween Radio, and of course there are a million wonderful symphonies composed for the season such as Saint Saens, Danse Macabre and Berlioz’s Dreams of a Witches Sabbath. How about Franz Liszt’s Totentanz? Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead is pretty compelling too!
What makes Halloween special for you?
I can’t speak for anyone else but I love a season where I get to be myself and quite open about it! I love to play dress up, I always have. Halloween gives us the opportunity to try on different personalities that we wouldn’t normally feel comfortable with, so it’s a fun excuse to role play! Besides, there’s the possibility of all of that leftover candy!
Inside the Spookster's Studio
The worst thing to get while trick or treating was Reeses Peanut Butter Cups! I know that’s sacrilege, but I’m just not a peanut butter and chocolate kind of witch!
My favorite thing to get was a Heath Bar! Any Size! And Malted Milk Balls!
Where can people find you online?
They can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and of course at www.thewindespherewitch.com
Thanks for joining in, hope it was fun for you.
I had a blast! Thank you for including me!
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