Welcome! I’m Bat Collazo. My pronouns vary, but ze/zir/zirs is a safe bet. I’m a queer, trans, neuroatypical, mixed race Latinx in my mid-30s, living in the Midwest United States. My direct ancestors hail from Borikén (Puerto Rico) and Polska (Poland).
I’m a published author, poet, visual artist, and practice many traditional crafts, like spinning, wood carving, and machine-free tattooing. I’m interested in homesteading, bushcraft, simplicity, and communal self-sufficiency. I’m a speaker and instructor, and a witch, Pagan, and Heathen. From 2018 until late 2020, I offered spiritual support to the public in a metaphysical shop. My current day job involves medical education and health equity. In all facets of my life, I’m passionate about anti-oppression work, which is to say, personal and community work towards liberation.
Loving, reciprocal relationships are important to me, including but not limited to with humans. As an animist, I strive to engage with others and Others as complex, real people with agency, deserving of respect. I’m continually practicing how I show up in relationship with the beings around me, making mistakes, and learning. I am formally oathed to Loki (as of 2017) and to Robin Goodfellow (sometimes known as Puck or Hobgoblin; as of 2022), and have close relationships with several other beings. I befriend and worship the Norse pantheons (Aesir, Jotnar, and Vanir alike), and connect with many other spirits and Otherworldly beings, such as blood and chosen ancestors, living friends and chosen family, the dead, the Slavic god Veles, Alfar, the Good Neighbors, folkloric spirits, mythic heroes, house and land spirits, pop culture spirits, and other beings between and outside of these taxonomies.
More about my spiritual and magical practice
I’ve been actively practicing witchcraft and polytheism for over 10 years. I’m an active member of the Troth, an inclusive Heathen organization, which I joined in 2017. I also joined the Church of Body Modification in 2019.
Heathenry is my chosen religious path. As a Loki devotee (Lokean), I focus a significant chunk of devotional time on Loki and Loki’s extended family. Simultaneously, a major part of my path also involves Fairy traditions and practice, particularly surrounding English and Scottish folklore.
My personal practice includes a healthy dose of mysticism. Many of my spiritual practices emphasize trance work (associated with seidr in the Norse tradition), sometimes called astral travel or visions. Tattoos and body mods, both professional and DIY, also form a significant part of my devotional work.
I define magic as the use of intent and willpower to influence energies or probability in the world, which for me also often involves engagement with diverse spiritual allies in this world and Otherworlds, as well as everyday objects, symbols, actions, and sound. I believe that anyone has the potential and the innate power to be a witch or practice magic if they choose. Magic, particularly folk magic, is also not apolitical: I see it as a way of working with any available tools, resources, and allies to survive and thrive, especially when faced with struggles like colonization, racism, and poverty.
I also practice divination using various combinations of tarot, cartomancy, intuition, trance, dreams, high-tech tools, ritually handcrafted runes, and more.
Questions? Please contact me.