Welcome! I’m Bat Collazo. My pronouns vary, but ze/zir/zirs is a safe bet. I’m a queer, mixed race Latin@ in my mid-30s, living in the Midwest United States. My ancestors hail from Borikén (Puerto Rico) and Polska (Poland).
I’m a published author, poet, visual artist, and practice a wide range of traditional handicrafts, like spinning, wood carving, and book binding. I have an interest 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 local metaphysical shop. In my current day job, I focus on medical education and health equity. In all facets of my life, I’m passionate about decolonization and anti-oppression work, which is to say, personal and community work towards liberation.
Reciprocal relationships of all kinds are important to me, including (but not limited to) with humans. I celebrate love and connection with my chosen family and friends. I’m polyamorous: I am a godspouse, oathed and wedded to Loki, my fulltrui, and I have relationships with a beloved human partner and with Robin Goodfellow/Puck. I worship the Norse pantheon (Aesir, Jotnar, and Vanir alike), and work with many other spirits, such as beloved ancestors and the dead, the Slavic god Veles, house and land spirits, alfar, the Good Neighbors, folkloric 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 and a special passion of mine. I’m currently a trainee in the Troth’s clergy program. As a Loki devotee or Lokean, I focus a significant chunk of devotional time on Him/Her/Zir and His/Her/Zir family. Lately, I’ve also been exploring Fairy folklore and traditions, so you’ll likely see more of this from me in the future.
As a “hard polytheist,” I tend to see most gods and spirits as actual beings (rather than solely metaphors), and 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, visions, visualizations, or meditations.
I define magic as the use of intent to influence energies or probability in the world, which for me also often involves spiritual allies, objects, symbols, writing, and sound. I believe that anyone can be a witch or practice magic, and that it requires no special abilities. Magic, particularly folk magic, is 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 practice divination using any combination of tarot, oracle, intuition, dreams, high-tech tools, and ritually handcrafted runes.
Questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact me.