Parenthood itself is a journey, but being a SEN parent - especially to a neurodivergent child brings both unique challenges and profound lessons. My pre-teen is Autistic, raising them has reshaped how I see the world, the way I hold space for difference and even the way I practice my craft.
Witchcraft has always been about seeing the world through a different lens - finding meaning in the unseen, beauty in the overlooked and power in the everyday. My daughter does exactly that in her own way. Where the world expects conformity, they bring originality. Where society sees struggle, I often seen magic; a fresh way of experiencing sound, texture and thought.
For me, this overlap between witchcraft and neurodivergence feels like a reminder that 'normal' is an illusion. The magical path is about uniqueness and raising my child deepens that truth every single day.
As a witch, I love elaborate rituals! but as a SEN parent, I've learned to honour the smaller, quieter forms of magic. Sometimes it's grounding myself with a quick candle flame while she stims joyfully in the background. Sometimes it's placing protective charms around their bed, not because I expect her to notice, but because I need to know they are surrounded by love. Magic doesn't have to be grand. It can be whispered into the fabric of everyday life, especially when your days are unpredictable, exhausting and full of appointments, meetings and advocacy.
In many ways, speaking up for my daughter is spell-work. Words carry energy, intention and power. Every letter to a school, every meeting, where I insist on my daughter's needs being met feels like casting a circle of protection. My witchcraft empowers me to walk into those spaces with courage, to call upon ancestors and deities for strength and remind myself that I'm not just 'fighting' I'm weaving a better future.
Parenting a SEN teen is often challenging. The guilt creeps in when I can't do it all - the perfect parent, the perfect witch, the perfect advocate. But witchcraft teaches me about cycles, about waxing and waning. Some days I am full of energy, other days I am quiet. Both are sacred.
Ultimately witchcraft helps me reframe this journey, not as a burden, but as a path of deep magic, where my daughter's uniqueness is something to honour.
To other SEN parents out there, witchy or not, your magic matters, your child is a gift and your walking one of the most sacred paths there is.
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