Who I am...My witchy self.
I greatly enjoyed a post by Danni at The Whimsical Cottage that was regarding Who are you and what are you?: Personal styles of the craft. I then went to the original post by Angel at Ivy on the Path and greatly enjoyed her post as well. I loved this insight into their worlds and decided that it would be interesting to address this myself.
I have always been an active reader and I can remember in elementary school checking out all the books on mythology, unexplained phenomenon and other such things. I remember trying to convince my very Christian Grandmother that there could be a big God and then other smaller Gods and Goddesses (she was not swayed). I was active in church, though, until I was 16 or so. At that point I had reached a point where things no longer made sense and I could not handle the hypocrisy anymore (the church we were attending would not allow my mother to be a member because she was a smoker, but within 6 months of this the pastor was let go when they found out he was having extramarital affairs, hypocrisy).
Around that time I found this amazing metaphysical store in Newark called Mandorla and on one of my shopping excursions I saw that they were offering a Wicca 101 class. I got my mother's permission and registered. I only got to attend a couple of the classes that time around because of school and such, but a seed had been planted. I got the name of some books and started reading and learning from there. At 18 I took the Wicca 101 class again, facilitated by the lovely and so amazing Heather, and completed it, and a couple of months later did a dedication to the Goddess and God. I have been on the path since.
At first I tried to follow the books verbatim. I felt like if I didn't have the massive list of tools they said was necessary that I could not cast. After time, though, and much more reading I came to realize that a tool is just that a tool, and that the magic comes from me so everything else is nice for focusing, but extraneous. I began to venture out a bit, making things up as I go along. I don't follow any specific set of tenets anymore, so I call myself an eclectic cottage witch, because that pretty much sums up my working.
So here are some things that make up the magical me.
* I was raised by my Mother to have a healthy curiosity and to question everything and seek out the answers. She taught me to respect everyone and to appreciate the differences in others. I think this upbringing led me to a path as open and loving as this one can be. Is everyone awesome and understanding, well no, but the majority are and I love all my witchy friends.
* When I was 11 my father started me on a rock collection, and opened a love in me of all stones and minerals that has lasted through my life. He was also an active hunter, active in Native American rights and a general outdoors man. This rubbed off on me giving me a healthy respect for nature. If I took nothing else from him, this was a huge gift.
* I am a Pisces, with a Cancer moon and Aquarius rising. This makes me quirky and emotional to a ridiculous degree. It also makes me a true Water witch. I work mostly with water energy, followed strangely by Earth, thanks mostly to being raised by a very earthy Virgo. I love blues, greens, turquoise and purples, they just soothe the soul of my water self. :) I am challenging myself to work more with fire, but it's a hard road because fire energy scares me a bit. I am working on that though.
* If I can make something for myself I will. I like to put as much energy as I can into my tools, so I often make them or embellish them to make them mine. I am also very crafty in my working. When Seth and I were trying to find a house I bought a birdhouse that I then covered with all the things we were looking for in a home, and empowered to lead us to the perfect place. This is pretty typical for me.
* I will talk to someone starting out and advise of books to read and such, but I don't want to be a teacher. This is mostly because my practice is very personalized and that is hard to teach someone. I find myself saying do what makes you happy a lot, which is typically not what a seeker is wanting.
There are many more things I could share, but this gives a good look at my witchy self.
Blessings.
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| Me in my Wenchy Witchy goodness. |
I have always been an active reader and I can remember in elementary school checking out all the books on mythology, unexplained phenomenon and other such things. I remember trying to convince my very Christian Grandmother that there could be a big God and then other smaller Gods and Goddesses (she was not swayed). I was active in church, though, until I was 16 or so. At that point I had reached a point where things no longer made sense and I could not handle the hypocrisy anymore (the church we were attending would not allow my mother to be a member because she was a smoker, but within 6 months of this the pastor was let go when they found out he was having extramarital affairs, hypocrisy).
Around that time I found this amazing metaphysical store in Newark called Mandorla and on one of my shopping excursions I saw that they were offering a Wicca 101 class. I got my mother's permission and registered. I only got to attend a couple of the classes that time around because of school and such, but a seed had been planted. I got the name of some books and started reading and learning from there. At 18 I took the Wicca 101 class again, facilitated by the lovely and so amazing Heather, and completed it, and a couple of months later did a dedication to the Goddess and God. I have been on the path since.
At first I tried to follow the books verbatim. I felt like if I didn't have the massive list of tools they said was necessary that I could not cast. After time, though, and much more reading I came to realize that a tool is just that a tool, and that the magic comes from me so everything else is nice for focusing, but extraneous. I began to venture out a bit, making things up as I go along. I don't follow any specific set of tenets anymore, so I call myself an eclectic cottage witch, because that pretty much sums up my working.
So here are some things that make up the magical me.
* I was raised by my Mother to have a healthy curiosity and to question everything and seek out the answers. She taught me to respect everyone and to appreciate the differences in others. I think this upbringing led me to a path as open and loving as this one can be. Is everyone awesome and understanding, well no, but the majority are and I love all my witchy friends.
* When I was 11 my father started me on a rock collection, and opened a love in me of all stones and minerals that has lasted through my life. He was also an active hunter, active in Native American rights and a general outdoors man. This rubbed off on me giving me a healthy respect for nature. If I took nothing else from him, this was a huge gift.
* I am a Pisces, with a Cancer moon and Aquarius rising. This makes me quirky and emotional to a ridiculous degree. It also makes me a true Water witch. I work mostly with water energy, followed strangely by Earth, thanks mostly to being raised by a very earthy Virgo. I love blues, greens, turquoise and purples, they just soothe the soul of my water self. :) I am challenging myself to work more with fire, but it's a hard road because fire energy scares me a bit. I am working on that though.
* If I can make something for myself I will. I like to put as much energy as I can into my tools, so I often make them or embellish them to make them mine. I am also very crafty in my working. When Seth and I were trying to find a house I bought a birdhouse that I then covered with all the things we were looking for in a home, and empowered to lead us to the perfect place. This is pretty typical for me.
* I will talk to someone starting out and advise of books to read and such, but I don't want to be a teacher. This is mostly because my practice is very personalized and that is hard to teach someone. I find myself saying do what makes you happy a lot, which is typically not what a seeker is wanting.
There are many more things I could share, but this gives a good look at my witchy self.
Blessings.
Comments
Warm blessings upon you!
Susan