The past few weeks have been a bit crazy around here. We had two weeks of rain here in South Carolina, and with that came the Flooding. So sad.
In the midst of all of that I have been preparing my outline for NaNoWriMo, working on my YAAD studies, trying to hang in there with no internet, having to boil our water but feeling very lucky that we had electricity and running water. And extremely thankful once the mail started running again yesterday and brought some of my witchy supplies to me. 😀
I’ve joined Family Wicca’s YAAD studies and believe that might help me a great deal, along with Timothy Roderick’s Wicca YAAD, and Buckland’s big blue book. My witchy book collection has grown a great deal thanks to Thriftbooks and Amazon. 😀 Nothing wrong with a little used books sometimes. 😀
So now I’m off to work on my exercises for today’s YAAD studies.
When I think of my connections to the Earth I immediately think of the elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water–those are the connections that I feel the strongest.
This came from 4x-Night-Mare-x2 at Deviant Art. Creative Commons license.
For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be outside when it’s storming, to dance in the rain, to walk barefoot on freshly mowed grass, to sink my toes into the sand at the beach, to kick my feet in water… So the moment I went outside and sat down with my barefeet planted in the Earth I felt at ease and at one with nature.
At first, all I could hear were the birds singing, the breeze blowing in the trees, and the noise from cars down the road. As I sat there quietly thinking about Nature, the Earth, and the Elements, before long all I could hear were the birds and trees’ leaves rustling as the wind made them dance.
My connection to the Earth is strong, but my connection to the elements is really strong, just as I feel a very strong connection to birds, but especially to crows and ravens. I also feel a strong connection to storms, the water, and fire. I feel a stronger connection to dogs and wolves, but I’m not a cat person. (What kind of witch isn’t a cat person? lol)
As an introverted extrovert, I’m a bit of a loner and prefer smaller crowds and I have a few close friends–quality over quantity.
I feel especially connected to flowers, especially roses.
My weakest connection was to the other animals… I didn’t feel all that connected to them–all I could see or hear were the birds.
Mercury in Retrograde, Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse…. Preparing for NaNoWriMo, outlining via the Hero’s Journey and Tarot with Arwen Lynch’s 33 Days to Finishing Your Novel… and life in general means I’ve been busy and October is just going to get busier.
Several people in the YAAD FB group want to start the YAAD course through Timothy Roderick’s book Wicca: A Year and A Day on October 1st, and since I had to skip a few days because I didn’t have all of the supplies, and I’m only 5 1/2 weeks in it might be a good idea to (re)start with them since I’ll have the supplies by then, plus it will be with a group, which means we can learn from each other. I’m also starting FamilyWicca’s YAAD program in October.
Family Wicca and T. Roderick’s YAAD programs have different approaches and are set up completely different and I think it’s a good idea to learn as much as possible, from a variety of sources.
I’ll be blogging more and posting more videos as the courses progress.
The year before last I began researching information about hereditary/natural witches for a novel. I wanted to write a novel based on a real life experience, or three, from my childhood–the novel would be fiction but based on a few things I’d seen first hand as a child. Because of those the things I’d seen I knew that there were unseen things, unexplainable things, supernatural things and I wanted to write a book about a woman who was in her mid-thirties and had been born into a long line of hereditary witches but she just wanted to be “normal.” She’d moved away from college and had only been home to visit over the holidays–her normal life didn’t include Sabbats, Esbats, spells, rituals, or circles. She spent her adult life debunking the supernatural–for example, proving that that house that someone claimed was haunted was a hoax, or the psychic on stage was a fake–as a journalist for a paranormal magazine it was her job to expose the charlatan’s. EVERYTHING in her life changes when her grandmother, who is head of her coven, is murdered by another witch and she (my MC) goes back home for her grandmother’s funeral. She and her twin brother, along with two of their cousins, settle their grandmother’s estate, and decide to find the murderer, as well as justice for their grandmother’s death. Throw in a family curse (my family was cursed, according to my own grandmother and several family relatives, many generations back), a good guy who isn’t really a good guy, a bad guy who is almost likeable, and a really bad guy, along with the hero’s journey, and a ghost or three and Wa La I have a paranormal novel that I’m not the only one who will want to read.
In order to write the novel I had to do research. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) was fast approaching and I needed a basic outline. In order to have a decent basic outline I needed to understand more about witchcraft and what witches do.
The more I researched the more I realized that I recognized that some of the things I’d seen, heard, and experienced were something more than what I’d originally thought they were. When I saw my (paternal) grandmother heal the warts off of my cousin’s hands, when I saw and talked with ghosts when I was young (still see them and talk to them), when I’d watched my grandmother burn incense and listen to Celtic music, when I’d witnessed her refuse to talk about the healing’s I’d witnessed with my own eyes, or her family or her childhood, and my own mother’s psychic dream premonitions, or my aunts’ premonitions… The list goes on…I realized these things were “of the supernatural,” and “cunningfolk like.” Was my grandmother a “wise woman?” Does being psychic mean you’re a witch? Do you have to be psychic to be a witch? What is a witch? What do witches do? The questions turned into more questions, until one day I realized I wasn’t just doing research…
I’d found my path. My spiritual path. I felt at home with Paganism/Witchcraft/Wicca. I felt like I’d finally come home.
In August of this year I started my One Year and A Day studies officially. Though I’d been reading and researching for well over a year before that, I wanted to officially begin my path. I’m so glad I did.
Over fifteen years ago I started studying Wicca, but never followed through for a number of reasons. Now fifteen plus years later I’m in the fourth week of what would be called my Seeker/Dedicant studies of Wicca/Witchcraft/Paganism. I’m not sure of what I’ll branch I’ll end up choosing, but as of right now I am leaning more towards what would be called an Eclectic, Celtic, Green, Natural, solitary Wiccan–not sure that this an actual thing, but it’s what feels right to me.
What lead me towards this spiritual path? How did someone who grew up in a Southern Baptist Church in a very Christian household (my step-grandfather was head deacon and part-time (fill-in) pastor) end up on the spiritual path of Witchcraft/Wicca/Paganism? What are my beliefs now?
I’ve always felt at peace when the sun is on my face, a breeze is blowing against my skin, listening to the rain-dancing in the rain-walking in the rain; I love storms, I love the smell of the ocean and the feel of sand between my toes; and no matter how much my parents tried to stop me I was always climbing trees, sitting underneath a tree reading a book, etc. I’ve also always felt like the elements have an energy likened to what is often referred to spirit. Sitting in church growing up I didn’t feel any of the peace that I got when I was just outside in nature. I never understood their trinity, or why there were so many contradictions, or why one religion thought they were the ONE yet other religions weren’t the ONE going to Heaven yet they all believed in God. Nor did I understand the judgment or the hypocrisy. And the more I studied things like World Religion, World Literature, World History, and Philosophy the more questions I had, the less I understood about Christianity, and the less connected I felt–how could I feel connected to a religion that in the name of said religion and/or God so many atrocities had/have been committed? I couldn’t.
I ended up Agnostic. I knew/felt like there was a higher power, some kind of divine power, but knew that it wasn’t under the Christian religion that my answers could be found. About two years ago, give or take, I started researching Witchcraft/Wicca/Craft of the Wise/Wise Women/Healers/Paganism for a novel I was writing for NaNoWriMo. The more I researched the more I understood why I hadn’t felt connected to Christianity, and the more I felt connected to Paganism.
Since it’s only been a little over 3 weeks since I started seriously studying Wicca. I thought I’d start with Wicca, move on to Paganism, and various other branches of Paganism, so that as my path progresses I’ll decide on what branch/path I take based on which direction I am pulled.
TO make a long story short, I am out of the broom closet with my husband. My parents, children, etc do not know–I’m still learning and it’s not anyone else’s business right now. Once I finish this part (the 366 days) I may come out of the broom closet with others as necessary. Not that I’m ashamed, but I don’t want to answer questions until I have more answers myself.
I am still figuring out what my beliefs are. I still believe that there is a higher power, a Divine power–the Divine power: god and goddess, lord and lady. )O(
I do believe much of what is referred to as animism. I do believe in being at one with nature. I do believe in intuition, empathy, mediumship, and other psychic forms. I have always been intuitive, empathic, been able to see and sometimes speak with ghosts. I also believe in Karma, in reincarnation, and healing with natural recources whenever possible. I also think I’m more drawn to Tarot than to Runes, and I’m more of a candle and incense person than a cone incense kind of person, and I really like using natural herbs–I just need to get some (I only have a few).
This is a chronicle of the changes in my life, of the awakening of my spiritual path and my journey on it. Sometimes there will be videos accompanied by blog posts, chit-chats about what’s going on in my life, my spiritual path, and other bits and pieces.
tempestwillowfaeryn 