Witches Weekly Question for Nov 10th!

When did you first realize that the pagan path was for you?


I think I realized it when I was very young, but I never knew what "pagan" was, so I couldn't say that this is what I wanted to be.


I was always a little different from the other children. I think being raised in a haunted house probably had something to do with it. Also seeing things which no one else saw, knowing things no one else knew, and being generally precocious as a small child were other bits which had to do with it.


I tried going to church with friends. I still love going to Midnight Christmas mass at the local RC cathedral, though now that they've changed the Mass from the latin to english, I'm less enthralled. The music is something that gives me goosebumps, and I have this moment, just at midnight when the bell tolls, of absolute peace. It's fabulous.


I went to the LDS church once... I also went to the Episcopal and the Babtist churches... All with friends... I spoke with Rabbis and with priests. I just didn't ever feel as comfortable as I was when I learned that there was another path for me to take that was spiritual in nature, but within myself.


I was about 15 when I first learned about Paganism, and the different forms therein. There was a store in downtown Port Townsend, Phoenix Rising, that was filled to the brim with crystals, tarot cards, wands, pentacles, not to mention all the statuary of fairies and dragons. I was drawn to it mostly because it was completely different from what I'd been around in the past - and I even found books promoting the combination of secular christianity and paganism.


My mother was hesitant at first, but accepted that I needed to learn more about different religions. I brought home several Scott Cunningham books, "Guide to the Solitary Practitioner" and "Herbs and Lotions", and pointed out that she'd already been raising me by what Cunningham called the "Wiccan Rede":


Do what ye will, an it harm none
What ye will do, will come back 3-fold
Be careful what ye wish for, ye may get it


Once she found that these were the basic tennets of the religion, and that everything was based upon these *fairly* practical ideas, she was fine with it. I think she was actually relieved that I wasn't going to be going to a secular church - and that I wasn't going to be doing anything "cult-ish" (at least, in her eyes - you need a group of people to join if you're going to be in a cult, and I was going and doing all of this on my own... On the other hand, perhaps I was a cult of one - a Cult of Personality, even! LOL)...


So I guess I've always known that it was the right thing for me - I just needed to figure out what it was. LOL.


~M