Hey there;
So to start off my new theme on this blog, I thought it would be logical to start at the beginning of my Pagan path. To fully explain it I will discuss the role of Religion in my life at various points and how that changed and developed over time to what it is currently.
My family is Christain, Protestant on my mother’s side, and when I was born I was Christened, as were both of my sisters. My mother was very involved with her local church as a teen before being driven out and, for the most part, losing her faith. However, I was taken to Sunday school every week and was gifted my great grandfathers old testament he had during WW2. I read the old testament and went to Sunday school happily enough, however, I did it purely because it made my Mum and Gran happy, I never really connected to Christianity on any level and mostly did it because it was expected of me. I went to the Christmas service at school every year – until my fourth year.
In the summer between third and fourth year, my family and I went on holiday to Wemyss Bay and while we were there we went to Kelburn Castle. It had gorgeous grounds, an amazing history and most importantly in this case – a gift shop. When I looked around the gift shop, of which there was a random assortment of trinkets and such. I found an interesting set of necklaces. My older sister, also saw them and the two of us spent ages reading the little cards that came with the necklaces explaining the symbolism and such before we chose one each. Now, this was a few years ago and my sister has since lost hers, and for the life of us we can’t remember which one she got, but the one I chose is very, very important to me and has a lot of meaning. The necklace I chose was transformation (as seen below)
For whatever reason at that moment in my life, this necklace and it’s symbolism really resonated with me. I bought it and wore it religiously for the rest of the holiday. When we got home, and I had an internet connection, I looked up the curious little word at the top of the card.
“Wiccan?” I said to myself, “what on earth is that?” and the more I read, the more I researched, the more I found myself agreeing and connecting with this religious belief. By the end of the summer, I was quite content in saying I was Wiccan and would be for the next few years.
Over the next few years I was fairly quiet in my new beliefs, not looking to draw attention to myself, the most I did was not attend the Christmas service for no reason other than each and every year the school held it on Yule – or the winter solstice/ shortest day of the year. Any other day I would have gone but I wanted to spend my holiday practising my religion as opposed to another.
While I am still rather quiet in my beliefs at work and education, I am rather open about it if asked and enjoy discussing it with people. I am also completely, as many like to joke, “out of the broom closet” with my family. When I told my mum she was concerned it was something different but after several conversations about it, she was, of course, very supportive. Aside from that, it’s not an issue with my immediate family or friends.
I mentioned before that I said for the next few years I was content saying I was Wiccan. This is because as I grew and my knowledge of Wicca and paganism grew; my beliefs shifted and changed and nowadays I simply say I’m an eclectic witch. Which basically just means that I follow a unique mishmash of beliefs and religions which is near-constantly shifting and changing.
I’ll most likely go into some detail about Wicca itself and perhaps compare it to other beliefs and then go over which parts I personally believe and follow.
Calla
xxx
Piethon 