So I promised myself I would start a blog when I found the time. I never found the time (time is really good at playing hide and seek). So finally I made the time and I've enjoyed writing on it, I'm certainly not going to stop doing that. But here's the problem, being a person means I have opinions. Some of them are important to me, some I find too funny but I still can't shake them, others of them are just things I would like to share. As a secular witch I often find that people make assumption of witches that aren't me. Then when who I am comes out some people get miffed. "You don't believe in the Law of Returns? You can't be a witch!" "Why don't you have a tarot deck? All the good witches have them!" "You don't meditate, believe in a deity, cast a circle? What the heck kind of witch are you?"
The thing about spirituality and religion is that, because it is about belief, each of us brings our own experiences of our whole life with us. So even if we go to the same church, get preached to by the same minister, come from the same family, live in the same town, we cannot totally believe the exact same thing. It's not that were trying to be different, but life (and some believe other lives) is not the same for each person.
To give an example: I don't believe in a deity. I do not turn to the gods or goddesses for help. I roll up my sleeves and get it done myself. See, I was raised on a farm surrounded by nature. My good times as a child were wading in the creek, taking horseback rides, camping under the stars. Freedom was my best friend. Could it be dangerous? Of course, I often wonder how I survived to adulthood when now we don't let our children out of our sight. My parents often didn't know where I was for the whole weekend. I loved it. I felt a special connection with nature. From this came my spirituality. The idea of a god or goddess watching over me...well..it creeps me out. I can't be free if I am always worried that someone is staring disapprovingly at me as I squish mud between my toes and soak my jeans so I can watch tadpoles turn into frogs. A belief in a god or a goddess would take away from the beauty of the world for me. So I chose not to have that belief.
Now a friend of mine who is a witch as well was held captive by her stepfather as his pawn to get back at her mother for leaving him. She hid in her bedroom with her younger sister while he drank and became unhinged. She looked up and saw the picture of the Virgin Mary on her wall and felt a sense of peace that the Mother Goddess was watching over her. It helped her to survive her ordeal. To this day she carries that feeling of peace with her connection to her goddesses.
For me to demand that she stops believing in her goddesses would be an exercise in futility on my part. I could pass laws that say she can't believe, I could raise armies that would kill all believers, I could leave their bodies hanging from the tallest tree for all to see, and I could NEVER wipe the feeling of peace my friend gets from her connection to her goddesses. It would be the same if she tried to make me believe. Oh, if I were threatened badly enough I could lie and say, "Of course I believe." I could be forced to go to church every Sunday. I can take communion with the rest of the people, but in my heart of hearts I cannot believe. It goes against all I feel is good in the world. A creepy man or woman watching over me makes me want to pull inside of myself and hide, not dance in a rainstorm and rejoice.
So no matter what, we all cannot believe the same way as each other. It is impossible because belief comes from who we are and we are each different. So when I share my beliefs, and some of them are harsh, I am not saying that ALL MUST BELIEVE AS I DO!!! I have too much to do with my life to waste trying to do the impossible. Instead, for the most part, I celebrate our differences. I have the right to express mine and be loved (or hated) for what I believe, not for what others think I believe.
That is the reason I have started this other blog. Because I want to talk about my being a witch...and because my other blog; From the Briars while it does have a witch's perspective, it's more about my simple life than it is about my spirituality. This one will be about that.
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