A lot of different elements came together to help me discover my journey as a witch. As an avid reader, I found a love for history and historical fiction. Both nonfiction and fiction regarding historical witch trials fascinated me. I read many books about Greek and Egyptian cosmology. I've always had a vivid imagination and I would braid grasses, and make potions of mushrooms, tree bark, and flowers. When I was 13 or so, I went to a small renaissance fair, I grabbed a book that I thought was about Celtic mythology, but was in fact about Celtic magic. My parents would always buy an almanac, and typically there's lots of ads for rootworkers, psychics, and shops selling amulets, talismans and good luck charms, I actually ordered my first AzureGreen catalog from seeing an ad in an almanac. My parents raised me to be open minded and curious, so I had a Ouija board when I was 13-14 and Tarot cards around the time I was 16, and I didn't have to hide them. In this respect, I was truly lucky as I grew up smack dab in the Bible Belt. I watched mom use her gifts, premonition and empathy, regularly in her life. As my desire to learn more grew, I started acquiring books like Charms, Spells, and Formulas, Create Your Own Magic, and Astral Projection for Beginners. (Note: I'm not neither endorsing or disavowing these books; just listing them to give you an idea of my early influences.) I began constructing altars for myself and burning incense. A lovelorn teenager, I of course tried love spells now and then to bring someone to me. The spells never worked thankfully. (Looking back at the people I had crushes on, I cringe.) I kept a small altar through the dorm years at college. I occasionally attended the pagan student group at university, and heard that there were groups in my city that offered open circles, but I was too shy to attend. Eventually as my partner and I settled in together (he was an agnostic leaning toward Paganism and I was a confirmed Pagan) we decided to venture out to the local group's Samhain ritual. From that point forward, we began to attend regularly and eventually committed to becoming members. Throughout this time, my practice is basically folk magic; jars, skeleton keys, handfuls of herbs, small, hand-sewn flannel bags , little charms make my heart sing. It is sometimes hard to translate that type of work into group work in a ritual setting; however it's important to note that there's a difference between witchcraft and religion, or at least there is for me. I'd still say that I'm mostly a low magick practitioner in my solitary practices, but I practice high magick within my coven. Art found here
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