How did you discover your chosen path?

[SilvaParvulus]

I was introduced to wicca by a freind, and its been seven years and ive never looked back. How did you all discover your chosen paths?

[shadowx]

It started with a curse, that may or may not have worked, from there i found wicca, eventually i realised wicca is the complete opposite of me and now i consider myself simply pagan. There isnt a path in front of me as such, only one behind me since i dont follow a path, i make one But essentuially my beliefs are formed from sketchy science, common sense and what feels right.

[Ravencry]

I think this may be spam. I'll keep an eye on it just to be sure.

[shadowx]

I did have my suspicions but i see no links in a sig or the post, the username doesnt seem to match the content of the post IMHO but we will see.

[Traumwandlerin]

It's an intersting question though. Only the opening post hurts my eyes

I've found Wicca first. I've read a book by, don't know her name, something about the "great mother goddess" with a chapter of political and ecological womenhood. Ravenwolf or whatever. Those names all sounds the same to me ^^

Well, but since I was way to shy to lend books or buy books (what would people think!) and I hadn't internet back those days (damn parents) I just did everything on my own. Which was quite ok for me. I just needed one book to know I'm not nuts or crazy and other people will do the same stuff. And after that I was able to develop further and experience on my own.

Of course it helped, that my mother and my aunts were witches. But the Aunt was Wicca and really secret about it and my mother was just really insecure and always giggled when she used some herbs, cause she felt totally childish. So I've always heard something, but my mother was cluesless and my aunt never told anything and kept all her stuff to herself.

So my path now is just my path. It resonates with core shamanism, chaos magic and a lot of intuitive stuff filtered through a scientific mind

[JuniperBerry]

I feel like rambling, so prepare yourselves.


It started when I was 16. I was just emancipated from foster care and my lawyer's rebellious son was walking around town with me. He took me to his house and started talking to me about witchcraft and naturally I was interested. So he sat me down in his living room and we cast our first circle and it was pretty amazing- just that feeling of doing something different, feeling something different. I went that night to my best friend's house and the next morning I laid down some salt and said some chant about the phone ringing and as soon as I finished he called. Which he was probably going to do anyway but, yeah... So I hung out with him again that day and when I went back to my friend's house she heard about what I had done from her sisters and kicked me out.

So Lawyer's Son and I hooked back up, and we started walking towards down town until we ran into a bunch of his other friends, who were also getting into witchcraft. We hopped into the back of a truck and rode around into some mountains, and we smoekd some weed, talked about life, talked about the 'truth' and some guy fed me a prickly pear. (Heh.) Anyway, after that we went to some other guy's house whose mom (we were all teens, btw) let everyone live with her. So there's like 12-13 of us kids living in this house, all talking about magic, all casting spells, being a 'coven'. I lived there until I turned 18 and then I left for California with my boyfriend. I remember once though, I had gone down by the river and did a love spell and the next day each one of the guys pulled me aside to profess some secret attraction to me. It finally clicked at one point that one of them had followed me and ratted me out to the others.

I still stayed involved with witchcraft but the rebellious teen crap wasn't as satisfying. Anyway, my boyfriend and I got married and then he became an abusive jerk. One night we were at a party and the cops were called. I had had enough of my husband, of everything, and threw away all my tarot cards and candles and tools and books. I had also gotten pregnant so I focused all of my energy on that. I wound up joining the Army, divorcing my husband and getting remarried. So...flash forward four years and I start thinking about being spiritual again. I'm older, wiser, more in control of myself. I dig out one book I had kept, Starhawk's The Spiral Dance and start getting back into it. I found an amazing forum with smart, practical people and really began developing a more pragamatic and philosophical approach to spirituality and paganism. Once I had my pagan worldview down and had really separated myself from my old beliefs and God I began yearning for something more traditional, something with an involved mythology and belief system.

I had known about heathenry for awhile, one of my good friends was always talking about Odin, but I hadn't been interested in it at the time. I moved back to the States from Germany and my beliefs really took a nosedive. I was different, things were different here, and I was home-sick. So slowly but surely I began investigating heathenry more, and the more I found out it the more it all just clicked. There were some interesting coincidences between the lore and things I had experienced and felt as a child and it spoke to me in a way nothing else had. Before, when I read about the Lady and Diana, it was like reading about two dimensional charcaters in a fairy tale. But heathenry was different. I slipped right into it like a perfect fit. I can't imagine a world in which I could ever go back to a Christian god, and I can't imagine not believing in the heathen ones. Which is a little scary; the power I feel in it, the truth I sense...I feel sometimes like I don't have a choice anymore. I see things snowballing and creating this strong connection and a part of me wants to back off and another part of me is incredibly curious and thankful.

*Sigh* Anyway. That's the condensed story of me.

[Traumwandlerin]

JuniperBerry, it was Starhawk, now I remember, thanks

What kind of weird story, with that coven. And what mean teenagers, acting like you've done a lovespell. It's at least funny in retrospective? ^^

I always remember that my mother despite her insecurities was very nature-loving. We were always in some forest, picking up some herbs and stuff. This way I actually gained a lot of knowledge in this area. Sadly I turned out to be neutral towards nature and not being interested in playing along with herbs or some secret mysteries.

[SilvaParvulus]

Its not spam, i was just asking a question.

[JuniperBerry]

JuniperBerry, it was Starhawk, now I remember, thanks

I had a feeling it was her when you described it as feminist and political.

What kind of weird story, with that coven.

Haha. I know. We were such dorks, and we had that intense seriousness that comes with young age.

And what mean teenagers, acting like you've done a lovespell. It's at least funny in retrospective? ^^

Well, I don't think they were pranking me. The boys seemed pretty earnest in their protestations of love. I think when they heard I had done a love spell they thought what every teenage boy thinks.

[Traumwandlerin]

Ah, ok, SilverParvlus. It was just the way you wrote, you know, huge letters, wrong code and such. We were just irritated that this was a really serious question and no spamlinks even thoug it looked like spam

JuniperBerry, I like the story anyways. I'm totally smiling right know. Especially about "I think when they heard I had done a love spell they thought what every teenage boy thinks. ". Teenage boys, aren't the cute somehow ^^

[shadowx]

We do get a fair bit of spam here, the best way to avoid being labeled as a spammer is to make an intro topic It also means people can get to know you and your beliefs etc... Though come to think of it im not sure i made one... *shrugs*

[SilvaParvulus]

Sorry, thanks for the advice. X

[shadowx]

No need to aplogise

Welcome anyway!

[flowersofthelady]

wow juniperberry, what an amazing story.
i have already explained part of mine in perevious posts but i will post here...
i was always looking for something different as a child and experienced things i couldnt explain but for some reason i cant remember now one christmas i convinced myself that the big book shaped present under the tree was a spell book! i was so upset when it was an origami book LOL! as i have grown up i now know that my mum is quite a powerful being with telepathic and clarevoyant capabilities but she doesnt have a clue! i tried to tell her but she couldnt understand what i was saying to her.
when i was a teenager i did the usual teenage identity searching and wicca really spoke to me. I met my husband at 16 and he had read books (they were so hard to find here then) and i had no internet yet, his knowledge astounded me and introduced me into a whole new way of looking at the world. We got married when i turned 18 and our familys were so supportive my mum even hunted down the citys high priestess to arrange and perform a handfasting for us. (a very well respected woman who had faught for wiccan rights in the city and even had the council build then a stone circle by a lake!) its so funny my mum calls herself a strict baptist then she goes and does something like that! haha. I was so young and shy i couldnt ask that woman anything but now im older i wish i did.
Anyway, over the next few years due to one thing or another i drifted away from my beliefs until a few months ago one of the few people i have known for 10 years asked me for witchey help because she thought i was still into it after all this time. I had a moment of clarity and remembered who i really was and was so grateful someone else still knew me for me after everything thats happened.
i have thrown myself into researching and rediscovering myself and beliefs and its going great. i feel really alive with it all.
not sure what my "path" is or will be yet tho.

[Ravencry]

Its not spam, i was just asking a question.

Thank you for replying. The reason that I assumed this was because a recent spammer (Shadowx remembers, its the one that failed to post an email address for the 'spellcaster') wrote in the same font, same colour, same size, same bold, and same italic as you. This is why I assumed this. I'm very sorry for offending you if I did. We have a problem with spammers and the post looked alike. Once again I apologize!