Why I call myself witch…

Anyone can call themselves a witch but only a few really dedicate themselves to walking the path. I am not special by any means…no more then anyone else anyway. Why did I choose this path? Well it certainly was not because it was an easy one. The words “Do as you will, as long as you harm no one” may seem very easy and simple at first glance, but it is a law that is more complex than any other rule or law out there when you put it into practice in you daily life and I have broke this law so many times I cannot even count, but I still strive to follow this law even when I fail.


I did not wake up one morning and say I am Wiccan let me run to the first festival I can find and dance around the fire and draw down the moon. In fact my claim to this religion took over 4 years of reading and finding who I am before I could finally call myself Wiccan. I still do not discuss my beliefs with many people, especially in work environment or family settings in fear of the outcome from other people. When you find a kindred spirit whom is on the same path as you the excitement is almost unbearable and you want to grab on to that person and hear all they have to say.


I grew up Southern Baptist and always knew there was a higher power. I have felt that power since I was very small and loved whatever it was that was out there with all my heart and I still do to this day. I have never rejected the words and love of that higher power. I do reject the dogma and rules placed upon the followers of that group but not the higher being it was designed around.


After my divorce over a decade ago my search began. I really didn’t know what I was looking for or why, but I knew I needed to find it. At that point I had rejected structured religion and thought of myself as a free spirit and that I was just different possibly evil as many would say, but I did not feel evil just free. I said “God would not have us bound in chains and unhappy…he wants us free and willing to learn and enjoy life not be worried about every move and wrong deed in our lives.”


Then complications set in…I began questioning more and more. With every answer came more questions and there are still questions unanswered. My biggest question was how does female fit into the scheme of things? – Why is god male only? Why does religion focus on men and woman as evil? Then I began thinking about the verse that God says “I am” in and the verse at the beginning of the bible about creation and God refers to self as “we” and says they are made in “our” image both “male” and “female”. God was not a male alone. God was not a female alone, but a male/female, God/Goddess figure or is this being more than this. I started reading Kabala, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnostic Christian, Theosophy, etc…etc…etc. I found a common theme in all of them GOD not male/not female but “The All” the oneness of all of them. Then it got deeper, deeper and deeper, beyond this point my belief in the God, “The All” is boundless…unexplainable, everything, nothing, the universe, the dirt, the tree, the flower, my child…me? We, everyone, universal mind…beautiful, mystical, mythical, wonderful, free, openness to all, self love, love others…


This is Wicca, this is witchcraft, and this is love of nature, love of the world and humanity.


The more I read the more beautiful this world became. The more I wanted to stop its destruction. The more I feel humanity lost something when we stepped out of the woods and into civilization…God is everywhere; in the pen I use to write this on the paper it hits, in the air I breathe, in my hand and arm, in my mind as I think, in my heart as it beats, in the computer when I type this…etc…etc…


I could go on but it would never end. Some people say I am too passionate and let it consume me. Well maybe I do? If this is not God/Goddess/ The All, I guess I am just a fool.


Now why do I call myself witch? I am a nature loving, spell casting, energy believing, chanting, candle lighting, incense burning, ritual loving, power sending, ground kissing, tree hugging, people loving, animal talking, path working, meditating, poem writing, music loving, book reading, divination believing, belly dancer believing in the male/female deity called “The All”, Mother Earth, Gaia.


I am Wiccan! I am Witch! I am Pagan!