My Wicca-ology
Lisa Burns


I think I first discovered I was on a different path when I was just hitting my teenaged years.  My father would take me from church to church, experiencing the different forms of service.  This started my curiousity for the different things out there religion wise.  I then started a job at a library, and I have books upon books at my disposal. 

 

I remember reading quite a few older comparative religion books and thinking that their descriptions of witchcraft and paganism didn't feel right.  Then a new book came in, and I read it from cover to cover in one night.  That book was Mists of Avalon.  Yes, a fictional book, but it still hit home in so many ways I just knew this was more accurate than those so-called non-fiction books.  It mostly stayed in just the reading stages until I was in college.  Meeting new people, sitting around having coffee I got into a religions chat with a gentleman.  He was dressed as I was, head
to toe black (heck I still do dress like that, just a habit now I guess) and in the middle of the conversation he asked me to tell him what religion he was.  I stared at him for a moment and declared that I thought he was a witch.  He laughed at first, he said most people say Satanist right off the bat (due to the fact that our conversation was around how we both thought Jesus was a philosopher more than the son of God).  He then informed me that it takes one to know one, and handed me a book.

  Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler. 

Flash forward to life after college, being with friends who participated in a live-action roleplaying game.  The movie The Craft just came out,  and a bunch of us decided to make the trek to go see it.  When we got  settled in we realized there were 13 girls.  Having coffee afterwards me and two other girls got talking about how while most of the movie was pretty  made up, the basic witchcraft belief was something we all believed in.

  These two fantastic women were my first 'coven'.  I learned how to open and close circles, to call upon deities, to work magicks.  After about a year we found ourselves moving away, but I still hold a spot in my heart for them. 

One day I was on a bus, I don't even remember where I was going to at the time, but I got into a discussion with a gentleman who was a Native American.  He'd seen my necklace which has many different spiritual  charms on it, and asked what I followed.  We talked and talked, and he told me that he felt we were meeting for a reason.  That we had the same goal  in our minds.  At that moment I knew what it was.  For lack of a simpler  way to word it, we have to unite the tribes.  Pagans of all walks, all over the world need to be aware of each other.  Enough with the 'witch
wars', enough with the backbiting that is so common amongst us.  Something is
coming, and we need to be united.  That was, and is the driving force behind why I helped start our local networking organization.  While I might get discouraged that people don't come out to things, its reason  was simply for all of us to be aware of each other.  In that essence, it is  a success.

Over the years I have called myself many names.  Celtic pagan, Celtic Wiccan, Eclectic Wiccan, Eclectic Pagan, just plain ole Witch.  Lately I've been finding myself lacking something.  I thought maybe it was interaction with other witches, but after doing so I found myself  feeling the same way.   I'd been noticing that Qyzida had an aura around her  this past while that was new.  Confident, calm, serene, sure of herself.
  This was the types of things I was looking for for myself.  That's when I learned of her role in Light & Shadows.   Joining the email group and reading through the  archives I realized that this was it.  This was  what I need to do.  Re-dedicating myself to the Goddess in an official role  and keep with it.  I felt like I was home, and I've never been more pleased. This doesn't affect my role in the local community in an effort to keep people in contact with each other.  If anything it is going to strengthen it.  Being more self-assure of my faith is going to make me a better
witch. 

Over the span of my path I've heard the Lady from time to time. I believe she directed me to L&S, and that she smiles upon me for my decision to dedicate.