Welcome to Gaia! ::

Long story on how I started into Wicca. I was raised in a very Christian family, and was terrified into full belief by the threat of eternal damnation. (For a while, I even asked for renewed salvation on a daily basis, just to be on the safe sisde.) When I was about fourteen or fifteen, and was beginning to really llok at what I believed and compare it to what I'd been taught, I stumbled accross the 'Lioness' quartet by Tamora Pierce. I told my older sister about these really great fantasy books I'd been reading, and how some of the people in them had magockal powers. She nodded and said, "Yeah, kind of like the Guardians." And she gave me 'Children of the Night' by Mercedes Lackey. Once I'd finished it, and told her I'd enjoyed it, she told me that there's generational power in our family, and that I could do all of these things. So I started to learn a little here and there when she had time and oppourtunity to teach me. And then I found out that part of the reason that I was having so much trouble with it, was that she'd sealed my power away when I was a baby so I'd have an easier time growing up in our mom's uber-Chrisitan household. So, I wound up knowing that I should be able to do certain things (like shield) instinctively, but the instinct was gone. So I couldn't. And then a few years later, I met someone (who I later married) who told me about his religion: Wicca. And I discovered that not only would it teach me how to do all of those things that should have come instinctively, but it also matched exactly with all of my core beliefs, including the ones I couldn't reconcile with Christianity. So, long story ended, here I am, nearly four years later, still sure that I'm on the right religious/spiritual path, but desperate for instruction that my husband doesn't have time to give. (For some reason 'Read these Cunningham books and do what they say' just doesn't work for me all that well.)

This is long, but bare(right analogy?) with me…

Well, there where a lot of events in my life that lead to wicca. When I was little, one of my earliest memories was playing with faeries, then I had a event happen when I was a little older, I ran off into the woods and reached a clearing, there I saw a deer, I was startled of course as any 6 year old would be. I took a step back as the deer walked right up to me.. I curled up into a ball in fright and it sniffed me then just walked away. Scared out of my mind I ran back home. Another event where I was climbing a tree, I got up and I looked to the side and saw what appeared to be a family of Barn owls and I jumped down and ran scared again.
I found faeries again when I was in 3rd and 4th grade but my mother told me I had an over active imagination(I come from a entirely catholic family.). But the woods where I knew they stayed was torn down and they where scattered and I haven’t seen them since. (again with the fae…) I always heard a little voice in my head that sounded like an older woman who would tell me what was right and wrong( oh noo! The voices!) and I figured that she was my conscious but I feel she’s completely separate from me (confusing eh?)… I didn’t get into wicca until about 6th grade when I hade a friend who was into it. I explained all the things and dreams I had that where strange. She explained to me what wicca and paganism was and helped teach me for about a half a year before I started studying on my own. My family is accepting and respect my choice.( lucky I guess?) I tend to feel most connected to celtic beliefs than anything else because of my heritage.

Where I am now 7 years later….

Quite a few various faeries visit my garden and pond in spring – fall still. I tend to drift and just keep my distance from them (why do they seem to have an interest in me?) I have a boyfriend/fiancé who accepts me for me(he worships the ground I walk on) I still have strange dreams. My strong points seem to be anything and everything that has to do with fire. I feel I can read minds(accidentally heh heh..) sometimes(and I tend to have strong connections to those close to me and I get yelled at for invading privacy of their heads!) I seem to be really great at astro projection. I have my own herb garden that has grown to be about 16 different herbs. And various other things. My friend who introduced me has fallen into a more ‘dark’ side of wicca. She had been reading such books as the ‘necronomicon’(sp?). anyone else hear of it? it gives me a bad 'woojie' feeling.

sorry it's so long.. but alot of things contributed to me becoming wiccan.

My friend found a black leather pentagram journal in her grandma's attic when they were cleaning. She found a lot of neat stuff and invited me over to look. I was instantly drawn to this journal . I decided to look through it and not too far into it I found a part of a wiccan book blessing. My friend looked through it eariler page by page. Seeing me find the blessing freaked her out, so she gave it to me for free =). Then afterwards whenever I was scared or needed comfort I would hold the book. So after a little while I decided to check Wicca out =)

In 7th grade I was reading Seventeen magazine { Which my parents didn't like me reading, too mature or something >_< } and found an article about this girl who was kicked out of her house because of her beliefs. Her family was Orthodox Christian, and didn't tolerate her choice to switch religions. I was interested in this 'Devil Religion' as the parents reffered to it, so I did some studying. I Googled it, wrote essays for school about it, bought/borrowed books about it, and voila, here I be 3 years later.
None of my friends are into it. One of them has a similar pagan belief system she created...eclectic pagan I believe it's called? The rest of my close friends are either Jewish, Christian or Athiest.
My parents are accepting but reluctant to my switch from Catholosism {sp?}. I no longer go to church with them, but recently I've wanted to go check it out again. My sister is close to being Agnostic.

Well, I have always been fascinated by what I believed to be fnatasy; magic.

Though magic may not work the way they show it on television, it does in fact work.

I use to watch a lot of anime as a kid; Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors (which I taped, and still watch on occasion) and a lot of other like-minded shows.

One day, I stumbled across something on Wicca and Witchcraft on the internet, but not willing to trust online sources to have proper information, I went in search of books on it. When I began reading up on it, I found I, just like many others, had a lot of common beliefs with this peaceful, earth-based religion. A lot of what I had done as a child (I use to play with the wind, making it stronger, making it appear on an otherwise windless day, making clouds make specific shapes, etc) was very much the foundation of Wiccan magic. Thus, I learned that magic was only part of the religion, whereas ritual was very sacred. I learned more and more, taking a great liking to the dual deity concept. A Goddess, and a horned God. Though it thrilled me to have a female deity in the picture, the horned God had my interest as strongly, if not sometimes stronger, due to his animal-nature. I thought of the Greek-Roman Gods, like Pan, whom was also called Lupercus and Faunus.

I also ventured into other gods of different pantheons that had animal appearances and tendencies, like Cernunnos, Dionysus, Baphamet, and so on.

The more I learned about the ancient gods and goddesses, the more I began to love Wicca. Since Wicca likes to borrow and incorporate with other belief systems, it was ideal for me.

I had always had a deep appreciation for the Egyptian Pantheon as well, and liked looking to certain Goddess aspects to be my archetypes of the Goddess, so that I could feel closer to her as well.

I kind of just stumbled into the religion, but it had such a great impact on me, I stuck with it.

Now, I still read because you can always learn new things, even if you're an elder in the religion.

Well, that's the gist of it.^^

My Story:
I've said it before...but I'll tell in detail now. I was born a Mormon, and grew into my teens as one. My mom and dad got divorced, and eventually my mother asked for her name to be taken out of church records, therefore making it as if she had never joined. My dad is a very devoted Christian and Mormon, and when I lived with him I never had a chance to so much as talk about other church's beliefs. But after I went to live with my mom, I heard about all the corrupt things going on and the corrupt people running things, and I decided to leave that church (which had never held any attraction for me anyway...I was very close to despising it at times.). My mother had recently purchased a book about Wicca, and I, being the infinitely curious creature I am, took it off the shelf to read it. It just felt so very...right. It was definitely what I was looking for, and what I had been missing in my previous religion.
I had always felt a pull towards nature, and felt that something was wrong with the whole: "Be Mormon or be damned!" thing and the "One god, (no female deity? I never felt that was right...) and women are there to bear children, take care of them, and must be married or they can't make it to heaven!" And the whole thing just made it seem to me that women were below men and were there for nothing but to bear their children and wait on them.
So I was sort of in the market for a religion, and nothing I knew about really felt right to me...until I found Wicca. So after some more research, (bunches, actually, 'cuz I want to be thorough.) I decided that this was the religion for me, and could help me in what I needed to do in this life. And here I am! (My mom is supportive,...I'm working up to telling my dad, who will probably disown me. He thinks being curious about this kind of stuff is bad...just wait till he hears I'm a part of it.*Shudders* Luckily, he lives all the way across the country.

I was raised Christian, my parents took me to church until I was eight and then I continued going because I loved feeling like I could get close to God. I have always hidden a belief that God wasn't just God, he was he and she, and even better, I believed that the various Ancient Greek Gods I was drawn to were a part of this Him. Eventually I started feeling like the messages weren't helping me any, they never had, I took stock of my life and realized that if I were so bad, I had to be doing something to need to be saved and most days I couldn't find anything that was "sinful". So I began researching other religions.

I continued to go to church, but I hid my fasicnation with other religions from those I did love at the church. Since I can remember, which is way too far back to be normal, I could remember having dreams come true, getting visions, and have whispers inside my head that warned or exhalted my actions or path. Finally, my mom told me that she too had feelings about things, but nothing like I had. I remember her looking at me like I was mad when I heard the voice of a male and a female talking to me in the night, when no one else had heard it.

When I was three I saw faeries dance around my room and I became frightened when they tried to show me my witch-yness. And, I mean they were weaving pentagrams and pentacles and stuff in shimmering lights around my bed. I still see things, mainly the shadows of my totem animals.

When I was researching other religions I came across Wicca and studied it slowly for about three years, bringing myself to buy my first book only nine months ago. Now I know that this is what I have always been, at the local Pagan shop I am told repeatedly by different people that I am "Exceptionally psychic", I have an "Excellant IQ, very, very gifted", and I am an "Old soul, very old soul". All things I had and have continued to discover as time progresses.