Paganism

About 6 years ago my Mom got interested in nature based religion. She was hiking and camping a lot with my Dad and she realized that being in nature was the one place where she felt most at peace, most calm, most connected. These feelings and realizations lead her to seek out a religion that she could practice daily. She started looking into Wicca and that soon lead to Paganism. Now I am not an expert on Wicca or Paganism, and I may have my timeline off and my Mom's reasons for seeking out Paganism wrong but this is what I understand to be the case with my Mom's religion. Over the last 6 yrs she has devoted herself to studying and practicing Paganism. She is a high priestess in a coven and this summer she will be ordained as a minister with Circle Sanctuary, a federally sanctioned pagan church, the biggest in the country. I have participated in rituals with my Mom numerous times, as has Evie (though she probably doesn't really remember).

Paganism is really interesting. I think most girls my age went through a "witch" phase as teenagers, we tried Ouija boards, seances, candle lighting, etc. There are tons of movies about witchcraft, from silly (Hocus Pocus, Witches, Wizard of Oz) to scary (Blair Witch Project). In my limited experience with paganism most of these movies and cultural references are not very accurate when it comes to the Pagan religion. Again, I am not nearly as informed about this religion as my Mom. But I want to at least clear the air in terms of what Paganism is and is not. From my experience Paganism is a very natural and holistic religion. Pagans believe in multiple Gods and Goddesses (like the Greeks and most other pre-christian religions). Paganism seems to me, to put a strong emphasis on nature and balance in all aspects of one's existence. And there is strong emphasis on putting out what you want to get back. If you put out negativity it will come back to you, if you put out positivity it will come back to you. Paganism is not devil worship, it is not about putting negative spells or hexes on people. There is a lot more to Paganism than I can fairly do justice to, and in fact I implore my Mom to put up links in the comments to good websites about Paganism.

I am not a Pagan, I am not a Christian, I am not Jewish. But my family is all of these religions. And my kids are exposed to all of these religions. And I think that is really cool for them and for me.

Evelyn as a Hex Girl (from Scooby Doo) at Halloween