Everything old is new again

I grew up in a United Church christian household; not overtly christian mind you… there was not generally grace said before meals or pictures on the walls of saints and christ – we were United after all, not Catholic or Orthodox – but christian none the less.
“Paganism” to me was unknown for much of my life, I knew of witches as being something of fiction and fantasy, let alone to get started into all the other paths currently practiced.
When I found out that a friend of mine at the time was going camping for a weekend at AEPG (Avalon East Pagan Gathering), I was confused… the what what?
“Oh yeah, he’s a Practicing Druid, didn’t y’know? ”
That can be pretty much be nailed down as the moment that this new world and life started for me, the very FIRST moment I saw all this new stuff to experience, looking back now it wasn’t even that much!

Sometimes I wish I could go back to the moments when everything was new to me, but then I think about all I’ve experienced and learned, and know that I just need to work at not letting what I have go stale and mundane.

D.

The first (but not last!)

Well, intro post, we meet at last.

I’ve never been one for writing on a regular basis (in any format), so I’m really going to make an effort to not bore the crap out of people on this blog, fingers crossed!

Now I will lay this out there; I do not consider myself to be much of a storehouse of knowledge on paganism, but I’ll pass along what knowledge I can and update with lots of opinions about living on the east coast and being a dirt worshiping heathen.

D.

The intro post.

I guess it’s time I introduce myself (and I’ll let Andrew introduce himself, in his own words).

I’m Renée. I have lived on the east coast of Canada my entire life. I love it, and I find it hard to think of myself living anywhere else,though I suppose it could be a possibility. I grew up on Prince Edward Island, the smallest of Canada’s provinces.

From a young age, I was fascinated with nature. I grew up in a tiny village where I spent my youngest years playing in the forest, riding dirt bikes recklessly across stony, loamy paths. My house was in the middle of 3 cow fields. When I walked to the general store (we had one of those), it literally was uphill both ways. The grass was my first crash pad, the forest ferns my first ‘pretend’ bed. I liked to play with mud, to get dirty, and to climb trees to watch the cows graze.

Unfortunately, I moved a lot. It grew increasingly hard, especially in my later adolescence, to connect with nature on a deep level. However, at 18, in a crazy happenstance, I found my religious calling.

I grew up Catholic (like fully half of PEI did), but the religion never clicked with me, and I refused to be confirmed. My grandmother, bless her, simply told me I was going to Hell. My mother was non-religious and cared not for my disobedience. I spent a lot of high school deeply agnostic. I had no idea that Wicca, witchcraft, or Paganism existed. The pagans in my school (and, I found out later, there were a few) were very hush hush, it seemed. Really, I wanted to find something that fit me like a handmade sweater, something that made me feel proper and warm. After moving out of my house, I came across a tarot deck in my local comic shop. I purchased it.

I spent a lot of time trying to find books, but almost all books were about this ‘Wicca’ stuff. Finally, a friend passed me a copy of Silver Ravenwolf’s To Ride a Silver Broomstick, because apparently it had a great tarot section. I read the whole book, and, dissatisfied, I craved more. I checked out every book in the PEI Library system. I purchased my first book (a Gerina Dunwich book, I believe) a few months later. I did the whole ‘ouija board’ thing, and worked some spells with a friend and co-worker. Soon, though, I wanted a deeper relationship – the same healthy reverence and fear I had of nature as a child. I ended up in a coven with a few other girls my age. Like many other first groups, it unfortunately fizzled.

In the past 9 years, I have been in many groups. I have read hundreds of books, been to countless rituals, and worked with many people. And I finally feel like I have found my place – something that continuously challenges me, feeds my soul, and leaves me in awe.

My current life? I am working on a year of faith and I blog about it here. I work with two other folks and run the Nova Scotia Pagan Alliance. I work at the Halifax bookshop Little Mysteries. I am a trained photographer, and working on merging it with spirituality.

And I spent every day thanking this world.