Sacred Mists

I've found the answer to my prayers. No, seriously. I've been reading and searching for so long, I was ready to just give up on being spiritual at all. But then I found the College of the Sacred Mists, an online college for Wiccans and Witches and my other Heathen brothers and sisters ;-) The teachings are described as eclectic in nature, but include Celtic and Faerie traditions, as well. I posted on their Facebook, asking how people who go to the college appropriate their time for Sacred Mists study, work, and traditional schooling. The feedback was absolutely incredible, and though I haven't yet joined the College of the Sacred Mists, I already feel so absolutely accepted and loved! I'm really sad that I won't be able to join just yet though, I just bought the rest of my books for school (I start my freshman year of college next week...ahhhh!) but I also am buying an elliptical machine because I want to lose about 30-35 pounds. For people paying with a credit card, semi annual payments are required as opposed to the traditional $25 a month fee with paypal. With the one time enrollment fee, this comes to $175. How freaking awesome is that!? I mean, really...I've come across online Wiccan colleges charging as much as $2,000 a course. $325 a course is a freaking bargain, not to mention you can take supplementary courses such as Tarot, Reiki, Runes etc as no extra cost. The amount of excitement I'm feeling is absolutely unreal. I can't wait to begin my study in their First Degree course :)

been a while, huh?

Over a month, to be exact. The last time I posted...I sent out an unfathomable number of emails to other members of the Wiccan/Pagan community. About 2 or 3 people had emailed me back. One girl even added me on Facebook. This excited me, until we got to talking. She's a model, which I think is awesome, but instead of discussing our spirituality, she did nothing but post links to her "fashion show ticket sales" on my wall. I think we said 2 words to each other about Wicca, and that was it. Needless to say, I was pretty aggravated. My Spirituality is everything to me. I try to live and breathe Wicca as much as possible, and I felt pretty lied to when she said that she was the same way when she obviously was NOT. That's her business though, I guess.

The other girl that emailed me back lives all the way in California. As a Wiccan, I would give anything to live in California. I mean seriously,  look at their Witchvox profile. There's always something going on that's usually withing reasonable driving distance. We Arm-Pit dwellers aren't so fortunate, unfortunately. ...what? Anyway, we exchanged a few emails over the course of about a week or so, and then she kind of vanished. I still have no idea what's going on, but I guess if she wants to continue the discussion she'll do so at some point or another.

But on a pretty freakin' note of awesome, yesterday my grandma and I had gotten off work and we wanted to go to the historic part of town. So we go mosey around the 200 year old buildings filled to the brim with antique and coffee shops, and we come to our absolute favorite store in the world - The only metaphysical gift shop in Southeastern Ohio (or so it seems ;-)  ). I guess I should give some background here...my grandmother is not a Witch, or so she says...however! She is the only person in our family who actively participates in my spirituality, and even went so far as to buy my sister and I pendulums and tarot cards. So we go look at some pendulums for my cousin Piper (yes, she is named after Piper from Charmed. Her mom used to be all Witchy and what-not, but now saves it for when her husband isn't around....but that's a whole nother story...) So we go look at pendulums for Piper, because this kid has some sticky fingers and not only took my pendulum, but also my chakaras necklace and my old set of tarot cards. It breaks my heart to see her wanting this so badly, and only being able to express that part of the time. However, she's only 8 years old, nevermind the fact that she's more intelligent than most 18 year olds I know. She needs to be a little bit older before I go on to explain everything about Wicca to her. I told her that if she really wants it, and her heart is truly set on being Wiccan, it won't matter how long she waits. Which I think it totally reasonable...still gonna buy her a pendulum though...

that was quick...

So in my post yesterday I was talking about the Pagan community, or lack thereof, near where I live.

I seriously networked my ass off yesterday, until about 11:30 at night. I sent probably 15 e-mails out to people that had similar Spiritual Paths as myself. Then I remembered a girl I had met at a camp I volunteer for. We had the same Mala beads and I thought she was pretty chill, so I went out on a limb and asked her, "Hey, I know this shit's totally random...but do you know anything about Wicca or Paganism?" AND GUESS WHAT SHE SAID BACK!

Guess...

Woah, forgot I have no followers ;-) 

Anyway! She said, "Ha! Makes sense, since I'm always wearing Buddhist Mala's... I couldn't give a history lesson on either of them.." One thing led to another, and she said, "I've always wanted to learn more about Wicca, do you go to any festivals?" I couldn't say yes and lie to her. I've never been to a festival in my life...unless you count that belly dancing class I went to for Samhain like 2 years ago, which we won't.

I'm honestly pretty excited about this whole email correspondence thing I've got going on with her right now. It's crazy how just talking about my beliefs makes me feel better when I've had a crappy day. I'm really hoping that I hear back from some of the other people I've emailed. Although to be honest, I think there's something wrong with the Witchvox email system, because I clicked on the little box that read "Have a copy of this email sent to you for reference." but I never received a copy of said email(s). Hmmm...

the Arm-Pit

Since 2007, I've been practicing as a Solitary. 2007 was also my freshman year of high school. My friend Becca had first introduced me to Wicca when we were younger when she found a book about runes on her mother's book shelf. She didn't take Wicca seriously, though. Ever. She was more concerned with finding spells to attract a lover (which is absolute crap) or banishing said lover because he'd told his friends about their...ahem...endeavors? I figured if she was the only person I could practice with, I'd be better off by myself. So, that's what I did.  I've been really happy on my Solitary Path, until a little over a year ago. 

I logged onto my WitchVox account and saw that there was a Summer Solstice Festival happening the next week. My heart swelled with excitement at the thought of actually meeting with other Wiccans. So I clicked on the link to the event and my heart sank...it was in Cleveland. Freakin' Cleveland. I live allllll the way down on the Ohio River, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The Ohio Valley. Or, as we Natives call it, the Arm-Pit of Ohio. I checked the only city within 100 miles in either direction - Cincinnati. And there was nothing. No-thing. NOthing. noTHING. "Where's this big, Pagan community I keep reading about? Seriously?" is all I could think to myself.

After a year of searching, reading about covens in the area (one of which was named after an Egyptian goddess....but focused on Celtic/Germanic deities...um...what?) I finally got tired of coming up with nill...sooooo I mustered up some courage (more like opened my big mouth) and sent some e-mails to Wiccans and Pagans in the area that seem to share the same Spiritual Interests as me. Let's see how this goes.....