I have believed in the Craft and my Native American ancestors' traditions all my life. I have always been involved with and believed in Witchcraft and I have always honored the Earth. Along with all of that I have always felt there was something out there for me, but just didn't quite know what that something was. I sometimes doubted who and what I truely was.
Without abandoning my own principles, I began to research various religions over the course of several years. I was looking for one that I could fit into... trying to find others who shared the same beliefs and values as I did. I never found one that I could put myself into 100% for one reason or another though. But I knew there were others out there like me. I just wasn't looking in the right places.
Then I found a coven. Or rather a coven found me. I was overjoyed. Here were others that were like me! I didn't feel like an outcast. I belonged and I learned so much!
I have always been an eclectic. Thank the Gods and Goddesses that the Craft, Wicca, Paganism and other natural belief systems are becoming more widely known now! All spiritual paths should have information accessible so that those searching can find what is right for them.
This great country of our's was founded, basically due to the desire to have religious freedom. Some people forget that and they want to convert the entire world into one large mass of people that can be considered a flock.
Well, I'm not a sheep and I think for myself. I have my own beliefs that may be similar to others, but trying to convert me is a useless chore because I refuse to just follow a mass herd or flock or whatever you want to call it because I am a free spirit and the Gods and Goddesses guide me on my path.
Hopefully the day will come to pass that all the misunderstandings about the Craft, Wicca, Shaman, Druid, and all the other paths will be just bad memories.
Religious tolerance is a rare and precious gift and people should focus more on that, in my opinion.
My favorite aunt is a witch. She has always had a book, which I now believe is her own Book of Shadows, that she is very strict about no one seeing. She has a connection with me and several members of the rest of the family that is uncanny. She can just think of us, telling us to call her in her mind, and we do. It never fails. I seem to be able to do the same thing. Several members of the family can do it. We don't discuss it much, its just something that is there. My aunt and I can discuss such things as she has always been there to give advice and honestly answer questions, even when they seemed totally off the wall.
For example, when someone close to me has died, it has never failed, I go to sleep, no matter where I am, about 30 minutes before they die. I dream of a casket. I walk to the casket but it is too tall for me to see into, but I *know* who is there anyway and I start to cry...wail. Just as I am clibing to the top to look over into the casket, I either wake up or am woken. It happens everytime. I used to think that I was just losing my mind and that it was all just coincidental, but I have learned to accept it as part of my life. Once, I pulled the car over for no apparent reason. I just knew that I had to pull over. I promptly went to sleep. I dreamed of the casket. I woke up, crying and rushed home. When I got there the phone was ringing. I didn't want to answer it. It was my mother. My uncle had just died.
There are other things too. Like I know when I am going to get unexpected money, when I am going to meet someone new, when I will travel somewhere I have never been unexpectantly and so on.
Anyway, there have been lots of occurances in my life that have made me feel that I was different, odd, crazy or whatever you want to call it. But one thing has remained constant... my faith and devotion to the Gods and Goddesses and to nature as a whole. I never stopped learning in the craft.
During my search for a religious sect to belong to, I had never found one that I could truely give my heart completely to except the one I had already done that with, The Craft. So, since moving away from where I could be with my coven, I remain a solitary. This is not to say that I do not have contact with other Wiccans, Pagans, Witches, etc. though.
There is so much that has led me along this path that I am on and its hard to list it all. Of course I would never reveal all that I know. Its a wonderous journey that I am on and I have met and will meet many wonderful people along the way. I'm very happy and content with my path and I hope you are the same with yours.