Just Your Typical Mom

I had this moment last week, where I realized that media is having a larger influence over my kids concept of the word "witch" than I would like.  I had to step up my explanation of things to my five year old.  It was a little frustrating, but a great opportunity to teach him some things.

Some ideas are embraced by the Pagan community, even though they are not at all the reality of the faith.  I can't be the only one who makes it a habit to watch Practical Magic on Halloween.  But, really, the idea of a witch on a broomstick, riding across the sky, isn't really what Paganism is about.

So much of our modern concept of a witch, is based on ideas spread by those who wanted to stamp out Paganism.  They aligned  witches with the Devil, and turned the Wise Women, and those who followed the Old Paths and Traditions, into evil people who needed to be destroyed for the good of all the God-Fearing citizens.

In fairness, the ideas that I run across these days aren't that I'm flying on a broomstick or have magical powers.  What I come across now is mostly skepticism.  As if I think I have magical powers and want to ride around on a broomsick.  That just isn't what my faith is about.  I believe in a Divinity that is reflected in every faith on earth.  And, as different as people are, so are our spiritual needs.  Personally, I connect better to the Divine through a dual understanding of that force as both male and female.  The God and the Goddess.  And since I see that force woven through the fabric of the earth, it's creatures, and the cycles of the seasons, it makes sense to me to worship through those things.  I do so out in nature, as the seasons change, and as the cycles of the earth continue.

People's ideas of what it means to be Pagan, I've found a little odd, sometimes.  For example, when my kids get sick, I don't heal them with magic rocks.  I utilize herbs and natural remedies when possible, for small things, but I'm a nurse.  I take my kids to the doctor when we need medical intervention.

I don't think I can tell the future.  I do think there are people who can connect to things I can't see.  I'm, sadly, not one of them.  But I do think there are tools, like tarot cards, that can give us a greater insight into ourselves and our own circumstances.  I think it has to do with the subconscious and symbolism.  I do think a healthy dose of skepticism protects us from being taken advantage of by con artists and liars.  I let faith replace reason, once upon a time.  I'm not about to do it again.

I dress pretty normally.  I'm on the PTO.  I read books with my kids and play games and do things that other parents do.  People wouldn't normally realize I was Pagan at all, until they saw me drive away with the big Pagan Pride bumper sticker on the back of the van.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't hide my faith.  Equally, I don't shove it in people's faces.  That I am a Pagan, comes out in other ways.

I believe that we are interconnected through a Divinity that runs through all living things, and the earth.  But more important than what I believe, is what I do with that belief.  My faith makes me more conscious that I'm not just a steward of what is around me, I am a part of it.  That world view, influences me on every level.  Still, I'm just your typical mom, dragging little ones to the bathroom and fighting to get shoes on them in the morning.  Maybe a little more singing when there's a full moon, but you know, we're all weird in our own ways.