About Me

Just a little bit about myself

and my spiritual path ...

Like many Pagans that I have met in the last decade or so, I was raised Christian (somewhere between "Born Again" and Baptist) but always felt like I never quite fit in. In my late teens, I decided that I did believe in a higher power, but was unwilling to accept that there was a single god that could be wholly defined by a mainstream religion. So, not being aware of Paganism at the time, I decided that agnostic was the way to go. I'd always been fascinated by things considered "occult" by society and really got into astrology (including doing my own natal chart) when I was about 16. I think my mother encouraged it because she thought it might upset my father (they were divorced when I was quite young). Regardless of the reason, I was happy to be able to openly do a little research on subjects I found interesting. It wasn't until I was in my 30's when I got into herbs. A friend suggested that I try echinacea for allergies instead of continuing to use over the counter lab created medicines. I was skeptical but decided to try it ... and was pleasantly surprised to find that herbs worked better than the OTC meds. Since then, I've studied herbs for use as alternatives to lab-created medications and have created a good number of concoctions for myself and my family. I was almost 40 before I discovered paganism. My daughter had expressed some interest in witchcraft and I had some reservations ... partly due to my upbringing I think, but mainly because I knew nothing about it and was worried she'd run into some unscrupulous people. While nosing around the web looking for info, I came across some pagan forums. It was such a relief to find like minded folks and a plethora of potential religious practices more closely suited to my beliefs than the "mainstream" religions I'd previously been exposed to. I've since begun dealing with crystals and a number of methods for working with energy. I now use both crystals and herbs for their healing energies and their magical properties. I love working with crystals and have been using crystal beads to make ritual jewelry, prayer chains, and everyday jewelry. In 2011 I was introduced to the Mayan Light Language grids and use them frequently in my energy work. In 2012 I received my first Reiki attunement and completed my Master’s level training in early 2013. It wasn’t long after I started using Reiki in my practice that I found it too limiting so I’ve continued to expand my work with energies of all types. I like being around wild places, the ocean or the forest being my favorites …… fortunately hubby likes camping and hiking as much as I do and we are fortunate enough to take long vacations in a forested area. Plus, its so much fun to find a dirt road and follow it wherever it leads. I love animals (I have lots of fish (4 tanks full!), a bird, a cat and a dog) and chocolate (who doesn't love chocolate?), quiet evenings at home with my family, and rainy, cool days (on the weekend of course) so I can have a fire going and curl up with a good book. I don't like California drivers (cell phone or not, they make me crazy), spammers, solicitors of any type, bullies, brussels sprouts or canned meat (yuck!).