This past weekend, during the two wedding fracas and festivities, I had an interaction that has left me both delighted and most pensive for the past couple of days.
My friend had hired one of the Viking Sisters to be her wedding photographer, and as I had heard a lot of cool things about these two sisters, I was very much looking forward to meeting them.
I actually met them for the first time a couple of weeks ago when they came out to scout out the farm a bit before the big day, and right off the bat I knew they were both special and pretty delightful folk.
It was at the wedding however, that I came to know more about why I felt that way.
You see, people, they talk to me, and I don't mean they just cordially chit chat, nope, they open like dam floodgates when I'm around. I don't mind this at all, as most people just want to be heard and valued, and I actually very much care about people and their stories. Perhaps that's why they open up.
Anyway, back to the sisters. While one sister was wandering around shooting the wedding photos, I happened to have a couple of conversations with the other sister. Her fiery red hair and zest for life emanated from her being, and I might have been a very enthusiastic audience when she talked to me about her bird rescuing over the years. (She has a crow!)
It was when she told me about the incident involving a brain damaged great horned owl's talon being clamped to her thigh for over an hour due to a series of events that I knew things were taking an even more interesting turn.
I was in the presence of a self-identified witch.
This I already knew, witches and I tend to know each other. There's most likely a lot of reasons why, but it happens. I don't share their faith, but I love them for a myriad of reasons, and the case of this lady was no different.
Some of my cordial feelings come from being persecuted for many years as I had a mole on my face for the first twenty-eight years of my life. I was mocked and called a witch a lot during my formative years, which, while hurtful when I was young, became a bit of a badge of honor when I was older. Persecution I understand.
And that is one of the biggest reasons why I have an affinity for witches. As I sat eating chocolate mousse and listening to my new friend, I felt a deep and empathetic sadness for her experience in the small town just north to me.
The woman in front of me was a generous, caring soul who had a heart of service and giving, and it was apparent that my neighboring community had done their best to be discriminatory due to her appearance and chosen way of life.
I don't get it. And I never will.
Life is so much more awesome when there are a myriad of people about who are different than you. I still can't fathom why anyone would want to dwell in a place full of repressed clones who bind their self-expression to the will of the herd. How is a lady who saves birds, volunteers at the food bank, and oh yes, is a pagan, going to harm anyone?
Plus, who she is is so dang beautiful. I've only met a few truly evil people in my lifetime. Most people, even the most depraved, possess a beauty about them because they exist as a unique composition of atoms and experiences in this lifetime.
It is not my place to judge, as I find such behavior the height of arrogance. It is my place to love and express my faith and affinity for my fellow souls through acts that represent that almost un-definable state of being.
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I love witches and while I am not one, at least I have not actively seeking this route at the moment, I consider myself a pagan too. Born of pagans and maybe at some point I will seek out the Latvian deities fully. From my experience it truly is seeking the connection with nature and being in tune with it, using the natural treasures for healing and protection of those close to you. It is beautiful. Only when religion enters the picture things go south quickly. As everything that is beauty becomes evil, dirty, works of the devil. They twist and ruin the beauty.
I normally do not judge whatever people choose to believe in as long as they leave others to choose for themselves and leave them be.
Aww M, this reply is one of the many reasons why I absolutely adore you😊 You always are your authentic, amazing self, and I am just so happy to have got to know you.
And I hear you loud and clear. I know many beautiful, kind religious people, but unfortunately my life experience with religion has been similar to what you describe. Humans seem to take advantage of hierarchal structures and use them to suppress and silence instead of empower and support. They just cannot seem to leave them be.
You get all the hugs today! Hope you are out enjoying some of that magnificent Latvian nature!
!PIZZA
You must have had some very unfortunate experience with "religious" people. Some religions do, indeed, mess things up, but not all of them. Apparently you haven't had any positive encounters with people who are not just "religious," but have a real relationship with God. I hope some day that changes.
For me it is the judgment and shunning from people who flock around some religions that really upsets and bothers me. I have seen it first hand. I have grown up with it too. To see the hypocrisy and blindness to their own flaws while passing judgment on other people around them. I agree. I have had bad experiences. Far too many for me to go near all that stuff.
I don't know whether to say poor phone, or lucky phone... Chocolate mousse! It's cool you got to know this woman!
I think the phone might have been lucky, it was a sublime mousse made with fancy French chocolate 😆
!PIZZA
The mosts evil people I have met have been power-hungry seekers of social status, usually in politics or the dominant churches.The Wiccans I have met seem to want spiritual meaning and a connection to nature rather than power over others. I disagree with their theology (if that's even the right word) but understand a lot of their motives.
Ooh, similar experience alert!
Today's post was more than a bit introspective, but I am feeling a bit existentially tempestuous today, most likely due to all the Proposition 1 ads I've been bombarded with, they never end!!!
!PIZZA !BBH
Nothing like the final weeks before an election to assail us with loud, ignorant opinions and demands from all sides.
I vote for !BEER
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Thank you @ewkaw!!!!
The spellbinding, mysterious atmosphere of this story is adorable! It's a real pleasure to plunge into this supernatural world, with its moments of tension and introspection!
Hi and thank you @hierundjetzt 😊
!PIZZA
Really?
Why were you mocked and called a witch when you were younger?
I used to have a brown mole next to my nose and I have large, very green eyes. I just fit the stereotype 😉
!PIZZA
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