Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism and Me

My Journey:

From an early age, I could see auras and knew things were going to happen before they did. I also had many invisible friends. Several ghosts have appeared over the years and they still visit occasionally.

Obviously the adults around me dismissed it as imagination.

I was brought up High Church of England, sang in the choir (even though I can’t sing). I was baptised and confirmed, all the Christian things, but never felt right about any of it.

Surprisingly, my mother never managed to be able to remain for a full church service. She would have a coughing fit or feel sick and have to leave. Hmmmmm. As she was adopted with no records about her mother I don’t know her maternal background.

My Irish grandmother (my father’s parents) was a seventh child and my grandfather, her husband was also a seventh child.

To this day I still get flashes of things happening that do come true. However, there is never enough information to prevent them from occurring. They come in either dream or daytime flashes out of the blue.

My Parents-in-law lived opposite an old cemetery and my Mother-in-law and I often tried using an Ouija board. We didn’t have a lot of success but a lot of fun. I went on to experiment with Tarot cards, using them with moderate success for several years. My next venture was to learn Astrology with Bonnie Mathers. I was also exploring reincarnation, which made a lot more sense to me than just one life then you die.

I knew most of the psychics and clairvoyants around Adelaide at that time, but perhaps one of the most influential for me was the Witch of Melbourne Street, one Tim Hartridge. Tim showed me the path of Witchcraft and so began a new way of life. I will always be grateful to Tim as my life changed completely and began to have so much more meaning.

Research and Learning:

Back in the early days, information and books on these subjects were very difficult to source. We had to search hard for anything we could find. There was no internet and therefore no Google.

The books I accumulated which helped me significantly on my path, were those by Janet and Stewart Farrar, Scott Cunningham, Raymond Buckland, Doreen Valiente, Starhawk’s Spiral Dance. An excellent more recent book is for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere by Frances Billinghurst, Dancing the Sacred Wheel. https://francesbillinghurst.blogspot.com/ Nowadays there is any number of books on the subject.

I worked with several covens over the years and made many like-minded friends. These days I generally prefer to work solitary.

Divination:

I experimented with several different forms of divination with varying degrees of success. Finally, I discovered an affinity with crystals and gemstones and never looked back. I began to use them in readings and as I progressed I achieved better results. Two methods of readings are used: one is by scattering the crystals onto a sheepskin and reading them as they fall. The other method is using a board which I devised based on Astrology.

Publications:

For several years I produced and sold my Astrological Transit Diaries which contained daily transits along with considerable useful information. Included in the diary was a section on how to read the transits. Each new customer received a laminated copy of their personal birth chart wheel enclosed in a ziplock bag bound in the back of the diary. They could take the chart out to use and also put it into the next year’s diary.

I ceased producing the diaries when I began to write a book on crystals which took up most of my time in research and writing for a few years. The book, which I wrote many years ago is called ” The Definitive Crystal, Gemstone and Mineral Reference Guide”. I am particularly proud of the reference tables. Initially, I started writing solely for my own benefit, but it progressed a long way from that beginning.

There is another book I have been playing around with for a while, but it is a slow process. Someday, when it is finished, it will get published as well.

I did many crystal readings at home and also was on call for a local crystal shop for readings.

As a member of U3A, I ran a 12-month course on the metaphysical properties of crystals. This was a lot of fun and I made several new friends. We had a couple of field trips to the Mannum Gem Museum and Crystal Wave, both of which were very successful.

I identify more with Witchcraft than with Wicca, but my beliefs and customs are what have developed over many years of research, practice and learning. Learning for me is an ongoing process and always will be as there is always more new things to discover.

My journey is not over. It began in past lives, through the present and will continue on through what future lives lie ahead.

Blessed Be!