Hello...cyberspace...it's me. It's been awhile

Hello…cyberspace….it’s me. It’s been awhile. How are you? I’m not too bad, thanks for asking. Where have I been? Well, it’s kind of a long story; do you have the time? Oh good, I love story time too…let me get my wooby.

….I mean, hi! Sorry I haven’t been on here, in like a year. That’s my bad, truly is. However, I have a really good excuse for it. I have been really busy, and not that I’m dodging bill collectors and crazy ex-girlfriends busy but truly busy. For starters, the Coven in which I am the Priest for now has almost forty members. That’s no longer a coven, it’s a freaking movement, and no not in that Glen Beck really scary Christian fundamentalism meets political neoliberalism kind of a way, but rather in the true beginnings of a large nexus of community and hearth among the Pagans in Chicago. It is a lot for me to sink my teeth into sometimes and sometimes I wish I could just take them all and put them in a sack like a bunch of kittens and throw them in the river, but this time has been some of the best and busiest time for me as a Pagan, Warrior, Priest and Leader. (I was totally kidding about the kitten in the river thing, only a heartless bastard would waste perfectly good Chinese food like that.)

As a Pagan, this growth has pushed me farther along on my path than I could have ever done on my lonesome. I have learned all sorts of new and exciting things that I was able to be exposed to because of the amount of people that I now share Circle with. I have been taught some of the most painful lessons, deepest understandings, and largest euphonies that I have ever taken part of and frankly it is because of those people who stand in Keepers with me. Now, this isn’t a recruitment statement – because truth be told, we are rapidly running out of space at Witchy Wearable’s. No, this is rather a statement that I hope will inspire Solitary Practicioning Pagans to go out and either find community with other Pagans or to encourage others to do so.

I understand being a Solitary Pagan. Technically, I am a Solitary Wiccan Warrior participating in the Irish Witta tradition and I happen to belong to a Coven of other Solitary Pagans. That’s a mouthful to say. But never the less, if I was to stop going to Coven, my path would go on and everything that I do and believe in would just continue as if I never missed a beat. My Practice would continue because it is mine and no one can define my direct connection to the Universal Divine. How I express it is how I express it and I need no Priest or Priestess to tell me how to connect to the Divine. I would continue to walk along my path as I always have, but it would be a considerably lonely experience.

Oh sure, I would have friends and family that I would continue to associate with. Dropping out of Coven or any other social spiritual experience wouldn’t mean that I would become a hermit. I would continue to be a social butterfly and have positive social growth experiences gaining new friends and associates along the way. The one thing that I know is that I would have a hell of a time progressing along my way all by my lonesome. Having a group of people who share the burden of spiritual growth within you, these people become vested in seeing you move forward. Conversely, you have to be equally vested in their growth – you know equivalent exchange of energy or what not.

There is a symbiotic relationship that forms amongst Covenmates that pushes one another. You begin to find that people you are practicing with become more resourceful than any Scott Cunningham or Raven Silverwolf introduction to Wicca book ever could be. This is because people that you come to work with will have their own unique perspective on everything from Ritual to Lore. Not only that, but the community that you work with will also be there to offer encouragement and advise along the path you walk.

While I’m not saying that a Coven is for every single pagan out there but I will say that community does go a long way to make the path seem less lonely. It gives us the connection that makes us feel not alone and helps encourage us along our path…whatever it is.