And so it begins…

Merry meet!

My name is Lark, I also go by Larkie, and this is my Pagan blog. I plan on using it as a journal to document my adventures as I reconnect to my old path and write down my thoughts along the way. I’ve been in the process of studying Paganism and Witchcraft for the past few months through blogs, podcasts, and am putting together a reading list of actual books on these subjects, so I’m still getting my feet wet, so bear with me and feel free to correct or add to any information or ideas I mention here (constructively, of course).

I suppose I should try to do a quick history of myself and my involvement in Paganism and Witchcraft. It started about as cliché as one could expect: I was 15 and my best/practically only friend at the time had learned about Wicca and wanted to try it out. We got super into it with pentacle necklaces, we had all kinds of candles with runes carved into them, 3 ring binders were our Grimoires, and the movie “The Craft” was, like, the greatest ever (I know, I know…I do still enjoy the movie, admittedly). Our coven was literally just the two of us and then we attempted to add two other friends, but it never really panned out. Eventually things kind of settled towards the end of high school with our practicing together, but I continued alone until around my first year in college.
I stopped the Craft, but my connection to nature remained and I continued to collect little treasures (shells, feathers, rocks) that I found on hikes or just around my area and kept them (eventually they’d get lost or thrown out, but collecting them and taking them home was something I really couldn’t help). Over the last three years, I started collecting more treasures and keeping them at my desk in my office. This year (and, let’s face it, the last few years) I’ve been feeling quite run down and sad; there’s so much negativity and hate going around that I honestly started to feel lost. My family and I have also experienced a number of deaths, serious illness as well as other losses, so that has played a role as well.
Then, earlier this Spring while entering data at my desk, I looked at my tiny collection and suddenly realized I had basically made an altar (to the untrained eye, it was simply some neat items I had arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner). It hit me in that moment that, even though my introduction to Witchcraft and Paganism was maybe a bit silly, it was a path that truly spoke to me and one in which I felt most at peace with the World and content with myself and I felt a pull to return to it.
My reintroduction has been slow. I didn’t want to do it the same as before where I just dove in head first with no research or guidance, printing off every spell I could find, and gathering tools willy-nilly rather than allowing them to call themselves to me. So I am doing things differently this time around and truly making it my own.

So what are my beliefs thus far?
My path is currently on the more “Eclectic Witch” side of things; solitary as well. My Craft is based on the Earth and the elements and hasn’t really involved deity work, so I don’t really subscribe to any type of pantheon (I don’t think…perhaps there’s a word for my beliefs, but I haven’t found it). I also try to steer clear of any beliefs or practices that fall under “closed religions” as I have not been raised in these cultures and have no claim to their faiths. As far as deities go, I simply believe in a Greater Being, I guess “The Divine” is what I could refer to it by, and I believe it represents both the feminine and masculine essences (this could be from my previous nondenominational Christian influence, however).

Finally, just a few fun facts about my life.
I have two wonderful cats and a very supportive, loving husband (to whom I am “out of the broom closet” with). We live in the Pacific Northwest and enjoy being outdoors and active. Actually, exercise is one of the ways I have started doing some centering work. For me it’s a way to cleanse myself and also focus and renew my energy. I feel a strong connection with birds, hence my name, and the title of my blog is actually named after a large, popular trail in a huge park in Portland, Oregon that we love.

The left is part of the Wildwood Trail and the right is the “Witch house” (which is really just an old stone rest stop from pioneer times…or something like that) also located in the same park. Gorgeous area!

That’s all for my intro post. I will try to keep future one’s a bit less wordy. Thank you for reading and blessed be!