A Witch in the Wilds

I have tried doing the Internet communication many times in the past.  I've tried blogging, I've tried Facebook, I've tried YouTube.  My problem is that life often gets really busy and suddenly I find I haven't posted for weeks if not months.  Then I feel guilty and I just abandon that channel and start a new one.  So this time I've decided that I'll simply start this by saying that I will not put pressure on myself.  When I post, I post, when life gets busy and I can't get back, then that's okay too.

Who I am is a seventh generation farmer living on a farm that sets on the edge of the wild places along the Wisconsin River.  I was raised in a family that still practices many of the traditions it brought with it from the old country, plus built on from their neighbors in the 150+ years that they have lived in this valley.  To many modern people we often seem quaint or maybe even a bit backwards, but as we have watched modern people build an unsustainable world, we realize we are okay with being a bit quaint and backwards.  LOL

As I am just as comfortable gliding through the back waters of the Wisconsin or even the Mighty Mississippi in my canoe or growing my food from the earth in an agricultural setting.  I straddle the hedge as it is often said between the domestic world of the farm and the untamed world that many fear.  My hearth can be the electric stove in my kitchen powered by the sun and the wind or it can be the rocks surrounding the campfire powered by the forest's wood itself.   Many of my foods and medicines come from both the gardens and the wilds.  I have enjoyed being a homesteader now since 1988 though being raised a farm daughter wasn't much different.

I am now retiring from being a forensic meteorologist, a job I have loved and will always hold to my heart.  I will still work cases when needed but by the end of 2013 I will be a business woman of my own making.  There are five of us that have started an outdoor education center here and I have to admit that things could not have gone better in the starting and timing of this business.  Yes, there were problems (zoning is NOT fun) but since the business opened things have just fallen into place.  In a little over a year I will be working for myself totally.  I have done other businesses; I run a direct market farming business, I am a horse trainer, I rent out artist cottages, I am on a board of our local township, but I have always had my main job that demanded my time.  I look forward to the coming change.

My spirituality comes from working with both the farm and the wilds.  This makes it hard to describe my spiritual practices.  I don't have a god or goddess, because I find all things in life to be important and to exalt one being to a higher station than any other being just seems wrong to me.  I also have a hard time with someone watching over me, keeping me safe.  I have never been a person that enjoys being safe.  It gets kinda boring to say the least.  :-)   I do believe in the spirits and the energies around me.  As my blog's name suggestions I enjoy the legends of the beings that live in the magically places, the places we humans have not tried to tame.  So instead of deities, I have spirits and instead of churches, I have nature. 

I call myself a witch to reclaim the meaning of the word.  Once the witches of the world were the men and women who practiced herbal medicines, who were mid-wives, who grew the crops, brew the brews and buried the dead.  Once we were the wise ones of the village, back when wisdom was shared and not hoarded, given away only at a price.  A witch was someone who stood in their own power, not allowing institutions or society to take it from them.   I call myself a witch because this modern day society has tried to strip so many powers away from the people who live within it's iron fisted grasp.  This is an illusion though.  People are the power and many of us are already rising up against this muting of our strengths.  We are becoming whole again, and while it takes hard work, we are not letting ANYONE be in charge of us.  We can work together but no one is better or worse than the next person.  ALL people are magical. 

So, that's about all that I'm coming up with at this moment.  I'll get onto blogging as things come up to share.  I hope everyone that reads this is not too confused and gets to know me through my blogs as I write them. And I hope to learn much from everyone else here.  Thank you