Bringing olden ways to modern days,
For Wiccans,
Witches,
Pagans,
And all who honor a nature-based path.
This is Desert Magic,
With Crow Moon.
Merry meet,
And welcome to the first episode of Desert Magic.
My name is Crow Moon,
And I am your host.
To say that this show has been years in the making is probably the understatement of the century.
As with many things in life,
It has been the natural progression of something.
Some of you might be newcomers to Wicca.
Some of you could be long-time practitioners of the craft.
Some of you might be,
For one reason or another,
Just mildly curious as to what Wicca and witchcraft are all about.
Whatever your situation,
You are welcome here.
This show is about Wicca,
Of course,
But it is also for pagans of any description,
And those who are interested in all aspects of nature-based spirituality.
My intention for this show is for it to have very little to do with me,
Something to do with my practice,
And everything to do with the peace that comes from knowing as opposed to believing.
It's about discovery and realization,
Specifically within the context of a nature-based spirituality.
But getting to there does require me to share a bit about myself.
I was raised Christian,
And I put more effort into attempting to fit into that mold than I have with almost anything else.
In retrospect,
I gave it far more effort than it ever deserved.
In short,
I found myself continually unable to overcome feelings of guilt and inadequacy while trying to take aim at the ever-moving targets of salvation and appeasement.
I was an altar boy.
I was a reader.
I was an elder.
Had someone told me when I was in high school that I would eventually become a priest,
I would have easily believed them.
Had they clarified that by adding that I would become a Wiccan priest,
I would have been mortified.
From an early age,
I had an inherent desire to connect with the divine and to help others,
But I struggled with the idea of only being able to do so within the church and by its rules.
I was a square peg that never fit into a round hole,
And my solution was to simply hammer harder.
I've loved the moon for as long as I can remember,
But I was told that it wasn't the celestial body with which I was to be concerned.
I looked forward to Halloween more than my birthday,
But I never knew why.
I felt a natural connection to energies and spirits.
I dismissed my strong clear cognizance as something that was unnatural and a blatant deviation from the teachings of the church.
It was only after finding Wicca that I finally learned why Halloween is meaningful,
Where Christmas trees actually originated,
And how my ability to see the otherwise unseen was not the work of the devil.
It took heaps of strength for me to finally walk away from the church,
And I had to summon even more courage in order to embrace the path of Wicca because of both Christian doctrine and the stigmas of society.
But I've never been happier.
Just as the moon,
Halloween,
And the spirit realm had been tugging at me for as long as I can remember,
So too had my unshakable feeling that I belonged in the desert.
So while not as earth-shaking to others as was my decision to become Wiccan,
It did require a large amount of courage for me to announce to everyone I'd known that I was moving.
In both cases,
Very few were understanding,
And some,
Unbeknownst to me,
Probably questioned my sanity.
In both cases,
I left behind all I had ever known.
More accurately,
I began journeys into those things which I had always truly known,
Yet couldn't explain.
And again,
I've never been happier.
I share this to say that perhaps new beginnings aren't necessarily new,
But in many cases simply a new path that brings us back to our foundation.
And it is with this in mind that I very deliberately chose the name Desert Magic for this program.
There is magic in the desert.
In this place where all forms of life defy odds on a daily basis by not only existing,
But thriving.
Magic is everywhere.
Magic exists within you.
The story I shared regarding my discovery of Wicca is a very brief synopsis,
Because anything other than that would amount to recounting an epic tale.
The foundational return and finding one's self is pivotal,
However,
And my experience has been by no means unique to that.
Countless people have told me after my talks and workshops that after finding Wicca,
They were finally able to describe who they are spiritually,
Who they have always been spiritually.
Notice that I did not use the word believe.
Those who come to Wicca from other spiritualities,
Particularly Christianity,
Will out of habit continue to use expressions such as my faith or my belief,
At least initially.
Wiccans don't believe.
We know.
And while Wicca is a legally recognized religion in the United States,
I find it more preferable and more accurate to call it a relationship.
It is these two distinctions which open up the door to true peace for new Wiccans.
The word relationship is key,
And it has more weight to it than a description such as hope,
In which we are unsure of an outcome or reliant on another in order for the outcome to unfold.
A relationship is an exchange.
It's interactive.
It means experiencing or living something,
As opposed to merely existing in uncertainty.
In many ways,
It's a lifestyle,
As are Wicca and paganism.
For us,
The divine isn't some far-away figure who is mostly concerned with keeping a log of our wrongdoings.
Divinity exists in all living things,
Including us.
Divinity is visible to us,
In nature,
And in all of its aspects,
And through this we are able to clearly see that this relationship is anything but conditional.
The divine isn't something we praise when things are going well,
Or bow our heads to in a sheepish and accepting way when tragedy strikes.
Our relationship is very much a healthy one.
Divinity exists in all living things,
Including us.
When we return to our foundation by going within ourselves,
The divine is on that journey with us,
Rather than functioning as an occasionally active observer,
And that journey never leads us to a truly unknown place.
I'm glad that your journey has brought you to this program,
And I look forward to our future walks together.
Until next time,
The crow flies from me to thee,
To send the message,
Blessed Be.
