I am a 28-year-old pagan witch who lives in northeast Ohio, USA with my boyfriend of 3 years and our two cats, Xerxes and Xena. As of right now, I do not have a job, but when I worked, I was a cashier at a gas station and at a retail store.
My spiritual journey started when I was 13 years old and first discovered the religious section of my local library. Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner was the first book on any pagan religion that I ever discovered and became the most influential book of my early development. There was just something about the pagan path that really spoke to me, even at 13, that drew me in and captured my attention. It aligned with my feminist leanings and ideals of equality that Christianity just lacked.
When my mother found out of my newfound interest in neopaganism, she did not approve. I was raised in an environment where religion was not forced upon us; my mother and all of her brothers and sisters (there were 9 of them) were forced to go to church whether they wanted to or not, and she was raised a devout Protestant. She, however, did not want to force a religion down our (mine and my younger sister's) throats, and took the stance that if we were interested, we could go; if not, we didn't have to. She herself was not a practicing Protestant.
That being said, paganism in general made her nervous. I think it was just because it was different and she didn't understand it; at that point in time, I was not mature enough to really have a healthy discussion on this topic, nor was I well-read enough to hold my own. So when she told me she didn't mind if I read and researched, but preferred I didn't practice witchcraft or any pagan religion in her house, I assented.
In retrospect, this was a good thing for me. I'm the sort who likes to just jump into things without doing proper research (which has gotten SO MUCH BETTER with age), and since I didn't understand a lot of the core principles and how things worked, this was the best course of action for me. It gave me time to read about other types of Wicca and paganism and to decide if this path is for me.
The years passed by, and I moved out of my mother's house to my stepmother's, then to my great-aunt's in turn. All of these places had the same basic rule: read what you want, but don't actively practice. I respected these people, so I respected their terms. This did not stop me from worshiping the religion that I chose to follow (Wicca); I lit a candle every now and then, collected stones and crystals, did some energetic exercises, and even got a tarot deck that I absolutely loved. But I did not practice traditional witchcraft. It wasn't because I was scared, or that I didn't want to create waves. It was mostly because I was still in the active soul-searching seeker stage. I was still figuring out where I belonged (even though I considered myself Wiccan, I never really felt like I belonged there 100%), what I believed. This was a long process for me, and one that I did not rush - and one I'm glad I did not rush.
When I finally moved out of my family's home and into my own apartment with roommates, I began to actively practice witchcraft. My practice took off. I started a journal where I recorded all of my questions and things I wanted to look into and explore (which I still have), and I actively pursued those interests in my spare time (what little I had after holding two jobs).
After I moved in with my boyfriend (and subsequently quit my jobs since I was out of range from those branches and moved about an hour away from my old home), I discovered the online youtube pagan community. And my path exploded. Being able to communicate with others, to watch different points of view, to get recommended resources - and to have the time to actually pursue those sources - allowed me to finally come into my own. I became more of an eclectic pagan, though I never really worked with any other deity outside of the Greek pantheon, I actively practiced witchcraft when it called to me, and I connected to the cycles of nature. It was an amazing time.
Over the years, Hellenismos had popped up repeatedly for me. Curious, I would look up a phrase or read a random article and move on. But the Greek gods never left me, nor did the Greek mythology and influence. And Hellenismos repeatedly popped up for me. I was pretty daft, I admit it - I didn't even realize in the moment the connection, the pattern. It wasn't until recently - during the Full Moon, while I was wearing selenite (which always seemed to help me see beyond the obvious and tap into my own intuition) that I realized: this is not coincidence. There is a reason why I keep finding all these random things related to Hellenismos. And I owe that intuitive feeling, that calling, respect.
And so, I started my current path of exploring Hellenismos.
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