Survey

I found this on deviantArt when I was looking for something unrelated. It had been copied a couple of different times already and the original author had been lost. If this is yours, I apologize for using it without permission. ~Magi

Please describe briefly your Path. I am a pagan witch with strong shamanic leaning due to my Choctaw heritage and a father who is a pipekeeper. I am not a Wiccan.

Please describe briefly how you practice it. I practice my faith by praying to the Great Spirit, who I call mother or grandmother. I also send prayers to the spirits of the world and those of my ancestors. I ask them for guidance and lessons. As the need arises, I work energy towards various purposes. This is the very definition of witchcraft, making me a witch.

When did you first commit to your Path? I first committed to a pagan path October 15, 1994, but I had several leanings towards it before that from various family members.

How is your practice different now than it was then? I have grown so much, as a person, as a witch, as a Choctaw. I was a child then, with a child's understanding of faith. I am now an adult and I see things as an adult would do so.

Is your practice different today than how you thought it would be back then? I didn't do as much with it as I do now. This was mostly due to being unable to really practice due to living at home, a fact that is recurring now that I'm back living at home.

Does your Path and core belief system differ now than how it was when you first started? I follow a lot less of the Wiccan practices and a lot more of the Choctaw ones. Also my use of magick changed a lot after living with my great-grandmother for a while. There's a lot of my practices that I picked up from her despite the fact that she was very firm on not being a witch and instead being a good Christian woman.

What is your heritage and how does this inform your Path? I am Choctaw and of the Little Creek Clan. My father speaks of the Clan as traditionalists who managed to preserve our heritage against great odds. This makes me desire to help preserve their legacy for my own children.

What are your main influences for your Path? My greatest influence is definitely my intuition. I feel my way through magick letting my fingers work without forcing them to do so. I find that some of my strongest magick is done when I am buried deep in the Now of it.

Which do you do more: practice or research? At the moment, I do a lot of research and writing my interpretations down in my grimoire. I think in my grimoire, I only have one or two spells. The rest are recipes, chants/songs, or journal entries about various things. I'm currently in the process of trying to digitize the entries. It's been slow going.

Do you feel that one is more important than the other? They both have their place and purpose. And they are also very similar. They both help you grow in faith and power. You learn by doing. You learn by talking with Elders and Wicca. You learn by being exposed to new ideas or old ideas in new lights. What may define you today may not work tomorrow.

What values and ethics are important on your Path and in your practice? I really feel that taking responsibility for oneself is the greatest value. You are responsible for what you put out into the world. You can put forth truth and honor, or you can put forth more spew. It's really is your choice, but remember that energy moves in spirals. It will come back to you. Maybe not a nice tidy amount either. The longer it takes to get to you, the worse the fallout will be when it does happen.

What sort of cycles do you feel your practice goes through? It spirals with the year. The summer is usually used for pushing forward in learning while the winter is used for reflection on the things that I learned. There is some of each in the other season, but majorly that is how it goes.

What is one of the greatest obstacles or struggles you have had to overcome? My need to please people is perhaps my greatest struggle. There are certain people in my life who would like me to be other than what I am faithfully. This is sometimes through either misunderstanding or blind acceptance of their faith's absolutism doctrine. Other times, it is just their need to be in control of a situation. I dislike having people upset with me, so I try to please them, inevitably failing. Staying true to myself is a lesson that I more than occasionally have to relearn.

How do you see yourself practicing in ten years? I can't see that far ahead. I know that there are things that I want to have done by then. I want to have studied more of the Choctaw traditions. I want to have learned more about herbs. I want to have made a smudge bowl out of Catlinite that I have dug with my own hands. I want to have opened up my pagan supply store/pagan community center.

How do you incorporate your practice into your life? I like to start the day with a smudge and end it with prayer. I incorporate little things into my day. I sing. I live in the Way.

Has walking your Path changed you as a person? I feel strengthen as a person and uplifted by my faith. It is a mirror with which I can see myself.

Do you consider yourself to be a priest/ess? How so? I do not consider myself clergy. I would love to serve, but I cannot afford to do so. I found a place where I could get a degree in Theology focusing on the pagan theology, but i cannot get back and forth from it.

A witch? How so? I am a witch as I practice witchcraft. That is all the term means.

A shaman? How so? I am not a shaman. Nor am I a pipekeeper or drumkeeper. I have not been called to serve the People in that way.

Which matters more: getting the vocabulary right or the actual practice of what we are trying to define? They are actually very tied together. You cannot call yourself Wiccan and not keep their traditions. If you are going to claim a label, at least make sure that it is the correct one. There are expectations among pagans that come along with a label. There's enough misconception going through the practitioners from other faiths with confusing them by lying about what you are.

One of the most profound things anyone ever said to you was: "You are only as good as your honored word. If your word is nothing, then so are you." ~My father, in explanation why he never admitted guilt for a crime that he did not do when it would have been easier to just go along with what people demanded of him.

A defining moment on your Path was: When I gave my first child up for adoption because I weighed her needs against my wants, my heart broke. It was best for her at the time. I was just a kid. The pain of that, of letting a piece of my soul go into someone else's care, it really opened my eyes to the duality of everything. I was broken by that, but my Mother's quiet love was there for me through the healing process. I really understood the meaning of sacrifice.

Have you ever taken a "leap of faith"? I'm in the middle of one right now. Moving to Kentucky after living the vast majority of my life in the same three miles radius.

Please tell us something stupid, reckless, or embarrassing you did once in your practice: I really can't think of anything that I've done that would be described as that in my practice. But you don't live to be twenty-eight without doing something foolish, I think.

What is the most frustrating thing about your Path? This is going to be really upsetting to some people, but the kooks. You know the ones--they are more for the Hollywood version of everything than the actual truth of it. The pretenders also annoy me. If you aren't following any of the traditions of a path, do not claim it. You are only sowing confusion. I can deal with the elitists, mostly by rolling my eyes, but if you are showing willful ignorance, I just want to smack you.

Have you ever been frightened? Well, ain't this random... um, yes, several times throughout my life. I'm arachnophobic, so I near-enough have a heart attack every time I see one. My youngest fell out a window when she was two and a half; I have never been so scared in my life. I prayed so hard that day. Also there was a time when a group of "concerned" teenagers had me cornered and was threatening me with a cherry bomb if I didn't "repent" of my "sins".

Can you perform ritual without a script? Well, yes and no. If I am learning a new ritual, I enjoy having a script, but once I've learned it, I usually use it a lot.

Have you ever performed spontaneous magick/spellcraft? Oh, all the time. I am energy. Energy is me. How could I not?

What are you still exploring or experimenting with? I am constantly exploring my faith, and growing and learning new things.


What (or whom) are you the most committed to in your practice and on your Path? I worship and pray to the Great Spirit in a maternal form most often. I call her: Mother of All, She of Many Names, The Faceless One, Honored Mother, She Who Was First and Will Be Last, the Lady of Light, the Mistress of Mercy, Queen of Heaven, Mother Earth, Sister Moon, Lady of Life, Oceana, Gaia, Rhiannon, She Who Wields the Life Sickle, Scythe-Bearer, Dark Lady, The Star-Mantled One, Wise One, Dark One, The Forever Child, The Endless... I really could go on forever.

Ritual tools are ... anything that you use in a ritual. It is usually set aside for the specific use and kept sacred, but ultimately they are just foci of energy.

Magickal tools are ... anything that you use in a magickal working. See above answer for details.

The one thing you can't do without is: well, for a tangible answer, I would have to say my grimoire. I write down my observations about the world and the things that I learn. It is a record of how far that I've come and it is my legacy to my daughters.

Seeking personal power is ... fine. You might hear that it is frowned upon or is taboo, but ultimately, it will happen. What you have to understand that true power comes from living up to your potential and always striving forward in your endeavours, whatever they are.

Politics and your Path are … totally unrelated. I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state. When you mix religion with policy, you get problems. It does not matter what religion it is. It's just bad. Look at what is happening now. Thank you, Democrats, for making this an issue.

One thing you wish people would understand about your Path and/or practice is ... that there is nothing wrong with it. I am touched by your concern for my well being, but I don't follow your religion because it does not work for me. I have learned how to think, not what to think like you. And yes, atheism is a religion. I worked for the government. Bald is indeed a hair color. Get over it.

Do you teach? I will teach any who are willing to learn from me for however long they wish to learn from me and on any topic with which I am familiar, even some that I am not. We could learn together.

What do you feel is the role of clergy in modern Paganism and Heathenism? The role of clergy is really the same in all religions, I think. They should be teachers and guides. You come to them to learn from them. They have made their lives about learning and communicating with the Esoteric Realm. They do this for the People, to help the People in their way.

When the Veil (or Hedge!) is thin, how does that feel to you? The Veil is the barrier not just between the Spirit Realm and the Material Realm, but between Order and Chaos. When the Veil gets thin, madness becomes the norm. It is the time for destroying the ways that do not serve us and forging new habits. You are no longer fixed; you are flowing like water, blowing like air. It is the time to reflect and communicate.

What entities do you work with most? (ancestors, gods, fae etc.) I would have to say that I work with the Great One the most, but I do a lot of work with individual guardian spirits.

What is your relationship with the Land? It is one of the bodies of my Mother. From it, I was born and to it, I shall return.

The most important aspect of ritual is ... the feeling of oneness with Deity. You really should feel that connection.

The main purpose of ritual is ... to make a spiritual connection with Deity. You may petition Her help or thank Her for helping you. You may unburden yourself to Her.

What is the purpose of divination/dowsing (or whichever form of augury you use)? I prefer using Roma methods such as cards or palmistry as my method of reaching the right state. It gets very tiring to do it a lot in one sitting.

What was the most difficult book you ever read? (Either difficult to understand or hard to face what it said or both)? Speaking of spiritual literature only, I have difficulty stomaching anything by DJ Conway. She just comes off with this know-it-all attitude while getting several things wrong. Grrr. Then she ignores basic safety measures! Please, everyone, practice Safe Magick!

What book do you recommend the most to others? Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions by Joyce and River Higginbotham is a great starting place for your research. I consider this a must-have book for all pagans and theology students.

What is your favourite podcast (if any) and favourite blog (other than your own)? I really dig In the Words of the Urban Crone. I have met her personally and she's really like that. So I follow her in several locations now. She's just awesome.

If you could impart only one last piece of wisdom or knowledge, or share one experience with the world at large, what would it be? All relationships come down to two things: communication and trust. This is all relationships: platonic, familial, romantic, and spiritual. Any relationship can survive a temporary breakdown of one or the other, but if one of them is missing, the relationship is irreparably broken until it is restored. Jealousy is a sign that trust is gone. It is not healthy and has no place in a relationship.

Do you face any challenges from people who don't understand or agree with your path, and if so, what do you do about them? I get this a lot and it really varies with the relationship that you have with the person. What it boils down to, however, is the person you are dealing with has to be willing to learn. If they aren't, it doesn't matter if they are your parent or beloved sibling. The relationship has broken. It hurts to admit that some times, but sometimes Truth wounds us as we cling to the False Dream.

Is there an additional question you would like to see here? What is it? (please also answer)

"Do you have any suggestions for those seeking a spiritual change to a pagan paths?"

Really make sure that you're doing it for the right reasons. If you come into the pagan community for the wrong reasons, you aren't going to get much out of it. It's as simple as that. This isn't Harry Potter or Charmed. Magic doesn't work like that.

"Do you have any warnings for new Seekers?"

Paganism is a minority religion. There's a lot of misunderstandings about it and a lot of people who want to cling to those misunderstandings. You aren't going to be able to change everyone's mind. Learning when to walk away will be necessary.