What Brought Us Here?

I think sometimes we can forget what led us down the path of esoteric exploration in the first place. What drew us to witchcraft, paganism, or the occult in general. This is especially true the deeper we go. We get immersed in the culture, community, and actions within our craft. The original reason shifts as we shift and grow. Yet, the spark that lit the flame is an important one.

The Question

The question “What brought you here?” always seems to give people pause when I ask it. Sometimes I wonder if they are contemplating a deeper, more philosophical answer, than the simplicity of the true one.

Magical Practice – Witchcraft

When it comes to witchcraft, the most common answer I get is because they felt they didn’t have control in their lives. They felt like things happened “to them” in their life vs being the one in the driver’s seat. On a deeper level I would say many probably felt powerless and looked to magic to gain that power.

Witchcraft definitely does this, but not in the way I think many people on the outside of it see. There is an internal growth that happens through the practice over time. Through the acts of spinning our magic, we are also healing old wounds. The deeper we understand the nature of energy and how magic works, the closer and more connected to everything around us we become. Each spell bringing us a small, but new revelation of ourselves.

Power brought them here – and Power is what they gained. Not in the way they may have been perceiving it in the beginning, but true power of the self.

Pagans and Religious Leanings

When this question is asked of many pagan/ spiritual seekers, a common answer is to find “Truth.” The truth behind religion, behind the higher powers. I will admit that most of those people come from christianity, and from many who experienced personal persecution from it. Thus I think many of them are looking for the same sense of community but with a different flavor of spiritualism.

I doubt any of them find this solid “Truth” they started their search for, but in the end it is more like discovering their own truth. Where they feel connected and have true experiences for them. After all, it is the experience of Divine that matters. It is where true belief and faith are built from – and not some blind-faith-believe-because-I-said-so.

The Spark

Everyone has a spark that led them here – whatever that “here” looks like for you. Either something we felt was missing – something we questioned – something we longed for – or just a need to expand and explore.

Remembering the spark though I think is important. The reason we went looking in the first place. I am sure it has changed, and may even seem silly or even cringy to you now – but that is still the spark that lit them flame of where you are now. It is what opened the door in your mind to new possibilities.

What was the spark that ignited your flame?

How did it shift and change the deeper you went?

My Sparks

I have had several sparks that led me to each path – to my magic, to my Divine, to my true life.

When I was very young I had a spark that opened my eyes to exploration of the spiritual world. It was simple yet impactful. I wasn’t harmed by my church, their beliefs, or ways of going about spirituality. Mine was simply a recognition that the people I knew didn’t really know or have what I would consider true belief. They talked a lot but their actions did not match the words. This sparked my journey to understand other religions, other belief systems, to see if this was common.

Through my exploration I came to magic. I read, I listened, I learned many different perspectives/ traditions. The spark though that really led me forward was “What is possible?” What was real, what could I experience, and what was possible through magic? This is not something you can learn but something you have to experience through action.

The spark that led me to Divine was another longing for experience. What was this energy I kept touching and that seemed to keep reaching out to me? What was Divine, truly? What could I gain through that relationship? We hear people talk about it in many ways, across many cultures and religions – but hearing it and experiencing it are completely different in my opinion.

My sparks were simple, perhaps even just a place of curiosity or pushing boundaries others tried to place upon me. Each spark drove me to fan that flame though, and discover for myself.

Through each journey I tried to find the boxes I fit into. Sometimes even trying to stuff myself in those boxes to keep the sense of community I had found there. Yet my fire though just would not stay contained within them.

Each one gave me tools, perspectives, and a place to start, but in the end I think we will always be faced with a moment – To climb out of the box, and expand beyond it – or To contain our flame and feed it with what we find in the box. Neither answer is right or wrong, it is just a choice and each choice comes with different consequences we have to accept.

My Flame

The flame that burns within me was once just these little sparks. All of those sparks seem like another life, another time, another me – and from a perspective, they are. Remembering them though, reminds me of where I was. What life was like before them. Who I was before them.

I was transformed through my flame. I also continue to transform through it. New sparks adding more fuel for it to grow and burn brighter. I a more than what I was and will become more then I am now. Magic healed wounds I didn’t even know was there and opened the door to true power of the self. Divine shaped me and showed me how to use that power.

True experience led me to belief, belief grew my faith, and my faith is what gives me the courage to keep walking into the unknown to feed and grow my flame.

This is the flame of the Soul – the Phoenix, and meaning of the Phoenix.