Witchvox Article

Author: Ceria Elene
Posted: April 5th. 2009
Times Viewed: 1,866

I am married to a wonderful man; I have a stepson, a daughter, a stepdaughter, a son and an adopted son, for a total of 5 beautiful children. My family is beautifully blended, that doesn�t mean we all like each other all the time. Three of my children are on the brink of adulthood; let�s face it they of course know more than mom and dad do right now. I am a stay at home mom and I am a Witch.

I am relatively new to Wicca. in my spare time (of which I have very little) I have been reading and studying online and taking notes for a little over a year. I�ve written my own Self-Dedication ritual and a Full Moon ritual, even though I don�t yet have the confidence to use them. I meditate every morning and do my best during the course of my day to live completely by The Wiccan Rede. I am currently studying the Tarot online.

I do my best to treat every person I come across with kindness and compassion and I treat my Mother Earth with that same kindness and compassion and the utmost respect. I pick up trash others have left behind and dispose of it properly; I recycle my own personal paper, plastic, metal etc�

I make it a point every day to compliment a random person that I come in contact with. It doesn�t have to be all mushy and gushy, just a simple �I like that shirt.� or �How did you do that to your hair? I like it� will do. I believe the popular phrase for this is �random acts of kindness�.

The very first book on Wicca I ever read was titled The Complete Idiot�s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft. I was pleasantly surprised by how well organized and well rounded this book was, it has a whole section on things a community minded witch can do to make her community a better place.

As a beginner solitary, most of the books I�ve read include sections on ways to help your community, from volunteering at your local animal shelter to organizing large community events and even petitioning to change your community�s statutes and ordinances. While all those suggestions are admirable pursuits they can be very daunting for a solitary witch to take on.

I know we all care about our Mother Earth and our communities and we want to make changes for the better, I know from my own experience taking on the challenge of a large community project can be pretty scary. I have however found one simple, almost effortless way to make a difference in your community.

I go to the grocery store once a week and I smile purposefully at every person that I make eye contact with, and it isn�t very often that I encounter a person that doesn�t smile back. I have had people say, � Hello, how are you?� after I smile at them even.

I simply reply � I�m wonderful, and you?� and I always get a reply like, �good, great, fantastic�� Okay, maybe no one says �fantastic�, but you get the idea. I think even little things can make big changes.

It�s just a smile. A smile? (You think) How much can just a smile do? A smile can do a lot. I truly believe something as simple as a smile can effect a bigger change than you might guess.

Watch people when you go out in public. It doesn�t matter where you are, the grocery store, the bus station, the pharmacy, the mall etc� anywhere. Just look at every person you pass straight in the eye as you smile big. Then watch the change, almost every person you smile at will smile back, their shoulders will straighten; they will walk a little taller and hold their heads a little higher. You can actually see a person�s mood lift and their body language morph, all from just a smile from a random stranger. It�s amazing to witness.

Now, imagine the next person your �smilee� comes in contact with, you changed his mood so chances are he will positively affect the mood of the next person he sees, and so on and so on�

Now your smile has brightened the day for two people.

Let�s paint a more specific picture. You smile at a man in passing at the grocery store, he smiles back (confirmation of the mood lift) , the very next person he comes in contact with is a stressed out cashier, the store was probably very busy and she had a few hard to please customers choose her register. So, the man you smiled at is in a good mood now because you smiled at him, he smiles at her, maybe even says something nice.

Well, her mood lifts and instead of going home to her family tired and irritable from a tough day behind a cash register, she walks in the door at home and kisses her husband and hugs her children, hopefully brightening their day. This creates a chain of smiles that can lift moods for miles.

Imagine now, if every person on the planet made it a point to smile at just 10 people during the course of their day, just how fast would that smile travel? Even if your grin only lifts the mood of 5 out the 10 people, you can still make a huge positive difference in your community. As people travel so will your smiles. Theoretically one smile can travel around the world, making people all over smile, changing angry, stressed, sad, irritated moods to happy moods. The possibilities are endless.

So, whether you�re shy or outgoing, a solitary witch or part of a coven, whether you�re Christian, Pagan, Heathen, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, etc� when you�re ready for a bigger challenge, organize a community recycling day or attend a city council meeting with the intent to change an out of date ordinance, but also know that the next time you go to the mall, you can make big changes in the world around you with very little effort and with immediate effect.

Believe in the POWER of just a smile!

Don�t forget to hug the ones you love, and they may just start their own smile chain.

Brightest Blessings to All

ABOUT...

Ceria Elene

Location: Iron Mountain, Michigan

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