Witchvox Article

Author: Grey Ghost
Posted: January 13th. 2013
Times Viewed: 1,500

�I am not old; I am not old.� One of the truths of life is that none of us really feel old. We wake up and look in the mirror and after some years we do not recognize the person starring back at us. Whatever happened to that young vibrant person who used to look back? The picture on our driver�s license looks older every time we renew it, but the person renewing it does not feel older. I tell myself that I am not getting older, but my body disagrees and my inner spiritual self does not care.

Those who follow the way of the Craft seem to fall into two groups; the first being a religious use of magick, like Wicca and second being those that just follow a magickal and/or natural lifestyle. I suppose I would fall more into the second group, having grown up in a semi-pagan country home with a short imposed exposure to Christianity at the insistence of an older sister, who became a Baptist by choice in her early teens. We planted by the light of the moon, harvested by the season, butchered by the time of day and had oh-so-many charms or superstitions to follow back in the fifties. My dad read and told me myths at bedtime and I was trained how to bless my family members before going to bed. My dad was only in a church once during my lifetime, for my sister�s wedding. He died when I was in the sixth grade, which began a life long obsession with death and life after death.

I was telling my forty-something daughters the other day that wisdom does not come automatically with age. I have figured out that to be �Old and Wise�, one must go through being �Young and Stupid�. The only thing I did not count on was that there is a long period of being �Old and Stupid� before the little bits of wisdom trickle in. Experience is not that good of a teacher because the ego often insists on overriding what the mind knows to be the best course of action and that often results in looking back with regret over our actions. That regret can be disabling at times, resulting in long periods of not being able to make a decision. Just ask the politicians.

For now, I will attempt to pass on those few bits of wisdom I have lying around:

Youth Teaches You Knowledge
Young Adulthood Teaches You Experience
Middle Age Teaches You Wisdom
Old Age Teaches You Tolerance*

*Well, perhaps not tolerance of others so much as tolerance of a body that no longer follows one�s every whim and that complains when it is too cold or hot, aches when it is about to rain, stiffens in the morning and will only co-operate after a little stretching and exercise or medications. And then there is that tolerance refreshed when you reach up into a cupboard to get something, only to have a twinge in your shoulder tell you, �Not today, stupid.�

Knowledge comes from lessons life teaches us, �Do not overload your ability to defend yourself by the use of insults that are not true�. Knowledge is gained through pain and joy. It came from the mouths of parents and teachers/mentors and from the praise and insults of peers. It is bought with blood dripping from a skinned knuckle or bruised shin. It seems to come harder when you are young, quicker during middle age and then slowly as you get old� or maybe just harder to remember when you get old.

Experience is learned through heartache and emotional erosion of the self or ego. That which is added to our being makes us adults. Some never gain that experience and, as a result, go through life empty and alone. Marriage after failed marriage ... partnerships never realized for those who look at the tides of life at ebb, and ask why? Fortunately, after forty-two years of marriage, I can finally feel the comforting assurance that I have avoided the pitfalls of divorce. I have watched many close friends choose divorce, only to not find the happiness they thought would. I can say with certainty that no marriage is perfect, but no divorce is perfect either.

Wisdom is that which is left of common sense after we let ego rule our destinies. We learn only after the dying of the ego that the Lady does provide all that we shall want. She will give us the peace that has eluded us for so long. We learn wisdom does not come through magickal means, but requires a lot of hard work.

It�s good not to alter another�s path, lest ours might be altered. The rule of threes applies to all things, whether bon or ban, whether planned or unplanned. Karmic law and such are real and need to be considered before an act or thought, even if you do not believe in such things. As a seeker, I have not found all of the knowledge that I yearn for, yet I do not want for more. Patience is a virtue to be valued and I know that the time will come when those things that I need will be given unto me. Seek not that which is not in you, for it shall never be found without.

In much of the Craft, you will come in contact with others of various belief systems. Belief is that act of performing an action and expecting a non-scientific reaction. Various groups, especially Wiccans, will end an article or letter with �Blessed Be�. This is a type of blessing from the Divine or other sources that individual may use. With in this circle, we use the term, �Bless�d Be�. We believe the individual or group we address is blessed with the power of the Craft, that innate ability that defies science � the realm of belief!

Magick is a foot and the splendor of nature abounds around us!

Bless�d Be � Grey Ghost

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