Teaching a child the way of a Witch

My daughter just turned 5 a week ago... and it seems with that birthday came a sudden vigorous interest in the goddess again. I had maintained the stance of telling her what I'm doing and why whenever she was awake/around for my magical workings, knowing that she would let me know when she was ready for hands on learning instead of me just yakking at her. Since that time appears to have hit, I have begun preparations. Now, my girl loves problem solving games, especially when there are "rewards" after. She is freakishly smart, and learns quickly, but giving her an incentive for learning makes it fun (for both of us). Last week, I drew a compass with chalk out on our back porch. As I drew, I explained the directions and what elements correspond with them. We talked and talked and talked some more about it, even branching out into what time of day goes where on the compass. Eventually, I told her that if she was really ready and wanting to learn, we would start. When she told me that she wanted to, I told her that, when she could remember the directions and the correspondences we had discussed, she would get an altar table. Wouldn't you know it, by Sunday she knew all the directions, the elements, and even what corner we would typically put our altar in for a circle (we put ours in the East). So,  after a bit of cleaning and rearranging, we cleared out the Eastern corner of her room, and she set up her altar table. Now, this table is very special, as it was my very first altar table as well, and it feels so amazing to have passed it down to my little witchlet.

 

Of course, after we got it all set up, my daughter asks, "Where is the stuff I get to put on it?" Ohhhhhh smart kid. And this is where we are at- she will earn things for her altar after she passes each lesson. I gave her the option of starting with the full moon, or waiting until the new moon- she opted to wait. With the dark part of the year quickly approaching, it will be the perfect time to stay cozy inside and work on hands on learning lessons, which will include her making her own wand. =)

 

And so it begins, my daughter will be the first in my line to be a hereditary witch. 

A fresh start to a new outlook

First off, I want to say thank you to those who have commented on my posts, despite the age and length of my absence. Your kind words and thoughts have helped to snap me back into pieces of my old life that I want to continue with instead of weed out like I did with everything else.

I have been wanting to write on here again for some time- but, quite honestly, two kids (one of which is now only two months old), graduate school, and plain old house work have kept me busier than I like to be. Even now I should be working on my final that is due tonight, but everyone deserves a break!

The road of my life in the past year and a half of my absence has been full of turbulence, disappointment, and unprecedented joy. I will not sit here and recap it all, as that would take far more time than I can spare at this moment; but I would like to say after a year of neglecting my spirit and soul, I have finally started to find my peace again and have even started dreaming about deity once more. I am about to celebrate my one year anniversary with the man of my dreams, the one who I could not live without. I have a beautiful daughter who will be five next month and an amazing son who is now two months and two days old. He is a summer solstice baby. =)

I've learned more about myself than I thought possible, and I also learned more about others than I wanted to at times. But, the bottom line is, I'VE LEARNED.

I will be back on here again, now that I feel that I can. =) Again, thank you to those who have kept coming and reading. You are amazing. =)

Today = Terrible Three's

Well, today is my beautiful, sweet little girls third birthday... and I want to lock her in her room, put on some head phones and take a three hour bath while downing a bottle or two of wine. I swear, over the past week, it's like a switch has flipped and we've gone from having our "moments" to having constant meltdowns, tantrums, and back talking. I mean... HOLY SHIT. Stupid terrible three's.

Great Goddess, bestow upon me your strength and compassion so I do not go postal on my child for pointless and consistent temper tantrums and non-listening ears...

I can see I'll be talking to Kuan Yin and Isis a lot about parenting and how to keep what few shards of sanity I have left. =)

Happy Birthday Jaelynn!