Magickal Mama
by Euraid Eryr
When I was asked to write this article, my mind raced with ideas. I had so many different topics my biggest problem was figuring which to choose. Then reality kicked in, in the form of “regular” life. Let me explain. I have a non-pagan husband who works in construction, a five year old son who works in who works in messes and two dogs that work in fur balls and footprints. I decided that my first topic would be finding the time in a world running late and powered largely by caffeine.
When my son was first born I wondered how I would bring him into and explain my chosen path. We were never going to be the “Normals” next door and I didn’t want him to feel awkward in dealing with my choices. Without even realizing it myself for years, I started him on my path from the moment he was born. With his first cry I sent a prayer of thanks to the Goddess. The first time I counted his fingers and toes and marveled in their perfection, I was blessing him in a ritual that has been passed down since before recorded history.
The fact is every fairy tale, every bath, every meal every nap became a ritual. It wasn’t planned and it certainly wasn’t on purpose but there you have it. At first I tried to remember how I had been taught to be catholic. I just remember it always being there. And that was my answer. It was part of my everyday, not apart from it. Sometimes it really takes a cosmic two by four to penetrate my thick skull. I had been running from everything about being catholic and didn’t realize that it wasn’t all that bad. Those daily rituals: prayer for meals, prayers to start and end the day, even just a general “Howdy do!” to the big kahuna in the sky had made me feel really good when I was a little girl. Sure there were negatives, but that’s a whole other column.
Suddenly I found my missing time and I found how easy it was to introduce my son to my path. It was there, just waiting for me in those moments when I just breathe. We introduce mealtime prayer. It’s nothing elaborate, just a simple thank you for our food, but in that moment I am thankful and not just for the chance to sit down! Bedtime stories took a more ‘faerie’ and less fairy aspect. Playing outside became a chance to observe over animal cousins and learning how similar we all really are. The biggest time saver of all had to be thanks to J.K. Rowling, patron saint to witches everywhere. Through Harry’s world my son learned of non-magick folk. He learned of heroes and he learned its ok to be a little different. He was the one who told me that we didn’t have to tell the muggles we were witches, they would just feel bad that they couldn’t do all the cool things we were doing.
The truth is, that in spite of all the mess and what not, my son has been my biggest time saver. Before him I was always searching here, there and everywhere for answers or teacher or whatever little bit of magick I could find in today’s world. With him I stop and go nose to nose with a beetle. I put offering out for bugs and Faery folk. I watch the moon rise over the trees and remember what it was like to be a child and find magick everywhere. “Silly, mommy,” he often says. “Just play for a while.”
