Double, Double, Toil and Trouble – Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble.
Flash back to childhood…
I present to you- the little 7 year old Em.
She is dressed head to toe in black.
Donning her self-applied Madonna-esque rouge on her cheeks and lip;
Yes I LOVED to dress up.
Happy memories of being super-girl (& sometimes super man(!) to outdo my elder brother) jumping off a ground floor window sill in attempt to fly - But most especially…
…I LOVED to dress up as a witch.
I felt so powerful
&
It somehow felt familiar
Aside from being a witch
Little Em was also…….
THE TRAVELLER TO OTHER WORLDS :
At about the time this photo was taken, my mother had taken me aside to ask me WHY I would insist on inviting friends round for “teatime” after school….. only to make them sit with me in a large, dark cupboard upstairs.
“Because we want to” was my answer.
I wanted to.
The truth was… I was convinced I was going to FIND another world.
Even as a youngling, I was questioning:
“There has to be more then this circus.. right?!”
THE EARLY RISER :
I was the notorious EARLY riser in my family.
I would dressed and ready for school even before my parents alarm had sounded.
I just loved to wake before anyone else in the house.
To soak up the silence.
It felt so special.
THE APOTHECARIST :
Another fetish as a child was making “magic potions” with leaves and herbs I would collect from the garden. I would regularly offer them to my friends and family members.
I believed I could make potions that helped myself and others fly.
Fast forward a couple years later to when I was 10.
THE SACRED FIRE:
My family used to pay visits to friends in East Anglia. Having spent my early years being raised in London, I welcomed the greenery and spaciousness. I loved it there.
The peak of my excitement would be sneaking out with the elder daughter of the family and go in to the nearby woods to make a secret camp fire…
I LOVED it!
We would sit
In silence
Even said that the fire was our offering to the trees and animals.
We said little so prayers.
FLASH forward to NOW!
The ‘mystic’ little witch lives as a grown woman today:
She is less “Alice Cooper” in appearance !
&
Doesn’t roam around with a broomstick!
Overall she is a little more integrated to everyday modern life…(although some may beg to differ!)
What still remains is….
Rising in the early hours to SIT and breathe.
Working with herbs and nature to nurture health and well being.
Pursuing a “Life” career and ethos that means sharing and honouring that we are part of a something so much bigger.
And lighting a sacred fire
A ritual that is a part of my life, whether to share it’s powerful effects with others, or just for myself.
This is the practice of AGNI HOTRA
Powerful
Illuminating
Transformational
So……A full cycle I guess?
I smile with so much love knowing that the essence of inner child like wonder and following a true calling, even at a time of not being conscious what it meant, still resides today.
Do you have quirky childhood pastimes you can share?
Were they snapshots of things to come?
Where was little you intuiting the BIGGER YOU?
I’d LOVE to hear from you.
P.S:
I’m no longer infamous for for shovelling people in to cupboards as a way of accessing higher realms!
