A Beginning at the End

Today is 20th December 2012. Tomorrow is Yule, and there are only 5 more sleeps til Christmas. My house is a mess, I have 2 Christmas cakes to ice, half the presents left to wrap and one still to make before we leave to visit my sister and her family for the holidays. I don't have time to start a blog. But today I took my dog for a walk in our local woods and realised that I need to do just that.

 

A few years ago I joined Sacred Mists, an online college for Wicca and Witchcraft, to learn more about a spiritual pull that had been building in me for some time. It was a great place to learn, a great community with lots of resources and support, but after a couple of years there I felt I'd grown in a different direction and I left. I'd made lots of lovely friends, a couple of mediocre enemies, and learned enough to get me questioning things, which I feel is a great way to learn. It's been almost a year since I left and one of the things I was surprised to find I missed was the spiritual journal students are encouraged to keep. That is what I aim to do here.

 

So, what does "Always Eba" mean? Well, at Sacred Mists students are encouraged to choose a magickal name or pseudonym to use within the college. As a child I had been given a fabulous book called "Eba the Absent-Minded Witch" by Elizabeth Froman. It's a great story about a scatterbrained witch who came to visit a little girl called Jenny and her family, and never left! Eba had a drawstring bag overflowing with half-finished knitting, peppermints and various other bits and bobs, and her life was just as chaotic. It's one of the few books I kept from my childhood, and when the time came to choose my name, Eba is what sprang to mind. When I decided to begin this blog I thought about using a different name, about starting anonymously. But that felt wrong. I am Eba, and I always will be.

 

Eba and Jenny

 

My path is Pagan. That's the closest to a pigeon-hole or label I think I'm likely to get to. I'm not Wicca, or Asatru, or Druid, or Witch. I'm Pagan. I do not worship, but I do honour ~ the Gods, the Goddesses, but above all the Earth, the Land, Nature. My intent is to follow a spiritual path without turning my back on the science and logic that underpins the structure of the Universe. I believe both Fact and Faith can and should co-exist without stress or strain. This is, as all spiritual endeavours should be, an ongoing journey for me. I am far from perfect. I have some learning from books and schools, but most of what I know is what I have seen or learned through my own explorations. I do not claim to have ANY answers, but I hope to gain some along the way. You are most welcome to join me.