Spotlight: Wendy (woodwife)

By Brenda Essig (Zanymuse) on October 17, 2011

The name of her cubit was so enchanting that I was drawn to it. What I found there was surprising. "The Cottage In The Thicket" is a site for Pagans. Here? Then my brain clicked out the answer... That is what Cubits was designed for ...diversity...where a site's owner could present their interests in a safe and controlled environment. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to know about this site and the woman behind it. Here is her response in her own, very well expressed words.

“She who is the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon among the stars, and the mystery of the waters, and the desire of the heart of man, calls unto thy soul. Arise, and come unto Her. For She is the soul of nature, who gives life to the universe. From Her all things proceed, and unto Her all things must return.” - from The Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente

____________

I sit here fretting about how hard it is to write about myself. I’m just an everyday person with a few unconventional ideas.

In the past I worked for a credit bureau, I’m a certified optician and I worked with developmentally disabled adults.

Jack and Annie by the fire. Today I’m a homemaker and I take care of my elderly parents. I have a husband, 8 cats and a dog.

The cats' mamma was a stray who adopted us. She turned up in our yard skinny and desperate, so I fed her. She wasn't friendly at first but I would sit in the door way and talk to her while she ate. Eventually she let me pet her and we had regular "girl talk" meetings in the morning. Finally she decided to move in...and brought a litter of kittens with her. We tried finding homes for them but when that didn't work we couldn't bear to send them to a shelter, so we kept them.

Big Cat Little Dog

The dog has a similar story. She belonged to someone else but they just let her run around the neighborhood. She was so cute and friendly, she had many admirers. She was kind of the neighborhood project. She decided she liked living at my house and her former owners asked me if I'd like to keep her. Of course I said yes.

I love to read, and garden and cook. I make and sell jewelry and religious items geared toward my spiritual community.

I suppose it’s my spiritual path that makes me different. I’m a pagan. More specifically I’m a spiritual pantheist, one who believes that “all” is God. I revere the natural world and the divine in all things. I also leave open the idea that there are other worlds and beings attached to our own, but hidden, that interact with us from time to time.

I don’t remember any great Ah ha! moment when things came together, I have always been what I am and, so far, nothing has been able to change that.

There are some this-world folks who are also hidden, either by choice or simply because their beliefs are non standard and they belong to minority religions that the larger community has never heard of.

Meditation beads called a witch's ladder an example of some of the things I make

Being a member of a pagan religion can be isolating if you don’t live in an area with very many like minded people. And it can be hard to find like minded people living in an area dominated by a monolithic established religion that frowns on outsider spiritualities like your own.

I started The Cottage in the Thicket cubit as an outlet for people with similar beliefs. I wanted a safe place where we could go, be ourselves and talk to like minded people but I also wanted our presence to be known. I hoped that by being open to everyone some fallacies and stereotypes about pagans might be broken. Runes I made from antler

When I opened The Cottage in the Thicket I was delighted by how many people responded and felt comfortable enough to chat there.

Pagans don’t prosthelytize but we can teach by example. At this time it’s important to me to be a small voice for my community. I can’t say if anyone is listening, I hope so.

I hope that someday everyone will be able to openly express their spirituality, or lack of it, without fear.

The Cottage in the Thicket , a place for pagans and friends.
Join me! Facebook/Google+: Woodwife Green

Jack, one of my kitties

Thank you Wendy for taking the time to share yourself with us.

Readers: I hope that you enjoyed getting to know Wendy. I know I was very happy to have this chance to present her to you!

rune¹ (rn)
n.
1.
a. Any of the characters in several alphabets used by ancient Germanic peoples from the 3rd to the 13th century.

b. A similar character in another alphabet, sometimes believed to have magic powers.

2. A poem or incantation of mysterious significance, especially a magic charm.

About Brenda Essig
I believe that everyone has a story worth telling and a uniqueness that sets them apart from the crowd. We are like snow flakes. We look similar at a glance but no two are identical.

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Comments and discussion:

Subject Thread Starter Last Reply Replies

Jack and Annie by the fire crittergarden Oct 24, 2011 7:34 AM 1

Welcome Woodwife! nap Oct 22, 2011 9:33 AM 9