Harry Potter and How I Found Wicca

Or maybe Wicca found me...

With the recent release of the final Harry Potter movie, that seems to be all anyone is talking about. I, too, am a huge fan of this series. I wasn't allowed to read the books or watch the movies when they first came out. When I was about 15, I decided I was old enough and started taking the books out of the library. When my mom found out she was furious.
Mostly because I had gone behind her back, but also because she felt that the books didn't mesh with our beliefs. Magic and witchcraft and all that. They used Latin words in the books, and that's what real witches used to cast spells. I was properly worried back then. Maybe a year later it was still bothering me. So I began reading about "real witches" to see if she was right.

I don't know about you, but I don't know any witches who actually wave their wands and say "Wingardium Leviosa".

Since then I secretly thought that Wicca was kind of cool-- in that "my parents totally don't approve of this at all" sort of way. I didn't actually hit the rebellious teen phase until I was about 19 or 20 though. Through the years, my Christian faith began to feel less and less personal. I was about 21 when I went back to reading about Wicca. I could picture myself as a Solitary. My faith would be mine, it would be personal, there would be no church deciding how I should worship. I read just about everything I could get my hands on, and decided that this was the right path for me.

I've only been on my path for a short time, but it's more real to me than my family's faith had been for a long time.