The Crooked Path

Many of my witchy friends refer to their Craft as “The Crooked Path”. For many of us it truly is. While we all have our own ways of practicing the Craft (some handed down through the generations, some not), one little interesting tidbit overheard in a conversation or read somewhere will have us taking a fork in the road to investigate what that road holds. We might backtrack to the old road or continue on the new one. But investigate we will.

However, hasn’t anyone figured out that life itself is a crooked path? I don’t know anyone who is exactly where they thought they’d be. As a child I wanted to be a prima ballerina. When I was a teen, I thought I’d be an interpreter at the United Nations; or living and working overseas where I would be able to use the different languages I know (or knew) on a regular basis. When that idea got shot down I turned my skill with numbers into a job and then a business. Thirty-plus years later, I took another fork in the road and studied herbalism – both medicinal and magical. That led to yet another fork and I’m now continuing my herbal research and writing. My teenage (or even thirty-something) persona would never have envisioned this sort of life.

I have had a quote on the bulletin board above my desk for so many years the paper is yellowed: “Do not fall into the error of the artisan who boasts of twenty years’ experience in his craft while in fact he has had only one year of experience – twenty times.” It’s all these experiences that not only teach us and keep us growing, but are the forks in our road … making our path indeed a crooked one.

I, for one, am interested to see where the next fork takes me.