Locating the company Essay

Mary Anne used to work in the public library but has resigned four years ago. Currently she writes articles on Wicca and witchcraft for an online website under an assumed name for privacy. She claimed that her ancestors were into the practice long before they came to the US to migrate. According to her, the practice was never foreign to her having grown with a doting father who was a physician studying herbology along with his siblings. Animatedly she began to talk about her funny experiences as a child and showed me her private carpeted room which I was not allowed to step inside. Standing in the halls, I was shown a set of altar tools used in rituals which includes a broom or a besom, a cauldron, the goblet, a hardbound Book of Shadows, a boline or a knife for cutting things and many more. The room was well-lighted with several lamps that looked like candles, and there were several unlighted candles of white, black and gold colors. I was then told that the tools are just plain tools that have no actual powers of their own. According to Mary Anne, the â€Å"tools† are used for a particular purpose and while they may seem unimportant, it is considered rude to touch them without permission. A pentagram was framed at the corner of the room with 3D effects. Altogether, the Wiccan room she showed me was a stark contrast from the rest of the house. We went back to her sitting room and started talking about the popular Wiccan groups in her community. For her, there was no difficulty in locating the company of others but her path is unique and so are the paths of her family members before her. According to her, the Divine is everywhere present in every being. She respects other members and practitioners but prefer to practice alone to maintain focus. Although she attends meetings from time to time, these are often associated with certain religious ceremonies. Knowing that I was quite interested in the craft, she started preaching on the value of ethics and the threefold law that what you do to others comes back to you threefold times. Respect for others and their liberty is critical in the wiccan culture and religion that allows us to be freed from our own selfish ambitions according to Rountree (2002). For Anne, the air, water, and the earth are essential for life such that she is a vegetarian unable to hurt and kill animals even for food. Fire according to her is in her heart as her zest for life is written down for others to read and aid in the wiccan practice and religion. For her, the principles of Alexandrian Wicca or the Gardnarian wicca is important but does not have to be the ultimate guiding force into the practice if the religion allows freedom and liberty as its cardinal rule. Her parting joke to me was, â€Å"do not be afraid, the true wiccans are not into evil practice† made me see that a true religion does not impart teachings of subjugation and control to its members.