🌍 Happy Earth Day! 🌏 Earth is Sacred 🌎

I sent this today as a bonus email to folks signed up for my email newsletter. I've decided to also share the main body of the email here, since I took time to write it out, and more of you may be interested!

You can sign up for my emails on my website, CaraMiaWitch.com.

This post also links to a class info page, that will be removed after May 2026, so you may wish to refer to my overall Classes & Workshops page after that point, instead!

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🌍 Happy Earth Day, everyone! 🌏

As a Pagan Witch, as an Earth-centered and Nature-centered practitioner, Earth Day does get a bit more recognition from me in a spiritual sense, though it isn't meant to be a spiritual holiday. It's a secular and action focused day, celebrated since 1970, that aims to continually work for the betterment of this planet we all call home.

That said, as a Witch, very little that I do is truly secular.

I Am a Change-Maker

Hey, Readers,

Last month I posted a video going over the results from a viewer survey I posted about a year ago. Some of the questions I asked in the survey were about how people felt about the more political topics I had started to make some videos about, and in the video I responded to a few things I learned from the survey results. For example, some people said they don't understand why the political/justice related topics are relevant, and/or they don't think they belong on my channel. I explained briefly in said video, that my channel is about my life, and the identities I hold are part of my life. So when I talk about the LGBTQ+ community, I talk about my own place within it and my own experiences as a non-hetero person. When I talk about Paganism and Witchcraft, it is with the similar knowledge that I am sharing views from minority identities. There are more of us than people think, but Pagans ARE still a religious minority. And we get treated as such. I used to not think my life was political, and I "didn't like politics" (which, as a child, I thought of mostly as voting for Senators and the like, and voting for or against school tax levies).

Ever since starting my YouTube channel, however, I have made videos about my religious path and identity with the knowledge that this is a minority point of view. This is fringe. This is still widely and vastly misunderstood by many people.

Priestess and Witch

Hey, Readers,

I recorded a video a while ago, which is being posted today, about Priestesshood and Witchery, in a sense. The questions I had for myself and viewers/readers were along the lines of what we think a Priestess is, what we think of when we think of a "Witch", who they are, and what they do. Is a Priestess the same as a Witch? How do they differ, and where do they overlap? Are all Priestesses Witches? Are all Witches Priestesses? And, for those who are Priestesses*, are we a Priestess OF anything in particular?

*Some who identify as men, using masculine pronouns, also choose to identify as Priestess, for their own reasons. You'd have to ask them to know exactly why. Feminist traditions particularly choose to combat preconceived gender roles by using certain words. Others may use Priest the same way I use Priestess in this context, in NeoPagan terms.

I said I'd be doing a blog post to further discuss my own thoughts on this subject, as far as my own path is concerned. So here we are!


Are Priestesses and Witches the same?

Strengthening Spirituality - Blog Prompt

Hey, Readers!

There are, as always, a cluster of related and unrelated things that I want to blog/vlog about at any given time, and that often results in my not knowing WHAT to post, so I end up not posting. It's a bad habit many of us get into. Today, however, while researching for my Tuesday PaganPerspective video on Pagan views of marriage/gender roles, I found the "Mom's a Witch" blog, and the Pagan Blog Prompts. So today I'd like to write using one of the blog prompts from February. Enjoy!

What is something you can do this month to bring you closer to the Goddess? 
How can you strengthen your spirituality?

I know for a fact that when I make the time and put forth more effort towards my spiritual practice, the rewards are great, but for some reason, with my life being as busy as it sometimes is these days, that doesn't make it any easier to actually do it! However, there are a few things that I can do periodically that help, and with spring fast approaching here in the northern hemisphere, some of my favorite things will be timely and simple ways to be closer to the Goddess:

• Gardening! I love caring for my potted plants, and it's about time to start some new ones from seeds.
• Similarly, this is a great time to start walking outside again. With good weather comes good nature walks.
• Many forms of reverence. There is always the option to pray more, sing more, dance more. Do Yoga more. Paint more. Whatever works.
• Celebrate with others when possible. It always feels better to me to share with others, even though I have a solitary practice most of the time. It also helps keep me accountable to observations. =)
• Treat everyday chores as a gift to the Goddess, or at least an opportunity to connect with the elements. I do this often, anyway, but it's always a big help.

Here's looking forward to spring!

Blessings~

-C-

Claiming Untruths

Hey, Readers,

Last night I read a post by my friend on Facebook. She had shared a link to an article about a metaphysical topic of an advanced nature. The comment thread was interesting, but I didn't want to respond because an old friend of mine had commented some ridiculous stuff that I would have a hard time not pointing out. Instead, I private messaged my friend in order to talk about it, but also let her know what I know to be true about what our friend was saying. I did send the message, even knowing that sometimes when I do that, I can come off as a know-it-all, or at least come off negatively in some way. I'm not sure why I do it, other than that for me it's a matter of pride, both in my path, and in being honest. In any case, I'm happy to say that what started as a way of letting my friend know something wasn't exactly right, became a much bigger question when I revealed it more obscurely in my own Facebook post on my public page:

Okay, this is a silly thing, but as someone who's been practicing and studying my path of Paganism/Wicca seriously for over a decade now, and put a lot of my life and energy and heart into it... I have to admit that I get miffed or just straight up have to laugh when I hear people make outrageous claims about their powers/abilities that I know not to be true. I'm not saying people can't develop abilities, or change their ways over time. This isn't about that. But you know how sometimes someone will claim something crazy about their family, and you know their family, and you KNOW it's not true? ("I love New York. I grew up in the city." "You grew up on a farm in Ohio...") Or they'll say they've always done something, but you know they haven't? ("I've always been a great bicyclist. I was practically born on a bike." "Really? Because I'm pretty sure you were 14 that summer you got the nerve up to try, and you fell into a fence. But after that, you were a natural!") 

(Okay, I don't know how old I was, but I definitely learned to ride a bike WAY LATER than most people do. It was my brother that fell into the fence. Yay, fictional examples based on real events!) 

Those are meant to be humorous examples, but you get my drift. I mean, what's so wrong with saying "I learned this later in life" or "I didn't believe this then, but I do now"? Are we ashamed of growth and change so much that we have to pretend we've always been this way? Or is it just some aura of mysticism surrounding Paganism and other Occult topics that makes people want to say "It's been in my family for generations," "I found out my great-great-great-great-grandmother on my married-in uncle's side was Wiccan, so I have great power" (Though not verbatim, I've had someone claim something like that to me before), or "I never even had to try, I've just always been able to do that advanced technique you can't figure out how to do"? 

I mean, maybe they can do it. Maybe their family members all became Wiccan/Pagan at some point. All that aside, why claim things that are untrue? Especially on something like Facebook... Where your friends and family are... Who knew you back then... And kind of know you're padding the truth. Silly. 

(For what it's worth, I would LOVE to learn more about my ancestry and trace back to those who would have practiced a form of Paganism. That would be so cool to know! But it wouldn't change the truth. 

My grandmother is Roman Catholic, born in Italy. My mother is a Universal Life Church minister and Spiritualist Christian. And I'm a Witch [Check all other labels that apply].)

See, it's really not just about what I told my friend. It's not just about one person claiming something that isn't true, but more about why we, as people, do this over and over, in many different areas of our lives. I didn't express that very well in my message to my friend, because that was specific to the truths I knew about the specific situation. I missed the forest for the trees, as it were. In any case, it's sparked a good conversation and a series of interesting thoughts.

Blessings~
-C-