From a Prayer Meeting To a Can of Carpet Freshener: Life Changing Moments
LADY NOOGS
A school bus ride, a decision to go to a prayer meeting, a conversation, the casting of a circle with a can of carpet freshener and reading a sign on the window of an ice cream shop. What do all of these things have in common? They are a few of my life changing moments.
As a teen, I made the decision, which at the time I thought was Jesus speaking to me, to go to Lee University, a Christian Liberal Arts college in Tennessee. Without this life changing moment, which I will never forget, I would be a different person today. How could something I thought was “Jesus” telling me to do make me a proud pagan? Well, without that fateful thought I would never had made the decision to leave my home and learn more about Christ and His teachings, and I would have remained a naïve Christian. I believe now that the Goddess implanted these beliefs and thoughts into me so that I would find my way to Her and my husband and ultimately to what She wanted me to do with my life.
Life changing moments are few and far between and stand out to some; to others they are simple things one may not even notice. I sure didn’t, until years later. That October morning bus ride in 1995 changed my life, or rather the decision I made on it did. I was going to go to a university in Boston, not my parents religious Alma Mater. I learned valuable lessons there, which in turn lead me to my Wiccan path.
Another life changing moment was when I decided to go to a prayer meeting at said college, where I got “Saved” and “filled with the Holy Spirit”. At the time I thought my life changing moment was getting saved and filled and I had just happened to make a friend. I had met Jeff, a quite soft-spoken North Carolinian, going to the same school as me. A few weeks later, I knew he was my soul mate and we’d marry. He, of course, had his eye on my “best friend” and it took me 6 months to convince him I was the “One”. Those days I was 19, young, impressionable and eager to please my parents, my Christ and my friends. I had no idea the Goddess and God were guiding me through “enemy” waters to find my way to Them, my calling, and my destiny. After dozens of classes and prayer meetings, a wedding and a wake up call, I decided to leave school, surprisingly not that big of a life changing decision as one would think.
In 1999, my husband and I moved home to Ohio, back to family and a few friends whom remained to start the second wave of our “future” together. The Goddess had still not revealed herself to me, but the seeds of doubt had been planted in school. I was becoming more aware of the nature of my surroundings I had ignored as a child at my rural home. I was on a New Kids on the Block website (yeah, cheesy I know) and I started chatting with a girl online. She was Wiccan. I had never heard of it before. When she explained what it was, I was curious but scared (I made friends stop watching “the Craft” a year earlier because I felt it was “evil”). I “listened” but was hesitant.
That night I began to think about how I agreed that there is a male and a female God and that life is in nature and that there could possibly be such a thing as Magick and spells that actually work. The next afternoon I set out on a quest to find out more about this mysterious and elusive religion of Wicca. After a few months of research and soul searching, I began to feel a pull towards Her, the Goddess, Wicca and Magick. I felt free of most of the Christian ideals of “hell fire and brimstone” and woke up to the Nature around me.
Which leads me to another life changing decision, the first spiritual one in my life. A can of carpet freshener? Yeah, that’s right. My husband and I were going through some really, really tough financial times. We were suffering and like many times before, we had always prayed to Jesus for help. It never arrived from “Him”. So one night we got a cut off notice. My husband is a cab driver and relies on tips. He wasn’t doing so well but it was a full moon. I decided I’d try this “Magick” stuff. The only thing I had on hand was an emergency candle and Glad cinnamon apple carpet freshener. I printed out a generic money spell and casting ritual and then with my Glade can (Goddess forgive my harm of the ozone), I cast a spell. I drew my circle with the foam from the can and lit my candle and focused.
I went to bed with no “glowing moments” or special feelings and woke up to my husband handing me two hundred dollars in cash. He had never made more than a hundred dollars a night at that point, and has rarely made less than a hundred since.
I was now a witch. I knew magick worked and I never looked back. I have moved on from the spell stage, and into the more spiritual side of Wicca since then, but that circle cast with Glade carpet freshener was a life changing moment.
Advance to 2004, my fertility spells didn’t work. I wasn’t getting pregnant and we couldn’t afford fertility treatment, nor did I necessarily want them. I went to a Beltane ritual and the next day I had another life changing moment. I went to an ice cream shop and saw a sign for the county CPS agency stating that they needed foster and adoptive parents. I felt the tug and called. We went through the classes (to find out more about the process, see my article, A Pagan’s Journey to Foster Care and Adoption) then had to go through two home studies. I often felt that maybe that “sign” that I though was a “Sign” was really just desperation. But with the love and support of our friends and family we finished what was needed of us and became foster parents.
Our first placement was disrupted due to my inexperience and the added stress in our lives at that time. We had little kids since I was afraid of teenagers, especially boys, in the foster care system. I always wondered why that initial disruption happened - until July 1st 2007. I realized that day that the Goddess had meant for me to go to that school, find my husband and soul mate, and not be able to have children. She wanted us to become foster parents and fulfill both of our callings to help children in need of homes, either permanently or temporarily.
I now know that our first placement over a year ago disrupted to show the agency and us that maybe we were better suited for older children. And so that we could be the home for the young man sitting on my couch watching Star Wars at this very moment. I knew She wanted me to leave my faith of birth and find a path of tolerance to help him with his spiritual growth. She wanted us to give him a home where he could believe as he feels led to and not be in the home of a woman who tells him he’s “going to hell” for being Jewish. She led us to this place in our lives. The God and Goddess put our home, lifestyle and faith into motion when he was a mere 3- years-old before any harm was done to him. It was done so that when he was 14 and needed us the most, we would be ready and willing to love him and help him heal and grow.
I say all this so that maybe others can believe that no matter how things are going in life, sometimes they are the Goddess and God putting your future into motion and making you stronger and ready for your destiny. I’m only 30 and I know They have more planned for us and the children that we are now able and willing to help.
