Author & Webmistress

I am a middle-aged, married female with two step-daughters and five grandchildren.  In 1992 I earned a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in Developmental Psychology and began my career as a psychology professor at a university in central Pennsylvania.  I routinely teach courses in Adult Development & Aging, Psychology of Gender, and Cognitive Psychology.  I also teach seminars and give workshops in Psychology of Religion and related issues, primarily faith development, moral reasoning, and interpersonal forgiveness.   

The Journey

My spiritual journey has been one of adventure and exploration.  When I was a child my mother practiced a blend of Appalachian spiritualism, nature-centered spirituality, and Christianity.  When I entered high school I joined a conservative Christian denomination.  In my mid-twenties I began to realize that my values were changing in ways that seemed incompatible with this denomination.  I tried several liberal Christian denominations, but finally settled in a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

I have been interested in Nature-centered spirituality for many years. In 1997 I decided to take some action on this interest.  Up to that point I was hesitant to let anyone other than my closest friends know that I was interested in the Pagan movement.  As a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation, I turned first to the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans for information.  I read lots of books and websites.  I developed a personal practice that became comfortable and powerful.

My experience has been similar to so many seekers who find Paganism.  Finally, after all those years, I knew I had found my spiritual home. Vivianne Crowley makes reference to this common response when she writes, "Many of us may have felt a sense of recognition and of deja vu, of coming home after a long journey -- we have returned from a long exile to our own people" (page 7).

My Current Path

If I were to chose one experience that moved me toward nature-centered spirituality (and that is hard to do!), I would point to a moment of mediation several years ago.  It occurred to me that if there is a loving, divine, creative Power who created life and wanted to communicate with this creation, then it would make sense that this Power would make the communication obvious, and not just obvious to me, but to everyone.  What, I wondered, has been common to all people, of all time, of all languages, of all intellects?  Nature: the natural cycles of birth, life, and death, and the cycles of the seasons.  Nature is the common theme.  That realization was powerful in my spiritual journey.

There is a passage in  Huston Smith's book Why Religion Matters that articulates the spiritual wholeness I have found.  Smith proposes that people need an adequate "worldview" or a "sense of the whole of things." In describing the fit of that worldview and reality, he states, "Signs of a poor fit are the sense of meaninglessness, alienation, and anxiety that the twentieth century knew so well. The proof of a good fit is that life and the world make sense. When the fit feels perfect, the energies of the cosmos pour into the believer and empower her to a startling degree. She knows that she belongs. The Ultimate supports her, and the knowledge that it does that produces a wholeness that is solid for fitting as a piece of a jigsaw puzzle into the wholeness of the All" (page 26).  I have found a worldview that fits me.  It brings me a strong sense of connection, support, and energy.

I call myself a solitary Pagan because I do not belong to an exclusively pagan group as my religious community. The spiritual path I follow is heavily influenced by modern Witchcraft and Wicca.  I know that for many people the word witch is a strange one.  Some of my friends and family have asked me why I want to hang on to a word that has such negative connotations.  It is true that turning the meaning of a term from negative to positive is difficult, but it has happened several times.  The term Quaker was derogatory when first used, as was Methodist and Mormon. 

I choose to use the word witch for several reasons.  One reason is that it communicates to other Pagans that I am not a  _________ (fill in the blank, see Terminology & Pagan Paths).  Along with other Pagan women today, I use the word witch as a way to identify with women who were abused, tortured, and killed across the centuries for being too assertive, too spiritual, too smart, particularly with homemade medicines and midwifery, or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  (M. Macha NightMare, a well-known author in the pagan community, has an interesting essay on why she calls herself a Witch.)

I have never been so genuinely drawn to a spiritual system as I have been to this.  This path has been filled with interesting twists and turns -- synchronicities that communicate volumes now that I have learned to pay attention.  

We are all a part of the self-aware consciousness of a divine, living universe seeking to understand itself.  Together, on this miraculous quest, we will restore to the world the gracious gifts of love, compassion, and reverence for life in all of its sacred forms.  (Phyllis Curott, page 382)

Blessed be,

Lavender-Moon
a.k.a. Marion Mason, Ph.D.