This past weekend, during the two wedding fracas and festivities, I had an interaction that has left me both delighted and most pensive for the past couple of days.
My friend had hired one of the Viking Sisters to be her wedding photographer, and as I had heard a lot of cool things about these two sisters, I was very much looking forward to meeting them.
I actually met them for the first time a couple of weeks ago when they came out to scout out the farm a bit before the big day, and right off the bat I knew they were both special and pretty delightful folk.
It was at the wedding however, that I came to know more about why I felt that way.
You see, people, they talk to me, and I don't mean they just cordially chit chat, nope, they open like dam floodgates when I'm around. I don't mind this at all, as most people just want to be heard and valued, and I actually very much care about people and their stories. Perhaps that's why they open up.
Anyway, back to the sisters. While one sister was wandering around shooting the wedding photos, I happened to have a couple of conversations with the other sister. Her fiery red hair and zest for life emanated from her being, and I might have been a very enthusiastic audience when she talked to me about her bird rescuing over the years. (She has a crow!)
It was when she told me about the incident involving a brain damaged great horned owl's talon being clamped to her thigh for over an hour due to a series of events that I knew things were taking an even more interesting turn.
I was in the presence of a self-identified witch.
This I already knew, witches and I tend to know each other. There's most likely a lot of reasons why, but it happens. I don't share their faith, but I love them for a myriad of reasons, and the case of this lady was no different.
Some of my cordial feelings come from being persecuted for many years as I had a mole on my face for the first twenty-eight years of my life. I was mocked and called a witch a lot during my formative years, which, while hurtful when I was young, became a bit of a badge of honor when I was older. Persecution I understand.
And that is one of the biggest reasons why I have an affinity for witches. As I sat eating chocolate mousse and listening to my new friend, I felt a deep and empathetic sadness for her experience in the small town just north to me.
The woman in front of me was a generous, caring soul who had a heart of service and giving, and it was apparent that my neighboring community had done their best to be discriminatory due to her appearance and chosen way of life.
I don't get it. And I never will.
Life is so much more awesome when there are a myriad of people about who are different than you. I still can't fathom why anyone would want to dwell in a place full of repressed clones who bind their self-expression to the will of the herd. How is a lady who saves birds, volunteers at the food bank, and oh yes, is a pagan, going to harm anyone?
Plus, who she is is so dang beautiful. I've only met a few truly evil people in my lifetime. Most people, even the most depraved, possess a beauty about them because they exist as a unique composition of atoms and experiences in this lifetime.
It is not my place to judge, as I find such behavior the height of arrogance. It is my place to love and express my faith and affinity for my fellow souls through acts that represent that almost un-definable state of being.