My name is Carmen Marroquin and I am proud to now call myself a practicing Wiccan. My parents are extreme Catholics ever since I can remember, they make me attend mass even still, and I just go to make her happy. But there has always been this feeling inside of me, a deep connection with nature, with the moon, healing not only of crystals but the properties of the nature which surrounds us and the metaphysical. Its the rivers, the rain and its intoxicating smell, the soothing breeze the beauty of the trees and the life it sustains. Even when I was little and still, I watch the moon at night and talk to it and in doing so it would fill me with so much peace I could and still cant feel anywhere else.
There was a time in my life where my depression and anxieties skyrocketed. I was lost and going to church made it so much worse, such narrow-mindedness made me pessimistic and sick. I was at the point that suicide was all I thought about. Thank the Goddess I stumbled across some books that were on sale on Wicca and paganism. Once I read the first two pages of each book, it was like an epiphany. I figured out where I belonged and for once I felt safe. I always collected gems and crystals and prayed to the life force around me to help me, and they had in a strange way. Things always seemed to happen my way until I put it to the side. People thought I was crazy and my mother even took me to the priest to talk to him.... it did not help. But upon reading these books I know I am not alone and never was. I finally feel complete and proud to be Wiccan. I have not told my parents yet because of their unableness to understand me. But as for now I am in a good place in my life where I am willing to learn all there is to possibly learn to enhance my life positively. My stress and depression has gone away. I do consider myself a solitary practicing Wiccan but I, for once, dont feel alone. Wicca saved my life and I know I have been connected with these energies all my life. My sister a non-Wiccan also agrees with me. Blessed Be all those who have helped me find my ways and for those working to help me on my journey.
Blessed Be
Carmen
Congratulations to Carmen! Hers is our winning article for September of 2007. This article reminds us that we are not alone in our quest for our own true faith be that Wiccan, Buddhist, Christian. When we are open to the Force that controls our lives we, too, like Carmen, will find what the Divine wants and needs us to find. It takes faith and trust, and when it seems like we are at our lowest, our God will find a way to reach us, if we will but listen and look with that part in all of us that sings to our Creator.
