The Witch's Circle: Commitment

I am using the post of Aine's blog as a prompt.  Her post is HERE.

I have been thinking on the post of Aine's about commitment.  I can only speak of my own experience thus far but it has given me a bit to think about.

I was born into a Catholic family.  My immediate family was non-practicing so I never really learned what it was about.  The one person who was practicing was my paternal grandmother.  She was a nurse, a healer, and compassionate person, sneaking under the cover of darkness to leave clothing, shoes and food at the doorsteps of those who needed it.  She treated the Virgin Mary like a goddess and used herbs and Ojibwe ways along with western medicine as she also volunteered on the reservations and respected their way of doing things.

I loved going to church with her as the church is a beautiful magical place to me, built in the 1800s of native brownstone overlooking the lake.  It always spoke to me of magic and spirits with its Gothic structure and old lifelike statues telling stories.  The Virgin Mary always was front and foremost with her.  I inherited her rosary which is filled with wonderful energy.

Twice as a child I passed out in this church.  The first time was frightening to me but she told me it was God speaking to me, that I was special.  The second time it happened we looked at each other and I knew.

I have seen visions in Catholic churches, the most vivid being when i took my dog in to be blessed and there was St. Francis of Assisi's wolf standing by the candle alter, watching over.

My maternal great grandmother was from Bohemia and spoke mostly Czech but was an herbalist.  As far as I know she was not a practicing Catholic.  She spoke to animals too and I am super blessed to have known this woman even though I was quite young when she passed away.

So Aine's post had me thinking on this and I am going to say I do not plan to renounce something I know very little of in the secular way.  The goddess Mary is who brought me to this path in the first place along with examples in my own family.  I find what I know is apart of who I am and how I practice.  Do I renounce the evils of the Catholic church?  Yes!  Absolutely!  Just as I would any evil practice that doesn't go by the rede of "An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will".  But I cannot renounce something I don't know a lot about nor practice myself just because I was born into it.  If a time comes in my journey that this becomes a problem then I shall reconsider.

Blessed Be!