Our roots in the craft go back to Great Great Grandma Magdalene Nelson. She was born and raised in Jasper, Minnesota. She was the town midwife - a skill shared by many early members of the craft. From what we can gather she was not strongly into ritual. Great Grandma was a strong believer in herbs and home remedies. A recipe for an herbal drink that was good for all kinds of ailments and conditions still survives in our family that came from her. She delivered many babies in Jasper. She took care of many during the Great Influenza. When delivering babies she would place a black handled knife under the bed to cut the pain. Although she probably would never have described herself as a witch, from what we heard from Grandma Sally, she had many herbal tricks up her sleeve. Suppression of the Craft was strong in America. We feel today she would have enjoyed the new openness that Wiccans now have. We don't count Magdalene as one of the Craft, but we see she planted the seed in her wisdom on herbs.
Great Grandma Sally did not stay in Jasper, but moved to the big city of Minneapolis. She lived well into her 80s and passed on many of the herbal beliefs we hold. Her sister, Hanna, was more responsible for advancing the family's beliefs in the power of Nature. Hanna rejected Christianity as a system that was basically meant to keep people in their place. Some of Great Aunt Hann'a poetry survives in our family history. She was a free spirit. It is Hanna that we hold as the first witch of our family. Her practice was very solitary. I think my favorite verse was the one about Moon Food.
Great Aunt Hanna loved the majesty of the Universe. She taught her Niece to make wishes and say chants when she was afraid. Her niece was my Mother Camilla. My Mother in the 1970's became very much into the supernatural. She believed in Faeries and in the power of Nature. Although she tried to keep it a secret for much of my life, it did not take much to realize our family was different from those that went to Church every Sunday. It was after I was out of college that we both grew in the Craft. The 1980's were an awakening for us. Our Coven was established in 1982. It was comprised of my Mother and I and two close fellow believers. We discovered that being unconventional kept life interesting.
In 1997, my wiccan husband and I decided to get out of the Big City and seek a life in a quiet small town. We knew of a Coven in that town and joined it. Being surrounded by miles of forest it is easy to practice our Craft both indoors and outdoors. You do not have to worry about outsiders coming across our skyclad rituals in the summer. Our Coven is strong with more than 16 members. Thanks to our being self employed in the building trades we can enjoy to travel and meet others of the Craft. The rise of the Internet has made it easy for the Wiccan community to reach out. Traveling has given us a chance to get magickcal resources to enhance our work. This has lead to the forming of Wicca Haven.
I wish to thank my two daughters for their support in this project. We are proud of their enjoyment of the Craft.
We wish to see the Craft continue to grow, but not to the point where people think they can buy magick from Kmart. We just don't think a pentagram that was made in a Chinese sweatshop is the way to increase your magickcal powers. Don't get us wrong. We don't think you need to have tools of gold and silver, or spend an arm and a leg for magick materials. We just think things made by fellow wiccans or herbs and substances from magickcal places is important. We think that natural materials, not plastic, is the way to be close to the Goddess/God.
Lady Heather