Spirits and Children

So, I had some odd encounters as a child with the other side up until I hit the age of puberty. I'm was almost as if my brain just stopped listening to that part of me. I expected to have some of the same things happen to my kids simply because things like that tend to travel in the family.

I'm using this post to discuss situations I have gone myself in both personally and with my son and how we have handled. I also want to discuss dicerning between spiritual experiences and just faulty mundane items. Too many times have I read or talked to people who make any and everything a sign. Sure, some CAN be, but is it logical? Maybe, but I still stand by the thought that not everything in life is some spiritual awakening or sign from the Gods and such. Life is pretty... normal.

Driving My Mother Crazy

My father is retired military, now. When I was growing up he was often on naval tours and back then there wasn't communication when he was crossing the Atlantic until he got over to the Africa coast. During these tours we lived with my grandmother until I was about six.

When I was three I started developing my connection with the spiritual world through my great grandmother. She would come in the middle of the night when I woke up scared to tell me stories so that I would go back to sleep. I would later wake up in the morning and tell my mom and grandmother all about them.

It really freaked them out when I started to say that I thought my dad was dead because he wasn't able to call. Needless to say, my mom tried to stop my gift from developing out of fear. I definitely don't want to treat my kids like that when it comes to them hitting that special age of talking and still being innocent enough to attract spirits on accident. Some people, even as practicers or those brought up around the pagan faith, can still be very scared of particular gifts. 

Thomas

We own my husband's childhood home. It's old and, like most old homes, it has a past. When my son turned three he made friends with the little blonde boy in his closet. He didn't even know what blonde was, so it was an odd conversation.

My husband later told his sister about him having an imaginary friend, because that's what we put it off as. She then reminded my husband about the ghost in the closet that would play with her toys and tell her stories. We connected the dots and realized real quick what it was. Since the boy seems harmless enough, my son continues to sleep in the same room, now almost three years later, and we haven't had any issues. Things go missing, fall off his dresser, and general funny things, but nothing harmful or alarming.

The Rocking Horse

Around this same time my in-laws bought a huge riding horse for my son. At first it was normal. It has a sensor in it to sound off as it were galloping when it was ridden and a toy carrot put to it's mouth made a chewing sound.

As time went on though this horse developed a light sensitivity. It's more than that though. If it fades gradually from day to night, then it's normal. But if you turn on a light and turn it off it makes a neighing noise. We noticed that when we just covered its head it didn't notice any change. Then it stopped altogether a few months ago. My husband has our room blacked out due to his work schedule; day light is hard to sleep in. We moved the horse into our room so we could fix up his room and the horse started up again but worse. It would makes noises all hours of the night until we moved it back over. It's an off phenomena, but hardly ghost reactions. 

This is one of those instances when I always suggest science before spiritual. Not everything is going to be a ghost just because one instance is. I think this is a good lesson in how one should and how another shouldn't approach the situation. Not everything is so spiritual. Weird, sure, but not unexplained. It's also not say that you shouldn't just shrug off such occurances since kids so have an affinity for the unusual. Case by case basis.

Want to see the video of the horse?

 © 2016, Copyright The Dame and The Devil Business Blog - Writer The Dame

A Journey Back in Time

Slowly Introducing Kids

I often like to put on the history channel for the kids to watch and learn about the ancient civilizations as they run around the house making messes and mischief. I feel this is an easy transition into pagan beliefs because its more understood of it being real and other have practiced it before. I also believe that culture plays a pivotal role in any religion practiced and should be studied alongside the older religious views. Their customs, morals, and everyday life will give a greater insight into the why and why nots of how they believed the Gods to act. Even though they're five and two and a half, I know that some of that information is getting to them one way or another because throughout the week my son will randomly ask questions about some of the programs he was not fascinated with. Instilling this learning at your own pace environment has definitely allowed them to pick up on things their own way. My daughter, the youngest, will even stop at times to sit and watch the programs. I usually do this for a couple hours a week depending on what's on the TV and how long were home.

The other way I do this, is by using YouTube and Audible. We'll hook up my phone in the car rides around town and listen to lore or other things. This past month we learned about Stonehenge on YouTube and then watched a series on it on the History Channel. At first he thought it was cool, then they started talking about the ritualistic sacrifice and he got scared that people were going to come up from the ground. (He's really into zombies.) He relaxed after I explained as best as I could to him that these things happened a very long ago, way before even great grandma and grandpa were alive. He was really interested in it, so I suggested a trip.

Stonehenge Reconstructed

Here in our little town we have a full sized reconstructed site at one of the colleges. It's quite a grand thing and when you can't travel to the real site, it's the next best one. After listening to the YouTube video again as a refresher for the course they were going to learn, we got out and they had some fun. We talked about what it must have been like back then and I asked my son what kind of a shop would he open if he lived here. Of course, he said video games or ninjas, and my daughter wanted a pink store with makeup or my candles. (She's very fascinated with what mommy does.) 

My son asked where they buried people and why. That was a little harder to explain since they way is not really known. I told him that this wasn't the real Stonehenge and that the real one is very far away in another country, but that people from all over the world can still go and visit it. I asked him how he thinks people back then lived and we discussed that there used to tribes of people who would wonder the world. That there didn't use to be cities or houses like we have. People couldn't use phones to talk like we do with his grandparents. I think that idea worried him more than intrigued him because he was wondering a lot about how they managed to live then. 

Baby Steps in Understanding

At the end of the trip, I asked him what all he learned and if he'd like to come back another time and listen to more about the actual people who lived here. We really only heard about what Stonehenge was used for and not so much about the people or religion. So we're planning a trip back again to see what else we can find out about this mysterious wonder of the old world. I told him that there many different kinds of people who had once lived in the real Stonehenge. That there were old Britton tribes, Romans, Celts, and even older peoples still. We discussed the type of told used, because he's getting more interested in tools and working like his dad. How they're different from the ones we have today because they were wooden and stone. It was a lot of information to take in at once and I think highlighting the parts he would find more interesting helped. In the end, we walked away with a lot of fun in the desert sun.

I hope you enjoyed our trip. Do you have any questions in regards to how we teach? 

© 2016, Copyright The Dame and The Devil Business Blog - Writer The Dame

Being a Pagan Parent

Being a Pagan Parent

This was a subject I was debating on talking about because it puts my family in a public light. However, I don't see many people discussing how to raise their kids in a pagan household. As I've said in other blogs, my husband and I practice two different faiths; I'm heathen and he's a practicing Palero and Osanyin Priest. So, how do we handle educating them? It's pretty easy, honestly.

Heathenry and Youtube

I follow this gentleman on Youtube who runs a in-depth channel on the Norse Religious texts, the Prose and Poetic Eddas. He speaks in the old Norse language as well. We listen to his videos on car rides and talk about the stories we heard. My son is five years old, so he has a lot of questions and breaking things down on his level can be a but challenging. He's absolutely fascinated though and loves to hear the funny stories. My daughter is three so just listens to have a good time. I plan on continuing this until they both know the books well. I also picked up an audible account and buy the Norse mythology books or other subjects they would be interested in for lessons. So far, it's a hit! I would highly suggest this for any parent on the go as much as I am. 

Palo and Music

My husband does plan on having our kids scratchedscrat the faith. Scratching is just a term for initiation. My husband talks to him about Osanyin and Palo when he gets the chance and we already have some spirits for him to work with. Both my husband and son are excited about him coming to age. To teach him more about the Afro-cuban faith, we often play the Yoruba and Congo music  and then my husband hard translates as best as he can. This faith is oral, so anything outside of stories passed down, makes the knowledge limited. 

Indoctrination

We do NOT believe in forcing our children into a particular faith, even ours. We'd prefer it, but it's entirely their choice. We plan on enrolling our son into a Catholic private school. We also took our kids to a Mosque and a Hindu Temple just so he can get a better education and can make sure he's religiously informed from all sides. We're very proud of their interest in our practices and will continue to feed those flames until they can decide how they are fulfilled. 

We will continue this blog talking about the ways we educate our kids in the Pagan paths.