{"id":3190,"date":"2010-02-01T01:10:12","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T06:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3247"},"modified":"2010-01-22T20:55:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T01:55:00","slug":"musings-of-a-massachusetts-witch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/02\/01\/musings-of-a-massachusetts-witch-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Musings of a Massachusetts Witch"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first part in an ongoing experience:<\/span><\/p>\n

My children, spouse and I have been renting the house will currently reside in since July 1, 2008. We discovered that the two story dwelling was built around 1883 by checking the New Bedford\u2019s city assessors\u2019 website. The house has three bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, dining room and kitchen. We have an attic which is currently full of our landlady\u2019s things that she left behind and a basement which accommodates the boiler, hot water heater and a washer and drier. Off the kitchen we have a deck which leads to a small backyard where we often hold Esbat and Sabbat rituals. It\u2019s the perfect house for us. The moment I stepped over the threshold I felt peaceful and happy. I still feel this way even though I now hold the belief that we are not the only beings to inhabit the home. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first occurrence I had with the entity was a few weeks prior to Samhain 2008. I would often catch a glimpse of a shadow out of the corner of my eye. In the beginning this would occur while the children were in bed for the evening and I was up waiting for my husband to return home from work but then I began to notice the shadow during the day. Whenever I would see and feel this presence, I never felt afraid so I attributed it to Nana (<\/em>my paternal grandmother) whom we invite into our home every Samhain for our Ancestral Dinner. I stopped seeing the shadow and feeling the presence a few days following the Sabbat so I felt validated in this belief. <\/span><\/p>\n

The next manifestation occurred this past year (2009) – again just a few weeks prior to Samhain. My sister and I discussed how it seemed to be occurring around the same time which again validated my certainty that it was Nana. There were no shadows this year – instead I smelled burning cigarettes. Nana smoked Winston cigarettes while she was alive on this physical plane and I have always associated that scent, as well as, Vaseline Hand Lotion and Dentyne gum with her. When I noticed the smell I would check to see if I had left incense burning on the altar but I hadn\u2019t. I even checked the downstairs windows to see if I had left any one of them opened. Perhaps someone was smoking outside? But every window was secured. This scent manifestation occurred twice \u2013 once before Samhain and once a few days after. <\/span><\/p>\n

It had to be Nana? Right. There was no other conclusion that I could come to. I felt comforted that she was making a habit to visit us this time each year. But my comfort was not long lasting.<\/span><\/p>\n

About a week after the occurrence with the cigarette smoke, I was alone in the house with our cat, Alchemy. He was napping on the back of the sofa next to the computer desk where I sat diligently typing a post for my blog. Except for the clicking of the keyboard, the room was silent until I heard the creaking of our upstairs bedroom floorboards. It sounded as if someone was walking across them. Being as the house was built in 1883, many of the floor boards creak and since we had been living there for over a year I had learned how to interpret the sounds. Each morning I usually awoke with the children making sure they were off to school on time and I used the creaky floorboards as a way to determine when my husband was out of bed. This time, however, I knew it wasn\u2019t my spouse. The children were at school and my husband was already at work. I decided to be brave and go investigate. As I climbed the staircase I spoke aloud to Nana but there was no response. I wasn\u2019t even sure what I would have done if I had received one. Screamed maybe? When I entered our bedroom I glanced around. Nothing was out of place. Nothing felt different. And I didn\u2019t feel as if there were any presence in the room with me. <\/span><\/p>\n

My next encounter was a few nights later. My husband and I were retiring for the evening. I had used the bathroom, which is downstairs, and headed up to our bedroom before him. He would use the bathroom, shut down the computer, shut off all the lights and check that the front door was locked before joining me. This was our bedtime routine. Well, this particular November night I was especially tired and started drifting off to sleep before my husband even found his way upstairs. I was lying on my left side with my back to the opened door of our bedroom, when I felt something sit on the bed near my feet. I was certain that our cat, Alchemy had jumped on the bed with me so, with my eyes still closed I called out to him patting the empty spot next to me. He didn\u2019t respond as he usually did. No meowing – no walking over me to rub his head on my face. So I called him again patting the bed. I slowly opened my eyes as I realized that Alchemy wasn\u2019t in the room. <\/span><\/p>\n

My heart began to thud. I took a deep breath and lay still – waiting. What was I waiting for? I don\u2019t know. For something to happen, I suppose. I felt like time didn\u2019t exist as if someone had pushed the pause button on their DVD player. The weight slowly lift off the bed as I heard my husband climb the stairs. As he walked through the door, Alchemy jumped up on the bed and sauntered over to where I lay. I rolled over onto my back and stared at my husband. I relayed my experience to him and he confirmed that the cat had been with him the entire time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since that evening I occasionally feel that I am not alone in the house and sometimes I catch movements out of the corner of my eye but none of it makes me fearful. I don\u2019t feel threatened by this entity though it can sometimes be unnerving. I suppose what bothers me most is that I don\u2019t know what this presence is doing here. Perhaps I\u2019m missing a message I\u2019m meant to receive?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first part in an ongoing experience: My children, spouse and I have been renting the house will currently reside in since July 1, 2008. We discovered that the two story dwelling was built around 1883 by checking the New Bedford\u2019s city assessors\u2019 website. The house has three bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, dining room and kitchen. We have an attic which is currently full of our landlady\u2019s things that she left behind and a basement which accommodates the boiler, hot water heater and a washer and drier. Off the kitchen we have a deck which leads to a small backyard where we often hold Esbat and Sabbat rituals. It\u2019s the perfect house for us. The moment I stepped over the threshold I felt peaceful and happy. I still feel this way even though I now hold the belief that we are not the only beings to inhabit the home. The first occurrence I had with the entity was a few weeks prior to Samhain 2008. I would often catch a glimpse of a shadow out of the corner of my eye. In the beginning this would occur while the children were in bed for the evening and I was up waiting for my husband to return home from work but then I began to notice the shadow during the day. Whenever I would see and feel this presence, I never felt afraid so I attributed it to Nana (my paternal grandmother) whom we invite into our home every Samhain for our Ancestral Dinner. I stopped seeing the shadow and feeling the presence a few days following the Sabbat so I felt validated in this belief. The next manifestation occurred this past year (2009) – again just a few weeks prior to Samhain. My sister and I discussed how it seemed to be occurring around the same time which again validated my certainty that it was Nana. There were no shadows this year – instead I smelled burning cigarettes. Nana smoked Winston cigarettes while she was alive on this physical plane and I have always associated that scent, as well as, Vaseline Hand Lotion and Dentyne gum with her. When I noticed the smell I would check to see if I had left incense burning on the altar but I hadn\u2019t. I even checked the downstairs windows to see if I had left any one of them opened. Perhaps someone was smoking outside? But every window was secured. This scent manifestation occurred twice \u2013 once before Samhain and once a few days after. It had to be Nana? Right. There was no other conclusion that I could come to. I felt comforted that she was making a habit to visit us this time each year. But my comfort was not long lasting. About a week after the occurrence with the cigarette smoke, I was alone in the house with our cat, Alchemy. He was napping on the back of the sofa next to the computer desk where I sat diligently typing a post for my blog. Except for the clicking of the keyboard, the room was silent until I heard the creaking of our upstairs bedroom floorboards. It sounded as if someone was walking across them. Being as the house was built in 1883, many of the floor boards creak and since we had been living there for over a year I had learned how to interpret the sounds. Each morning I usually awoke with the children making sure they were off to school on time and I used the creaky floorboards as a way to determine when my husband was out of bed. This time, however, I knew it wasn\u2019t my spouse. The children were at school and my husband was already at work. I decided to be brave and go investigate. As I climbed the staircase I spoke aloud to Nana but there was no response. I wasn\u2019t even sure what I would have done if I had received one. Screamed maybe? When I entered our bedroom I glanced around. Nothing was out of place. Nothing felt different. And I didn\u2019t feel as if there were any presence in the room with me. My next encounter was a few nights later. My husband and I were retiring for the evening. I had used the bathroom, which is downstairs, and headed up to our bedroom before him. He would use the bathroom, shut down the computer, shut off all the lights and check that the front door was locked before joining me. This was our bedtime routine. Well, this particular November night I was especially tired and started drifting off to sleep before my husband even found his way upstairs. I was lying on my left side with my back to the opened door of our bedroom, when I felt something sit on the bed near my feet. I was certain that our cat, Alchemy had jumped on the bed with me so, with my eyes still closed I called out to him patting the empty spot next to me. He didn\u2019t respond as he usually did. No meowing – no walking over me to rub his head on my face. So I called him again patting the bed. I slowly opened my eyes as I realized that Alchemy wasn\u2019t in the room. My heart began to thud. I took a deep breath and lay still – waiting. What was I waiting for? I don\u2019t know. For something to happen, I suppose. I felt like time didn\u2019t exist as if someone had pushed the pause button on their DVD player. The weight slowly lift off the bed as I heard my husband climb the stairs. As he walked through the door, Alchemy jumped up on the bed and sauntered over to where I lay. I rolled over onto my back and stared at my husband. I relayed my experience to him and he confirmed that the cat had been with him the entire time. Since that evening I occasionally feel that I am not alone in the house and sometimes I catch movements out of the corner of my eye but none of it makes me fearful. I don\u2019t feel threatened by this entity though it can sometimes be unnerving. I suppose what bothers me most is that I don\u2019t know what this presence is doing here. Perhaps I\u2019m missing a message I\u2019m meant to receive?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3190"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3133,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions\/3133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}