Bridging the Gap

When I first began studying Wicca, I didn't know any other Pagans. Like a lot of people back then, you learned about Wicca through either knowing a coven or from books.

I spent a lot of time in the bookstore.

Raymond Buckland, Margot Adler, Gerald Gardner, Silver Ravenwolf (remember her?), Isaac Bonewits and the Farrars helped me to learn more and more about Wicca and Witchcraft. Through their words, I found my place in the Craft. I was a solitary, sure, but I had found my way home.

A lone practitioner in my early twenties, I really wanted to find others. I mean, I really did. Over time, I learned how to connect with others: Sometimes I left a slip of paper in a book on Wicca in a bookstore with my email address on it. Sometimes, I was the one who found the slip of paper (that actually only happened once where I found one, but boy was that exciting!). When I finally found Witchvox online, I was able to find so many others like me who were also nearby. In my time as a Wiccan, I've met so many other Pagans, attended circles, festivals, Pagans Night Out events, sabbats, and esbats.

And lots of drum circles.

The richness of the Pagan community was sustained in my area for a long time. We used to have public Pagan Pride Days and similar events. We weren't hiding. We were out and about, interacting with the community at large and being found by those new to the Pagan path.

But then, slowly, that all started to change. The big events stopped happening. The covens I knew either became completely closed or disbanded. Pagan churches that I had known dismantled themselves. Pagan Pride Days? Well, I haven't even seen one of those in many years.

It seems to me that the time is right to really start to rebuild the bridges that once were. The elders are still here. We just haven't been able to be as easily found. The seekers new to the path continue to find there way into Wicca, Asatru and the myriad other Pagan traditions. I know those seekers are there, because I've been encountering them lately. Maybe it's an amethyst pendant or a pentagram tattoo, but something will stand out to me that says maybe this person is seeking. Maybe they don't know there are people like them nearby.

And so, I have built this Pagan Codex. As a web developer and a Wiccan priest, creating this site seems the obvious artifact to bring into existence. With technology and the innate urge to nurture others that called me to be clergy in the first place, building this platform seemed the best offering I could present to the community.

My hope is that this Pagan Codex will be used for those of us who already found our way home to be able to say, "We're here. You've found us". But even moreso, I hope those who, like me, were seeking in solitude can be able to finally say, "I'm not alone."

Blessed Be,

Sickle