Kasey’s Story

I grew up as the oldest of three sisters in a small, rural one-stoplight town in Northwest Ohio. My childhood was filled with experiences in nature. From the farming region where I lived, to the yearly trips we took to hike and enjoy the outdoors, I always loved, respected, and felt a deep connection to nature.  Yearly trips to Hocking Hills were especially my favorite.  With my dad being a big history buff, family vacations always included a historic site, and from early on I remember having a good understanding of how important history is and how it shapes current events around us all. I also developed a love of history, and it inspired me (pre-internet time) to read our home encyclopedias during my spare time.  This allowed me to learn more about history, mythology, geography, and develop a fascination with different cultures and religions. 

As I was still in a conservative Christian community, my interests often set me apart from many of those around me.  The older I grew, the more I seemed to recognize the disparity between Christian teachings and the reality of people not following them.  This struck a distinct chord in me, as did my parents holding very different spiritual beliefs from each other. My mom was deeply religious and insisted on going to church every Sunday without exception. In contrast, my dad believed that having a strong personal relationship with God was the most important aspect of spirituality, so he didn’t feel the need to ever attend services or adhere to traditional practices. I distinctly remember him frequently challenging my mom’s strict beliefs and structured views, which frustrated her immensely and caused me to look more into what I had learned about so many different regions and cultures through my books.

By coincidence, I came across Buckland’s big blue book and secretly bought it at Books-A-Million in the summer of my 18th birthday. While everyone else slept, I stayed up reading its pages to understand how Wicca/witchcraft differed from its portrayal in movies. When I enrolled at Ohio State University that fall, I joined the Pagan Student Association on campus.  During this time, I attended club meetings weekly to learn and connect with others while reading as many pagan books as possible. Over several years, however, I found the pagan community a bit dysfunctional and decided to step away from it. Yet ironically, I still found pagans around me and was fortunate to form close friendships despite practicing most of my spiritual beliefs in private. 

Even now, I still attend meetups and have become more comfortable with the fact that my beliefs and path will likely never become mainstream. I garden, continue to cherish nature with a sense of wonder, and spoil my two mixed-breed dogs with all my heart. I find magic in the mundane. I work in healthcare, and strive to help others to make the world a little better one day at a time. I’m grateful that my spirituality helps center me in this sometimes crazy world and love that my path will forever be a unique blend rooted in my own love of nature, history, and science.