Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
The Corner Crone: A Practice Steeped in Isolation

The Corner Crone: A Practice Steeped in Isolation

Last updated on: May 14, 2020 at 5:40 pm by Martha Kirby Capo

The Corner Crone: A Practice Steeped in Isolation 2020-05-14T17:40:47+00:00 Martha Kirby Capo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Are you just a passenger? Did your life just happen to you or did you choose it?
– James Delos, Westworld, Season 3 Episode 6

I feel like I’ve been in hiding for much of my life. Like so many of us, I was taught at an early age that in order to succeed I needed to fit in.

I was taught at an early age that I needed to fit in. Image by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay.

In my case that meant making my debut, marrying well – preferably a man from one of the pedigreed families of our social set (or at least known by someone in our social set), joining the Junior League, sponsoring a debutante or two, and moving with ease through the gilt set pieces of the social Season while maintaining memberships at certain golf and supper cubs, all while raising children who would eventually attend the right schools, mingle with the right sorts of people, and perpetuate the status quo.

That did not go well.

This life-long practice of hiding in plain sight, of living an interior—isolated—spiritual life has served me well. My emotional ramparts are thick and tall, my psychic moat is deep and wide, and my drawbridge is rarely lowered. I learned early on I am too much: too wackadoodle, too weird, too way far out there. Those who have made it past the moat and the drawbridge and the ramparts think I’m FABULOUS (thank you very much), but there aren’t too many people wandering around inside my keep.

It would seem I have been well equipped for these past three months of isolation, so why would anything change?

There aren’t too many people wandering around inside my keep. Photo by Shutterbug75 via Pixabay.

Folx have been writing about how their Practices have been impacted by COVID-19 and its ripple (OK, tsunami) effect. In all honesty I can say that my Practices haven’t changed that much.

Before I go any further I want to acknowledge that a large reason for this is due to of my privilege. I am acutely aware of how my privilege affords me a stability that has cushioned me from many of the ravages of COVID-19. I am not a small business owner, nor am I an essential worker or front-line worker. I am, for the foreseeable future, financially and food secure, and I understand that there are millions of people in this country whose lives have been severely impacted by the CoronaVirus.

I still make my morning devotion to Hekate, though I have added Byron Ballard’s Prayer for the Dead to my morning ritual. It’s really supposed to be recited at sundown but I figure a good prayer works whenever invoked (much like my mother used to chirp back in the day, “it’s five o’clock somewhere!”).

I still do my morning Tarot meditation, I write and do my behind-the-scenes work here at The Agora, I contribute to my online groups/covens, and I still submit work to various periodicals for review and possible publication. None of that has changed.

Yet, I am not utterly unaffected by this months-long shutdown. While my Practices remain relatively unchanged, I cannot say the same of myself—the way I move and live and have my being. THAT is morphing exponentially.

While others seem to be deepening into their Practices, I seem to be deepening into my Self. As regular readers know, before the advent of COVID-19 I was reaching the end of 9-month cycle of loss and rage. You can read about that here, here, and here.

I’ve discovered glamour magicks, Baybee, and I am All Over It. Photo by PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay.

What’s Different?

For years I’ve pretty much just thrown on a pair of shorts and grabbed a tee shirt and gotten on with my day. On days when I knew I’d be out in public (say, Sundays) I’d up my clothing game a little bit, opting for capris or jeans and a non-tee shirt, but for the most part I never really cared too much about what I threw on. After all, I knew myself to be invisible. Who would notice?

Yet, counter to what one might naturally assume, the chrysalis CoronaVirus has provided has changed that. I’ve been priestessing the s**t out of my daily wear for a couple of months now. It feels great—authentic and aligned, empowering and freeing. These days I’m all long jersey dresses combo’ed with gauzy coin-skirt wraps drenched in color tied over one shoulder, or multi-hued sarongs.

I wear the necklaces and bangles and earrings every day, no longer saving them for special occasions. I’m flowy and glow-y and showy—and very hard to miss because yes I DO dress this way when going out to the grocery store and when I’m leading the hymns for our congregation’s Sunday morning livestream. I’ve discovered glamour magicks, Baybee, and I am All Over It.

When I moved to Miami, now almost a year ago, one of my stated intentions was to move myself out of my fortress. To be seen, to be known in my new Pagan community face-to-face. I was making good progress on that goal in the few months before CoronaVirus and shelter-in-place. Then isolation—all of us, isolated.

My inner fabulousness has broken out. Photo by Caroline Hernandez via Unsplash.

In these last few weeks I’ve watched my inner fabulousness break out into a wild, full-throated song of funkaliciousness that cannot be ignored. I’m no longer a passenger in my own life. Life’s no longer just something that happens around me—I’m choosing to be out there in it, no longer hiding in plain sight. These days and in future days you won’t be able to miss me.

When that time comes, when we’re all able to be in physical community with each other, I’m going to be coming back as a truer representation of myself than I have ever been. Think I’m too wackadoodle? Sucks to be you. Too weird? Tell me something I don’t know. Too way far out there? Ayup, and it’s fantabulous.

Whatever you may think about Marianne Williamson (and please know I have absolutely nothing to say about her politically), I am finding a lot of resonance with this quote:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? […] Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine […]. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Psychobabble? Maybe. Yet in so many ways I’ve played small almost my entire life, and I’m more than ready for that to stop now. Stop. Now. I’m loud and I’m proud and I’m not going back into my fortress of solitude. If isolation during COVID-19 has taught me anything, it’s that life is too short for me to be hiding in the shadows watching it all go by. This butterfly is ready to spread her iridescent wings and soar.

Previous Post

May 13, 2020

The DruWitch Way: Going Deep in a Shut-down World

Next Post

May 15, 2020 The Balancing Path: Interconnected Elements (Fire, Water, Earth, & Air)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Where did David spare Saul's life when he found him in a cave?

Select your answer to see how you score.

En Gedi Hebron Bethlehem Gilgal