Postby Shawn Blackwolf » Thu May 25, 2017 3:16 pm
Hello , Cherry Pie ;
I started my magical mystical journey in the 1960's - 70's.
Hitching around the country , communes , alternative communities ,
all were my growing space , including shamanic and witchy folk
interactions , so my societal experience was already outside the norm ,
yet the society I was traveling in *was* my norm.
Years later , in 76 , I spent a few years in the wild French quarter in New Orleans ,
with the crazy times , crazy folk , cajun culture and the voodoo crowd.
Then a number of years in the mountains of Arizona , living in a hundred year old
cabin with no electricity , and my friends were the eagles , hawks , snakes , gila
monsters , scorpions and coyotes , and I was still exploring various forms of Craft
and Shamanic ways.
Finally , I came into what most would call society , yet even that was outside the
Americana idea of norm , as it was Santa Cruz , Ca. , not known for toeing the line
as a city , even by California standards.
College town as well , so large variety of folk , but many alternative , so hiding who
I was was never a thought. ( first city in U.S. to pass a law you could not discriminate
against someone for housing or employment due to tattoos , dredlocks , colored hair ,
or if they were doing ritual in the place you rented them ).
Many years there , then Eugene , Oregon at the height of the counterculture / anarchist
movement there...see the pattern ? LOL.
Of course , in the many years of the journey , my jobs were things such as running two
businesses , one natural essences and oils , the other visionary art , representing 160 artists ,
and setting up gallery shows at alternative or pagan fairs , being in the middle of the "New Age"
movement as one of the "movers and shakers" of the time.
Thus , again , my society was the alternative folk. I kept growing , learning and becoming more,
yet the constant was who and what I surrounded myself with. ( by the way one of my friends in
Santa Cruz , who I saw almost every day playing on the street in the 80's , was Artis , Mr. Spoonman
himself , re: Soundgarden ) As I said I hung out with the alternative crowd.LOL
Then I was given two wolves by a native medicine person , and moved to the Northern Ca. coast
where I still reside , teaching the Witchcraft , carving antler and bone , and living in an area both
remote and removed from regular "norm" of society in general , as this has long been known as
"renegade territory" for a number of reasons. ( google Northern California Emerald Triangle )
So , to wind this up and make a statement , I do not feel it is the individual that is different that
needs to fit into any society , nor should we ever even think of feeling we are out of place , or
have to withdraw from society due to how we grow , or what we are , or become.
We just have to find and surround ourselves with the society that is our norm , as that is a external
manifestation of our inner essence , so to speak. I look around when I travel into the big city madness
which for me can be a city of 10,000 people ( LOL ) , and look at what they surround themselves with
and I don't feel out of place. I just wonder which dysfunctional alternative universe they fell out of
into my territory. LOL
Perception is a most wonderful thing !
Best to you !
. It is not that I feel lonely, far from it, but it seems that almost everybody out there is so different from me 
.
, but I enjoy my "other side" which I have only started to explore.
. This is due to a development I'm going through. I like to see it as a growing, and I like it. I just wanted to know if anyone here has felt the same 
