Sitting here trying to find a way to talk about myself, I understand why agents get paid so well.  Have you ever tried writing about yourself?  It is difficult to do without sounding (a) arrogant, (b) clumsy, (c) spastic, or (d) bored with it all.  That said, I would still rather be the one introducing myself instead of an agent — a person paid to sit and write and pose me just so on my pedestal for the viewing public.  While I am sure I would be prettily sculpted in words, we all know that pedestals only give us a good view of one thing – ass.  In this case, mine.

The thought of referring to myself in the traditional 3rd person fashion and going on about me and how wonderful I am is just too weird for a down-to-earth person like me.  I know there are some people out there that will want to know what I’ve done, what my background is, and everything from pedigree to legacy.  Such things have their place.

However, I consider my readers to be friends who have given me a most rare gift:  the chance to speak and be heard without interruption, for no other reason than because I have given them pause for a moment.  I sincerely hope that in the process of writing, discussing and sharing my work, I will have the chance to speak with you personally.  Your feedback, questions, personal stories, criticisms… all of these complete the circle of communication begun as author and reader.  I want to hear your voice, too.

So, let me begin my introduction as friends would.

My name is Sitara Haye.  I have a huge list of roles that describe me that would take a hundred commas to separate.  Some of the main hats I’m wearing right now are:  mother, songwriter, musician, teacher, orator, Egyptian mysteries student, non-profit organizer, urban gypsy, and elf (‘evolving life form’).  I am one of those generally all-around creative types.  I play a good handful of different instruments, can act, draw with passable skill, have a great voice, am an engaging public speaker.  And while all of these things make me happy and give me great joy to do them, I find that my passion has always been and is most likely to always be the written word.  That, however, is only half the story that brings me here, to this place, with you.

I am also a High Priestess of the Craft, a child of the Gods, a guide on the Old Paths, and a Witch.  As much as the labels in the first paragraph have garnered me praise or interest, these latter ones have colored me with confusion and suspicion if not outright hostility and condemnation.  While I sometimes find myself sad to know that such private things for me can be turned by others into the fodder for public conflict, it doesn’t change how I feel about my path and my beliefs.  I didn’t choose this path to add splash to my resume or to win points.  It chose me and I smiled and said yes.

This crossroads where we sit now, you and I, and talk over tea (or, at least, that’s what I’m imagining we’re doing) is the intersection of what I have come to understand are my gifts and my calling.  Writing and the Craft.  In the end, there were a lot of influences that wove together to bring me to make the choice to be another voice of the Goddess in the world.

I’ve spent over half of my life either in training to become a High Priestess or in fulfilling that role.  The years from my Neophyte vows to my 3rd number more than many people spend obtaining their PhD.  I founded and currently head the OldeForest Tradition that actively trains future Priests and Priestesses of the Craft and ministers still to others that feel drawn to earth-centered spirituality but who do not feel the call to become clergy.  I have had the blessing of excellent mentors and guides along the way whose wisdom I wish to continue to pass along that it may live forever.  And along with all these fine motivations and foundations, there were a good handful of fears that had to be stared down as well.  Not only the hesitancy of attempting something I’ve never tried before, but all of the additional fears of putting myself out there as a representative of the faith I love so dearly, risking rejection from family, persecution from strangers, and even scorn or ridicule from other pagans.

Why is it worth it?  That is a Mystery to be learned from walking this path.

Despite many people’s attempts to degrade it, the Craft is a valid spiritual path because it is a path of action.  You don’t begin to learn the Craft until you get your nose out of the books and start to apply the knowledge and walk the boundary between what you know and what you dare to learn.  This understanding, perhaps more than anything, is what makes me the kind of Craft writer that will change your life.

Right now, store bookshelves are filled with recipe books and how-to’s.  The Craft does need those.  There is a huge learning curve when you undertake a new way of life, whether that new path leads to Wicca, or yoga, or vegetarianism.  Wicca can be doubly complicated because of its twin embrace of both spirituality and magick – two totally different things and yet they spiral around each other as the double helix at the core of our practice.  For this basic training, we are so very fortunate to have so many options available to fit the needs, desires, and aptitudes of the ever-growing eclectic pagan community.

However, there is a point where – and I assure you, this will happen – you look at the books of how-to and spell-witchery, and you begin this familiar mantra:  “Read it, know it, can do better, read it…”

For a path that embraces and advocates an active and practical approach to daily life, there is a woeful gap in literature that is there for the Witch that is beyond the “learning how” stage.  For the Witch who punches the 9-to-5 clock and is trying to figure out their retirement fund.  For the Pagan wrestling with the universal questions of human existence that need an answer regardless of what spiritual path you are walking.  For the Priest or Priestess that is being looked to for answers and yet those answers aren’t in the index in the back of the books.

This gap is also there for person who has newly come to this path.  Sometimes there is so much focus on the ‘How?’ of being Craft that the larger questions of ‘Why?’ and ‘What?’ and ‘Why not?’ go largely unaddressed.  And the needs of the new Witch or the person considering this as their spiritual path are no less important than those of the person who has walked this path for many years.  If anything, beneath the questions of what color candle to burn or the steps in writing a ritual, there remains a human being living a life at once mundane and magickal, navigating all the challenges that come with a path of Balance.

These, if anything, are my goals as a writer:  to bring you inspirational and transformative literature; to provide you with allegories and metaphors to translate life’s problems into something that makes sense; to translate the wisdom of Nature into practical solutions that you can’t find in a Table of Correspondence; to share stories that make you laugh out loud because you’ve been there and survived and have the T-shirt somewhere; to make you think about your path – really think – instead of just going by the book; to give those in leadership roles support, ideas, and the sound of one other voice in the night so you know you’re not alone in, arguably, one of the loneliest jobs in the world.

I dedicate my work to the Gods whose temple is ever kept in my heart.  And I dedicate my work to you, dear readers and friends… for you, too, are the Gods whom I serve.  May the work we do together in this circle – the circle of author and reader – be for the benefit and blessing of all.

In Love and Truth, Honor and Service…

Sitara Haye

Nefersitara, High Priestess & Founder

OldeForest Craft Tradition