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me to speak of awakening; I smile and curl back into dreaming. When did I first awaken to myself as a Witch? I remember the stirring: hearing words like Wicca , reading with fascination and recognition the ancient mythologies and seeing the sensationalised representations in popular media. I can remember yawning, drawing deep on the books at the library. I browsed the ’net for information on everything from Ouija boards to Tarot, goddesses, herbs, astral travelling, spellcraft, and Jungian psychology. I stretched into the Nature I lived amongst—from the mountains, forests, fields, and waterways of my rural childhood to the animals, plants, and the flow of the weather. But I now remember, before then, my unaffected and innate childhood; I can now recall singing as I spiralled deosil around an ancient tree, giving my thanks for its wisdom and guardianship. I remember speaking to animals that I had crafted from the intangible light of a half-dreamed otherness, calling upon their aid; gazing at the moon in a sleepless night and being held in a truth that a child has no need to question. I remember this from my childhood, before I fell asleep.
    In awakening as a Witch, we learn to embrace paradox. We tread a path that somehow takes us to the extreme clarity of reason and at the same time immerses us in the dreamed truth of the Mystery. Waking up means we discover ourselves at the beginning of a path, and it also means we discover we were always at the end. This moment of awakening is eternal. We were always here, at the beginning and end of all desire, us, the Seekers of the Mystery. We who turn inwards and in doing so find all that is without; we realise in the rising of the day that we have been here before and will be here again. We accept the paradox of the element of spirit: that it precedes all other elements while it is no more than the consequence of their existence. We accept that we Witches are of this element, the cyclical paradox of transcendence and immanence, the falling and rising and the constantly sustained.
    Welcome back, brothers and sisters, may you always stand here at the beginning as you release the preconception of an end.
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    6 Also spelled Friesland, Fryslan is a province in the modern-day Netherlands, where the Friesian people are a distinct ethnic group. Frysland—the land of Freya.

As a Pagan youth, you are most probably still living at home and with your parents. You may be an only child, and then again you may have siblings. Whatever your situation, it is most likely a unique one owing to a number of varying factors, and just like Harry Potter, 4 Privet Drive is not always that far away.
    This is the reality of the Pagan youth, and though we may yearn for the days of our independence and freedom, we have to endure several years of living under our parents’ roof. With this comes great limitation to our spiritual practice. You may find it hard to establish and define your boundaries. Your bedroom door may as well not exist as your mum seems to barge in at any given moment, disrupting your rituals and meditations. Your younger siblings may be causing pandemonium right outside your bedroom window. Unfortunately, the above and more are the things we inevitably have to face as young Pagans.
    Family is an ever-changing concept. As little as ten years ago, family was the word used to describe what is now termed the nuclear family —mother, father, and children. Today, however, there are a multitude of varying situations that encompass the vast concept of family. There are now single-parent families, same-sex partnered families, extended families, and the list goes on. Whatever your situation is, you will undoubtedly come to the crossroads more than once when it comes to expressing your spirituality at home. This chapter can be used to create a better environment for concentration and focus and to work out family disputes on the grounds of your spiritual path. Remember, respect