Bupkis!

Short post, huh?

It took me a while to find out about my heritage because my relatives kept lying about it.

My Grandfather (father’s side) claimed often and loudly that we came from Rome. This is because he was a weak man who wanted power. My father claimed we were from Florence. He was a smart man born in bad circumstances. He wanted the prestige of being a northern Italian. Neither of them were right. My Grandfather knew better though because his parents were the ones who came off the boat.

My ancestors came from Campania: Naples, Sorrento, and Benevento. How do I know this? Ancestry.com.

I have actually seen the manifests where they sailed from. I have seen where the ancestors are buried. I have also seen pictures of my great, great grandfather. He looks like an early 20th century caricature of an Italian designed by someone who hated them.

My sister went in another direction. She handles social situations much better than me. She talked to distant relatives to find what the family folklore was. They all mentioned witchcraft.

This made sense to me. Southern Italy has its own unique history of witchcraft, particularly around Benevento. So I knew where we came from, and my sister knew what we were doing while we were there.

The whole witchcraft thing skipped off my dad’s ancestors when they came over. My Grandfather was born shortly after they arrived. He had a ton of brothers and sisters from the old country. My sister connected to them and their descendants.

Our ancestors were emphatically not “Strega.” I know it’s a popular term in Italian Neo-paganism, but Strega were the people you stop, not the people you save. If one of my old grandmothers heard someone call them that, then the fists, knives, and claws would fly. We can be a… pugilistic family.

They were Benedicaria.

Strega was a very bad term back in the past. It indicated that the person was pure evil and cursed people for fun. The Benedicaria were “wise women.” They healed people, made predictions for times and seasons, blessed people, etc. This doesn’t mean that they never cursed anyone. Of course they did! But that wasn’t their sole focus like a Strega.

They would probably call themselves “Catholic Plus.”

UM…HERITAGE?

So I apparently have generations of witchy blood pulsing in my veins. There have been some benefits from this. Many people on my father’s side were “in tune” with things. My sister certainly has it, as do I. Some would call it being sensitive, others observant, and others would call it psychic. The jury is still out for me. I don’t blow many brain cells trying to figure it out.

Since I can’t come up with a satisfactory answer for myself, it is impossible to come up with one for someone else.

During magical practices, I have a certain “knowing” about how to build and execute a spell or ritual. Rather than taking this as truth, I verify with other witches and pagans that I know. I’ll bother them with something like “does this idea make any sense?” And I know the people I ask won’t lie to me or placate me. They will tell me the truth because they know I want that.

The spells and rituals that I “kind of remember” from somewhere have all been verified by others. When I create and perform these workings, I feel surrounded by multiple voices. They know things that I just don’t. They guide me in what I do. I believe I get that from my heritage.

This doesn’t make me more powerful than anyone. It doesn’t make me more “in tune” than the next practitioner in magic. It certainly doesn’t save me from my mistakes. I am not at all a “chosen one”, that is someone who is special and unique. If I believed I was such a one, I would bring that up in therapy. It’s egoistic bullshit.

I am not in magic because I need to feel special and unique and “not normal.” I do magic because it works if I do it well and with care. It is a way of acting out my spiritual suspicions and seeing what happens. My curiosity drives me to try to shape reality. I don’t want reality to shape me exclusively.

Unfortunately, some people make their heritage the defining, almost exclusive aspect of their practice. I find that sad and alarming. I tend not to trust people like that with much. They are not more powerful or wise, merely more self-involved.

SO WHAT GOOD IS A MAGICAL HERITAGE?

I love my heritage. I love that my grandmothers did some good work in their lives. Their main focus as Benedicaria was helping their community. I think I feel them in my life as comforting presences. They look out for me and give me excellent advice.

Of course, that got lost once my ancestors came to the United States. I believe me and my sister are both retaking that lineage for ourselves. Let me tell you, for me that is some uphill sledding.

But if a pagan/witch/whatevs has no lineage that they know of, this is no impediment to their growth and power.

They have a lineage of being descended from survivors, as every living being has. They have a lineage of bones, blood, earth, air, water, fire, plasma, and the whole of the Universe. They have the lineage of a hypernova and crashing neutron stars creating the heavier elements that is in their bodies. They are billions of years old and are only temporarily assembled as the human they appear to be.

And so are all of us, no exceptions. What more of a lineage does anyone need?

By accident or by hidden choice, I am related to old Italian witches from Southern Italy. There are some benefits to this that I enjoy. I find it romantic in a way. I like being a descendant of theirs.

But all of us have a lineage that is far more ancient and far more powerful. We may feel individual and separated to the Universe, but we are not. The Periodic table is our lineage. The heat death of the Universe is also our lineage. All time is merely time.

For those of you without a heritage, remember this. The above picture of the decaying fire of the birth of the Universe IS your heritage.