"You're a witch, you always will be." My aunt said to me when I was a little girl as I played with her witchy clothes, jewellery and decorations.
I distinctly remember lighting incense for the first time and falling in love with the smell and the energy - to this day certain incense aromas bring this memory back.
However, growing up, my mum always had incense burning in the house, so it wasn't completely new to me, but my aunty was the first to call me a witch.
I always had a strong psychic intuition and my mum always told me that. Her side of the family was 'very intone', as she would say, and the conversations about psychic abilities, spirits, afterlife and magic were always were always open and inviting with that side of the family. Any questions I had, I would ask.
I remember playing with 'imaginary friends' who I learnt as I grew up, weren't imaginary at all, but would have been spirits who were connecting with me from the other side. Kids are still very open and receptive of spirits when they're young and unfortunately may lose this ability when they get older, as they're forced to grow up and not focus on those 'silly things' anymore. If only we encouraged each other, at any age, to explore the world a little more and not pass something like 'an imaginary friend' off as something childish.
I'll always have fond memories of doing 'witchy' things when I was younger and thinking back, that most people were receptive to my interests in it, surprisingly. I still have crystals that I bought when I was 10 years old and going to new age shops all the time to explore them, buy books or 'spell' kits.
Anyway, I have many stories that I'm sure I can share in the future, but for now I'll keep this as an intro post.