Hi! I’m RIdley. welcome to my online home.
This site is both a journal of my personal path and hopefully, a source of inspiration for those who find their way here.
I began my spiritual journey as a child. Much to my family’s amusement, I found myself drawn to witches in stories and movies, instead of princesses and heroes. I spent my days playing outside barefoot, I swore that Dandelions were the best flower ever, despite my grandpa’s insistence that they were a weed that had to be eradicated from his perfect, green yard, and spent more time admiring the moon than was probably reasonable.
Because I grew up in a Christian family, I worked very hard to fit into that mold. But no matter how hard I tried I found myself sneaking home books on witchcraft as far back as middle school and feeling called out and guilty every time witches and witchcraft were called out in church as evil.
I continued to face this struggle well into my adult life, going so far as to stash books on the Tarot in places my then husband wouldn’t stumble across them. But around the time of my divorce there was suddenly a surge of people coming out as witches to the world. The more this surge picked up steam, the more I thought maybe the calling I have felt deep inside me ever since I was a small child could be accepted.
So I stopped hiding. Slowly, I began integrating witchcraft into my life. I started owning the part of me I have tried so hard to keep hidden from those I thought would judge me amongst my friends and family. There are still people I know who are not accepting but there are so many that are. Because of all my years of hiding this has been a learning process and I am still learning. I am still growing and I am still coming into my own.
Over the past few years I have discovered I am a bit of an eclectic witch. I straddle the line between Hedge Witch and Green Witch. I lean more towards the green than hedge simply because I am more familiar with it. As I learn, the hedge comes more into focus.
I see so many people online sharing their journey and I finally decided to share mine in hopes that it would help others to own their authentic self. Nothing makes me feel more at home then when I am practicing my craft and I sincerely hope that as you come into your path, you will also feel the comfort that comes with knowing you are in the right place and that Universe has called you home.
Why “The Northern mage”
When I was trying to decide what to call my online space, I wanted it to be something personal. I wanted to feel connected to it. I tried a lot of different options but nothing felt right until I came across the name “The Northern Mage.”
Year’s ago, as part of my journey to know myself better, I took one of those home DNA tests. I found that my ancestry is exclusively from the Northern European region. This fit with most of my family’s stories (although some were proven wrong as well.) I come from a family where honoring our heritage is important. My Grandma has always been proud of the Scottish part of her family’s story and I wanted to continue to honor those connections.
Even though my family traveled to America long before it became a country and eventually settled in the Mid-West, I still managed to find myself living in the Northern part of the United States. I moved to Washington State as a high schooler and I have fought hard to stay here. Even as the vast majority of my family moved back to the Mid-West. I just couldn’t pull myself away. Washington is beautiful and I have felt connected to this place and this land so much more than I ever did my birth home in Missouri. That connection is so strong that when people ask where I am from I say Washington State. This is where I came to know who I am and this is where I plan to spend my entire life. When I pass from this world, I plan to become a part of the land around me.
As for the word Mage, I stumbled across this one recently. It’s amazing how I could be so old and such an avid reader and only be coming across this word well into my adult years. I thought it might have been made up for the sake of fantasy writing. But I learned that Mage is the English form of the Latin word “Magus” which means “learned magician”. It was created in 1400 and since that time it has been revived by the fantasy creators and artists who share their stories with the world. While I am a witch and I am proud of that, I love the word Mage. The history fascinates me (as most history does), and I love how we have come to use it to tell the stories of characters who embody magic and the craft.
The Northern Mage is a culmination of who I am, the journey I have been on, and the road I still have to travel to come into my full self.