Broom With A View- 300th Post

When I drew that first deep breath and put my fingers on the keyboard to begin what would become the very first post here at AmethJera's Broom With A View on Halloween of 2010, I wasn't sure about what was going to happen once I fired the finished blog into cyberspace.

Broom With A View originated on MySpace as a part of my personal account, and I suspect you can still see some of the old posts there.
When BWAV began getting attention,  I moved it from MySpace to Blogger so it could be more easily found by its readers. Later I made a slight adjustment to the title because, let's be honest, in hindsight, I didn't choose the most original title in the world...and I knew nothing about ranking for a search engine. I am embarrassed to admit that I am still blissfully and technologically ignorant of most things connected to the computer, even after graduating from business school classes ( Thank You, Vocational Rehab!) Despite my lack of computer saavy- praise be to the gods!-this blog had over 1,600 hits last month. I am still amazed...truly. Because I started out writing this blog for me; I figured if no one else ever read it, at least I'd made an effort to formulate my thoughts in a tangible way. I was then, and am now, a solitary practitioner of the Craft. That doesn't mean that I don't want to share my experience of that; and besides, I get to teach occasionally, too.

My first post here included a statement of faith. I included it because I thought it would show people a peek at who I am. Looking back, I think it was equally as important for me to put those things into words so when I needed to, I could remind myself who I am. From time to time I still need that, because it's not so simple anymore. As is the nature of all things, life changes continuously. I am not the same person I was four years ago when I wrote those words, and hopefully I have changed for the better. Like the lyrics in an old Bruce Cockburn song," You get bigger as you go. No one told me, I just know." I take that to mean that as we experience life, those experiences fill up and expand our consciousness. At least I hope that's it, because that's what makes sense to me about it. Stephen King says that " Writing isn't about making money,getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic." I couldn't agree with him more, except maybe about it not being about making friends; people I have come to love, who have become family, have come into my life because of this little blog.

If I were to add anything to that first post, it would be that I am more in touch today with who you know as AmethJera because of my spirituality. I was originally initiated into a Wiccan tradition, but I living my spirituality as a solitary, I'm not so sure that it's necessary for me to label myself anything other than Pagan, just for clarification. With so many of my fellow bloggers redefining themselves, maybe the truth is that we have out grown the limitations of labels. I don't think the gods care what we call ourselves, so long as we still come to our altars and occasionally look up at the moon and stars. I don't think it matters as long as we use our occult knowledge for the greater good and sustainable change in the world. The gods know us, even if we don't know ourselves: they are within us and live through us.They are recognized by us when we catch glimpse of them as we touch one another. If I may be so bold as to make the suggestion, I believe that is the task of the Divine and Humankind: to live through one another.

That first original post from 2010 appears here:http://amethjera.blogspot.com/2010/11/by-any-other-name.html I'd love to hear what you think about how the first 300 have changed and for you to make suggestions about the next 300.