I was raised a Catholic (mostly by choice) in Delaware. After the family moved to Maryland around my 11th birthday, we stopped attending church. Having a strong foundation in faith and belief in God, I started to attend other churches with friends. During a struggle with major depression in my 8th grade year, I never lost faith in God. Rather, I lost faith the He was listening or even cared. I attempted suicide. Immediately following my unsuccessful attempt at an escape from this life, my faith was renewed but forever transformed.

When my body rejected the pills I had taken, I was oddly aware of a feminine energy I had never noticed before. This would lead into my search for the Goddess. Having extremely limited knowledge of mythology, I started to fancy the Greek pantheon of Gods as the true form of God that I had originally been taught. One God alone could not create all and everything. At least, not without being complete with more than just a masculine form. When I gazed at the moon at night, I did not see Artemis as would be expected, but Athena, who gave me strength to carry on.

Although my theological views were clearly different from what I had been taught as a younger child, I never abandoned the teachings. Faith in and love for God (no matter what form) remained a central component of the new faith I was creating for myself. I no longer viewed sin as I once did. Rather, I looked back at everything I learned from playing outside and observing nature as well as making new observations with my new perspective. I realized many of the "sins" I had been taught were natural behaviors and reactions and very much a part of world God created long before any sort of "demonic" or "evil" energies existed to tempt humans.

A couple short months following this spiritually vital turning point in my life, my family had a real computer with internet access for the first time. I spent that summer in chat rooms (about the only thing that can be enjoyed with a 28k modem). One day, as I usually did, I searched out a religious/spiritual themed chat room. I entered one called "Truth" where seekers from all religious and spiritual paths came together to discuss their beliefs in an effort to find the truth of the universe. After a couple hours of discussion, I was "whispered" by a lurker in the chat room who stated that the beliefs I was discussing were very similar to his and that he was a Pagan.

I went around to the popular message boards of the time asking what a Pagan was. One individual informed me of a website, Spirit Online, that listed information on Wicca, which was a Pagan faith. This was the year 2000, and my journey into Witchcraft began. I learned and studied as much as I could. Admittedly, I was terrified of the thought of casting spells as that should be the job of priests, not teens new to a faith. In time, I opened up to all aspects; even coming to terms with and forgiving the male form of God as I had known Him before.

The first couple years were extremely fluffy. Nearly right off the bat, I began to "teach" Wicca through my online diary at Diaryland. This quickly led to starting an MSN group titled "Wiccans Looking for Wiccans" where I met many good friends, got a taste for webpage building, and was able to focus my solitaire learning through constructing the information pages. I then grew comfortable with the idea of a real website, so I transferred the Wiccans Looking for Wiccans group to a Geocities site titled "Messages in the Moonlight" after a suggested name for the group's Book of Shadows. The website, at first, mirrored the group with its fluffy information and nauseating layout and appearance.

By 2005, the website information was cleared of most of the fluffy information. I had matured, learning the difference between the loose, hard-to-define Wicca that I had been practicing to taking the path more seriously, clearing up my own misconceptions, and having a stronger-than-ever relationship with Goddess and God. I had become proficient with HTML, making the site appealing and logically structured. By December, I enlisted in the US Army as a Combat Medic.

The website had sparse updates during my two years of active duty service. However, I continued to mature religiously and spiritually. In 2008, I was medically discharged from the Army for chronic hip pain that limited my ability to maintain the physical standards required. (From late 2008 to early 2010, I learned the cause of the pain was a combination of pelvic misalignments and osteoarthritis of the left hip, knee, and back; not the usual cause of such pain in a 20 year old soldier.) During unemployment from March 2008 to May 2009, I spent time updating and revising the site. When Geocities shut its doors, Messages in the Moonlight became an official website having a real URL (www.moonlightmessages.com) and paid hosting.

During this time, I also began full-time college working towards a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Once I started full-time employment in May 2009, work and school took up the vast amount of time. The website updates occurred occasionally and the forums were left without my prior encouragement for new and active discussions. With my degree complete and current unemployment status, I have the time to devote again and the website and forums are expected to become highly active and informative once again.

Spiritually, I am at a different place from where I started. I no longer hold onto any of my Catholic teachings, though I still value and practice what the church taught me of faith. Where I began as a fluffy who embraced the term "Wicca" without fully understanding the religion, over a decade later I am far beyond Wicca 101. At first I shied away from using the term "witch." Now I embrace the term as a completely accurate description of my beliefs and way of life. Currently, I am becoming more active in my local community, participating in open circles and practicing with other individuals. In the future, I intend to host such gatherings in my own home.

In the meantime, I am pursuing my dream to be a positive voice in interfaith relations. I currently publish articles on HubPages to make use of my writing skills to jump start this goal. So far, my writing was nominated for a Hubnuggets award for excellent writing as a new writer in the community and feedback to my hubs suggests that I am a popular writer. I hope to continue producing excellent articles for my readers!

Aside from spiritual and writing pursuits, I have started a new tutoring service (under the name Jennifer). The focus of this service is in improving English, grammar, and writing skills. Although predominantly local to the Colorado Springs metropolitan area, I will also offer online sessions. Subjects I am currently certified in are ACT English, ACT Reading, American History, Anatomy, ASVAB, Biology, English, Grammar, HTML, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Psychology, Reading, SAT Reading, SAT Writing, Vocabulary, World History, and Writing. If you or someone you know is interested in tutoring in any of these areas, please be sure to contact me through the WyzAnt website.

My first book, a novel titled Hela's Story, was published in February 2012. I hope to continue writing novels and books for many years to come!

Blessings,
Evylyn Rose