The Garden Before Grace
By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC
Twenty-seven years ago, on a Summer Solstice long ago, I completed my third-degree initiation within the Wiccan tradition and took vows that felt, at the time, both solemn and eternal. It was a night of deep symbolism and sacred friendship, celebrated in circle with a dear companion named Jamie.
After the quarters were dismissed and the circle opened, though never truly broken, we shared a simple feast of fresh fruit drizzled with honey and sweet red wine, lingering together into the early hours until the dew began to fall and dawn quietly approached.
In those years, I walked an eclectic path, something between Wiccan mysticism and what I have always preferred to call a kind of shamanic spirituality. I bore the craft name Byron Moonshadow, and I learned to listen to the language of creation through signs, seasons, and totem companions, first the rabbit, and later, the bear.
It is a chapter of my life I still hold with tenderness. Through Wicca I first encountered the Holy as mystery, and I came face to face with the reality of Love, not as doctrine, but as presence. It was through that path that I learned how to believe in something beyond myself, however imperfectly I understood it at the time.
In the years since, my spiritual journey has unfolded in new directions. My understanding of grace, salvation, and the heart of Christ has led me further into the sacramental and contemplative garden of Christian faith. And yet, in many ways, I remain what I have always been: a barefoot wanderer of the spirit, attentive to the sacred, still listening for God in moonlight, in silence, and in the deep breath of the world.