How are talents passed?

Q&A
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Dears, there is a topic that is on my mind for some time already. I wanted to ask you your opinions on passing the “gifts” on from generations to generations. Are you the only one in your fam that has certain gifts or practices magick? Or was the talent/love for it passed down to you somehow? Tell us something about your roots and when did it all start for you :sparkling_heart:

I’ll start - nobody technically passed me anything, at least of my knowledge. Fun fact is that I am a first daughter of a first daughter (my mom) and my nana (my mom’s mom) is a first daughter, too. Not sure if it means something. For me, certain things started going on after I delivered my son. It exploded and I did not understand anything, but I’m better now.

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Nobody passed me anything, either.

The only memory I have of anything related was when I was a child, my uncle was hanging out with a woman who came to visit the house a small handful of times. I’m sure she was into something related as she very much had that “Spiritual Aunty” vibe. She had colourful, flowy clothing, was covered in jewellery, and smelled like every flower ever discovered all at once. My mind is telling me she did readings of some sort, but I don’t know which. Probably tarot and scrying, if I had to guess. And I’d be willing to bet she did a lot of dream interpretations.

Anyway, one time she gave me a massive book on astrology, like, the thing would have been 3kg (6.6 lbs or so). I studied that thing like crazy. Mind you, I had no idea what any of it meant – I was just a kid who loved reading. However, I must have let it get thrown out or left at my great-grandparent’s house before high school because I don’t remember seeing it ever again.

Probably unrelated, but my great-grandmother on my father’s side was diagnosed with “insanity” in the early 1900s. Maybe that was one label for witchy thinking. That being said, the diagnosis could have been based on anything.

I wasn’t raised religious. My great-grandmother always prayed at night, and no one did anything beyond that. My great-grandfather used to joke that he was a leprechaun. Now that I’ve seen a few episodes of American Gods, I could totally picture him as Mad Sweeny when he was younger. :joy:

But I wasn’t raised atheist either, as my father’s side of my family liked to pretend they had a religious label.

My mother’s grandparents are Chinese Buddhist, but it wasn’t passed to me, as my mother isn’t.

Honestly, I don’t know why or how I ended up here or being capable of what I am. It’s probably just the culmination of a chain of events prior to my birth and following that I could either never know or never paid attention to and might never find the connections for.

Sorry if this seems like a cop-out answer. All I know now is that when I started researching, all my experiences over the years started falling into place and making sense. I was mind-blown that my intuition often being spot on could be for reasons beyond constant blind luck and up until then, I’d just shrug and be like, “I dunno, things just always work out for me in the end.” Now I’m just like, “I notice things” or “I’m used to thinking many steps ahead,” still avoiding this topic in conversation.

But my inner peace is now there, which is a wonderful thing. :black_heart:

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If there were any witches in my family that came before me, I am not aware of them. But I don’t think things have to be labeled “magick” to be magick! I agree with you that some talents and gifts that may not be considered magick by those who practiced them are indeed magickal in nature, at least by my definition :wink: :sparkles:

For me, I can trace my love for herbs to my mother and grandfather (both of whom were gardeners), and my kitchen abilities came from my mother too. An appreciation (and healthy fear!) of the sea came from both sides of the family, who lived (and lost) by the sea for generations :ocean:

That’s really neat, Marta! I’m sorry that things were wacky for a while, but I am glad you are better now :heart: :people_hugging:

Thank you for opening up this discussion- it is a really interesting topic to explore!

I personally think there is a lot going on in and around us that we aren’t consciously aware of- whatever the causes that led you to this moment, things aligned beautifully so that you could be here, now, as the wonderful and talented person you are. That’s special in and of itself! :sparkles:

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I’m not the only magically-inclined person in my family, but I do think that my sister and I are the first ones in a very long time. I’m sure there are magical people in our family tree somewhere, I’m just not entirely sure where it would have started. I’m also not sure who the most recent witchy people would be before us :laughing:

When it comes to gifts being passed down, I don’t think that’s necessarily… hmm… not that it’s not possible, it’s just not the only way to be gifted or be a witch, if that makes sense. I’m sure some abilities can be passed from parent to child or through other ancestral means.

I found Wicca in my early teens, but it wouldn’t be until later years (more recently, if I’m being honest) that I would begin to develop my intuition and get in touch with my craft and sense of witchiness.

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There are psychics in our family, my grandmother was a psychic, she saw her own death and this spooked my mother so she never mentioned our psychic heritage when I was a child, I only learnt about it this year when I embraced the craft!

My aunty in Queensland is a psychic and sees spirits, always has, they live with her, but she’s not afraid of them.

My mother’s side comes from Northern Ireland (bogtrotters we were called) peasants basically :laughing:, but the women are all firecrackers, steeped in superstitions. Interesting my mother has a huge knowledge of herbs and potions and can make a tincture for practically anything. She used to have loads of stuff of our history, but it all got lost in Iran, when we had to flee during the revolution, so alot of our history got lost. And because her mother (my grandmother) died when my mother was 13, my mother doesn’t speak much about our history. Though she has a love of the craft, and has been happy that I’ve embraced it. She has more knowledge than she lets on, every now and then I get snippets of it. :thinking:

My dad is Anglo Saxon, and is listed in the doomsday book. My dad’s mother traced his family back to old Germany, so I think that’s where Loki comes into the picture, my dad’s side isn’t magical but my dad respects the supernatural albeit he’s afraid of it.

For me, I’ve always been contacted by spirit, whether I wanted it or not. Angels, demons, spirits, gods. I’ve not always known who or what but spirituality has always been important to me. I’m drawn to magic and even when I suppressed it when I was a strict Christian, it wouldn’t be suppressed so it’s in there somewhere.

I remember asking a psychic once, why I didn’t fit into the church, and she said there’s a history of persecution in your family, maybe your a witch, you should look at that!
So I think yes, things can be passed on, but I think as magic is all around us, we can learn it too.
Afterall, there must have been a first witch somewhere in history, who learnt it?! :person_shrugging::heartpulse:

I tend to agree with Katerina

I think magic/deity/spirit, calls us regardless of our heritage, I think it calls everyone, but not everyone hears, and even those that do respond, we do so at the right time, when we’re ready to be moulded by spirit.

I don’t know. It’s interesting how everyone has their own unique experience. That’s what makes it magical.
:sparkling_heart:

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I don’t have anyone in my family who practices Wicca, magick or follows a Pagan path. (Unless they are hiding it!). In fact, i am known as the the “connected one” in the family. I was brought up in a Protestant, Church of Scotland family and even attended Sunday school with my grandmother. My parents were not overly religious and didn’t attend church. I also wasn’t Christened. They did always say though that I was free to follow my own beliefs. I think over the years my mother has moved away from religion and become more spiritual. I think I am the same…we enjoy our meditation sessions, reiki and reading books on intuition, psychic abilities and the afterlife.

The universe has always fascinated me; the planets, the stars, the galaxies and the questions it poses. It always made me question my/our significance and purpose. Thats where my love of ASTRONOMY started; going out on cold winter nights with fhe binoculars, telescope and sketching pencils. Seeing the moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn with your own eyes was just awe inspiring and gave a sense of the granduar of what is out there.

From there, I questioned the impact that these celestial bodies had on us here on Earth. My science head told me the Moon affects the tides and Jupiter acts as a shield for us against asteroids so why couldn’t the moon affect me seen as I am mostly water? Did the bright red glow of Mars influence my passion and drive? Did the intricacy and order of Saturn’s rings affect my discipline and sense of order? There came a new interest in ASTROLOGY, a subject I had always dismissed when seeing the horoscopes in magazines and newspapers.

A childhood fascination with Egypt was brought to life when I visited the country and went on a Nile cruise visiting the temples and monuments. Hearing the tour guide explain the qualities and myths of the deities really resonated with me and made me wonder if these these deities were still worshipped today. This lead to research which highlighted Wicca. Reading further brought me to the idea of being a solitary, eclectic practitioner. It was a big step to take though as there was almost a fear like emotion of abandoned traditional accepted belief i.e the major religions. It took this step a year ago and haven’t looked back, finding this amazing Coven in the process. Ancient Egypt, Astrology.and Planetary magick all.play a part in my practice but I am eclectic and also use tarot, essential oils and herbs. This all stemmed from those cold nights outside with my telescope.
Blessed be

Alan

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While my family on my mother’s side was devout Roman catholic, there was Appalachian blood and influence. My mother was a gardener and taught me many things about plants but it was never in the “this is herbalism” or “this is magick” kind of way. More just sharing things her mother taught her or that she learned.

Now that I am an adult who practices magick and herbalism, I look back at the things I already know and how I learned them and realize they might never have realized or know it was anything out of the ordinary.

That aside, no one in my family practices magick. I came to it on my own in my 20s. Learned through books (before the WWW was rampant and indispensable) and my own trial and error. So in my case, I wouldn’t say that …well no I can’t say that… I have to say I am not sure if my inclinations and skills are passed down, innate, or learned. :thinking:

Hmmm… interesting topic.

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