by Erica Sittler
We were sitting there, enjoying our midday meal together. Suddenly, my daughter pulls out a sheet of folded notebook paper and asks, “May I ask you seven questions?”
That is music to any parent’s ears: a teenager wanting to ask questions? Seven questions to be precise! We go through her thoughtful list, each geared about me and her from the perspective of memory.
Questions like: “What’s your favorite memory that has me in it and why?” (That time I took you and your brothers on that 5,000-mile road trip.) Each question went a little deeper than the one before it. We laughed and went down a few rabbit holes as I carefully tried to explain the nuances of my answer when she asked, “What would your greatest wish for me be?”
As a witch, and a level 1 student in the TOW Mystery School, I have to pause for a moment. Now I more fully realize ALL my words matter, not just the ones I think are spells. The cosmos and my child are listening to my response. Too trite, too restrictive… there are so many ways to flub up such an answer and then I’d be acting like a human flyswatter neutralizing what I had just glibly blurted out.
Awkward behavior best avoided.
Nanoseconds that felt like hours later, I replied in a halting manner, like someone reciting a secret pass phrase, “That you are allowed the grace to grow, in every way, into the good human you were put on this planet to be.” My daughter nods, affirming that was a good answer. Flyswatter averted. These questions are not for the faint of heart!
Finally, it is the last question and she warns me it’s a doozie, “What do you want me to remember about you when you die?” I stare at her a moment and say softly, “Remember that I love you, and remember that I will still be accessible to you.”
Tears are slowly making their way down my face. A glass of fragrant, cut basil becomes my focal point as I try to compose myself. “Why are you crying?” she asks to which I reply damp-faced, “Because the fragility of being a mortal is both its absolute best and despairingly worst quality!”
None of us wants to face death, yet face it we must. Prepare for it, as best we can. Death adds the sharp edge and zest to this present moment’s living. We are after all immortals housed in mortality. It is the divine gift of being of the Earth.”
Today, I was obliviously eating an ordinary lunch of almonds, cheese, and buttered toast smathered with orange marmalade. Somehow, a magickal space was created from which the shared gift of an engaging conversation came forward.
A rarity, yet complete with laughter, tears, family lore, shared memories, and a lesson on how to be remembered. My wish for you today is that you also experience some magickal conversations tucked in and hidden around in the most mundane of places. Kiddos not required.
Erica Sittler is a Witch practicing her craft in Mississippi where she is a local, active member of the Temple of Witchcraft. Her magick is in the mundane and in bringing honor and attention to those small things that build a sustainable and adventurous life. She is a Witchcraft I Mystery School student under the instruction of High Priestess Sellena Dear.