I was initiated into the Alexandrian Tradition back in the 1980s so this will be personally interesting in more than the usual ways.

Maxine Sanders goes back to the beginning of the Alexandrian Tradition in the early 1960s. The 60s seem to be a mythical period at least when I compare the documentaries with what I remember of the period. Then I assume there were as many 1960s as there were people that experienced it.

When I e-mailed Maxine, she was kind enough to get back promptly and graciously gave her permission. It is always delightful to interview well-known and respected people and see what decent people many of them are.

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When I first started out in Wicca, one of the first two books I read was Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, and much later I knew of her being on National Public Radio. We come to categorize people and put them in boxes, but if we really look a bit at them we find that we know very little. In beginning to research Margot, I found there was a lot I didn't know about her and was in a quandary over how to interview her. But she gave her permission and then all I had to do was find the right questions to ask.

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One of the American traditions is the Georgian Tradition. I had heard of it but had not known much about it so I contacted Zanoni and asked to interview her.

Christopher: First a bit of background about yourself. How long have you been Wiccan and how long have you been in the Georgian Tradition? What other groups and traditions have you worked with?

Zanoni: It would be presumptuous of me to say I’ve always been “a Witch” – yet that is what I believe. As a very young child I knew things others did not, recalled lives that I should have no knowledge of, did things that astounded and yes, frightened my parents and other family members.

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By Freya Hyatt

In 1958 my father, Max Hyatt, rejected Christianity when he was 10 years old. This act of defiance began a lifelong

search for the truth. It ended in 1990 when he discovered his ancient ancestral religion Asatru (sometimes called Odinism).

This long journey back to his roots took him around the world, and through nearly every mainstream religion on this Earth,

and several that were definitely off the beaten path. These included several sects of Buddhism; Hinduism; the Bahai Faith; Islam; Satanism; and several offbeat sects of Christianity (the Process Church, for example). He would spend a couple of years in each one, sometimes even donning the robes of the clergy, whatever form that took. But he never stayed for long, some­thing didn’t feel right, and so he moved on, looking for that answer. Finally, in 1981, it was atheism, belief in nothing.

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One of my American Heathen readers suggested that I interview Nik a follower of Ásatrú in New Zealand. So ever curious, I emailed him and asked for an interview.

Christopher: Perhaps you can tell us just a bit of your background before you became a Heathen.

Nik: I was bought up Roman Catholic by parents who lived their faith. They, for example, took young mothers who might have had abortions had they not received the help of my parents, into our home. I was bought up in an urban Catholic community where 16 families of likemind, bought houses in same street. That was back in the 70s, it was a happy time for me growing up with the certainty of belief that the Catholic church gave and the security and friendliness of the community that I lived within.

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With both Imbolc and Ostara most focus on the renewal of life and perhaps rebirth and new starts. However as an older person I have seen another side to it, the need to readily make continuous readjustment to life. At each stage life must be ready for the change required of it, or it does not survive.

One aspect of getting older is that drastic changes can take place rapidly and your ability to live and be happy can well be determined by how quickly you can adjust to the change and move on. Just in the last year I have that proven again. Starting last Ostara my eyesight started worsening and I had to start several treks to the VA hospital to find out what was happening. I also was having my second year of suffering falls, though I had been fortunate not to suffer any hurt from them.

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