I’m not kidding. I was in this weekend and the clerk was putting out Halloween candy. It’s the third week in August, too early to start thinking of ghosts, goblins, and witches. Lucky for me, I was ahead of the game.

As a publisher of multi-faith prayers for women, it’s my job to be sure our prayers are widely read. In addition to , you can find my blogs and the prayers of our writers on . There are many wonderful communities for women that feature stories, poetry, and opinions written by women for women— Divine Caroline is my favorite. The day before bags of fun size invaded my neighborhood, I received a comment from Faeirymoon, a DC reader, about my blog: “.”

"I'm a witch and have been all my life… We pray also and are very spiritual. Why are people so afraid of us? We do no harm. Our religion is a nature religion. We try to save the planet and go to parks and other places and clean them up before we do our rituals, which are harmless. We don't hurt animals we save them and we wear clothes. I wish people would not judge us until they know more about us. Ignorance hurts."
–Faeirymoon 

Gosh, it’s been centuries since witches were the primary targets for bigotry and prejudice. Muslim bashing is all the rage today. It seems that for their beliefs at one point or another in history: Protestants, Catholics, Quakers, and Jews, are only a few that come immediately to mind. Intolerance is a big problem and as my new witch friend points out, ignorance hurts.

In that same vein, but with a different twist, I was fascinated with ’s recent on-air N-word tirade. Truth be told, I stand with the sentiment Dr. Laura expressed in the .  Why is there a double standard when it comes to who is allowed to use derogatory language? I also question the herding mentality we use when there’s a shift to a new politically correct term. The R-word created a when ’s character in the movie , used the non-PC term for a person with special needs. Who decides what’s in and what’s out? Should we all be so quick to adapt it?

So, I have a new friend who is a witch. Apparently she has no problem with the vernacular, although I would have thought, for PR purposes, would have dropped the W-word by now. Kudos to Faeirymoon for plainly stating what she is, and clearly explaining her beliefs. We all have a lot to learn how taking a different path can lead to the same destination.

"…witches do spells which are just like prayers to the God and Goddess... I have respect for all religions because I believe that all religions lead to God. We're just getting there in different ways."
–Faeirymoon

He and I are from unlikely worlds.
We pray to You, but with different words.

Tell me, how different can we really be
if our gazes fall on the one same You?

From here, we lift our hopes and fears
and look to Your light only for strength.

In You, we know each other more.
In You, we find our future paths.

-Miranda Claudius