I've actively been a witch since around the age of 10, although I was 14 before I actually used that word to describe the collection of my practices and beliefs. A Leo born in 1975, my father was in the military, which meant that we moved every three years or so. My parents were raised Catholic but were no longer practicing, having become disenchanted with the church business. They raised my brother and I without a specific religion, choosing to give us the freedom to make our own choices in life in the pursuit of happiness, while still teaching us to be good moral people.

I, Hotep, was born on August 20, 1954 and was brought up in the lovely Town of  Wellesley, Massachusetts, in a strict Italian Catholic family (which later all went "Born Again").  I was not at all hostile to my religious up bringing, as a matter of fact it was quite the opposite, I loved the Priests and Nuns of St. Johns and St. Pauls Churches.  However,  I just never “bought into” the teachings of the Catholic Church, and as a youth in "catechism" thought the stories and classes quite silly. It all just seemed very unrealistic and did not ring honest to me. From my teens on I “floated” spiritually, and felt more than a little lost...I didn’t know what I believed.