Kelly made her decision to live the magical life during her midlife, at a time when it may perhaps be more of a surprise to the people around you when they see you embrace your witchy side for the first time. Kelly is not alone, a very large chunk of our community is 50 and beyond, with several Holistic Witchery students in their 70s. If you are carving more magic in your midlife, then hearing from Kelly, might just give you some confidence to be yourself and without worrying about what others think.
In this week’s episode of the Expedition to Soul Podcast, Sara, founder of The Sisters Enchanted, was joined by community member and friend, Kelly Sroka, founder of the Broom and Moon Coven, to talk about her transition from non-witch life to witch life.
Kelly made her decision to live the magical life during her midlife, at a time when it may perhaps be more of a surprise to the people around you when they see you embrace your witchy side for the first time. Kelly is not alone, a very large chunk of our community is 50 and beyond, with several Holistic Witchery students in their 70s. If you are carving more magic in your midlife, then hearing from Kelly, might just give you some confidence to be yourself and without worrying about what others think.
Kelly grew up in the South and had a very religious upbringing, going to church every Sunday and singing in the church choir. After her marriage, Kelly switched to Catholicism, which appealed to her because of its structure. In fact, the history and ritual helped set Kelly on the spiritual path towards magic and witchery.
Kelly’s Story
“In my early 20s and 30s and into my 40s, I was wife and mom. We had a farm. We had three kids. We home-schooled. That’s what I did and I loved it. That’s what I wanted to do. We adopted all three of our kids from different countries, and so they all have different backgrounds. We knew that we wanted them to be free to explore anything that they wanted to explore. My daughter is from China. If she wanted to become a Buddhist, then that would be fine with us. We had that openness, but at the same time, still in the church.
The turning point for me was when my oldest son went off to college. Because my kids are pretty close in age, I know the others would follow on quickly and then I would be done. I would be done with home-schooling. I would be done with being mom of the kids. That was really hard. I remember just crying, just sitting, doing something like washing the dishes and just crying. Thinking, what am I going to do with myself?
I started just with a meditation app and just thinking this will be good to help me with this grief, to give me something to go to. That was the entry point into where I am now.
In the meditation app, I started finding teachers who did other things, teachers who taught shamanism. I did that for a while, and then just gradually went into the witchcraft path and felt like that was ultimately me.
I found The Sisters Enchanted, which has helped me tremendously on this path. Even though I was a lot older than some of the members and I didn’t share the same stage of life, it was still a very welcoming place because we had all of this magic in common. I could share my experience being an older mom, but still have that same in common of finding witchcraft and finding my spiritual path. I don’t think at all that it is not a thing that you can do in your 50s or your 60s or your 70s, or whenever you feel like it.”
Midlife is often a time when you can do whatever you want to do, where you have more time and freedom. Kelly got into tarot and fell in love with it, then took our Expedition Astrology course and became a TSE Magical Mentor before going on to do a crystal healing certification and a Reiki master. Having learned all these things, I wanted to share them and so the Broom and Moon Coven was born.
Overcoming Barriers to Living a Magical Life
Two of the biggest barriers Kelly had to overcome on her way to living as her best magical self were aligning her beliefs and lifestyle with her religious background and having others accept her living as a witch.
Stories About Religion
For Kelly, one of the hardest things to get over was her religious upbringing and an active adult life in the Catholic Church.
Kelly explains, this was really difficult, “because it was just so ingrained in me.”
The breakthrough finally came when Kelly began to study paganism and could see how interwoven it is with Catholic beliefs and stories in the Bible,
“My question, even back then was, why is paganism so bad? Because it’s what everything we do now is based on.”
Through studying other things, like shamanism, astrology and Buddhism, Kelly came to realize these different religions and belief systems are all stories.
“They’re all ways that we explain the things that we don’t know.”
Kelly came to realize that you don’t have to choose between one or another system of stories, you can appreciate them all for what they are and how they interact and influence each other too.
“The Bible is a great story, and I did love reading the Bible a lot. I don’t do it as much as I used to, but it’s a great story. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. Some people choose one or the other, but it doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
Stories About Witches
Another barrier Kelly had to face was people’s reactions to her as a witch. Many of the stories people tell themselves about witches are based on what they see in pop culture and in movies. Hocus Pocus, with the bad book and the black flame candle, or alters and sacrificial rituals. something or other. For some people, the word ‘witch’ presents a barrier to the stories as they have received them.
Luckily for Kelly, her close family, husband and kids were all accepting of her spiritual development and practice, although they did get tired of her dragging them into yet another crystal store! Her husband has always been open to what Kelly wanted to do “I think he always knew that deep down inside this was coming, that something was going to be different along the way. Kelly’s Dad is a little more confused about exactly what it is she is doing but Kelly gets around this by just telling him enough for him to understand. She does appreciate that other family members and people she grew up with would probably feel she is not on a good path. But Kelly says.
“They don’t know me and how I’ve gotten here. I think for them, I would explain it and just say, this is the path that I’m on and I know I’m on the right path for me.”
“It’s definitely not something that I can go and just tell everybody. But at the same time, I still try to bring that energy with me, wherever I am. If there’s people who don’t approve, then they just don’t approve. I just have to live with that, which is okay.”
Although Kelly may not always talk to people about her life and practice, she doesn’t hide it either and is proud to show her witch tattoos.
“The first one I got was the Moon. It’s very subtle and pretty easy to explain if somebody doesn’t really believe in it. You can just say, oh, well, it’s the Moon. It’s life cycles. But then I got tired of saying that and now will just come out with saying, this is my witch Moon tattoo!
If I know that somebody is very religious and might be offended, or is not going to be very understanding, then I respect that, too. I think that’s just a choice. I don’t try to change their mind or argue, but just say, I understand your feelings about it. These are my feelings. And be as respectful to them as I am, and that I would like people to be to me.”
Do go and visit Kelly in her Broom and Moon Coven, particularly if you feel like you can relate to her story, if you are transitioning, or if you are a community member here at The Sisters Enchanted who is not sure what to say or how to participate in the communities. Kelly is a great resource for tarot reading and tarot coaching. And maybe even helping you get out of your own way a little bit.
You can find Kelly at kellysroka.life, where she offers tarot readings and coaching, Instagram at kelly_sroka_life and her Patreon community, the Broom and Moon Coven.
Kelly is also in all the community groups here at The Sisters Enchanted, so you can totally
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