I “took up the veil” at Ostara 2012. So you can safely say it has been a strange past 6 months for me. Not only did I have to learn how to tie a scarf (no, it isn’t that easy), I also had to learn to keep my head up and let people stare. So why does anyone make such a decision?

Let me get one thing clear, I am living in a west European country that is dominated with Christian culture. I have not been brought up with veils of any kind and my parents are both atheist. I am single and living on my own so I am absolutely not oppressed or forced to take up the veil.

I have always felt different then others. I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere and felt very close to nature and Mother Earth That is when my journey through witchcraft and occultism started. Yes, I did a lot of stupid stuff during those days like conjuring spirits and other bad Hollywood movie things. When I was 14 I got my first encounter with wicca and it was like coming home after a very long journey. It took me another 10 years to realize that even wicca wasn’t all I needed, I didn’t like the structure and the “I am better then you because I wear my underpants the right way” mentality. I started searching my roots and came to Asatru in December 2011. During that time I made many changes to my life to become a “better” and “healthier” person. I also felt the need to cover my head more and more. I had always been attracted to covering but never knew why or how it could be possible for a pagan girl to start the practice of headcovering. Pagans are known for their free thinking around nakedness and as a former wiccan I knew a lot about being skyclad during rituals. So why should a pagan cover their body or hair? And then it came to me: Why not? I started searching Pagan headcovering and after several months I found a blog post written by Cora Post that talked about this subject. I was so happy that I wasn’t the only one that felt this need but it also made me search my soul on the reasons why I felt inclined to cover my head. After a lot of thinking, writing and praying I found my answer: In history it had always been respectable for a woman to cover her head. Only after WW2 this changed and after the sexual revolution in Europe it wasn’t a modern practice anymore. To me this inside changed something in the way I thought about this subject. Covering the head wasn’t only for Muslim- and Jewish women, it was meant for every self respected woman. In modern society a woman is no longer judged for her personality but even more so for her appearance. Show all you got and people know your worth. I don’t want to be respected that way. I respect myself and I respect my Gods. And in that respect lays the key. I cover out of respect. The Gods are the higher power over me and I cover to remind myself about that. I am only truly humble to my Gods.

So here it is, my reason to cover. It was a scary decision but it has made me a stronger person and much closer to my true self. So yes, I am a proud headcovering pagan single girl!