the origins of the oracle

The early years…

I was born in a small town in west-central Indiana. There was a lot of strife in my family, but I was fortunate to have a lot of resources outside of my immediate home. My paternal grandparents were the light of my life and a safe haven away from the toxicity often generated by my mother. Although I remember times of scarcity for my family, we had enough privilege and support from my grandparents to ensure that my younger brother and I had access to things like dance classes and horseback riding lessons. For as long as I can remember, my parents had my brother and me in Church, which became the singular most important thing in my life. Despite my parents’ conservative bent, I had access to a lot of fantasy books as a child. My mother loved reading, and I took that up with a voracious passion. Always curious, I would read whatever I could get my hands on. I’m not sure how much attention was given to what I was reading; for example, the most life-changing book I ever read was Phillip Pullman’s “The Golden Compass”. Now a classic, Lyra’s tale of traversing worlds with her dæmon Pantalaimon lodged in my brain in a profound way. This was, of course, years prior to the 2007 movie which scandalized the conservative Christian right. “It’s about killing God!” they cried, clutching their pearls. It tickles me to no end that my favorite book (to this day) was about a young girl whose ability to use divination transformed worlds.

As I “grew out of” my obsession with unicorns, fairies, magic, and potion-making, I became more entrenched in the Church.