(This article was originally published 4/21/2012 on the Practical-Magick Tumblr and can be seen here.)
Most of my followers know that I’ve been veiling daily when I go outside of my home. To contrast it, I purposefully went out without covering.
These are my observations:
- I received fewer migraine headaches while covering, but when I went without my head coverings, I got them daily and I wonder if this may have something to do with being an empath.
- I was treated more respectfully by those older than me. I’m in college, but I look younger than my age; some people have even mistaken me for being as young as 15. While covering I looked my age if not a few years older.
- I received far more compliments while covering and people seemed kinder in general. I only had one negative experience while covering, but it was actually directed towards a friend I was with not myself.
- I felt much calmer and more grounded while veiling and I was better able to focus on what was important. Such as what my teachers were saying versus chit-chat around me and I had a much easier time focusing on my class work.
- I felt less likely to flirt and attract unwanted attention when covering. When I don’t cover I flirt with more or less everyone and I do it subconsciously. This often leads to unwanted attention.
I plan to continue veiling most of the time I’m in large groups of people, i.e. school, church, the store, movies, craft fair/farmer market type places, etc. The exception will be when I actually want to just be lost in the moment, make new friends, attract potential mates, or to pick up on the energy around me, i.e. parties, concerts, most ritual and spell work, hanging out with friends in their homes or mine, carnivals, etc. The type of head covering I wear will depend on the situation. For all day wear I’ll probably stick to the tichel style, although wearing wide cloth head bands worked well for smaller group situations. I think bandanas would work well too as well as more “middle eastern” styles similar to hijabs. That could also be a good choice for cold weather. I intend to experiment with snoods for this purpose as well. For shopping and running errands I think hats and bandanas would probably be most appropriate. My largest dilemma is the “covering all my hair vs covering just the top of my head” debate. My goddesses have yet to show a preference and I’ve made no decision. I have really long hair so it’s a pretty big deal for me and I’ve seen others struggle with this decision as well. So that’s a large reason I’ve decided to experiment with multiple forms of covering.
I love the mantilla/chaple/blush veil style. To me it’s very beautiful and it reminds me very much of priestesses in the ancient world. But I also think this ethereal between-the-worlds quality makes them slightly out of place in everyday life. But I think it could be a nice special occasion look and for certain rituals. I definitely think that if I ever become a high priestess of a group I would wear this style during ritual. I think it gives an air of authority and power, a certain regality to the wearer.
I just want to say that I’ve been fascinated by veiling and head covering for years. I’ve just always found it a very beautiful thing. In a way I feel like the sudden wave of openness about veiling in the pagan community is like an answer to my prayers. It really seems like this “trend” had blossomed in the past few months. Last year or so when I had started looking at head covering it was difficult to find good sources on head coverings in modern paganism. And now it’s one of the biggest topics (I almost want to say controversy) in the pagan community!