My father's sister raised me and she often described how my paternal grandmother, and my aunt in Italy maintained the folk customs. My aunt would tell me all the details, but she herself did not maintain the practices she described. When I went to public school in Montreal that comprised of 95% Italian students, whose families were from all over Italy, I began to hear about other practices. I got most of my education from friends who were from the Benevento area and the Regions of Campania, and Sicily.

As a teenager I explored Santeria and VooDoo thanks to the public library and Caribbean market next door to the Italian grocery store I worked at. I've done the Neo-Pagan thing and the Wiccan thing but it never quite fit. It was easy to relate to the 'reverence of nature' aspect of paganism, but I couldn't wrap my head and heart around the hodge-podge of tenets borrowed from different, more ancient religions of the world and, mythic deities for prayer. It always fell flat and lacked the inner truth and magic of lets say... asking Saint Anthony to help me find a lost object or a parking space!

I am Catholic. I seamlessly blend folk magic (witchcraft), ecclesiastic teachings, my deep devotion to the cult of the saints and the Virgin Mary, and my love of nature. Like many Italians, I mix the sacred and the profane customs that are characteristic and traditional to my culture and identity.