At some point Melinda went home. Tami still wanted to help Melinda, so she
called in a few favors. From her days at
the Zoo, Tami knew the guys from “Billy the Exterminator,” she called and asked
if they would be willing to spray Melinda’s house. They agreed if they could film it. Melinda went back and forth, yes, no, yes,
no, okay with conditions. Finally in the
end, it was decided that it would be okay to shoot the house, but she would not
be there. If I wanted to be on TV so
bad, then I would have to fill in for Melinda, and so I did. Tami came along to do my makeup and as moral
support. So in September of 2012 we
taped an episode for “Billy the Exterminator.”
Now I had been on and off the phone with Melinda all day,
trying to make this happen. At one point,
she said she was going to lock the house, and not let anyone in. I finally convinced her not to do that. When we got on the set that day, one of the producers
came up to me, and said Melinda had called them and left messages. And I should listen to them, because they
were about me. I know my mind most of
the time, and I knew to hear them would not be good. I said, “ Once I hear them, I can’t unheard them,”
so I asked Tami to listen to them for me.
She did and came back shaken up.
“They’re bad Ilsa. They are
really bad.”
Melinda had left two
messages, and in them basically threw me under the bus. She had apparently told the producers, all
about my mental health issues. They
didn’t need to know any of that. I felt betrayed. After Tami told me, I looked at her and the
producer and said, “I’m done with her after today. I wash my hands of Melinda.”
We had a wonderful day of shooting. I really enjoyed Billy, but mostly I really
fell in love with the crew. My reward at
the end of the day was a picture of me and Billy together, hot and tired, but
having done a good job. I made sure that
everyone involved were respectful of Melinda’s home, and knew that she had
placed curses on one of the gates, and not to go thru it. Most of what you saw in the tape was correct,
as far as the bugs were concerned. What
you do not know, is that kitchen had been cleaned at least three times, since
the first night we had gone in with shovels.
No, it was not my rent house. That was a lie we came up with, so it would
seem plausible why I was there.
There were things that happened, after the taping of the
show, that I was not aware of until later, when Tami told me. Apparently a meeting was held of all those
there, on whether to call CPS or not, because of the condition of the home, and
once they understood a child lived there.
They decided against it. They
would later tell Tami, that they had never been in a filthier house. That in
order to really attack her bug problem, the house should be tented. There was also talk that the house should also
be condemned.
Jay picked me up from Melinda’s house and we went home. I have never spoken to Melinda since
then. What few items she had left here I
returned to her. Including her belt for
Holda’s Hands which I returned in pieces, just like my heart was.
It was close to Mabon at that point. I picked up the phone and called the HP. I wanted to find out what day Mabon was going
to be celebrated, what time, and what they wanted me to bring for the feast
afterward. I told the HP all about what
had happened with Melinda and I, that I was done with her, and that I wanted to
come home. Now I had watched others move
in and out of the HP coven, even returning after spending long periods of time
away. Nothing was ever said about
it. I remember the HP being very angry
with me. I think she felt I had chosen
my coven over hers. She told me Melinda
had disrespected her and her wife’s marriage.
Melinda had made inappropriate comments to her and apparently groped the
HP’s wife. I never understood all of why
the HP was angry with me, and it has been a long time since that phone call, so
please forgive my sketchy details.
Within a few days I received a Facebook message telling me that , they
sent me forward in love and light, to cut and burn my cord and to never set
foot back on their property again.
I was devastated. My
coven had fractured because of Melinda and all her lies, and now I was being
thrown out of my other spiritual home.
It was like those days after Momma Muriel had died. I felt I would break apart. I know now, years later that Holda was moving
me ahead of the game, like a chess piece.
She was moving me ahead of things she did not want me involved in. I am ever grateful for her wisdom and her
protection.
Somehow we soldiered on.
Juno took it really hard. She was
still trying to play mediator and fix Melinda and I’s relationship. She was trying to be friends with both, and
it was hard on her. Juno has always
identified as a Druid. I had known
Boogie and Rovena for many years. They
were some of my oldest friends in the community, elders really. So I rang up Rovena and asked what they were
doing these days. She told me she was
running an ADF (Ar nDraiocht Fein) proto-grove.
I told her of Juno, and that I would like to bring her round. I didn’t want her to feel like she was the only
Druid in town. And so one day we
went.
Ilsa
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