On 6/03 I started to veil.
This decision wasn’t taken lightly. Things happening in my spiritual life lead me to want a clean break from the past and move forward. Something told me to give up my hair as a sacrifice to my Goddess, Freya if I wanted the cleanest break possible.
“What about dysphoria?”, I thought. I’m trans. I put a lot of pride in my hair. “Simple. I’ll just start veiling. How much different could it make my life?”
Out of all the understatements in my life, this one is up there.
When I first wore a head covering, I got a sense of calmness, joy, and a sense of unity with other veilers. I knew that veiling was just this common human trait we did. It cuts across gender, class, race and any other divide you can think of. From the Jewish kippah to the Muslim hijab to the Catholic mantilla to the simple bandana, we all veil.
In that unity, I found sisterhood. In that sisterhood I found gender euphoria. Something about sharing a practice like veiling with my Catholic and Muslim sisters, knowing that this is tradition for women the world over.
I recognize men and nonbinary folk also veil. It’s not exclusive to women. But women are more frequently called to it. There’s a feminine energy in the veiling community. A feminine energy I chose.
And that, is how I chose the veil.
It’s been a week and it’s slowly just becoming a part of my life. One that I’m slowly learning to truly cherish and appreciate. If this is only the first week I can’t wait to see how the rest of my veiling life goes.