While anyone can become knowledgeable, and quite skilled, within the realm of the alternative belief systems, it is rare to see someone that is born with a genetic disposition for this life. It is even more rare to see someone that is born with what the average person would consider to be 'powers' or 'super natural powers'. People who are born with this are said to have been born with a 'veil', or a 'caul'. In order to understand this a bit better, it is probably best to explain what, exactly, this term means, and how it got it's use within the alternative beliefs. First, take the word 'caul'. A caul is actually the membrane which covers the fetal head, protecting it both within the womb and during child birth. Thus, the appearance of this still surrounding the child's head at birth is often referred to as a 'caul cap'. The images you will see in this post will show you what medieval women wore on their heads, which was called a caul hat, net or headdress. As you will see, many of these hats have different types of veils on them. Within the alternative belief systems, the term 'caul', or 'veil', was adopted to refer to someone who was born with a 'natural' disposition for the life of a witch, pagan or sage. Often, these people, even as children, displayed various abilities (which, many of us take for granted in modern societies) that were considered abilities that only a very well trained elder could possess. Some of these included: The ability to read people's minds. In other words: Knowing what someone was going to say, or do, before it happened. The ability to communicate with living beings that were not human (read this as: The habit of talking to animals as if they were humans - which is what we do when we talk to our pets).
As time went on, veils were used also used to cover up portions of, or all of, the body. Sometimes they were used for modesty, other times for religious purposes, and then there were times for weddings (the bride's veil), funerals (the widow's veil), baptisms (a child's veil), and many other types of uses. Veils came into the height of fashion in the medieval period, when some of the upper class women wore head pieces that were so tall, doors and entry ways had to be intentionally modified so the women could pass under them without knocking their headdresses off of their heads. Much as the bridal veil has come to symbolize purity, and the burqa has come to symbolize the covering of a woman's modesty (which is the entire body), so too has the alternative veil become a type of spiritual shroud. Through centuries of study, elders in the alternative faiths have learned that children who are born with a veil do in fact display natural dispositions that the 'average' child does not normally display. At least not on a regular basis (read that as 'daily basis'). This is by no means saying that there are children out there as we saw in the movie The Matrix, where they're shaved bald, dressed in monk robes and sitting on a floor bending spoons, and everything else, with their minds. No. It doesn't work like that. It never has, and it never will. It means that these children are born being more mentally, spiritually and emotionally aware of their surroundings than the average child. For example, an average child may look at the family cat and think, 'Aww, cute kitty cat! I want to cuddle it and pet it. I want to give it string and toys to play with, and feed it, and have it sleep on my bed at night and call it my own animal friend'. The child born with the veil will take a MUCH different route with the family cat.
The veiled child will look at the family cat, and almost immediately start understanding the cat's body language, sounds, behaviors and habits. The veiled child may end up having the family cat as a familiar, and eventually the cat and the child will be 'best friends', nearly inseparable from each other. Take another example, people. The average child will see someone new in the house hold (say, a distant family member, friend of the family...etc.) and say hello, be polite and then not think much more of it. The veiled child will read that person like they're open books just waiting to be studied. Humans tend to behave differently in different situations, just by habit. For instance, they will be more quiet at work, or at church, or in places where being quiet is the better idea (think, a library, class room or study area). They will also only show you what they want you to see. Even if they are not feeling well that day, but have no choice but to go out of their homes, they will try to put on the 'everything is just dandy' appearance for the public. Take that person and put them head on with the veiled child, and that child will cut right to the chase and ask them why they aren't feeling well, what's wrong, are they sick...and so forth. Again, I can not stress enough how truly RARE this is. To put a number to it, I'd have to say that 1 in every 10 million births is only POTENTIALLY that of a veiled child. Therefore, it's safe to say that it's not uncommon, but it is considered 'rare', by numeric standards. So now that we have a basic idea as to what it means to be 'born with a veil', let's take a look at what happens to these children as they grow up and have to blend into the society around them in order to make it on their own. I will warn you right now, even though modern society is far, FAR more accepting, it still has a long way to do in this area.
During the early stages of humanity, children like this were often cast out of society. If they were not, they were quite literally forced (sometimes brutally) to blend in, or die. That is a literal choice, not a figurative one. Just as children used to be cast out of societies for having 'odd' physical features (different skin pigmentation, an additional finger, medical conditions that were not understood at the time, blindness, hearing loss...etc.), so too were children who were seen as having 'witch-like' abilities. In fact, any child that was born looking anything other than completely 'normal' was thought of as having been brought to life by the devil, or as having been born to a witch (in this case, both the mother and the child were put to death, in an attempt to rid the towns of these 'evil' witches). As time went on, people learned to hide this, and hide it very well, for no other purpose than to give their children a chance to live into adulthood. Sometimes it was a difficult process. Remember, the veiled child is acting on nothing but pure instinct, so asking the child to change his/her natural behaviors is something that is not always easily done. Things that are done on a daily basis, by nothing but habit or schedule, are the things that are the most difficult to 'correct' in the behavioral patterns of a veiled child. What to wear. What to eat (some veiled children are naturally prone to being vegetarians simply because they are fully aware as to where meat actually comes from, and this can include animal bi-products such as eggs, milk and butter). How to be polite to people (if a veiled child senses that a person is 'mean', they will see right through the politeness bullshit and call a spade a spade....which, in many public situations is not always the most 'proper' way to act, and in medieval times, could get someone in a lot of trouble). How to interact with other children (also an issue of being able to sense certain attributes of other people). Truth be told, the list is fairly long, and is based on 'what is proper behavior' of the era.
There are several traits that a veiled child has, which naturally carry through to adult hood. I will tell you right now, these adults are not to be toyed with, on any level. One of the biggest traits that carries over into adulthood is the ability to see right through people...almost instantly. For example, as children, we're taught to always be polite to, and respect, your elders. Telling this to a veiled child, who knows full well that many of their elders are spewing lies out of their mouths left and right, well, it's not going to go over too well with this child. If you are around someone who was born with a veil, there is no need for a lie detector device. You're probably standing right next to one. If you have one of these people for a friend, do yourself a favor and never lie, at all, for any reason, to this person. EVER. They will figure you out before you even get the next sentence out of your mouth. On the contrast, veiled children are usually more educated (or, at least seem to be) that the average child. I'm not talking about your straight A student who can seemingly do no wrong in the class room. I'm talking about the child who understands FAR more than what is taught in a class room. In fact, this child will often buck heads with the teachers due to the fact that what they are being taught, is not the 'truth' to them. In other words, they are seeing that there is more to the lesson that what the teacher is teaching. As adults, these veiled children are often very passionate about various causes. They tend to become activists, to some degree or another, or, are extremely verbal and well-educated on topics that the average person just does not seem to understand that easily. Many of them end up turning to professions that allow them to utilize their natural instincts for the betterment of humanity, instead of holding jobs that are considered mundane or 'mediocre' for them. It is not likely that you will find someone like this in the engineering or construction industry. It is more likely that you will find this person working in a job that allows them to be some type of an aide to the general population (fire fighter, police officer, doctor, psychologist, teacher...etc.). They will shy from such careers like politics, or being a lawyer.
Society still does not bode well for the veiled child, even though as a whole, we have come a long way in accepting these children into our mainstream society. Again, this is mostly due to the fact that these children have learned how to hide this from people, so as not to scare the living daylights out of them. It is not surprising then to see many of these people turn to the alternative belief systems as a means by which they can protect themselves, and still be open about the type of people they were born to be. Alternative faiths have always been open to these people, simply because they see nothing 'wrong' with them. In fact, quite the opposite. People who were born with a veil are not only more than welcome in these realms, but are also revered by both new-comers and elders alike. Elders are able to spot veiled people from a mile away. We are trained to sense this. A few simple questions to these people, and we know right then and there just how veiled they are, or, are not, as the case may be. Society has a cruel way of forcing people to behave as main stream society wants you to behave. They change them through medication, psychological therapy treatment (which do little to no good), medical testing, teachers telling the parents that their child needs to be in 'special needs' classes because they are 'too different' from the other children, or are 'scaring' the other children with their behavior. Much as the physically deformed folks from our past found serenity within the presence of others like them, so too does the veiled person find serenity in the realms of the alternative belief systems. Quite simply put, they are with their people - and finally allow themselves to be who they were born to be, and in a society that does not harm them, but that helps them and loves them just the way they are. Isn't that what we'd all like? So, if you do happen to encounter someone that you think may be a veiled person, tread softly. Speak gently, and listen intently. They mean no harm, and will do no harm. Enjoy that time with them, for they may help you open doors that would otherwise be locked to you.
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