How to Be Blessed or even Blessed Be

People occasionally say to me "be blessed" in farewell.  I don't mind it.  I am of atheistic leaning, so I conclude that the only blessings coming my way will be in the other person's mind.  But, it is a nice gesture, and I just smile away with my lips zipped.

Well, sometimes I do say "thank you."

Now, I have only heard this incantation during the past 10 years or so.  Before then, no one said "be blessed," except when I sneezed and was told "bless you."  This rise in the "be blessed" well-wishing got me to thinking about the phrase.

Etymology is not my strong suit, but I find word and phrase origins very interesting.  A quick search via Google turns up virtually nothing about "be blessed", except for a song by that title by Yolanda Adams, published in 2005.  That could be the origin of the use of the phrase in everyday life, but that is only speculation on my part.

One thing I do notice is that the folks who use the phrase are extremely devout Christians of some ilk.  This suggests either the normal human action of familiar repetition, as if to continually reaffirm their identity to a group, or the efforts of someone or someones who want to combat the usage of another phrase:

"Blessed be"

This phrase is the de facto Wiccan greeting.  You may know these people as witches.  I came to know several witches long ago, when I immersed myself in pagan rituals looking for some meaning to life.

The Hollywood version of witches and Witchcraft is so far off base, it is pathetic.  Wiccan rituals reminded me of the Christian dogma in several ways.  Just to give two examples: (1) Whereas Christianity holds the belief that their God is one and three entities at the same time (Father, Son, & Holy Ghost), the Wiccans hold that their Goddess is one and three entities at the same time (Maiden, Mother, & Crone); (2) Christians hold several days in the year holy including Christmas and Easter, where the Wiccans likewise hold several days (sometimes the same) holy.  As examples, there are Yule and Ostara, celebrated December 21st and March 21st respectively.

One more item: "Magic" in the Wiccan idiom is nothing more than personal enlightenment.