Tag: Wicca

Bill Gates’s Book On Wicca

Bill Gates’s Book On Wicca

 

1. The book would be called Windows to the Goddess.

2. Iconology was be a major chapter.

3. A revised edition would be released approximately every 6 months without which your magic would no longer work.

4. Your broom would crash at least once a week.

5. Cauldrons would be called recycle bins.

6. A book of shadows would be called the folder of magic.

7. A free high speed connection spell would come with every book.

8. Ever now and then, your circle would collapse and you would have to perform the reboot ritual to get it working.

9. If you used the more powerful MagicNT rituals, the above would happen to all circles within a 5 mile radius.

10. At least once a month, you would have to reinstall your spells into your folder of magic.

11. You would have to use a start ritual to exit your circle. (And cake and wine would only be available after a sign from the Goddess saying it was safe to do so.)

Zelda the Witch (“As Told by Zelda’s Familiar, Hemlock the Cat”)

Zelda the Witch (“As Told by Zelda’s Familiar, Hemlock the Cat”)

Author: RainyLane

The sound of clinging glass could be heard from the tiny wooden home occupied by Zelda the witch. Zelda lifted a heavy leather bound book off the table and made her way towards the tiny mirror hanging from the wall. She examined the age that had accumulated on her face, as she had done everyday for the last few years.

Zelda was not always such a vain soul and in her youth enjoyed the attention and praise that often accompanies beauty. But as she began to age, and wrinkles began to plague her once youthful face the compliments from the villagers began to fade and Zelda decided, by Goddess, she was a witch and she would do something about it. For years she had managed to soften times blow by mixing concoctions of toad and bones, lavender and thyme, but these proved to be temporary fixes to an unsolvable problem.

Or was it?

Zelda could remember her mother’s words and a potion she once came across in her childhood. Having no use for the particular potion during her youth, she dismissed it from her memory and for years this spell eluded her thoughts.

As the years passed Zelda became so consumed with her vanity it slowly began turning into desperation and the memory of the potion crept its way into her thoughts once more. Then one night in dream, the spell found its way back into Zelda’s life.

Upon waking the next morning, Zelda scoured her extensive spell collection in an attempt to retrieve the potion. She sat the book back down on the table and began to flip through its aged pages. Flip, flip, flip…nothing. More flipping, more searching and just when Zelda began to think she never really saw the spell at all a loud “ah-ha” rang through the air.

Zelda’s finger halted the next page from landing and quietly she repeated the words before her “Le beau charme de Lune”. Zelda had found the potion! She began to scroll the list of ingredients: Rose hips and sage grounded up fine, with a pinch of moon dust, one can erase time.

To the moon a ladder must be made, from the moon some dust saved. The Beautiful Moon Spell.

Zelda’s first few attempts to retrieve the last elusive ingredient of “Le beau charme de Lune” were quite humorous. There was the broomstick attempt, but witches are people too and getting up that high on an enchanted piece of wood wasn’t flying.

After a few more failed attempts, Zelda was on the verge of giving up when the answer came to her, as it does to most witches, in another dream. Children, millions of children under a powerful spell forming a ladder all the way to the moon.

And so the beginning of the end… began.

The spell had been easy to cast over the children, for Zelda was a powerful well-trained witch. Within moments millions of children began to rise from their silent slumber and follow the enchanted sound of Zelda’s voice.

As Zelda sent the last child up the ladder she tilted her head back and took in the night sky. The moon was high harvest and the smell of burning chimneys could tell anyone dead or alive that Beltane was approaching.

“All these years, all this time”, she mumbled under her breath.

Zelda used to imagine what this moment would feel like. The moment where she knew things could now change. No more toads, no more bones, just eternal youth, in her body… forever.

With a sigh of relief and hike of her skirt was revealed a woman who was about to be herself again.

She couldn’t believe how easy it was to climb the children at first; they said nothing, their eyes blank. Now only remained a hollow emptiness where life used to be. Zelda half questioned herself whether or not this would work, but the closer she got to the moon, the more convinced she became that this time, it would work!

And then… “Oh my Goddess!” she screamed as she lost her footing. Zelda felt the a gust of cold Winter’s air brush by the back of her neck and before she knew it she was plummeting to the ground…and then all that could be heard was a massive shock of screams, children screams, piercing the once silent night sky.

The ladder began to give way as millions of children flew through the air, breaking the strong chain they had formed just moments before. Zelda’s concentration had been broken the moment she slipped and the enchantment over the children was no more.

Zelda’s arms flayed, desperately grasping for anything that might save her life, but all she got was cold night air. And with a soft thud, Zelda’s body finally touched the ground.

It was at that moment I ran over desperate to find sign of life in Zelda’s cold body. There were none. Because of the spell’s workings all the children landed safely and softly on the ground. Silently and without question the children found their way back home as I mourned the loss of my companion and friend.

800 years later the story of Zelda the witch is not easily found in books or prose for it is has now become a cautionary tale told in the silent whispers of wizards and witches around a fire in good company. Vanity to mortal and witch alike is no laughing matter and in some cases, like Zelda’s, could cost you your life.

I, Hemlock the cat and Zelda’s beloved familiar, still reflect fondly on the life and memory of Zelda and wish that she had never found “Le beau charme de Lune”. I guess the lesson to be learned here, dear friends, is to beware of vanity, for it can find its way into your hearth, life and sometimes, if you’re not careful, into your craft as well.

Just as is did in the story of Zelda the Witch.

*Dedicated to the spirit and memory of my mother, Wendy, who passed into her next incarnation in February of 2007.

The Hedge Witch’s Home (Or A Guide to Practical Paganism)

The Hedge Witch’s Home (Or A Guide to Practical Paganism)

Author: Aethelbera

For most of us Pagans, the altar can be seen as a spiritual or peaceful refuge in our own special corner away from the mundane and away from the rest of the world. For others of us, we may prefer to meditate and still others would like nothing more than a peaceful walk in a forest. But our homes can be places of spiritual refuge as well, from the front door to the bedroom at the furthest end of the house. In fact, the home should be a refuge, a Pagan one. It goes without saying that most of us want to feel Pagan and live Pagan but for some of us this can be difficult.

Some of us live in must urban settings or very small dwellings with little room. Maybe you’re renting an apartment with strict rules such as no holes in the walls. But it’s anything but hopeless. We can “Pagan” up our houses in the simplest of ways. It is possible even if we live in tiny, cramped apartments or dorm rooms where lighting candles and incense isn’t practical and is prohibited by post-secondary institutions.

Kitchen Witches make much use of their kitchens. Their altars are their counters and their ritual tools are the big wooden spoons and saucepans by the stove. Green Witches have their gardens and hedge witches have the tinted jars of sundry herbs lined upon the shelves.

There are a few simple steps a Pagan can take to make their home really their home. Setting up a modest altar in a preferred room is one way, perhaps with a smudge stick or perhaps with images of ancestors lining the edges. This is really very simple, a nicely framed picture of Grandma and Grandpa on a side table will most surely do! My altar has a calendar set up neatly on the left side. You can decorate your altar according to your path’s holidays and decorate your house with seasonal sprigs or seasonal emblems.

One can also make use of many readily available herbs to feel close to nature such as creating sachets, herbal rinses, soaps, incenses, teas or any variety of delicious culinary dishes. I have only a few words of advice and those are: DO NOT OVERPICK. And be sure to pick ethically as many plants are endangered or becoming endangered just as animals do. And do not pick anything out in the wild without thoroughly making sure you know what it is and use it to the best of its abilities If you can’t be sure, leave it or consult someone who knows. That being said, the practical Pagan may want to get rosehips from the roses in his garden and they appear when the blooms die for any number of practical purposes from teas to desserts.

These and many other herbs can also be found at a local loose-leaf teashop, or if you’re lucky enough, your local herb shop or Pagan shop. There are many practical ways to utilize these small charms as well. A kitchen Witch might go to the supermarket and buy some thyme or ginger to cook with and saturate it with his or her witchy knack for cooking. If you live in the city, and want to feel more “naturey”, set up a windowsill spice garden and be sure to get a few potted plants.

When friends come over, the hedge Witch can brew a mean tea from those same rosehips, which are high in vitamin C and thus helpful with colds. If you’re looking for a sleeping potion and warm milk just isn’t doing the trick, try some chamomile. As a mild sedative, it does wonders to help you, or your active children get to sleep.

To make your home feel like being home and feel more Pagan, you could tie an herb sachet by the bathtub and the scent will be released with the steam. You could collect your favorite Pagan authors and place them on a bookshelf in the living room. You could keep a diary, dream journal or recipe book by your bed stand.

For the more spiritual, you could buy a nice broom and decorate it to your tastes and use cleaning the home as a ritual or if you’re Heathen, place a blót horn or ancestor image on the mantel. Mine is only big enough for a single shot so if you’re space is cramped you can still aim small. You do not have to feel like you are trapped in a cramped, mundane and utterly unPagan apartment.

You can imbue almost anything with a spiritual significance. Even if you are a teenager in a strict nonPagan home you can try your hand at cooking or placing a broom in your room to clean with and of course you can buy little figurines for your bedroom that have special significance to you.

Last but not least, you could try your creative hand and add a very personal element. If you can write, write a prayer for your bedroom wall. If you can paint, paint an image of your patron God. If you can carve, carve an image of your totem. If you can work with wood, well, you get the idea.

It is very easy to be the Practical Pagan without cheapening the experience or overdoing it dramatically. After all, no one really need a big witch hat and a cast iron cauldron sitting dead centre in the front foyer for all to see to have a Pagan home and neither do you need to set up a mini Stonehenge in the backyard (a small altar by a tree or birdfeeder may do just fine) .

If space is an issue, aim small. If disapproving eyes are an issue, aim for subtle and above all, aim for modest and something which will complement your personality!

Make your home really feel like yours and let it be inspired by your Pagan path.

Happy (Pagan) interior decorating!


Footnotes:
N/A

Life is Love: The Power of Happiness

Life is Love: The Power of Happiness

Author: Winterfox

I  am faced, every day, with an interesting prospect. Whether or not it’s right or wrong to even have the thought, I awake every morning to the idea that I am not going to die today. And every day, there is a little more certainty to my voice when I say it out loud.

It isn’t a medical condition that forces me to think positively, it’s just the ghosts of things passed. Ages ago, I would have called it “depression.” Now, though, I call it “achievement.” I am still facing my demons, I am still terrified of certain situations, and I am still battling to reach some level of normal human behavior. But through it all I’m still fighting, and I’m still winning. And, right at the heart of it all, there’s a little star with a circle around it.

Years ago when I was still a different person, a lot of things happened that forced me into a near catatonic state. I was completely mute, and so shy that looking at a person’s eyes made me shake. And it was around this time that I was introduced to Paganism. How wonderful it was to retreat into meditation, or watch incense smoke for hours; I wasn’t really ‘into’ it, but the practice of it made me peaceful. I started to enjoy the company of other people, holding circles in small groups and learning to trust what we called our “mini coven.” I was coming out of my shell, slowly.

It wasn’t until later that the full force of what Paganism meant to me practically hit me in the face. I was sitting on a public bus, coming home from school, when some impish need to giggle came over me. And I started to laugh, first into my hand, then into my fist, and then I didn’t bother to smuggle it anymore.

I was laughing, hard, tears streaming down my face. Because here I was, sitting on a bus, and for no particular reason I had just realized that I was absolutely, undeniably, contentedly happy. I had no more reason to worry. Everything I was afraid of was over; I was meeting people, I was doing well, I was still alive. I had conquered something.

So here I was, I thought, sitting on a bus, and I could feel my life force crackling merrily like fire in a chimney. All the energy, all that essence we’d been trying to put into our magick, it existed. And here it was, bubbling out of me, overflowing me, and filling me with something wonderful.

By the next year, I had formally decided to become Wiccan. Although I couldn’t really practice anything with my parents around, I decided I could at least honor the principals. I started to absorb the wisdom of the Lord and Lady, as well as be mindful to everyone and everything around me.

Now, I’m on my own for the first time, living in a tiny dorm room in the middle of an unfamiliar big city. I am, for the most part, your typical university student. I get good grades, do my laundry, and have the occasional childish snowball fight with a group of friends that I cherish more dearly than they can imagine.

My room reflects that, for the most part; there’s doodles taped to my wall, big name tags stuck to my door, fluttering pages of homework littering my desk, and walls of textbooks along every shelf. Yet, in the corner and clearly visible to anyone who comes in, there is a white cloth that proudly supports a silver and gold candle, a bowl of water, a dish of salt, and a small cauldron. Next to the textbooks on the shelves is a binder I use as my Book of Shadows.

My room is my sanctuary, filled with little bits of me; here there is an altar, sitting right next to a Starbucks mocha frappuccino. While other students go to church, I practice my faith right in this room, every night.

These students sometimes ask me why. Why am I a Wiccan? They aren’t offensive in any way, they just want to know. My answer is always the same: because I owe it to myself. I spent so many years as a frightened person, terrified of my own voice.

My involvement with Wicca helped me get my voice back; in the end, the biggest thing I learned from practicing Wicca was that the only thing that could save me from myself was myself. It gave me power; not magickal power, but pure life force, something raw and untamable that felt like a physical fire in me. My soul was set aflame, and as a phoenix is reborn from the ashes, so I came to be an entirely new person.

I am a joker now. I wear my inner child on my sleeve. I am cynical and sarcastic, but also full of joy. And that is the key: Wicca taught me boundless joy, that even the darker side of life must be celebrated, because without shadows then light has no context. I’ve finally realized that life is beautiful. I don’t need to hold elaborate rituals to see that.

Spring to summer, autumn to winter. The changing of seasons is a huge concept; so much mythology and meaning behind it. And all of it is contained in the life and death of a single leaf.

The Lord and Lady. The basic grounds on which Wicca is based. Their entire dance re-enacted every night by the simple rise and set of the sun and moon.

Untamable love, burning passions and innocence lost. It happens every day between two squirrels in the tree outside my window.

Everything is simple. The biggest of ideas can be reflected in the smallest drop of water. And that’s what amazes me, that’s why I’m so in love with Wicca. It can go both ways; perhaps the smallest drop of water teaches some amazing concept, or perhaps the droplet itself is too complex for me to ever understand.

In any case, here I am. This is me. And for the first time, I’m in love with this Earth. So when I have my daily ritual of waking up, splashing myself with water and reminding myself that I’m whole and wonderful and full of life, I’m determined. I want other people to see me, want them to know what it feels like for someone so sad to become someone so happy. It’s been a long journey from point A to point B. I’m still travelling. But if I put a hand to my chest and close my eyes, I can hear how far I’ve come, because I feel the proof that I am still fully alive.

My entire journey thus far repeats itself in song with every beat of my heart.

 

“Who is the Wiccan Goddess?” Just saying those words brings on a lot of feelings. A goddess is a female version of a deity, and the Horned God being the male version

“Who is the Wiccan Goddess?” Just saying those words brings on a lot of feelings. A goddess is a female version of a deity, and the Horned God being the male version of a deity. But let us step back for a moment and define just what a deity is, or if it is, and how one should go about dealing with one if its existence pans out to be real.

What is real is what is held in the mind of the individual, but that is questionable. After all, what is real to me may be imaginary to someone else. To an atheist, even talking about the potential existence of deities is absurd. I cannot please other people. I have to please myself and do what I feel is right, and what feels right to me is being able to make decisions on my own and experience the consequences of those decisions. I want a level playing field, not to live in a world where my actions are restricted or my thoughts expressed lead to a retribution of sorts or to authoritative action being brought against my person simply because I had a thought and spoke it aloud.

We humans do not speak haphazardly under normal circumstances and given that we follow some sort of mental etiquette; therefore, an organized mental system is implied, one that allows individuals to live as freely as possible, to be afforded as many freedoms as possible within reason, to have freedom of movement of the body in most every sense of the word. Our collective interpretations of “evil, ” always return back to one experience: the fact that some other person or persons acted on the person of another without their permission, leading to a loss of control over their physical body and entailing a gross loss of respect. Without this act or event becoming part of physical reality, we do not call an event “evil.” It may be characterized in a multitude of ways but with the term “evil” seldom so.

So what does this lead me to conclude? It leads me to logically conclude that if we could eliminate the possibility of another person or persons being able to affect another person in such a way that their permission was not granted or that respect for them was lost, or they were not required to subjugate control of their physical body to others, then I could negate all undesirable experiences and erase them from this world.

But to do that would require tampering with the entire energetic system we all live in, which is not feasible or practical or even probable, but could be conceivable were it done genetically. Nonetheless, none of these options being open to me, I am then puzzled as to why this is so, why the human condition lends itself to such tragedy and why we would choose to be so vulnerable?

Does this not give the atheist or agnostic the prime motive for doubting that deities ever existed in the first place? And if on graduation into the afterlife, as we Pagans call it, Summerland, why would a personality want to advance to the status of deity, only to see its subjects demoralize one another, physically slaughter each other, downplay the integrity and rights of others, ad infinitum?

These are valid questions and strike at the heart of most logical and simple thinkers throughout all eras of history. I feel free enough to write these words in the year 2010, without fear of being burned alive, or rebuked by my elders or societal influences, because I live in the United States of America, which is a republic based on a democratic form of governance.

Given that I live in America, I also am free to practice my religion, Wicca. This Pagan religion is based on two deities: The Wiccan Goddess and the Horned God, and can conceivably contain many other gods and goddesses depending on which pantheon is ascribed to, what peculiar beliefs any one individual may feel inclined to entertain.

Wicca has given me a nature-based love of life and myself that I did not find in other faiths, whether those be Eastern based or Judeo-Christian. My love for the Earth and for Nature itself and the Sacredness of all Life, lead me into a deep study of myself and my dream life and the interior universe that illuminates my thoughts, occupies my days and fills my nights with song and revelry, or quiet nights alone reading sitting in silence, listening to the purr of electronic gadgets in my home, or the refrigerator, or watching my cat nestled on the futon deeply enmeshed in her own dream universe.

And how is the dream of my cat any more real than my own dream? How is my cat’s dream any more real than the Wiccan Goddess? Subjective realities exist and always will exist, the domain of the mind is a fertile domain that has no ground or dirt or trees. The trees that grow in the mind are of a different variety, but you can rest assured they are as real, if not more real, than the trees in your own yard.

When we leave physical reality and rejoin the whole personality that exists in the dimension inside of yourself, then we will see the reality of our efforts in life. Quite often, I have majestic and wonderful thoughts during the workday, sprites of thought that bubble up and colorfully wisp across my mind and I feel satisfied, though only until the feeling subsides and again I’m back in the ego dungeon world, of my own accord. It’s only a dungeon inasmuch as it cuts out other data and can be restricting and even destructive if allowed to dry up and separate itself too much from the other parts of your whole personality. Nothing is more dangerous than allowing yourself to be ruled by the ego portion of your personality alone, with no input or influx from other portions of your sacred whole person who exists as surely as the birds singing outside, as surely as the ocean surf, as surely as trees.

Bounty and aliveness filled my being when I did my initiation ritual and filled the psychic air of my ritual room, the space of which also doubled as a workspace and a home gym. Raising energy in your ritual room is a good idea, and exercising in it all the better. But what good is it to raise energy or accumulate it, if you don’t know the outcome of the events of your life, or you don’t know if the Wiccan Goddess is real or not, and if you don’t know what tomorrow will yield? To this end, much speculation has happened, much writing and intellectual effort been penned out, and much exasperation and depression and anxiety been wrought, all in the name of certainty and of the unknown.

The one certainty is life is the unknown, and on it you can rely as a counterpoint to your questions, a foundation to base your knowledge on, a place to go to unleash yourself. Creativity and love and wonder come from the unknown like springs of water, their roots hidden, but feeding all the tributaries and valleys and ripples that go out and expand and make up a personality.

So we are still left with the question: who is the Wiccan Goddess? Where did she come from? The latter question is basically meaningless, as she came from the same place I did, and every reader of this text did, the unknown place inside ourselves that can be known in dark times, or even in solitude or quiet moments of reflection. She is alive in every cell of your body, and reminds you of the showers of nostalgia you have every day entertained in your mind and heart, ever seeking and yearning to evolve into more than it was.

The Wiccan Goddess is not a deity who is hanging out somewhere, in a state of readiness or beyond evolving. She is what you make her, and she lives in your heart and in the oscillations of your molecules and in the corridors of your mind. Meet her there, and you can evolve together and make a new pioneering world without the constraints of constant egoism, corporate tyranny or dependence on others who may or may not have your best interests in mind.

Focus on the positive, stay centered and aim for your highest dreams, because dreams really do become your world.

Pagans Need to Stop Caring About What Other People Think

Pagans Need to Stop Caring About What Other People Think

Author: Clever Brian
It is sound advice in every aspect of a healthy adult’s life: you’ll never be happy, satisfied, or even comfortable if you spend your whole life trying to please others. The only mind you can know, let alone change is your own. Life is short and the only way you can really make the best of it is under your own rules for your own reasons.

I think that a lot of people explore religious alternatives for that very reason. If you are of a character that needs to believe in the Divine in some form or another, but you don’t like to be told what to do or how to think, it’s only natural that you start looking for a set of beliefs that conform to your values and experiences. Paganism offers people a very loose framework where they are free to choose the images and practices that suit them, and have those choices respected in their religious community.

But for all the independence that is innate in choosing a Pagan spiritual path, there is something about the Pagan religious community that engenders a fear of what the religious mainstream thinks about it. Rituals have been bowdlerized, books made obscure, mysteries lost, and compromises made in order to appear “legitimate” in the eyes of the larger religious community.

The unease with the word “witch”, the endless vacillating over skyclad (nude) rituals, the disappearance of the fivefold kiss, the mass publication of “great rites” that are vapid symbolic plays without any context, horror at suggestions of using pain or self-flagellation in rites, the glossing over of the use of drugs in magic… they are all symptoms of the same impulse: The need to make Paganism and Wicca seem friendly and harmless to the mainstream culture.

It isn’t doing us any favours, nor should it. The message it really seems to send is that Pagans are happy to compromise on their beliefs, or that they aren’t truthful with outsiders about them.

Certainly there have been plenty of “Satanic Panic” conspiracy theorists that are happy to point out the inconsistencies from text-to-text and group-to-group to suggest that there are some secret inner teachings, and the public face Pagans present is a pack of lies that are there to suck in the unwary. Consider Steve Russo’s What’s the Deal with Wicca? as a prime example.

Another consequence comes from the bowdlerization of Paganism in the name of maintaining a friendly public face: the watering down of the Pagan religious experience. Many Pagans of my generation learned their practices from the books available at major bookstores. The watered-down rituals, noncommittal attitudes, and dancing around several major issues leads to a watered-down religious experience. For every practising Pagan I know who enjoys a rich religious and spiritual life, I know two who gave it up, because it seemed hollow and meaningless. In my conversations with the latter group I often discover that they were turned off by what they saw as a lack of relevance and meaning to it, or the endless political positioning that happens within the Paganism they learned from the bookshelves of Coles.

Let’s face the bare-bones facts: Wicca started as a sex-cult among a group of wild young actresses and society ladies in Britain. It was a modern mish-mash of Hinduism, Platonic philosophy, Celtic/Nordic folk traditions, magical spells borrowed from medieval manuscripts, and a very modern form of worship of old gods. Gardner then interpolated touches of the Sexual Rebellion ethic and “Babalon” workings from Crowley’s Thelema.

It was a wild, exclusive party that was thick with occultism and dripping with earthy sexuality. There are compelling arguments to suggest that either it grew because of a fluke burst of interest, or as a part of a scheme to provide a massive recruiting ground for the O.T.O., while pushing their sexual liberation agenda ahead.

It included naked worship, sex rituals, self-flagellation, and heavy use of alcohol, suggestions of partner-swapping, and openness to experimentation with drugs. There was no ethic against black magic, just the warning that what you do becomes who you are hidden in cryptic and theatrical language. Their were also tiers of initiation into mysteries borrowed heavily from Rosicrucian/Masonic/Golden Dawn – type sources, that were intentionally not offered to beginners, because some things simply have to be learned with experience, not told.

These are evident; they are our roots, and there is absolutely no use in sweeping them under the carpet.

These things probably don’t appeal to every Pagan, and they are perfectly welcome to take what they want and leave the rest. But should we care that Christians will have none of it? Should we worry if the mainstream media paints us as kooks, or a pack of lusty black-clad teenagers?

Truthfully, I can’t see why we would. Especially not given the damage we are doing to ourselves in the process.

The nature of the human thought is such hat we can never be persuaded of something unless we want to be. You have to choose to have an open mind going into a debate before you can possibly change it. If a person is absolutely set in their beliefs, and those beliefs include either A) that you are evil/insane/damned or B) that you are misguided and need correction, you will never get them to think well of you no matter what you do.

We can scream about not believing about Satan until we are blue in the face, but an Evangelical who is convinced that we are devil-worshippers simply will not be dissuaded from that belief without some immensely grand gesture. And unless that person is a loved one, why would you want to bother?

If a person is dead-set on accusing us of eating babies, do we really even want to give them the time of day or the attention they are so desperate for? And do we want to deal with the idiots who would believe such an absurd claim, either?

Moreover, this crusade for legitimacy has often put pagans at odds with others’ right to religious freedom. Pagan voices have strongly supported attacks on religious monuments in government buildings, openly attacked other people’s belief systems, and the right to practice them. I have personally witnessed Pagans put excessive amounts of energy into berating or limiting the freedom of groups like The First Church of Satan, who in many ways Pagans have more in common with than they ever will with mainstream religion.

It is a fact that we live in societies that remain overwhelmingly Christian. Christian iconography, language, and morals pervade our everyday speech our attitudes, our behaviour and our expectations. The voices of Christians will remain dominant for some time. Religious Chauvinism, the assumption that everyone else is Christian, or that people who aren’t Christian are ignorant and deluded is an inevitable byproduct of our society. Our own apologetics and attempts to make ourselves acceptable to Christians in many ways only prolong this chauvinism in our society.

I propose that we have to learn to simply ignore it, as many varieties feminists have learned to ignore male chauvinists; by assuming they are not worth your time so long as they aren’t interfering with you or others around you. Why bother with people who have such deep-entrenched ideas, what is there to gain out of it?

Of course, this does not mean we should not call “Bullsh*t!” when a person does interfere with a Pagan’s right to practice his or her religion. It is one thing to lightly bandy about the idea that America, Canada, and Britain are “Christian” countries. It is even true, interpreted in a few different ways. It is another to use that as the basis for passing laws that ban certain practices or give special economic advantages to Christian groups. It is one thing to ignore the ignorance; it is another to ignore ignorant action.

In these cases, though, it is better to stop worrying about what the legislator, basher, or bigot has in mind. Reading minds is hard, and inexact work, and changing minds nearly impossible. There is no gain to be made in educating these people. The only place that such actions can be countered is where you are in the same playing fields. Cite your constitutional rights, take people to court, use words to denounce the action (not argue with its author) , and in the case of brutality, answer it with appropriate measures of self-defence.

So long as we insist on holding to our principles as a society, the Constitutions and Human Rights movement will continue to put us in the right. And when those no longer can avail us, look around, because there will be a revolution in the streets you’ll be able to join.

In the end, the continued push to care about what others think will only make use self-censor waffle, and waver further. It will push away people who come looking for a meaningful religious experience, and it will cost us our identity as a religion and as a people… and it will do so without giving us any gains in the cultural arena.

It is far better to maintain a frank openness and honesty to anyone who is willing to take the time and research, or to find a Pagan and simply ask a few direct questions, than to try to persuade the whole world. And for the people who don’t like what they see when they explore Paganism, there are plenty of other faiths, they will find one they like eventually, that is not our affair.

This press for acceptance is also, on another level, incongruous to the position of total freedom that Paganism offers. We cannot really follow the injunction to ‘Do what thou wilt, ” if we are always looking for signs of disapproval in others. That would be bending our ‘doing’ to someone else’s ‘willing.’

A Witch In An RV

A Witch In An RV

Author: Olbec

I am a Witch and I live in an RV with my husband and our Pomeranian (my familiar) , Blayde. To clarify, I do not live in one of those big luxurious bus sized RVs but a rather a van converted by Roadtrek (think Chevy Express van + bathroom + bed + 2-burner stove + tiny refrigerator = my house) . As minimalists, my husband and I chose such a small RV in order to leave the smallest carbon footprint on our struggling earth as possible. One really learns how to conserve water when your freshwater tank holds only 30 gallons!

I didn’t start out my Pagan life as a Witch living in an RV. I acknowledged my being a Witch eight years ago while living on our ranch in Texas. I had followed the Pagan path for approximately three years prior to that time, but I held a solitary dedication ceremony on April 10, 2001, and have been spiritually growing and learning ever since.

After we sold our ranch, and gave away most of our earthly belongings, we chose to live in an RV in January of 2008. If you are on a Pagan path, and considering the RV lifestyle as a full-time living option, you should know that there are both unique challenges and advantages to being a Witch living in an RV full-time. Allow me share just a few of these…

One of my biggest challenges is trying to keep an altar in a space barely big enough for the essentials of living. Aside from the fact that there are no open surfaces, which are not currently used for meal preparation, the bouncing and jiggling as we drive down the road would be most detrimental to items placed loosely upon an altar. Because of not having space in our van for a permanent altar I find myself setting up temporary altars at our various stops during our travels.

A temporary altar can present unique challenges, too. If we are staying in an RV park the neighbors are often very curious about, and can even be intolerant of, “the hippie woman” with incense, candles and sacred items chanting and casting a circle around the picnic table at the RV site next to them. I’ve experienced onlookers stopping, staring, and “tutt-tutting” while I was trying to concentrate on ritual… this can be very disruptive to the concentration required in many spells.

If we are staying in the wilderness, as opposed to an RV park, such steps as the preparatory bath prior to ritual can become a challenge all its own, too. (Remember that 30-gallon water tank is also used for washing dishes, flushing the toilet, cooking, etc.) Allow me share the fact that, in all honesty, bathing in a mountain stream (as spiritual as it may sound) is a very cold and tense experience. Depending on what kind of magick you have in mind to do a freezing stream bath may not be the best preparation.

Another challenge in being a Witch living the RV lifestyle in a small RV such as ours is that along with our personal items (clothing, dishes, etc.) I must carry all my incense, herbs, books and divination tools with me. I have no other house or storage area to keep all my goodies. This requires learning spells that require minimal provisions and not having many “extra” supplies on hand.

My familiar, Blayde, has also had to face challenges in adapting to ritual in varying locales. Where once we lived in the confines of a house and fenced yard in which he could enter the circle, lie down near the altar, and watch with his expressive eyes all that happened, he now finds himself needing to be leashed during many of our rituals. Whether because of RV park rules or the risk of harm in the wilderness his harness and leash now invade his life much more often.

Of course, as with all things, there is balance between “the good and the bad” when considering this lifestyle. I believe the advantages of living in an RV balance out the disadvantages very well.

I have the freedom to travel anywhere we want to drive to. This means that I have worshipped the Lady and Lord on the rocky shores of Maine, on the beaches of Florida, amidst the highest peaks of Colorado, and in the serenity of the Arizona desert. I have mediated while leaning with my back against an oak tree in Texas and watched the moon rise over a bayou in Louisiana.

During my travels I have seen both the fragility and the strength of Gaia. All this has combined to help deepen my confidence and understanding of my Pagan path and my magickal practices.
I enjoy the option of attending Pagan festivals anywhere in North America I want to go without worrying about time off from a job or needing a house sitter to care for my material possessions.

I keep a list of Pagan shops from all across the country and can visit them whenever I drive through their area, thus enjoying a wider range of viewpoints and outlooks than if I was anchored to one locale.

Although I wouldn’t recommend my footloose lifestyle to all Witches I do appreciate being able to live my life like this. To those who are considering living in an RV full-time (and this number is ever increasing) I recommend you do it with your eyes and mind wide open.

I gave up my closed in “wall space”, where I once hung various tributes to the Lord and Lady, for open “nature space” where I now see Their handiwork spread out before me. I gave up my lovely wooden altar for makeshift altars such as picnic tables, boulders, tree stumps, or a cloth spread on the grass.

I gave up my pantry full of herbs, candles and magickal supplies for a box of basic supplies that fits under our bed.

I gave up my comfortable routine of an herb-infused candlelit bath prior to ritual for a “sponge bath” under a tree, behind a cactus, or in the cramped quarters of our van.

But best of all, I gave up the concern of house payments, property taxes, and yard maintenance and am now free to concentrate on my family, my spirituality, my health.

Put The Book Down!

Put The Book Down!

Author: Siantia
I quarrel about the meaning of the term ‘Wicca’ or ‘Pagan’. I argue over the rules and structures of the various ‘Wiccan paths’. I label myself with the correct label for my position in the craft and demand others do the same. I adhere to set structures and rituals and judge those that do not. I look to occult figures to gather my instructions on how to worship my Goddess and God. I rely on another human being to give me permission to have a spiritual identity. Does this sound like you? If you have ticked any of the ‘boxes’ above then I urge you to read this article. But I’m warning you – there are no labels here for you. No man/woman to tell you the rules of your religion and no words given to you to describe what you are.

How many books on Wicca/Witchcraft/Paganism and any others of a similar nature do you own?

How many of these books have rituals for you to follow, incantations for you to recite and sabbats for you to adhere to?

How many people do you know that say you MUST be in a coven, or you MUST do that or you HAVE TO think this way?

How often, when engaging in a Wiccan/Magickal discussion or argument have you opened your most prestigious Wiccan book to read the answer and then quoted it and sat back happily knowing you must have won the argument because you used the words of an occult icon?

Quarrels about rules and words feature so strongly in Wicca/Witchcraft, everyone has their own opinion and everyone seems to have their biography of Gerald Gardner or Alex Sanders at the ready to use if the argument gets tough. But I ask you – where is your Goddess and God when you are debating this and arguing about that and proclaiming you know more than this person about that subject?

How many times do you put your book down, step away from the laws of your coven, stop listening to the ‘more experienced’ Witch and look inside your heart to talk to your Mother and Father? What do you think they would tell you about all these rules, paths and words?

“Quarrelling about words only serves to ruin those who listen to them” is one of my favorite quotes, and one I read often when I find myself almost getting involved in an argument. There is no piece of information so grand that you need to quarrel and argue over it. There is no right so right that has not come directly from The Goddess and God. I urge people to put their books down and to talk to the source that can give them all the knowledge they’re looking for. It starts by looking inside yourself and not at your favorite author; once you have looked inside yourself you find the Goddess and the God were there all along.

When you next meet someone that refers to him/herself using certain labels, or when you next are involved in a conversation about the rules of a Wiccan ritual ask the goddess and the god to show you the truth of these man-made creations. Listen and feel what you receive. What do you think your Goddess and God would say to the people arguing over the exact meaning of the term Wiccan? What do you think they would say to the couple trying to win the argument about the importance of initiation? Do you think our loving Mother and Father would see the relevance or importance of any of this?

When you feel afraid that something you are doing is not correct, who are you afraid of? The person who wrote the book you are following? The high priestess of the coven you have just joined? Or the judgmental ‘experienced’ witches you socialize with? Out of all the people you are afraid will judge you if you are not adhering to the label you have been given (or have given yourself) do you think any of them have the authority or power to say anything? Do you believe a man or a woman has more knowledge about The Goddess and The God than the Goddess and The God themselves? And do you believe that anyone but yourself can find the right answer to your problems?

Put the book down, and while you’re at it socialize with less rigid people. We are our own masters, because all of us are children of our Mother and Father. No matter what words you read in books, no matter what ‘high’ priest/ess tells you – no being knows more than The Goddess and God. It is to them you should talk, not to ‘man’.

Religion can be a beautiful life choice that makes your incarnation more colorful and interesting; a way of life that inspires you and makes you feel fulfilled as a human experiencing the Earth, knowing deep inside that it is a creation of man and that simple love of your creators will always triumph. Is this you? Or have you become so consumed with your chosen label, so consumed with the words and their meanings that you have forgotten the simplicity of the universe? What is it they say we have here? Ah yes – free will.

Perhaps you feel your religion and structure, fine details and correct interpretation of words are still important to you? Perhaps you feel that the Goddess and God are with you on that, and they wouldn’t like you to throw away labels and boxes? Then, debate away. Open your forum and join with everyone else that wants words to be important. Words have power after all!

I will go and sit beside the Goddess and The God and we shall watch you in your hall of right and wrong. When you are ready…put the book down, and see what the Goddess and God has to discuss with you.

Merry Meet to all the masters of themselves.

Footnotes:
*This article is intended for thought provoking and not direct insult. The opinions expressed are my own and so of course are not being imposed or ordered onto anyone else. Live and let live after all.

Has Neo-Paganism Gone Back Into the Broom Closet?

Has Neo-Paganism Gone Back Into the Broom Closet?

Author: Cathryn Platine

Having been a practicing Pagan for most of a somewhat long life, I’ve noticed what appears to be a retreat lately from organized groups back to a solitary form of practice among modern Neo-Pagans. Thirty or so years ago we were blossoming as a religious movement, new groups forming on a daily basis and frequently cited as the fastest growing religious movement on the planet. What happened?

In many ways those very things that were our strengths at first seemed to have worked against us in the long run. We became a religious movement of mostly chiefs and few Indians. Our leaders didn’t fail us, the idea that we all needed to be leaders did.

This isn’t just a failing of Paganism. It seems to hold true with any marginalized group that has been forced into individualized closets. Thirty years ago while public awareness of Paganism was growing, we still had an era where many local police departments were still operating “Occult Squads” which were little more than modern extensions of the Burning Times.

The more timid did not openly wear symbols of their religion and did not openly belong to groups. Those who were bursting forth did so in independent open defiance of the status quo. All that was required to be a Pagan leader back then was a soapbox, a loud voice and a general willingness to be “out and proud”.

It was an exciting time to be Pagan but it also meant that there were a lot of turf wars over ideology and even legitimacy. These are remembered today as the Great Witch Wars and they did hurt us, but at the same time several of our best known Elders came out of this period.

Just as the Women’s Movement, which came of age around the same time, the GLB movement and today the Transgender Movement, Neo-Paganism thrusts together highly individualistic and independently minded people under a common cause which at first is very exciting but then gets lost in the individual differences. We can do better than this; we must do better than this if we are to survive. It is possible for us to band together in celebrations that actually celebrate our unique qualities. It is necessary we gather in common to fight for our collective civil rights without turf wars. We need to learn that those whose practices are somewhat different from our own are still our sisters and brothers.

A strange thing happened our way towards revival…traditions that were originally spread by oral teachings, plays, storytelling, mentoring and other non-written forms became enslaved in the written word. This actually changes even the way you think and process what you learn from the emotional side to the logical one. An excellent (ironically enough) book on the subject is The Alphabet Vs. The Goddess by Leonard Shlain, which I highly recommend as vital reading for all Neo-Pagans.

An argument can easily be made that the very revival of Goddess awareness resulted from a shift away from the written word to the visual in the form of movies and television that allowed a return to a more ancient mode of informational processing and yet the paradox of the Neo-Pagan religious movement was a rush towards an ever growing number of Pagan authors as it grew!

Over the years I’ve witnessed pagans group together in mutually exclusive groups based on different Occult bookstores in an area, the bookstore owners becoming the de facto local Pagan warlords. The Pagan authors have replaced local deities with completely predictable results. Those Pagan centres won at the cost of often great expense and work have trouble getting community support and frequently find themselves at odds with local governments over issues such as basic recognition of religious status.

We Cybelines find ourselves in that position right now, our property denied tax-exempt status locally despite both Federal and State recognition as a legitimate religious group doing charitable work. While we won the right to Pagan clergy in the Armed Forces back in the seventies, recently a major battle was required simply to get the Veterans Administration to acknowledge the Pentacle as a valid religious symbol. We are meekly allowing ourselves to be shoved back into the broom closet once again.

One of the frequently voiced justifications for less than full recognition of our legal status goes like this: Where are the Pagan hospitals, orphanages, and shelters? Those who voice this then point to Christianity, as somehow more worthy for having them but forgetting the Christians didn’t invent charitable works, they learned them from ancient Pagans. There exists a smallish but growing groups of Pagans who are restoring ancient forms of living together in religious communities complete with the charitable works. Pagan Pride events now routinely do food drives as part and parcel of organizing their events.

We can do this. We can support each other and still respect our individual beliefs and practices. We can live together in supportive communities. We can and must do charitable outreach as part and parcel of our very spiritual nature.

Without taking anything away from Pagans who personify Deities, I have also witnessed a growth of those whose spiritual awareness has moved towards recognition of the Divine in all around us. Most of those with this viewpoint embrace the ancient Mother Goddess traditions, especially what was known in classical times as the Mystery Religions. Many solo practitioners today also embrace this point of view.

If you understand that everyone you encounter is as much part of the Goddess as you are, you don’t need carrot and stick theology to understand that treating others decently is simply another form of worshiping the Divine. You don’t require leaders to spoon-feed you the requirements of “loving” deity to give you your birthright, a personal connection with the Divine that is within you. All you need is those who help you locate the Divine within you and connect with it.

After a lifetime of study and research and soul searching I found this was the “Old Religion” that in the early days of the Neo-Pagan revival everyone claimed descent from. I found it was almost universal in the ancient world going back as far as is possible to go in history.

I saw it first revived in modern times in the “Women’s Spirituality” movement but much of that became sidetracked, in my own opinion, in understandable feminist reaction to living in a world controlled by the patriarchy. I’ve been saddened to see some groups retreat into matriarchal thinking that seeks to replace patriarchy with a macho form of matriarchy. It is not so much the actual gender of the individual that is the problem with patriarchy, it’s the dismissal an entire way of living and thinking embodied in Goddess traditions that seek to live in harmony with nature understanding we are all intimately connected and the ideals of nurturing rather than dominating. Replacing one form of domination with another is a zero sum game.

It’s time that all of us who embrace a Pagan identity ask ourselves exactly what do we hold as core values and do we actually live those values? If your personal answers are similar to my own, how can you celebrate your connection to the Divine without making connections with others part of that?

Why aren’t you seeking out groups that share your core beliefs? If you cannot find such a group, why aren’t you forming them?

Don’t retreat to the broom closets, don’t seek answers from others outside yourself, join in celebrations and living with those who share your worldview. Rather than seeking leaders or worse, trying to become one, why not pursue a life of service to others in recognition that they are part of yourself?

Stuck On Stupid?: A Seeker’s Perspective

Stuck On Stupid?: A Seeker’s Perspective

Author: R. T. Hummingbird

Anyone who has done Customer Service work in just about any capacity has encountered a scenario similar to this one at least once, if not many times: A customer or client is not able to access their account, or use whatever service is provided by your company, and they call Customer Service for assistance.

Let’s say for example that this particular problem the customer is experiencing is usually resolved by a Customer Service specialist resetting or unlocking their account. But, in this particular instance, the customer needs to submit an access request form to get the account restored from a disabled state. From the point of view of the Customer Service specialist, this is a very simple process that provides a very quick resolution to the issue.

However, from the customer’s perspective, this may be an alien and frightening territory you’re asking them to enter… and, for whatever the reason may be, they feel apprehensive about performing whatever steps are required to resolve their issue. They would much rather have the Customer Service person “work their magic” and make their problem (s) go away for them… a testament to our society’s addiction to instant gratification, but that’s a whole other essay.

For my full-time job, I work at a somewhat huge Information Technology firm that provides computer services to many big-named companies here in the United States and worldwide. My job function at this firm is to provide end-user support to our client company’s employees. This particular client I support is another huge corporation whose primary business is quite different from Information Technology.

Our client’s employees are very skilled in their own crafts, and see the computer sitting on the foreman’s desk, or in the manager’s office, as a mere tool that is only used for one or more specific purpose, and nothing more. Whereas, for someone who works in Information Technology, a computer is much more than a mere tool. The Information Technology person tends to have a much deeper understanding of these machines and how they work… and (most of the time) knows how to fix them when they break.

To illustrate the contrast, if you were to place me in an aircraft mechanical shop and told me to diagnose and fix an issue with a broke-down airplane, I wouldn’t have a clue what I was doing. Whereas, if you were to take an airline mechanic, place him in front of a crashed computer and ask him to diagnose and fix it, he wouldn’t know what to do either. In fact, he may grab a sledgehammer or whatever heavy tool he had handy and smash it to pieces in frustration.

He may or may not be willing (or have the patience) to perform whatever steps may be necessary to correct the issue with the machine simply because he is not familiar with it… or perhaps he doesn’t understand how it works well enough. Or, maybe this person is a “techno-phobe” – one who tends to steer away from new technology, and favors the “old-fashioned” ways of doing things.

Whatever the reason may be, a specialist or expert would perceive this individual as someone who doesn’t seem to possess enough intelligence to tie their own shoes, let alone use whatever product or service the specialist supports… when in fact they may be quite intelligent in their own right, and are likely more knowledgeable in other subject matters than the specialist. This could apply to many things aside from Customer Service. I’m sure this perspective applies to just about every occupation there is.

As for me, I’ve worked in Customer Service for about a decade for various companies and in various capacities, and at just about every job I’ve held, I’ve experienced the scenario I described above many, many times. Currently at my job, I am training to take on a new position with new responsibilities. My trainer (to whom I owe a tremendous amount of credit and respect) is the most-skilled Customer Service specialist I have ever met. She has a very broad understanding of how most people think, and knows how to appease a customer while resolving their issue at the same time. This is a skill that I’m working on perfecting myself, but I doubt I’ll ever be at the same level as she.

While I’m pretty sure she is a church-going Christian, one can definitely sense the Goddess within her. She is aglow with Her Love, and is also extremely patient. She could be considered the exact opposite of the “Teacher” described in Arianna Reibia’s essay “The Best Teacher?” ( http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswv and c=words and id=12019) .

Yesterday during class, our Trainer was describing a scenario where a client customer had called our Help Desk 16 times within the last 3 days about an issue with an account on our system. Each time, the customer was directed to the correct procedure she needed to perform to restore her access. Apparently this particular procedure was well outside her comfort zone, as she didn’t seem willing to do it herself.

The Trainer described this person as being “stuck on stupid”, implying that she was being too stubborn about remaining inside her comfort zone, and insisting that the Help Desk would solve her issue if she asked enough times.

When this customer received the good fortune to speak with our Trainer about the issue, our Trainer used her mastery of Customer Service to appease the customer, and figuratively “take her by the hand”, lead her to where she needed to go, and walked her through the process. Later that day her issue was resolved.

As a new seeker of Wicca, I see a lesson from The Goddess in this. While something may be second nature to you, it may be uncharted territory to someone else. This doesn’t make the other person any less intelligent (or perhaps it does, depending on the person and the situation) .

When such a person approaches you for help with something that may seem amazingly simple to you, this doesn’t mean they lack intelligence. Instead, they may be in search of a caring, patient individual who will take them by the hand, relieve their fears with a caring disposition, and show them how it’s done. I believe this to be one of the qualities embodied by the Goddess, and as I continue to learn and pursue my Wiccan faith, I will bring honor to the Goddess by offering a caring hand to those who seek my help… within my job and in the world.


Footnotes:
“The Best Teacher?” essay by Arianna Reibia ( http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswv and c=words and id=12019)