Tag: Christianity

Santa’s Many Faces: Shaman, Sailor, Saint

Santa’s Many Faces: Shaman, Sailor, Saint

Holly, Jolly Old Elf, Other Traditions Show Solstice’s Mongrel Past

by Kathie Dawn

Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice is a tradition with its roots in the ancient past, twining from hunter-gatherer cultures through the Old Religion of Europe, influenced by the rise of Christianity from the Middle East. A look at some of the history can help you design your personal Solstice traditions.

Santa the Shaman

For tens of thousands of years, we humans have celebrated the seasons, the lunar and solar cycles and other natural events. While our bodies are not as strictly regulated as animals’ regarding mating, migration or hibernation, we are deeply affected by our circadian rhythms, the lunar pull and our hormones, which interact with the sun. According to Jeremy Rifkin in Time Wars, “Chronobiology provides a rich new conceptual framework for rethinking the notion of relationships in nature. In the temporal scheme of things, life, earth and universe are viewed as partners in a tightly synchronized dance in which all of the separate movements pulse in unison to create a single organic whole.”

Our ancient ancestors felt this connection without benefit of scientific explanations. Following their hearts and beliefs, they played their part in that dance. “Our holiday celebrations evolve in a cycle. We even refer to it as ‘The Wheel of the Year,'” notes Richard Heinberg in Celebrate the Solstice. “Being aware of the different cycles in life, and understanding our place in them, were a part of our development as humans.” In this cycle, in northern regions, Winter Solstice is often seen as the ending of the old year and the beginning of a new year.

In the early European cultures, a shaman of the Herne/Pan god led Winter Solstice rituals, initiated the new year, rewarded the good, punished the bad, officiated at sacrifices and headed fertility rites, according to Tony van Renterghem in his book When Santa Was A Shaman. This Herne/Pan god went by many names, always portrayed as dark, furry or wearing animal skins, with antlers or horns and – up to the seventeenth century – with an erect penis. Van Renterghem asserts “these (Herne/Pan) shamans sang, danced, jumped over fires in sexually symbolic fertility rites, some involving the besom, the broom-like phallic rod.”

Shamanic traditions survived into historic times. Leaders and kings who wanted to see themselves as divine priest-kings – such as Moses and Alexander the Great – were depicted with shamanic horns. Shamanic horns on Moses shows an overlapping of pagan and Judeo-Christian beliefs that also appears in celebrations at Solstice.

Santa as a Christian and a Sailor

“(Christmas) was a seeming Christian answer to the pagan festival Natalis Solis Invicti, which carried with it the flavour of merrymaking of the Roman Saturnalia,” Vivian Green writes in A New History of Christianity.

Christianity grew up with paganism, specifically Roman paganism. The Roman Empire ruled the land where the cult of Christianity was formed. The beliefs of this new religion were radically different from most pagans’, and many people assumed the group would quickly die, as do many fads. But within 300 years, the cult was considered an unlicensed religion within the Empire. While the Romans had a long history of assimilating the gods of the conquered peoples into their own religion as a way of easing the transition, this was not easily accomplished with Christianity. There were a couple attempts to wipe out the religion, but the Christians maintained their foothold in the Empire by appealing to the lower classes and the illiterate.

Constantine called the Nicean Council of 325 after he reunited the faltering Empire. Having converted to Christianity, he wanted to bring unity and a single leadership to the faith. The emperor was openly hostile to pagans. Peter Partner, in Two Thousand Years-The First Millennium: The Birth of Christianity to the Crusades, tells us that “although pagan beliefs were not in themselves made illegal, many of the institutions that supported pagan worship were in effect proscribed.” A semblance of the Old Religion was allowed to continue, but only lip service was paid to religious tolerance.

As Christianity marched on, entire tribes were converted. Charlemagne instituted a “baptize them or kill them” campaign against the “barbarians” on his borders. The conversion of Germanic peoples to Christianity changed the texture of the Roman Christian church.

Gregory of Tours’ History of the Franks, circa 590, and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, circa 720, both expressed anxiousness about the wealth and privilege the church received as rulers and great magnates were converted. The church had to absorb these rulers’ values and culture, with the end result that “Christianity had been successfully assimilated by a warrior nobility,” according to John McManners in The Oxford History of Christianity. This was a “nobility which had no intention of abandoning its culture or seriously changing its way of life, but which was willing to throw its traditions, customs, tastes and loyalties into the articulation of a new faith.”

The mass conversion “did not sweep away pagan culture in a few moments,” writes McManners. “We are reminded every year by the feasts of Christmas, the Winter Solstice celebration of the northerners for which the nativity of Christ is a cheeky Christian misnomer, and of the New Year, in Roman usage the great pagan feast of Lupercalia. In Rome the ancient fertility rites of Carnomania were still celebrated annually in the presence of the pope, as late as the eleventh century.”

Pagan customs persisted within the heart of Christianity, and both faiths coexisted at the outer borders of the new religion’s territory. While many people assume Christmas celebrations have a dark, distant pagan origin, it would be more accurate to say the two grew up together.

As Charlemagne began his conversion process, the legend of St. Nicholas was born. He was said to have been the Bishop of Myra in Lycia, now Turkey. According to “The Origin of Santa Claus” at http://www.religioustolerance.org, “He is alleged to have attended the first council of Nicea; however, his name does not appear on lists of attending bishops.” http://Www.religioustolerance.org calls him a “Christianized version of various pagan sea gods – the Greek god, Poseidon, the Roman god, Neptune, and the Teutonic god, Hold Nickar.” Crichton dates St. Nicholas even earlier, claming he was imprisoned in 303, during the Roman emperor Diocletian’s effort to return the Empire to the worship of its old gods. Later, Constantine supposedly released him.

Nicholas was credited with many miracles, including aiding sailors at sea, providing dowries for young women who otherwise could not marry and using prayer to resurrect three little boys who had been killed and pickled in brine. He performed miracles even after his death on December 6, 342; a mysterious liquid dubbed the Manna of St. Nicholas was collected annually from his tomb and used to heal the faithful. The tales of St. Nicholas spread to Russia as Christianity converted the Eastern world. He became known as “Nikolai Chudovorits,” the Wonder Worker.

By the seventeenth century, the patron saint reached Siberia, where tribes of nomadic horsemen lived. These tribes lived in tents during the summer, but north of the Arctic Circle, they needed something sturdier during winter. Their timber huts became buried in snow, with the only way in or out being by ladder through the smoke holes in the roof. Their annual renewal ceremony, according to Crichton, took place with their shaman entering a trance and climbing on a symbolic journey through the smoke hole. Christian tradition overtaking the indigenous religion, Nikolai became a Super Shaman, acting as a “mystic go-between for the people and their new Christian God.” He would descend the smoke hole, another way of jumping over fire, to deliver gifts.

Nicholas traveled other directions as well, to reach the Normans, who as well as conquering England in the eleventh century engaged as traders and mercenaries in lands they did not control. They ruled the seas, and learned about St. Nicholas at Myra. As they had done with other saints elsewhere, the Normans accepted St. Nicholas into their belief system. Traveling with the Normans, St. Nicholas spread up the rivers and into the towns. A basilica was built in Bari, which became a great shrine to Nicholas. During the Crusades, countless people passed through Bari, making their obligatory stops at the shrines. From there, St. Nicholas traveled throughout the continent and beyond.

Dutch Santa and His Moorish Slave

In the fifteenth century, the Netherlands became a Spanish territory. Trade with the Indies and Americas made the Netherlands an important area. Spaniards filled the government and religious offices, and they brought St. Nicholas with them. To this day, the Dutch “Sinter Klaas” arrives by boat from Spain, dressed as a bishop with the tall hat and miter, riding a white horse. As was fashionable at the time during the Spanish Empire, Sinter Klaas had a Moorish slave who became known as “Zwarte Piet.”

In Crichton’s book, we find that “many of the customs surrounding Sinter Klaas are vestiges of an older, pre-Christian religion. Checking up on naughty children, riding a white horse, and leaving food out at night, can all be traced back to Woden or Odin.” In Finland, St. Nicholas “assumed human form, adopting the older name of ‘Joulupukki,’ which literally means Yule Goat, and again harks back to Odin and the Old Norse customs.”

In van Renterghem’s work, we see that the Herne/Pan side of St. Nicholas was further restored. In 1581, the Dutch declared independence from both the Roman Catholic pope and the Spanish monarchy. Zwarte Piet, Sinter Klaas’ dark servant, was returned to the fore as their shaman-god. When the Church tried to denounce Zwarte Piet as a devil, the Dutch retaliated by drawing him as a Spanish-looking devil, further aiding the Dutch cause. Children were encouraged to be good, or they would be carried off in Zwarte Piet’s bag to Spain.

As the legend of St. Nicholas grew, he often had helpers who were easily traced to pagan roots. According to WorldBook, examples of these helpers include Knecht Ruprecht in Germany, Pere Fouettard in parts of France and Hoesecker in Luxembourg.

The Protestant Reformation ended the religious observance of Christmas temporarily in some places, more permanently in others such as England. This sparked several inventions that seemed even more pagan-oriented than the newly outlawed Christmas. In Germany, the Protestants invented “Christkindl,” “a Christ child figure often played by a girl in a white robe with a veil and a star on her head – another legacy from the Roman Festivals,” from Crichton’s perspective. In Hungary, where Catholicism again replaced Protestantism, “the religious St. Nicholas, the secular Christkindl and the fur-clad Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man) all exist side by side.”

In North America, the Puritans made it a punishable offense to celebrate Christmas. But when Dutch settlers sailed to Manhattan, the figurehead on the flagship was none other than Sinter Klaas. Gradually the name was changed to Santa Claus.

In England, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert helped re-invent Christmas, and Santa was reintroduced to England around this time. As a British gift-giver, Santa Claus had many rivals including CheapJack, The Lord of Misrule, Knecht Rupert and Father Christmas.

In the United States, Santa Claus was further refined in literature and illustration. In 1822, Clement Clark Moore wrote The Night Before Christmas. In 1863, Thomas Nast used childhood memories of a small fur-clad fellow to create images for Harper’s Magazine. In the 1930s, Santa hawked Coca-Cola, and in 1939, Robert L. May added Rudolph to the reindeer herd. By the 1960s, Santa had become quite commercial. During Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church concluded that St. Nicholas had never been officially canonized, recognizing the probable source of his notoriety as being pagan gods and legends.

Many other modern Solstice traditions have such pagan origins. Mistletoe was sacred to the Greeks and Romans as well as to the Celts, who according to When Santa Was A Shaman, “called this mistletoe ‘Thunder-Besom’ (from the besom, or broom, an ancient sexual symbol of male and female organs)” – which besom dates back to the Herne/Pan shamans. “The Germanic tribes believed that all who passed under the mistletoe were kissed (blessed with sexual power) by Freya, their goddess of fertility.” The modern practice of a kiss beneath the mistletoe could still be seen as a minor fertility rite.

Whether performing in a pageant or dressing up as the jolly old elf for the kiddies, putting on Winter Solstice costumes also has ancient origins. Crichton notes that “in all primitive religions when a player dons a mask he is deemed no longer an ordinary man. For himself and those who take part in the ritual, he embodies the spirit he is impersonating.”

It should come as no surprise that we continue with rituals and practices that some believe are 10,000 years old. Children still play with toys from the 5000-year-old tale of Noah’s Ark. We still use the names of 2000-year-old Germanic and Greco-Roman pagan gods and festivals to identify the months and the days of the week. So too, we keep Santa in his many masks.

How Pagans Can Renew the World

Winter Solstice in northern climes is often a time of world renewal and the New Year. Theodor H. Gaster’s New Year: Its History, Customs, and Superstitions outlines the rites of nearly all ancient New Year and world renewal ceremonies as following the same four steps: mortification, purgation, invigoration and jubilation.

In mortification, whose root-word “mort” means death, it is easy to see death symbolized in how the life of the people and the land slowed down. Often during this time, no business was transacted. The king was either ritually or actually slain, depending on the custom. Sometimes this involved mock combat between Life and Death, or Old Year and New Year. His death paid for the evil of the past year.

Next, the community purged itself of all evil influences through fires, ringing of bells and cleansing with water. Life was then invigorated with positive steps that symbolized renewal. The people and the land were made fertile and productive again by a deliberate release of sexual energy. Then, in jubilant celebration, feasts and other merriment were enjoyed. Life had prevailed. Nature and the community would continue for another year.

Drawing on this outline and the superabundance of Solstice ideas and examples, today’s pagan can create a personal tradition. To gain a deeper connection between you and the cycle of Solstice, try adding something new. Visit a sacred site, or spend time with the land where you live. Visit a place where you can observe wild animals. Where possible, plant a tree, or some green plants indoors. Watch the sunrise and the sunset on Solstice Day, and feel a connection with your ancestors. Play the Super Shaman for your friends and family. Attach a note to each gift you give with something amusing about the person, and have everyone read the note aloud.

Food and drink can play a part. Adopt a certain dish to be made only at this special time of year. Or pass around a large chalice, reminiscent of the English Wassail bowl, pronouncing blessings or words of jest to the person who receives it from you.

However you do it, make the Solstice holiday a time of getting rid of that which weighed you down in the past and tying up the year’s loose ends. Find ways to symbolize the renewal that the New Year brings, and mark the time most joyously. Whether you celebrate alone, in a small close-knit group or as one of thousands, have a happy Solstice.

Yule Joy

Yule Joy

by Harley Hashman

 

‘Tis the age when the Christ signs his name to the season in a giant “X” and it becomes the X-mas, when throngs of shoppers like locusts with tombstones in their eyes foam the waters with their frenzy of consumption. Retailers pray that their hour has come, credit card companies rub their hands together like avaricious spiders contemplating the trapped fly, and we choke back bile at the seven hundredth playing of “Rudolph” and “Frosty the Snowman.”

If I may be allowed to diverge for a moment, Rudolph should have steered those insufferable hypocrite reindeer to impalement on iron spikes. “Then all the reindeer loved him,” indeed.

The term Yule is still used by some as a synonym for Christmas. Of course it is not. Yule comes at the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. It is paradoxically, a Pagan solar festival, and in some traditions is the time when the Holly King – representing death – is overcome by the Oak King – representing rebirth. The Teutonic Yuletide begins on Mother Night, Dec. 20th and ends on Yule Night, Dec. 31st. These are the “Twelve days of Christmas” in that annoying song.

The ecologically questionable tradition of buying a severed young evergreen tree for an entire day’s wages, then dragging it indoors to decorate it, place presents beneath it while it gradually dies, then dump it unceremoniously on the curb is originally a Pagan one, although I suspect that the tree was live and rooted before and after the celebrations. Many people are now using live potted trees which are later replanted. The Yule trees were illuminated by candles, a dangerous practice indoors, which technology has replaced with colored lights that burn out, ornaments that sing “Silent Night” and Hallmark replicas of Star Trek vehicles.

Holly wreaths are another Pagan invention, as are decorated cookies and special breads for the feast. The extensive use of the colors red and green for Christmas is derivative of their use in Yule; maybe an echo of the colors of the holly leaves and berries?.

Consider the Santa myth. The use of reindeers: are these leftover symbols of the horned god, presented in a palatable form? And what about those elves? Why or how did earth elementals become the thralls of a human in red jumpers? The book When Santa was a Shamandiscusses extensively the myth of Kris Kringle. Suffice to say, the character originates in pagan Europe. St. Nick is one of the few magical beings of a non-angelic species accepted by Christians and promoted to their (and Pagan) children. Santa is a micro version of Jehovah, complete with the white beard, who doles out rewards to the faithful – toys instead of paradise – and punishment to the wicked – a coal in your stocking rather than a lake of fire.

When a child finds out that Santa is a fraud, a rite of passage has been completed; never again will that child blindly accept the word of an adult. For some children the realization that Santa is make believe makes it easy to be as cynical about God.

The ritual of the Yule log has been dropped from most mainstream Christianity. A pity, for it is perhaps the most wonderful. Small scrolls containing wishes for the new year are placed on the Yule fire. A portion of the log is saved to protect the house the year-round and to light the log of the next Yule.

Life’s A Bitch And Then You Die…Again?!?

Life’s A Bitch And Then You Die…Again?!?

Author: Reni

It’s true: life can be hard and cruel.

An intelligent person might wonder why anyone would ever want to go around again—perhaps for endless lifetimes. Ouch!

You’d think the hard facts of our birth and death alone would tend to deter most energy Beings from ever wanting a body again. Of course, there are rewards . . .

But in order to answer the why of reincarnation we must first answer the wherefore:

Is there such a thing and how does it work?

Answer these questions and you have answered the eternal question: The Secret of Life.

Know now, from the beginning, that the answer comes down to belief.

Yet, some beliefs are better than others. Or put another way, we can’t say for certain what the meaning of life is but we can get a pretty good idea what it is not.

We start by applying reason, that glorious/terrible faculty that, above all else, sets us apart from all Creation. Without reason one belief is no better or worse than any other. As Pagans and Wiccans we know that just isn’t true, at least not for us.

First, I believe it’s rational and reasonable to assume, for the moment, the probability that there is a purpose for our existence and the existence of the worlds around us.

Science does not generally share this view. Science dictates that reason forbids anything not provable by science, that spiritual beliefs of any kind are not reasonable. This mandates a mechanistic existence that blinks out like a light bulb when it’s over—man and woman the same DNA as the worms that eat us in the end.

However, if this were the case I wouldn’t be sitting here writing to you at all but at best, locked in a life and death struggle with another bacteria or hostile slime mold. Probably wouldn’t exist at all. None of us.

Okay, so what about the Theory of Evolution?

You know, take an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite number of typewriters and one of them will come up with the complete works of Shakespeare.

Doesn’t Evolution prove that the biggest baddest meanest microorganism gets to pass on its genes and that’s the real reason why we’re here? Isn’t that what the law of the jungle is all about? And as such isn’t it logical that this truth is the only truth worth knowing and that the only reason we’ve banded together as clever monkeys is to further the advancement of our genes at the expense of all others? That’s what science teaches.

And in that case, isn’t reincarnation or an afterlife in any form is just wishful thinking?

Fact is, though evolution is generally correct it has its problems. I’m not saying that the earth is 7318 years old (in 2005) as the Bible (Septuagint) would have it and that the devil plants fossils in the ground to fool the gullible. But there just hasn’t—by science’s own admission—been enough time for random mutation and natural selection to produce the miracle that is you and I and the world we live in. Essentially, we don’t actually have an infinite number of typewriting monkeys; not by a long shot.

Nor is any explanation forthcoming for why we would even care if we passed on our genes. Procreation is often the biggest burden an organism can undertake. If you doubt this you probably haven’t tried to raise a teenager.

Without a burning need to pass on its genes an organism could not, would not evolve.

What would likely happen if a bunch of inorganic chemicals started reproducing for some unlikely reason is that the primitive life forms that resulted—having the basic need to consume other life forms for fuel—would have the earth’s first and last donnybrook until the one remaining starved to death.

Evolution requires both a mechanism to play itself out—natural selection—and a driving force, without which we go nowhere. It’s like having the means to produce a boat or a car but no earthly reason to go anywhere. Why build it? Why build us?

Okay then, have we at least given ourselves some room to reason that doesn’t fly in the face of the truths of the physical sciences? If not, I suggest reading Richard Dawkins wonderful books, The Ancestors Tale and Climbing Mount Improbable. Dawkins is a brilliant Social Biologist who holds to the mechanistic model of life, the one that precludes an afterlife in any form. Evolution is the whole truth with no need for any other power to make it happen. See if he makes his case for you.

If, on the other hand, you are ready to move onward and upward let’s consider that the life that is you and I carries an esoteric spark of some kind—if only as an irresistible drive to transcend the needs of the individual organism. That’s what’s needed.

Perhaps there may even be a plan at work, though what that plan is remains to be seen, even to whether or not it can really be a plan in the strict sense of the word if there is no specific Creator acknowledged, since some belief systems do and some systems don’t have a God/dess in charge—not even a Sacred “IT”. Though I find that impossible to imagine—like trying to think of Nothing.

Therefore, Whatever is out there pulling the strings may or may not be sentient—in the way we perceive but something unimaginably powerful nonetheless. Something that may even require a higher order of Being than all of us Twenty-First Century humanoids could muster with our combined reason to comprehend.

All we can assume at this point is that we don’t have the answers, and probably never will. Perhaps even if there is or is not something positively absolutely definitely going on behind the Cosmic Scenes—or Not.

About the only thing we can say for sure is that we can’t say anything for sure.

. . . The mind wobbles…

Just the same, we’ve reasoned together this far and come up with one fact: science does not have all the answers. That’s the part to remember.

It’s also worth remembering, that neither do we.

In that vein let’s take a look at the other side of the Mobius strip: The Divine Spark.

But let’s skip over lightly the information that’s already out there. Namely, that the vast majority of religions do or did at one time believe in reincarnation, though the eastern philosophies speak of “Metamorphosis”, in that life can emerge anew in any living form, up or down the evolutionary ladder. While we tend to think of climbing only in an upwards direction, which may well be true considering the general direction of Evolution, from the elegant simplicity of the helium atom to all of this around us both, you and I this minute having evolved out of pure Energy—truly awesome! Just a couple of quick ideas:

Jesus most likely presumed reincarnation, as did the Kabalists. Starting with Matthew 22:23 Jesus debates the Sadducees (who deny the immortality of the soul) with the Pharisees who held the majority opinion, that of reincarnation. It’s a Pharisee who asks Jesus if he is Elijah come again. In addition, the Apostles continued to preach the immortality and rebirth of the soul for nearly four hundred years.

Then Emperor Constantine, after his conversion to Christianity (and his subsequent conversion of Christianity to a predator religion Jesus would not recognize) abandoned the concept of reincarnation (Google: “Emperor+Constantine”).

Constantine did this when he instigated the “heaven or hell” model that Pagans so soundly disagree with. The problem was that once Constantine insisted that he was the “voice of god” and that they had better do what he said or burn in hell he had to abolish reincarnation. You can’t very well be burning in hell and show up alive again.

So we’ve seen that science cannot even start to disprove reincarnation and that the majority of peoples throughout all time before that believed in reincarnation. Unfortunately, that doesn’t prove reincarnation exists or why. We’d be done now if it did.

Nor does it prove anything that actor John Ford and historical martyr Jane Evans, to name just two of many, had highly credible past life regressions.

But let me tell of my personal experiences with past life regressions. They aren’t as flashy as John Ford’s but credible in a different way. One I wouldn’t have guessed at the onset.

It started when I took a class in Parapsychology at Northeastern. Our group proposed to test reincarnation using hypnosis and a subject that was informed that she had other lives. I was to do the hypnosis.

First we took the subject to the head of the Psych Dept. to provide tests and evaluation as to how likely it was that she would fabricate past lives. He assured me that it was not in her nature to consciously lie.

At first I found it hard to induce a trance in her. Then she showed me how wrong I could be about people—an important lesson to learn young—and dived down like she had been pulled under by a dark wave of sleep.

I turned on the tape recorder and cast her further back and down, back to her past lives.

She started to tell me what was going on in front of her and to mention every item in a ratty back yard of undetermined origin. He was sitting on a mud wall watching a bug (yes, “he;” people can apparently change sex in past lives). I won’t tell you all he said (unless you’re an insomniac and want to be bored to sleep). Just that he described every little detail in real time. When I would prompt him to tell what else was happening he would turn his head in a new direction and describe something equally mundane.

Finally I got him to fast forward to something important that was happening. I didn’t have all day to waste looking at someone else’s idea of beautiful.

Turns out the only important thing that ever happened to this person after he was born was his death. Even that was boring: an infected wound. I was tempted to regress her even further to see if being totally boring was maybe a trend or if she had been shot out of a cannon three times daily in one life, or something, and wanted things to be very, very quiet for a few lives.

So he died and his soul floated up towards the ceiling with a woman crying and praying below in the light of four candles at the head and foot of his little death bed—never made it out of childhood.

Up he goes, through the ceiling and into the night. Cut! New Scene.

But instead of arriving in the lifetime we share she’s giving birth in a clump of brush in some Asian country, probably hundreds of years ago still. This is where I get off, I thought. What chance does an ancient Asian woman have of being fulfilled in her lifetime? Unless her idea of fulfillment is giving birth in the rough.

But what impressed me most was not what she had to say. The words were simple, those a child would use—I would have expected that. What got me was the one-to-one time frame. Every minute of her telling was a minute of her living the past life (and a minute of mine unfortunately). I doubt in my wildest dream as a writer I could capture every detail of a scene I wasn’t actually looking at without once tripping up. I don’t know any who can (or would want to).

For instance, planting a new scrubby cactus where one had already been described. I found myself believing her. And that’s something I hardly did in those days (question everything!) along with my usual impatience.

I still question everything but I’ve learned that the journey requires much patience as well.

The next and last experience was with a dear friend of mine who always went into a heavy death fixation every year after Christmas.

One day I hypnotized her into a past life. I thought that maybe if she realized she’d be back she wouldn’t fear going so much.

This kind of backfired because her last life had an unpleasant end. But what I hadn’t expected was catching something between her lives. I had known this woman for years but had never heard her speak in such a serene voice full of confidence and grace. It was definitely her . . . but perfected. Wow!

And when I brought her back to the present, she no longer feared death in the slightest—despite the nasty death she had discovered for herself the time before.

Did I somehow use hypnosis to con her? If I did, her new attitude gave her the welcome addition of three more months to enjoy every winter of her life. Nor was her apprehension of a terrible death to come true.

Years later she died instantly, painlessly, totally unexpectedly—if horribly—as I watched the World Trade Towers burn and crumble. No trace was ever found but I hope to see her again someday.

Anyway, that’s it. Two of my personal experiences and a synopsis of what’s available online and in books. All the evidence is anecdotal, of course.

It’s up to you: does it ring truer than the ‘evolution just happened’ theory of science that makes life out to be nothing more than animated chemicals? Or the “life is a test” dogma of the Christian faiths, that makes us begging sinners on our knees? Or whether the clues point more towards a divine explanation? I won’t hold you to it.

But if you’re still with me it’s a good time to see what we can learn from popular religions and which ones make the most sense. Again, there is a great deal of theology and doctrine available everywhere since the dawn of recorded history (and beyond) so we won’t go into details here.

Basically, what all the beliefs in reincarnation have in common is that they all believe that our true selves are energy Beings, without physical existence, that leave the body to find a new home upon our deaths.

Wiccans and Pagans generally believe that there is a rest stop on the cycle of life and death called the Summerlands where we go to await our next life.

The Summerlands are where we’re on sabbatical, out to pasture (but not permanently). We are only there to rest and visit with our friends and family (and cherished animal pals) that have passed before us and to be on hand to welcome new arrivals. Often, the first thing we feel after death—not as a physical sensation but as an emotion—is the loving comfort of someone we’ve lost, a mother, a father, a wife, or a child—often more than one lost lover all at once—holding us in their astral arms, until we are no longer afraid—especially if our death had been a bumpy ride.

The first thing we “see” after our death is the parting of the gray rain clouds of the mortal world opening on a silver-blue ocean. Then, far off in the distance, the white cliffs shining in the sunlight. Above the shoreline green, green grass and rolling hills lay beneath us. Here we come to rest; here we will find our loved ones standing near an orchard in full bloom, petals falling like pure white snow.

Then we may “walk” arm and arm down the lane of whatever our personal heaven feels like and more loved ones come and greet us. And everybody is arriving and embracing, laughing and crying, cheering. It has been a long haul but we’re finally here, in Summerlands. Joy!

From this point on I can only give you my personal vision of Summerlands. You will probably have a different scenario in mind.

First you smell it, the green everywhere, the new mown hay. But not really smell or see as you did with your old body. Now you are the essence of green, its truest nature beyond spectral radiation exciting optic nerves. I am one with green! And one with the Beings of my kith and kin at the same time (if time had meaning in the Summerlands). It’s as if we’re leaves in the forest when the wind blows warm from the south, rustling ever so softly, knowing it all in the only way possible: Pure Universal Unity.

Suddenly, everything becomes crystal clear; it all makes sense—finally! And now we are the soft breeze as it swirls through the starry night, caressing every living thing with our life. Yes, we are life, all life, a part and the whole all at once. Not the flesh but the life within.

And here, in Summerlands, we get the ultimate do-over with the very person we may have clashed with when we were flesh. Yes, it was, after all, the flesh that had blinded us to who we really are and who we are to each other always. We should have known better. Ah, but there’s always next time—perhaps up a rung or two on that old evolutionary ladder—evolving towards what/where/who we cannot say from our vantage point here today. We know only where we came from, not where we are heading.

Perhaps we had an unsuccessful life and we end up a rung or two down. It’s a possibility.

But my personal belief is that judging solely by the direction of our evolution we must generally evolve to a higher order Slime mold doesn’t get to be president in one lifetime (well, sometimes). We have to keep living over and over again until we get our existence and the existence of our fellow beings to where we’re going. Some say we are reborn until our souls are purified. But I believe we are doing the best we can for who we are so far. There’s nothing impure about it. True transcendence is in the journey as well as the destination.

Finally, we’re ready to take another crack at it—Life—to have a body again, to feel instead of just remembering it all, the joy and the pain.

Not only is rebirth irresistible it’s the only game in town. There’s only so much you can learn from remembering the past. You have to get mortal to transcend.

And that’s the answer. I warned you, it’s speculative and highly personal.

We live more than one life to refine the process, in one way or another, time and time again.

We are on the path to we know not where, only that it’s somehow the Will of Creation—if only ipso facto.

If you doubt this, check in with your own heart. We know emotionally when we are headed in the right direction, though we are often lost in the convolutions of our mind.

The proof is that in looking back it’s easy to see that if we had listened to that little song in our heart we would have been much better off. When we are on the right path we feel it. When we are off track we feel bad, somehow, even if what we are doing is something we want.

In that way, happiness tells us we are doing the Divine Will of the Universe.

Why then would anyone what to live more than one life? Again, it comes down to the personal:

Why would you want to live even once? (Always presuming you have a choice)

What makes you happy?

Only you can answer that, and only for yourself.

So, may it be.


Footnotes:
P.S. My muse wants me to tell you that She wrote this . . . with my hand.

Finding Your Own Pagan Family Values

Finding Your Own Pagan Family Values

by Sienna

Before I got to know any pagans in my area, I was a stay-at-home mother of two. Because this was a very boring lifestyle, I volunteered to help out an organization called Parents Anonymous and became a group therapy counselor. What a relief it was to learn that much of the organization’s methodologies tied in with pagan values. I’m sure many pagan families can benefit from this experience, so I’ll share what I know here.

Pagan families are growing, both in number and in size, and now at the family season of Yule it’s a good time to take a look at the environment that pagan children grow up in. Many of our children (including mine) are getting to the age of puberty. This means that there are some heavy lessons ahead involving sex, drugs, peer pressure, societal pressure, setting morality and setting guidelines.

In a Christian community, the Bible provides the framework of morality that parents can teach their children. A Christian community has 10 commandments that allow parents to draw lines between right and wrong behavior. But what framework can we work from if we are pagans?

The answer is simple: An ye harm none, do as ye will. Even if you are not Wiccan, this guideline (or something similar to it) is in most codes of behavior for most non-Christian belief systems. But whichever code of conduct you choose for yourself in your dealings with other adults, you must use the same code of conduct when dealing with your children. Kids are the first to spot a hypocrite, and if they spot you being hypocritical, you will have a hard time regaining their respect.

So let’s take a look at what that phrase, as stated above, means. Doing your will, and by this I mean your True Will, which has been defined as “the true purpose of the totality of one’s being,” means finding out what suits you best. Your Will is made up of tiny decisions made every day that lead you in one particular direction. The voice of your conscience is a part of your Will, as well as your long-term goals, and what people and things are attractive to you. Everything you have done so far has put you where you are now. So remember: When you are interacting with your children, it was an act of your Will that put them there.

One of the things that we sometimes forget about Will is that I have no right to guess what my kid’s Will is, and she has no right to guess mine (or anyone else’s, for that matter!). Although parents can offer advice and information, in the end the decision to act or not act belongs to the child. Whether my daughter goes to college, is gay or straight or chooses Christianity, it’s none of my business, unless she tells me it is. Just because my daughter is my offspring doesn’t mean I get to set her Will. Any attempt to do so violates the first part of the sentence: An ye harm none.

Let’s take a look at the word harm. Harm occurs when one person attempts to stop another person from doing his or her Will. Kids can do harm to their parents by breaking the law while they are minors, not telling the truth or breaking well-established rules. Parents can do harm to kids by expecting too much, disciplining too much or neglecting their needs.

Watch yourself and your reactions to your child, and see if there is any Will subversion going on. Do you give in when he gets emotional? Do you get angry when she states her own opinion? Discuss the rules of your household with your children. Make sure that all of them are logical, and take the time to explain each one to the child. If you can’t explain it in words he or she can understand, do you really need that rule? This means no because-I-said-so’s.

But what about when someone’s Will is causing harm? What happens when a drug dealer sells drugs to curious children? What happens when someone’s sex drive causes him or her to react inappropriately toward a minor? How does one deal with the harm that this causes without hurting our children or impeding another person’s Will? This gets tricky, indeed, when there are no commandments that outline particular behavior.

Each lifetime has its lessons to learn, and perhaps your path has crossed the path of one of these types of people. Think about the lessons learned from a drug dealer, an oversexed acquaintance or a violent maniac. The lesson to “stay away from these types” had to be learned somewhere in life. Would you be who you are if no one had ever done you harm?

This is not to say that drug dealers should be allowed to sell crack to your kids on the playground. This is never good, for Christians or for pagans. But what is more effective, openly attacking the drug dealer, or telling the kids how it does harm to themselves and their parents if they choose drugs and why the dealer is a person to stay away from? Many people would choose both of these methods; however, an open attack on someone usually makes them sneakier or more determined in the behavior you want stopped. The most peaceful resolution is to educate those whose naïveté would allow them to be harmed. In this way, you are helping your children choose the correct path of their Will and allowing the lessons they need to learn to happen.

When I have warned my children of all dangers, when I know they understand what my words mean, I have done all I can do without causing harm to them myself. Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own behavior and with whom we choose to associate and avoid. Therefore, getting angry at children for getting themselves in trouble is pointless and sometimes heartless.

Punishment in a pagan family is yet another issue of Will. If my son’s Will is to stay out all night on a school night, he will pay the karma in lower attention span and perhaps lost grades in school. But teenagers have very little idea of what the long-term consequences are, because they have not lived a long term. Therefore, it is my job as his parent to drive the lesson home. When he says he’s going out, I ask him what time he is coming home and discuss whether or not this is an appropriate time to be in bed for a full night’s rest. Then I explain that if he does not stick to his word, he will be given extra chores, have privileges revoked or have other nonviolent unpleasantries occur. At that point, the decision of whether to stay out all night is back on him, and because he knows I’m consistent, he knows he’s going to do those chores if he is not!

In writing this article, I was asked, “So what about the kid who is impossible to deal with, who is entirely unreasonable?” There is no such child. Just because your teenage daughter is not listening to reason from you doesn’t mean she is entirely unreasonable. Someone, somewhere, has her attention, even if it’s her best friend who gives her lousy advice. What has happened here is that the child has lost respect for you somewhere down the line. All it takes is one time for her to see you not being honest, fair or reasonable yourself, and she may lose respect for you. Just once.

So begin by reinforcing the positive parts of your relationship with your child. Remember, you are both individuals, and you can be yourself with your kid, as much as you are with your best friend. When you understand that this is an adult in the making, and not an annoying, needy creature that you have to support, you will find the most reasonable path of communicating with her or him.

Which brings us to communicating with kids. Think about how young you were when you began having independent thoughts of your own. Your kids have been thinking for themselves since day one and will continue to come up with their own original ideas and attitudes for the rest of their lives. Allowing your kids to tell you these ideas without judgment will encourage them to think for themselves and preserve the level of respect that they have for you. Showing respect to my children while explaining my point of view makes sure that they have heard me, so that they don’t learn the lesson the hard way. Children listen when they have respect for the adult speaking. Winning respect that has already been lost is a long, hard job, so it’s easier not to disrespect them in the first place.

If you provide a basis for communication that cuts through all the fear and worry with your kid, there is nothing that any other person can do or say to undermine your authority with the child — including his or her other parent. Don’t fear what the other parent will say, and don’t pull any punches when talking with your kids.

Lying is something that all children attempt at some point in time. In most families, this is the point where communication breaks down and arguments start. Saying “You’re lying” will just get the kid defensive. However, if you know your child is lying to you, do you really have to tell him or her that? Just act as if you did not hear the actual words that came out of his or her mouth, and behave as if you know the truth. In other words “I didn’t make that mess” is not answered by “yes, you did” but by “clean it up.” Once a kid figures out how pointless it is to lie, he or she will stop on her own.

The most effective way to communicate with children is positive reinforcement. Catch them acting in a way you like, and tell them you like it. When writing this article, I asked my well-behaved 11-year-old, “What keeps you from breaking rules?” She said, “I want you to be happy with me.” This is a natural reaction for all kids; they want to please. Use this tendency by telling kids when they are being pleasant.

Most attention-getting behavior (which is 90 percent of “misbehavior”) can be rectified by giving the attention energy that the kid is trying to get. If you’re used to doing energy work, just visualize a direct line of energy between yourself and your kid whenever he or she wants your attention. Yes, you might find yourself giving more energy than you were prepared to give at the moment, but isn’t that the job of a parent? Realize that eventually your child will have enough energy from you and learn to find some within his circle of peers. In the meantime, make sure the lines of communication stay open.

Open communication is especially important when you are trying to teach your children to follow their own Wills and oppose outside manipulators or people who would do them harm. Respect is important here. Even though the person committing the act against them is not necessarily respectful, it is important to teach kids a perspective of respect for their own minds. Two wrongs do not make a right, and two disrespects do not teach respect.

If possible, it’s best to begin response to any unwanted pressures with a simple “No.” However, if someone puts a hand somewhere that my daughter didn’t agree to, it is perfectly acceptable for her to say in a loud voice “Get your hand off my ____!” This is a clue to everyone around to protect her. It also tells the perpetrator that this child is not a pushover and will help my child be able to withstand the real world and its manipulation tactics.

When it comes to drugs and alcohol, it is extremely important to explain to kids that after that first drink, you are no longer in a position to exercise your Will. Remind them that it is illegal for a minor to drink, which could harm you, the parent. Secondly, if they find themselves being pressured to alter their awareness against their Will, the safest bet is to walk away. This is one argument they need not get into at all.

The best approach I’ve found yet in dealing with Will manipulators is to know your own Will so that you recognize when it is violated. Explain to kids that it is probably not within their Will to get high, give sexual signals to an adult or commit acts of violence. It is a kid’s Will to create his or her future and learn how to live in this society. It is a kid’s Will to dance, sing and play and make good decisions about who to dance, sing and play with.

To help children stay safe, give children healthier options in the first place. Ask any “good” kids why they don’t shoot heroin, and they will tell you that they have better things to do. The kids who wind up doing drugs typically have unhappy home lives, no knowledge of addiction patterns or consequences and access to drugs. All three of these are direct lines into drugs and can be stopped by the parent, if the parent is paying attention and interacting positively with the kid on a daily basis.

One of the fastest way to lose a child’s respect is to overreact in situations where the child’s well-being is at stake. It’s easy to get angry when you see your children pressured or hurt. Many parents overdefend their children in such cases, often causing harm for others in their zeal. To keep yourself from this situation, keep your actions balanced: equal energy returned for the amount of energy received. If someone insults your kid, it is not equal energy to get violent with him or her. If someone pressures your kid once, it is not equal energy to spread rumors about that person for the next six months. It is, however, equal energy to ask that the person leave your child alone.

Balance cannot be kept if you are acting in anger, because anger adds to the energy you return, and therefore it becomes more than what was received. Calm down before taking any steps to correct the balance between your kid and whoever stepped on his or her Will. Always return the same amount of energy that was given; in my observation, the laws of karma become instantaneous in such situations.

We don’t live in a perfect world; however, we raise our children the way we do because we all value our freedoms. Respect, communication and love are all we have to combat the negativity in our environment. To keep our children safe, we must first not allow ourselves or them to be vulnerable. The best gift you could give a child is the capacity to walk his or her Will.

I am a Witch

The origin of this in unknown, since it has been passed as a e-mail forward for so long. Please enjoy and post this message to not take the credit away from the anonymous writer. Thank you, KaiaPythia


I am a witch. I do not worship Satan.

I am not interested in Satan.

Satan was invented by the Christians.

Satanism is a form of Christianity.

I am not a Christian.

I don’t go to church on Sunday.

Jesus is NOT my savior.

He was simply a holy man who lived 2,000 years ago.

I am not afraid of going to Hell because I don’t believe in Hell any more than I believe in Satan.

I believe in reincarnation; that I will come back to this world or another and live out another life.

I am not evil.

Telling people I am a “good witch” or asking me if I am a good witch implies that there are evil witches.

There are evil people in the world, and there are people who chose to work with the forces of nature in a way that harms others; those people are NOT witches.

The central law of being a witch is: “if it harms none, do as you will.”

Please don’t ask me about sacrificing cats or desecrating churches. I love my cats, and I don’t go into churches or synagogues unless a friend from that religion invites me to some special occasion.

And if I DO enter a church, I am not struck by lightning.

And if a Christian or a Jew or a Buddhist came to a pagan ritual, our gods would not strike them dead either.

Isn’t that something to think about?

Wearing a pentacle is no different than wearing a cross, crucifix, or Star of David.

If you want me to take off the symbol of MY religion (and Wicca is a religion, protected by the same First Amendment rights as other religions) because it’s offensive, you need to make everyone of every religion do that.

The five points of the star signify the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire & Water, and the fifth point is Spirit; encircled by the World.

How that can offend anyone boggles my little pagan mind. An image of a tortured, dying man is more offensive, yet thousands of people openly wear crucifixes every day.

Also, don’t ask me if I’m in a “coven” in that half-horrified, half-fascinated tone of voice.

If I want to talk about my coven, I will bring it up.

If I am a solitary practitioner, I have no coven to discuss.

In any case, our rituals have candles, food, drink, poetry, dancing…yes, there is a knife but it only cuts the air, not anyone’s flesh.

I don’t drink blood.

I am not some kind of vampire.

I wear black because it keeps negativity away and because it looks better on me than orange and purple polka dots.

If you want to ask me something related to MY religion, ask me when the next full moon is.

Or the next Blue Moon.

Or what a blue moon IS.

Ask me about herbs.

Crystals.

Healing.

Even ask me to make you a love potion.

But I don’t cast spells on other people and I won’t cast a spell on you to make you prettier, thinner, more desirable.

And I won’t cast a spell on your quarry to make him/her love you. Trust me, you don’t want that, you don’t want the karma that involves, and neither do I!

That’s a form of manipulation, taking away someone’s power, infringing on their free will.

Not nice at all.

And I also won’t cast a binding spell to make someone STOP doing something to you.

Spell work is about co-creation. A witch works with universal energy, with the gods, to tilt the engine of probability somewhat.

Need money?

Don’t try to ensorcel your boss to give you a raise. Simply ask the universe to increase the flow of abundance in your direction.

That infringes on NO ONE’S free will.

One last thing: giving me a book about the Burning Times is like giving a book on the Holocaust to a Jewish person.

It’s not funny and is rude.

Yes, I do go to Salem, but not because any of those Poor executed people were witches (I think the jury is still out on some of them), but because there’s cool pagan shops there.

If there were cool pagan shops in a town called East Cowflop, I’d go there.

Please don’t try to make me ashamed of who I worship and what I am.

Please don’t try to convert or “save” me.

Don’t throw holy water on me.

Don’t leave little pamphlets on my desk or windshield. I don’t need to be saved.

Witches are proud of that fact that we don’t recruit people to become witches.

We simply ARE, and those around us see how we think, how we act, and our inner peace, and only when someone says “how do I become a witch?” do we take them into the fold with us.

I will NEVER leave a religious tract with anyone.

I don’t have one, unless you count this letter.

And I am not asking you to convert.

I am only asking you to understand.

If you don’t want to understand, just leave me alone.

Pagans: Loved, Yet Misunderstood

Pagans: Loved, Yet Misunderstood

Author: Davina Sullivan

“We are loved, yet misunderstood.”

Within the last few months, I have recently explained to my friends and family that I am a Pagan, and more than proud to say so. I have been asked so many questions sense then, it’s unbelievable. However, I’m glad that they asked because I’ve realized that many people in general has such a high misunderstanding, that we Pagan’s are judged unfairly. I have the opportunity to be able to help others understand and not judge us based on the word of others.

I was raised in a Baptist family, therefore, a great many of my relatives were upset, confused, hurt, or a combination of all three. My mother particularly, believed that being a Pagan was the devil’s way of tricking us into worshipping him, specifically because of the pentagram. I calmly explained to her that yes, the five-point star originated from the Pagan religion. After, that same star also became the Star of Bethlehem, which represents Jesus’ birth and carnation in the Christian religion. The bible explains this in the book of Matthews in chapter two. Lastly, Satanists took the five-point star and turned it upside down to claim as their own.

The image of the devil was the most difficult questions to answer. Even though I had explained that the image of Satan also originated from a Greek God, the Horned God named Pan. He has horns as well as hooves and carries a flute. That is where Satan’s image originated. Many didn’t want to hear my explanations or did not believe it to be so. Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. I only talk of the questions that people ask.

Another explanation that was quite interesting to give was the use of magic. I was asked questions such as, “How do you do magic?” “Why do you think magic is real?” “Don’t you think that God is the only one that can bring magic?” There was one question that I found very surprising, which was, “Will you teach me to do magic?”

When I was asked how to do magic, I simply explained that magic is just channeling what is already there. You are working as one with the elements of the earth to bring the God’s and Goddesses into your heart and soul to walk together into the Divine. This also brought questions about. However, I truly believe that no one can answer what the Divine is but you, and only when you feel it.

Those that has asked me why I believe magic to be real, this was the easiest explanation of all. Every time I answer this question, I smile and reply, “Because I’ve felt it. I’ve been there. I’ve become one with magic and have become one with The Divine.” Some are confused at this point, but the answer to this specific question is something only you can answer for yourself.

Many were respectful, many horrified at my response to God being the only one that can bring magic into my life. I respect those that live by the bible and God’s word. Though, I truly feel the connection with the Pagan God’s and Goddesses. My personal Goddess, Isis, has brought a light and a great sense of fulfillment into my life. I call upon her often and the magic that I have done and experienced is unexplainable. For someone who does not believe magic to be true, it will sound like nonsense to them. Until they experience magic for themselves and can answer that same question for me, there is nothing that I could say to them about working with Earth Mother to do magic.

There was one person and one person only who asked me to teach her magic. She is a very good friend of mine. I explained a few basics of my religion, and explained to her that being a witch and learning of magic by doing your own personal studies and research is the first step. Being a witch is something to be taken very seriously and to understand every aspect of everything or any spell before attempting to actually performing one. I also explained that I have seen those dabble in black magic, and that is something that will bring you sorrow and pain in the long run. ‘An ye’ harm none, do as ye’ will.’ I most defiantly expressed how important it is to keep the Three Fold Law in mind.

The purpose for me writing this paper is to express to anyone that is willing to listen that you should always be proud of who and what you are. It has taken me 24 years to find my path because it is sometimes difficult to step away from what you are so accustomed to and be able to search for your true self.

Religion, regardless of what it may be is a big part of every one person’s life. To lie and hide from your self is the most painful lie that anyone could tell. To be a witch is hard, it is difficult, it can be stressful and it can seem almost impossible to be accepted by society at times. In today’s world, yes, we need to be in society in some way, shape or form. Just remember, we are no better, nor are we any worse than any other person that may walk this glorious earth. Paganism is rejected by many, but accepted and loved by so many more. We have support and family to help us through these times.

Today, we have the wonderful world of technology! Take advantage of it. Witchvox.com is only the start. Wiccantogether.com is a lot like a myspace.com page for Wiccans. There’s plenty of ways on the Internet, not to mention the people around you that you have no idea are even there to help you.

I cannot express enough how strongly I believe that there are many that are afraid to be their true selves because of societies opinions of our religion. Be strong, stand tall, and be proud of who you are. Please, help, love and support those who need us.

In conclusion, we are loved, yet misunderstood. This is not our fault; this is our pride. I’m more than willing to help those who are misunderstood to understand. No matter the outcome may be, I am who I am. I’m being true to myself, and that is what is most important in my opinion.

Church Envy

Church Envy

Author: Arion The Blue

I live in the Bible Belt, and it’s hard to throw a stick without hitting at least a couple of churches. Christians take their religion seriously, here, and in some rural parts of my state it isn’t unusual for the devout to attend church three or four days a week. Sometimes more than one. It seems like any two-bit preacher with a bible and a hat to pass can bootstrap himself into a successful storefront church dispensing the Gospel in neat, affordable, easy-to-swallow bite-sized pieces. Religion, at least Christianity, is an industry in the South as much as it is a spiritual exercise.

Of course I’m Pagan, and so I view these guys with a kind of amused tolerance. Watching a street corner preacher attract enough followers to justify a permanent building is a kind of rite of passage, here, and the lengths to which they’ll go to do that are impressive. Everything from culture-warfare to anti-homosexuality to tent revivals go towards that magical goal: giving the preacher a chance to quit his day-job.

I’m less amused when I see my Pagan coreligionists attempt to do the same thing. For more than twenty years I’ve been listening to a long line of self-appointed Pagan leaders decry our lack of organization and attempt to browbeat the members of this nascent religion into aping the forms and fashions of the dominant religion.

Once upon a time I might have agreed with them, back in my more militant youth. But with age and experience comes Wisdom, if you’ve the wit to realize it, and at this point in my life I feel that what these would-be Pagan bishops are actually suggesting is unhealthy for the development of our religion.

Don’t misunderstand me – the traditional Southern Christian church plays an important role in the community outside of its purely religious functions. In most rural communities churches act as a kind of tribe, a social safety network that looks after the parishioners’ many needs when no one else will. Churches here hold softball tournaments, bake sales, dances (except the Baptists) , concerts, yard sales, and all manner of other social function. People meet their future spouses at these events. When someone’s house burns down, it is the community church to which they turn for solace and support. And they have those big, impressive buildings . . .

When faced with that kind of organized alternative to your happy, whacky Pagan circle or coven, for a certain kind of Pagan a bad case of Church Envy begins to creep in. Maybe you mentioned to a Christian preacher that you, too, are clergy, and had him dismiss your faith and your spiritual vocation out of hand.

Maybe you tried to get your coven listed on the local Interfaith Council and were rejected because you aren’t a “real church” in their eyes. Maybe you just got asked one too many times “So what church do you attend” and were tired of explaining your religious philosophy to someone with no conception of anything but “Baptist or Methodist”. Or maybe you decided to devote your life to Paganism in a big way and simply believe you should get paid the same way that Christian preachers are paid for their work.

The fact of the matter is we aren’t Christians, and we don’t have churches, in the strictest sense. The idea of the church was Christianity’s answer to Paleo-Pagan temples, and the early Church certainly emphasized the church community over the adoration of a particular divinity. Those early churches were known as Meeting Houses, implying the community of believers gathering to hear the Word – and since the vast majority of the believers were illiterate, the only way they could participate in the community was to hear someone read to them.

Eventually the reader became a priest, and the function of the church became more similar to Pagan temples before they destroyed all of the Pagan temples. That position was supported by the contributions of the members, who were conveniently divinely mandated to bring 10% of their earnings to the priest for his maintenance and upkeep. That institutionalized the Christian priesthood and created a professional class of priests whose actual jobs varied from real community support to praying non-stop for the salvation of humanity. You probably know the rest of the story from there.

But there are fundamental differences between Christianity and Neo-Paganism, differences that make “churching up” a poor idea. Again, I’m not attempting to discourage Pagans of all sorts from gathering together however the spirits move them – good community is the bedrock of all successful religions, and it’s never more important than when you’re a minority religion. Indeed, our traditional feelings of oppression from the majority have long encouraged us to gather in small, intimate groups for our religious rituals and instruction – the covens and groves.

But does it necessarily follow that, in order for us to be successful, we parrot the organizational structure and paradigms of Christianity? I think not. Indeed, I believe we lose something very valuable in doing so.

The arguments for institutionalizing the Pagan clergy and leadership usually revolve around a few individuals who see these big churches around them and want to feel competitive. They claim to need manicured temples in which to hold handfastings and wiccanings and requiems. They make a big deal about the inconvenience of buying a lot of camping gear and driving across the country to meet up with fellow Pagans, preferring instead to do so in the luxury of a well-appointed temple with spacious parking and expensive landscaping. The simple coven or grove is not enough for them – not big enough, not organized enough, not impressive enough.

They want more.

They’ve got a bad case of Church Envy, and nothing less than full parity with the older, well-established, well-funded Christian churches will satisfy them.

Worse, they claim that only through Pagan churches can we find our place in the community and serve the greater community at large. Individual efforts, or the efforts of small groups, are disparaged as being pointless and selfish – only by gathering in great numbers, buying buildings, and passing the ubiquitous hat can we affect positive change in our community. They put our coreligionists in decidedly Christian terms: throngs of seekers begging for ministering, as if they were helpless sheep waiting to be spoon-fed their spiritual development by a small group of wise elders (in an air-conditioned facility with a break room and splendidly appointed clergy office, presumably) .

Why can’t we be more like churches, they whine, and why can’t we pay our leadership so that they can lead us properly, instead of mucking about with a day job?

These divinity-school wannabes devoutly want a paid gig, and who can blame them? Christian preachers only “work” one day a week – and Pagan festivals are much further apart. Considering our low population density in even the thickest urban jungles, one would be hard pressed to find 300-400 Pagans of any stripe to even join such an institution, much less subsidize the self-appointed leadership. They seem to have a long list of “services” they’re willing to provide for that fee, some of which have traditionally been performed gratis for the benefit of the Pagan community. Apparently planning a simple Beltaine ritual requires a salary and benefits, in their minds, and should be subsidized. Likewise instruction on tarot, spellcraft, and all the other aspects of our religion that have always been given freely by the Wise.

In their arguments they cite our “ineffectiveness”, without recognizing the basic truths about Paganism: we are not Christians, and our values, goals, and spiritual pursuits do not conform to the Abrahamic Faiths’ structure, physical and metaphysical. Why do we need manicured lawns and pristine buildings for our rituals, when the open sky and green grass serves the purpose so admirably? We are a Nature Religion, and retreating to indoor temples in our quest to commune with Nature is counterintuitive. Why must we pay someone to do our spellwork for us, when the focus of Wicca, Druidism, and the other Pagan traditions has always been on the spiritual development of the individual, guided at need by capable elders (without coin passing hands) ?

Why do some feel compelled to be “taken seriously” by Christian churches, when we all know that at best the recognition will be patronizing, and at worst stir up enmity among the ignorant? It is a hallmark of Wisdom to be true to our own selves, not clamor to be like the religion which most of us fled at first opportunity. Incorporating as a religious organization is simple, in most states, and many of us have done just that to satisfy certain legal or insurance requirements for rituals, take advantage of tax-exempt status, or have a useful paper organization available at need.

But does legal incorporation necessarily mandate that we get buildings, paid clergy, and institute tithing to cover these costs? I don’t believe so. Indeed, I believe that following down that path leads away from Wisdom, and unnecessarily eschews some of the very principals most of us came to Paganism to follow.

Paganism, from Wicca and Druidism onwards, has never been a pay-to-play, fee-for-service religion. It has been a religion about cultivating individual spiritual development, free from the structures and strictures of Christianity and the other Abrahamic faiths. Indeed calling us a “Faith” is itself a misnomer. Faith does not play a central role in our religion, Wisdom does. And compensating our leaders for that which they should be happily willing to give for free defies Wisdom and invites maliciousness into our ranks.

The issue isn’t a High Priestess misappropriating Church funds to buy a new car – it’s establishing an institutionalized clergy in the first place. Paganism is a religion of the clergy – we are all, in most traditions, priestesses and priests of the Old Gods. To choose a few among us to conduct rites on our behalf, or try to teach that which is best learned on our own, or to organize a major event that has traditionally been run on volunteer labor, and pay them for that purpose ignores and defames the essential role of the individual in our religion.

And that volunteerism is critical. While it won’t pay the light bill, buy land or a building, the moon and sun seem pretty reasonably priced, and the public parks and private gardens most of us have traditionally used are a real bargain. Considering it our Paganly duty to contribute towards these things for the benefit of others smacks too much of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker’s pathetic pleas for alms back in the 1980s. Insisting that solitaries and those who don’t care to contribute to the upkeep of a professional clergy are somehow undermining the Pagan religion and stifling its growth and development is disingenuous and hurtful. Most of the Pagans I know are solitaries, and they choose to be so often because they are hesitant about joining an “organized” religion.

If you want some land, get a job, go to work, earn some money and buy some – and if you’re public spirited enough, deed it outright to the non-profit religious organization of your choice. If you want a building, then start a PayPal fund and hold a bake sale. Win the lotto and buy a nemeton. Write and sell a book and donate the proceeds towards it. Have a yard sale. Solicit volunteer donations, perhaps, for a specific purpose. Plenty of us have done that time and again when there is need in the community.

If there really are throngs of eager seekers just begging to get out of our beautiful natural parks and into a majestic, air-conditioned and well-lighted temple, then they’ll be more than happy to fill your coffers full – but I’m not certain that the result would be, in fact, a Pagan one. Time, treasure and talent might be fitting offerings to the Goddess, but personal sacrifice is also demanded from time to time. If you aren’t willing to suffer, you aren’t willing to learn. If you want it so badly, you should find a way to pay for it yourself.

Some tout the great benefit to having a public temple and offering “free” classes and workshops, once they’ve been freed of the responsibility of working for a living. While I respect their dedication to the Craft, I have to wonder about the value of such “free services”. Once you make ministering to the Pagan community a job, then you begin to strip away the value of the pursuit of Wisdom as your vocation.

Everyone gets paid for their job, and once they’ve accepted that coin they’ve also accepted a whole host of other things that go along with having a job – including indifference, clock-watching, medical benefits, labor relations, and the lot.

But a true vocation for the priesthood should be pursued honorably and with a willingness to sacrifice. The efficacy of the ritual of someone who is paid to do it is, in my experience, considerably less than that done by someone who has, themselves, sacrificed their time and treasure (with no hope or expectation of reward or recompense) to perform it.

Pooling resources might make sense in specific instances, but the fact is we don’t have the same needs as other religions, the same values or the same philosophy – so paying for the privilege of “enjoying” the services of those religions seems like a hollow and cynical endeavor. It certainly doesn’t seem like a wise way to advance the Pagan cause. Since most of us provide these “services” to each other without money changing hands anyway, I can’t see this as progress towards anything but making us “Christianity Lite”.

When Pagans in my community are in need, word goes out and stuff gets done by those who take individual responsibility to do it. And that is what lies at the crux of this matter: Responsibility. Once we start paying for our clergy and these so-called clerical services, we cheapen the spirit of individual responsibility and sacrifice that called many of us to the groves and covens in the first place. Once we put a price-tag on such things as devotion, respect, instruction and service, we start down the dark and lonely road of abandoning our individual responsibility – and there are plenty of other churches out there that already offer that “service”.

“Lack of funding” isn’t an obstacle to getting things done; it’s merely a challenge of the moment. If the Gods so will something like a temple to be, then you can bet that the resources will magickally appear.

For those who walk in Wisdom, thus has it always been, and thus shall it always be.

How I Became a Wiccan

How I Became a Wiccan

Author: Aset-Nuit

Everyone has their own stories of how they found their religion, whether it was hereditary or long searched for. Everyone has their own emotions behind how their religion makes them feel and why they chose to follow that particular path, and why it is so important to them. Without my religion and spirituality I feel that I would be in a much darker world with a pessimistic outlook on life. I would remain blindfolded and ignorant to the magick and amazement that this world has to offer; anyone can find it, anyone and feel, taste, hear, hold, and see it, only if they want it and open their eyes to it.

To do so is to be embraced by the true divine.

I had always been fascinated with witchcraft, fairies, magick, spirits and nature ever since I was tiny. I can remember making potions that would heal terrible diseases, and casting spells that would invoke fairies and nature spirits when I was eight years old; pottering about the garden collecting seeds, and berries to grind up and make potions, and building fairy houses in the apple trees.

I was well known for it, yet my mum used to joke and tease me about it – not in a nasty way but in a slightly patronizing way (I was eight after all) . Even though I believed in what I did and what I saw in the enchanting world around me, I was firmly told that it was make-believe.

Eventually I grew out of it. My interest in magick and nature was still within me but remained sealed tightly in a box in the corner of my mind, labeled “fiction”. Naturally I had been laughed at once I got to a certain age and so my thoughts diminished almost altogether on the subject.

In early secondary school, I went through a tough time and so eventually — after passing my short-lived rebellious stage and then my depressive Goth stage — I finally melted into a sad, yet peaceful Christian stage. I knew there was a God, or deity, and thought that Christianity was the only thing out there to reach it.

I called myself Christian even though I didn’t truly understand the bible stories. I innocently rebelled slightly with thoughts that maybe “God” was in the air and grass, and water, and sky, around us – a very Pagan thought indeed! (Although I didn’t know this at the time.) I was however still very comforted by the aspect that there was a God, and I felt safer when I prayed.

But soon, when things in my life got worse, I began to question Christian beliefs. (I began to ask the big old one: “If there is a God, why do we suffer?”) I could accept God, in some ways, (though there are so many things for me to question in the Christian view of God) yet I couldn’t really accept the Christian teachings and Jesus.

I was distressed and so when I heard the word “Pagan” on TV, I was intrigued. It had been a word that had appealed to me, yet I had never understood what it meant, or what it was exactly.

I was absolutely shocked when I found out that everything I believed in, that God didn’t necessarily have to be predominantly male, and that he might not just be a bearded man on a cloud, and that witchcraft, fairies and magick did exist, were common beliefs in an actual religion!

I thought I was just highly imaginative and lived in my own make-believe world. Imagine the feeling of being told that everything that you believe in, to the very core of your soul, was not real. You want it desperately to be real, yet you were firmly told that it wasn’t.

Then after years of letting your brain soak up this devastating information, you discover that — surprise! — it is all real. You could believe it all again! You become overwhelmed and hope swells in your chest…

Paganism was always of interest to me so I looked it up on the Internet. It was all very new to me: The idea that we could worship and love nature and have a female deity! The Sabbats interested me the most. It was really weird to see religious festivals celebrated on certain familiar days, with uncanny similarities. I had had no idea that the Christians had actually taken old Pagan festivals and traditions and used them in their own religion.

I think that when you find a religion, after seeing what is out there, you will know right away when you have found the one that is yours. I felt an immediate, emotional connection.

Halloween wasn’t just a day when I dressed up as a pumpkin. It was a spiritual time and an important holiday. Easter felt more personal and important to me as Ostara, the Spring fertility festival.

I soon went on to read about Wicca, a branch of Paganism. I was completely blown away! It was everything I had ever believed in.

As is usual in teens, I had found it difficult to accept myself for who I am. I felt insignificant compared to my “friends” and those around me. When I realized who I was, an eclectic Wiccan, I felt like ME. I felt whole. I had my answers, and had found the world that had since then, been hidden in the depth of my mind and heart, and that was now dancing before me in reality.

And nobody could now tell me otherwise.

My mum and sisters still mock me and my older sister asks me to do ridiculous and unneeded spells for her – which I refuse. I have to still repeat that Wicca ‘isn’t all about spell casting’ and that I cannot, and will not, cast a spell that is not needed, and even more so one that will force someone to fall in love.

When they mock, I sometimes even join in a little. I often sit and watch TV with a witch’s hat on, and ironically now, I dress up as a witch for Halloween.

Even though my family teases me, I know my mum is secretly proud. When she is asked about her kids she always tells them that her daughter is a Wiccan. Even though she doesn’t understand what it is, she knows that it is a gentle, kind, and compassionate religion.

I feel better about myself now, than I did when I was a Christian. On this note, I would never say that Christianity is bad or wrong! Granted that every religion has people who behave in ways that perhaps they shouldn’t and can be cruel, or corrupt. But I would also say that every religion, at the end of the day, is a pathway to the divine. They are all as valid as each other. You just need to find the one that is right for you personally.

Wicca is perfect for me and I think that it has always been within me.

 

Welcome, Darkest Night

Welcome, Darkest Night

by Janice Van Cleve

I love this season of growing dark. The night starts earlier to cast its blanket of quiet and peace upon the land and calls me to wrap up what I am doing. Early darkness coaxes me to sit down to supper at six o’clock instead of nine, so I can digest properly before I go to sleep. Longer nights delay the prodding light of morning, so I can grab a few more winks. It encourages me to work more efficiently with the daylight that I do have. The dark time of the year is a healthy time for me.

It is a healthy time for plants and animals as well. Perennials focus on building up their root systems during the dark time, and annuals spread their seeds. Leaves fall to the ground to be leached and composted into next year ‘s soil. Animals feast on the yield of crops and orchards and store up surplus to see them through the winter and spring. In the dark time, all nature refocuses on renewing itself, sloughing off that which is no longer necessary and nurturing the best for the new year.

For northern tribes who lived where night falls longest and deepest, the dark time of the year was a time of great creativity. Bards honed their songs and added new verses for the entertainment and education of their audiences. Farmers turned to woodworking to fashion furniture or to decorate the interiors of their homes. Tradespeople made cloth, tools, jewelry, clothes and other goods to sell the merchants when they returned in the spring. Cooks became more and more inventive as the darkness lingered and the variety in the larder grew more limited. Even today, most school and university classes are scheduled for the winter months. In the business world, new product releases from software to movies to automobiles are debuted during this time.

In short, the dark time of the year is a busy, industrious and very creative time for nature and for human activity. So why in modern society does it get such a bad rap? The ancients certainly figured out that spring followed winter every year, and they used their skills to create solstice calculators like Stonehenge to predict how much more winter they had left. Were they really immobilized in fear of the dark, waiting for solstice to give them hope of spring? Or, on the other hand, did they grumble at solstice that they only had a few more months to play, eat, sing and finish their carvings before they had to get back out and work the farm again? Ancient peoples, after all, did not create surpluses for profit or a year-round global economy. They simply raised enough to sustain themselves so they could devote their time to crafts and play.

Perhaps it was the new religion of Christianity that tried to separate light from dark, exalting the former and disparaging the latter. Perhaps it was Christians’ idea to create fear of the dark so they could make light seem like a sort of salvation. However, nature doesn’t seem to need saving from anything, except from human greed. Nature goes on, year after year, with summer and winter alternating appropriate to the latitude. Nature values the dark time as much as the light and uses both to its advantage. The dark time is healthy and wholesome. It is as necessary for life as rain and sun, decay and bacteria.

And so it is appropriate that our pagan new year starts with Samhain, the beginning of the darkest time of the year. We rest before we work. We focus inwardly before we focus on the wider world. We sleep, we feast, we meditate, and we renew ourselves so that when spring’s light returns and calls us to next year’s work we can respond with new health and strength. These are gifts of the dark time. We are fortunate to have them!

Samhain Inspired Thoughts on Community

Samhain Inspired Thoughts on Community

Author: Crick

Hey folks, Samhain energies are at work and so I woke up this morning with some thoughts that I would like to share. First I would like to preface my thoughts with an analogy that I learned about many years ago. Basically, it is about a frog and a scorpion.

The Scorpion wanted to get to the opposite shore of the English Channel. And so he sought out various creatures that could assist him in the endeavor. Each time he was turned down, in part because of the fear of who he was and in part because of what he was capable of doing to others.

At any rate, he finally came to Frog with his entreaty. At first Frog turned him down like all of the others before him. But Scorpion kept pleading, as he knew this was his last chance to reach the opposite shore. Finally Frog relented and agreed to carry scorpion across the channel on his back. When they got to the middle of the channel, Scorpion stung Frog with his venomous tail.

Aghast, Frog cried out to Scorpion, “Why did you sting me, for I am dying and we shall both surely drown now?”

Scorpion responded, “You knew the nature of my personality before you agreed to help me!”

There are several reasons why I offer this analogy as a preface to my early morning thoughts. Imagine that, an Irishman resorting to the art of Triad (grin) . To begin with, there has been a great deal of talk over the years by modern pagans about “pagan community”. The reality is that such a community is a long way from becoming a valid entity. It is a concept that is rife with the insecurities of those who claim to adhere to such a concept. Many modern pagans were once members of the Abraham faiths, in particular, Christianity. And in many cases, such folks have parents, siblings, relatives and friends who still are Christians or what have you. And that is all good.

However, this has created a consistent undercurrent of insecurity because these modern pagans feel an overwhelming need to either hide their current pagan beliefs from their families and friends or to frantically seek approval from such folks.

To my mind, if folks have doubts about their self-professed beliefs, then perhaps they should reassess their desire to follow said beliefs. For to be true to others, one must first be able to be true to yourself. And such insecurities are detrimental to any efforts to build a genuine community whether it be modern paganism or what have you.

In view of such insecurities, there are many modern pagans — either individuals or groups — who feel that their primary mission as pagans is to engage in outreach with other religions. In spite of the fact that there are over four-hundred established religions in the modern world, this generally means that these modern pagans ignore four-hundred of these religions and reach out primarily and in most cases, specifically to the Christian religion.

At this point, I would like to point out that in this age of electronics that genuine communications skills are falling to the wayside. The current generation is losing the art of one-on-one communication due to their reliance on such electronic devices.

And as such, there will inevitably be the “me, me, me” types who will assume they know what I am trying to convey here. They will not seek clarification, because they already have the ‘answers’ to my thoughts… at least within their own self imposed limitations they will think so.

To such folks, I can only shrug my shoulders and hope that one day they will actually grow spiritually and thus find the genuine wisdom to understand a concept that is greater than themselves.

It will be said that that damn Crick hates Christians. My response would be “of course not”, but like the scorpions, I am aware of their own established behavior.

It will be said that that damn Crick is against community outreach. My response would be “Of course not”, but it should not be a primary and driving force in order to validate my pagan beliefs. And such outreach should be “attempted” with an expectation to meet with an equal amount of reciprocity… reciprocity of which is clearly absent from the Christian community. Yes of course there are exceptions to every rule, but it is realistically not the norm.

What then to my mind should be our primary goal you may ask? Well actually there are two very general goals if the modern pagan community is ever to reach a degree of cohesion and thus validity as a genuine community.

The first is to accept the realities of your chosen path. There are very few, if any, real “Masters” in modern paganism. The regurgitation of over the last fifty years of “101 Paganism” should be clear confirmation of this. And besides, we are all students over the course of our lives.
It is this denial of being a student that gives birth to the plethora of twenty and thirty-year-old ‘masters’ that modern paganism is noted for. It is also this denial that precludes modern pagans from acknowledging the pagan paths around the world that have been in place for many, many generations. And finally, it is this denial that sets modern pagans upon those who actually may know more than just the basic 101 scripts that defines modern paganism.

This is why the word “Elder” creates such a conflicting morass amongst modern pagans. For to define the word “Elder” in the manner that it is used among pre-modern pagans is to admit that one may actually be a student and not the “wise know it all’ that so many modern pagans strive to present themselves as, no matter how subtlety it is done. Yes, I know. Let the denials begin. It is to be expected when insecurities cloud reality. Besides, in this modern generation, everyone is right and no one is responsible, which is why we have the current me, me, me mindset in the first place.

Anyway, moving on.

The modern pagan community needs to find the strength to grow beyond such self-centered concepts of me-ism. Each community, pagan or otherwise is the sum of its members. If the modern pagan community is ever to become a genuine community, it must first learn to be true to its own tenets. Many within the modern pagan community will mouth the words acceptance and diversity. Sounds like good tenets to establish a community by doesn’t it?

And yet as soon as a free thinker such as myself proffers an “opinion” that is divergent from some other pagan, well … the ugliness rears its head. Hateful and disparaging words are hurled at will, in an attempt to hurt the author of such individual thoughts, and in extreme cases, threats of physical violence are made. Are such reactions, which in all reality are based upon personal insecurities really conductive to creating a sense of cohesiveness in a budding community?

And finally, we need to find the strength to break out of the modern concept of “me-ism” and reach out to other pagans in this fragile community without preconceptions and/or preconditions. As an umbrella community, we do not walk in lockstep with each other. The modern pagan community, unlike pagan communities of olden times which consisted of folks of identical beliefs and usually of small enclaves such as covens, tribes and the like, is now a morass of many, many different paths.

We need to reach a genuine understanding of the modern interpretation of pagan community that goes beyond just mouthing the words.

Perhaps when we develop genuine outreach amongst ourselves then we can validate the inordinate amount of energy that some modern pagan individuals/groups employ towards the Christian religion as being based on something other than an attempt to give in to ones personal insecurities.

Before I stop here and grab my first cup of java of the morning, please keep in mind that the preceding thoughts are simply the personal opinion of one old witch who has more years behind him then he has in left in front of him. And before you allow the “me -ism” to take precedence in your thoughts, please understand that my sole purpose in this rant is to spark the fuse of thought… it is an attempt to ignite a blaze of introspection that in the end will open the door to a understanding that is greater than you or I.

Now, where is that cup of java?

Feng Shui Tip of the Day for October 24th

Were the Beatles singing to Saint Jude when they sang, ‘Hey Jude, don’t make it bad, take a sad song and make it better’? As a young girl I always thought that they were since I was consistently told to pray to St. Jude whenever anything went wrong in my life. My mom said that anytime that I had any sort of troubling worry that I should immediately invoke the intercession of Saint Jude. She promised that no matter how big my concern that he could tackle it and make everything okay again. He is, after all, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes and has been known to help those who are in deep despair. So today I would like to take the opportunity to thank him from the bottom of my grateful heart! I have absolute faith in the belief that any time that I have shared a heartfelt request or a special need with him, Saint Jude has interceded almost as quickly as he was invoked. But instead of calling on his help today, I just want to celebrate and thank him. And I hope that anyone who is reading this tip will also know that they are not alone. Not as long as Saint Jude and I ever have anything to pray about it!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

When I Was A Christian Wiccan

When I Was A Christian Wiccan

Author: Priest Christopher Aldridge
I became Pagan at age 22, but at the time I had no knowledge or interest in magick, I was just a worshipper of the Greek Gods. Later I got into Witchcraft and attended The Grey School of Wizardry to become a Wizard, later I became Wiccan. Being in love with the archangels, I saw no reason I could not combine Christianity and Wicca. Besides, the archangels are not of a religion, and I could see Jesus and Mary as God and Goddess. Witchvox even published an article I wrote a long time ago defending my faith.

Now I made good arguments backed up with factual information, and even though I could argue very well against opposition, I never felt completely right about being a Christian Wiccan. Something just told me that this belief system was opposing itself from opposite ends in many ways.

Now don’t get me wrong, working with the archangels as a Wiccan is not considered Christian Wicca. A good example would be the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, which calls on Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael.

However, having Christian influences such as Jesus as a God and Mary as a Goddess does make one more along the lines of a Christian Wiccan.

I eventually got into a huge YouTube debate over how valid the faith was, and I think there were good points made on both sides. But shortly after I decided to pull away from Wicca and continue on my previous path of Wizardry and Witchcraft, believing it would be more liberal and allow me to keep my Christian side in the sense that there was no established belief structure like in Wicca where you believe in things that are not compatible with Christianity. I knew that being a Wizard and practicing Witchcraft would allow me to have my own belief system.

And this did work for a while, but one day I had a complete change of faith. The Greek Gods returned and saved my life and the life of my friend one night. I did at first call on Jesus and Saint Michael to no avail. Something just told me to call on the Greek Gods, and glory to their names, they came. I feel that I am not permitted to give details at this time, but in that instant my Pagan faith was fully restored and I felt no need to be Christian at all anymore.

Ever since, I became once again a Greek Pagan, and I was no longer a Christian in my magickal practices. However, I did not return to Wicca, I stayed a Wizard. Now I do believe that it is possible for a Christian to practice Witchcraft and I do believe it is possible for a Wiccan to adopt the Christian Pantheon, but I know that I was a big Christian Wiccan and I did not fell totally right about it and I was changed.

Now if you’re a Christian Wiccan and you believe with all of your heart, mind and soul that you are 100% on the right path, then go for it, but seriously examine it and how you feel deeply. Christian Wiccans are a rare group, and I believe they are getting fewer and fewer. I believe you will find a Pagan path far more fulfilling and rewarding.

However, whatever you do, don’t change your path or beliefs because someone else said it was wrong or bashed you. Change because you feel you should and because it is best for you. If you change your beliefs every time someone disagrees, you won’t have any beliefs. But I will say as before that I feel more fulfilled as a Pagan again. It even helped me swallow my pride and let go of my masculine monotheistic nature.

Even if you go through your entire Christian Wiccan path without facing opposition or criticism, you will still probably find a conflict within yourself. Plus, you will be missing out on so many wonderful and magickal practices and beliefs in order to keep Christian Wicca from conflicting with the majority of Pagan Wiccan beliefs.

I just think that Christian Wicca provides a very limited and conflicting path within yourself at some point. Now sometimes it is good to take the road less traveled, but not when it is going to greatly limit your ability to prosper and grow.

I’ll give you an example. Almost if not all Wiccan practices with Magick involve invoking a Pagan God or spirit, not a Christian one. So you will find yourself isolated from the group, which will make it harder for you. Wiccan is by and large a Pagan religion, not a Christian one. Yes, Christianity draws almost all of its religion from Paganism, but Christianity also condemns them. And Christians dishonored many of the Pagan Gods.

However, if you still want to be a Christian Wiccan, then there are a few things I think you should follow.

1) Find a coven of Christian Wiccans (of which I don’t believe there are any) or be a solitary.

2) Stay true to your faith, but do not brag about it. It will eventually lead to a heated argument, especially if you are sensitive and serious about your path.

3) If you do attend public ritual, remember that you don’t have to announce your path. You are a Wiccan, so you can leave it at that.

4) Discard any ideas of sin, Hell and/or Satan, for Wiccans believe in none of those.

5) Always be extremely well informed and be ready to back up your faith with facts and logic.

6) Do not ever try to be a Wiccan with a Bible in your hand; it will not work.

7) Always consider the possibility of moving away from Wicca and into an open practice of Witchcraft or Wizardry or both. Remember, there is nothing that says a Witch or Wizard has to believe a certain way, but a Wiccan is within a belief structure.

8) Make sure that your path feels completely right. If you have portions of doubt, then examine their causes carefully.

9) Seek the council of highly experienced Wiccans, Witches or Wizards on the subject. I don’t think you need to fear ridicule from masters.

10) Set up your belief structure far beyond just the Christian Pantheon. Think of all the possible conflicts between Wicca and Christianity and give your beliefs as to why they are not conflicts.

I think that in the end it is about having a solid belief system. Remember, to be a Christian Wiccan is to be a very rare individual, and so you must know what you believe and why.

I think Christian Wicca is much easier for a solitary practitioner. Now I would never bash or ridicule someone for his/her sincerely held religious beliefs, but keep in mind that there are such people, and sometimes the best thing to do is ignore them.

I know from experience that neither of you will change the other, nor will it ever end until one of you gets tired of arguing. So be prepared to defend yourself, but do not look for an argument, and the best way to do that is to not brag and keep to yourself in humility.

Also remember that the number of Christians in the world is on the decline and the number of Wiccans and Pagans are on the rise, so Christianity is not this super popular club that everyone is dying to draw from.

If you feel a calling to Wicca, Witchcraft and/or Wizardry and Paganism, then go for it and consider the possibility that this could be your new religion. It may be time to leave Christianity in the past.

Blessed Be.

Footnotes:
Personal experience

Samhain Inspired Thoughts on Community

Samhain Inspired Thoughts on Community

Author: Crick

Hey folks, Samhain energies are at work and so I woke up this morning with some thoughts that I would like to share. First I would like to preface my thoughts with an analogy that I learned about many years ago. Basically, it is about a frog and a scorpion.

The Scorpion wanted to get to the opposite shore of the English Channel. And so he sought out various creatures that could assist him in the endeavor. Each time he was turned down, in part because of the fear of who he was and in part because of what he was capable of doing to others.

At any rate, he finally came to Frog with his entreaty. At first Frog turned him down like all of the others before him. But Scorpion kept pleading, as he knew this was his last chance to reach the opposite shore. Finally Frog relented and agreed to carry scorpion across the channel on his back. When they got to the middle of the channel, Scorpion stung Frog with his venomous tail.

Aghast, Frog cried out to Scorpion, “Why did you sting me, for I am dying and we shall both surely drown now?”

Scorpion responded, “You knew the nature of my personality before you agreed to help me!”

There are several reasons why I offer this analogy as a preface to my early morning thoughts. Imagine that, an Irishman resorting to the art of Triad (grin) . To begin with, there has been a great deal of talk over the years by modern pagans about “pagan community”. The reality is that such a community is a long way from becoming a valid entity. It is a concept that is rife with the insecurities of those who claim to adhere to such a concept. Many modern pagans were once members of the Abraham faiths, in particular, Christianity. And in many cases, such folks have parents, siblings, relatives and friends who still are Christians or what have you. And that is all good.

However, this has created a consistent undercurrent of insecurity because these modern pagans feel an overwhelming need to either hide their current pagan beliefs from their families and friends or to frantically seek approval from such folks.

To my mind, if folks have doubts about their self-professed beliefs, then perhaps they should reassess their desire to follow said beliefs. For to be true to others, one must first be able to be true to yourself. And such insecurities are detrimental to any efforts to build a genuine community whether it be modern paganism or what have you.

In view of such insecurities, there are many modern pagans — either individuals or groups — who feel that their primary mission as pagans is to engage in outreach with other religions. In spite of the fact that there are over four-hundred established religions in the modern world, this generally means that these modern pagans ignore four-hundred of these religions and reach out primarily and in most cases, specifically to the Christian religion.

At this point, I would like to point out that in this age of electronics that genuine communications skills are falling to the wayside. The current generation is losing the art of one-on-one communication due to their reliance on such electronic devices.

And as such, there will inevitably be the “me, me, me” types who will assume they know what I am trying to convey here. They will not seek clarification, because they already have the ‘answers’ to my thoughts… at least within their own self imposed limitations they will think so.

To such folks, I can only shrug my shoulders and hope that one day they will actually grow spiritually and thus find the genuine wisdom to understand a concept that is greater than themselves.

It will be said that that damn Crick hates Christians. My response would be “of course not”, but like the scorpions, I am aware of their own established behavior.

It will be said that that damn Crick is against community outreach. My response would be “Of course not”, but it should not be a primary and driving force in order to validate my pagan beliefs. And such outreach should be “attempted” with an expectation to meet with an equal amount of reciprocity… reciprocity of which is clearly absent from the Christian community. Yes of course there are exceptions to every rule, but it is realistically not the norm.

What then to my mind should be our primary goal you may ask? Well actually there are two very general goals if the modern pagan community is ever to reach a degree of cohesion and thus validity as a genuine community.

The first is to accept the realities of your chosen path. There are very few, if any, real “Masters” in modern paganism. The regurgitation of over the last fifty years of “101 Paganism” should be clear confirmation of this. And besides, we are all students over the course of our lives.
It is this denial of being a student that gives birth to the plethora of twenty and thirty-year-old ‘masters’ that modern paganism is noted for. It is also this denial that precludes modern pagans from acknowledging the pagan paths around the world that have been in place for many, many generations. And finally, it is this denial that sets modern pagans upon those who actually may know more than just the basic 101 scripts that defines modern paganism.

This is why the word “Elder” creates such a conflicting morass amongst modern pagans. For to define the word “Elder” in the manner that it is used among pre-modern pagans is to admit that one may actually be a student and not the “wise know it all’ that so many modern pagans strive to present themselves as, no matter how subtlety it is done. Yes, I know. Let the denials begin. It is to be expected when insecurities cloud reality. Besides, in this modern generation, everyone is right and no one is responsible, which is why we have the current me, me, me mindset in the first place.

Anyway, moving on.

The modern pagan community needs to find the strength to grow beyond such self-centered concepts of me-ism. Each community, pagan or otherwise is the sum of its members. If the modern pagan community is ever to become a genuine community, it must first learn to be true to its own tenets. Many within the modern pagan community will mouth the words acceptance and diversity. Sounds like good tenets to establish a community by doesn’t it?

And yet as soon as a free thinker such as myself proffers an “opinion” that is divergent from some other pagan, well … the ugliness rears its head. Hateful and disparaging words are hurled at will, in an attempt to hurt the author of such individual thoughts, and in extreme cases, threats of physical violence are made. Are such reactions, which in all reality are based upon personal insecurities really conductive to creating a sense of cohesiveness in a budding community?

And finally, we need to find the strength to break out of the modern concept of “me-ism” and reach out to other pagans in this fragile community without preconceptions and/or preconditions. As an umbrella community, we do not walk in lockstep with each other. The modern pagan community, unlike pagan communities of olden times which consisted of folks of identical beliefs and usually of small enclaves such as covens, tribes and the like, is now a morass of many, many different paths.

We need to reach a genuine understanding of the modern interpretation of pagan community that goes beyond just mouthing the words.

Perhaps when we develop genuine outreach amongst ourselves then we can validate the inordinate amount of energy that some modern pagan individuals/groups employ towards the Christian religion as being based on something other than an attempt to give in to ones personal insecurities.

Before I stop here and grab my first cup of java of the morning, please keep in mind that the preceding thoughts are simply the personal opinion of one old witch who has more years behind him then he has in left in front of him. And before you allow the “me -ism” to take precedence in your thoughts, please understand that my sole purpose in this rant is to spark the fuse of thought… it is an attempt to ignite a blaze of introspection that in the end will open the door to a understanding that is greater than you or I.

Now, where is that cup of java?

Renewal Prayer (Blood/Harvest Moon)

Renewal Prayer

(Blood/Harvest Moon)
 
 
For better health and renewed energy, say this prayer before you go to sleep tonight:
 
Bright Goddess of the mysterious night
With your cape of moon and starlight
Please grant me good health and renewed life
Thank you Lady for your divine energy
I pray my life is always loving and healthy
Here and now, and eternally
In the name of the Goddess, blessed be!

Today’s Runes for October 14th is Teiwatz

Teiwatz/Warrior

 

You can’t do anything but stay out of your own way.
Nothing less is asked of you but to look within, be patient and accept whatever is coming your way.
Courage, devotion, perseverance and patience and the knowledge that you have the strength within, will help you to make another step towards wholeness.

Saint of the Day for October 11th – St. Dionysia

St. Dionysia

In the year 484, the Arian King, Huneric, banished the Catholic bishops from their African Sees, and began a violent persecution of orthodox Christians, many of whom were put to death. Dionysia, a woman remarkable for beauty, zeal and piety, was scourged in the forum till her body was covered with blood. Seeing Majoricus, her young son, tremble at the site, she said to him, “My son, do not forget that we have been baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. We must not lose the garment of our salvation, lest the Master of the feast find us without wedding clothes and cast us into outer darkness.” The boy, strengthened by her words, suffered a most cruel martyrdom with constancy. Dionysia and Majoricus died at the stake.St. Dionysia feast day is December 6th.

Pondering for Friday, October 7th……

A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.

On the spiritual side…

1. The best way to get even is to forget.
2. Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death.
3. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.
4. Some folks wear their halos much to tight.
5. Some marriages are made in heaven, but they all have to be maintained on earth.
6. Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up.
7. Standing in the middle of the road is dangerous. You will get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.
8. Too many people offer God prayers, with claw marks all over them.
9 You must wonder about humans, they think God is dead and Elvis is alive.
10.The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.The one who kneels to pray can stand up to anything.

Welcome, Darkest Night

Welcome, Darkest Night

by Janice Van Cleve

I love this season of growing dark. The night starts earlier to cast its blanket of quiet and peace upon the land and calls me to wrap up what I am doing. Early darkness coaxes me to sit down to supper at six o’clock instead of nine, so I can digest properly before I go to sleep. Longer nights delay the prodding light of morning, so I can grab a few more winks. It encourages me to work more efficiently with the daylight that I do have. The dark time of the year is a healthy time for me.

It is a healthy time for plants and animals as well. Perennials focus on building up their root systems during the dark time, and annuals spread their seeds. Leaves fall to the ground to be leached and composted into next year ‘s soil. Animals feast on the yield of crops and orchards and store up surplus to see them through the winter and spring. In the dark time, all nature refocuses on renewing itself, sloughing off that which is no longer necessary and nurturing the best for the new year.

For northern tribes who lived where night falls longest and deepest, the dark time of the year was a time of great creativity. Bards honed their songs and added new verses for the entertainment and education of their audiences. Farmers turned to woodworking to fashion furniture or to decorate the interiors of their homes. Tradespeople made cloth, tools, jewelry, clothes and other goods to sell the merchants when they returned in the spring. Cooks became more and more inventive as the darkness lingered and the variety in the larder grew more limited. Even today, most school and university classes are scheduled for the winter months. In the business world, new product releases from software to movies to automobiles are debuted during this time.

In short, the dark time of the year is a busy, industrious and very creative time for nature and for human activity. So why in modern society does it get such a bad rap? The ancients certainly figured out that spring followed winter every year, and they used their skills to create solstice calculators like Stonehenge to predict how much more winter they had left. Were they really immobilized in fear of the dark, waiting for solstice to give them hope of spring? Or, on the other hand, did they grumble at solstice that they only had a few more months to play, eat, sing and finish their carvings before they had to get back out and work the farm again? Ancient peoples, after all, did not create surpluses for profit or a year-round global economy. They simply raised enough to sustain themselves so they could devote their time to crafts and play.

Perhaps it was the new religion of Christianity that tried to separate light from dark, exalting the former and disparaging the latter. Perhaps it was Christians’ idea to create fear of the dark so they could make light seem like a sort of salvation. However, nature doesn’t seem to need saving from anything, except from human greed. Nature goes on, year after year, with summer and winter alternating appropriate to the latitude. Nature values the dark time as much as the light and uses both to its advantage. The dark time is healthy and wholesome. It is as necessary for life as rain and sun, decay and bacteria.

And so it is appropriate that our pagan new year starts with Samhain, the beginning of the darkest time of the year. We rest before we work. We focus inwardly before we focus on the wider world. We sleep, we feast, we meditate, and we renew ourselves so that when spring’s light returns and calls us to next year’s work we can respond with new health and strength. These are gifts of the dark time. We are fortunate to have them!

A Witch Brewing among Catholics

A Witch Brewing among Catholics

Author: Magaly Guerrero

How often do you think about the day you discovered Paganism? Not when you found it, at least not in my case—I have always been a Witch; I just didn’t call it that until I was teenager. Ironically, I saw my witchy light in a church…

The church looked amazing. The altar was adorned with huge candelabras, white roses and tulips, and there were chains of white daisies draping from the back of every pew. My catechism instructor had told the class that Father Elias was going to marry a couple after he was done with our confessions. I was a little confused because it was Wednesday, and I thought people only got married during Sunday mass.

I looked at my watch. I had been sitting on a wooden pew for over an hour; my butt was numb.

“You’re next.” Manuel Tapia’s voice made me jump. He was the oldest boy in my catechism group, and I had a crush on him. I confessed it to God as soon as I realized I liked him. I wasn’t sure if liking Manuel was a sin, but I told God anyway—you can never be too safe in the ever-watchful eyes of God.

I walked to the confession booth rubbing my behind. Please God, let the seat have some padding, I prayed in silence. My poor butt couldn’t take any more pew torture.

I got to the booth, climbed three steps, and took a look. Crap, another wooden pew. I stood very still waiting for my punishment, and then I guessed that saying or thinking the word ‘crap’ wasn’t a sin because God didn’t strike me on the spot. I sat on the bench.

“You have to kneel.”

“Crap.” Father Elias scared the living Jesus out of me. For a moment, I believed God had decided that saying ‘crap’ in his house was a sin after all, and I was about to get it. But it wasn’t God. The horrible breath sipping through the tiny-screened window belonged to a familiar mortal.

“I won’t tolerate that kind of language in the house of God.” Father Elias moved so closed to the window that I could clearly see his angry little eyes. I wanted to protest and tell him that God hadn’t said anything when I said crap, and it was his house. But Father Elias’s putrid breath made me dizzy. I just nodded.

“Well?” asked Father Elias impatiently. “Didn’t you learn how to confess? You need to kneel.”

“But I don’t have anything to confess. I ask God for forgiveness as soon as I make a mistake.”

“Insolent girl, you can’t confess without a priest.”

I stared at the livid man thanking God for the screened window. Father Elias would have probably spat all over my face if it weren’t for it. He continued ranting and I continued to stare without listening. My mind’s voice was screaming at me. Why do I need a priest to confess my sins? Why am I here? Why would I share anything with this lunatic? Will my mom be mad if I leave?

One question actually crossed my lips: “Why can’t I talk to my God on my own?”

Father Elias was in my face a couple of seconds later. “Get out! Go talk to your teacher and tell her you are not ready. I will speak to her later. Send in whoever is next.”

I walked out of the booth and looked at my best friend, Dahlia, who had been seating behind me, waiting for her turn. I froze. What kind of friend would I be, if I let her face the crazy man without warning? Help me God!

“Well?” Father Elias spat into my thoughts.

I looked at the condemning fire in his eyes, and I knew that I had to do something, and I had to do it fast. I took off running. I ran until my 11-year-old lungs ordered me to stop. I found an old oak tree to lean on, and waited for my breath to catch up.

“Maggy, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

It was Ms. Toledo, the town librarian. She was always nice to me. I touched my face and realized she was right. I was crying. I told her everything as we walked to the library. When we got there, Ms. Toledo offered me a chair, but I declined.

She let out a long sigh. “Oh, don’t worry too much. It’s not the end of the world.”

I knew she was trying to help, but she hadn’t seen Father Elias’s face. She wasn’t there when he told me that I wasn’t ready. Ready for what anyway? And why didn’t he answer my question?

Ms. Toledo must have read my mind because she said, “I’ll have a word with Father Elias.”

I gave her a pained look and said, “Thanks.” I just wasn’t sure talking to the priest was the best idea.

Ms. Toledo walked away and I thought about stopping her. She should know that Father Elias wouldn’t listen. I gathered some courage and was ready to go find her, but she came back before I had a chance to move.

“Here, ” she whispered. “Take it home. Come back next week and tell me what you think.”

The excitement of taking a book home made me forget all about Father Elias, sins, and confessions. You see, the library in my town was so small that it couldn’t allow people to check out books. So taking the book with me was an adventure, especially because I didn’t own any books. My family was very poor, so we couldn’t afford them. That was the reason why I was such a good friend with Ms. Toledo. I used to spend as much time in the library as I was allowed, in order to finish a book.

I thanked Ms. Toledo and left with a smile on my face. I walked the three miles from the library to my house, taking glances at the book every now and then, but not daring to open it. What if I dropped it and ruined it?

I got home, climbed my favorite mango tree, and opened my borrowed treasure. I read about ancient gods—males and females—who interacted with their people. I learned about olden times when humanity lived in harmony with the earth, when people honored the moon and the sun and these Old Powers listened; times when folks believe in the power of their own energy.

I enjoyed the book so much that I was really sad when Monday came and I had to return it. But my gloom didn’t last long. Ms. Toledo replaced the book. The new volume was filled with gods from all over the world. Some of the gods were terrible and scary, but I loved learning about each and every one of them. Their eclectic nature, the spontaneity of their ways, their darkness and light, reminded me of me.

Saint of the Day for September 28th is St. Wenceslaus

St. Wenceslaus
(907?-929)

He was born in 907 near Prague, son of the Duke of Bohemia. His saintly grandmother, Ludmilla, raised him and sought to promote him as ruler of Bohemia in place of his mother, who favored the anti-Christian factions. Ludmilla was eventually murdered, but rival Christian forces enabled Wenceslaus to assume leadership of the government.

His rule was marked by efforts toward unification within Bohemia, support of the Church and peace-making negotiations with Germany, a policy which caused him trouble with the anti-Christian opposition. His brother Boleslav joined in the plotting, and in September of 929 invited Wenceslaus to Alt Bunglou for the celebration of the feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian (September 26). On the way to Mass, Boleslav attacked his brother, and in the struggle, Wenceslaus was killed by supporters of Boleslav.

Although his death resulted primarily from political upheaval, Wenceslaus was hailed as a martyr for the faith, and his tomb became a pilgrimage shrine. He is hailed as the patron of the Bohemian people and of former Czechoslovakia.

Comment:

“Good King Wenceslaus” was able to incarnate his Christianity in a world filled with political unrest. While we are often victims of violence of a different sort, we can easily identify with his struggle to bring harmony to society. The call to become involved in social change and in political activity is addressed to Christians; the values of the gospel are sorely needed today.

Quote:

“While recognizing the autonomy of the reality of politics, Christians who are invited to take up political activity should try to make their choices consistent with the gospel and, in the framework of a legitimate plurality, to give both personal and collective witness to the seriousness of their faith by effective and disinterested service of men” (Pope Paul VI, A Call to Action, 46).

Patron Saint of:

Bohemia