Tag: Paganism

How to Practice as a Solitary Pagan

How to Practice as a Solitary Pagan

By Patti Wigington, About.com

In modern Paganism and Wicca, there are far more people who practice as solitaries than there are people who have joined covens or established traditions. Why is this? It’s partly because most people who want to learn about Paganism develop the interest long before they meet a coven or trad that they’re interested in joining. It’s also because even if you decide you want to be part of a coven or group, it’s not always easy to find one. Wiccan covens and Pagan groups don’t exactly have a listing in the Yellow Pages, so you may have five covens right up the street from you, and you’d never know it.

Certainly, practicing as a solitary can have its rewards. After all, you can make your own guidelines and follow your own set of ethics. Worship can be done at your convenience, rather than according to a schedule dictated by others. As a solitary, you’re really under no obligation to anyone but yourself and your gods. Many people spend their entire lives practicing as solitaries, and never feel a need to join a coven or group.

Occasionally, you may find some drawbacks to practicing as a solitary Pagan or Wiccan. You might sometimes feel alone, like you have no one to network with or share ideas with. You may at some point feel like you’ve stagnated — it’s hard to figure out what the next step is if you don’t have someone to compare notes. Sometimes, it’s nice to just get feedback from like-minded people — someone who can help you when you’re wondering about what to do.

If you’ve decided to practice as a solitary — either temporarily, or in the long-term — here are some tips on how to have a successful experience:

Try to establish a daily routine. It’s easy to let your studies go by the wayside if you’re all by yourself, so establishing a daily routine will help you keep on task. Whether your routine includes meditation, reading, ritual work, or whatever, try to do something each day that helps you work towards achieving your spiritual studies.

Write things down. Many people choose to keep a Book of Shadows, or BOS, to chronicle their magical studies. This is important for a variety of reasons. First, it allows you to document what you’ve tried and done, as well as what works and doesn’t work for you. Secondly, by writing down your rituals, prayers, or spellwork, you’re laying the foundation for your tradition. You can go back and repeat things that you find to be useful later one. Finally, it’s important to keep track of what you do magically and spiritually because as people, we evolve. The person you are now is not the same person you were ten years ago, and it’s healthy for us to be able to look back and see where we were, and how far we’ve come.

Get out and meet people. Just because you’ve chosen to practice as a solitary doesn’t mean you should never come into contact with other Pagans or Wiccans. Most metropolitan areas — and a lot of smaller communities — have informal Pagan groups that get together regularly. This offers solitaries a chance to network and chat with each other, without having to form specific organized groups. Take advantage of resources like Witchvox and Meetup to see what’s in your area. If there’s nothing around you, consider starting a study group of your own for like-minded folks.

Ask questions. Let’s face it, we all need to start somewhere. If your read or hear something and you want to know more about it, ask. If something isn’t clear, or contradicts something you’ve already read, ask. Don’t accept everything at face value, and remember that just because one person had a particular experience doesn’t mean that you’ll have an identical experience. Also, keep in mind that just because you read something in a book doesn’t necessarily mean it’s valid — learn to ask whether a resource is worth using or not. Don’t be afraid to be a skeptic sometimes.

Don’t ever stop learning. Ask other people in the Pagan community — either online, or in real life — for recommendations about books and other resources. If you read a book that you enjoy, check the back for a bibliography and see what other books that author suggests. Remember that learning can take place by reading, but it can also develop from personal experience, and from speaking with other people involved in Paganism.

Luna’s Grimoire

Learning Anything

LEARNING ANYTHING

One of the most important skills you will ever learn in your life is learning
which questions to ask and when to ask them.

You will never learn how to do much of anything in your life if you do not learn
how to ask questions, and not only that, but to question the answers you get in
return.

For instance, “I want to learn about wicca,” is not a question. It is a statement.

“Teach me about wicca,” is also not a question. It is a command, even if you add
the word please.

Think about what you really want to ask. “Can you teach me about wicca?”

Ok, you’re getting closer to the question you really want answered. “Will you teach me about wicca?”

Even closer, but the topic at hand is a large one.

Look for where you actually want to start learning.

Good questions to start working with are “What makes wicca different from other paths?” or perhaps, “What is the first thing I should learn to start my journey of learning about wicca?”

These last two questions are good questions because they are specific and and
give the person you are talking with an idea of what you are actually interested
in learning.

Here’s another example.

I want to learn how to bake bread.

First of all I find someone that knows how (the right person).

Then I wait until they have the time to help me and a place ready to show me how to bake bread.

I try to read up a little ahead of time if I can and show up well rested and
ready to learn hopefully without any preconceptions (the right time).

Now I could ask them what the chemical structure of bread is, or why it browns
when it bakes or what type of butter to use on it, but none of these are very
good questions to help me towards my goal of learning how to bake bread.

True it might be useful information, but I can always learn the answers to those
questions later once I have learned the basics.

So my first questions are, “What are the ingredients we use?” and “How do we
start?,” two specific and useful questions.

A good question asked at the right time to the right person helps the person answering it almost as much as it helps the person asking it.

If the person you are asking questions to has no idea of your level of knowledge of the subject or your specific area of interest at the moment they cannot help you nearly as well as they could if they knew these things.

Good questions are one way of helping a person understand what you want to know and what level of difficulty you want it explained at.

A Pledge to Pagan Spirituality

 

A Pledge to Pagan Spirituality

I am a Pagan and I dedicate myself to channeling the Spiritual Energy of my Inner Self to help and to heal myself and others. I know that I am part of the Whole of Nature. May I grow in understanding of the Unity of all Nature. May I always walk in Balance.

May I always be mindful of the diversity of Nature as well as its Unity and may I always be tolerant of those whose race, appearance, sex, sexual preference, culture, and other ways differ from my own.

May I use the Force (psychic power) wisely and never use it for aggression nor for malevolent purposes. May I never direct it to curtail the free will of another.

May I always be mindful that I create my own reality and that I have the power within me to create positively in my life.

May I always act in honorable ways: being honest with myself and others, keeping my word whenever I have given it, fulfilling all responsibilities and commitments I have taken on to the best of my ability.

May I always remember that whatever is sent out always returns magnified to the sender. May the Forces of Karma move swiftly to remind me of my spiritual commitments when I have begun to falter from them, and may I use this Karmic feedback to help myself grow and be more attuned to my Inner Pagan Spirit.

May I always remain strong and committed to my Spiritual ideals in the face of adversity and negativity. May the Force of my Inner Spirit ground out all malevolence directed my way and transform it into positively. May my Inner Light shine so strongly that malevolent forces cannot even approach my sphere of existence.

May I always grow in Inner Wisdom and Understanding. May I see every problem that I face as an opportunity to develop myself spiritually in solving it.

May I always act out of Love to all other beings on this Planet – to other humans, to plants, to animals, to minerals, to elementals, to spirits, and to other entities.

May I always be mindful that the Goddess and God in all their forms dwell within me and that this divinity is reflected through my own Inner self, my Pagan Spirit.

May I always channel Love and Light from my being. May my Inner Spirit, rather than my ego self, guide all my thoughts, feelings, and actions.

SO MOTE IT BE!

Gardnerian Traditional Witchcraft –B.14. Skyclad (1953) c.2013

Gardnerian Traditional Witchcraft –B.14. Skyclad (1953)

B.14. Skyclad (1953)
It is important to work naked from the start, so it becometh as second nature, and no thought of “I have no clothes” shall ever intrude and take your attention from the work.  Also, your skin being so accustomed to unconfinement, when power is given off the flow is more easy and regular.  Also, when dancing you are free and unconfined. . . .
And the greatest of all, the touch of the body of your beloved thrills your inmost soul, and so your body gives out its utmost power; and then it is most important of all that there is not the slightest thing to divert the attention, for then the mind must seize and mold the power generated, and redirect it to the desired end with all the force and frenzy of the imagination.
It has been said that no real knowledge may be gained our way, that our practices are such that they can only lead to lust; but this is not really so.  Our aim is to gain the inner sight, and we do it the most natural and easy way.  Our opponents’ aim is ever to prevent man and woman from loving, thinking that everything that helps or even permits them to love is wicked and vile.  To us it is natural, and if it aids the Great Work it is good.
‘Tis true that a couple burning with a frenzy for knowledge may go straight to their goal, but the average couple have not this fire.  We show them the way, our system of props and aids (i.e., magic ritual).  A couple working with nothing but lust will never attain in any case; but a couple who love each other dearly should already be sleeping together, and the first frenzy of love will have passed, and their souls will already be in sympathy.  If the first time or two they do stay a while to worship Aphrodite, ’tis only a day or two lost, and the intense pleasure they obtain only leads them again to the mysteries of Hermes, their souls more attuned to the great search.  Once they have pierced the veil they will not look back.
This rite may be used as the greatest of magics if it be done with both partners firmly fixing their minds on the object and not thinking of sex at all.  That is, you must so firmly fix your mind on your object that sex and all else are naught.  You inflame your will to such an extent that you may create a strain on the astral such that events happen.

 

The Effects the Full Moon Has On Us

Just A Thought On Remembering Our Ancestors

 

I feel it is important to remember Lady Abyss during a Samhain celebrations, so I bring you an article she wrote in 2013.

I wasn’t going to torture you today with any of my comments. But I have been surfing the web for cartoons (it is actually hard to find good cartoons). I am beginning to think I should never leave the site. I ran across a few images that made my eyes water and then I was taken back centuries ago.

The images were of witches or accused witches tied to a stake and burning. Another was of a woman on a plank being dunked into the water. If you know me well, you know I can talk an hour or two on our ancestors. But what happened today moved my soul. Perhaps in all the hustle and bustle, I had forgotten for a moment what this season is all about. It is the Witches’ New Year but it is also a time to remember our ancestors.

For me, remembering my ancestors is both joyous and heartbreaking. I am into genealogy and was able (thanks to a dear friend) to trace my roots back to Ireland. Knowing where you came from can be a good thing or if your a witch, not so good. I know you are scratching your heads over that one, right? What I mean is, I know how witches were treated in Ireland. Persecuted. Then they sailed to the New World to escape the torment and the persecution. But unfortunately, they didn’t. They were found out and the same thing they were trying to escape confronted them again. No peace whatsoever. What kind of life did they have?

Most of my ancestors were healers. I have ran across a few that were hanged as witches. That makes my blood curdle. Their blood flows through my veins today. I know that for sure. There are times I have flash backs to my ancestors’ time. To see and experience one of your kin being hanged is one of the worse things in your life. You can see it plainly but you are powerless to do anything about it. When the flashback is over, I cry and cry. Why were people so ignorant and judgmental back then? Why couldn’t they just let the witches live in peace?

Perhaps if history didn’t happen the way it did, we wouldn’t have what we do now. Perhaps it was a test of some kind for our ancestors. I know they had to have unbelievable faith, courage and enormous amount of love for our Religion and our Goddess.

One of the reasons I can talk about our ancestors for hours is because I admire them so much. I know what they sacrificed for us. When accused of being a witch, they could have simply turned their backs and denied it. But they didn’t. I know they didn’t want to die anymore than the next person. But sadly enough they did. Some were killed and others went underground to protect our Religion. To ensure it would be passed on from one generation to the next. Everyone of them took risks so we could have what we do today.

This time of the year is very special to all of us. Don’t get caught up in all the festivities and forget what it is really about, remembering our ancestors. We owe them so much. And we never can repay the debt we owe them. But we can remember them. I believe remembering and honoring is the greatest way we can say “Thank You” to them for all they have given us.

Without our ancestors and their sacrifices, we wouldn’t have our Religion. This Samhain, hold the memories of your ancestors dear to your heart. Remember them and give them the honors they deserve. They have given us so much.

In the honor and remembrance of all
our ancestors.
Thank the Goddess for them.
 

How Do You Know A Magical Working “Took”?

How Do You Know A Magical Working “Took”?

Author:   Bronwen Forbes   

I ran across this question on a Pagan forum the other day, and it got me thinking back to when I was new at all this ritual and magic and witchcraft stuff – was that really half a lifetime ago? – and so unsure of my ability to do even a basic working. Fortunately for me, the Gods I chose to invoke were kind, patient, and tolerant of my novice fumbling, as were my teachers and fellow students.

There are actually several ways to know whether or not a ritual or a magical working “worked” or “took.” Some are immediate; some are long-term. In general, sabbat observances and celebrations don’t have the success bar set very high. If you feel like you’ve “done” Litha, or Mabon, then that’s good enough — whether you’ve participated in a three-hour ritual or simply prepared a satisfying barbecue in the back yard for your friends and family.

The first (and sometimes only) indication you have that your spell or ritual was a success is to ask yourself: How do I feel? Do you feel better than you did before the ritual started, or do you feel worse? If you feel better, i.e. less worried, less frightened, more confident, more energetic, calmer, happier or whatever then, at least on some level, the magical working was a success (I’m assuming no one is stupid enough to actually do a working to increase worry, fear, low self-esteem, lethargy, nerves, or sadness) .

Paganism and Witchcraft do have one thing in common with all other religions, and that is to offer comfort and a life raft to the practitioner in times of troubled waters. So if you’re done with your spell or ritual and you feel better, that should that tell you something.

Also, sometimes you just know. There’s almost an audible “click” that means, “Message received. Action forthcoming.” In fact, it sounds a lot like the “click” you hear when you meet someone for the first time and then say to an old friend, “I don’t know, we just clicked!” That click.

If you aren’t already, you should start keeping an informal log or journal of what magic and rituals you do when, and what result (s) you hope to achieve. For one thing, it’s a good idea to keep track of what happens. Say you do a magical working for an easing of financial difficulties. You write it down in your log and forget about it.

Three months later you look back and realize that, since you did that working, you’ve gotten a small raise at work, a nice tax refund from the federal government, and all of your Pagan 101 books that you posted for sale on amazon.com have actually sold! Does that sound like your spell was successful? It does to me!

Another good reason to keep a log or journal of the specifics of your workings is that, if the rite is a good one, and it works — two or three months down the road — you can re-create the working years in the future, if you find yourself in the same situation. Even better, you can share the basics with a friend who might, say, be in a dire financial situation just like you were and isn’t sure what to do, magically speaking, to fix it.

Sometimes, though, with big workings on big issues like, “I want to move to another part of the country, ” or “I want a child, ” one ritual or one spellcasting just isn’t going to have enough “oomph” to help you accomplish what you want. You may need to wait a few weeks (one lunar cycle is good) and do another one. And another one on the next major holiday. And another one on the next holiday after that…

For a big working, I suggest you vary the details slightly in order to cover all the different aspects of the issue. For example, if you want to move across the country, try doing one working to choose your new location wisely and help you get yourself and your stuff there safely, another working to get a job that will take you there (or be waiting for you when you get there) , and still another working to help you find good friends and a congenial community once you arrive. They are all rituals to help you move across the country, but each one focuses on a different aspect of the moving process.

How do you know whether or not you need to repeat the working more than once? Same way you get to perform on stage at Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice.

Unfortunately, when you’re talking about magic and ritual, there is no box you can check like there is on your email to indicate message received and read. And it really doesn’t matter how carefully you prepare and how well you execute your working. Some things just aren’t to be – at least right now. Does this mean that your time and effort and energy were for nothing? No. It just means that energy has been “banked” somewhere, and is waiting for more favorable conditions to act.

Patience is more than a virtue, here. It’s a necessity.

Let me give you an example: ten years ago, I was doing regular intense workings in order to find love, or for love to find me. But no matter how many losers I hopefully dated, the time was not yet right. But the day I woke up (and I don’t mean in the morning) and realized that one of my oldest friends was Mr. Right, all that energy that I’d sent out and the Gods had stored for me fueled one heck of an intense courtship!

Within 3 months I packed up and moved to where he was currently living. A year later we were married. As of this writing, we’ve been happily wed for over eight years.

When the time is right for the working to “take” – be assured, it will!

Doing What the Book Says: A Cautionary Tale

Doing What the Book Says: A Cautionary Tale

Author:   Bronwen Forbes 

I was young, I was a shiny new Pagan, the Internet – which made contacting my fellow religionists as easy as calling my mom – was about ten years away from being invented, and by gosh I was going to perform this solitary sabbat exactly as The Book told me to! (And no, I’m not going to tell you which “The Book” it was. It would only embarrass me further and wouldn’t do the now-deceased author’s reputation any good. Okay, okay I’ll give you a hint somewhere below) : By the time I’d finished my ritual, I’d nearly burned the house down – a house that included my dog, four cats, and my born again Christian (now ex) husband.

But I learned a valuable lesson that night, a lesson that I see more and more new Pagans ignoring these days:

Books (and now the Internet) are no substitute for practical, hands-on experience with a group of like-minded people. But allow me to continue my illustration:

The Book said I needed a cauldron for this ritual, so I found a really cute brass one at Pier One – it even had soldered-on brass feet which I thought was particularly important – it’d be up off the hideous pumpkin orange shag carpet in my den because Gods forbid I scorch the hideous pumpkin orange shag carpet. The Book said to pour about an inch and a half of rubbing alcohol into the cauldron. And light it.

And, Gods help me and my now ex-husband who was sleeping – oblivious to the ritual and the fire – in the next room and the dog and the cats, I lit it.

The Book didn’t say (or maybe I missed that part) that this ritual had been designed to be performed outside. Outside where, theoretically, a six-foot column of flame shooting out of a brass cauldron wouldn’t be quite so much of an issue. Naturally, The Book didn’t say anything about having a pot lid or sand nearby to smother the flames, so I had no way to douse the tall bonfire that was pretty much the same shade as the hideous pumpkin orange shag carpet.

The Book also didn’t say that the cauldron would, ideally, be cast iron, and not soldered brass bits. Any intelligent, experienced ritualist could have told me that, but I didn’t know any other ritualists yet – intelligent or otherwise – so I was on my own. And it finally dawned on me that I was in big trouble when the solder attaching one of the cauldron legs melted from the heat, causing the pot to tip sideways.

I now had about four feet of flame at about a forty to forty-five degree angle from the floor. I’m just damn lucky it didn’t tip so far that the alcohol poured out onto the aforementioned lovely orange shag carpet. As it was, some of the individual threads were a little black and crunchy if you examined them too closely.

Eventually, the inch and a half of rubbing alcohol burned itself out. Subdued, I finished the rest of the ritual as quickly as possible, put my things away, and crawled into bed beside my still-sleeping spouse. All that was left to deal with was the interesting conversation the next day.

Him: How did that black stuff get on the ceiling in the den? It looks like soot.

Me: I have no idea, dear.

Him: And the carpet looks like it’s singed or something.

Me: Really? I hadn’t noticed.

Funny? Yes. Stupid and potentially lethal? You betcha. However, the incident made me understand the contemporary wisdom of the old phrase, “You cannot be a witch alone” and I started circling and studying with the nearest group before the next sabbat. (Nice to know I’m not as dumb as I look!)

I am not saying that being a solitary practitioner is a bad thing. Far from it, whether you choose to be so for personal or geographical reasons. I am saying, don’t leave your common sense in the back pocket of your other pants whenever you open a book of Pagan rituals or click on a Pagan how-to website. It’s not common sense to wear a short, sleeveless tunic at an outdoor ritual in January. In Wisconsin. It’s not common sense to fast if you have any sort of blood sugar issue. And it’s sure not common sense to try to set your den on fire just because The Book said to do something a certain way. If I’d been thinking, instead of slavishly following, I’d have had one heck of a less exciting evening – to my benefit. And yes, these are all examples of bad advice I’ve seen in books and online.

If some faceless Pagan authority (me included) writes that you should do something and your gut tells you it’s a bad idea, listen to your gut. Better yet, go find someone who’s actually been in ritual with other people and ask them – and their friends. If, through Witchvox, you can’t find someone in your neighborhood, well, it’s better to go online and ask around rather than suffer frostbite – or burn your house down. Better yet, see if you can spend a few holidays in ritual with them, ask questions, learn how rituals are — and are not — supposed to go.

I’m on a lot of online Pagan forums, and I can’t even begin to count how many posts go something like, “I tried this ritual with my friends last night and now I feel sick and I have the worst headache. What did I do wrong?” Well, did you ground and center beforehand? “No, the ritual didn’t say to.” Did you check to see if you might be allergic to whatever you burned as incense? “Um, no.” Did you eat anything beforehand? “Um, no.” Five minutes asking about these sorts of basics beforehand, either online or at a local Pagan meet up would stop most, if not all, of these sad posts.

I’m also a print journalism major, and my professors are always cautioning me that if something, no matter how preposterous, is written down, people will believe it. This includes you. So we future newspaper reporters need to be extra careful about making sure our stories are as accurate as possible. How do we do that? We confirm through other sources anything we’re told as “fact.”

I cannot advise you too strongly to do the same.

I was young, I was a shiny new Pagan, the Internet – which made contacting my fellow religionists as easy as calling my mom – was about ten years away from being invented, and by gosh I was going to perform this solitary sabbat exactly as The Book told me to! (And no, I’m not going to tell you which “The Book” it was. It would only embarrass me further and wouldn’t do the now-deceased author’s reputation any good. Okay, okay I’ll give you a hint somewhere below) : By the time I’d finished my ritual, I’d nearly burned the house down – a house that included my dog, four cats, and my born again Christian (now ex) husband.

But I learned a valuable lesson that night, a lesson that I see more and more new Pagans ignoring these days:

Books (and now the Internet) are no substitute for practical, hands-on experience with a group of like-minded people. But allow me to continue my illustration:

The Book said I needed a cauldron for this ritual, so I found a really cute brass one at Pier One – it even had soldered-on brass feet which I thought was particularly important – it’d be up off the hideous pumpkin orange shag carpet in my den because Gods forbid I scorch the hideous pumpkin orange shag carpet. The Book said to pour about an inch and a half of rubbing alcohol into the cauldron. And light it.

And, Gods help me and my now ex-husband who was sleeping – oblivious to the ritual and the fire – in the next room and the dog and the cats, I lit it.

The Book didn’t say (or maybe I missed that part) that this ritual had been designed to be performed outside. Outside where, theoretically, a six-foot column of flame shooting out of a brass cauldron wouldn’t be quite so much of an issue. Naturally, The Book didn’t say anything about having a pot lid or sand nearby to smother the flames, so I had no way to douse the tall bonfire that was pretty much the same shade as the hideous pumpkin orange shag carpet.

The Book also didn’t say that the cauldron would, ideally, be cast iron, and not soldered brass bits. Any intelligent, experienced ritualist could have told me that, but I didn’t know any other ritualists yet – intelligent or otherwise – so I was on my own. And it finally dawned on me that I was in big trouble when the solder attaching one of the cauldron legs melted from the heat, causing the pot to tip sideways.

I now had about four feet of flame at about a forty to forty-five degree angle from the floor. I’m just damn lucky it didn’t tip so far that the alcohol poured out onto the aforementioned lovely orange shag carpet. As it was, some of the individual threads were a little black and crunchy if you examined them too closely.

Eventually, the inch and a half of rubbing alcohol burned itself out. Subdued, I finished the rest of the ritual as quickly as possible, put my things away, and crawled into bed beside my still-sleeping spouse. All that was left to deal with was the interesting conversation the next day.

Him: How did that black stuff get on the ceiling in the den? It looks like soot.

Me: I have no idea, dear.

Him: And the carpet looks like it’s singed or something.

Me: Really? I hadn’t noticed.

Funny? Yes. Stupid and potentially lethal? You betcha. However, the incident made me understand the contemporary wisdom of the old phrase, “You cannot be a witch alone” and I started circling and studying with the nearest group before the next sabbat. (Nice to know I’m not as dumb as I look!)

I am not saying that being a solitary practitioner is a bad thing. Far from it, whether you choose to be so for personal or geographical reasons. I am saying, don’t leave your common sense in the back pocket of your other pants whenever you open a book of Pagan rituals or click on a Pagan how-to website. It’s not common sense to wear a short, sleeveless tunic at an outdoor ritual in January. In Wisconsin. It’s not common sense to fast if you have any sort of blood sugar issue. And it’s sure not common sense to try to set your den on fire just because The Book said to do something a certain way. If I’d been thinking, instead of slavishly following, I’d have had one heck of a less exciting evening – to my benefit. And yes, these are all examples of bad advice I’ve seen in books and online.

If some faceless Pagan authority (me included) writes that you should do something and your gut tells you it’s a bad idea, listen to your gut. Better yet, go find someone who’s actually been in ritual with other people and ask them – and their friends. If, through Witchvox, you can’t find someone in your neighborhood, well, it’s better to go online and ask around rather than suffer frostbite – or burn your house down. Better yet, see if you can spend a few holidays in ritual with them, ask questions, learn how rituals are — and are not — supposed to go.

I’m on a lot of online Pagan forums, and I can’t even begin to count how many posts go something like, “I tried this ritual with my friends last night and now I feel sick and I have the worst headache. What did I do wrong?” Well, did you ground and center beforehand? “No, the ritual didn’t say to.” Did you check to see if you might be allergic to whatever you burned as incense? “Um, no.” Did you eat anything beforehand? “Um, no.” Five minutes asking about these sorts of basics beforehand, either online or at a local Pagan meet up would stop most, if not all, of these sad posts.

I’m also a print journalism major, and my professors are always cautioning me that if something, no matter how preposterous, is written down, people will believe it. This includes you. So we future newspaper reporters need to be extra careful about making sure our stories are as accurate as possible. How do we do that? We confirm through other sources anything we’re told as “fact.”

I cannot advise you too strongly to do the same.

13 Questions You Should Be Able To Answer After Your Year & A Day Learning Period

13 Questions You Should Be Able To Answer After Your Year & A Day Learning Period

 

Below you will find 13 questions that you should be able to answer at the end of your initial study period. Also are included are answers, not necessarily the right answer, but answers to make you think.  The answers are also provided because you have learned so much and perhaps some of the things you might have forgotten. Either way, the answers are just examples and to be used a thought provoking.

 

1. define and describe a pagan. 

“For  the pagan and primitive peoples whom Jews and  Christians  alike
have  always  reviled as idolaters, the moving air, the  fire  on  the
hearth, the rhythm of the seasons, the bird on the wing, the  markings
and  movements  of  the beasts, the  streaming  waters,  the  circling
stars  … all these, and the works of man’s own hand, are alive  with
an intelligible presence.  They are symbolic doorways that invite  the
imagination through to high experience.”
Theodore  Roszak

“It  is necessary to treat the animals well, and to regard all  things
as if they were living beings who hear and understand.”
Johan  Turi,
MITTALUS SAMID BIRRA

In  historic times a pagan would have been any number of peoples  wor-
shiping  nature gods.  This worship seems to have been based  in  pre-
historic forms of religion including shamanism with a pedigree of it’s
oldest  forms  echoing  back more than 30,000  years.   Because  these
religions  were based mostly in tribal cultures emphasizing  tradition
rather  than  sophistication, the sources tend to  be  entirely  oral.
Verbatim  memorization, while it’s possessors survive, tends to  be  a
more exact method of transmitting data than holy texts which can  (and
have been) altered or completely changed.

With the complete suppression of the tradition, however, knowledge  of
paganism  has faded to a faint glimmering of references  and  supposi-
tion.   In modern times a pagan would tend to be someone  feeling  the
lack  of  purity,  lack of originality, lack of  rootedness,  lack  of
foundation  in over-theologized religions whose original  message  has
been overgrown and altered to suit priestly interests, whose  leaders’
preachment  is motivated often by self-interest and whose  ‘qualifica-
tions’  are primarily glandular and (sick) psychological  rather  than
illumination.

The pagans I have met are, in general, more sensitive than normal  and
‘feel’ the world directly, in contrast to this miasmatic culture which
submerges us in ‘safe’ anonymity, relegating us a guaranteed role as a
consumer  unit.  The religions that fail to give us more dignity  than
that,  that fail to foment rebellion against such an insult  naturally
lose  those  more sensitive people.  They fail to grant us a  path  of
rejoining  to ourself.  A pagan seeks this and it is the very lack  of
structure which allows the freedom of thought and feeling and practice
that attracts so many people that have been ‘lost’ by other religions.
In  our ‘culture’ traditions regarding the manner of living are  rele-
gated  to the ‘ignorant’ past and lost.  Responding to this  need  the
neo-pagan  will  try to re-create a life-enhancing  religion  open  to
individual experience based on whatever gleanings of the ancient forms
are left.  Given enough intelligent application and sufficient politi-
cal  freedom,  a reasonable facsimile, true in spirit and  similar  in
some  forms will evolve.  Truly, much of what was lost  was  priceless
and  will never be recovered, but also a great much of what  was  lost
had decayed beyond recovering so that the last people to suffer  under
these  benighted  superstitions that had once  been  vital  religions,
probably were better off without.  We have the opportunity to rebuild,
to renew with vitality, to recover what was good that is still  known.
People  being what they are, divergence seems to be the rule,  yet  we
live in a ‘global village’ and cross-reference and cross-fertilization
is inevitable.  It is the talent of wicca to seek that which works and
as we relearn what can create a life that is true to the heart we will
share.   Given the degree of computer interconnection in our  society,
it  would not be surprising that techniques rediscovered in one  place
would  be known world wide within a season, just by word of  computer.
It  is a time for hard work for what we do now will be what those  who
come after will have to build on.  The freedom of choice and  associa-
tion and abundance of sources almost guarantees that bull in the  name
of  the gods will quickly get trashed.  It is a time for  honesty  and
genius.

A pagan is a being in a state of  becoming.

2.  Define and describe a witch.

I would say that a witch is someone belonging to a coven and  worship-
ing  nature gods.  A witch may have special knowledge and  powers  re-
garding herbal lore, magic, divination, magical flight, separation  of
the  body and soul, love philters, amulets,  exorcism,  trance-medium-
ship, hypnosis, communion with god/dess’, communication with  spirits,
drawing down the Moon, invocation of good and exorcism of evil  influ-
ences, and more, perhaps.  The means of producing these results may be
in the traditional circle, guided by a priest and priestess, by chant-
ing, drum-beating, dancing, ritual invocation and supplication.

These  powers have been supposed to be special wild or inherited  tal-
ents  to  do  evil by intention alone (1) but I feel  they  are,  when
possessed, no more or less than the natural power of life, consciously
directed.   This power is automatically controlled daily  without  our
conscious  direction or realization.  As our digestion or  circulation
function  without  express thought, the life power is utilized  at  an
even more basic level to create our life and world.  Expressed  uncon-
sciously  for whim or feat, self-destruction or in creativity,  it  is
not  without us but a part of us, a part of every living cell.   Thus,
not  only  is it a very legal power to us, but to miss  to  direct  it
consciously would be like missing the oars in a rowboat, the doors  of
a  house.  Some people brag that they never read the  directions  sup-
plied in the package.  To avoid discovering the ‘directions’  supplied
with  life would seem to be to miss most of the glory of being  alive.
(1)  Witches were and are supposed to be entirely evil and opposed  in
every action to the expression of life.  (Surely such a creature would
self-destruct!)  This is an expression of the ‘alien’ theory which has
been used by many (ignorant) cultures to explain the presence of  evil
and imperfection in a world that is ‘supposed’ to be perfect.  It is a
terrifying  theory but apparently people would rather be scared  silly
than  say,  “I made a mistake” or “What seems evil to us is  just  the
natural  working of life.”  The appellation of ‘witch’ has been  given
to Huns, Jews, heretics, and recently to men by some feminists.

3.  Are you one of the above or both?
4.  If so, say what and why. 

I  am myself.  I am what I do.  I have avoided labels for  myself  and
would not start sticking them onto myself based on the attendance of a
few functions.  Precisely, I have not been accepted as an initiate, an
essential step in a tradition oriented to group membership.  I am  not
a pagan in the sense that, outside of weekly circles, I do not worship
any god or goddess.

5.  What do you see as positive in paganism?

I have always felt good in the circle.  I have said it previously that
I am happy to be here.  But in thinking how to answer this question  I
have  found  some answers that have much  reinforced  these  feelings.
What is here in paganism is unique and precious.

Here  there is the encouragement of individuality and also  a  strong,
positive  and unique group identity; this is very rare, especially  in
our society.

Here  there  is  spiritual expression within a  true  construction  of
religion  and including respect for the need for personal  freedom  of
expression; this is very rare in any society.

Here  there is tradition in a society that has eschewed  tradition  in
favor of the new, especially new products; yet what is the meaning  of
products which have no context?

Here there is honor to each sex in a society that is very divisive and
competitive and generally derisive of everyone especially women.  Here
there is a celebration of life in a society that seems to have forgot-
ten  where it came from and remains; which if it recognizes nature  as
valuable converts it into a prepackaged commodity.  Indeed, the  value
of nature is a matter of constant debate, a debate that is  inevitably
won by those who see value only in dollar signs.

Here there is a group of intelligent people large enough to be  inter-
esting  yet small enough that each is important, whether one  attends,
who  one  is and especially if one participates in  helping,  each  is
important.   All these things are RARE in our society;  their  conver-
gence here is unique and precious.

6.  What do you see as negative in paganism. 

I don’t know.  I haven’t had any problems so far.  The need for secre-
cy is inconvenient in some respects particularly at work and with some
friends  who,  I am certain, will never be able to  grasp  the  notion
correctly.   But then secrets can be kind of fun, too.  I  have  found
the  essential  facts  of paganism not directly accessible  but  I  am
beginning to understand that it is a fairly large subject.  (Added  15
June ’89)  A certain lack of focus.  It is understandable since  there
is no central authority to impose goals.  Yet is should be possible to
agree on basic needs and goals and though there would be no  overseer,
a  kind  of competition based on comparison of  results  (apparent  in
fests, perhaps).  To achieve this, however, we need to understand what
is  needed and why.  Still there does seem to be a good deal  of  work
being done in different places.  The quality and amount of information
is expanding every year.

7.  What is your concept of death?

An incomprehensible, insensible condition concluding our actions  here
on earth.  A period of summation and consolidation; having shed to the
earth  the accumulation of errors and age in the body, one is  reborn,
washed  clean in the blood of the new life.  I particularly  like  the
idea  that it might be something like Scrooge’s Christmas Eve;  seeing
and understanding the events of one’s life, then the regrets of  unex-
pressed love would be the motive impelling the soul to rebirth.

But then I don’t really know.  It might be nothing.

8.   What  do the following words bring to your mind:  god,  goddess,
priest, priestess. 

God, Goddess, ineffable, incomprehensible being beyond our concept  of
good  or  evil.  The notion of sex in gods is our  convention  to  aid
philosophical  discussion and to assist in forming an emotional  rela-
tionship.   (added 15 June ’89)  “Maybe something more, rooted in  our
nature.”, Daniel’s comment.

Priest, priestess: persons who have made a commitment to further their
religion  by their personal effort.  Being ordained or  initiated  and
all that.  The sexual distinction is trivial, relatively speaking,  of
course.   The essential act is that of spiritual guidance and this  is
more a matter of training and talent.

9.  What are the privileges and obligations of a teacher?

To  share knowledge, to have one’s expressions listened to,  to  enjoy
the  responses of one’s students.  To be responsible in what  and  how
things  are  taught.  To admit freely areas of one’s doubt  or  little
knowledge  to be clear in expression and patient in  explanation.   To

respect and respond to the students efforts as the teacher’s purpose.

10.  What are the privileges and responsibilities of a student?

To  share  knowledge, to enjoy the attendance of a  teacher  to  one’s
education.   To work actively toward the development of  one’s  educa-
tion, to respect the teacher and cooperate and trust, within reason.
The teacher’s responsibilities are greater.

11.  What do you seek from Wicca?

A  personal path and some help along the way.  Friends that don’t  say
things like “You don’t believe THAT, do you?”

12.   Are  you more attracted to the religious or  practical  side  of
Wicca?

I can’t say.  My conception of any sincerely religious person is  that
he  tries to express his convictions into his life.  To me,  it  seems
that  the  most potent form of prayer is in work.  Or  like  Gurdjieff
said,  “Work as if everything depends on work.  Pray as if  everything
depends on prayer.”  It seems to me the lack of practical work  leaves
a  religion without a skeleton, the rest of the tissue has nothing  to
hang  on.  I would say that the practical side, including much of  the
wisdom teachings, should not be separated from the religious except as
a convention to facilitate teaching.

13.  Are there any areas of this framework that you particularly  wish
to study.  What  and why.

I’m not sure.  Right now I’m just taking it all in in any order  what-
ever.  I would like to understand the philosophical framework better.                                            Moon lore has happily occupied me this last  year
and  promises  to  be a long-continuing interest.  The  laws  and  the
social framework of wicca are also very intriguing.  My idea now about
ritual work is that it is possibly best as a form of self-therapy,  at
least  in the beginning, since all of us come to this  very  demanding
subject  full  of  flaws enough to trip us up  constantly  unless  our
personal peculiarities can be pinned down and dealt with.

A Little Humor for Your Day – Top Thirteen Reasons To Be Pagan

Pentagram_by_artgeza_II

Top Thirteen Reasons To Be Pagan

13. I live for persecution!
12. I’m a night person at heart.
11. We respect our elders…and alders, and willows and oaks.
10. I just love explaining that a pentagram is NOT evil.
9. We do more after midnight than most people do all day!
8. Being burned at the stake is a great way to roast marshmallows.
7. We can talk to Elvis (and he IS dead).
6. You live, you learn, you die, you forget. Then you come back…
5. Double the deities, double the fun!
4. We get more holidays.
3. Brooms get great mileage.
2. We were here first!
1. BELTANE!!!

Spell Casting: The Witches’ Craft

Spell Casting: The Witches’ Craft

Author: Jason Miller (Inominandum)

The Greeks made a distinction between theurgy and thaumaturgy. Theurgy literally means “God working” and refers to spiritual work that leads one into illumination or gnosis. Thaumaturgy means, “wonder working” and refers to the conjuration of spirits, casting of spells, blessing, cursing, curing and harming through practical magick. The balance between these two aspects of the craft has been an issue since the emergence of Wicca in the 1950’s. Does  overshadow religion? This debate has been heating up in online  and blogs recently due to a story on beliefnet.com by Carl McColman entitled Is Wicca Under a Spell, which deals with both sides of the issue. Many people in the Pagan community that I have spoken with feel that magick and sorcery do the religious aspects of Wicca no good and should be downplayed. Some I have spoken to have no interest in spell-casting at all, or perhaps don’t even believe in practical magick, and thus see this aspect of the craft as an obstacle to Wicca taking its place as a major Western religion. I would like to take this opportunity to present the opposing argument.

What often gets overlooked is that Wicca and Witchcraft are not the same thing. The terms are often used interchangeably but Witchcraft is a craft that can be, but isn’t necessarily, part of a religion. Wicca is most definitely a religion. While not all Wiccan traditions stem by lineage from Gerald Gardner, by and large they use a constellation of terms and beliefs that were first put in place by him and those that came after, thus we can say that we can trace Wicca more or less back to him. Witchcraft is a larger area than this. Isaac Bonewits once provided a breakdown of the types of Witches in America, which can help put this into perspective:

10% Neo-Pagan – Revivalist traditions, including Wicca.
70% Neo-Classical – Those who practice folk magick with mixed Christian and Pagan roots without regard to Witchcraft as a religion.
1-2% Classical village healers who practice completely non-religious folk magick.
1-2% Neo-Gothic – Practitioners of Satanism which is based on the Gothic Witchcraft of the Witch Hysteria Era.
1-2% Family Trads.
1-2% Immigrant Traditions: Pow-wow etc.
10% Practitioners of Vodou, Santeria, etc.

For example one of my ancestors was allegedly a “water witch” who told people where to dig wells. While in Venice I was offered a charm to obtain by a Witch. In both of these cases the Witch in question was a devout Christian. According to this breakdown Neo-Paganism and Wicca account for only %10 of American Witches but even within that scope there are many Witchcraft traditions that make it very clear that they are not Wiccan: The Feri Tradition, The Clan of Tubal Cain and the Cultus Sabbati all represent traditions of the craft that have non-Gardnerian roots, and do not fall under the umbrella of Wicca.

I have an enormous respect for Wicca but I am a Witch, not a Wiccan. I object when the terms are used interchangeably and when Wicca attempts to speak for all Witchcraft. I got involved with the craft during the mid 80’s in North Jersey, just outside of Manhattan. Paul Huson’s Mastering Witchcraft, Herman Slater’s Magickal Formularies, and the little spell books from Original Publications had much more of an influence on my Witchcraft than Scott Cunningham or Ray Buckland. This is not to say that I am not religious: I am. But I learned to use practical magick at an early age and was successful at it. I have traveled all over the world to learn traditional magickal techniques: from New Orleans, to Europe, to Nepal. Today I do magick professionally and consider traditional techniques of spell-working to be just as important as religious and spiritual traditions.

I would argue spell-casting is just as sacred as Wicca and Neo-Paganism and far more ancient and widespread a tradition. So where McColman asks the question: “As publishers produce more books about casting spells, is the spiritual message of Witchcraft getting lost?” I ask the opposite: Is the popular influence of Wicca and Neo-Paganism negatively impacting the tradition of spell casting, or if you will, the Witches’ Craft?

I think it is, on a number of levels. I will give just three examples:

Ethics:

The Wiccan Rede provides a very strong ethical principle for Witches to follow. As such, any mention of curses, jinxes, or harmful magick is frowned upon by the Pagan press. Some take this even further and extend it to spells that influence another’s will or reverse a curse back upon its sender. Very often in modern books I read “A REAL WITCH would never do harmful or coercive magick…” While I can applaud the good intent of these writers, and understand that authors are trying to paint a picture of Wicca that is acceptable to mainstream America, the fact is that this type of magick IS part of a “REAL” Witch’s repertoire. From the lead curse tablets of Greece, to the Gospel of Aradia, to more modern Witches like Sibyl Leek and Andrew Chumbley, cursing and coercion have always been a part of the Craft.

When my teacher taught me my first pieces of harmful magick, I was surprised. I had no interest in harming anyone but she told me, “You have to learn how to harm, in order to learn how to heal. The power comes hand-in-hand.” Apart from that lesson, life has taught me that a curse can be justified, and that in rare instances it can be down right compassionate. It is the use of knowledge that determines whether it is good or evil, not the knowledge itself.

To my mind allowing Wicca’s religious stance to determine what gets printed about traditional Witchcraft is wrong and pollutes the baraka of an ancient art. For instance Paul Huson’s book Mastering Witchcraft is one of the only early books of the craft that deals with the subject of vengeance and attack, and was given a horrible reputation in the Pagan community because of it. I have been to stores that refused to even carry it. One that did felt the need to put disclaimers all over it stating that it was “Not Real Witchcraft.” The book didn’t endorse vengeance and attack. It merely tried to present the full scope of the art it claimed to teach. In doing so, it put the preceding chapter on counter-magic and protection into great context. If anything, the craft teaches personal responsibility. Why then can we not trust readers to make their own ethical decisions about the craft?

Materia:

In the aforementioned article on beliefnet.com, Gardnerian Priestess Judy Harrow, author of Spiritual Mentoring, was quoted as saying:

“I remember once a man solemnly informing me that if a spell calls for, say, blue candles, and the candles are white candles dipped in blue instead of being blue all the way through, the spell will fail or maybe even backfire… People who believe that (magic) power is in ‘the stuff’ will not be able to access the power if ‘the stuff’ is not handy.”

A proficient Witch learns to substitute items that can’t be gotten in time. We also learn the magics of breath, gaze, gesture and incantation that can be cast without materials of any type whatsoever. While I agree that not all the power is in “the stuff, ” there certainly is quite a bit more than many modern writers would have you think. Many modern books make the case that “it’s all in your mind” and that the materials are just props with no real power of their own. This to me is disrespectful to the Witches and sorcerers that painstakingly wrote down formularies and philtres over the centuries. If this was really the case, why bother getting the ingredients right at all? Why not just write down “Devils Shoe Strings” on nine pieces of paper and use them instead of the herb? Try it and see what kind of results you get. Having lived in Nepal and worked with various Ngakpas (sorcerers) and Jankris (shaman) , I can tell you that they take their ingredients very seriously. I can say the same about the Bokors and Root Doctors of New Orleans.

Flying ointment made from mugwort in a carrier oil may be safer, but it is not just as good as one made from hemlock, belladonna, and other baneful herbs carefully mixed and applied. A stone with a hole drilled in it will not work as well as a real hagstone formed by running water. A twig from the backyard will not provide as good a basis for an influence charm as a whole High John root. These things have a tradition that goes back hundred of years and should not be cast aside so easily.

Psychological Reductionism:

Australian sociologist Douglas Ezzy was quoted in the beliefnet.com article regarding the effect of spells themselves:

“In his paper ‘New Age Witchcraft? Popular spell books and the re-enchantment of everyday life, ’ Ezzy notes that spell books ‘encourage individuals to take control of their lives through self-exploration and self-affirmation.’ Furthermore, ‘performing magical spells functions as a way of re-discovering the enchanted and mysterious aspects of life.’”

McColman further interprets this:

“In other words, spells are more than just magical recipes for getting your own way; they are miniature rituals designed to foster a sense of mystery and wonder (what Ezzy calls ‘enchantment’) in everyday life, and to evoke a positive sense of power and hope in the spell-caster’s life. Even if casting a spell doesn’t make you rich or win you love, it could give you hope that such blessings really are possible in your life.“

There are many Pagans and Wiccans that have no interest, belief in, or talent for spell-casting. That’s okay. I don’t believe that Witchcraft was ever meant to be a widespread practice. It may be elitist of me to suggest it, but I don’t think that everyone can cast an effective spell. Some can, some can’t. What we have today however are people drawn to the purely religious and spiritual aspects of Neo-Paganism and mistaking it for Witchcraft. They need to find a way to explain the place of spell-casting in a modern world, so its gets explained away in psycho-babble.

Many teachers today will explain that spells don’t actually offer outer change, only inner change. A spell to help you get a job will perhaps build your confidence but not affect the mind of the interviewer. The claim is that the magick is providing mystery, wonder, and self-affirmation. These are all good things, but it is clear that Witches throughout history did not feel this way about their craft, and neither do I!

I and many others know from experience that a well placed and executed spell can alter future events, affect the mind and spirit of a target or a client, and generally deliver the goods that are traditionally attributed to the craft. The effectiveness of this depends on the ability of the practitioner, knowledge of the art, and skillful application of that power and knowledge. Some people have a talent for practical magic. Some do not. Not so long ago, if you didn’t have a gift or calling for Witchcraft, you would not have been drawn to it. Now that it has become a popular subculture and religion, I wonder if people that don’t have much talent for spell work feel the need to write it off? To be clear I don’t think that you need to practice spellcraft to be a Pagan, or even a Wiccan, but that doesn’t mean we should reduce the classical art of Witchcraft to therapeutic drama.

McColman quotes writer Laura LaVoie as saying: “One of my fears with the spell books is that they send the wrong message to those looking for answers on how to be Pagan.” I have heard her fear echoed often in the Pagan community but very few consider the other side of the coin: Neo-Pagans can sometimes send the wrong message to those that just want to practice Witchcraft.

It’s pretty easy to tell whether a book is religious or is a collection of spells. I find it difficult to believe that someone looking to get a start in a new religion would pick up an Encyclopedia of Spells. On the other hand I do know of many people who came to a spiritual path, Wiccan or otherwise, through a desire to cast spells that opened up deeper questions.

I have what I consider to be a very rigorous and serious spiritual practice. I also am a professional Occultist who does readings and magick for pay. If Wicca doesn’t want to be confused with spell-casting, then they should stop using the term Witchcraft and Wicca interchangeably. Wicca represents one tradition of Witchcraft, not the whole practice.

There is room for both spells and Spirit. Keep the spell books coming! Keep the Pagan books coming! Keep the Wiccan books coming! Let them all get better researched and lead people deeper into the mysteries, from whatever angle of approach they choose.

May the Blessing, Cursing, and Cunning Be!

Footnotes:
McColman, Carl, , beliefnet.com, 2005.

Reflecting on Witchcraft, Then and Now

Reflecting on Witchcraft, Then and Now

Author:   Crick   

These days I find myself in periods of reflection on my experiences in the Craft and the ways that is has affected my personal views on life. As part of this reflection, I often wonder in what direction the Craft is now undertaking.

My girlfriend of many years, who is a Druid, and who has spent hours engaged in discussions with the old guy, will occasionally tell me, “you just aren’t right” before flashing a huge grin. When she says this I feel honored because it confirms that I have walked through this life as an individual. And it is has been the experiences of being involved in traditional Witchcraft that has made such a life experience possible.

But now I find myself in a quandary as to my personal views of witchcraft.

When I was growing up on a farm in Tennessee in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and later in suburbia in MD, our family quietly practiced the Craft as we knew it by way of our Irish heritage and the Appalachia influence that we grew up around.

Outwardly we were like any other family at the time; just our beliefs were a bit different from some. And though we referred to folks outside of our personal family as “the others” we were never obvious about such beliefs and so folks around us in the community had no clue. In fact, only one outsider, a Mrs. Bowie, who was a retired minister of a mystical Christian church and close friend of my grandmother Ina and a family from Ohio that used to visit my grandparents when we lived in MD, were the only non-family members that were aware of our ways.

Were we special?

Absolutely not, we were just as dysfunctional in some ways as any other family from that era. However, we never believed in publicity as far as our particular beliefs in the Craft. This was not due to fear of any public backlash or what have you; it was just our way to be private about our family ways.

In those days, folks believed that went on behind closed doors stayed behind those same doors. When my mother branched off into a coven separate from our immediate family at the beginning of 1970, a coven whose focus was primarily on Astrology and its influences on life, the ways of silence were such that though I as a teenager was aware of the existence of that coven, I knew next to nothing beyond that tiny morsel of information.

Some of you may have met my mother at some point in time for during the 1970’s she performed astrological and Tarot readings for a cruise ship liner that traveled between the coast of Florida and the Bahamas.

At any rate, during the mid 1970’s I spent three years in Germany with the military and during that time I was associated with a coven that engaged the path of Hecate and thus would probably be seen as a “dark” coven by Neo pagans today. And yet, though we were very active, we did not seek and in fact went to great pains to avoid publicity.

And now I come to my reservations and thus conflicting emotions about the openness if you will of witchcraft in today’s times. During the years that I have mentioned above, privacy was something that was as a natural way of life at the time and was respected as such.

I am keenly aware that during these same times, that those of the Wicca were in fact moving in the opposite direction and actively seeking publicity at every opportunity. Beyond this observation I personally have no comment to share about the Wicca during those times, for I am speaking about witchcraft as I know it from my personal experiences and not about the fledgling religion of Wicca.

In today’s day and age, with the advent of the Internet where information is readily assessable and where there are now a plethora of Wicca and witchcraft 101 books, it is difficult to find folks who adhere to the tenets of privacy that witchcraft once knew. My personal concerns are that is such openness really a positive step forward in regards to witchcraft?

When I examine my personal views of witchcraft, I see a spiritual path that is wide open to “personal” discovery. Nor do I see any valid restrictions on what or how a practitioner of witchcraft may engage in order to arrive at such discoveries. If one sees the need to conjure up a spirit or other entity in an effort to experience such a discovery, then so be it. If one needs to resort to witchcraft to correct a wrong from another, then again, so be it.

As a witch, I believe that each of us is an individual and as such I do not believe in Karma, a concept that is foreign to the art of witchcraft. But I do believe in maintaining personal responsibility. As an old school witch, I feel that I know my personal goals and the experiences needed to achieve them far better than any group of folks such as those found within the many religions that make up our world. If I make a mistake than I am the one who has to pay for them.

I personally do not believe that a public forum has the right to outline boundaries that defines what steps I am allowed to take to arrive at my experiences in witchcraft. As an individual I do not believe that anyone outside of me has a say on how I personally pursue the path of witchcraft.

Again, I am the one that has to answer for any trial and errors that I engage in within the parameters of witchcraft. And yet this is exactly the perception that we are at in today’s Neo pagan community.

Witchcraft is now defined (erroneously to my mind) as a religion. And as a religion all of the tenets that were once diametrically opposed to the tenets of witchcraft are now accepted as being the norm.

Because of the instantaneous communication of the Internet, folks who engage in witchcraft are cast into a false image of being light and fluffy folks. I personally do not believe in Good and Evil, as these is primarily concepts that originated with the Abrahamic religions. I do believe that there are shades of light and dark, but only in the sense that we need such labels in order to put a sense of understanding on such concepts as they relate to the human experience.

And so I have to wonder, if we took the overwhelming desire for publicity that defines the art of witchcraft today, would witchcraft still be defined as it is by today’s standards. Or would the freedoms that were once a tenet of witchcraft, flourish yet once again?

And are such modern standards, which in effect are enhanced by way of the Internet, realistic as it pertains to the practice of witchcraft?

Massive publicity may bode well for a religion in the sense that it needs such attention in order to boost its membership. But is such publicity really a positive and useful approach to a mystical spiritual path that requires no such membership beyond that of the individual practitioner?

Is the personal responsibility that has always been an unavoidable tenet of witchcraft still possible or even a consideration in the concept of witchcraft as it is defined by today’s standards? Has such massive publicity made witchcraft into a completely unrealistic concept in order to be acceptable to today’s society? Has such publicity taken away from the base realities of witchcraft?

I is for Invoking

I

 

 

Invoking

Invoking is a form of voluntary possession. When you invoke a deity or being, you’re not asking it to come hang out, you’re inviting into yourself, and that god or goddess will manifest through a human host. The ritual of  is an excellent example of invocation of deity.

Typically, if you’re new to spiritual practices such as Wicca or Paganism, most people will advise you to hold off on invoking deity until you’ve learned enough to have a good handle on what’s happening. It may be a good idea to focus instead on evoking, and communing with the gods, before you go inviting them to take control of you, even if it is just on a temporary basis.

W is for Watchtowers

W

 

 

Watchtowers

In Wicca, Guardians known as Watchtowers are called. These guardians are held hostage in each of the four corners or directions of the circle: East, South, West and North. They are set there to guard and protect the circle. This calling of the Watchtowers usually takes place during what is known in Wicca as “Calling the Quarters.”

Traditional Witchcraft does not call the Watchtowers, it does however, call Guardians. These Guardians are often called Spirits with whom a person feels comfortable with and has had a relationship with. Guadians can be our Ancestors, a Spirit Guide or other Spiritual Entity with which the you are familiar with.

 

 

The Celtic Calendar for February 2nd – Imbolc and Candlemas

Imbolc/Candlemas Comments

February 2nd – Imbolc and Candlemas

The festival of Candlemas has ancient roots, for in Pagan Europe, fires were kindled at this time of year to reflect and encourage the growing strength of the Sun. It’s name is Christian, however, being derived from the tradition of the future year’s supply of candles being blessed before the first mass of February 2, and then being carried around the church in a pious procession. This is also the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple; the parallels between the Virgin Mary and the Goddess in Her maiden aspect, and Baby Jesus and the solar child of promise, are unmistakable.

 

Candlemas Creativity

White represents purity, pale gree denote a fresh start and growth, and a flame signifies the kindling of creativity. Light candles of these colors to commemorate the concepts symbolized by Candlemas. As you gaze at the flaming taper, ask the Goddess for inspiration.

Witchcraft 101: The Rhythmic Practice Phase (part 3)

Witchcraft 101: The Rhythmic Practice Phase (part 3)
Author: Wren

Since its inception, the Witches’ Voice, has been barraged with email asking the simple question… “How do I become a Witch”? Although, it has never been the mission of the Witches’ Voice to actually teach Witchcraft we find ourselves constantly shocked at the aweful responses the Teenage Witch or new seeker receives from many that “claim” themselves “elders” of the craft. For this we apologize. We will never preach or claim to “have the answer”.There are indeed many paths and many ways, it is our goal to give you the tools to  and what to look out for.

Part #3…

The Rhythmic Practice Phase

How are you doing so far?

The first two lessons should have taken you about six months of study and practice to complete(if you worked at it diligently). You should now also be fairly comfortable doing the basic ritual from the previous lesson. Remember that you actually have to DO the ritual – not just read it, dream about it or visualize it. Get up on your feet, get your tools together, light those candles AND DO IT!

“Effort requires that you either answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

Teachers can always tell if someone who comes to them has done the work. The first time that a student will do a ritual or take part in one with others will clearly show his/her experience or lack of it.

If you have done the work, this does not mean that you will not be nervous your “first time out.” You will! But you will also be amazed at how quickly this nervousness will pass as the ritual progresses. Your spirit and inner child. (Him/her, again?) WILL remember all those practice sessions and soon you’ll be enjoying the whole thing immensely!

Along the way, DO Remember these four little things:

Life is always changing. Nothing stays the same.

To Know you have To Do. Experience requires action.

The quality of each experience – as you draw it forth and do it and live it – becomes the substance of your wisdom.

Yes, there will be a test on this. There is ALWAYS a test on this!

O.K., what’s next?

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters,
compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rhythms of Nature, Rhythms of Life:

The Neo – Pagan Paths that we are discussing – including Wicca and Witchcraft – are called “Earth – based” religions. The rituals and practices follow the seasonal changes of the Earth. Some Paths use the eight holidays of the Wiccan Wheel of Life; some adhere to the more traditional Four Fire Festivals calendar. Some groups have come up with their own cycles according to their belief systems. What calendar will you use?

When you have decided which Holiday calendar that you want to incorporate into your life – lesson, read all that you can about it. Take one Holiday at a time. Look for resources, descriptions and Myths about each Holiday. Think upon each one as both a special event and as a “marker” for the year.

During the Rhythmic Stage, you will explore the year through the cycles of Nature. And yes, this phase DOES last an entire year. There is no other way. You may begin to reach out a bit more during this time – exploring new contacts, taking some classes, attending public events – but the personal exploration of the Rhythmic Cycle of The Holidays should be your primary focus.

Why? It is in this cycle that you will learn much more about yourself and your place in the Universe. Everything that is exists as vibrational energy. Some things have a higher frequency, some a lower one. You will learn to “feel” the vibrational changes around you as the seasons come and go.( An essential skill to have in Magick! )

Do you get a little “spring fever” around April or May? Look at the earth. She is excited about this time of year, too! Buds are swelling on the trees and flower plants are poking their first leaves out of the ground as if to ask, “Is it safe to come out yet”?

Do you feel particularly invigorated in the Fall crisp air? Watch the squirrels run around and dig into the ground to hide their nuts. Hear the bees as they bob from plant to plant racing down the coming frost. “Hurry, hurry, hurry,” seems to rustle the drying leaves from the trees. (I’m sure you get the idea.)

There Are Patterns

“I learn by going where I have to go.” – Theodore Roethke.

Most Pagans have a  or transmigration of the soul. All things in Nature are born (germination), grow, mature, reproduce, and then decline and die. The cycle begins again. This is why reincarnation makes sense to most Pagans. By observing the Rhythmic Cycle, we reflect on this process and we may come to think that it just “seems right”. Not too surprising really. It’s “natural,” isn’t it?

You have a place in this cycle. You probably were not brought up to think in this way. Most aspiring Neo – Pagans weren’t. This year of study will show you not only where you fit into the cycle of Nature, but how your active involvement in these cycles can change your life. When you come to understand and work with the natural rhythms in the world around you, you will understand what it means to be Pagan.

Here are some reasons why “rhythmic learning” – and possibly reincarnation – works:

Effective experiential learning will affect the learner’s cognitive structures (action theories), attitudes and values, perceptions and behavioral patterns.

People will believe more in knowledge they have discovered themselves than in knowledge presented by others.

Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process.

Acceptance of new action theories, attitudes, and behavioral patterns cannot be brought about by a piecemeal approach.

It takes more than information to change action theories, attitudes, and behavioral patterns.

It takes more than firsthand experience to generate valid knowledge. Besides experience, there needs to be a theoretical system that the experiencer tests out and a personal reflection on the meaning of the experience.

(The above principles come from the work of Kurt Lewin, one of the important founding fathers of social psychology who influenced the development of the Group Dynamics movement in the early 1940’s.)

I’d add a seventh point – Make It Fun!

Hunt down seasonal objects for your altar. Think about colors for cloths and robes. Make a headpiece for each Holiday. Pick a mythic story and follow it throughout the year. Act it out! Dress the part! Dance! Sing! Write a poem! Cook up a recipe! Adopt a “totem” animal for each season. Make a special storage box for each Holiday’s special decorations. (Every Holiday will feel like Yule as you open your Holiday boxes next year. Add more goodies!)

“A man of faithful thought may feel in light, among the beasts and fields,
the turning of the wheel.” – Wendell Berry

WHY Are You Doing All This?

Transformation!

Transformation begins from within. Many people turn to a religion – or to magic! – in an attempt to change the things that they perceive to stand in the way of their ‘true happiness.” Many a love spell has been cast more to ease one person’s own inner loneliness than as a real desire for an equal relationship with the object of their current “affections.”

Inner transformational work is difficult, messy and anything but instantaneous. This explains the current nervous searching out of “just the right spell” by many a new seeker to the Craft. Hoping to somehow by – pass the true work involved in developing a magickal way of life, they hope for something in the order of a Hollywood special effect. “Just say the magic words…” and your insecurity problems, heartaches and financial worries are over! Uh – uh…it just doesn’t work like that. Sorry, Mr. Spielberg….

As you work through the year of The Wheel, you will learn a lot about yourself.

Such as:

Respect – Both for the interconnection of all Life and for yourself.

Thought – How you can change your life by changing your thoughts.

Examination – Looking within yourself for answers and solutions.

Release – Letting go of old habits and emotions that no longer work.

Synthesis – How an individual can also be part of a whole.

Creativity – Trusting your intuition to help you make viable choices.

Action – Learning how to act rather than re – act.

Love – Being able to give and receive healthy love.

Strength – Inner courage to overcome circumstances without harm.

Transformation! – The realization that only you can change what is not working in your life. Only you can make your life what you want it to be. And only you – through difficult, messy and lengthy work – can make your magickal Life one of Love, Light and Power!

 

“ The outstanding error of learners, in whom it is excusable, and of many teachers,
who teach without wisdom is that they associate Occultism with practices
rather than with PRACTICE. I teach the LIFE of concentration and meditation…”
– P.G. Bowen

Magical Thinking

Magical Thinking

Author: Levi

Many times when people find the Pagan community we hear that children display many unique abilities, unlike their adult counterparts who have been conditioned to our modern mundane world. How do children view the world of seeming superstition and magick? What can we learn from this and apply to our lives as modern Pagans? It is with the tools of skeptical thinking, psychology and a dash of good old fashioned pondering that I would like to explore with you these topics.

First of all children take things for face value; while observing, they soak in every comprehensible detail unknowingly. Yet their actions are based more on what they have been instructed to do, not what they observe independently. If you were to throw a notion or better a devout law into their thought process, and couple that with the respect they feel for the notion-dropper, that child is capable of believing in any possible thing. Think about Hansel and Gretel, Harry Potter, God, the bogeyman, any of the archetypal “make-believe” characters, and you know what I mean. Their level of belief in the characters, and/or magickal thinking, depends greatly on which level of cognitive development the child currently maintains. Aside from that, social learning plays an important role because parents are the children’s first and foremost teachers and the sheer scope of their job is extensive. “Therefore if children are to learn to walk, to speak, and to take care of themselves, adults cannot simply wait for a time driven process of cognitive development to unfold, neither can they wait until a child exhibits desirable behaviors by chance, and then lavishly reinforce the lucky episode.” (Vyse pg. 157) As the years pass from pre-operational thinking, ages 2-7, to concrete operational thinking, ages 7-11, so declines their susceptibility to superstitious beliefs and irrational concepts of reality. Skepticism is an adult characteristic and is acquired, if at all, with age. Which brings us to formal operational thinking, over 11 years of age, which starts to incorporate logical thinking over the more fiction-based, directly-handed-down method of learning. The pre-adolescent begins to put together abstract thoughts and construct its own views on its reality, and other realities. After the pre-adolescent stage the child therefore begins to seemingly take on a more what we would term adult view of reality and reason. Though conformity can be seen as the destroyer of intellectual thinking, it nonetheless steps in around this age. It works as your individual observations weigh less as your understanding of social interaction and acceptance begin to affect more and more of your decisions.

What exactly does all this mean, you may ask. Well all of these facts show that in our increasingly modern world we are slowly conditioning our children to no longer think with imagination and creativity. Nevertheless a starling array of what are termed as old wives tales, warnings and magickal thought still survive till today and are reflections of many preoccupations and/or human fears that have been passed on over time. But it is my thought that we need not view these things in such a light, as it would be much wiser to view them as a part of oral tradition to pass on. It is also interesting to note as a parallel that sometimes science has demonstrated that certain beliefs relating to various plants and foods that hold magical powers do in fact have a basis in reality and have been proven to work. On the other hand people still avoid walking under ladders and knock on wood and cross their fingers in order to guard there luck. With this in mind, of all things this teaches us that it is not only important to instill our traditions into our youth if they are to survive, but to instill these traditions as a way of love, if the world and intelligent humanity is to survive.

My personal experience with the topic of traditions could be viewed I guess in part as a long legacy if you will, which everyone has, if a little thought has been put into it. First off I come from an Irish/Sicilian descent; both cultures have been steeped in magickal and superstitious thinking for millennia. Ever since I was a small child I remember a figure or wall plaque of the triskele in my home. The triskele is a symbol of Medusa surrounded by three legs representing the three magickal nymphs. In essence the story of this symbol dates back to the times and stories of the goddess Diana within ancient Italy. Still today many Sicilian people have this symbol within there home to guard the home from negativity and yes today here in my home, hanging over the front door, is a triskele symbol. Somehow throughout my childhood I have taken on this simple traditional superstition, accepted it and have woven it into the workings of my own life. But this is typically how family traditions or what may be termed superstitions seem to work.

Thrown into this mix I was born and raised in Kansas. Now the Midwest doesn’t seem like it is much of a magical place, but actually it is a place filled with local traditions and legends, mostly belonging to the Native Americans that once lived there and other people known as God fearing Christians! In addition to this I can remember as a child being told by my grandmother to stay close to the house because of the Gypsies who at one time were known to be in the area. But moreover she taught that they would kidnap me and never let me come home. Actually and generally these Gypsies were immigrants that would travel through the area from time to time, but were long gone before my days on the prairie. What I do know now is that this was her way of protecting and keeping me close to home as was also her way of keeping me in bed at night with tales of the bogeyman and his nightly rampaging of the land in search of children! “But don’t worry; he might let you lose when the sun comes, if you’re lucky, ” she would always say, ever so wisely.

Over the years as I grew up and have (unfortunately) gone far beyond my stages of development I have later learned that these fictional creatures have served as a tool for elders throughout time as means of safeguarding children. Even though I still may think of Mr. Bogeyman from time to time, and maybe I’ll pass that one on. I believe that because of these experiences that I have had in the past, my upbringing and the fact that I am the product of two old hippies, this has led me to where I am today. It has led me to my view upon the world as a much more magical place than what the average may think. Witchcraft and the study thereof, is an earth-based religion passed on from our Pagan ancestors that looks to the divine within the aspects of nature, therefore working and following closely with the waxing and waning seasons of the year. It is heavily involved with ecology and moral issues in addition to environmental issues. Witchcraft also teaches us to be open-minded and at the same time to think very wisely of the world, and the issues within it. It also teaches you to value the people around you and your future of this world, remembering not to take everything for granted or at face value, thereby devaluing one’s own self and worth.

It is suggested these traditions are that of false superstitious behavior and are abnormal in nature. Probably no other aspect of psychological behavior is more challenging to understand than that of the abnormal because it is thought of as kind of working hand-in-hand with mental disorders. In everyday life, people often talk about “mental illness, ” a term which echoes of medical asylums and twisted and cruel mental health practitioners, so in turn this view has given a negative view or stigmatism upon the subject of abnormal behavior. In hand this is placing a negative view upon traditions, which may be viewed as abnormal, because they do not fit into the mainstream. The reality is that public understanding of true abnormal behavior is fairly limited and right now we still don’t have all the answers when it comes to understanding and treating disorders. But is abnormal behavior by itself really a disorder? When you think about the word itself all abnormal behavior really is the fact that when someone may act in a manner that does not fit society’s expected view of normal behavior, they are viewed as abnormal. Does the behavior make them mentally ill? I think not, in fact to me this sounds a little reminiscent of what we now term as The Burning Times. Truer things to consider or to ask when deciding if someone is abnormal are: Is this person suffering? Is her or she seemingly maladaptive? Are they irrational or unpredictable? Or are they violating morals or society’s standards? The thought is that when a person displays a couple or more of these conditions then we could label one as abnormal or as having a mental condition with some confidence. I also think this is a good approach and also say as long as the person is not harming him or her self, others, or the surrounding area then there may really not be a problem at all. Maybe the person is very creative or there could be a long list of other possibilities that do not fit under the heading mental illness. When real thought is put into it maybe the real problem lies in the observer of this “abnormal behavior.” It may in fact be touching on some of observer’s own personal fear, bias and or issues on an unspoken or hidden level. Or simply it may be a behavior that the observer has never been exposed to before.

This also works within the realm of Magickal traditions. Because of the mainstream views upon Magickal traditions as irrational in nature it is thereby simple to label someone as irrational. This type of labeling can be very tricky and or harmful, as history has shown us. But again we tend to view irrational behavior within the context of the extreme, which leads us back to that old abnormal behavior. Are my beliefs or traditions abnormal and/or irrational compared to that of a Christian or a Jewish person or are theirs compared to mine? I think not, because as we can see every faith and/or culture around the world has its own set of values, traditions, and thoughts on belief, magick and superstition. It’s how we think that is really important because when we think in a linear way opposed to a more creative way we tend to push our personal views and/or perspectives upon others and in the long run can lead to conflict, maybe even harm. We see these downfalls and issues working everyday within the media alone.

My closing thought on growing up learning and passing on magickal traditions and in effect living one’s life with the belief in these ways is not something to be shunned. The point is no matter how odd society would like to view us and our magical ways of thinking or what labels they would like to put upon the subject, in actuality under some circumstances it can prove to be very rational, therapeutic and/or a combination of the two. Our beliefs in Magick as well as our traditions will continue to flourish as a natural human expression around the globe even in the most technologically advanced societies, and probably as long as there are humans to utilize these tools… The fact is, is it above irrational to bring comfort to the modern human condition? Which the magickal traditions can and do provide. With this in mind learn once again to think with the imagination of a child and create new beautiful realities for our future to come.

Footnotes:
Vyse A. Stuart (Oxford university Press 1997) Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition
Pickering, David (Cassell 1995) Dictionary of Superstitions

 

Asking Questions

ASKING QUESTIONS

 

One of the most important skills you will ever learn in your life is learning which questions to ask and when to ask them.

You will never learn how to do much of anything in your life if you do not learn how to ask questions, and not only that, but to question the answers you get in return.

For instance, “I want to learn about wicca,” is not a question. It is a statement.

“Teach me about wicca,” is also not a question. It is a command, even if you add the word please.

Think about what you really want to ask. “Can you teach me about wicca?”

Ok, you’re getting closer to the question you really want answered. “Will you teach me about wicca?”

Even closer, but the topic at hand is a large one.

Look for where you actually want to start learning.

Good questions to start working with are “What makes wicca different from other paths?” or perhaps, “What is the first thing I should learn to start my journey of learning about wicca?” These last two questions are good questions because they are specific and and give the person you are talking with an idea of what you are actually interested in learning.

Here’s another example.

I want to learn how to bake bread.

First of all I find someone that knows how (the right person).

Then I wait until they have the time to help me and a place ready to show me how to bake bread.

I try to read up a little ahead of time if I can and show up well rested and ready to learn hopefully without any preconceptions (the right time).

Now I could ask them what the chemical structure of bread is, or why it browns when it bakes or what type of butter to use on it, but none of these are very good questions to help me towards my goal of learning how to bake bread.

True it might be useful information, but I can always learn the answers to those questions later once I have learned the basics.

So my first questions are, “What are the ingredients we use?” and “How do we start?,” two specific and useful questions.

A good question asked at the right time to the right person helps the person answering it almost as much as it helps the person asking it.

If the person you are asking questions to has no idea of your level of knowledge of the subject or your specific area of interest at the moment they cannot help you nearly as well as they could if they knew these things.

Good questions are one way of helping a person understand what you want to know and what level of difficulty you want it explained at.

A Pagan Students Bill of Rights

A PAGAN STUDENT’S BILL OF RIGHTS

1. You have a right to the quality of education commensurate with the medians in similar education for others in your chosen area. Check several teachers or schools to find just what those medians are considered to be.

Corollary: You do not have the right to expect your teacher to be a “SuperPriest/ess” who will fulfill your every need, want and desire. Today, many are advertising themselves as “teachers” with little more than a few years experience themselves, much of which may be book learning. Truly experienced Elders and “Grand Masters” are exceedingly few and far between. Consider yourself astoundingly fortunate if your teacher falls into this category, but within reason, expect a teacher of Paganism to be human and fallible – resolve for yourself to learn what you can from the situation you are in.

2. The terms of your education shall be agreed upon in advance of its commencement by mutual contract between both teacher and student. Either party may at any time with prior advance notice, rescind said contract. Don’t accept an amorphous “well, we’ll just take it easy and see what happens” approach. You have the right to know exactly what to expect in terms of time, commitment and subjects learned.

Corollary: You may not drop out of tutorial with a teacher without making a reasonable attempt at telling them why you are feeling uncomfortable enough to do so. Be specific, they need to know how their behavior affected you and your potential for learning from them.

3. You have the right to expect a teacher who is compassionate, has a good sense of humor, has respect for you and others and who has a healthy level of self- esteem. A good teacher will admit when s/he is wrong in the moment and will usually heark back to their own novice days with anecdotes of their own trial and error to share with you. A good teacher knows how to maintain the delicate balance between friendship and appropriate discipline.

Corollary: Any teacher who projects as “too perfect” definitely isn’t. Beware also the teacher who is continually in a state of personal woe – these people need too much of your energy that you won’t have to give them. Walk out the door and keep searching.

4. You have the right for the teacher to always be truthful with you. Choose teachers whose styles permit you to question freely, who “lead by example” and show you as well as tell you the things you are learning. You can’t learn herbalism solely by reading books, some day you have to get out into the garden and root in the dirt. Look for a teacher, whatever their specialty, who does the equivalent in their particular form of practice.

Corollary: Beware of teachers whose main boast is how many books they’ve read, or that all of their knowledge is “book learned”. Such teachers will not be giving you anything authentic that you cannot learn on your own from the same books. A person “teaching” like this is perpetrating little short of plagiarism. To bring in the danger factor, you do not want someone “teaching” you the art of soul travel/astral projection who has never really done it themself. Don’t be someone else’s guinea pig. A teacher is a rich resource not only of the literary materials they have consumed, but of their own experiences: those triumphs, failures and illuminating moments of true enlightenment that cannot be learned from any book in print.

5. You have the right to expect your teacher to hold a broad education themselves, with specialty areas in which they might be considered to hold above-average knowledge. Anyone purporting to be a teacher of Witchcraft, Shamanism or one of the other forms of Paganism is held to a standard of excellence in their own community, and usually will have specialised in some branch or another of its components. Bonus points to a teacher who has cross- cultural initiations or similar expertise/other cultural referents to draw from. A broad educational base generally lends another primary desired quality of a good teacher: a broad mind.

Corollary: Ask your teacher to name their teachers or others in the community who know them, and talk to them before signing on to that particular teacher’s list. You may find they have an expertise in permaculture, spellcasting or soul retrieval – or you may discover knowledge that might lead you in another direction. It never hurts as a consumer of a service, to obtain references.

6. You have the right to expect discipline from your teacher. You have the right to expect that they will not let you get away with slackness in your learning, presentation or commission of your duties to them. When learning, expect no less than to apply yourself with the diligence most would reserve for a graduate school degree. A good teacher does their own research and give credit where it is due – expect the same of yourself. Be on time; ahead of time even, for lessons and coven/circle activities as your teacher should. Do one more bit of homework than is expected of you. Expect no less than excellence of yourself and you will be richly rewarded.

Corollary: You have the right to expect your teacher to be firm, but flexible within reason. Teachers should be expected to keep their committments to you as you do to them. Overly regimented structures are not conducive to learning, although sometimes in some traditions, such strictures may be put into place specifically to challenge you and help you grow. Look for teachers who walk the balance between firm and flexible for the best learning environment.

7. You have the right to expect change. Do not expect a smooth ride. Life is its own powerful teacher – learning the arts of Shamanism or Witchcraft are seriously advanced study in the crafting of your own soul. By virtue of this process, your issues will be brought out into the open and you will be expected to deal with them and act/react accordingly. How you react will be noted by your teacher and you can expect to have such reactions become the topic of discussion for your further growth. You have the right to expect during these “spiritual crises” for your teacher/s to be there for you to consult, lean on just a little bit and to provide you resources for getting through. You do NOT however, have the right to call the teacher in the wee hours every night of the week with a new crisis, to monopolize your teacher’s time for weeks on end due to a major crisis or series of smaller ones. Some support is to be expected from a teacher, but not unlimited support. Ask prior to your training what level of support the teacher is comfortable giving you and adhere to that. Know also when to refer yourself to a competent psychotherapist or healer. And if your teacher suggests you do so, take their advice without quibble. Clinginess from crisis-prone students who do not engage competent healing staff at the appropriate times is one of the behaviors that can be incredibly abusive of the teacher. If such clinginess is particularly time and energy consuming, it may cause the teacher to end their relationship with you.

Corollary: Your teacher does not have the right to use information concerning your spiritual crises against you, or to pass you off without seriously attempting to help you. Any teacher who does this you should immediately disengage from. Such a person is not the one to be trusting with your soul and your psyche as is required from a teacher of the metaphysical arts.

8. You have the right to be listened to, to have your questions answered and the right to expect a reasonable amount of your teacher’s time for the discussion of issues you might have with your training, different areas you wish to explore, etcetera. A good teacher like a good psychologist learns to listen more than talk in order to know what is important and relevant to you, the better to help them custom-craft your learning experience. Walk away from teachers who refuse you time to state your concerns, pooh-pooh your questions or who motormouth over your every utterance.

9. At the appropriate time, you have the right to expect your teacher to either inform you that it is time for you to move on into your own practice, or to be open to your suggesting something similar to them. A good teacher expects their students to mature and progress beyond them and will be quite pleased for you when this happens.

Corollary: Any teacher who keeps you hanging on indefinitely for initiation, advancement, further training et. al. with prolonged and continual protestations of “you’re not ready!” when you know you are is not behaving in a mature manner. If it gets to this point, leave and seek those who will support your spiritual growth and advancement.

Anger, Argument, and Logic

Anger, Argument, and Logic

by Dedric

As pagans, we are followers of a spiritual path that is considered “fringe” in this country. This means that we can expect those ignorant of paganism occasionally to challenge our beliefs. Are debates with such people a waste of time? For cases where they aren’t, what is the best way to proceed? The first part of this article will be an examination of why people may not wish to learn or reconcile in an argument – a situation in which you can save yourself time by avoiding arguing. The second part will consist of ways to make yourself understood in the type of debates where both participants are listening to each other.

Why would someone purposefully ignore reason? Why would someone dislike those they have never met before? One possibility lies in the biology of anger. Anger produces a set of definite physical responses, one of which is the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline can be exciting; it’s one of the major reasons people choose to go bungee jumping and play football, for example. This is an important point to realize when deciding whether or not to argue with someone upset with the fact you are a pagan. If someone is coming from a space of anger, making peace could mean the end of his or her adrenaline fun. Don’t expect mere reason to stand in the face of this!

There’s power in realizing that provoking such situations can be a biological urge – a game the body plays to get what it wants. But in the face of this, there’s power in realizing that you are not your emotions. Comprehending this lets you come from a space of clarity, experiencing and letting pass these emotions the same way you can any other body function.

As a side note, let me tell you something that just might change your life: You can get high off being angry with yourself as easily as you can get off being angry at someone else. Many segments of our culture teach that hating yourself is “right,” while hating someone else is “wrong.” Give that some thought the next time you decide you are despicable and wrong because of your looks, weight, job or status.

Insofar as it is possible, try to look at the sources for an emotion such as anger when you experience it, and decide how much of it is due to a real issue in present time. For example, many pagans seem to justify their hatred for Christians based on the Burning Times. Are any of the Christians who were alive during the Inquisition alive now? Is it fair to hold people accountable for things their ancestors did? It’s worth a little thought.

I find it helpful to separate what actually happened in any given situation from any interpretations I have made of it. What actually happened is something one can state in physical terms. For example, when I was studying to become a massage therapist last year, I had a practice client who would drop by once a week for a massage and leave me a tip in the form of a contribution to my massage school tuition. One week, he didn’t leave anything. My interpretation, which ran through much of the next week, was “I didn’t do a good job” and “He didn’t like my work.” What actually happened was that he didn’t give me a check. It turns out that he just forgot, and he gave me two checks on his next appointment. Realizing, even in a deeper sense than I’ve suggested with this example, that our interpretations are not reality might save us all a little anguish. This seems to be especially true with regard to interpretations of the actions of parents, the government and other figures of authority. But we do derive enjoyment from making up stories about our lives, so don’t be surprised if you do it too.

So far, we’ve been examining anger and why it can produce situations and arguments that will be unyielding to reason. Now, let us examine arguments of another kind – arguments where anger isn’t the driving factor and where the participants disagree but are still listening to each other. In situations like this, persuasion is indeed possible.

The key to persuasion is listening. This is especially true with issues as sensitive as spirituality. Few members of groups that have been historically at odds have ever had the experience of hearing the “enemy” truly listen to them. If you don’t understand something, ask a question or two; this demonstrates that you are listening in a concrete way.

Very literally, try to see the world from the other person’s point of view. This is your best hope of convincing people about anything, or getting them to see your point of view. After all, people need to see the connections between what they already know and any new information to assimilate the new information. Also, since we most commonly come from spaces of self-interest, we’re most open to new ideas when we can see how they would benefit our lives. Being able to understand and frame issues in the other person’s language is essential for real communication to take place. This sort of active listening forms the bulk of a fruitful debate.

Many people are accustomed to using logically faulty arguments, often without being aware of it. If you are familiar with the most common errors, you will have an easier time mentally dismissing them. This will free you to listen for any real information in what a person has to say. Students of debate, rhetoric and logic refer to such logical errors as fallacies, and books are available that discuss them in detail.

Good luck in all your endeavors, and blessed be!

Common logical fallacies

Argumentum ad antiquitatum

Asserting that something is good just because it is old or traditional: “Billy Graham is a great human being because he’s been around forever.”

Argumentum ad hominem

Attacking the arguer instead of the assertion: “Paganism is not a healthy religion! The fact that you are pagan and smoke cigarettes proves it!”

Argumentum ad ignorantiam

Arguing that something must be true because it has not been proved false: “The Bible is true because nobody has proved otherwise.”

Argumentum ad numerum

Arguing that the more people believe something, the more likely it is to be correct: “Christianity must be more accurate than paganism. More people practice it!”

Non causa pro causa

Identifying something as the cause of an event when it hasn’t been shown to be the cause: “My friend took up paganism and then started having lots of great sex with gorgeous supermodels. Therefore, paganism causes promiscuity.”

Begging the question

Arguing from questionable premises.

Shifting the burden of proof

Putting the burden of proof on the person who questions an assertion. A special case of argumentum ad ignorantiam.

Slippery slope

Stating that should one event occur, so will other harmful events, when there is no proof made that the other harmful events are caused by the first event.

Straw man

Misrepresenting someone’s position so that it can be attacked more easily.