Do you have holiday traditions that are unique and/or special to you and yours?

We like to go and see the lights at UIW (when Alexandria was little, she called them the "Kiss-Me Lights")

Santa always leaves holiday PJ's under the tree for the kids to wear on Christmas morning (one kid is 24, but she still looks forward to it.)

Orange Danish rolls must be part of the breakfast experience.

"Muppet Christmas Carol" must be watched several times before the big day.

Tags: beliefs, daily life, family, fun stuff, holiday

It's been on my bookshelf for a while; picked it up at Half-Price Books a while back to see what all the fuss was about.

Been browsing through the basics. Had to stop because I started to twitch. Oy.

Anyone else read this gem?

Tags: beliefs, book, coven, craft, pagan, religion

Just an interesting tidbit I came across. Hope the HTML code for italicized text works through Email.

How did you find your spiritual path?

I have never felt myself to be on a path of any kind, as my life has more the quality of being carried downstream on a raging river full of rocks, so that all I have to do is try to steer a course through the endless rapids and enjoy the thrill of the experience. It may be helpful to add, however, that the parent who brought me up, my mother, was a Pagan, and I have never been attracted by any other sort of tradition although I have studied many in the course of my work as a historian. Paganism is therefore my background, but I am not strongly religious by temperament.

Full interview at:

http://druidnetwork.org/profiles/people/ronald_hutton.html

Tags: beliefs, history, pagan, religion, wicca

I've never really explored the actual site, so tonight I took a grand YouTube journey with the keyword "Wicca."

Oh, dear Gods. I've never seen so much 101 rehash in my entire life. It made my brain all hurty. With all those "High Priest/esses" out there, aren't there a few who can give something beyond a Scott Cunningham-style presentation?

Just a brief observation before bedtime. Comments welcome.

crossposted to wiccanwitches

Tags: beliefs, pagan, religion, wicca, youtube

I was asked this question on a Christian forum. The original question and my response are below.
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Q: What made you become a non-Christian out of curiousity? Not trying to attack you but based upon my experience I don't think I could ever leave the presence of the Lord. I may get angry at God but to leave makes me wonder if you really gave your heart to the Lord. The wiccan group is such a different spirit than that of the Holy Spirit that I am afraid you have been deceived by something when you "first gave your heart to Christ". Again just curious ...

A: Nerohdam, thanks for asking. It was the hypocrisy of the institution that led me away from Christianity. When I first proclaimed myself to Jesus Christ, I had an inner emotional shift that has never been equaled to this day. It put me on very solid footing, even in my darkest hours, that there was a Divine presence in the world. The love was so pure, so powerful, so intense, I cannot begin to describe it in text. However, the church itself left me cold. So I asked, “where do I go where my questions will be answered, where this experience makes sense when shared with others?” And here I am today. Through study and experience, I have found a serenity in Wicca that was not found in the earthly church. I never got angry with God, I never left the presence of the Divine. I simply realized that, seeing and understanding the profound complexity of the creation around me and within me, that God having many paths to the center made perfect sense. The Holy Spirit is the divine spark that illuminates us with the wisdom and knowledge of the Divine. How each person walks with that knowledge is personal. That’s a very basic answer to a complicated journey, but it’s a summary.
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Crossposted to wiccanwitches

Tags: beliefs, christian, faith, journey, pagan, spirituality, wicca

My response to this question in another forum:

I believe that what we see in the afterlife is what we expect to see. Christians will see Jesus, Wiccans will see the God/dess in whatever manifestation moves them, etc. Since the afterlife is really just the flip side of this world, the astral mirror of the material, then we must remember that what we perceive will be an illusion. Once we are consciously aware of that, we then move on to the next life.

I take comfort from the idea that this makes sense. This blip of life cannot possibly be all there is for the complex creatures that human beings are. This sliver of time cannot possibly be what makes or breaks our souls for all eternity, based on our imperfect actions.

Tags: afterlife, beliefs, death

It was for stalking, and one other felony that escapes my memory at the moment. I look at all the posts recently about supporting his wife, who was "fired for being a witch," and reflect upon what REALLY transpired. Honestly, she was a school bus driver who espoused sucking blood. I would NOT trust her around my children. And now, this fellow who "dares to be different" turns out to be a common felon.

I believe that the pagan community really needs to step back and take a good re-look at the idea of "unconditional, universal acceptance and tolerance." Too often, it means that people ignore their basic gut instincts because they don't want to appear intolerant. That's not only against common sense, it's unnatural. Nature gave us intuition for a reason, and people who proclaim to study and respect nature need to embrace that. Psychos need to be shunned, period. There's no "we have to tolerate all beliefs" about it.

Tags: beliefs, bias, community, intuition, nature, pagan, pc, tolerance

MySpace is yielding some good chatter. My response on another forum:
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I've found that an indulgent smile takes the steam right out of most folks who try to get a rise out of you. If you become reactionary, they go right for that weak spot, because if they hadn't hit a nerve, you wouldn't be reacting emotionally.

It can be frustrating, the little encounters that pop up. And we can let them build until it seems the whole world is judging us. But we must remember that these are personal issues of individuals, not a problem or agenda of the majority. If your faith truly IS a solid foundation for you, then the opinions of others are simply that - opinions. No threat.

Even family comes into this equation. It's more bothersome because we want to get along with our relatives, but if it's not possible, don't beat yourself up over it. They are who they are. Continue to be a role model as a stable, spiritual individual and they will decide how to take that, or not.

I find that firmness works best. Getting prayer Emails? Block 'em. Someone won't talk to you? Sorry, I'll miss you, but breaking off a connection is their problem; don't make it yours.

I could say more; I'm sure you'll find out in time that I usually do. ;) But I think my point's been made here.

Tags: beliefs, bias, conflict, pagan, persecution

A continuation of thoughts based on previous post.

What we’ve got here is a subculture within the pagan scene that thinks disagreement is a signpost of automatic intolerance, and if things aren't going exactly the way you want in life that you're being persecuted. Any form of criticism by other pagans equals intolerance, but on the other hand it's perfectly OK to try silencing or blacklisting anyone who dares to point out inconsistencies or disagree with any aspect of another’s practices or beliefs. If someone stands up and says they personally have a problem with such and such, and here's why, that's oppression. Or elitist, or (place "uppity pagan" label here).

For a community that is supposed to pride itself on individuality and breaking away from the "sheeple" mentality, it sure does rear its ugly head a lot. Somehow, any sort of critical thinking that goes into comfort zone territory is perceived as a personal attack, rather than an objective view that might be worth further study. It’s not going against the idea of "pagan unity" to disagree with, or point out a discrepancy in, or downright actively dislike, a person, belief or practice. It seems sometimes that paganism (to use a psychological cliché) enables victimhood. It’s one thing to provide friendship, understanding and support to a wounded person in their recovery. It’s quite another to hinder that recovery by encasing people in a rose-colored bubble of "tolerance and unconditional love," shielding them from any sort of negativity or things that might make them uncomfortable. That’s not healing; that’s crippling.

Tags: beliefs, pagan, pet peeve, rant, tolerance, unity

From a Meetup forum; comments and my responses.
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perhaps this is how the original individual sees their spritual path...as a form of cleansing. I doubt either of us would agree with their interpretation...but to say it's wrong...is to deny them their right to choose their own words for their spiritual pathway.

From what I remember, it started out as a Christian verse that has since been paganized. Not that a lot of pagans would admit to plagiarism of Christian stuff. So I can’t take it as a pagan expressing their spiritual path. The reason it got my goat to begin with was that it’s being passed around during the Hallowe’en season as a "see, witches aren’t bad, we’re harmless and peaceful and would really like you to run with that so I can stay under your radar."

It’s not the words themselves that gall me, but the context in which I have seen it passed around. Which, for me, trivializes the rich and complex nature of not only Wicca, but non-Wiccan witches (by lumping them in with a generic rose-colored image).

I really don't find it worth the hours of flame on it that some folks spent.

I find anything that misrepresents things to the point of being detrimental to how others perceive my faith is worth whatever time it takes to point out.

Tags: beliefs, meetup, pagan, pc, rant, wicca, witchcraft

This little gem is currently circulating on the pagan cybercircuit.

A woman was asked by a co-worker, "What is it like to be a witch?"

The co-worker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. The Goddess picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then She cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. She removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then She carves you a new smiling face and puts Her Light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

This was passed on to me from another pumpkin. Now, it is your turn to pass it to a pumpkin.

~author unknown~
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Oh, spare me the sparkly pabulum. There’s nothing wrong with looking at one’s relationship with the Divine in a positive light, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the idea of removing one’s less savory aspects and concentrating on being a better person. But this little ditty is unrealistic to the point of being delusional.

So, the Goddess does all this work, eh? The perfect Mother who wipes the slate clean, takes away all those nasty-bad traits and gives you a brand-new body, with "Her Light inside of you." Sounds more than vaguely….. Abrahamic? The acceptable "we’re really good people, just flawed, and unable to change without Divine intervention" story with the Deity changed out?

I’m sorry, that’s not what I define as being a witch.

( Warning: Deep thoughts ahead )

This will likely become an Editorial on my web site. See what happens when I imbibe too much AriZona green tea?

Tags: beliefs, pagan, pc, rant, witchcraft

My response to a 55 Underground discussion.
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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Free exercise includes, IMHO, the right to religious privacy. If my kid has to stand and say the Pledge with "under God" and she does not want to, she has two options. One, to suck it up in silence, or sit down and mark herself. Either way, her right to religious privacy has been taken at that moment. Include a Deity she does not follow in a sacred pledge, OR reveal herself.

If you think that sitting down is a harmless alternative, I give you my husband's experience in high school. He refused to stand for the Pledge, and a classmate physically leaped over a desk and attacked him. Within the pagan community, we have many stories of direct and subtle threats in relation to this.

So I'll leave with this small observance - it's about so much more than a couple of words. I refuse to put my child in a compromising moral position, or potential physical danger, because the popular kids' noses are out of joint at the idea of taking out those words. It's very easy to say, "what's the big deal," when you are in the position of not having to worry about such things.

Tags: america, beliefs, conflict, political, rant