Dear Friends,
So working in a motel involves a lot of details many folks don’t think about when they check in or leave. For example, we hold onto items left in the motel (except food and toiletries) for 30 days, and then they are gotten rid of…. sometimes this involves tossing things out, or donating them to charity, or letting employees pick over them and then tossing them out/donating them to charity…
So we are in the process of moving the Lost and Found and some other store rooms around at the hotel I work at, and one of the items due to be thrown out was a NIV Study Bible, which my manager gave to me…

“Here, you go to Church, maybe you can use this… I am just not comfortable throwing out a Bible….”

Now since discretion is the better part of valor, and since I really didn’t feel like getting into the ‘what is Unitarian Universalism’ discussion at that point, or discussing the intricacies involved in being a U.U. AND Pagan, so I thanked her and started thumbing through the thing.   Just from reading a few of the footnotes between guests, the first thing that is clear to me is that the editors and myself have some disagreement as to the primacy of Christian mythology…

The other thing that is clear is that whoever owned it and lost it was clearly diving into their Christianity with the same passion and fervor that I dove into Witchcraft and Paganism oh-so-many-years-ago.  There are margin notes, and highlighting, and stick-on Chapter tabs; this is clearly someone who was passionately studying their holy book…

I find myself wondering if I should read the Bible again?  It’s been many years, but I find myself wondering about how it’s language and poetry and metaphors are so interwoven with Western and English-speaking culture… I also find myself wondering about some of the references I have run into online about how some of the metaphors and turns of phrase in what we now know as The New Testament, were inspired by the ancient Greek and Roman religious metaphors and language.

Then too, I am minded of the old joke…

If the Abrahamic faiths are Religions of The Book, Then Paganism could be called Religions of the Library…

So I find myself contemplating Bible Study… an odd choice for a Witch and Polytheist, slightly less odd for a Unitarian Universalist I suppose… but it still feels odd…

Have any of you out there any thoughts or advice?  Given that as a Witch and Polytheist and a U.U. I affirm that The Good, is expressed in ALL the Worlds Religions in some way, shape, or form; then don’t I have a sacred duty to seek to have some understanding of them?

So now I wrestle with the question, is this Bible that has presented itself to me a Coincidence or a Kledon?

Peace,

Pax

PS- I suppose that for the non-Pagan and non-Hellenic Polytheism/non-divination inclined out there I should explain a Kledon…  In ancient Greece there was usually a statue of the God Hermes in the market place.  If you needed an oracle, you could put a coin in the statues hands, whisper your question to it, and cover your ears.  Once you uncovered your ears the first words you happened to hear were the answer to your question/guidance in the matter.  ( I have heard other variations on the HOW TO of Kledons, but for a short form explanation this should suffice)

I personally relate the idea of Kledons to the sometimes synchronous experiences in my life… if you are open to guidance and inspiration they can happen…