Category: Community Building

The Spirit of Beloved Community & being in Beloved Community with Spirits

On By PaxIn Community Building, everyday, Gospel Pagan, Modern Pagan, My life with (some of) The Holy Powers and The Spirits, Notes on the Journey, Pagan Ponderings, Unitarian Universalist3 Comments

Dear Friends,

Today’s post discusses more of the U.U. side of my spirituality but also, like so many things in my life, crosses over into the cross-roads of my Pagan roots.

So with some fluctuations in my schedule recently I actually got to sleep the Saturday night before Church, instead of hoping to grab a nap after getting off of work from the overnight shift.   I was eager to explore the novelty of the Church Service experience having had a full nights sleep beforehand.  I was slow in waking up, even with having set my alarm early but not only felt the personal need to go to church… I also felt a bit unsettled about the idea of missing it that day.

So I got my things for my work shift together, quickly ran through some of my Daily Practice, gave Jonathan a kiss, and headed over there.

As I was driving up to the driveway I usually use, I could see that folks were there waving signs, at first I wondered if there was a car wash or something going on that I had missed reading about in the weekly 1U Email…  bright colorful signs and folks milling about the sidewalks and the side-driveway, so I pulled past the Robinson Street driveway and got ready to turn on North Hampton to what I think of as the Main Driveway.   It was as I was waiting for the oncoming traffic to let me turn that I realized that the signs were condemning abortion and homosexuality, and some of them were the extreme close-up pictures of dead babies that the far right and fundamentalists are so very fond of.

It says something about the spirit that my beloved community engenders within me that my first thought was a cheerful and almost eager…

“We’re being protested… how exciting!!”

On some strange level seeing those folks out there preaching down a storm on us, and the signs about how awful and false and without Jesus we were and how we would mislead folks into thinking Homosexuality (because we are an Affirming or GLBT friendly Congregation) or Abortion (1U Congregation members were instrumental in forming Planned Parenthood of Orlando) ….. somehow those folks protesting us confirmed deep within me my conviction that this Congregation was a force for good in the world.

I pulled into my usual parking spot, having arrived early despite getting briefly lost in the maze of streets between this mornings 408 exit and the Church, and set out to track down Rev. Kathy to see how I might be of help.  As I walked through Campus I could see members & friends of the Church also milling about both Gore Hall (our social hall) and the Sanctuary.  I found Rev. Kathy, and asked her..

“Shall I help make copies of lyrics sheets for We Shall Overcome?!”

She laughed and then in a slightly distracted manner reminded herself to change the closing hymn and talk with our Music Director…

Rachel, whom I know from around Church and from Worship Committee, came up and told me how some of the protestors were going to be leaving their signs and slogan-bearing t-shirts behind and join us in the Sanctuary for Services… and how there was also a Plain-Clothes Police Officer going to be in the Sanctuary today in case there was any problems during the Service.  I touched base with a few friends and felt the tension on the campus.  The overall mood of our folks seemed subdued, some folks were tense or nervous… there was a sense of dread and controlled anger and even fear in the crowd milling about waiting to start Services…  given the sad fact of some of Unitarian Universalism’s recent historyI suppose I can’t blame them.

I took a few moments to touch base with the coordinators of our newly formed Social Hour Team and discussed my sketchy schedule for July and August, said hello to a few more folks and ran into Rev. Kathy again.  I asked her if I should see if the Protestors needed any water or if they needed a restroom or something… it’s called Radical Hospitality, and I am a practitioner of it… she pointed out that they probably already had their needs covered (and that some of our co-congregants might not be as ready to extend Radical Hospitality as am I…).  She seemed a little nervous, so I reminded her of those Six Breaths she had once talked to me about and let her get going to the Sanctuary.

At some point in all of this, the part of Geoffrey that chose the name Pax, that now goes by other more secret names, the part of me that has danced Deosil round Rowans in the Rain, that has thrown offerings of Grain and Rum out to the many Holy Powers and to the Spirits and Ancestors, the part of me that has tried to self-train as a Priest to the Holy Powers for most of the last 20 years sat up and took notice.   I breathed into my Center and my Chakras and to my Connection to the WitchFather, and took another look around.

There were a couple of members sitting in outdoor chairs by the Robinson Street driveway to keep an eye on the protestors and make sure they didn’t come onto Campus with their signs or t-shirts… which since it’s out property we have the right to deny folks entry if we wish, though its sad that we have to make that choice.  Somehow, it was the realization that we had members on guard pushed both my Witch/Pagan buttons and my Usher/Greeter/Multiple Committee Member buttons.  I took another deep breath and asked the Spirits of the Church, the dryads and other nature spirits of the campus and Genius Loci and the Congregational Egregore, to lend a hand.

I found myself entering Usher/Greeter mode, greeting Church members and looking around for member needs and ways I could help.  Rev. Kathy mentioned she needed a glass of water for the pulpit, so I went and got one…

“I Bless thee and consecrate thee oh, Creature of Water and cast out of thee all impurities, that we might work wonders…”

~I spoke the words of consecration as I walked from Gore Hall to The Sanctuary…

…by the time I returned Services were beginning so I placed the glass of water on the table to the side of the pulpit area where the book of Joys and Concerns was waiting to be fetched by the Rev. when she was ready…

I returned to the back of the Sanctuary by the doors to the Foyer, and Rachel came up again and reminded us all of the Evacuation plan for the building and as she and her partner Nicki went to Gore Hall they shared a few key Cell Phone number’s with me in case some of the protestors who were observing the Service caused trouble.  I watched the beginnings of the Service, but was already feeling a part of it yet standing apart from it, with my Acrostic eye viewing things through both a Pagan headspace and that of an Usher… so I took my leave of the Sancuary and walked through the Fountain Courtyard, past various Memorial Plaques and plantings and made sure that the protestors weren’t planning on disrupting things by marching through on that end.

I am realizing my time-sense of the day is a little off, partly because the usual Order of Service was adjusted and there were no Words for All Ages, the children were already in the Religious Education building… probably to insulate them from the protestors.  When a member  parent and child arrived late the protestors started shouting at the mom about how the child was endangered from our Churches false teaching.  Some comments the Director of Religious Education had made a little while ago made more sense, and I realized that this also insulated them if there was violence from the protestors.  They probably had the RE complex locked up tight…

I stopped at the back of the Sanctuary, facing Hampton behind the back wall of the Pulpit/Altar area,  where some of the most recent memorial plaques are and where I had poured offerings of water to the Congregational Ancestors when my friend Sandi joined Them this Spring, and sent a few breaths to the Honored and Beloved dead of the congregation asking for their guidance and guardianship and aid.  The protestors did not look to be trying anything on that score, so I returned through the Fountain courtyard, and briefly thought about turning the fountain on… but I decided against it and went back inside to listen to the remainder of the Service.

The Services, or rather the Sermons, are podcasted at a couple of different sources and it rather rocked!  (now that I’ve had the chance to listen to the whole blessed thing… 😉  )

The Service went well and there was no disruption, I thanked the Reverend and gave her a hug and went over to Gore hall.   I turned on the fountain as I headed out to Gore Hall.  The social hour was a little restrained at first… I think that I was not the only person who was hesitant to speak to folks who were unfamiliar to me (of course given my poor memory for names and faces that can be a long list from even longtime members of the Church)…  I think there was also an element of waiting to see if some sort of disruption or attack occurred at this point.   The usual joyous tumult of social hour was also a bit subdued because there weren’t as many kids roaming and running about… I guess many of the parents had taken them home.

Here is where things got a little interesting.

First off, one of the ladies of the Alliance came up to me as the worshipers were wandering in and gave me an apron that had been part of the goods from my friend Sandi’s house-hold goods donated to the Alliance for resale, she had seen it and set it aside for me since Sandi and I shared a culinary connection in our friendship.  Then some of the conversations with folks after Social Hour started to wind down revolved around how many of us either just happened to go by Church early that morning and saw the protestors setting up, or woke up unusually early and looked at e-mail and got the message about the goings on, or simply felt especially drawn to Church that day.

Were the Ancestors present?   Did the Genius Loci and the Congregational Egregore send out some sort of “Hey!  All hands on deck!!” to those particularly attuned to their frequencies?  Did the many and diverse Holy Powers of the world here the prayers of some of the Congregants?

Personally, I believe so.

Whatever the details of the explanation, we handled it with dignity and Grace, as U.U.’s have sought to handle difficult times in the past.  I know we can carry the lessons of that day forward as we strive and sometimes struggle to be within Beloved Community with one another even as some of us are trying to widen the scope of that Beloved Community in some uncommon directions.

Peace,

Pax

Cucina Aurora…. check it out!

On By PaxIn Community Building, Food for Thought, Food of the GodsLeave a comment

Hello Friends,

I recently found this fascinating site, Cucina Aurora, advertising itself as a Kitchen Witchery website.

“Here is a Kitchen Witch’s sacred space. As you enter, feel your senses come to life with the smells of freshly baked breads and a cup of warm tea with cinnamon and fresh chamomile. Put up your feet and take a sip while the cat curls up on your lap with a charming purr. A warm breeze comes through the window making the flame dance as the vanilla and apple scented candles burn on the kitchen alter. Herbs hang from shelves as they dry leaving subtle hints of sage and Rosemary on the wind. Here rests comfort. Here lives love. Here thrives magic…” from the site intro…

They have a number of delicious sounding recipes and it is an attractive and interesting site that also features a Witch and Pagan oriented store with a variety of Culinary tools and supplies.

…now I just have to figure out where on the Online Resources to link to them!

Peace,

Pax

 

PS- Hat Tip to Pentacles and Pavement for leading me to this fascinating site….

Libertas, Tiananmen Square, and Me

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Bouncing off the Gods, Community Building, Cross-roads, My life with (some of) The Holy Powers and The Spirits, Religio-Americana, remembering, The Goddess, The Numinous Divine1 Comment

Dear Friends,

So this years Nobel Peace Prize winner has dedicated his award to the memory of those who died in the June Fourth Incident, as the  Tiananmen Square massacre is known inside China.  It took me a while to decipher the reasons why this news stirred my heart.  Since that time, the Chinese government has done what they can to block the incident or otherwise discredit the ceremony.   When this news broke in early November, though, I was transported back in time….

21 years ago, 1989, the Summer between my Junior and Senior year of High School.  Technically speaking I wasn’t really a Pagan or a Witch yet…  and yet… from early childhood I had had a fascination with stories of magic and the occult and E.S.P. and folklore and mythology.  From the time I got a couple of fill-in-the-blanks word/spelling workbooks with the stories of the Greek and Roman gods started  my fascination with Ancient Greece, which was later aided and abetted by my passionate love of Wonder Woman tv show; I had immersed myself in mythology and folk-lore and stories of the unexplained and such, and if there had been a book in any of my school libraries on such topics I had read it.

My family didn’t go to Church or anything…. we prayed at the Holidays but I wasn’t Churched growing up except for a couple of Christian Summer School experiments that I think Mom and Dad tried out because they felt I should get some species of religious education.  While I am sure that the Baptist Afternoon Bible Summer School must have spoken of God’s Love, all my A.D.D. blessed brain caught a hold of was the whole tow-the-line-or-go-directly-to-Hellfire-and-Brimstone-do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-$200 part of the theology…; this left young Geoffrey with some issues with Christianity and organized Religion!  I had begun skirting the barest edges of metaphysical and magickal practices from readings in the folklore and Mysteries of the Unexplained Woo Woo readings I had done over the years.  It hadn’t really yet occurred to me that there were other games in town OTHER than Christianity/Judaism (which, since I didn’t know one could convert to, I considered myself wholly ineligible for)/Islam;  I had yet to start reading any Daoist or Buddhist books, that would come later….

Like many people of my generation I found great hope and inspiration in the early days of the coverage of Tienanmen Square, people finding their voice and demanding redress of their grievances from their government…. as a young man born in 1972 and raised with all the patriotic fervor of the U.S. Bicentennial floating about and the (admittedly rose-colored and simplistic) emphasis on U.S. History and Americana and Democracy etc. etc…  how could I not feel moved by the happenings across the Pacific from my homeland of Alaska U.S.A.?

Then, then I saw Her.  It was not simply that they had raised a statue resembling Lady Liberty, although that did stir my soul, but that they outright named Her as Goddess… The Goddess of Democracy… I did not know then that Lady Liberty who stands beside the golden door is meant to represent Libertas…  Yet, something about the fact that people all over the world were being enthralled and inspired by the struggle for freedom and inspired by the image of The Goddess of Democracy, stirred within my mind the idea that the ancient Gods and Godesses were still abroad in the world, stirred my senses and struck chord in my heart and soul and knocked upon the doors of my perception.  It was a deep and abiding and everlasting and celestially symphonic chorus of…

“Yes!  Yes, yes, oh Sweet, oh Divine, oh Glorious; Yes!!!”

…that rang forth from and within my every dancing atom and singing cell.   The swift winged winds of change blowing through my soul, inspiring me and stirring a sea change deep within me.  Even though I didn’t have the language for it at the time, and even though I did not formally start my studies or formally separate myself from the mainstream or from the presumed Judeo-Christian matrix of my late 20th Century U.S. upbringing until a few years later, I can honestly say THAT was the exact moment I truly became a Pagan.

What about you?  When did you say YES?

Peace, and Curiosity,

Pax

PS- after this post was written and posted, a series of posts entitled “My life with (some of) The Holy Powers and The Spirits” started trickling out of me, and this post was too obviously a part of that NOT to be included… for ease of cross referencing Links to the other articles discussing the characters in my life’s Divine and semi-Divine Dramatis Personae will be included below as the posts are written…

Intro

Libertas (this post)

The Witches Goddess

The WitchFather

The Morrigan

Hecate

Dionysus

The Honored and Beloved Dead

Spirits of the World Around Us

Our Power and The World

On By PaxIn Community Building, Creativity, everyday, Food for Thought, Meditation, Pagan Ponderings1 Comment

“A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.”~widely attributed to M.K. Ghandi

“I wonder if this is why so many people talk about being ‘spiritual’, and not religious?”~Pax

Dear Friends,

I was originally working on this as a response in the comment stream but it started to get unwieldy for such a venue and, really, what good is a blog unless one can rant upon it on topics that stir the passions?

So it all started with Thorn Coyle’s Facebook page where she posted about the MoveOn.Org political action to support Senator Bernie Sanders and speak out against tax breaks for billionaires…

(my Senators voicemail box is full, so I will at the least draft a polite e-mail and try calling back)

Anyhow, someone said,

“My new age friends think I’m driving myself away from the “Source” by being so involved in the negative energies of the political process. My feeling is the “Source” has “heart” and a sense of “righteousness” and holds Bernie Sanders very close to Itself. Where else did this 69 year old man get the energy to stay on his feet for 8 1/2 hours!?!”

I breathed a prayer of patience and replied,

” ______, I think its time to lovingly explain to your new age friends that some of our best exemplars did not retreat but engaged in the political process and even revolutionized it in the face of overwhelming negativity.
You know, like Ghandi and Martin Luther King?
You can also point out that if they are so afraid of their light or fire being drowned out by the negativity of the political process then clearly it is not particularly bright nor well fueled,…but then I’ve been accused of having an attitude problem…”

Another of my Friends, B, said,

“…I’ve run into that attitude; I think a good bit of it has more to …do with laziness and Ostrich Syndrome than any higher level of enlightenment.”

I know where the fabulous Ms. B is coming from with that and part of me would tend to agree with her, and yet…

I’d say its more likely the constant stream of information/propaganda/advertising bombarding us from the over-culture saying how

“You aren’t good/attractive/ worth/strong/healthy enough, unless you buy this….” ,

or

“What difference could one person make these days….”,

or, most insidiously,

“It’s not your responsibility because…..”

You, know… the sort of messages that seem to be rapid fired at us day in and day out from birth onward with few exceptions?  What we put into our hearts and minds and eyes and ears influences our lives easily as much as what we put in out mouths folks!

I would also say that some of the difficulty comes from the very poorly understood differences between the core ideas and rules of Magick as a spiritual practice and a tool for communicating with the Universe, and between magical thinking.

A true Magick worker, whether their Practice is grounded in Religion or from a more Philosophical and Practical basis, does some sort of discernment practice to figure out if Magick is the best option, if not they find mundane ways to get things done.  If Magick is indicated, they do their Magick AND act in accord both before and after the Spell or Ritual is done.

If a Magick Worker wants to bring more money into their life  The spend time before the Ritual or Spell engaging in some serious discernment, they ask why isn’t the money they’ve got coming in enough?   Have they been open to new income streams/job opportunities?   They look at their budget and spending habits.  THEN, if their answers tell them they need to do more, they START by doing a Ritual or Spell.  THEN they update their resume.  They look at their current job situation and see what they can do to improve their job and  income prospects.   They work to be more aware and ready to receive whatever blessings come their way.   They bend their every pre- and post, Spell or Ritual, efforts and thoughts and actions to their Goal.

Magical thinking just wishes for more money and tries to have a positive attitude.

To reference another widely popular paraphrase of Ghandi, being the change you want to see in the world, means more than just being!  As a result of changing ones state of being, can we really call ourselves changed if our actions and reactions do not undergo similar changes?   Whether you are trying to effect or affect change you’ve got to DO something for the change to happen.

Now I have yet to run down a direct citation for the quote I opened with today, I am choosing to include it anyway because it resonated with me in relation to this conversation I found myself in.  Which also stirred within me the response of my own I have quoted up at the beginning of this piece;  all too often in the Pagan community you run into these New-Agey Crystals&Light types talking about how…

“I’m Spiritual but not Religious…”

With this air of superiority or especial purity or something… like religion is icky and messy somehow, which it is but not for the reasons they think.  What, you may wonder, do I mean by that? Let’s invoke the power of Words…

Merriam Webster defines Spiritual as…

“1: of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit : incorporeal <spiritual needs>
2a : of or relating to sacred matters <spiritual songs> b : ecclesiastical rather than lay or temporal <spiritual authority> <lords spiritual>
3: concerned with religious values…”
Which gets interesting when you look up spirit… most of which relates back to the idea of an individuals spirit or soul.

Merriam Webster defines Religious as…

“1: relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity <a religious person> <religious attitudes>

2: of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances <joined a religious order>…”
The first fierce irony is that the two words are SYNONYMS… they have nearly the same meaning and you could just as easily say
“I’m Spiritual but not Spiritual,” or “I’m Religious but not Religious.”
…and be making just about as much sense.
The second fierce irony, is that someone who is Spiritual is focused upon themselves and what affects them.  Someone who is Religious is concerned with the world and universe outside themselves.  So what these folks who like to position themselves as above the fray of various political or social concerns, or who like to distance themselves from ACTION on issues with a smile and talk of being spiritual rather than religious are REALLY saying is…
“I’m more interested in myself than in anything outside myself…”
Of course this doesn’t sound NEARLY as mysterious or mystical…
I think the true goal should be to balance Religion and Spirituality in ones life.
Peace,
Pax
PS-  YES, I understand that as a part of our Spiritual journeys many of us are healing from difficult or traumatic experiences in our past Religions, but the Gods or the Universe are NOT going to just go away because you run away from them and focus on your navel people!  It is not just that The Gods want us to be happy and whole and powerful, shouldn’t we want it too?
12/27/2010
UPDATE:  In getting caught up on some things, I came across the recent Sermon Spirit of Life by my Minister, Rev. Kathy, she preached this one on one of the week-ends whilst I was out with sinus-ick.  In this Sermon she discussed some compelling ideas and definitions of Spirituality…and I am juggling these ideas with those I presented above and am seeing what new patterns of thought emerge….
Peace,
Pax

This little light of mine…

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Community Building, everyday, Gay Pride, remembering, Samhain, Unitarian Universalism, witchery3 Comments

Dear Friends,

So in the last couple of weeks I had seen multiple announcements for the LGBT Youth Candlelight Vigils here in Orlando on the 20th and 21st… for LGBT Teen Suicide Awareness Day on the 20th.   I committed to going to the Lake Eola vigil.  There was also one the next night at UCF…

As a part of these vigils, and apparently as a general part of the LGBT Youth Suicide Awareness day on the 20th folks were encouraged to wear Purple.  Now a lot of times when something like this happens you hear all sorts of encouragement to wear a color and show your support… and folks will change the color of their blog or post a new profile pic… but you don’t hear as much about getting off your butt and marching or sending in your money… and as an aging queer and Witch… well, I can get a bit ornry…

No, I am not going to wear purple, nor am I going to put purple on my facebook profile, what I am doing is going to a candle-lit vigil for glbt youth suicide awareness and I am going to re-commit to voting against homophobia…

~ Pax’s rather ornry Facebook profile from a few days ago…

I was there as a Gay man who had been bullied in High School over his orientation, or rather perceived orientation since I was only partially out to even myself at that point.  I was also there as a Witch, who has finally set aside some of his why-not-to-do-stuff for his why-the-hell-not, and is working on his will and Will.  I was also there to support my friends from the 1st Unitarian Church Orlando, including my friend Sister Ambrosia Discordia of the Orlando Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (Ambrosia happens to be a member of the 1st U, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have no formal relationship with the U.U.A) and our new settled Minister Reverend Kathy Schmitz.

There was a long time where people were simply mingling and talking.   Reverend Kathy spent some time networking with some of the other religious leaders in attendance.  I was kind of odd man out for a while, although my bright pink “Tough Guys Wear Pink” T-shirt did bring some nice compliments!

What!?  I had to wear something.  If for no other reason, because most folks would NOT appreciate me in my altogether/ Bear-on-the-half-shell glory.  Besides you don’t have to wave a rainbow flag to, well, wave the rainbow flag!

As darkness fell and the crowd began to grow as people found parking near Lake Eola Park, or got to the park from wherever they had found parking, some folks began lighting candles they had brought with them and some of the Come Out Orlando vollunteer’s (the group that had put the event together) distributed their candles for the vigil.  It was at this point that it was a pleasant surprise to see members of the Downtown Orlando Circle of the Sublime Elm, and the Orlando G.L.B.T. Pagan’s and Witcbes Meet-up groups in attendance.  I said hello and introduced them to some of the folks from 1st U and to the Sister’s.

Then there was an all too quiet speech, must look for an microphone/bull-horn for the kids at Come Out Orlando… then a lovely and very interfaith prayer from a young lady wearing a clerical color against a lovely lavender shirt.  Then we marched…

Oddly enough, it was the first time I marched in something other than a Pride parade.  Gay Pride, we Pagans don’t have our own parades yet… at least not public ones that I am aware of.  ANYHOW, I had been in protests before but I don’t think I have ever marched before… and since this was a candle-lit vigil it had more of a spiritual/processional feel to it.

It was quite lovely, and a good renewal of my inner activist and my will and possibly my Will.

Peace,

Pax / Geoffrey

Reflections on Coming Out, Building Community, and Pagan Pride

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Avalon Cares, Blame Sannion, Community Building, everyday, Food for Thought, Highest Ideals, Honoring the Heroes, Pagan PrideLeave a comment

Dear Friends,

So it’s National Coming Out Day today (or tomorrow depending on your specific Nation….) this international holiday celebrating GLBTA pride and identity is going strong after 23 years.

Now perhaps you expect me to wax philosophic about LGBT Pride and such… and admittedly I could… but in addition to being the beginnings of Samhaintide, we are in the midst of Pagan Pride season, and I’d like to talk a bit about that today…

Now while it’s focused on the Equinox, there are numerous celebrations across the U.S. and around the world that celebrate their Pagan Pride events in either October or as late as November for various local and logistical reasons; which is rather appropriate as many of the ancient Paganisms had much more localized holy days and festivals in tune with the local seasons and the rhythms of their particular cities and towns.  As I reflect upon my Pagan Pride this year I find my mind turning not only to the many Proud and Out Pagans serving their cities and towns as Public Servants, I am also reminded of those non-Pagans who are now desperately trying to back pedal from confused and ill-informed claims of having been involved in Witchcraft at some vague and undefined date.

I am happy to see Witches taking up the challenge and opportunity presented by this last story to Come Out with Pride.  I believe that by coming out when and where you can do so safely you can advance the cause of Religious Freedom for Pagans and Heathens in our nation and around the world.

I also find myself thinking about the many Pagan Pride events that will have vendors selling books and incense and various sacred supplies and statuary, and bling, and tchotchke’s of all sorts.   We are very good at trying to support some of our Pagan business-folk, as long as they are blatantly “Pagany”… but what about our Doctor’s, our Plumber’s, or Gardener’s and Grocer’s and the many many other areas or our lives where we could be supporting our fellow Pagans economically and demonstrating our Pride with our Pocketbook?

I have written and thought about this a few times before, and expect more of it in the coming year!  When I can go into any Gay bar or LGBT Community Center and pick up a LGBT (local) community publication or community directory listing not only GLBT owned and themed businesses and professionals… everything from bars and beauticians to real-estate agents, doctors, plumbers and electicians and bankers and lawyers…. as well as private listings in some LGBT communities; why is it that you have trouble finding ANY of the same sort of information in Pagan community venues?

I can only hope that some of those Pagan Pride event tables are being held by local Pagan bankers and Pagan real-estate agents and other Pagan business-folk working to network within and support their local Pagan communities in the same way that I see in similar events within the Queer community.  Remember that this is only going to be more important as we weather the current economic woes!

Then my mind turns towards the causes and charities that I can support and work for as a conscious invocation of my Pagan Pride.  Causes like the Officers of Avalon‘s non-profit charity Avalon Cares, and the Military Pagan Network and the Heathen community Open Halls project, and the organizations like Cherry Hill Seminary and The National Pagan Leadership Skills conference.  I am also reminded of those Pagans who are standing up for Religious Freedom and Fairness and Justice, speaking Truth to Power in the Halls of Justice; as well as those who are gaining the full legal recognition and equal access for their faiths.

This year of 2010 began with contemporary Paganism taking it’s place upon the World stage as a World Faith at the Parliament of World’s Religions in Australia, and I am damn proud of that!

I think of my friends and co-conspirators at the Pagan Newswire Collective and our diverse efforts to help connect our local and national communities and to provide news and information of interest to and reflecting the Pagan and Heathen world-views; while at the same time being a resource for our larger communities to get factual and accurate information on the many paths of contemporary Paganism.

Now I do not deny that there is a LOT of work left to do in order to secure true legal Equality and Religious Freedom for the Pagan paths, and I will probably always hold the opinion that we could do more to build connections and relationships that build and strengthen a beloved Pagan community; but I also cannot deny that there is a heck of a lot to be Proud about Pagans!

Peace, and Pride,

Pax

More Resources…and seeking input on the OPR page.

On By PaxIn Activist Alert, Community Building, Creativity, Modern Pagan1 Comment

Dear Friends,
So I am researching Brighid, as I am working on an Imbolc ritual… although being in Florida I am unsure how to incorporate honoring the cycles of nature around me with the themes of the Holy Day… I will work on that… anyhow I have found a couple of Celtic spirituality and information sites that are going into the Pagan Resources section of the Online Pagan Resources page…

Celtic Well

This is the website of the Celtic Well, an e-mail mailing list for those interested in studying the evidence for ancient, medieval, and modern Celtic religious practices and beliefs.   In addition to links to their yahoo-group/mailing list, there are articles of interest.

Jones’ Celtic Encyclopedia

An online Celtic encyclopedia of information seeking to catalogue all possible elements of Celtic culture, from its origins in central Europe in the Bronze Age, through the 21st century.  Created and maintained by Mary Jones

~~~~

In the course of my researches I have also found a form of Paganism new to me, Brythonic Paganism… they are being added to the Online Pagan Resources page under Brythonic Paganism..

Dun Brython

A group blog and resources site aiming “To research, recover and redistribute to the best of our knowledge and wisdom the native British pre-Christian Spirituality, as evidenced by historical sources and personal experiences, to trace its influence and expression into later times and to explore its application and relevance to life in the modern world”

The White Boar

An site with information and essays by one of the Pagans involved in this path.

~~~

Now comes the request for input,  I would like to ask some of my dear readers to take a look at the categories and sites listed on the Online Pagan Resources Page and if you see a site or a section that A) needs to be added or B) You feel is unclear or somehow lacking.  Please let me know in the comments to this post.

Peace,

Pax / Geoffrey Stewart

Fascinating and distressing

On By PaxIn Community Building, everyday, Food for Thought1 Comment

I found this (rather funny) article on NPR about a futuristic survival community and it’s efforts to market and create a network (expensive network) of communal survival shelters for whatever impending doom you may be afraid of.

On the one hand, rather cool in a sci-fi futuristic kind of way I suppose… Yet I also feel deeply deeply saddened that the people who invest their time, talent, money and efforts on projects like these could be using that same energy to actively make the world a better, safer, healthier and happier place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gordon’s comment on the sleek and modern design of the proposed shelter’s reminded me that this is a far cry from their one actually built facility…(Local News footage, here)

An open Letter to the Pagan community… (or, I have had it up to HERE…)

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Community Building, Creativity, everyday, Food for Thought, Its called humor..., witchery4 Comments

(humor… or something….)

Dear Friends, and Pagani,

I am writing to you on behalf of many, many, of your fellow Pagans and (I would like to think) many of our Elders.

From now on if you expect us to take any of you Pagans out there seriously you will have to start studying your own faith, and other Pagan and Non-Pagan faiths in depth.  You will have to demonstrate a reasonable willingness to study and learn and grow.  You will have to show a reasonable grasp of History.  Your public statements about Paganism and your conduct as Pagans should have NO trace of “Take that Mommy and Daddy!” or “Take that Jesus!” about them.  You will not mistake, in words or action having an axe to grind against your parents or Religion of origin for being a proud Pagan.

If you are working in a community organization you will ESPECIALLY work to be knowledgeable, informed, and professional in your conduct within and on behalf of your community!

You will also look into the fact that there are more Christians (and other folks mono and poly theistic) involved in Interfaith work trying to protect and defend Religious Freedom and Separation of Church and State than there are Pagans, both in the Parliament of Worlds Religions and in organizations like the Interfaith Alliance.

Furthermore you will at least explore the idea that good folks like the gentleman interviewed below are AT LEAST AS ~IF NOT MORE~ representative of Christianity than some of those jerk-off talking head types that some folks love to rant about and to try and equate every Christian with…

Please take this post under advisement or So Holy Powers Help Us, we may have to start Gibbs-smacking folks upside the head, or something….

Thank you,
Pax and many, many, many of your fellow Pagans

PS- we really mean it!!

Rekindling my Sacred Fires

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Brigid, Community Building, Creativity, everyday, Food for Thought, Hellenic Polytheism, Imbolc, Imbolc Blogging, Meditation, Modern Pagan, My Florida Sabbats, Reinventing the Wheel, remembering, Unitarian Universalism, witcheryLeave a comment

As the annual Brighid Poetry Slam messages out there have probably already high-lighted for us, Imbolc-tide is upon us once more.  Depending on your individual faith or path as a Pagan, Imbolc or Oimelc can mean many different things.  Those meanings also change depending on matters of where you live and whether you celebrate as a Solitary Pagan or in a Group, and whether your Faith or Path even observes Imbolc or if it’s one of those Holidays that you sometimes go out to a community event for, simply for the Pagan fellowship, or to humor a friend; but for me it has come to be The Festival of Rekindling…

Growing up, and becoming a Witch, in Anchorage,Alaska early February was that time of year where you really started to see and appreciate the returning of the daylight.  In late February/Early March you also had the excitement of the approaching Fur Rendezvous, an annual Winter Carnival held in Anchorage.   So for the longest time Imbolc was a celebration of the returning light and of the first stirrings of the return of light and life and activity after the mad rush of celebrating the Beloved Living at Yule.

The last few years, though, I have had trouble figuring out what Imboc means to me.

Living in Florida the returning of the light is much less a dramatic or sought after turning of the Wheel, and it’s kind of difficult to get into its associations as celebrating the first signs/stirrings of spring when the citrus harvest is finishing up and the Strawberry harvest is on its way… part of my ongoing journey as I seek to truly understand this strange new sub-tropical world of mine.

Imbolc meaning “In the Belly”; Oimelc meaning “ewe’s milk.  Birth, beginnings, creativity, and renewal… those begin to feel closer to the truth of this Sabbat for me.   Though I don’t have much,  except that of a 1/4 Irish lineage, of a relationship with Brigid whose festival Imbolc is widely honored as, She is the Goddess of Sacred Fires and Sacred Springs.  Smithcraft, Arts and Crafts, Poetry, Spirituality, and Healing, Nurturing, Hearthcraft.

These feel, in that deep part of my soul that is touched by the sacred, like the right track…

So before I went to bed this morning (one of the many hazards of an overnight job…) I turned off the computer and the phone, I lit a stick of incense and before I blew out the flame used that stick to light a candle.  I sat holding the candle-glass cupped gently in my hands and meditated a bit.  I sought, not silence really, but clarity.  I let my mind wander over the last few days…

I thought about the New member’s potluck at First Unitarian, how enjoyable it was even though I am clumsy at best at social mixers with large groups of people.  I thought about meeting my sponsor/mentor Mary and talking with here about things around church.  My mind turned to the words of the Chalice lighting  we use at our U.U. Church…

“In the Light of Truth,

In the Warmth of Love,

We gather to seek, to sustain, and to share.”

(and for those of you who are thinking “isn’t the Chalice a tool of water?!” Yes, it is, but there’s more than one way to wield a symbol and a tool!   Here is a link about the Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist flaming Chalice)

My mind also thought about how very, very much I enjoyed cooking my variation of Mom’s Classic Greenbeans (a Stewart family Holiday classic!)  for the Potluck; and how eager I was to volunteer to help my mentor Mary by volunteering to put together a Jambalaya for the New Orleans themed coffee hour…

I really do love to cook and it feels good to be able to use the skills and knowledge of years of work and study, and my recent schooling, in a productive way.  I actually see a lot of my future work in Community Building in the Pagan Community as a way to take those experiences and skills and offer them in Service to others… fundraisers and social events of all sorts!

I am really a hearth-Witch at heart I think, not necessarily limited to my own home; more that I am deeply drawn to and my gifts seem to lay in matters of Hearth and Community building.

Thoughts of the Hearth transition my thoughts from my Witchcraft to my Hellenic Polytheism and naturyally bring to mind Hestia.  She who IS the Hearth, and the Hearth Fire, the Sacred light giving, nurturuing, nourishing fire in our homes and lives.  Given this long present, but not entirely acknowledged or understood grounding I have in matters of the Hearth,  I need to find a way to honor Her especially as I seek to Honor the Theoi Ktesioi, the Gods of the Home,  in the coming year on the Noumenia and in my life.

THE THEOI KTESIOI were the gods of house and home. They were led by Zeus protector of the home (Ctesius) and of the family courtyard (Hicesius) along with Hestia, the goddess of the hearth. Hecate and Hermes were also important household gods who protected the gates and entranceways. -from an entry at Theoi.com

Chronologically, my thoughts carried me to the next day and back to thoughts of Witchcraft.   Waking up early at 3pm and performing my first, full and formal Witches Circle in…. well, in ages.  I remember how wonderful it felt to finally and formally welcome them into my live and works and to share with the Guardians of the Watchtowers in the Blessings of the Lady and Lord.  I had not realized how much I missed the immediacy and intimacy of my connection and communion with Them in a full Circle.

Then after Circle there was the mad rush of shopping for and prepping the ingredients for the Jambalaya, then work from 11pm-7am, then rushing home to actually cook the blessed dish, then off to Church to help with the coffee hour and to act as a Greeter.

My thoughts ranged over how much I am enjoying being involved in a community once more, and how eager I am to use my talents, experience, and education in service to that community.  Not only First Unitarian, but also the Mystic Grove, which is the Pagan/Heathen Affinity Group at the Church.  I am in that tricky stage of getting involved, but trying to not over commit myself or over extend myself… very tough to do for me, and from some of the conversations I’ve had with others at the Church I would guess U.U.’s in general.  This congregation, at least, seems to have a lot of that ‘somebody should do something about this’ energy that is so familiar to me…

I had to laugh to myself when someone described a Unitarian Universalist congregation like “herding cats”, how many times had I heard that phrase used to describe Pagan community… many!

I also, oddly enough, thought of the new involvement I have with a table-top role-playing group, getting my geek on and making new friends and reveling in the creativity and imagination of this cherished and long neglected hobby….

So for me the Festival of Rekindling is a time renew and recommit to those things that nurture the self and nurture and reconnect us to the wider world.  To take pleasure in our creativity, to explore and contemplate our new beginnings or what we might begin as the Wheel turns.  To celebrate the return to life and activity after the period of rest after the Winter Holidays.

As I breathed in my meditations by the light of that candle’s flame, focusing ever so slightly on the out-breath, I imagined breathing onto a charcoal or onto kindling, nurturing the fire with my breath to bring it to fullness and life…

Then after some Still and Sillent meditation, I blew out the candle, and welcomed the light of dawn.

“we extinguish the flame,

But not the light of truth,

The warmth of community,

Or the fire of commitment,

These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.”

May your Hearth and Home be blessed,

May you have food and clothing to warm your body,

May you have good friends to share your blessings with to warm your heart and soul,

May you find beauty and inspiration and creativity in your journey,

Blessed be!

And, as always,

Peace,

Pax

Great Work and Life Balance

On By PaxIn Book Reviews & Recommendations, Community Building, everyday, Food for Thought, Highest Ideals, spiritual practice2 Comments

Our journeys should be like wilderness paths where sometimes the walk is fairly easy and sometimes we are walking uphill, or through tough terrain, we must occasionally find ourselves at cross-roads and make a choice of which way to go, we sometimes must acknowledge that this was not the best path and soldier on and sometimes we must back-track and try again, otherwise we are simply standing still.

Hello Dear Friends and Pagani!

So, this last week my dear friend Fey has been writing in her blog and facebook about her recent wrestling matches with some of her own personal demons, those painful memories and terrible experiences that are a part of so many of our lives.  On her podcast SpiritsCast she even had a guest host discussing the issue of having personal demons and how one can deal with them.

I have been leaving comments on her blog and facebook sharing some of my own recently learned/encountered lessons about being compassionate with oneself in the spiritual journey and how it is perfectly natural for past issues to come lurking to the surface and that the important think is to keep moving forward on ones spiritual journey and with ones spiritual practice.  I applaud her courage in not only facing these painful parts of her past and being ready to acknowledge and wrestle with and accept them as parts of her self, she is truly on the journey towards what T. Thorn Coyle calls Self-Possession.  I also must applaud her willingness to be so open with this struggle, but it’s not that surprising given her nature as not only a spiritual practitioner but a teacher.

It is a strange dance we who are on a spiritual journey sometimes end up doing…

There is our work and career life, what we are doing to feed the body and keep it clothed and sheltered and such.

There is also the everyday life, household chores and fun things with friends and hobbies we engage in for fun and to feed our spirits a bit.

Then there is the Work, either  discussed as the Great Work of Magic, the journey towards Self-Possession, seeking conversation of ones Holy Guardian Angel, or as the Spiritual Practices and/or Religious Observances that lift and sustain us in our spiritual journey.

The Great Work of Magic (or Magick for those that prefer…) is about a LOT more than mere spells, or even about ritual or magic.  It is about work with and deep awareness and acceptance of every aspect of our selves and lives.  It is about ethics and attitude and outlook, it is about mind and body and soul, it is as much about our physical and mundane lives as it is the spiritual and magical.

Yet in engaging in the Work as we begin to progress and move forward we will find all of our old issues and all of our history coming back up for us to actually accept them and deal with them, rather than trying to sweep them aside or bury them or run away from them.  This is usually the point where we start finding excuses as to why we can’t possibly continue with this set of spiritual practices, we get uncomfortable with some of the emotions and ideas and realizations and memories that may arise.

In discussing meditation and spiritual practice and discomfort and learning, Pema Chodron a Buddhist Nun and Monastary Abbot and Teacher says…

“Generally Speaking, we regard discomfort in any form as bad news.   But for practitioners or spiritual warriors — people who have a certain hunger to know what is true– feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back.  They teach us to perk up and lean in when we’d rather collapse and back away.  They’re like messages that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck.  This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.” – Pema Chodron in the essay This Very Moment is the Perfect Teacher from her book of essays When Things Fall Apart

I know in my own journey there has been a lot of running around playing shadow tag with my self and my past over the years.  Yet as I really begin to engage, once more, in my spiritual journey I also find myself finding a lot more of the me I used to be years ago.  Happiness and humor and courage and strength and some small measure of hard-won wisdom.  I had let a lot of these things lay dormant and dusty like a neglected altar in my soul.

Fey’s recent postings, and my own recent experiences and readings, have high-lighted something that I realize is extraordinarily important to remember, especially for us Contemporary Pagans.

The spiritual journey, and the experience of living our religions and paths, and our experience of spiritual and religious communities, should be many things; welcoming, safe, nurturing, enlivening and invigorating.  They should not always, or perhaps never, be entirely comfortable or easy!

Living ones faith or spirituality, truly trying to live up to your values and ideals and principles, really engaging in a committed and ongoing spirituality and spiritual practice should challenge us!

We should occasionally have to accept a wrestling match with our own personal demons.  Demons of our pasts, whether of terrible experiences from our pasts or of our own past failings and mistakes; they are there in each of our lives and we must be willing to actually look at and explore and deal with them.  There will be times where in living our goals and ideals and principles where we must wrestle with those times where our guiding values conflict with what is going on around us; sometimes the best and truest way of living our values is to do the more difficult thing.  Our journeys should be like wilderness paths where sometimes the walk is fairly easy and sometimes we are walking uphill, or through tough terrain, we must occasionally find ourselves at cross-roads and make a choice of which way to go, we sometimes must acknowledge that this was not the best path and soldier on and sometimes we must back-track and try again, otherwise we are simply standing still.

Having said that, I will also say that all of this courage and wrestling must also be balanced with humor and compassion for ourselves!  Courage in our spiritual journeys means also having the courage to say “Not Today…” or “I’m not ready yet…” or to ask ourselves “Why am I so NOT wanting to deal with ______ right now?!”.

Some days, despite our deep and purposeful commitment to healthy eating (for example) we want that dark chocolate and a glass of sweet dark red wine.  Some days we just do NOT want to go for our daily walk or to the gym.  Somedays we are just Not feeling as much like Ritual (or Circle, or Ritual, or Blot, or Church, or what-have-you) as we are in just having some me-time.  As long as we can look at these times and honestly say to ourselves that it is because in that exact moment that is what we need…. a little nurturing, a little comfort food, a little rest, or a little time for ourselves to just be, then that too is a very important part of our spiritual journeys!

Peace,

Pax

Goings on at Cherry Hill Seminary!!

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Community Building, everyday, Highest Ideals, Modern Pagan, Pagan Pride, Pagan Values BloggingLeave a comment

Dear Friends and Pagani,

I hope, fervently, to someday pay off my student loans, get myself a  Bachelors (4 year degree) to add to my Associates (2 year) and eventually take classes with Cherry Hill Seminary.

They are an organization currently holding Seminarian classes on a variety of topics of use and interest to those seeking to work within ministry within the Pagan faiths.  You can read more about their Mission, Vision, and Values here.  In my searches to add them to the sidebar—> —> —>

I came across this address by the outgoing President of the Seminary which, I think, hi-lights the work of and need for this organization!

Peace,

Pax

UPDATE 01/19/2010
So Jaime over at Witchful Thinking posted an excellent overview of some of the many benefits of Cherry Hill getting professional Accreditation! (here)

The Challenge: An Open Letter to the Pagan Movement

On By PaxIn Community Building, Cross-roads, Food for Thought2 Comments

Dear Friends and Pagani,

I have been trying to write this piece for a while now.  Starting, and stopping, erasing and rewriting, and setting it aside as I tried to untangle my thoughts and feelings and motivations.

The year turns and we are about to embark on the second decade of the 21st Century of the Common Era.  The last several decades have brought many challenges to the Pagan Movement.  In the later 19th and early 20th Centuries the challenges were simply the rebirth and first stirrings of revival within Polytheism and Pantheism and the many “-isms” in the West that have all contributed to the gorgeous tapestry that is Contemporary Paganism.

In the 1950’s and 60’s especially, as the Pagan Revival became a much wider spread phenomenon, no longer the province of lone individuals or small groups, but widely discussed and bursting forth into the larger societies view… albeit through the very distorted lenses of the times and of the overculture.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s we was the beginnings of physical communities as Pagans began to come out to and encounter one another, we also saw some childishness and infighting ~ as one might expect in a spiritual and philosophical and cultural and religious movement leaving behind its infancy and beginning to mature due to the hard work of hundreds of passionate Druids and Witches and Heathens and, indeed, Pagans of every description.  These decades also saw the first stirrings of cross-Tradition communications, in the pages of Magazines like Green Egg; and through Magazines and Newsletters within and across our many Traditions we saw the birth of many new communities and organizations for our many paths.  The 1980’s also brought us the Festival culture, where we could go and retreat from the overculture and begin the journey of defining for ourselves what Paganism was, in part by exploring the many reflections of it from many Traditions and paths as we encountered (and yes, still fought) with one another.

There has been a lot of infighting within the last 30+ years, as we have matured in our individual and communal Pagansims.  As we learned to live with one another, as we truly began to let go of the ideas and norms of the largely Monotheistic overculture even as we struggled to figure out how to exist within it, as we as Pagans grew up.

There has been a ebb in the 1980’s and 90’s era tide of “Pagan” publishing in the last decade… Why the quotes?  Because by and large the “Pagan” publishing of the late 1980’s and 90’s represented only a narrow bandwidth of our spectrum.  We have more than enough books that seek to explain one or two of the Pagan traditions in terms so simple a child could get it, we have enough books that talk about the baby steps of ritual; where are our books of deep philosophy (from a Contemporary Pagan p.o.v.), where are the books detailing Pagan ways of dealing with hardship and tragedy and grief, where are the deep and thoughtful anjd practical and philosophical works that could take us out of the “occult” and “metaphysical” ghetto’s of the bookstores and into the Religions section?

Make no mistake we need to be writing them, in hard copy as well as online!  Even as we discuss and expound online… websites only last as long as their technological or programing platforms and as long as their service providers… we need to be creating hard copy for ourselves and for our future generations.

The 90’s and the Aught’s with their accompanying transformations of the Internet Age have seen an explosion of communication and exploration and information within our movement, and a new round of misinformation as the overculture noticed some segments of our movement again.  That misinformation, borne both of confusion and of deliberate misinforming on the parts of some groups fearful of change and eager to increase their own power at any cost, forms the basis of our challenge for the next decade.

We must find more and new ways  live our faiths and our values and ideals, and new ways to communicate of them within our community and to demonstrate them to the overculture.  We have come to the international stage in Interfaith conferences, we have seen the elections of our first openly Pagan officials in the U.S. and yet we have a lot more to do.

We need to start writing those deeper and more thoughtful books, we need to start supporting our large in faith and inter-faith Pagan organizations, and charities, and those organizations and groups seeking to build our Pagan infrastructure… like Pagan Seminaries and Colleges.

We need to set aside our fear of being picked on, or discriminated against because of our faiths.  We need to embrace our Traditions and our Movement and Communities with Pride.  Remember, there are soldiers of the many Pagan faiths who are living, and some have given or who will give, their lives in service to  our rights; Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion among them

These are the Challenges of the next decade for us my fellow Pagans.

What other Challenges can you identify?

Yours in Peace and Curiosity and Community,

Pax