Category: Modern Pagan

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

Notes from the Stillroom: 03/07/11

On By PaxIn Creativity, everyday, Modern Pagan, Notes from the Stillroom, witchery1 Comment

 

Dear Friends,

Sadly, of course, I don’t actually have a Still Room of my very own.  In any case I suspect that when I do have an apartment of my very own that it will blend together with the Kitchen, which really blends my Craft and my Culinary interests together nicely and I think serves well for a 21st Century Witch.

Anyhow, I’ve made mention of a recent surge of practical Witchery on my part recently, and figured I’d post an update.

Crown of Success

  1. Bay Leaves
  2. Frankincense
  3. Vetiver
  4. Olive and Jojoba Oils

I transferred the Crown of Success Oil to a new jar, removed the old Bay Leafs and tried to keep the ground Frankincense.   I put the glass jar and oil into the Microwave and hit the 30 second button a couple of times to heat the oil.   I cut some new, dried Bay leaves, into fine pieces and added them to the heated oil.  I ground more Frankincense, and some Vetivert, and stuffed them into the jar and the hot oil, I added a little more Olive Oil.

The jar is quite literally stuffed to the gills with herbs.   I added more Olive Oil in part to replenish what I had used in making some CoS for the Fabulous Jonathan, and in part because the mossy mass of herbs and resin was above the level of the oil… and since I am trying to scent the oil and not oil the herbs it seemed apropos to bring the oil level up a little.

Finally, after reflection, I transferred the whole oily-mossy mess to a jar twice as large as the first, and added a little more oil… so that the consistency was more of a sauce and less of a paste.

I’ve shaken the jars, contemplating their green-gold depths and observing the Brownian dance of the suspension and settling of the herbs and resins.  Now comes the hard part, the waiting.  Shaking the jar daily, sitting it in a window-sill to warm in the Sun… or perhaps 30 seconds in the microwave on some days…. contemplating successes and praying over the oil.

Crown of Success, like a lot of the conditioning oils from American folk magic and Hood00, is a scented oil product used as a perfume, an additive to baths, to sachet-like mojo-bags, and to dress candles for burning in spells.  From my research it seems like a lot of these oils will have very different blends of ingredients depending on the maker; but there are usually some standard items in each formula.  For Crown of Success these seem to be Frankincense and Bay, so those are the predominant ingredients.

In doing the quick, essential oils, version I wrote about in the previous post I discovered the scent of Vetivert.  I rather like its smokey scent and so added some dried Vetivert to the mix as well.

Pax’s Prosperity Powder

  1. ‘A popular Chamomile Tea blend’
  2. Mint
  3. Essential Oil of Vetivert
  4. Essential Oil of Texas Cedar-wood
  5. White Rice, ground to powder

I was feeling the need for a non-scented oil prosperity spell stuff, and decided to throw something together last week.  I had a box of a popular Chamomile tea and remembered that Chamomile was widely regarded as a good luck and prosperity herb… and as I read the other ingredients in the tea blend I discovered to my delight that several of them had associations with prosperity and luck and other useful associations!   I added a little Mint to the mix, and then using the coffee-grinder (aka 21st Century Mortar and Pestle) I grown down some White Rice.  This resulted in a nice little powder to which I have added a few drops of essential oil of Vetivert and some essential oil of Texas Cedarwood.

The Instructive Power of Looking at the Ingredients

This has led me to think and look at the ingredients in a number of the herb and spice mixes I have in my small portion of the Kitchen.  (the joys of living with a room-mate!)

I have been comparing notes between the magickal and medicinal associations for some things and learning a lot and finding I have a lot more tools at my disposal than I realized.  I am also finding the strange confluences and coincidences of meaning and symbolism, how certain herb blends or teas have combinations of ingredients that have one set of herbalism associations and another of herb magic associations and where the twain meet.

I held off of actually practicing spell-craft or herbalism for a long time because for a long time I did not have an apartment with a Kitchen… Unfortunately I also was holding off from practicing things like decent nutrition… so I am now working on a lot of things at once and juggling them in the air and growing and learning and having a lot of fun.

All of this may seem silly or superstitious or surreal to those unfamiliar with the embodied spirituality of Paganism, or the study of the spiritual practice of magick.

If so, look at it this way….

I will meditate on Success daily, I will put my energy and thoughts towards efforts to bring more stability and security in my life both financial and personal.  I can alternate the sessions of worrying the jar with sessions of working on my resume, meditating on where I have room for improvement at work, adding to my LinkedIn profile, researching suppliers for scented oil bottles, and business liscense requirements.

When I use the oil, or when my friends whom I gift portions of it too use it, we will remember the good wishes and thought that went into it.  We will think about our own definitions of success and our goals and methods for getting there.  We will fortify ourselves with knowledge of reaching our goals, and with the knowledge that a little change in our attitude or behavior can make all the difference.

We will remember that the Sacred is all around us, and within us.

The physical is sacred and as infused with the Holy as anything else.

Peace,

Pax

Invocations, Old Words, and Creativity

On By PaxIn Creativity, everyday, Food for Thought, magick, Modern Pagan, Public Ritual, witchery4 Comments

Dear Friends,

I have had the words, well mostly one of the choruses, of the old British folk and busking/begging song Tom O’ Bedlam stuck in my head for a couple of days now.

Still I sing Boys, Bonny Mad Boys

Bedlam Boys are Bonny

For they all go bare and they live by the air,

and They want no drink nor money

I blame Veles, who was apparently similarly afflicted and posted to his Facebook…

Oh Tom o’Bedlam, get out of my head!

Some discussion ensued and, realizing I had only heard snippets over the years in my wanderings through sci-fi/fantasy and Renfair geek-dom,  I researched the piece, and looked up all the lyrics and listened to several versions online….  Enjoying the flexibility of the song and how many different directions you can take these old words…

Ever since Veles (because, again it is his fault) got me stuck on this song I have been thinking how by adjusting the verses and some of the various choruses (and possibly adding one or two relevant verses) you could take this song and transform it into a very powerful Mummers interlude during a Yuletide potluck feast, or a Mummers Parade around Samhain, or an Invocation of The Horned God and the Wild Hunt at either of the above Sabbats are all interesting possibilities.

Some of the inspiration for this comes from reading a LOT of Traditional Witchcraft material in the last month, Huson and Paddon and Cochrane and Jones oh my!  Some of this inspiration has probably been stirred up by Dver’s diverse posts over on A Forrest Door on mumming and masking (here, here and here) that she shared near the turning of the Calendar Year…

One of the elements that can make a ritual powerful, one of the things that can make it Ritual and empower true Magick, is repetition or age.   This is why old and oft repeated rituals have a certain power, they’ve had time to inscribe themselves into the warp and weft of things….  rituals, like the Catholic Mass, or the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, or the casting of Circles or the invocation of Watchtowers; this is also part of what empowers some of the ancient stories and songs such as the works of Shakespear, and passages from the Norse Saga’s, or the Homeric Hymns, have had time to work themselves into the warp and the weft of things and reach what I tend to think of as the Graphic User Interface stage of magick and ritual.

So by bringing in Poetry and Song and Language and rituals with some age to it, or simply by figuring out what works best for you and going with it, you can end up drawing on the power of meanings built up over time; with yourself and your group as the lenses through which that deep magick is focused…

As an example of the flexibility of the piece, and the many different moods one could take one written source (either ancient, or modern, or one that blends the two…) We have…

A late 1960’s folk-rock rendition…

A 1980’s sounding version with overtones of Synth and New Age Music…

A gloriously over the top spoken word version….

And a Japanese Math Rock band which, while some of the pronunciations are a bit surreal has captured a delightful mood…

or for invoking Dionysus perhaps fabulous almost rockabilly version…

Peace, and creativity,

Pax

Holy Libertas, Holy Justitia, and All You Holy Powers of Healing…

On By PaxIn everyday, Highest Ideals, Honoring the Heroes, Modern Pagan, Prayer, Religio-Americana, witchery1 Comment

Dear Friends,

In the face of recent events Pagan community journalists are looking at the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic member of the U.S. Congress who was shot at in an apparent assassination attempt, and adding their prayers.  Pagan Elders and Teachers are encouraging us to pray and send energy, and to not only not despair but too find ways to Bend that oh-so -famous Moral Arc of the Universe more towards justice from the strange and tangled place our Nation finds itself in these day.  Pagan Authors and Elders are writing essays inquiring into the moral responsibility for the vitriolic climate that pollutes our fair Nations politics.

I am neither an Elder nor an Author, and only a sometimes hap-hazard Journalist.  I will find ways to act and work and do whatever it is I can do to bring positive change into the world and into my Nation, but for now, I also pray….

Holy Libertas, Holy Justitia, and All You Holy Powers of Healing

Hear Me, oh, Holy Powers.

Lady Liberty,

Goddess of Democracy, You who raises your Torch to light the way to Freedom and holds close to your heart the Laws and History and Ideas and Ideals that should be guiding us.  Inspire your children and friends and praise-singers and drum-beaters to action, let us stand in numbers too great to ignore and say

“No.  Not here, and not ever here!”

To the rule of violence and to the fear-mongering and rabble-rousing that has helped lead to this.

Swift Winged Justice,

Lady of the Scales and the Sword, who although blindfolded sees all.  I know that You cannot be everywhere at once, but please be in Arizona now.  Cleave through the lies and accusations and counter accusations and help the forces of Law to work Your wonders and to find the truths at the  heart of this matter.

All You Holy Powers of Healing,

Be with, sustain, and nurture those injured on that tragic day.  Be with, sustain, and nurture the families of the fallen, and the wounded, as they go forward from this terrible cross-roads.  Be with, sustain, and nurture all those touched personally by this horrible event and help them to to heal, to grieve, to find the comfort they need, and to continue.

Honored and Beloved and Mighty Dead,

Welcome the Fallen from this tragic day amongst your numbers, may they find peace amongst your numbers and reunion with their beloved families.  May your presences and inspiration be there for your families and for your spiritual descendants who have need of you in this trying time.

Blessed Be and So Mote It Be.

So Mote It Be,
Pax / Geoffrey

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

Memorial Day and the Mystery of Sacrifice

On By PaxIn Bouncing off the Gods, Food for Thought, Food of the Gods, Honoring the Heroes, Memorial Day, Modern Pagan, Pagan Ponderings, Religio-Americana2 Comments

Wherein our hero, Pax, muses about the Mysteries of Sacrifice and the Memorial Day Holiday….

Hello Friends,

So my mind is turning towards the Religious Mystery of Sacrifice this year and it being Memorial Day here in the United States it seems like an apt time to write upon it.

Now I have been contemplating various aspects of this particular Mystery for a few months now, since our Church ran it’s annual Stewardship campaign.  That’s where the members of the congregation decide upon their monthly membership pledges to the Church.  I have also been slowly reading through Walter Burkert’s Greek Religion as I explore Hellenic Polytheism and my own increasingly Polytheistic self.

Now when you start talking of sacrifice in a religious sense, a lot of sensationalistic and bloody imagery may come to mind as the influence of both sensationalist (and often wildly inaccurate) portrayals from Hollywood and the (also wildly inaccurate and often venomous) propaganda of some of the more extreme ends of the dominant Monotheistic faiths.  So let me issue this disclaimer… I have never participated in an animal Sacrifice, but not for the reasons you might think.  (more on that last part in a bit…)

Let’s start with the Religious Mystery part of the equation.  A Religious  Mystery is something you must experience, or undergo, in order to truly understand.  Mysteries are, or should be, informative and transformative.  That’s the modern sense of it anyway and why in Contemporary Paganism (and elsewhere) one can hear reference to Women’s Mysteries and Men’s Mysteries, the Mysteries of Childbirth, The Mysteries of Sex, and the Mysteries of Death and the like.  This use of Mystery comes to us from the Mystery religions of the Ancient Mediterranean where initiates to the sacred and secret rites would undergo rituals and swear, upon pain of death, not to reveal the content of the Mysteries.

Now we get into Sacrifice.  A term and act which can be a source of some controversy in Contemporary Pagan society when discussions of Religious Freedom and its  interplay with those modern world regions such as Santeria and Voudoun (among others) who both practice animal sacrifice and share some similarities with Contemporary Paganism come up.  The word sacrifice comes to us, or so my research says, from the Old French and means “to make sacred”.   It is related to, at least thematically, an ancient Greek word that translates as “the working of sacred things.”   The ancient Greek word was used to denote the sacrifice of animals in ancient Greek religion, an examination of which topic can be enlightening and provocative.

I mentioned earlier that I have not participated in an animal sacrifice, although I have made offerings of food and money and poured libations of water and wine ~ which follow some of the same dynamics and rules as a Sacrifice and are a part of why I am writing about and exploring this topic.

I have not participated in animal sacrifice.

First and foremost this is because, like the vast majority of Contemporary Pagans (at least here in the U.S.) I am a child of the cities and suburbs and lack the requisite skills and knowledge to mercifully, quickly, cleanly, and as painlessly as possible slaughter an animal and butcher it into it’s component parts for cooking and sharing with whatever Gods one worships and ones religious community.   Which was the general model in the Ancient world and is also the general model for those religions that still practice animal sacrifice.

Then too there is the fact that having grown up in a world where I get my meat in a nice neat Styrofoam and plastic wrapped package from the market, I don’t know if I would have the stomach to partake of meat I’ve watched slaughtered; despite having eaten fish I have caught and killed and clean in the past.

Setting aside my squeamishness, or potential squeamishness, lets go back to sacrifice.  I have just mentioned the idea of a general model for animal sacrifice in the Ancient and Contemporary world.   The animal is quickly, cleanly, and as mercifully as possible, slaughtered and butchered and cooked and served to the participants and the Gods.  The keys to this Mystery are not about Death, although admittedly in an animal sacrifice observing and honoring the Mystery of Death is a part of the equation, the Mystery of Sacrifice is about Life and about Community.

The core of any true Sacrifice is a Willing giving up of something of Value to be Shared with ones community and with the Holy Powers.

It is worth noting that the same sort of ground rules apply to a votive offering of a piece of poetry shared with others at a festival and burned in the festival fire, or to a Statue created or commissioned and left in sacred precincts, or to money tithed to ones congregation or religious community, as apply to an animal sacrifice.  Lets examine my theoretical core or ground rules…

Willing

The sacrifice, or votive offering, must be given willingly.  Not coerced or forced.  In Ancient Greece, at least, this was taken to the rather amusing extreme of the animal in question (often a Sheep or a Bull) being asked some variation of the phrase “Do You Consent?”  The animal, in part because of training, and in part because an attendant would place a dish of water in front of it, would nod it’s head and the rite would proceed.

Value

In the case of animal sacrifice, the animals in question were in the Ancient World, and often in the Contemporary world, quite valuable as livestock in a society where meat did not/does not make up a regular part of the every day diet.  Thus offering up a Sheep or a Goat or an Ox was a financial big deal.  The same idea holds true with votive offerings where one might put a great deal of effort, thought, care, and sometimes expense in creating something precious to the owner/creator to be given to the Gods or left for the temple.

Sharing

In the case of an animal sacrifice this sharing was a meal where in the participants ate of the meat, sometimes the only meat they might see in their diet, and offering (depending on the times and specific tradition) either the finest cuts or the bones and offal to the Gods.  In a votive offering this sharing also holds true as humble necklaces and inscriptions would lay side by side in the ancient temples with glorious works of art and jewelry and the arms and armor of defeated enemies from war.  The humbler gifts were periodically taken away and buried in the sacred precincts (to the delight of modern archaeologists) and the arms and armor and more precious works were kept and displayed within the temple… or occasionally melted down by subsequent governments to finance various projects.

…

Thus it is not just the giving up, in the case of a votive offering, that makes an offering an offering; or a food offering a sacrifice.  It is the conscious knowledge of the offerings value, it’s meaning and preciousness to the giver that is a part of the Mystery.  It is the true willingness to not only give, but to share with the Holy Powers or that which is greater than yourself AND with your community that opens the doors onto this Mystery.

So by now you may be wondering what any of this has to do with Memorial Day?

Well, this civic holiday is one where we in the U.S. honor our fallen soldiers, the Honored Dead, who have given their lives in service to the protection and defense of our Constitution.  The word sacrifice is often bandied about in discussing this.  I would put forth that theirs is a true Sacrifice in the religious/magical sense.

They willingly give the most precious thing they possess, their lives, in service to their nation in defense and protection of it’s highest ideals.  They willingly offer up their Lives to their community & country in service to something greater than themselves.  They sacrifice themselves that others may live and enjoy Freedom. In serving those ideals, as embodied in the U.S. Constitution, and in offering the greatest of sacrifices it is my contention that they thereby sanctify those ideals.  The Constitution thus becomes a sacred text and a set of sacred ideals.

Now, I recognize the complexities of politics and wars past and present, and of military service and government agendas.  I also choose to recognize those who have given their lives that I might live mine.

That which is remembered, lives.

Peace,

Pax

Hate is NOT a Pagan Value

On By PaxIn Food for Thought, Highest Ideals, Modern Pagan, Pagan Ponderings, Unitarian Universalist8 Comments

(note simul-posted to the Pagan Values blog)

Sadly, prejudice and bigotry are nothing new within the Pagan movement.

Over the years we have, in our many Traditions and communities, wrestled ~sometimes quite publicly and messily and nastily~ with racism and misogyny and misandry and patriarchy and religious intolerance (aimed both at other Pagan faiths AND at religions outside the Pagan community) and with homophobia and with radicalism at both ends of the political spectrum.

I remember a discussion with some friends once where we had been discussing the history of the U.U. congregation I am a member of.  We had discussed both the Sexual Revolution and the current struggles around GLBT rights and we had also discussed the U.S. Civil Rights movement and ‘America’s’* struggles with racism and sexism. In the U.S., as befits the once boundless optimism of our Nation, the dominant discussion or idea is that “we dealt with that….”. My friends and I came to the consensus in our conversation that bigotry and homophobia are not things that you wrestle with once and are done with. These are things that peoples of conscience must continually look at and wrestle with and that each generation must have its own showdowns with.

So too must Pagans continue to wrestle with the hostile spirits of intolerance and fear and bigotry and hate, again and again.

Lately I have been encountering, within some forums and blog comment sections, some Pagans being extremely vocal regarding the “evils” of Christianity and Monotheism.  Now, I would and do not mind criticism of Christianity or other religions.  There is no denying that any religion, ANY religion, is capable of injustice and fanaticism fueled evils.  Especially when those religions are tied to a State or are wielding social and political power akin to a State.  A reasoned and reasonable critique of any religion is not out of order.

But these so called ‘defenders of polytheism’ have been crossing the sometimes hazy line from criticism into bigotry with the advocacy for violence against Christians, with the active and regular denigration of other faiths if they are Monotheistic, and the extremely toxic levels of condescension and insult that those who voice objections to the above are subjected to.

Our Pagan ancestors were, by and large, extremely tolerant of other religions.  Some of these same voices of intolerance look to the history of Pagan Rome and mutter “too tolerant…”

When one tries to point out that there are Christians and Jews and Muslims who are active in Interfaith work and doing good in the world and working for a fair and just society for ALL regardless of religion; these ‘critics’ will immediately try to equate all Christians and all Catholic Priests and all Christian Clergy with child molesters, or all Muslims with terrorist extremists or the Taliban, OR they will try to suggest that when monotheists are engaged in good works and in Interfaith work and work for justice and tolerance that they are somehow FAILING as monotheists in accordance with Christian or Jewish or Muslim doctrine?!

When attempts are made to point out the injustices and deep wrongs committed within the Ancient world when various forms of Paganism were the dominant cultural and political forces, these wrongs are brushed aside by these fanatics as merely the result of complex historical and social and political forces as having nothing whatsoever to do with the religions or religious values of the Ancient Paganisms;  whereas when someone tries to use similar arguments about more recent history or current issues as they relate to Monotheistic religions these same fanatics brush aside such arguments as missing the point or as fueled by their critics ignorance of the true evils of Monotheism or the particular Monotheism under discussion.

The tragic irony here is, of course, that in embracing such an Us Vs. Them mentality, they have embraced some of the very same and very worst of the Dualistic mindset that is admittedly of monotheism’s problematic legacies in our world.

Many Pagans, and many of the ones I most deeply respect, would tend to agree to varying degrees with Deborah Lipp’s excellent essay Putting the “poly” in polytheism…

Fundamental to our values, I believe, is pluralism. Everything we believe, even the lines we draw in the sand, must be rooted in plurality. There are many gods, many paths, many truths.

Monotheism has “mono” as a root value. One God, one Truth, one Right with all other things Wrong. This is a net negative for culture, I believe.

Polytheism allows us to worship many gods, few if any of whom are “jealous Gods.” None of them seem to demand that we worship Them and Them alone. Kali has never asked me to cease worshiping the gods of Wicca, and vice versa. Doing one thing fervently, wholeheartedly, with body, mind, heart, and spirit, does not prevent Pagans from doing another, very different, thing with the same wholeheartedness.

One can disagree with some of the more extreme and fundamentalist forms of monotheism WITHOUT wishing them ill, and without painting all Christians or monotheists as being either fanatics or fools, one can criticize Christians without cheering on the prospect of violence against them, and without constantly trying to stain ALL of a particular form of monotheism with the blemishes of one portion of the whole.

If some group of Pagans were to employ some of the same tactics and attitudes about another of the current Pagan religions that these critics employ against the monotheistic faiths, especially Christianity, one would probably be banned from lists and comment sections quickly and the posts would be widely decried as intolerant and bigoted and not even worth discussing.

Hatred, unlike anger, serves no useful purpose.

Anger can give one energy to get something done, provided you actually engage in some careful thought how to harness it, and provided that you are actually doing something useful and productive with it.  Hatred just lashes out, repeatedly and endlessly, often at the nearest available target with no regard to reason or logic.

Why then should we continue to dignify with our attention the venomous ravings of people who have nothing better to do than spit on another faith tradition rather than speaking and singing praises to their own?  When this spleen venting is the only response they can come up with to the injustices of the world and they cannot come up with so much as ONE useful, or constructive, response, why should we as communities continue waste our time  upon them?

* (as we U.S.-er’s of a certain generation are still wont to refer to our nation… sorry Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America old habits die hard…)

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

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)

New Moon, Noumenia, and Me.

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Dionysus, Hecate, Hellenic Polytheism, Modern Pagan, New Moon, Seeking, spiritual practiceLeave a comment

Dear Friends and Pagani,

A stick of incense burns upon my altar.  An offering unto the Theoi on the Noumenia.

In ancient times the Noumenia honored Selene, Apollon Noumenios, and The  Household Gods; including Hestia, Zeus, Hermes, Hecate, Appolon Ageieus, the familial Agathos Diamons, and ones honored Ancestors.   Many contemporary Hellenic Polytheists will take this time to honor and make offerings to all of the Theoi.

Technically I am three days late, as the first sliver of the waxing moon, which the ancients considered the New Moon and the start of the new month; however it was on a walk earlier this evening that I caught my first sight of the moon since the astrological New Moon.  It helps that I am being inspired by recent discussion of how to handle food offerings on the Neos Alexandria ~ discussion group on Yahoo.

The basic discussion was that once food has been offered to the Gods, it becomes blessed as They partake of its essence, and then the worshiper may eat the food offered to the Gods.   (the general feel, based on UPG and some historical sources, is that food offered to the Dead is better left out in the woods or perhaps burnt)  Because of my current financial status I have to rely on discussion groups and online sources of information about my worship of the Theoi.  Although admitedly almost 40 years of being a history geek have certainly helped to inform my online research… and I am finding a little money here and there to start buying books to increase my knowledge and understanding.

And still I practice.  I pray to Them, I make offerings of incense, and now apples, and water… maybe some juice or wine….  Practice, practice, practice… Pray, sit in meditation, breathe into my Center, going for walks, writing out my thoughts and feelings and doing my best to become the best me I can be; both for myself and for the Gods.

“Every day, in some small way, I reweave myself, I rebuild myself.”

I am not only dealing with the recent break-up of my increasingly mis-named Life Partnership with the Big Guy; I am dealing with all of the old patterns and hurts that I have acknowledged for years but never really wrestled with, everthing that came roiling to the surface after the break-up.

I am doing it though!  I am finding my way.   I am learning who I am and what is important to me.  I am building my spiritual and religious practices and figuring out how to work within and build upon my relationships with the Theoi, and with the Lady and Lord of the Witches, and the other Gods who I encounter and have encountered in my journey.

I am learning how to budget, and how to eat properly, and how to date and laugh and live and love; both again and for the first time.

For all of these blessings, and all of the blessings in my life, I thank the Gods.  I offer my words and sweet smelling incense unto Them.

Peace,

Pax

Remembering the Honored Dead

On By PaxIn everyday, Honoring the Heroes, Modern Pagan, Religio-Americana1 Comment

Dear Pagani,

Today is, in the United States, Memorial Day.

“Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.” ~from the Wikipedia article, accessed 5/25/2009

I also look upon this day and find it somehow strangely fitting that it is near Walpurgisnacht, and its traditions of lighting bonfires to ward of wandering ghosts, that we in the U.S. remember and honor our Fallen Soldiers.

I have many thoughts ranging through my mind about this holiday, this Holy Day.

Today I remember my nations fallen soldiers, and more.  I remember the fallen soldiers of the Revolutionary War, who fought to make our Nation.

I remember the Confederate War Dead; I may disagree with much of what they fought for ( see some of histories complexities here, and here), I cannot deny that their sacrifice helped to create the United States I know today.

While I do not agree with how my Nation has treated the Native American Peoples, I choose to honor all of the fallen dead of the Little Big Horn, and all of our other “Indian” wars; their sacrifices too, have shaped my Nation.

Perhaps I shall observe a moment of silence at 3pm my local time, a custom I had not known about until reading the Wikipedia entry!  Tonight I shall pour libations and make offerings of incense unto Hecate, and the Honored Dead.

The customs I hadn’t known about, perhaps because none of my relatives has died in a war in living memory, these are bothering me… shouldn’t the meaning of this day be a part of the fabric of my culture?  It is strange to see how far from honoring the U.S. War dead we’ve come, sometimes, in regards to memorial day.  Businesses are closed but it seems so much more an occasion for a three-day party week-end and lots of crass sales.  On the other hand, is this better than simply being lost to the flow of history, as Pearl Harbor Day has largely been?  My father tells me that there were observations on December 7th for years afterward… now though I sometimes think I would be hard pressed to find folks who knew its significance, it seems to barely get a mention.

Let us remember!     Let us come together as Kindreds and Covens and Groves, let us come together across religions as Pagans honoring the spirits and memories of those who have given their lives for our nations continuing struggle towards that more perfect union!

Peace,

Pax

Discussion of my recent Beltane post…

On By PaxIn Aphrodite, Bouncing off the Gods, Dionysus, everyday, Food for Thought, Harm None, Highest Ideals, Modern Pagan, My Florida Sabbats, Pagan Ponderings, Pax's Beliefs, Reinventing the Wheel2 Comments

So the ever fabulous Tracy the Red posted a reply to my recent Beltaine related post.   I should like to share it and my reply, with you my dear readers and encourage more discussion on this, here, and on the Pagan Community Builders list, and elsewhere in the community.

Anyway Tracie posted this to my comments section…

“Be careful there, darlin’ because Beltane is a festival that is directed at the Celtic fire God Bel and Aphrodite is Greek. She has Her own holy tides and we all know how stroppy She can get if She doesn’t receive Her proper worship. Beltane also doesn’t involve Maypoles either; that’s May Day. Maypoles are something Germanic peoples are into, even to this day. May Day itself is a day sacred to Freyja and is a lot more “Samhain-esque” than most would realize.

Wouldn’t mixing and matching deities and festivals fall under “cultural misappropriation?””

Well, I’ve written a small bit about cultural misappropriation recently, and also had a bit of a chat on the topic with Tracie the other day (pray for her air-conditioning unit folks!), so the topic is hovering about and well worth bringing up.  It is also an issue I have started to seriously wrestle with as both a Neo-Pagan Witch and a budding Hellenic Polytheist.

I have re-read the article, and I can see where, as a result of some inspecifics in my writing of it, I did commit some cultural misappropriation… or an least provide opportunity for it to flourish.

I would say there are two areas where I could have written things out better.

1. I did not write clearly enough about which Beltaine I was writing about.

Beltaine/May Day/Walpurgisnacht are three inter-related festivals that have some very different meanings for different branches of our Pagan movement.  I tried to speak to this within the post

“Especially this time of year.  Beltane, or May Day, is the time of year when many of us modern Pagans celebrate fertility and passion and joy and love and lust.”

Note the use of the word “many”… not “all”; but I should have been more detailed.

To a Celtic Reconstructionist, it is the fire festival celebrating the beginning of Summer and a festival for Bel.

To Heathens it may be a festival of Spring, and a time to honor Nerthus and Njord.  (for some Kindreds anyways….)

(And in both of the above examples different groups and individuals will have different observances, and ways of relating to and honoring the holiday.)

For the Hellenic Recons and well Beltaine really has little to do with the directly reconstructionist path.  Some have already celebrated Anthestreria.  (more on this Dionysian festival later)

Then of course for the Neo-Pagan and Witch and Wiccan communities the Beltaine Sabbat takes elements of  all of the above with a heavier focus on the light-hearted fertility and spring and a little less on the Samhaineque elements.

(by the by Tracie I am officially filing the serial numbers off of ‘Samhainesque” and going to be slipping it into as much everyday conversation as is possible)

It was this last iteration of Beltaine, one of the more widely celebrated ones (currently) in the Pagan movement, that I was speaking to in my recent article.

2. I did not explain a few things about my Hellenic Polytheism

See even though I am a self-described Hellenic Polytheist, and I am currently researching and involving myself in some Hellenic and Greco-Egyptian Recon subjects/groups… I am not a hard core recon… at least not yet, I am more than willing to concede that my thoughts and feelings on this issue may change and evolve, but here is where I am at the moment.

~I am drawn to the worship of the Immortal Gods, the Olympians, the Cthonic Dieties and a number of others from the Hellenic Pantheon, most especially Dionysus and Hecate with some burgeoning relationships with Antinous, Aprhodite, and Pan.  I make offerings of incense and pour libations of water and, as I am able, wine to Them whilst reciting from the homeric and orphic hymns and sometimes my own poetry striving to do Them justice and honor.

~ It is my heartfelt belief that the Gods are real are many and have always been with us, to paraphrase Plethon.  They didn’t go up onto some shelf at some point in History.  Thus they are as much a part of the modern world as say cell phones or Valentines Day.

~ At the moment I am welcoming the Gods into my life in the Modern world… Honoring Aphrodite at Valentines for example… and Dionysus during the two Florida Wine Harvests  (June and August).  I am looking at some of the Recon calendars… but my thing is I am not living in Ancient Alexandria or Athens… I am living in Davenport, Florida USA.   The agricultural and spiritual rythms, the rhythms of the natural world around me, are very different than those in the lands where the Theoi were first honored.

~This also relates to a similar difficulty I have had with the Neo-Pagan Wheel of the year since moving to Florida.  What does Beltane really mean in a land where fertility is never in question and Winter Solstice and Imbolc are the Citrus and Strawberry Harvests respectively?

So those are some of the issues I am trying to sort out for myself right now, and part of why I wrote of Aphrodite in association with Beltane.  I was not trying to claim that Beltaine is a festival of Aphrodite, more that Beltaine celebrates things that are a part of Aphrodite’s concerns…

I send my apologies to Aphrodite, Bel, any hardcore Recons reading the blog for any offense the piece may have caused.

Though, in the end, I must also stand by the posts core message of honoring fertility and sex and sensuality, honoring the Goddesses and Gods related to those things, and honoring ourselves through responsible behavior.

Peace,

Pax

_PS_ this may seem like a silly post to some, but if I am going to speak about how words and language has power I need to be very conscious of how I use them.  Also, if I am going to kvetch to people about a local Pagan groups “Native American” Pipe Cermony (which doesn’t actually involve ANY native americans nor any sort of sanction approval from the Lakota people whose ceremony they are stealing)…. well, if I am going to complain about such things I need to keep my own spiritual house clean!!

Honoring Aphrodite, and Beltane, and Ourselves

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Aphrodite, Beltaine, everyday, Love Unto All Beings, Modern Pagan, Prayer6 Comments

Beltane-tide Prayer 2009

I dedicate this prayer and post

To You oh Illustrious Lady,

Golden, Sea-Born, Cyprian,

Night and Laughter Loving Queen,

As we wind our way towards Beltane,

Open the peoples eyes and inform their minds,

To dangers both known and unseen

~Pax

I have yet to make it to a festival myself, I don’t have anyone I know real well to share camp with and now that issues of time and money are waning  I am hesitant to throw myself into this aspect of the Pagan community without finding a festival buddy first.  Silly, I know, but its how I feel.

As we wind our way towards Beltane I am reminded, by stories from one of my dearest Pagan friends of just how festive some of the festivals out there can be!

Especially this time of year.  Beltane, or May Day, is the time of year when many of us modern Pagans celebrate fertility and passion and joy and love and lust.  In theory it’s all about the fertility of the land and a time when many Witches and Pagans celebrate the sexual union of their Goddess and God  bringing life back into the world.  In practice there are event’s and festivals that feature that symbolism and often a dancing of the May Pole, and a lot of flirting games and sometimes a lot more than just flirting as folks very actively celebrate fertility.

For me, as a Witch who is also a budding Hellenic Polytheist, Beltane seems like the natural time to honor Aphrodite.

Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty, of Procreation and Fornication, of Desire and Flirtation: She is Fairest of the Gods of Marriage, She whose wrath can strike men impotent, She who bestows Beauty and Grace, Lady of Pleasure and Merriment; She Who with Erato and Apollon presides over Love Poetry and Song, Lady of the Morning Star, Protectoress of the Homeland, and Goddess of Peace.

I’ve written a few things about Her before,  prayers of my own, and the Orphic Hymn to Aphrodite, and a little post wherein I suggested we modern Pagans should celebrate and honor Her in our Circles and at Beltane.

Now I could wait and hold a solitary ritual with an altar of images of Aphrodite, and with flowers and sweet candies for Her.  I could, and possibly shall, read the Orphic Hymn to Her and some more prayers of my own to Her, and pour  libations of wine and water and honey.

In the last day or so, however, I feel compelled to say some things about sex and sexuality how we Pagans honor Beltane.

Now, sex is wonderful and beautiful and sacred, as is wine, and music.  So too is Love, in all it’s forms from friendship to blazing passion to deathless romance, so too is Trust; and so too are every atom and cell of our bodies.  At least that last part is a part of the party line for a lot of Pagans out there; some of the stories I hear from friends about the festival circuit are beginign to make me wonder though.

If every atom and cell of our bodies partake of the Divines, then don’t we owe it to Them and to ourselves to be a little careful with our cells and atoms?  If our community is so fabulously free of psychological hang ups, so open, so sex-positive; if sex is sacred how come you never see an HIV testing tent at a community Beltaine event?

Since personal responsibility is such an integral part of being Pagan, why don’t we talk more at this time of year about reproductive health and about birth control and about family planning?  Why don’t we see Beltane (or even Imbolc) health fares in our Pagan communities?

I find myself wondering how many people in our community realize that one of the big reasons that a lot of open rituals will pass out dixie cups for sharing or wine or mead at the appropriate time in the ritual is because sharing a drinking vessel can spread oral herpes?

How many of you knew that oral herpes is present in 50 to 80 percent of the U.S. population?

When I read that roughly 1 million people in the U.S. have HIV; and 1 out of every 5 of them has no idea that they are infected!  When I hear that someone in the United States is infected with HIV every 9 minutes and 30 seconds…

I cannot help but wonder what Aphrodite, what any of the Goddesses of Love and Beauty, must think of these sad simple facts?  Are we truly celebrating fertility and honoring the full spirit of the season if we don’t think about our actions?

Nor is HIV the only potentially lethal STD that you need to worry about.  To paraphrase Henny Youngman…

Take my Hepatitis B.  Please!

I have no idea where or when I got Hepatitis B, I learned about it long after that fact when I was taking a routine HIV test.

Luckily enough (if you can say that about a life-changing illness) my body fought off the infection.  This means that while Hep-B is present in my blood, I am not actively contagious and cannot transmit it to my Partner through casual contact or even sexual activity.  It is still in my blood though, and I am at risk for liver problems later in life.

I find myself wondering how many in the Pagan community may face a medical time bomb and not even know it?

We are responsible for our actions and choices. The gods have granted us this gift of intellect and will, and Will, so use it wisely!  Honor the Goddesses and Gods of your path, especially those of Love and Beauty and even Lust; but seek to do so in wisdom and honor.  Inform and educate yourself and make choices grounded in your head and heart, not your hormones, this Beltane season!

~~~A Few (unconventional) Beltane Resources~~~

CDC information on STD’s

CDC general STD information and curriculum tools

An STD information page from the University of Maryland

Coalition for Positive Sexuality ~ A free-online Sex education resource, including information on STD’s and Birth Control.

A Safer Sex information website from William’s College

National HIV and STD Testing Resources (US)