Tag: Witch

The Ethical and Virtuous Witch

On By PaxIn Harm None, Highest Ideals, Love Unto All Beings, Pagan Values Blogging, Pax's Beliefs, Witches Virtues9 Comments

Dear Pagani,

I am a Witch, of the type popularly called Wiccan.  In my case this means religious and British Traditional Witchcraft inspired Neo-Pagan Religious Witchcraft.  I came to this path, and later fell off of it for a while, nearly 17 years ago. This essay is my attempt to discuss the core values, ethics, and virtues I have found within the path and faith of Witchcraft.

I can only speak for myself, as a Witch, especially a Solitary one.  These are what I have found, your mileage may vary!

After having studied Witchcraft for a few years and Invoking the Divinities, seeking Them through Ritual and Gnosis.  I prayed and read and studied what I could find at the time… I wanted more, I felt the need to dig deeper.

So the first thing I did was take a good look at The Rede.

Now anytime one talks about ethics or values in the Neo-Pagan Witchcraft world, especially from the Wiccan or Wicca inspired end of the spectrum; the topic of the Rede comes up.

“An ye harm none, do what thou will.”

The Rede is almost always (and in my oh, so humble opinion incorrectly) cited as the only rule, ethical statement, or religious law of Witchcraft. While I disagree with the only part, I would say that examining the Rede, and really thinking about it, is central to understanding the philosophy of Witchcraft.  So let’s take a look, shall we?

First let’s focus on the word Harm…

“HARM (noun): Physical or mental damage.”

Nouns are words that name a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Eliminating the person and place we have Harm describing a thing, quality, or action. This would seem to say that Harm is something that is done by one party or group to another. To do something, to do anything in fact, you need intent. So while you may not always succeed at it, if you strive to do no harm to yourself or others you are practicing the Rede.

Now let’s look at the word “An” in “An ye harm none, do what you will”. An, is the archaic form of “If” so a more modern wording would be…

“If you harm none, do what you will.”

“If” is darned important.  “IF” means that we have the choice to do harm, to ourselves and to others, but that we must face the consequences of our actions.

If… So what if you harm someone, with intent? Since Witches don’t believe in the Devil, we can’t say “the Devil made me do it?” or “It was because I was a sinner!” or “It’s not my fault because I was acting under medication for my sinus infection”.

In fact Witches and a lot, if sadly not all, of our fellow Pagans believe very strongly in personal responsibility as a part of their life paths.  We choose our actions, and we are capable of choosing our reactions, so we are always responsible for what we do and the choices we make.

Harming “none,” also includes oneself. This is a key ingredient in my decision making process… Is it more harmful to myself to allow this situation to continue, than any harm X, Y, or Z might encounter as a result of my decision?  The thing is to be a Witch you must be willing to strive to do no harm. There may come times in life where you have a choice and no matter what you chose someone will be harmed by your actions, but in most cases you have a choice open to you to NOT harm anyone or yourself.

So that takes care of the “Harming None” aspect of the Rede, what about “Do what thou will.”?

This is another area worthy of some examination.   Are you thinking about will as in doing whatever you want?  That’s ok, as far as it goes, but we can dig deeper!  Like a lot of Witches, I look at the Rede’s similarity to certain Thelemic ideas and consider the will discussed in the Rede as being True Will.  Will, with a capital “W”, as being an ongoing effort to live from moment to moment a path of action in perfect harmony with Nature or the Universe; to seek ones ultimate Destiny.

So another wording of the Rede might be…

“Strive to do no harm, and seek a path of harmony towards your destiny”

This is a little more complicated, and adult, than just doing whatever you want; even if you are trying to mind the consequences!

Now the next thing a lot of folks seem to think about, in connection with the Rede, and with the topic of virtues and ethics in Witchcraft, is the Three-fold Law…

“What you do comes back to you Threefold!”

Some Witches maintain that this is a core value or belief, other Witches look upon it and go

“Meh, Newton said it better!”

There is some variation of the Golden Rule or the Ethic of Reciprocity in most of the world Faiths.  While I respect the idea of the Rule of Three, as it is also known, I just can’t see myself grounding my actions and values in a system where I am fearing punishment or seeking reward.  That just seems somehow childish to me.

So I moved out from the Rede and the Rule of Three, in my own explorations  trying to figure out how to actively live as a Witch and carry my faith with me into the world.  Then I began to really look at Doreen Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess.

A few passages especially stood out…

“For mine is the Spirit of Ecstasy, and mine as well is joy on Earth, and Love Unto All Beings is My Law.”

“Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it; let nothing stop you or turn you aside.”

“Therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, and mirth and reverence within you.”

These are the things the First Goddess of my heart demands of me.  I remember being so shocked that none of the books I had read talked about the implicit instruction aspect of the Charge of the Goddess.

“Love unto all beings is my Law.”

This passage was the first that sort of hit my in the face when I started really looking at the Charge for moral and ethical guidance.  It is the only place in this sacred piece of poetry and inspiration where The Goddess lays down Her Law… not a recommendation, not a suggestion, Her Law.

The thing is, Love, is complicated!

Love for your family, and friends, and beloved.  Love for your neighbors, your co-workers, and your acquaintances.  Love for the people who cut you off in traffic, love for the scary and possibly schizophrenic homeless guy you walk by on your way to work.  Love for all beings, no matter how violent or vile their actions or pasts…

Now loving someone doesn’t require us t unconditionally or blindly love them and it doesn’t require us to to accept their immoral or unethical behaviors.  As long as it is truly rooted in love, we can practice Tough Love in those cases.

Then too there are those people in the world and in our regional and religious communities who have committed crimes; sometimes horrible and “unforgivable” crimes like murder or rape or worse.

Please Note: I use the quotes because it is easy to forget, especially if we or someone we love has been victimized in the past, that unless the person we are faced with actually victimized us then it is not our place to forgive them.  Only their own victims can possibly do that!

However, if they have served their debt to society, and seek to live a moral and ethical and sane and healthy life now, then all I can do is to be cautious and watchful in my Love for them; because She demands I find within myself, and act with, Love for them!

Like I said, Love, is complicated.  The Law of the Goddess is not unlike the goal or practice of Metta or Loving Kindness of the Buddhists.

So, to paraphrase, again…

“Live a life of Love,” She says “ do good things, and act with balance and wisdom!“ She says…

Striving to find Love for all beings, and striving to identify and live out and act upon our Highest Ideals.

You know though, I am still still struggling to identify and articulate my highest ideals; heck that was one of the motivations for starting the International Pagan Values Blogging month blog carnival in the first place!  For me, my ideals are wrapped up within the Rede, and The Law of The Goddess, and the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, and many other sources and inspirations.

Then too, as someone who is barely making ends meet, and who is desperately seeking for a second job or one full-time job, a lot of my sense of actively working for my highest ideals; well, it feels on hold.

I do try to do good in the world where I can.  Writing and speaking out in favor of Gay Civil Rights, and Pagan Community.  I participate in workplace giving with a few dollars of each paycheck going to some charitable causes.  I tell myself that I will do more as I am able, but a lot of times that feels nowhere near enough.

So, for now, I try to hold to my ideals as best I can and pray to the Gods for guidance and good things for myself and my family and for the opportunity to act upon my ever evolving Highest Ideals.

It’s not like I, as a Witch, don’t have some guidelines in how to act…

“Therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, and mirth and reverence within you.”

These 8 virtues or qualities are what the Goddess wishes me to try and embody, each and every day.   They are a part of the plan the Goddess has laid out for us, Her Witches.

I have copied down the dictionary definitions of those 8 goals/ideals/virtues, I have sought out quotes about them that strike the same chords in my soul as the Charge does, I meditate and contemplate the meanings of the words and how others have related to them trying to puzzle out my own relationship to them.   I have in this very blog tried to articulate what some of the virtues mean to me, and rambled a bit about striving towards my highest ideals, and of love unto all beings.

The truth is though that these are things I think and pray upon on a daily basis,… now.

“Mother Celestial, and Father Divine,

Let me walk in Beauty and Strength,

Exhibiting Power and Compassion,

With both Honor and Humility,

Let me always remember Mirth as well as Reverence,

That I might be worthy of Thy Perfect Love and Perfect Trust,

And that of those in whose hearts you dwell.

Blessed be, so mote it be”

Originally I did that work studying definitions and contemplating meanings and looking at what others had said or thought about these qualities of character; and then, somehow, I sort of set it aside.   I got distracted from the important matters and guidelines of spirit by the pressures of everyday life, and by giving in to some of my more self-destructive impulses.  It has been a long and winding, educational and rough and yet not entirely unpleasant road back to living my Witchcraft on a regular basis; I am still working on it, and suspect I shall be doing so for the rest of this lifetime.

I have failed to live these ideals in the past, sometimes grievously, but I keep trying… one of the definitions of Strength relates to perseverance…and persevere I do!  Each day I pray my prayer, sometime it comes out more like a memorized recitation than a heartfelt speaking and sharing with the Deities, so I will repeat it… sometimes mantra-like until I feel I have truly thought about each of the virtues and what they mean to me and have had a moment of connection to Them as I contemplated these Virtues I am ordered to embody.

She wants so much from me!  I can get intimidated sometimes thinking about it, yet when I offered myself  to Them they accepted me.  So I persevere and I struggle and I keep going,

And still I struggle, Beauty and Strength, and by extension Health are  issues for me lately.  Well, Beauty is always something I have struggled to find in looking at myself, and to find myself worthy of striving for.  But Strength and health are things I have let slip in the last couple of years.  She expects more of my, and through Her love I have learned to start expecting more of myself.

As I write this I am realizing that one of the key things, for me, about the values and virtues I have found within Witchcraft is that they are things each of us must work with.  Whether you are a Solitary or in a Coven, no one else is responsible for your Grace, your Gnosis, your encounters with the Numinous Divine.

Each of us must look to the values and ethics and ideals and morals we find in our many Pagan Paths.  We must not only study and contemplate them, we must wrestle with them daily as we try to live them and as we carry them with us into the world where we will act in accordance with them.

Peace, and Love, always Love,

Pax

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)

Imbolc 2009

On By PaxIn Imbolc, Imbolc Poetry Blogging, Poetry, Prayer, Seeking1 Comment

Imbolc,

First time in a long time

Picking up the Cards

Rearranging the Shards

Lookin’ for and Scrying in

The Mirrors of my Contemplation again.

~

Stretchin’ so many muscles,

I haven’t even felt in a long long time.

~

Relearning to Write,

Relearning how to Scry,

Relearning how to Breathe,

Relearning how to Rhyme,

And the Ebb and the Flow,

And don’t you know,

Relearning my Craft

All Alone in my own Time.

~

First time in a long long time

Picking up the Cards

Rearranging the Shards

At Imbolctide.

Dear, Dear Goddess…

On By PaxIn Prayer11 Comments

Dear, Dear Goddess,

Help me to find patience with those who have mistaken their need to run away from their tremendous Mommy and Daddy and Church issues, for a Pagan spiritual calling.  You know, the ones who like to talk about how wonderful and enlightened and tollerant the Pagan community is an then when the topic of Christianity comes up their head snap back like a giant Pez dispenser spouting off ignorant and hateful things about Christianity?  Yeah, they are exhausting my love for other beings as of late…

Thank you,

Your loving Servant and Child,

Pax

Imbolctide!!!

On By PaxIn Imbolc, My Florida Sabbats, Reinventing the Wheel5 Comments

So there is this idea in a lot of sources is of Imbolc as somehow being the first stirring of Spring.  Coming from Anchorage, Ak. and now living in Orlando, Fl. ~ I am really not all that into Imbolc as a stirring of Spring…

Although January and February do mark the Strawberry harvest, among others, in my locale!

For me, and this lack of Springy spirit may in part be due to the annual influence on my childhood of the Fur Rendezvous festival in the Anchorage, area.  Fur Rondy, is an annual Winter carnival that includes the World Championchip Sled Dog Races, carnival rides and games set up in downtown Anchorage, arts and crafts fairs and competitions, and social events of all sorts.  In part this is a celebration of the lengthening days as we move from Winter to Spring.

For me this returning of light and sense of renewal and creativity is the big part of what Imbolc is all about.  It’s why, despite my mixed past with the Celtic Gods, I really really dig Bride and the Poetry and Hearth and Crafts related aspects of Imbolc.

Imbolc is about  new beginings, creativity and invention are the themes for this season as we reach outward into the light half of the year.  This is a time of continued and growing engagement with the world around us, beyond our home and hearth, after the deep focus on our friends and families of Yule.  We start to look forward to the activities of Spring and Summer, we start looking towards the new secular year and the things we want to do…

I am realizing, that for me at least, on a very deep level the Wheel of the Year is overlaid with Spirals that wind in and out and intertwine with one another.  For half the year we are Spiraling outward from Samhain to Beltaine, from Death (and the mysteries of what lies beyond) to Birth and Beginigns and Growth and learning and LIFE…

Then, for half of the year we spiral inward from Beltaine to Samhain…

Death and Growth and Life and Learning and Death and Life again…

Time to pour a few libations in the chilly Florida air…

Peace foks,

Pax

In the Midst of the Mad Rush of Days…

On By PaxIn Bouncing off the Gods, Gospel Pagan, Imbolc Poetry Blogging, Poetry, remembering3 Comments

In the midst of the Mad Rush of Days

Dancing with distress, and projects, and plans.

Looking around worriedly,

Trying to keep track of the many many little things,

Eyes, and heart, downcast.

~

Until,

I catch in the briefest of glimpses,

The Waxing Crescent Moon…

~

The Waxing Crescent Moon,

The Silver Cup of Dionysus,

Pouring inspirations

~

The Waxing Crescent Moon

The Curving Horns of Pan

Tearing distractions asunder

~

The Waxing Crescent Moon

The Crown of the Goddess

Shining as She reminds me “Breathe.”

~

In the Midst of the Mad Rush of Days,

I am reminded to cast my eyes upward.

I am reminded to breathe,

To stop running to and fro,

To stand still,

To breathe, until I can stride forth with purpose.

~

The Waxing Crescent Moon

Reminding me to Breathe,

Reminding me of my Craft,

Reminding me of my Name.

“What Now?” ~ Pagan Community Builders

On By PaxIn Activist Alert, An Important Message..., Community Building, Food for Thought, Modern Pagan, Pagan Evangelical, Pagan Pride, Pagan Responses to Recession, Pax's Beliefs7 Comments

So Darkly Fey, from Live from the Red Leather Couch and I had some fabulous back and forth conversations recently via e-mail about Paganism and Pagan community.  We decided to share with the Pagan Community Builder’s Yahoo.  This stirred up a little bit of discussion, and some really cool questions…  This encouraged me to engage in some of the following ranting about Pagan community…

I don’t know if movement’s neccesarilly mature into institutions, but I would definitely agree with the idea that they can mature into communities.  As I have said here and elsewhere that is where I think Paganism is right now…

Paganism is a spiritual, religious, and cultural movement made up of different interwoven and overlapping religious and regional communities.

It is my hope that Paganism as a movement will move and grow and develop into a family of interwoven and overlapping religious communities.  I just don’t think we are quite there yet.  (in my ever so humble and correct opinion!) ~ 😉

Moving on, if I may quote you…

“What would a mature Pagan community look like? More importantly, what would it do?”

I think that we as individual faiths and communities are in a process of hammering that question out… I also think it is related to another of your questions…

“But Pagans– do we have a goal? Is it individual enlightenment, collective enlightenment, improving the world with the idea that with an immanent divine, one serves the gods by serving others?”

I would say that the goal of a Pagan depends on the particular religion or philosophy of the individual Pagan.  ( I know, obviously, but I am moving towards a point here so please bear with me…)

I would observe that for the different Pagan faiths and paths there seems to be an overall theme of development into being a better person (personal growth and perhaps enlightenment, although it is not neccesarilly phrased as such) by practicing certain rites, and developing our relationships with the Divine (or the All That Is) and with the Spirits of the World Around Us (Elements and Land Spirits), and living certain  (intertwining and overlapping) virtues and values, and by building our relationships with others in our groups and faiths and societies through those virtues and values and practices…

I think that his theme of growth and development leads us quite naturally into engagement with other branches of Paganism, and from there into engagement with the rest of Society.  I also think that fear of discrimination, and a lack of outside pressure in the form of legal or social restrictions on religious practice, has helped to hamper that process of engagement.  Of course the fact that Paganism, with its Pantheism and Polytheism (among other Theisms present under the Pagan umbrella) whose essential concept of “our way AND your way” is having to re-emerge culturally from an immersion in Monotheism’s predominantly “Our way or the highway” mindset has also hampered our development as a community…

I think that both of your above questions are being hammered out by different Faith and Regional communities within the Pagan movement.

My instinct is (or, admittedly, perhaps it is merely my deep hope) that we as a movement are reaching a threshold point of in-group and inter-group communication and networking and growth and expansion that we are ready to go towards the next stage in our development from a movement into being a community.

Of course, I have been accused of being somewhat of an optimist and idealist…

“In my thoughts, I’d figured finding other Pagans would be the hard part. After all that navel-gazing and contemplation, the theological musings and soul-searching, we’ve figured out what we believe. We’ve found each other!….

…what now?”

I, SO, hear you! I share some of your frustration and experiences at local Pagan groups and rituals.  Socializing, in and of itself, is not enough.  Rituals on the Moons and/or on the Seasonal Holy Days are not enough!

That is part of why I created this discussion group.  To start and encourage discussions of “what now?”

“What now?” is why I have written Invoking the Power of the Pagan Dollar 2.0

Because I believe we need to start supporting our own community members (by supporting them as business people, and not just the occult tsotchke shoppes either!)  and institutions (religious, community, and charitable).

“What now?” is why I support the Pagan Pride Project and Pagan Pride events of all sorts… despite my occasional misgivings about some of the modes of dress and behavior!

We need, as religious and regional communities within the Pagan movement, to start engaging and reaching out to our wider local, regional, and national communities; not to proselytize, but to show clearly and honestly who and what we really are and are about!

We need to start looking at celebrating open and public rituals and observances at CIVIC holidays, not only to show our lager communities who and what Pagans are and are about; but to also deepen and expand ourselves as Pagans and our relationships with the spirits of our ancestors and of our Nations, and of the World around us; and to further build and strengthen our communities!

That, at the very least, is “what now?”!

Beyond that, well let’s keep talking!

Peace,

Pax

PS- if you are interested in taking part in this discussion, or ones like it, you can post here, or even better yet sign up for the Pagan Community Builder’s Yahoogroup !!!

Why I will always be a Witch…

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Bouncing off the Gods, Pagan Ponderings, Seeking, witchery3 Comments

<Ranting>

Why I will always be a Witch…

Not a Pagan, although I AM that too, but I will always be a Witch because, so many years ago now… 15…16 years… do I only count my Dedication ritual or do I count some of the Witchy stuff I was doing before that?  Well, lets call it 16 years, with definitely Pagan leanings for 19 to 20.

Anyway… I gave myself to the Goddess and God of Witchcraft (as best as I understood and understand them) that night.  I offered myself to them in their service and worship.  Body and Soul… I have Circled and Prayed and Magicked and had a few run-ins with Divinity…. both my own and others… I was a young and stupider Witch once…

Even when I started feeling a pull towards the Gods of Greece… especially Hecate and Dionysus… I worried that I was straying from Witchcraft even as I crafted a ritual of introduction and welcome for Hecate…. and later too opened a place in my heart and life for Dionysus…

yet if you dig into their histories you will see why Hecate and Dionysus’s myths and legends seemed somehow strangely familiar to a 21st Century Neo-Pagan Witch…

I am a Witch, whether I am Calling the Quarters or simply making an offering of Incense and moving on with my day… I am a Witch.  This is not something I put on or take off… it is not for the convenience of the moment… if I face trouble or pain or fear or poverty… THEY are there… as are dear friends and family…

Perhaps I am lucky, I have never had a time were I truly felt without the Divine… whether in a more general sense of knowing and resonating with the Divine in All of Creation, or those few blessed ( an occasionally terrifying) moments where I have experienced a specific Presence.  Or those times I have reached out to the Elemental energies and felt them there…

When books written by my fellow Pagans paled I started looking elsewhere… Books by Buddhists on facing fear and difficult times… self-help books on being more effective… books on History and Psychology… my College Classes… especially the Wines Class and the Environmental Sciences class…

All of these have been Teachers to me.  If I am not finding inspiration or beauty or strength or power or compassion or honor or humility or mirth or reverence in Witchcraft and Paganis; it is not because it is not there!   It is because I am not looking for it in the right way… or with a clear mind and heart…

The thing is, I am REALLY NOT trying to offend anyone when I say these things… I have written a lot of essays on this site and done my best to make the pages of this site a useful resource for my fellow Pagan traveler’s and for the budding Witches of the world.

I know what it’s like, I’ve been a solitary Pagan for nearly 2 decades a Witch for most of that time… I have been there and am still there… and while I would dearly love the opportunity to share experience and fellowship and laughter and faith and magick with others…. I don’t have to have that in order to be complete as a Witch or Pagan.

While I would grievously miss them, and Them, if I never had another dramatic Theistic encounter I would still remain a Witch and Pagan.

For me it is a faith and a life and a philosophy and a part of who I am and what I do and how I view the world around me…

I really have a mental block in understanding folks who (it seems to me at least) casually let drop that they are leaving Paganism or Witchcraft because of some lack in these paths or communities.  Of course, I have in the past been moved to try being some of the things I perceived lacking in the community…

ok, ok,

</ranting>

Imbolc draws near…so Blog about Craft and Hearth and Poetry!

On By PaxIn Culinary Pagan, Imbolc Blogging1 Comment

Well,

The first of the new years Sabbats is coming.  Some of you may be familiar with the Imbolc Poetry Blogging phenomenon that has taken the Pagan Internet over the last few years…

For me, Imbolc and it’s patron Goddess Bride relate to Smithcraft, Healing, and Poetry or more appropriately to my modern life … Craft (Arts and Handicrafts), Hearth, And Poetry…

While I realize that not all Pagans celebrate Imbolc… it seems to me that we modern Pagans do celebrate, to differing degree’s and in differing times, Craft and Hearth and Poetry.  So I am not only going to be blogging about these three fires of Bride, I am going to encourage my Pagan friends of all paths to blog about them…

Peace,

Pax

Thoughts on the Horned God

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Bouncing off the Gods, Horned God, Prayer, remembering3 Comments

So through the agency of a promo on Fey’s Podcast, I ended up listening to the 4th episode of the Druidcast podcast, featuring a fabulous talk given to the OBOD by Ronald Hutton about the History of the Pagan Horned God.

This is a fascinating talk and in my humble opinion not only has some fascinating and valuable information about the evolution of the Horned God in the 19th and early 20th Century, but also contains the best performance by a heterosexual academic of the fabulously homoerotic Hymn to Pan, EVER!

Dr. Hutton’s talk has me contemplating the God I serve.  In his talk Dr. Hutton discusses the history of the idea of the Horned God as it was in the ancient world and as it re-emerged to the historical and literary record in the 19th century.

He then discusses how the image of the Horned God is, for many, primarily sex and grunt and groan and stuff of the locker room and armpits… c’mon you know that you’ve got a little bit of that image of Old Horny!!  He also discusses how he is viewed by many modern Pagans as consort to the Goddess and an idealized lover and spirit of Life, and that there is sometimes not much development of his role beyond that in the thought or writings of modern Pagans.

To a degree this would seem to be true to this Witch.
As a solitary Witch of nearly 20 years now, I look back on my early years of Witchcraft and it just seems to me that a lot of the material out there went on and on about the Goddess and then was like…

“oh, yeah, there’s a god too… he’s her consort… but now back to the Goddess and Magic… did we mention magic theres spells and stuff….”

I felt this lack of ballance rather keenly when I read Witches Goddess and Witches God by the Farrar’s.  It seemed to me, at the time, that the book about the Goddess was much more about allowing the witches involved to experience and commune with the Goddess, and that the material about the God was somehow less… something than the material about the Goddess.

At least that’s how it seemed that way to me at the time… so I started drifting away from Books and looking for a relationship with Him.  I’ve already written of how He sent me an image/meditation/message, once upon a time…

One day though I was sitting before a makeshift altar and centering and grounding and an image leaped into my fore brain, a bolt from the blue….

The image was of myself sitting cross-legged, Indian-style as they still used to say when I started school, with an image of Cernunos super-imposed/interwoven with my own.  His/my hooves extending some roots into the soil… the base of His spine also extending roots into the ground that intertwined with the roots of the great tree He/I leaned against.  One hand turned downward, cupped over His/my knee, the other held open and relaxed facing up.  Our Antlers weaving between the branches of the tree, rattling amongst them slightly as We moved Our head.

Then it was gone…

In regards to that gift, I’ve also mentioned that it felt almost like being taught how to properly meditate and ground and center… from an intensely personal perspective..

“Not quite, more like this…“

There have been two other times that HE has decided to share his Wisdom in a rather direct fashion with me….

One was a moment of poetic and Divine inspiration wherein He gave me the first half of this poem…

Charge of the God

By Geoffrey Stewart / Pax (C) 1997

“Hear now the Words of the Great Father who of old amongst mortals was known by many names; Tammuz, Brahma, Osiris, Dionysus, Wottan, Apollo, Cernunos, Janicot, The August Personage of Jade, and by many other names.”

“I who am the Wise Youth and the Wild Man, The Horned Hunter and the Dark Wanderer, the Fury of the Storm and the Gentle Whisper of the Leafs in the Trees, I call upon your minds and bodies to arise and join me in this now sacred place.

Learn and remember!  I welcomed you into this world and promised you a life of both Pleasure and Pain, Joy and Wonder, Fear and Fury; for all of these are a part of my Mysteries, the Lessons that must be learned, cherished, and remembered lifetime after lifetime.

Know then that whatever tests and trials you face in this life, I have faced before.  For I am the Guardian of the Gates of Life and Death, and whatever steps you take and wherever you are within the Spiral Dance, of Birth and Life and Death and Rebirth, I have led the Way.  For I am the Lord of the Dance, and to know my Mysteries you must learn to be at one with the Rhythm, the Tao, The heartbeat of the universe, that confluence of outer and inner forces that moves and works upon us all.

From all things you encounter, all people whose lives you touch, Learn and Give something of yourself in return.

All learning and wisdom is sacred to me; all quests for knowledge and understanding, all acts of effort, and thought, and willing sacrifice; all of these are my rituals.

Know now that sometimes I lead, and sometimes I follow; but as you wind your way through the Spiral Dance, I am always with you.”

The second half of this Charge came to me a few years later, rather quietly and calmly without the sense of singing inspiration that accompanied the first part.

The other time that He has decided to speak in a direct fashion to me was actually through me.  I was discussing and demonstrating for a couple of guys I knew, whom I felt could use some good guidance and metaphysical self-help techniques, how to cast Circle… as a part of this I decided … on the spur of the moment, to demonstrate Invoking the divine… SO I invoked the Horned God.

He!  Decided!  To!  Show!  Up!

By which I mean that after 3 or 4 years of calling upon and invoking the God and Goddess, He decided to show up and speak and work through me directly.

I experienced a brief yet, I assure you internally spectacular, moment of panic as I felt something from outside myself roll over me like the tide, and into me.   It was as if everything in my mind that was ME was pushed up and back into the rear of the crown of my skull and He started to speak through me.  After a moment of panic, and then truly realizing why in the religions of the African Diaspora those divinely posessed are said to be ridden or to be as a horse to the Spirits, I realized two things.

He wasn’t going to harm me, and He was speaking… so I started to pay attention to what He was saying to my friends.   After a short time, He left, and I resumed control of both the vertical and horizontal and made some small talk and polite goodbyes to my friends and went home to quietly freak out in peace.

It took a while before I invoked, rather than invited Their presence, at my own Circles.

~~~~~~~~~

He is so much more that the stuff of the locker room.  He is poetry and music and theater.  He is the caress of the wind on a warm summer’s day and both the blinding flash of lightning and the rumbling roll of the thunder.  He is so much more than we can put into words and so worthy of our love and so ready to love us in heart and mind as well as in body.

Great Green Eyed Horned God,

With the Sun Upon your Brow,

Wise Youth and Wild Man

Darkness and Richness of the Earth

And the Blade of the Plow

Skilled of Mind, Skilled in Speech, Skilled of Hands,

And how,

Guide and Guard us your Children

As we seek along the Path to Wisdom.

Blessed Be!

Invoking the Power of the Pagan Dollar 2.0

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Community Building, Honoring the New Year, Pagan Responses to Recession17 Comments

I am, admittedly partially repeating myself here, but this idea feels important on a deep intuitive level… and it keeps coming back to my thoughts, the ideas circling like sharks ready to devour my complacency whole… so here it is…

We need to build the economic self-sufficiency of our local, regional, and national Pagan communities!

We are facing some of the worst economic times, certainly in my lifetime, and it just seems to me as if we, as a community, haven’t really been talking about this.  I say this as someone who is a self-confessed blog-a-holic, a member of multiple yahoo-groups, and an avid surfer of the Internet, and who is not all that hard to track down either in his local community or by friends nationwide.  I’ve seen some small mention of individual challenges and responses to the hard times we are in, but nowhere have I seen discussions of how we as a community can face and deal with these troubled times.  I think it’s about time we started talking about this folks, because the tough times are not going to go away overnight!

I first started thinking about Pagan community economic self-sufficiency in the months after Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett won the lottery, and there were a lot of discussions and posts about his windfall and opinions of all sorts were floated about how a Pagan with a lot of it should spend his money.  Then, too, there are the many discussions I’ve heard, or read, about various Pagan owned businesses that shut down for a lack of support.  I’ve also been thinking a lot about how various other sub-cultural communities have focused their economic power inward and reaped no small rewards, including any number of ethnic and religious and other sub-cultural communities.

All of these influences have had me thinking a lot lately about how we in the Pagan community could build a stronger community through economic empowerment.  For me, economic empowerment means that we, as a community, are focusing our economic decisions on those choices that strengthen our community locally, regionally, and nationally.  To strengthen our Pagan community, in this case, means spending our money within our community as much as is possible and practical.

Time after time in the history of my beloved United States we have seen how the ethnic, sub-cultural,  and religious communities that form up the patchwork quilt of the United States have been able to strengthen the their communities and build their social ties, and their economic, and political power by concentrating money into community owned businesses and interests.  These decisions include supporting Pagan-owned and Pagan friendly businesses, as well as supporting local and national Pagan community organizations, and Pagan charities.

Pagan Owned and Pagan Friendly Businesses

The first thing that I would like to say is that a Pagan business is not necessarily a metaphysical or occult shop.  I know, I know, some of you out there are going…

“Well, DUH!  Pax!”

But it was both interesting and instructive for me to notice that many, many times, on many separate occasions, when I tried to communicate with others about the idea of supporting our Pagan businesses that the idea of a Pagan business often seemed to be all but consumed by the idea of a metaphysical book and paraphernalia shop.  When I look at many Pagan stores or periodicals, most of the adverts are for fortunetellers, workshops, or various metaphysical shops.

Where are our doctors and realtors and other professionals?  Where are the Pagan owned home repair businesses, yard services, and plumbers?  They are out there, I know because I have run into many of them on the Web and in book stores and at open Circles and community socials.  Sadly, a lot of our Pagan business owners and Pagan professionals who may be active in the Pagan community are to one degree or another closeted for fear of the very real economic effects of discrimination and prejudice.  Even with full protection under the law you can still be fired, or have your business ruined by a word of mouth campaign or boycott, if you are Pagan.

These fears are real, and serious.  Being out as a Pagan can be hazardous to one’s livelihood.  What can we do about this?

Within my own experience in the GLBT community, in local newsletters and in local Gay venues such as bars and community centers you will often see ads for various GLBT owned businesses.  Realtors, lawyers, doctors, books & gift shops, florists, mechanics, the local Metropolitan Community Church (a GLBT friendly Christian denomination), massage therapists, psychotherapists… all of these and more will have advertisements in their local GLBT newsletters and posted in Queer friendly businesses, as well as in GLBT community directories… jokingly often called “the pink pages” after the “yellow pages” of U.S. phone directories.  These community directories are often free booklets that are paid for with advertising fees and donation.

Do you think that GLBT lawyers, doctors, and realtors, are nervous about the possibility of being out could affect their livelihood?  Yet still many are willing to advertise in GLBT community directories and publications.  Why?

Two reasons…

One, those of us in the GLBT community have for nearly 30 years subscribed in a broad sense to the philosophy of supporting our own.  If there is a Gay owned or Gay friendly business in my area I am darn well going to use them first… keep the money in the GLBT family!  Because of this those who advertise in “pink pages” and in GLBT publications know that they are reaching out to their own community, or to a community they are friendly towards, and one that will actively spend it’s money in house first!

Reason number two, is that for the most part the people most likely to actively discriminate against GLBT owned and friendly businesses are the people least likely to willingly pick up, much less read, a GLBT publication where they would be advertised.  As for the “pink pages”, well those are usually only available in Gay bars, GLBT owned businesses, and GLBT Community Centers; none of which are on the bigots top ten list of places to go into or be seen!

To be fair I have seen some ads for paralegals and therapists in some Pagan bookstores, and that is a start.  In searching the Internet, I was only able to find one comprehensive listing for a Pagan community business directory; a similar search for a Gay business directory yielded ~ many ~ interesting ~ results.

Once we start identifying our locally owned Pagan and Pagan friendly businesses we must commit to supporting them!  When we keep our money in the community, the community will become stronger.  By supporting our Pagan businesses we also strengthen their ability to support themselves and in turn our community.

Pagan Community Organizations and Charities

A lot of you are probably thinking of groups like the Asatru Folk Assembly or Covenant of the Goddess, and yes I would certainly encourage Pagans to support some of our national spiritual/religious organizations.   I would also never hesitate to encourage you to support your local Pagan Community groups.  Is a local Pagan group holding a fund-raising dinner for a campground or community center or local charity?  Then go eat a few plates… even on a work or school night already!

Just as there are more types of Pagan business than the occult supply shop, there are other types of Pagan community organizations that we could come together to support through either our membership or charitable donations.

Cherry Hill Seminary is a graduate level Pagan Seminary with counseling and public ministry programs that is currently working at creating a Masters of Divinity Program.

Then there are programs like the annual National Pagan Leadership Skills Conference, now in its 5th year, fostering workshops on issues of Finance, Pastoral Care, and Group Facilitation.

Pagan professional organizations have come and gone, yet some remain.  The best current example is, of course, The Officers of Avalon.  This international benevolent organization for Pagan Law Enforcement Officer’s and Emergency Services Personnel has also established an active non-profit charitable wing Avalon Cares, which has done some fundraising and participated in several aid and relief efforts!  Avalon Cares is one of a number of Pagan organizations doing charitable work, and worthy of Pagan community investment.  Circle Sanctuary maintains a list of Pagan groups doing charitable work, for more examples.

Organizations like these, and supporting them as a community, are, I believe, the next step in our evolution as a community.  Think about it… having a fully accredited Pagan Seminary… is the idea of a Pagan University, a real academic 4-year degree University that happens to be run by, and offering some programs specifically of interest to, Pagans all that radical or far off a notion?

Imagine the impact, for example, if each of us focused our charitable donations to Avalon Cares for one year?  Imagine if every Pagan group in the United States focusing it’s food drives towards a specific food bank or hunger fighting organization like Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest), and then specifically donating in the name of the U.S. Pagan community.  Imagine if each of us donated even 3 dollars to Cherry Hill Seminary.  Imagine, not only, the positive impact we could make in the world, but the positive impact that would have in our community?

We all want a world where our spiritual path, our faith or belief system, is simply a part of who we are; not something that has the potential to get us fired or harassed.  We want a world where the leaders of our cities, regions, and nations address issues of concern to our community; rather than writing us off as nuts or “not a religion”.  We want a world where the press will jump all over a public official making ignorant of bigoted remarks about Pagans, rather than just letting it pass or chuckling.

Empowering ourselves economically is the pathway to that world.

Thanks be to the Morrigan

On By PaxIn Bouncing off the Gods, Cross-roads, magick, Prayer, rememberingLeave a comment

Having poured a libation in thanks to You,

And spoken my thanks to You in the World of Flesh,

I now write these words of thanks, and praise, to You,

In This Place betwixt and between the worlds of Mind and Spirit.

Hail and Well met oh Raven of Battles,

Goddess of Soveriegnty

She who came in answer to my cross-roads prayer,

So many years ago,

Bringing a Tsunami’s wave of power and presence,

Bringing Holy Terror and the answer to prayers,

And bringing an aquantence with Hecate in your wake.

Thanks and honor and praise to you oh Mighty Midnight Queen of the Celts.

Invoking the power of the Pagan Dollar

On By PaxIn Community Building, Food for Thought, Pagan Responses to Recession8 Comments

Don’t panic!  This is NOT going to be an article about prosperity spells and you drum I chant “money, money, money, gimme, gimme, gimme” type of invokation.  This little article is my own thoughts on how we in the Pagan community can respond to the current economic hard times, and at the same time, strengthen our own ties of community.

I am inspired to write on this topic, in part, by an article at The Wild Hunt on how one Pagan in Iceland has been responding to that country’s economic collapse with civil protest and increasingly strident calls to action.

In part  it also just seems to me as if we, as a community, haven’t really been talking about this.  I say this as someone who is a self-confessed blog-a-holic, a member of multiple yahoo-groups, and an avid surfer of the Internet, and who is not all that hard to track down either in his local community or by friends nationwide.  I’ve seen some small mention of individual challenges and responses to the hard times we are in, but nowhere have I seen discussions of how we as a community can face and deal with these troubled times.  I think it’s about time we started talking about this folks, cause the tough times are not going to go away overnight!

We need to build the economic self-sufficiency of our local, regional, and national Pagan communities! Time after time in the history of my beloved United States we have seen how the ethnic, sub-cultural,  and religious communities that form up the patchwork quilt of our great nation have been able to strengthen the their communities and build their social ties, and their economic, and political power by concentrating money into community owned businesses.

I have seen this work within the Gay community.

In order to do this, we need to get better about communicating with one another.  What do I mean?  Well… how many Pagan businesses can you track down?  Now before you start listing off every metaphysical book, candle, and tsotchke (sp?) shop within a hundred miles… can you name a local Pagan Doctor, Lawyer, Realtor, or Plumber, (non occult store) Business owner, or Yardwork company in your area?  Why Not?

Now as a Gay man, I know I can go into most Gay community centers, or local gay bars and find some version of the local community directory.  They are often jokingly called the “pink pages’ after the U.S. phone directories “yellow pages”.  (do they have “yellow pages” in other contries?!)

Armed with this handy information I can find gay owned restaurants, bars, realtors (my people are all over the real estate and home remodeling market, go figure!), Gay or Gay-friendly doctors and therapists, Lawers, Yard work companies and GLBT owned or friendly establishments of every kind.  I have never seen or heard of such a thing in the Pagan community!  Why not?

Now before some of the naysayers strike, don’t be afraid to spread the word within the community if Joe the Pagan Plumber does shoddy work or rips you off; but also do not hesitate to hire him if he does good work!

Another thing some of the naysayers out there may be muttering even as you read this is, ‘well doesn’t this just open us up to fundamentalist attack or religious discrimination?’  Well, in my experience most of the bigots are not going to go into a Gay bar to pick up the ‘pink pages’, and I have never heard of a business being targeted by a church or hate group for their advertising to the GLBT community; so I have a hard time imagining that the Pagan community would have any more trouble than the GLBT folks.

So now that we are starting to find one another, how can we build economic self sufficiency?  Let us start reaching out to one another, let us share what great or little good fortune we may have with others in our community.

Need a lawn mowed but just don’t have the time?  Find a Pagan Lawn Service, or local Pagan in need, to do it!

Do you go out to eat anymore?  Find out which Pagans in your community are Servers and frequent their restaurants and ask to sit in their section!

Are any of the Pagans in your area business owners?  If theirs is a type of business you might frequent, then do so!

What about knowing that there are employers friendly to Pagans as employees or customers?  Shop there!  Maybe during Pagan Pride Month you could go and drop off a note thanking the business for their progressive policies and attitudes and letting them know that because of them you make a point of spending your Pagan dollar with them!

Then there is the question of our Pagan dollar’s power for good.  How often have you, or your Grove or Circle or Community Group given money to charity in the name of the Pagan community?  Or donated food?  Next time maybe you can look for specifically Pagan run Charities or Food Banks or Scholarships.

Maybe you could even look into starting one.

The more we in the Pagan community can support our own, the more success our Pagan business people and Pagan Professionals have, the more we improve the economic and educational opportunities of our fellow Pagans, the stronger and more self-sustaining our community will be.