Category Archives: Paganism

Meme: Joys and Sorrows

Eirsinitiate created a fun little meme which I found interesting. I decided that rather than waiting to be tagged (and hoping it eventually happened), I’m going to be naughty and self-infect. (There’s probably some meme etiquette agaisnt it, but I’ve never claimed to have stellar social graces anyway.)

Rules

  1. You have to use your own belief system for the meme. No fair using someone else?s to make a joke or satire. Being humorous about your own religion is encouraged!
  2. You have to have at least one joy and one trial. More are encouraged. And no, they don?t have to be equal in length, but please be honest.
  3. You have to tag at least one other person. More are appreciated!
  4. Please post these rules!

Joys

  1. Knowing that every act of love and joy is a sacred act and being free to celebrate life religiously
  2. Having gods who not only care deeply about me, but wish to work in partnership with me for both our benefits.
  3. The knowledge that while I certainly can and should grow and improve as a person, this is possible due to my inherent worth and capacity to do so.

Trials

  1. Knowing there are no easy answers and no easy sources for answers.
  2. Dealing with friends and family who care deeply, but struggle with understanding my faith.
  3. Being the devotee of a goddess who is all about passion and being single.

Infecting Others

I’ve decided to spread this over various faith groups. It seemed appropriate, given the diverse nature of my readers.

Christian
Marisa
Lauren: Posted
Pisco: Posted

Pagan
Tracie: Posted
Cosette: Posted
Phoenix: Posted

Hindu
Artharaja: Posted

Investigating a Disturbance at Maine Pagan Pride Day

Earlier today, I ran across the CCL of Maine’s statement that they were removed from Main Pagan Pride Day this past Sunday. The CCL’s comments included accusations of censorship:

League Executive Director Michael Heath remarked, “These same pagans who cling to the First Amendment for their freedom of religion, trample upon it by rejecting freedom of the press. Their audacity and hypocrisy is at the same time stunning and pathetic.”

Jason Pitzl-Waters addresses these claims quite well with a brief civics lesson:

The First Amendment right concerning Free Speech, and a Free Press, doesn’t mean that a (perhaps hostile) reporter can’t be ejected from private property, even if an event on private property is a “public” one. Freedom of the Press was enshrined to prevent governmental censorship or reprisal.

Being curious about the incident and concerned about the possible misrepresentation of the situation on the part of the CCL of Maine, I contacted the coordinators of MPPD. Richard Vinton was kind enough to respond to my inquiry. He assured me that despite my own doubts about that aspect of the CCL’s claims, MPPD made no attempt to restrict what photographs could be taken. Indeed, Richard included in his email the same disclaimer that the CCL displays on their site, verifying it’s legitimacy.

However, Richard went on to explain that Mr. Hein was asked to leave for taking pictures:

He [w]as asked to leave because he was causing a
disturbance. He entered a workshop that was already in session and began
taking photos of the class members and interrupting the instructor. He
misrepresented himself as a member of the press but holds no press
credentials and it became very clear the he intended to continue being a
disturbance.

Given the CCL’s documented past of encouraging harassment and resorting to misrepresentation, it is not hard to believe Richard’s indication that Mr. Hein was activel creating a disturbance. It is perfectly reasonable that the MPPD organizers and security would choose to eject someone for such inappropriate and rude actions.

Richard also speaks highly of how well the situation was actually handled:

What should be noted is the fast and professional response
by our team of Guardians. This entire incident lasted no longer then 10
minutes and very few people in attendance had any idea it took place
before the misleading story on the CCL web page.

I’m inclined to consider this excellent news indeed.

The Gods and Me

I figure while I’m at it, I also might as well answer a few more of Mahud’s excellent questions.

How do Pagan ?gods? have an active role in your life?

To answer this question, I think it’s important to pair it with another question: What is the nature of the gods? After all, the nature of a divine being is going to seriously affect how you interract with such a being.

Different Pagans have different understanding of what the gods are. Some (and for the most part, I fall into this category) see them as individual beings. Others see them as facets of a single Supreme Divinity. Others see the gods as archetypes developed through the collective unconscious. And there are probably other understandings that people have adopted I’m not even aware of.

As I said, I tend to see the gods as unique individuals. I accept that they may ultimately be manifestations of a single Ultimate Source. But if that’s the case, then I’m inclined to understand everything as being a manifestation of that same Ultimate Source. Gods, humans, animals, and everything else that exists come from there. But just like I’d treat different people as individuals despite being manifestations of the same Ultimate Source, I’m inclined to do the same with the gods. Some I’ve built deep relationships with. Some I know in passing. And others, well I wouldn’t know them from Horus.

Of course, the other thing to understand is that I don’t see my gods as gods in the popular sense (a sense that is mainly popular because it’s based in the Judeo-Christian understanding of Divinity, which dominates our society). That’s to say I don’t see them as omnipotent, omniscient, or even omnipresent. To me, my gods are more like the spirits of many indegenous tribes.

I think that Gardner put it best when he talked about the gods of witchcraft as being “little gods” (as opposed to an all-powerful creator). They were great, but their greatness ultimately had limits, too. In fact, Gardner talked about one of those limits when he said that the gods of the witches “wanted men to be happy, but needed man’s help to bring about their happiness.” (That may not be an exact quote, but I don’t have my copy of Witchcraft Today with me.)

And that leads me to the original question about the active role the gods have in my life. I see my relationship with my gods as being an active partnership. They both want things for me and want things from me. And these two things often interrelate. Years ago, I once wrote that the point of witchcraft (at least as I understand and practice it) was to manifest the nature and gifts of the gods into your life and the lives of those around you. Today, I think that’s still the most concise answer I can give, even if it is a little vague.

So I talk to my gods in trance. I pray to them. I draw their essence down into my life. All to bring about this manifestation I’m talking about.

Do some pagans create their own gods?

Absolutely. It’s never been something I’ve personally felt a need or desire to do, and I have to wonder how effective such a practice is. But to each their own, I suppose.

Other Questions and Answers
Nature and Paganism

Post-Festival Review: Seances

I’ve been meaning to write more about the festival I attended last week, but simply haven’t found or made the time. And when I’ve had the time to blog, there’s just been other things I also wanted to write about. But I think I can make enough time to talk about the three seances Michele and Belinda held while we were there.

As I mentioned in the last post about the festival, I had never been to a seance before. In some ways, I suppose that’s strange. I’m friends with a number of mediums and I regularly hang out at a store that has about one seance a month. But to be honest, they don’t hold a great deal of interest for me. In fact, I had originally only planned on attending the first seance at the festival: the one held on Tuesday night.

That was a pleasant seance, as it was early enough in the festival that a relatively small number of people came to it. After all, not many people had arrived at the festival itself yet, either. I actually learned something about seances I didn’t know before that night, too. You see, like most people, I had this idea that seances were about contacting the dead. And while the spirits of those departed do show up, they’re not the only ones who stop in. For the first time, I discovered that seances involved contact with spirits in general, and that can include spirit guides (or even deities) as well as spirits of passed loved ones.

The first night, I received a message, this one relayed by Rich. I got a brief lecture on the fact that I need to let the mask down and let people know the real me. This didn’t surprise me, as I’ve received this message before. I think, however, that the fact that it came from Rich — someone who had just met me six hours earlier and knew nothing about me — really increased the impact this time, however.

The second seance was Thursday night. Right up until an hour before the seance, I was convinced I wasn’t going. I had decided that I had already been to one that week. While it was an enjoyable experience, I didn’t see a great need to attend another one. To be honest, I’m not even sure what reason changed my mind. But when the time came, I rode down to the Khaki Shack in Michele’s golf cart. When we got there, we were quite shocked. I’d estimate that about thirty people were packed into the small building (far more than it can comfortably accomodate).

While I can’t say a reason for my change of mind, it became obvious why I had come along after all. In addition to the fact that there was such a large crowd, many who had come that night had been drinking. In fact, a number had cans of beer with them!

Now, for those of my readers who may not know this, you do not come to a seance or seek out a psychic reader while intoxicated. It does strange things to your energy and those around you. The net result is that you end up with very sick psychics and mediums. In fact, Michele and Rich each prepared to ask those who had been drinking to leave, but were stopped by their own guides. So we went forward.

That seance was a dreadful experience, however. All of the mediums had difficulty getting messages, and even some of their guides were noticeable affected by the situation. After about an hour, Michele’s guide called a halt to the whole process, promising to hold a third seance the next night. A handful of us stayed there for the next twenty minutes (after most everyone had left), mainly because the three mediums were feeling quite unwell. Arlene was kind enough to help pull away the stomach problems Michele and Rich were both feeling, and I helped to ground Rich. After a while, we were all able to leave. And everyone’s guides were kind enough to make sure everyone felt better by the next morning.

With the help of Tim, Michele tried to find a location to hold the unplanned seance Friday night. After a few failed attempts, our quartet agreed to hold the seance in the trailer we were renting for the week. We also insisted that everyone signed up ahead of time this time so that we could determine if we needed to break the group up and do two separate seances. Fortunately, only about ten or twelve people signed up (and counting those of us who had to be there, we number around sixteen or seventeen), so we held only one seance.

I want to mention one incident at the third seance simply because of how peculiar it was. At one point, Michele’s guide commented that there was a little boy in the room associated with one of the women there. (Her husband was also there.) Her guide went on to explain that the little boy identified himself as Anthony and said that he was trying to enter the world as the woman’s son. There was more to the message, but I don’t recall it.

What makes this particular message so remarkable is that Amy had a conversation with the woman and her husband after the seance. Apparently, they’ve been trying to have a child for many years. Even more, because of a tradition in the woman’s family, the couple had already planned on naming any boy they had Anthony. Needless to say, this made this seance a particularly amazing experience for this couple — particularly the husband, who was quite the skeptic and primarily came to humor his wife.

The last seance was probably the best. This was partly because of the smaller number of people who came — not to mention that the people who came weren’t there expecting some sort of “show,” but had realistic expectations for a seance. Of course, it also helped that it was the only seance held in our living space, which by that time had been thoroughly infused with our own energy and presence. This made it much more cozy than the more public and chaotic space of the Khaki Shack.

Nature and Paganism

Mahud over at Between the Old and New Moons has asked some interesting questions about Paganism. I’ve found them interesting and worthy of much thought, so I figured I’d start answering some of them. I don’t promise to touch every question and I intend to tackle them in my own order rather than in the order they’re asked. But it should be an interesting exploration.

Are you a Pagan because you are drawn or feel a connection with nature?

Nope. I’m a Pagan because I am drawn to and feel a connection with my gods. Any connection I might feel with nature is a secondary factor at best.

To be honest, I think some Pagans make too much of the connection between reverence for nature and Paganism. Perhaps it is more important in their tradition than it is mine. But to be honest, my understanding of historical Paganism is that their interest in nature was purely motivated by early pagans’ need to survive whatever nature might throw at them. If the herds went away or were too small, people starved. As a result, making sure the herds would stick around and be populous enough to support them became a part of their religio-magical practices.

Today, we’re not at the mercy of nature in that same way (though she does occasionally like to remind us she’s still perfectly capable of giving us a good walloping if the mood strikes). As a result, my own religio-magical practices tend to focus less on surviving nature. I can focus on other needs within my life and my community.

Now this isn’t to say I don’t love nature. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. At my parents’ home, watching the deer and turkey wander through the back yard looking for the corn we set out is still a regular event. And everyone who is there still marvels on those rare occasions when the local black bear wanders through the back yard. (Often followed by my father muttering about said black bear knocking down and breaking the bird feeder yet again.) But in some ways, coming from that background leaves me with the sense that many Pagans tend to romanticize nature. They talk about it in ways that make it seem entirely unlike the real world I’ve experienced in my past.

Do city dwelling Pagans find it difficult to practice in the City?

Given that I don’t consider the connection with nature as essential a part of Paganism as others, I think it’s obvious that I’m going to say no to this question. However, I do think that the urban Pagan’s experience is going to be different from the rural Pagan. They live different lives, and the expression of their faiths are going to have to reflect those differences.

But this is where my feelings about the romanticized notions of nature often expressed by Pagans come in to play. There’s plenty of nature in urban areas, and I’m not just talking about parks. After all, as much as we try to forget it, humans are a part of nature, too. You want to see nature in a big city, go to a night club. You’ll get it all: sweaty bodies, loud rhythms, strong heartbeats, and enough sexual energy to drive the unshielded psychic crazy in under twenty minutes. And let me tell you, my gods absolutely love it.

A granted request

This post isn’t about the festival, per se. However, it is loosely related in the fact that the motives behind my actions were spawned at the festival. Saturday night, the four of us who went together held an open circle to bring about more abundance and joy in the participants’ lives. As part of the rite, we each agreed to do one good deed or act of kindness for someone else every day.

Monday morning, as I drove back to work for my first day back from vacation, I got thinking about that commitment. I was wondering what good deed I could do for the day. As I thought about it, I finally decided to take it before my gods. “Okay, guys, I’m going to need help with this one. Help me to be open to any opportunities I might have to help someone else.” Once at work, I set about to figuring out where my projects were and determining my immediate tasks to work on. My mind quickly became lost in the distractions of the work day.

At around five thirty that night, I decided it was time to head home. So I hopped in my car and pulled out of the driveway. Because of the time, I decided to take Route 31 back towards Pittsford rather than deal with rush hour traffic on I-490. That meant turning left onto Woodcliffe and taking it over to Route 250. When I was almost to Route 250, I noticed a car pulled as far off the road in front of me as possible, but still blocking my lane of traffic. I also quickly noticed the woman holding onto a very young girl with an upset stomach. The poor thing was vomitting as the woman held onto her.

I pulled up beside them and rolled the window down to ask if everything was alright. The girl’s mother assured me they were fine. However, the other women made a comment (presumably pointing out the little girl really needed a change of clothes), and the first woman explained they weren’t from around here. She asked if I knew of a Target or Wal-Mart in the vicinity. I gave her careful directions to the Target that was less than a mile away, and wished them the best.

As I pulled away to continue on my way, I instantly remembered my prayer earlier in the day. The gods had been good to me in honoring my request. Despite the fact that I had forgotten asking them to help me be aware of opportunities to help someone else, they had not. They gave me an opportunity to help someone else, even if it was something as minor as giving much needed directions to a store. After all, it was pretty important to the little girl and her mother.

Of course, what really has me thinking about this is the fact that I don’t usually take that route home. Usually, I would’ve turned right onto Woodcliffe Drive and taken it back down to Route 96. Had I done that on Monday, I never would’ve run across this family in need. So I find it particularly interesting that something as minor as a change in my routine led to the opportunity I was looking for.

The gods are good.

Exploring mixed feelings

While checking out The Wild Hunt today, I ran across Jason’s post where he talks about an attempt to get a fortune telling law overturned in Casper, Wyoming.

Let me first state that I wish Ms. Forest the best of luck. I am a strong believer that such laws should be removed. Having had readings from a handful of professional tarot readers, I believe that they offer an excellent service. And while I might understand the city’s desire to prevent potential con artists from defrauding people through tarot readings and other psychic readings, I do not think that such a blanket prohibitiion is the way to go about it. (Truth be told, it’s my experience that the psychic community does a fairly good job of policing itself.) I also think that such a blanket prohibition singles out Pagans and is unethical until governments also look to address the practice of prophecies and words of knowledge that goes on in many charismatic and Pentecostal churches, churches which often turn around and ask for donations. (I even attended one such church that brought in a “professional prophet” for one service and took a special offering that went to said prophet for her ministry.)

That being said, I do find myself bothered by one part of Ms. Forest’s argument. I’m not at all comfortable with the following statement:

It keeps her from charging for tarot card readings, a key aspect of Wiccan religion, she said.

While I certainly think that tarot readings are a handy tool for Witches and Pagans alike, I am not at all comfortable the suggestion that it qualifies as a “key aspect” of our practice. And I certainly would not consider the kind of readings professional readers offer client for monetary compensation specifically essential. (After all, there is a difference between what is essential or key and even that which is highly beneficial.) To present these readings as so key suggests to me that Ms. Forest and I practice rather different religions. (Of course, this is not entirely surprising, as I don’t consider myself Wiccan.)

Of course, it is entirely possible that Ms. Forest is making this claim simply for the sake of political expediency. And I can certainly see the appeal in such an approach. After all, a claim of religious freedom is probably the best argument against this law. But again, I’m not sure that claiming it as a key practice is entirely necessary to make that argument.

Of course, ultimately, I don’t know whether Ms. Forest made her claim out of sincere belief or in the name of political expediency. I cannot and will not judge her motives. But in either case, the idea just leaves me somewhat uncomfortable, despite the fact that I agree with her goal to get this law removed.

People in glass houses?

Jason Pitzl-Waters made his readers aware the Maine Christian Civics League’s attempts to shame Kennebec County Democrat Chair Rita Moran for being Pagan. Indeed they seem to be quite outraged by the idea that a Pagan hold’s such a position, and go through a great deal of effort to make it sound like a horrific thing.

Of course, from my perspective, I don’t see how anyone can find it all that horrific. Indeed, my reading of the CCL’s diatribe struck me as an attempt to make something out of nothing. They even go so far as to try to make it sound like Ms. Moran has something to hide by referring to her involvement in “underground” pagan worship circles. Indeed, one wonders at the use of the word “underground” to describe Immanent Grove, which is well advertised.

Stranger still is the fact that they report that Moran supports the “Pagan Preserves Project,” a fundraising program designed to finance a long-term goal of purchasing property in Maine for Pagan religious use. Why this is more scary than Christians raising money for a new church building escapes me.

The CCL goes on to reveal their most disturbing bit of news about Moran, and that’s “the involvement of Moran’s Apple Valley Books store in promoting her pagan-worshipping beliefs to Maine’s children.” This kicker is no doubt intended to conjure images of Moran handing out copies of Satanic literature to impressionable young minds directly. However, CCL’s own clarification ruins that image. Instead we are dealing with a bookstore that is listed on the Pagans’n’Parenting website. The CCL describes this website as “a pagan resource for parents to involve their children in pagan worship.” So instead of an unethical figure who targets children behind their parents’ backs, the CCL is criticizing a woman who simply offers resources to parents already interested in teaching their children about Paganism. I find it hard to imagine how any rational person — even one who disagrees with Pagan theology — can find that particularly alarming, let alone sinister.

Originally, I intended to limit this posting to a mockery of the CCL’s “alarming” revelation. To be honest, I still find it entirely laughable and the sign of truly paranoid people who will try to create alarm out of nothing. Unfortunately, an update to Jason’s original post includes and email from Ms. Moran that has given me pause to reconsider. It would appear that as laughable as I find the CCL’s post, it has become a source of actual concern to Ms. Moran and those who would support her. According to her, even worse and potentially more damaging rumors have begun to circulate about her as a result of this “revelation.”

What I find particular sad are the allegations that the organizers of the Maine CCL have been “investigating” some people who have left comments on their site in support of Ms. Moran in order to post additional information about them. If this is true, the only conceivable reason to do so is to encourage their supporters to harass these people in addition to Ms. Moran herself. Quite frankly, this strikes me as entirely unethical behavior, and certainly not behavior that those who are calling other people’s character into question should be doing.

But in the end, one must wonder. Do those involved with the CCL truly have so little faith in their own religion and the victories it promises that they have to resort to such tactics? Is such behavior the best that the CCL has to offer the world? If so, then the CCL and those associated with it are truly empty and devoid of any real spiritual value.

In which case, one must wonder if their criticisms of Ms. Moran is anything more than simple projection.

UPDATE: My friend Lauren left a comment on the CCL site. They decimated the original post and added the links to her MySpace and StumbleUpon pages. They also included her email address in the comment text. (She provided the email address when filling out the comment form as it is required, but did not expect it to be published.)

The full text of Lauren’s unedited comment (with the exception of the last part, which she had to retype from memory due to last minute editing) is as follows:

I’m sorry, what?

As a conservative Christian, I am offended at the picture you attempt to paint of this woman– quite the fanfare for something hardly scandalous.

It is to my knowledge that her supposed “underground” pagan worship circles are actually well advertised.

It is hardly a crime to have a book store where proceeds go to something you support; that is the beauty of our country, and it is her business what she supports, especially when it is concerning what is done on PRIVATE land.

I applaud her for offering literature to Pagan parents. But that’s not the real issue here; since when do Democrats actually allow parents to raise their own children in whichever way they would like? (I digress!!)

I understand what you are trying to do here, and I understand that you wish to allow Christians safe alternatives through education. I also understand you wish to foster Christian values in all areas of life. I understand because I am a firm believer in Christ and I wish to know what I am partaking in, where my money is going, and what I am supporting, in hopes of honouring God. However, it saddens me that this woman is shown as a monster for doing nothing illegal, and nothing but using her own earned money, private property, and supporting parents who have already chosen to raise their children in Pagan ways. These are things she is doing on her own private time.

I presume you know your organisation wields power. The potential for rumours and character destroying information being passed along is very high and that fact is frightening. Perhaps it would have been more effective to show awareness through her organisation or her bookstore rather than through her personal name, that is if I am right, and it is educating you seek to do.

[There is a passage in Galatians where Paul refers to freedom in Christ (chapter 5), which is the freedom to do what is good, what is right, and what is honourable. It is contrasted to the “old man”– a slavery to sin and to the law (chapter 3). It strikes me as fruitless to fight against slavery when one can instead fight for freedom.]

In Christ,

Lauren

As you can see, they did a significant amount of editing.

Closing the doors

This weekend, we cleaned out the POC office. Our lease expired at the end of March, and we chose not to renew. At this point, we simply don’t have the money to keep a permanent space. So it was time to close the doors, and start making other plans.

The POC isn’t going away, mind you. We still plan on maintining a presence on the web. Also, we will continue to have Meet and Greets on Wednesday nights. This Wednesday, we will be meeting at Jitters Cafe in their Southtown Plaza location. And tomorrow night’s meditation will be at the small park on Gregory Street, just off of South Avenue.

I’m hoping that the next several months will give us the opportunity to regroup, rebuild, and make new plans. Someday, we will probably try getting a permanent space of our own. But in the meantime, we need to work up on building up our resources, both financial and otherwise.

Prayer, magic, and my relationship with my gods.

Today, Deborah Lipp offered a brief summary of her thoughts on the differences between magic (or more specifically, spells) and prayer on her blog. It was nice to see someone whose thoughts on the subject echo my own. I’ve always had a problem with the tendency for some to equate spells to prayer, simply because of the nature and source of power that Deborah describes. One of the things that drew me to the path I’m walking is the understanding that I am an active participant in my life and in the process of determining my eventual destiny. To me, the suggestion that spells are simply a way to ask the gods to give you what you want is contrary to that very principle. I work magic because it’s a way I contribute to my life and the achievement of my goals.

Of course, as I think about the whole topic, I also realize that the suggestion that spellwork is the same as prayer bothers me because it is contrary to my own understanding of prayer and the very relationship I have with my gods. I’m not the kind of person to ask my gods to give me something, but rather the kind of person to ask them for wisdom and guidance on how to attain what I desire for myself. I would ask them to help me learn to make my own efforts as effective as possible. I would ask them to help me be aware enough to see the opportunities I’m working to create. Asking them to just give me whatever it is I want would be unfair, both to them and to myself. It’s simply not what our relationship is about.