Tag Archives: blogging challenge

Introspection, Paganism, Religion, Spiritual Development

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: The Future

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Note: Today brings #ChangingPathsChallenge2024 to a close. Many thanks to Yvonne Aburrow for creating this challenge. It has been fun — if challenging at times — to create a post for each day this month. I look forward to doing more such challenges in the future. I hope you enjoy my final contribution to this challenge.

For those interested, I’ve also been blogging my way through Yvonne’s book, Changing Paths, on Fridays. Those who have enjoyed my posts for this challenge may want to check out that series as well.

On to today’s challenge topic.

To me, the future is undecided. That’s because I view the future as something that people — indeed all living things — are building together. Every choice we make and every action we take shapes the future and what the world will look like in that future. Personally, I look forward to seeing what that future and the world looks like as we continue the creation process.

Having said that, I am hopeful for the future. I believe that people are increasingly becoming more mindful about the kind of world they want to live in and what they can and need to do to help bring that world into existence. I am hopeful that our numbers will increase and that we will learn to cooperate and strategize together more effectively.

I also think that there will be challenges ahead. I suspect challenges will remain an ever-present reality. There will always be those who simply don’t care about living in or creating a better world. There will always be those whose idea of what a better world would look like is fundamentally different from my own. There will always be disagreements about the best way to create that better world.

As such, I know struggle will be a part of that process. We will have to fight. We will have to counter those who would force us to live in a world that we don’t think would be better at all. We will have to try to iron out differences of opinions on how to go about creating a better world, even among our compatriots and allies.

But ultimately, I believe that ongoing struggle will continue to pay off. We will continue to make progress with each effort and things will move towards the better world we envision, even if that movement is slower than a glacial pace. And I can be satisfied with that. After all, my job is not to reach the destination. My job is to help move us just a little bit closer to it. Future generations can take it from there.

In closing, I would like to give a shout-out and due credit to Andre Henry. His discussion of hope in his book, All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep, greatly influenced my views in this matter. In fact, he said many of the things I said here first and much more eloquently.

Paganism, Personal Development, Spiritual Development

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Inspirations

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I don’t think I could possibly list all the people and things that inspire me and from whom/where I draw inspiration. I tend to look for inspiration everywhere. Most of the time, I find it. Whether I’m picking up a book fiction book, reading about the life and work of another person, watching a person live their authentic lives, or having a deep conversation with one of my many friends and acquaintances, I often find myself inspired.

Engagement with life in all of its variety is inspiring. Learning about lives different from my own is both educational and inspiring, gently urging me to expand my horizons and adjust my understanding of the world to be more broad and nuanced.

Inspirations are everywhere, just waiting to be discovered.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. For more information on this challenge and a list of topics, see Yvonne Aburrow’s post announcing the challenge.)

Family, Memories

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: People I Admire

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My mother, graduating from nursing school at age 58.

There are a large number of people that I admire. For this post, however, I’m going to focus on my mother, Donna Harris. For those who may not know, she passed away this past January mere hours after her 77th birthday ended.1

My mother was a wonderful woman, a devoted wife, and a loving mother of three children. She worked most of my life as a healthcare worker. She became a nurse’s aid when I was in early elementary school. She provided home health care, then switched to working in a hospital, and eventually became a registered nurse a few years before she retired.2 She was devoted to her patients and excellent at her job. I’ve often shared with people at my amusement over how she was a confirmed mathphobe. However, when it came time to do the calculations involved in properly administering certain medications, she was a champ. I often joked that despite the fact she hated and feared high school algebra, she could solve any algebra problem as long as it was phrased as a word problem about administering medications.

She loved all three of us kids dearly and showed a commitment to that love even when each of us sometimes made loving us difficult. I know that she struggled with me coming out as gay and it was at least a decade before she could talk about it without things getting emotional or tense. But by the time that my husband and I married, she embraced him as part of the family and did everything to make him welcome. I’m not sure how she dealt with the fact that I left Christianity and chose to devote myself to Freyja and the other Norse deities. To be honest, I’m not sure how much she knew about my religious inclinations, as it was something we didn’t really talk about.3 But again, I always knew that she loved me no matter what.

As I write this post, I’m sitting her and thinking I’d love to pour out a bit of mead for her if I had any. I’m not sure how she’d feel about it. But I hope that she knows that I love her and admire both what she did for me and how she helped shape the person I am today. She is most definitely among my revered ancestors.

The funeral home director who took care of having my mother cremated also wrote this lovely obituary for her based on information he received from my father.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. For for information on the challenge and a list of topics, please see this post by Yvonne Aburrow.)

Footnotes

  1. In many ways, I feel like this post is a long overdue eulogy for her, as I am still completely aghast at the church service that masqueraded as her memorial service back in February. ↩︎
  2. I’ve always felt it tragic that a work-related back injury basically forced her into early retirement. Becoming a nurse had been Mom’s dream since I was teenager and I wish she had been able to enjoy the fruits of that dream and her labors to make it come true for at least a few more years. ↩︎
  3. Hey, I figured navigating my sexuality was hard enough. Why make things even more difficult? ↩︎
Movies, Paganism, Religion, Witchcraft

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Movies and TV

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I love watching television shows and movies that involve witchcraft. Some of them are quite fun. Some manage to get at least a small amount of factual information about witchcraft — or at least certain traditions/expressions of witchcraft — in there with the Hollywood sensationalism. Some days, I even enjoy that Hollywood sensationalism, as I’m a huge science fiction, fantasy, and horror buff.

And yet, there are times I wish they’d give a more realistic portrayal of witchcraft. One where all the witches don’t have supernatural powers and/or are locked in some sort of cosmic battle between good and evil.1 I’d just like a nice movie or television show about some witches living their everyday lives.

I’ve often described this wish as a vision of a show I have. In the 1990s and 2000s, I used to watch 7th Heaven. I want a show like that one, but where the parents are a lesbian2 couple. One of them is Wiccan and the other is an atheist. They’re just raising their kids together and navigating the world and the challenges they face together like any other adults. To be honest, I wish I had the chops to write this show.

Personally I think my favorite show that has witches in it right (though it got canceled too soon) is Disney’s The Owl House. Granted, that show’s portrayal of witchcraft was pure fantasy and bore virtually little to witchcraft as most real people practice it. But the showrunner didn’t pretend otherwise. The witchcraft and magic in the show was jut a tool put forward a story and share some ideas. The show wasn’t so much about witchcraft as it was discovering your authentic self and being true to it,3 building friendships, and sticking up for what’s right. I totally respect that.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. For more information and a list of topics, please check out this post by Yvone Aburrow.)

Footnotes

  1. Such a cosmic battle seems to be more a Christian thing. So it’s both amusing and annoying that Hollywood keeps taking witches and then throwing them in a universe that still seems to be run by the principles of Christian cosmology. ↩︎
  2. Because in addition to being a witch, I’m a gay man and want queer representation as well. ↩︎
  3. I maintain that this is the real reason that show upset most evangelical Christians and other conservatives. That message is more toxic than any talk of witchcraft could ever be. In that sense, it was also one of the things about the show I found most “authentically witchy.”
    As an aside, I owe the evangelicals a great deal of gratitude regarding that show. I never would have even heard of it if they hadn’t raised such a huge fuss over it. But they did, and it prompted me to check it out and become a fan. ↩︎
Society

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Colours

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Note: I kept the British spelling of colors in the title because that’s how how Yvonne Aburrow spelled it in the list of prompts. For the rest of this post, I will be a good little rebellious U.S. citizen and spell it properly. 😝

This past Sunday, it was Pride week at Gracepointe Church in Nashville, whose services I attend online. During the children’s moment (what other churches might call a “children’s sermon”), Tiffany spoke with the children about pride and the rainbow and started asking what aspects or traits of God each color and the rainbow might represent. It led to a few funny moments, as many of the children had watched Inside Out and their answers reflected that. So they started suggesting emotions like anxiety and jealousy. Part of me is tempted to launch into an exploration of a theology that acknowledged a Divine being that encompassed such traits.

Instead, I want to focus on this as just one more example of how important color is to those of (or at least those of us who can see colors) and how common it is to associate our colors with various things, such as concepts, emotions, and energies. Many of these systems don’t always agree with one another, but they all exist. And I think many of them are useful, even those that are not consistent with one another.

At a more basic level, I think the important thing to take away from how we view colors and associations with these various things is how complicated and nuanced the world we find ourselves in. We do not live in a monochromatic world where things can be reduced to simple dualities and dichotomies.

And just like a rainbow, that “many-hued” world is beautiful.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. For more information about the challenge and a list of topics, please see Yvonne Aburrow’s post about it.

Image from PublicDomainPictures.net
Books, Paganism, Religion, Spiritual Development

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Books

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I love books. Reading a book can be such a mind expanding experience. I can learn how to do something (at least in part) from reading a book. i can introduce myself to different perspectives by reading a book. I can learn about experiences beyond my own by reading a book.

It’s not just non-fiction books, either. My spirituality and my views have been greatly impacted by authors like Isaac Asimov, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett. Fictional worlds have this way of letting us explore ideas in an environment not quite unlike our own (or totally unlike our own in some cases). And once we come to terms with those ideas, it can them feel almost easier to bring them into our own world and lives.

Of course, that brings me to the limitation of books. Reading is not the same as doing. So at some point, I have to remind myself to put the books down and actually act on these new Ideas I’ve been exploring during my reading. But thank goodness books are their to introduce those ideas to me in the first place.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. See Yvonne Aburrow’s post announcing the challenge for more details, including a list of topics.)

Paganism, Religion

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Music

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Back when I was in an eclectic Wiccan coven, one of my co-founders was really into music. She had spent the first part of her adult spiritual life as a choir director, so music was important to her. So naturally, as she put together our basic ritual structure, she decided to include music in the background during various parts of the rite. I even ended up (ientionally) selecting the pre-ritual song (We Are The Wick by Castalia). I’d be hard pressed to remember the other songs we used. However, they were all well chosen and added to the tone of our rituals.

Granted, there were also some technical issues at first. The coven member who did this was a bit older and not the most tech-savvy person. So figuring out how to play the music cue at the right time was a bit challenging. We started out using her old stereo and a CD changer, but hitting the correct buttons to switch to the correct song was a bit of a challenge. We used my iPhone for a bit. I think when we got another member who was good with technology and had the time and inclination to sort through it got all the kinks worked out. In fact, I think we were able to use his solution even after he left the coven.

I was glad he did that, though. To be honest, during the time period working out the kinks, there were a few times if I wondered if the music was worth all the hassle. But thanks to those who had the inclination and patience to work through things and come up with a smooth and easily handled solution, we eventually had a wonderful addition to our rituals that we all enjoyed.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. Please see Yvonne Aburrow’s post announcing the challenge for more information and a list of topics.)

Paganism, Personal Development, Religion

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Festivals

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I have an embarrassing confession to make. Despite being a witch for over 25 years, I still struggle with some of the festivals. I often feel like I just don’t connect with them.

I love Yule and Samhain (though I’m seriously thinking of celebrating Winter Nights, which comes a bit earlier in the year, instead). They were easy to connect to. Yule is the longest night of the year and I’ve always felt an affinity to nighttime and darkness. And Samhain is the start of the winter half of the year, so I can relate to that in a similar fashion. Plus, I love the ancestors, and Samhain is often associated (at least in modern times) with the ancestors and the dead in general.

I feel a pretty strong connection to Beltane as well. I like the brightness and activity. And let’s face it, I don’t think a person can be a devotee/priest1 of Freyja or any other sexually charged goddess and not feel something at Beltane.

To a lesser degree, I often feel something at Imbolc as well. That’s usually because here in western New York, we tend to get our first sunny day with some hint of the coming warmth sometime in February. I remember a number of years when I went to my car to head for work, felt that sun, and immediately felt like I was shaking off some sort of slumber or stupor. So I can appreciate Imbolc as a time when we first get that initial hint of the coming spring.

The rest of the traditional eight Sabbats that Wiccans and many Neo-Pagans honor tend to feel distant and forced to me. As such, I don’t really do much for most of them. Some days, that bothers me and leaves me worrying whether I’m “Pagan Enough.” Other days, I just accept that I’m doing my own thing anyway, and that can include focusing on the holidays and festivals that hold meaning to me.

I’ve also been thinking about exploring other festivals outside of the eight ones so commonly used. For example, many Heathen groups have their own schedule of festivals and holy days. (Winter Nights, which I mentioned earlier, is one such example.) So I’ve started looking over their calendar and thinking about what holy days and festivals I might be drawn to.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. For more information about the challenge and a list of topics, check out Yvonne Aburrow’s post announcing the challenge.)

Footnote(s)

  1. Potential topic for a future blog post. I rarely call myself a priest of Freyja, because that’s making a pretty strong claim. I’m reminded of a conversation of one of the mailing lists for The Troth about how you tell if you’re actually a priest. One half-joking answer given was “when you call yourself a priest of a particular god and the rest of the community doesn’t immediately laugh at the idea.” I’m not sure whether I’m there yet or not. I guess I’d have to do some “testing.” ↩︎
Paganism, Personal Development, Religion, Spiritual Development, Witchcraft

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: My Path

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Some days, i really wonder if I have a spiritual path. This is in part because I often feel like I don’t do much. I’m not a huge ritualist. I don’t spend a lot of time doing fancy rites, complicated offerings, or grand magical workings.

I take some heart when I read Gerald Gardner’s books. He wrote that the witches he met practiced a simple craft and that it often seemed more kike children’s games them some fancy ritual or complicated process. That seems to match my own spirituality, in many ways. I often say that for me, witchcraft is more a matter of perspective. I feel I see and think about the world in certain ways that I consider “witchy.” And most days, that seems good enough for me.

Another thing I often wonder, though, is whether things would be easier if I followed a particular tradition or joined a particular group. I often feel like I’m blazing my own trail. While I often like that and the way it enables me not to get wrapped up in things that don’t really make sense to me, it also leaves me wondering how well I actually know what I’m doing. I often find myself wondering if I could accomplish more under following the tried and true methods of a tradition as imparted to me by a teacher.

And I suppose if I ever found the right teacher at the right time, I might go that route. But until then, I find myself on a certain path of my own making. So for now, I’ll continue to wend m way through things based on my own reasoning and intuition and the occasional insights offered by my deities and any other allies I might come across. Because as much as I might wonder about other paths, a huge part of me still wants to see where this path I’m on will take me.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. For more information about this event and a list of topics, please see this post by Yvonne Aburrow.)

Paganism, Religion, Witchcraft

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Roots and Wings

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Years ago, a coven member asked me a question. She knew that my own witchcraft practice tended to be shamanistic in nature and she was starting to explore those practices herself. She inquired as to why it seems that most shamanic and shamanistic practices start the newcomer of with exploring the underworld. I considered this for a moment before giving her my opinion:

The underworld is often associated with the ancestors and the ancestors typically reside there. We owe our lives and our very beings to our ancestors, as they are the ones who both made us who we are and shaped the world into what we see now. To move forward, we need to grapple with this understanding and learn the wisdom of those who came before us.

Years later, I think that answer still fits, though I think it’s also incomplete. Our ancestors were imperfect. They made mistakes. We need to learn not only the wisdom of their successes, but the wisdom they learned from their mistakes. And perhaps we might learn lessons from their mistakes that they themselves still missed.

Once we are rooted in the past and understand the lessons we can learn, we are ready to soar beyond that past. We now understand the territory beneath and behind us, giving us a framework as we take flight and explore the world anew. In this way, we add to the wisdom of our ancestors, once more reshaping the world and trying to do a slightly better job than those who came before us.

And someday, we too shall pass into the underworld. We will become the ancestors who provide wisdom and roots for future generations preparing to spread their wings and take flight themselves.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathsChallenge2024. For more information about the challenge and a list of topics, check out this post by Yvonne Aburrow.)