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.” ↩︎
Books, Paganism, Personal Development, Religion

My virtues and ethics: Exploring a journal prompt from Chapter 11 of “Changing Paths”

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Hello dear readers! It’s been a busy and hectic week for me. I’ve been posting #ChangingPathsChallenge2024 posts a little (or a lot late) for the past few days as a result. What’s more, I didn’t find time to write a post for chapter eleven of Yvonne Aburrow’s book, Changing Paths until today. But I’d rather not just skip putting up a post this week, so I figure a day or so late is the better option. So here’s the journal prompt I’ve chosen from chapter eleven:

Make a list of your personal values and virtues that you hold sacred.

I’ll note that I covered this to some degree earlier this month in a blog challenge post. However, while I talked about the beliefs that tend to inform my ethics and offered a few list of virtues that influenced me, I did not write down my own list. As such, I’d like to take this opportunity to do exactly that.

The values I tend to think about and hold most dear, in no particular order:

  • Compassion
  • Integrity
  • Freedom
  • Creativity
  • Industriousness
  • Joy
  • Hospitality
  • Justice (though more through restorative than punitive means)
  • Fidelity

I hope it’s obvious that this is not an exhaustive list. Merely these are the nine (convenient that I came up with exactly nine off the top of my head) that I’d say I most consider when making moral decisions.

Paganism

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Feasts

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When I was growing up in an American Baptist church, we often had meals at the church. We called them “dish to pass meals.” I’ve head others refer to them as “covered dish meals” and “pot luck meals.” The idea seems to be the same. Everyone brings some food to share and people eat together. While I haven’t done much research to verify, personal conversations suggest to me that this is a common enough practice among various Christian churches that it could almost be universal. I also suspect (again, without research data) that it’s common in most religions. After all, religion has traditionally been about communal identity and bonding. What better way to bond than over the sharing of food.

One of the things that I appreciate about Paganism is that Paganism often recognizes the importance of these communal feasts, often raising them to the level of religious observance in their own right.1 Often, the feast even becomes part of Pagan rites.

And again, this is where I look at the Heathen/Norse Pagan sumbel. While the rite itself may not involve feasting (though it involves a significant amount of drinking), feasts before or after the sumbel are pretty common. And the sumbel itself involves multiple rounds of drinking in community and making toasts and boasts as well as making oaths. And while much of this is done to honor the gods, ancestors, and wights, many have also commented on the community building and bonding aspect of the sumbel.

(This post is part of #ChaningPathsChallenge2024. For more information about the challenge and a list of topics, see Yvonne Aburrow’s post announcing it.)

Footnotes

  1. I should note that I was raised Baptist and Baptists are notoriously anti-liturgy. So there may be more liturgical or liturgy-friendly churches who do see their feasts (by whatever name they call them) an act of religious observance too. I just personally switched to Paganism before I encountered that mindset. ↩︎
Paganism

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Cycles

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Note: This was the prompt for yesterday. However, I blogged today’s prompt yesterday so I could talk about the solstice on the actual summer solstice. So today, we’re going back to get yesterday’s post. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on schedule.

Cycles are a natural part of life. We have the agricultural cycle. We have the sleep cycle. We have the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Cycles tend to be a pattern that nature is really good at duplicating and implementing.

Cycles are quite useful because cycles and often do build on previous cycles. This creates a sort of spiral pattern and a sense of progression rather than simply “going in circles.” As I go through the same cycle, I might notice different things, expanding my understanding of that cyclical process, myself, and the world around me. As an early childhood educator might tell you, repetition is an important part of learning. Again, this seems to be a concept that nature understands quite well.

So when I find myself repeating a cycle — assuming it’s not a cycle I need to break in order to encourage healthier patterns — I try to see what I can learn as I take another trip around the loop.

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

Paganism, Religion

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Solstice

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Note: Today’s topic is supposed to be “Cycles.” But I decided I wanted to do tomorrow’s prompt instead so I could talk about the solstice on the actual solstice. It’s a day early this year.

One of the things I find unfortunate is how many in the Pagan community is how we give a lot of attention to the winter solstice, but not so much love for the summer solstice. In some ways, I get it. The summer solstice is hot — especially this year in places like my home where there’s been a heat advisory. And while the winter solstice is cold, it’s easy to put on heavier clothes and wear a blanket. I can only strip down so far — especially while in public! And of course, the winter solstice has all that gift-giving to make it more appealing. (Maybe we should start giving gifts at both solstices!)

And yet, I do appreciate the longest day of the year. I like the thought of having so many daylight hours and celebrating the fact that the growing season is well under way. At this point, we are a couple months at most from the first harvest and its wondrous bounty of grains. I like watching the corn starting to grow and the small animals flying and running around in the yard.

This time of year is filled with visible life and activity. This is something to celebrate and gives me a new sense of life and purpose. So while I may be grateful when the days start shortening once more and look forward to the cooler temperatures of autumn, I will pay honor and show appreciation for this longest day each year.

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

Paganism, Religion

#ChangingPathsChallenge2024: Time

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Time is one of those ideas that you have to look at from a few different perspectives. As a human being, I have a limited amount of time on this earth, measured in decades. As such, I am inspired to squeeze as much as I can into the time that I have, making the most out of it. I try to accomplish as much good as I can in hopes of both making the world a better place and leaving a legacy worth remembering and building upon. In many ways, I wish I had more time.

And yet, time stretches behind me and ahead of me. If I live to be 100 years old, my lifespan will only account for 0.00000000725% of the current age of the universe as we know it. And the universe most likely will go on for billions of years after I’m gone. Probably more.

To me, this is both reason to understand that how I spend my own time is important and to realize that I will not individually change much in the grand scheme of things. For that reason, my limited time urges me to think and act communally — ideally thinking of the global community. it is only in participating in history and doing even my tiny part to make change that we can change the course of history and have lasting impacts through all time.

(This post is part of #ChangingPathChallenge2024. For more information about the challenge and a list of topics, check out Yvonne Aburrow’s post announcing it.)

The thoughts of a gay witch living in upstate New York.