Merry meet,
So much for this being a daily blog of my journey... In the last week and a half I have been very sick to the point of only dragging myself out of bed for work (as there is no-one who can cover for me) only to drag myself back in once I'm done.
So based on this theme of sickness I thought of health and decided I would dedicate a post to the Greek Goddess Hygeia.
Hygeia was the goddess of good health while her sisters names translate to Panakeia ("all cure") and Iaso ("remedy").
http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/AsklepiasHygeia.html
The below blog has some really great information the particular post the link takes you too is one written about Hygeia.
http://loveofthegoddess.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/hygeia-greek-goddess-of-good-health.html
The following link is pretty cool because the author of the post has written the article as if it's a profile of the goddess that she has written herself.
http://www.shmoop.com/hygeia/
Merry part.
I have been interested in Wicca, candles, crystals and different pantheons of Deity since I was 8. I have "come out of the broom closet" so to speak to my family and they are all really accepting of the fact that I'm Wiccan which is fantastic. At times I will be writing as if this is part Book of Shadows, part diary so if I go on tangents you know why. :)
Monday, 2 December 2013
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Chasing dreams
Merry meet,
“Anyone chasing a dream knows that there is no smooth road, and
it’s the journey along the way that builds the person at the end.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RRyniZG0Jo-
“Tell me something I don’t know” by Selena Gomez.
I thought this was pretty apt as I have been telling everyone I know lately not to give up on their dreams an to keep chasing them and yet I haven't been making time to chase mine.... Not cool me. It is something I need to remember to do each day.
Merry part!
Monday, 25 November 2013
Technical difficulties and beginner reading lists
Merry meet,
The last two days have been chaotic for me and in that chaos I forgot to post on one day. On the other I couldn't because Blogger was having "technical difficulties". So as a result I will put up this post now and another in few hours when I finish work for the morning.
I have found a couple of reading lists
from the following websites that have really well written and informative
books and wanted to share them with the web. Some of the information may be out of date but if you read them with an
open mind and absorb the parts that can help you building your path and discard
what you don’t need that these will all be very helpful.
Gerald Garner’s Witchcraft Today is incredibly fascinating with quite a
lot of great information and an apparent disagreement for the work of Montague
Summers.
Thirteen
Books Every Wiccan Should Read
Now that you've decided you want to learn
about contemporary Wicca or another modern Pagan path, what should you read?
After all, there are literally thousands of books on the subject -- some good,
others not so much. This list features the thirteen books that every Pagan
should have on their shelves. A few are historical, a few more focus on modern
Wiccan practice, but they're all worth reading more than once. Bear in mind
that while some books may purport to be about Wicca, they are often focused on NeoWicca, and do not contain the oathbound material found in traditional
Wiccan practice.
If you want to learn about birds, you get
a field guide about birds. If you want to learn about mushrooms, you get a
field guide to mushrooms. Drawing
Down the Moon is a field
guide to Pagans. Rather than offering up a book of spells and recipes, Margot
Adler presents an academic work that evaluates modern Pagan religions
- including Wicca - and the people who practice them. The work is based on a
survey the author took over two decades ago, but the information within is
still a worthy read. Drawing
Down the Moon makes no
apologies for the fact that not all Wiccans are full of white light and fluff,
but instead tells it like it is. Adler's style is entertaining and informative,
and it's a bit like reading a really well-done thesis paper.
Raymond
Buckland is one of Wicca's most prolific writers, and his work Complete Book of Witchcraft continues to remain popular two
decades after it was first published - and for good reason. Although this book
represents a more eclectic flavor of Wicca rather than a particular tradition,
it's presented in a workbook-like format that allows new seekers to work
through the exercises at their own pace, learning as they go. For more seasoned
readers, there's a lot of useful information as far as rituals, tools, and
magic itself. This book is a classic, and well worth picking up.
The late Scott
Cunningham wrote a number of books before his untimely death, but Wicca:
A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner remains one of the best known and most useful. Although the
tradition of witchcraft in this book is more Cunningham's eclectic path than
any other tradition, it's full of information on how to get started in your
practice of Wicca and magic. He goes into depth about tools, how and why they
are used, ethics, and the concept of god and goddess. If you're interested in
learning and practicing as an individual, and not necessarily jumping into a
coven right off the bat, this book is a valuable resource.
Phyllis Curott is one of those people who
makes me glad to be Pagan -- because she's really normal. An attorney who has
spent her life working on First Amendment issues, Curott has managed to put
together a really useful book. Witch
Crafting is not a collection
of spells, rituals or prayers. It's a hard and fast look at magical ethics, the polarity of
male and female in the divine, finding the god and goddess in your everyday
life, and the pros and cons of coven life vs. solitary paths. Curott also
offers up a very interesting take on the Rule
of Three. Whether you're a new student of Wicca,
or a veteran, Witch Crafting is worth reading more than once.
Dana D. Eilers spent many years
facilitating an event called Conversations
With Pagans, and from that she wrote a
book entitled The Practical
Pagan. She then drew on her experience as an attorney to write Pagans and the Law: Understand Your
Rights. This book goes into depth about precedents in religious
discrimination lawsuits, how to protect yourself if you may be a victim of
workplace harassment, and how to document everything if your spirituality is
leading someone to treat you unfairly. Eilers is an outspoken woman who has a
lot of great advice worth listening to.
[p]The first section of this book is Eight Sabbats for Witches. It
goes into depth on Sabbat rites, and the meanings behind the holidays are
expanded on. While the ceremonies in The
Witches' Bible are the
Farrars' own, there's a heavy influence of the Gardnerian tradition, as well as
Celtic folklore and some other European history. The second half of the book is
in fact another book, The
Witches Way, which looks at the beliefs, ethics, and practice of modern
witchcraft. Despite the fact that the authors are a bit conservative by today's
standards, this book is an excellent look at the transitioning concept of what
exactly it is that makes someone a witch.
Gerald Gardner is the founder of modern
Wicca as we know it, and of course of the Gardnerian
tradition. His book Witchcraft Today is a worthy read, however, for seekers
on any Pagan path. He discusses paganism in Europe, as well as the so-called
"witch cult", and goes on to demonstrate how many of history's
notable names are connected, one way or another, to what we know today as
witchcraft. Although some of the statements in Witchcraft Today should be taken with a grain of salt
-- after all, Gardner was a folklorist and that shines through in his writing
-- it's still one of the foundations that contemporary Wicca is based on. For
its historical value, few things beat this book.
Triumph of the Moon is a book about Pagans by a non-Pagan, and Hutton, a highly
respected professor, does an excellent job. This book looks at the emergence of
contemporary Pagan religions, and how they not only evolved from the Pagan
societies of the past, but also owe heavily to 19th-century poets and scholars.
In fact, Hutton points out that a good deal of what we consider
"ancient" Pagan practice can be attributed to the novelists and
romantics of the late Edwardian and early Victorian era. Despite his status as
a scholar, Hutton's breezy wit makes this a refreshing read, and you'll learn
far more than you ever expected to about today's Pagan religions.
Dorothy Morrison is one of those writers
who doesn't hold back, and while her book The
Craft is aimed at beginners,
she manages to create a work that can be useful for anyone. Morrison includes
exercises and rituals which are not only practical, but teaching tools as well.
Despite its focus on the lighter side of witchcraft, it's a good starting point
for anyone trying to learn about Wicca, and how to create your own rituals and
workings. Morrison also has written a
number of other books, including a companion work
to this one.
Historian Jeffrey Russell presents an
analysis of witchcraft in an historical context, from the early days of
Medieval Europe, through the witch craze of the Renaissance, and up into modern
times. Russell doesn't bother trying to fluff up the history to make it more
palatable to today's Wiccans, and takes a look at three different kinds of
witchcraft -- sorcery, diabolical witchcraft, and modern witchcraft. A noted
religious historian, Russell manages to make an entertaining yet informative
read, as well as accepting that witchcraft in and of itself can in fact be a
religion.
There is nothing else on the market like
Ceisiwr Serith's A Book of
Pagan Prayer. Despite the fact that some view prayer as a Christian
concept, many
Pagans do pray. This unique book features
hundreds of prayers written to meet the needs of Pagans from a wide range of
traditions. There are prayers for life events, such as handfastings, births,
and deaths; for times of the year such as the harvest and midsummer, as well as
petitions and litanies offered to different gods. Serith also covers the
theories behind prayer -- how and why we do it, as well as tips on creating
your own, personal prayers. Chances are that once you've started using this
book, it will stay near your altar for years to come.
While The
Spiral Dance is one of the
best-known books on Wicca, it's also one of the most spiritually profound.
Written by noted activist Starhawk, The
Spiral Dance leads us on a
journey through the spirituality of feminine consciousness. Sections on raising
the cone of power, trance magic, and magical symbolism make it worth reading.
Bear in mind that the original edition of this book was published twenty years
ago, and Starhawk herself has said she's reconsidered some of the things she
said the first time around -- particularly in reference to the polarity of the
male/female. Despite some of the eco-feminist complaints about Starhawk, this
book is powerful because it's one of the first of its kind, portraying Woman as
Goddess.
If Gerald Gardner is the
great-grandfather of modern Wicca, Doreen
Valiente is the wise granny who offers wisdom and counsel. A contemporary
of Gardner's, she is credited with the beautiful, evocative Charge
of the Goddess, and may well have been
responsible for much of Gardner's original Book of Shadows. Valiente spends a
good amount of the book discussing the historical contexts of a number of
rituals and practices in use today, but also takes care to acknowledge that
practices and beliefs change even if the intent remains constant, and she
points out ancient sources that may or may not be the root of contemporary
ideals. Though it helps to have some knowledge of British Traditional Wicca
beforehand, this book is a must-read for anyone.
Two other sites with great lists are the
below links. I like how the first list was put together by someone who mentions
how hard it is for solitaries (especially beginners) to sift out the good from
the bad in terms of books on Wicca and Paganism. Also a couple of the same
books keep cropping up on the lists which would be the first ones I would buy.
I quite like this list despite the double
up of a couple of the same books as on the other two, already mentioned lists,
it also has some new and interesting ones such as The Complete Book of Incense, Oils
and Brews by Scott Cunningham
and Sabbats: A Witch’s
Approach to Living the Old Ways by
Edain McCoy.
Merry part.
Friday, 22 November 2013
Lazy Saturdays
Merry meet,
In trying to upload a picture on my phone all as I have achieved is frustration and an app that doesn't appear to be doing anything... So no pictures of Goddess. I shall have to upload them tomorrow.
I have been playing dress up dolly this afternoon for my mom for a costuming event she is taking part in for a couple of weeks time... Was great fun except for getting stuck in the marvellously fitted dresses that mom creates. It'll be brilliant however as she will fix up one of her previous creations to fit me for the event. :)
I haven't studying in the last three days because I've just been so tired with the heat.... It's been making me more tired than usual. :/
Merry part.
In trying to upload a picture on my phone all as I have achieved is frustration and an app that doesn't appear to be doing anything... So no pictures of Goddess. I shall have to upload them tomorrow.
I have been playing dress up dolly this afternoon for my mom for a costuming event she is taking part in for a couple of weeks time... Was great fun except for getting stuck in the marvellously fitted dresses that mom creates. It'll be brilliant however as she will fix up one of her previous creations to fit me for the event. :)
I haven't studying in the last three days because I've just been so tired with the heat.... It's been making me more tired than usual. :/
Merry part.
Thursday, 21 November 2013
New books!
Merry meet!
I really love the smell of new books! I don't know what it is I just love it. I was quite excited when my copy of Wicca Revealed: A First Year Within The Craft by Pino Longchild.
It's the first year course in book format which is fantastic for me as it means I can now read and reread lessons anyway even if I run out of internet data on my phone or I don't have my lap top.... :)
This is the course offered at the Magicka school, that you can find on google by typing in Magicka School, and it's a pretty interesting little school that's well worth a look!
Merry part.
I really love the smell of new books! I don't know what it is I just love it. I was quite excited when my copy of Wicca Revealed: A First Year Within The Craft by Pino Longchild.
It's the first year course in book format which is fantastic for me as it means I can now read and reread lessons anyway even if I run out of internet data on my phone or I don't have my lap top.... :)
This is the course offered at the Magicka school, that you can find on google by typing in Magicka School, and it's a pretty interesting little school that's well worth a look!
Merry part.
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Wisdom as taught to my by parents
Merry meet,
Sometimes there are people in life that you are forced to work with who rub you up the wrong way or are continuously rude to you and/or seemingly incapable of acting in a civil or professional manner. I realised this morning however that I could choose to let it affect me and therefor ruin my day, make me upset and then be generally miserable all the time I had to spend with this person.
OR
I could CHOOSE to be happy and not let her bother me. I could CHOOSE to realise that she is probably never going to change or grow up but instead continue to be rude and obnoxious. She wasn't going to bother to change because she didn't feel she was wrong, even when she is abusive. But I, myself, could change. I could realise that while she will be immature I will get on with my life. While she is bitter and nurses the chip on her shoulder about her age or having to work with someone a quarter of her age or whatever it is, I will be enjoying hanging out with boyfriend and friends, seeing my parents, working on the many volunteer committees I'm on and studying my path.
I can choose to not let her get to me and realise that my parents were right. Sometimes you need to accept that some people that were rude, immature and bitter person in high school will remain that way for their whole lives. After realising that you are able to cheer yourself up so much easier. At first the smile you put on feels a little fake but if you KEEP smiling then eventually the smile becomes real. Whether because you see or hear or think of something funny or because your brain just realises that the smile is somewhat fake and decides to make it real. Either way just SMILE!! Everything really will be ok. :)
Merry part.
Sometimes there are people in life that you are forced to work with who rub you up the wrong way or are continuously rude to you and/or seemingly incapable of acting in a civil or professional manner. I realised this morning however that I could choose to let it affect me and therefor ruin my day, make me upset and then be generally miserable all the time I had to spend with this person.
OR
I could CHOOSE to be happy and not let her bother me. I could CHOOSE to realise that she is probably never going to change or grow up but instead continue to be rude and obnoxious. She wasn't going to bother to change because she didn't feel she was wrong, even when she is abusive. But I, myself, could change. I could realise that while she will be immature I will get on with my life. While she is bitter and nurses the chip on her shoulder about her age or having to work with someone a quarter of her age or whatever it is, I will be enjoying hanging out with boyfriend and friends, seeing my parents, working on the many volunteer committees I'm on and studying my path.
I can choose to not let her get to me and realise that my parents were right. Sometimes you need to accept that some people that were rude, immature and bitter person in high school will remain that way for their whole lives. After realising that you are able to cheer yourself up so much easier. At first the smile you put on feels a little fake but if you KEEP smiling then eventually the smile becomes real. Whether because you see or hear or think of something funny or because your brain just realises that the smile is somewhat fake and decides to make it real. Either way just SMILE!! Everything really will be ok. :)
Merry part.
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Famous Witches
Merry meet,
If one looks up "Famous Witches" on Google this results come back with dozens of links about fictional witches. The links below are just some of them. In particular Circe and Morgan Le Fay (as she is referred to in this article) are the two which fascinate me the most. Having read Homer's Odyssey I can honestly say that she isn't quite as superficial as her entrance on the list would have you believe. Her character, as told by Homer, was that of a lonely witch who kept the animals as companions and food source and who was food of tricks and use of potions. Besides which Odysseus was a married man on finding Circe's island and he lied to her about being married so he has no basis for complaints about her lack of moral virtues in turning his men into pigs. As for Morgan Le Fay, Moragan Le Fay, Morgana Le Fay, (for just three of her names), the many facets of her legend haven't even been touched on in her entry. Yes they mentioned her banishment and her trying to trick Lancelot but they didn't mention the legends of her great leadership. Not even the slightest mention.
http://listverse.com/2013/07/07/ten-witches-you-do-not-want-to-mess-with/
I also found this article quite informative. I thought it was kind of sad about Kael Merrie who got executed by mercenaries despite her acquittal. But at this stage it was simply a reflection of a period in history where women where not actually valued as anything more than studs for bearing children. The Church was, quite famously, threatened by female sexuality.
http://listverse.com/2012/11/10/top-10-notorious-witches/
The other sad fact is that people say how fantastic that this horrible and frankly disgusting period of human on human atrocity is behind us a world wide civilisation. But the fact is that is still persecution on witches and Pagans of all kinds (and women) around the world. The Middle East in particular is the most at fault for the persecution of women with their so called "honour" killings where they will happily murder a women for being raped stating that it was her fault. (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/honor-killing-gaza.html#) The church still takes a harsh, "you will burn in hell and the devil will steal your immortal soul unless you convert and give up witchcraft", stand despite some of it's members being more open minded. And there are groups and individuals who shun those who come out of the broom closet.
I would love to see the persecution for those of different sexualities and religions stop. The there is simply no need to torture each other like this. We are all the same. Yes some might look a little different from us but we are all warm blooded bipeds who bear live young via the female. Therefor why fear what you don't understand? Or if you don't understand something get to know it or them. You'll find you are so much more spiritually satisfied that way.
Merry part!
If one looks up "Famous Witches" on Google this results come back with dozens of links about fictional witches. The links below are just some of them. In particular Circe and Morgan Le Fay (as she is referred to in this article) are the two which fascinate me the most. Having read Homer's Odyssey I can honestly say that she isn't quite as superficial as her entrance on the list would have you believe. Her character, as told by Homer, was that of a lonely witch who kept the animals as companions and food source and who was food of tricks and use of potions. Besides which Odysseus was a married man on finding Circe's island and he lied to her about being married so he has no basis for complaints about her lack of moral virtues in turning his men into pigs. As for Morgan Le Fay, Moragan Le Fay, Morgana Le Fay, (for just three of her names), the many facets of her legend haven't even been touched on in her entry. Yes they mentioned her banishment and her trying to trick Lancelot but they didn't mention the legends of her great leadership. Not even the slightest mention.
http://listverse.com/2013/07/07/ten-witches-you-do-not-want-to-mess-with/
I also found this article quite informative. I thought it was kind of sad about Kael Merrie who got executed by mercenaries despite her acquittal. But at this stage it was simply a reflection of a period in history where women where not actually valued as anything more than studs for bearing children. The Church was, quite famously, threatened by female sexuality.
http://listverse.com/2012/11/10/top-10-notorious-witches/
The other sad fact is that people say how fantastic that this horrible and frankly disgusting period of human on human atrocity is behind us a world wide civilisation. But the fact is that is still persecution on witches and Pagans of all kinds (and women) around the world. The Middle East in particular is the most at fault for the persecution of women with their so called "honour" killings where they will happily murder a women for being raped stating that it was her fault. (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/honor-killing-gaza.html#) The church still takes a harsh, "you will burn in hell and the devil will steal your immortal soul unless you convert and give up witchcraft", stand despite some of it's members being more open minded. And there are groups and individuals who shun those who come out of the broom closet.
I would love to see the persecution for those of different sexualities and religions stop. The there is simply no need to torture each other like this. We are all the same. Yes some might look a little different from us but we are all warm blooded bipeds who bear live young via the female. Therefor why fear what you don't understand? Or if you don't understand something get to know it or them. You'll find you are so much more spiritually satisfied that way.
Merry part!
Monday, 18 November 2013
What Wicca means to me
Merry meet!
I feel that Wicca, or any Pagan path for that matter, can mean
many different things to many different people at once.
For me Wicca started as a way of being able to become more
in tune with the natural world around me and worship the old ways with the old
Gods and Goddesses because Wicca is about the Earth or Gaia and protecting the
world around you by not purposefully destroying it as well as helping to teach
others how to protect Earth and care for her too.
I still very much believe in that aspect of Wicca. However I
also believe that you constantly be learning and finding ways to improve
yourself without harming any living thing (including yourself) or impinging on
any living thing’s free will.
For instance I am really bad (hideously bad!) at
visualisation during meditation. Try as I might I just can’t get myself to
create the picture in my mind of those pretty fairies with blue wings holding
their arms out to me inviting me to dance in the fairy ring with them. Or smoke
rising up around me. I can’t get my brain to help me in creating the sensation
of a tree growing behind me so distinctly that I can FEEL the bark. I don’t
know whether it’s because I am doing something wrong or not but I just, so far,
have not been able to do it. HOWEVER
this having been said this is where my personal concept of Wicca comes in. I
believe in constantly improving myself. This means that I will be doing visual
meditation practice (for now) twice a week for 10 minutes each and slowly
working up to 10 minutes daily. And I will keep doing this until I can actually
visualise things during meditation. Once I can then fantastic! Because I have
learnt it but I will keep going because otherwise if I don’t practice I’ll end
up square one with not being able to visualise again.
My Wicca also means helping those around you, whether
animals or people. I have taken this onto myself to mean everything from
getting non perishable food and basic toiletries to give to homeless people for
Christmas, turning over pill bugs that have gotten stuck on their back, giving
a teacher at school a chocolate you bought for them because you know their home
life is really bad, helping rescue animals caught in traps, helping older
people work out things on their phones and computers or simply across the road,
and smiling at someone who looked like they needed it. Doing and giving random
acts of kindness for people without expecting anything is return is a great
feeling when you see the look of surprises and happiness on the other person’s
face. It’s really touching and these simple acts of kindness can not only improve someone’s day or week but
maybe even their month as well as make the world just that little bit brighter.
I still follow the Wiccan Rede- “An it harm ye none, do what
thou wilt.” However unlike most people who write about Wicca and Pagan paths
that talk about this the tell you that messing with a person’s free will is
wrong and against both the Rede and the Three Fold Law (whatever you send out
into the world, good or bad, will come back on you threefold). But they
specifically mention a person. In my personal concept of
Wicca that I am crafting for myself I follow the meaning of the Rede to mean
that messing with any living things free will is against the Rede. After all
creating a spell that makes all bunnies do your bidding like stealing children’s
Easter eggs on the Christian’s Easter so that they can give them to you may
seem like a good concept of the time but the bunnies are living things and therefore
you would be breaking the Rede.
I wasn’t born into a Pagan family and therefore I haven’t
been studying as a young child. I think even if both my parents were Pagan of
some sort though I still don’t think they would have started teaching me until
I was at least 16 so I could choose if I wanted that religion. (My mom is
Atheist, my dad is a Christian and my boyfriend is an Alchemist.) My parents
never pushed religion on me as a kid because they wanted me to be able to look
at them objectively, and if I so wished, choose my own path. Or if I didn’t
choose a path then that was still alright for them because they would love me
just the same. Point is with not having started to learn about Wicca when I was
very young means I am studying all the basics that a Pagan born child would
know and more. But the advantage I have that they might not, the gift that my
parents gave me, is that I am learning everything from scratch which means I
know, when I make a decision about something I incorporate into my beliefs and
path, that I am deciding that for myself and not potentially being influenced
by the beliefs or teachings of my parents which some pagan born children may
have.
I am crafting my own path and enjoying it! J
Merry part!
Sunday, 17 November 2013
What is religious tolerance?
Merry meet!
If
you type “define religious tolerance” into Google the first result is the
following:
“Toleration is "the
practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one
disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, i.e. of allowing or
permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow". .”
So, by the above
definition, religious tolerance means allowing someone to practice a faith
other than yours without telling them that their faith is wrong or evil. Even
if you don’t approve of them practising their faith. This is a fabulous concept
on paper yet how often in life does it REALLY happen?
All through
history there have been wars waged sometimes with people’s faith as the cause
because a heated argument over whose faith is better gets dangerously out of
hand. Or sometimes it’s about money or power but religion is the banner cause
held up to the world as if by putting up the banner of religion it makes the
slaughtering of innocent people ok.
I have only ever
met one Christian who actually observed her bible and the teachings of her
priest. She is still a friend of mine and treats me as a normal human being and
not just something nasty that is stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Most of the
rest, as well as Catholics, and Jehovah’s Witnesses that I have met are quite
nice to me until the inevitable question of my faith comes up when they ask if
I am interested in hearing about their Lord. On telling them politely the first
time that I already have my own faith and that I am in fact a Wiccan I either
get a shocked expression and a quick good day or I have the person sit and try
to tell me why my faith is wrong and that I should convert to their religion.
On other occasions I have also been labelled a devil worshipper, a Satanist and
a harpy despite the fact that Wicca has never had anything to do with the devil
as known by popular culture because he was a figure created by the Christian
and Catholic churches.
This is not
religious tolerance and more to the point it is rude, bigoted, arrogant and
downright offensive. Regardless of what faith you practise or hide behind for
justification that you’re a good person one day out of seven, you don’t tell
other people that their faith is wrong.
The most ironic
thing about both the Christian and Catholic churches are that they have acted
more evilly than any witch, wiccan, heathen or pagan of any other kind will
ever do. To convert the local pagans to the new religion, when the temptation
of saving their immortal soul didn’t lure them in to plonk their but on a pew,
the churches were built on the worship sites of the pagans as they were already
going to those anyway the church figured if we build them, they will still
come. Iconic images of the pagan religions were also used in the buildings,
hence why in England especially, there are quite a few stained glass images of
things such as The Green Man (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/g/green_man.html,
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/beltanemayday/p/GreenMan.htm,
http://www.greenmanenigma.com/theories.html) and other figures of Goddesses, nymphs, fey
and others.
Still this didn't succeed at converting as many of the Pagans as the church wanted so they then outlawed the old religions of fertility rites to ensure good harvests, worship of the old Gods and Goddesses and healing of the sick. Anyone practicing these things would be called a heretic. And to be called a heretic meant you could, LEGALLY, be tortured until you “confessed” (sometimes this meant lying) that yes you were a witch. You were then executed, generally in public so all the “God fearing folk” could mock you, and if you were really lucky you were hung until dead. If you weren't though… You were burnt alive at a stake. The Church did this because before they really gained popularity, the old ways of the Pagans, was the biggest religion of any kind around at that time and even then there were numerous branches. The religion of the pagan’s was a threat that had to be removed, publicly, mercilessly and quickly.
During the period of the Witch trials which went roughly from the 15th to 18th centuries, (a period of 300 hundred years!), a lot of historians have agreed the amount of people murdered for their belief is between 50,000 and 200,000 with millions affected negatively. The site below is merely one of them.
“King James I estimated that the ratio of women to men who succumbed to witchcraft was twenty to one. Of those formally persecuted for witchcraft, between 80 to 90 per cent were women.” http://www.thenazareneway.com/dark_side_of_christian_history.htm
What I am trying to say is that if people want to practice a faith then that’s brilliant that they are finding ways of feeding their soul’s spiritual needs. However when people start to tell other people that their faith is wrong then it causes problems because NO-ONE has the right to tell another person that what they believe is wrong or bullying them by insulting them and labeling them with untrue, negative stereotypes perpetrated by one or more faiths to demonise another.
Merry part!
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Introducing myself
Merry meet!
As the name suggests I'm doing a little introduction into who I am with some links for favorite things. :)
So I am 22 and I live in Western Australia with my boyfriend. We don't have any pets but we would love to have a cat. I really love munchkins!!! They're so sweet! But I would love to adopt a pet from one of the local animal shelters who are constantly trying to re-home some of their animals so they don't get put down.
I have blue/green/silver eyes (apparently according to ex's, friends an current beau) whether I'm calm, excited and severely, down right rip you apart with my bare hands mad, respectively.
I like a varied range of music from opera to heavy metal, punk, rap, acoustic, alternative, acapella and folk as well as violin. Two of my favorites off YouTube at the moment are below and they are AMAZING!!
Christina Grimmie has THE most INCREDIBLE voice!! My three of her favorite songs are in the links below. In order they are her cover of Titanium by David Guetta with Sia, (She sounds so much better than Sia), cover of Forget you by Cee Lo Green, and cover of Set fire to the rain by Adele (and again I think she sings it better than Adele).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afct2d-Mm-Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KvfNnkKXl0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_dRGMO54nA
My favorite violinist ever is Lindsey Stirling and honestly I pretty much love all of her clips that it is really hard to narrow it down to only three but I will try my best! She has a great sense of humour and has done beautiful violin covers of Skyrim's music (with costuming, it's very cool) as well as Assassin's Creed, and Lord of The Rings among many others.
The first is her appearance at an audition for "So you think you can dance" and the song she is playing is her song "Electric Daisy Violin" which you can buy from the link underneath the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_YUD6lduZM
By watching the clip you will see that violinists can shuffle too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2APZN9FJNY
Lindsey Stirling does Phantom of the Opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCL94-MsxYc
And this last clip (yes it's a fourth for her but I said narrowing it down to three clips would be really hard!) is a cover of Radioactive by Imaginedragons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE2GCa-_nyU
I hope you enjoyed those clips!
I have so many favorite books and authors (both Pagan and non) and I will do a post about them later on. For now the only other major thing about me is that I'm a Wiccan-let.... In other words I am still studying my path... :) And I'm doing that by attending the schools I have already mentioned in my first ever post! They are definitely worth checking out! Free education that has quality teachers and courses! How awesome is that?!
For now Merry part and Blessed be!
As the name suggests I'm doing a little introduction into who I am with some links for favorite things. :)
So I am 22 and I live in Western Australia with my boyfriend. We don't have any pets but we would love to have a cat. I really love munchkins!!! They're so sweet! But I would love to adopt a pet from one of the local animal shelters who are constantly trying to re-home some of their animals so they don't get put down.
I have blue/green/silver eyes (apparently according to ex's, friends an current beau) whether I'm calm, excited and severely, down right rip you apart with my bare hands mad, respectively.
I like a varied range of music from opera to heavy metal, punk, rap, acoustic, alternative, acapella and folk as well as violin. Two of my favorites off YouTube at the moment are below and they are AMAZING!!
Christina Grimmie has THE most INCREDIBLE voice!! My three of her favorite songs are in the links below. In order they are her cover of Titanium by David Guetta with Sia, (She sounds so much better than Sia), cover of Forget you by Cee Lo Green, and cover of Set fire to the rain by Adele (and again I think she sings it better than Adele).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afct2d-Mm-Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KvfNnkKXl0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_dRGMO54nA
My favorite violinist ever is Lindsey Stirling and honestly I pretty much love all of her clips that it is really hard to narrow it down to only three but I will try my best! She has a great sense of humour and has done beautiful violin covers of Skyrim's music (with costuming, it's very cool) as well as Assassin's Creed, and Lord of The Rings among many others.
The first is her appearance at an audition for "So you think you can dance" and the song she is playing is her song "Electric Daisy Violin" which you can buy from the link underneath the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_YUD6lduZM
By watching the clip you will see that violinists can shuffle too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2APZN9FJNY
Lindsey Stirling does Phantom of the Opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCL94-MsxYc
And this last clip (yes it's a fourth for her but I said narrowing it down to three clips would be really hard!) is a cover of Radioactive by Imaginedragons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE2GCa-_nyU
I hope you enjoyed those clips!
I have so many favorite books and authors (both Pagan and non) and I will do a post about them later on. For now the only other major thing about me is that I'm a Wiccan-let.... In other words I am still studying my path... :) And I'm doing that by attending the schools I have already mentioned in my first ever post! They are definitely worth checking out! Free education that has quality teachers and courses! How awesome is that?!
For now Merry part and Blessed be!
And the Goddess leads me to teaching
Merry meet world wide web!
I have been told by different people, (of many faiths, not just Pagan), that the Goddess will lead you to a teacher when you are ready for it.
After studying by myself with books as my teachers I am happy to say that she has recently led me to discover not one but TWO schools!
The first I discovered goes by the name of the Magicka School. They have courses for free on Beginner Tarot and Wicca Revealed Years 1 and 2 (which are the traditional Pagan methods of training for "a year and a day").
http://www.magickaschool.com/index.php
The second school is more structured from what I have seen so far and is also brilliant.... They have classes to do with mythology, Deity study of both Gods and Goddesses in their own set as well as on making your own tools!! :) It's so awesome!
http://www.mistresskalpanasrealm.com/
Merry part and Blessed be!!
I have been told by different people, (of many faiths, not just Pagan), that the Goddess will lead you to a teacher when you are ready for it.
After studying by myself with books as my teachers I am happy to say that she has recently led me to discover not one but TWO schools!
The first I discovered goes by the name of the Magicka School. They have courses for free on Beginner Tarot and Wicca Revealed Years 1 and 2 (which are the traditional Pagan methods of training for "a year and a day").
http://www.magickaschool.com/index.php
The second school is more structured from what I have seen so far and is also brilliant.... They have classes to do with mythology, Deity study of both Gods and Goddesses in their own set as well as on making your own tools!! :) It's so awesome!
http://www.mistresskalpanasrealm.com/
Merry part and Blessed be!!
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