Somewhere along the way I lost my sense of humour. It’s pretty sad to wake up one day and realize that. Very rarely to I laugh out loud at anything, and my jokes tend to be sarcastic. I was very distressed by this revelation, and have been making an attempt to rediscover the humour in life. (Difficult to do these days, but I’m reinstating my newsfast.)

So, the other day I did a Google search for Wiccan Humour (I’m starting small). Some of the stuff I found was funny, and some was a little mean. But one site in particular I found both funny and poignant: The Glass Temple’s Other Tarot. This was obviously written by someone with knowledge of the Tarot, since some of the cards are excellent twists on the traditional.

There was one card that caught my eye and stuck with me for several days afterwards: The Nature Lover?. The description is of a heavily made-up pagan holding a symbol of nature–a plastic tree. The upright meaning is given as “Examine that what you claim is your passion is something that you’re really passionate about.” If ever there was a symbol for modern Paganism, this is it! How many Pagans out there claim to be nature lovers, yet never spend any real time out of doors. Until recently I would count myself amongst them, but with the coming of spring and a change in attitude (including a sense of humour about changeable weather and bird droppings) I have rediscovered the beauty of nature… including dirt.

Flowers are fleeting, so enjoy their beauty. Take a walk around your neighbourhood today and enjoy the spring flowers. Tulips, bluebells, pansies, crocuses and daffodils are all making their appearance around here.

So where does the humour come in? I’m happy to say that when I saw myself reflected in that card I was able to laugh and to make a change in my life.

This is the first Easter that I have spent away from my parents. I have been out on my own for about three years now, but for the past two years I went to my parent’s house for Easter dinner. I guess I sort of miss my family today. We, by that I mean quanta and I, were invited to Easter dinner at my aunt’s in Windsor, but it is just a bit to far now that we are in Toronto. And, quite honestly, I was looking forward to having a nice long weekend to spend alone with quanta.

I’ve been thinking a little bit about Easter when I was younger. My parent’s have never been particularly religious. It was my grandfather, an Elder at our church, who made sure I went to Sunday School, etc. My parents let me go for as long as I was interested. I thought the stories were fun, but as a religion it never really worked for me. (Yes, even as a wee girl I questioned Christianity.) Easter was more about the big dinner and time with family. And, of course, it was also about the treats. 🙂 Oh, I know that sounds awful, but that is what happens when non-religious people celebrate a national holiday–they create a way to make it make sense to them.

When I was younger, Easter meant spring was coming. Shortly after Easter weekend, my mom would start taking all the spring clothes out of storage, washing them and getting ready for the nicer weather. I went through all my winter stuff, picking out pieces to go to the Amity, and packing away other things for next year. The white shoes and light coloured handbags of my mom also made an appearance on Easter weekend. And I remember having a speical, pretty Easter dress to wear when when we went visiting.

This year, Easter weekend doesn’t feel as special. I felt the first stirrings of Spring at the Spring Equinox. I won’t be setting aside clothes for the Amity this year either, since I did that when we moved a few months ago. I think that I am finally shifting my focus, in that the national Christian holidays aren’t the specials days they were before when I was growing up. Wiccan Sabbats are finally feeling like my holidays, even if hardly anyone else recognizes them. It took more then a decade for the shift to happen, but it feels right.

A comment was added yesterday to my entry Why I am Wiccan. The person more or less asked if one finds a spiritual practice satisfying, is the title really important? My first thought was “No, it’s not.” I thought this because religion is deeply personal. It is something between you and your god(s).

But, as I started to write this entry, I began to think that maybe titles were important, to a certain extent. If you don’t follow a religion, it makes no sense to say that you do. I am not Presbyterian, Asatru, Celtic Reconstructionist, or Jew so I don’t give those titles to myself. To do so would be very confusing to others, both followers of those paths and non-followers. By declaring that your belong to a religion, by taking on the title of Wicca or Presbyterian or Asatru, you are saying something about yourself. You are saying that you belong to that community, that you believe in certain things and don’t believe in others.

But there are times when what you believe in is a little unclear. Maybe you don’t feel like you actually follow the teachings of a certain sect, yet you still believe in the general ideas. Finding a title then can be difficult. But, maybe it is still important. If you know you believe in the Christian God, why not claim to be Christian. You needn’t say you are Presbyterian or any other sect. But by taking the title of Christian you make a connection between yourself and the faith. The same is true of Wicca. You might feel drawn to it, to the honouring of nature, to pagan deities, to the mores and ethics. But if you don’t feel you are Wiccan, you can take on the broader title of Pagan. Again, this will help to make a connection between yourself and your faith.

And that is the reason why I think that titles can be important, even if you only use the title with yourself. They help to clarify, to yourself, what you believe and where you think your path is taking you. There are bound to be times in life where the path is so misty that we may not know, and so then we may go title-less, but eventually we will find our away again, with a little help, and find ourself on a path towards Paganism, Christianity, or any one of the wonderful faiths that this world has to offer.