Today I read a very short piece about the ethics behind asking permission before performing a healing for someone. Actually, the essay doesn’t really explain the ethics, it just mentions that it is now a common belief that one must do this. I think that the requirement of asking permission comes from the idea of respecting other people’s Will. It may be that the person wishes to remain ill, for any number of reasons we may not be privy to, and to heal them would cause them a good deal of harm, mentally or physically. It can be argued that…
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I feel the need to write something tonight, but I’m not sure what. There are two cards sitting on my desk, and they are sort of inspiring me. One of them is The Hermit from the Robin Wood Tarot, and the other is a card from SoulCards 2. Together, they make me think of the search for knowledge and the compassion and understanding one needs to do this correctly. I’m not sure how this applies to my life. I am certainly a seeker, but what am I seeking? How will I know that I have found it? Maybe that’s not…
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I read a wonderful book this week which I am going to shamelessly plug. It is called When, Why… If, and is written by artist and Wiccan priestess Robin Wood. (Here’s a link to the area of her site listing her books and such.) It is a book about personal ethics, covering topics like love, honesty and harm. Ms. Wood has written an excellent book detailing her ideas about certain aspects of personal ethics. She has managed to create a book that is useful to both Wiccans and non-Wiccans alike. The questions she poses at the end of the chapters…
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Yesterday I got out my Book of Shadows so I could add some notes and do some general clean up. I’m a modern Wiccan, so I don’t keep my notes in a musty, well-bound book. I use a three-ring binder. It’s sort of boring and doesn’t do much to add any airs, but it’s practical. It’s a bit small though, so I’m shopping around for the perfect 2 or 3″ binder to replace it. 🙂 I think this is my fourth Book of Shadows. When I first became interested in Wicca, I kept a collection of notes and correspondences in…
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Ellen Cannon Reed has passed away. I am sad, but I’m not going to write a personal message of mourning. I didn’t know Ms. Cannon Reed. In fact, until this morning, I didn’t even know she had any sort of presence on the internet. If I had know earlier, I think I would have done my best to meet her. But even though I never did get a chance to meet her, she has influenced my path through her Tarot deck (which I have a love hate relationship with), and her writing. It’s funny how people you have never met…
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With Mabon right around the corner, I’ve been inspired to do some fall cleaning. I’m a strange mix of pack rat and neat freak. Things get neatly filed away in drawers for a little while, then I go on a cleaning binge and get rid of it all. I’d sure save a lot of time and money if I skipped the step of buying things. Anyway, I came across a couple of old issues of Yoga Journal. One of them (Issue 167, June 2002) had an interesting article on the practice of satya, or truth. The general gist of the…
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It’s amazing the way you can dream up a personal history for someone based on what they are wearing and how they carry themselves. Now, I’m not saying it’s right to judge a person by their appearance, but, honestly, it’s hard not to form some sort of opinion. If it wasn’t, then why would we dress up for job interviews and first dates, and dress down for rock concerts and cleaning the house? There are a lot of people out there who dress all in black, or cover themselves with occult jewellery, or look like they are on their way…
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I saved a quote from a book I read. It was something to the effect of Eastern religions being alien to Western temperament. But I’ll be darned if I can remember which book the quote came from. Anyway, after reading an old issue of PanGaia, which focused on the “Wisdom of the East” (#31 Spring 2003), I began to wonder if there isn’t something to this idea. By incorporating Eastern thought and practice into the religious life of a Western person, are we just making spirituality more confusing? Admittedly, there is something to be said for the practices of meditation,…
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I’ve had a lot of ideas for blog entries bouncing around in my head this week. But for one reason or another, I just haven’t got around to writing anything substantial. I started a job last month, after a year of being out of work. It’s only very part-time, so, theoretically, I’m still left with a lot of free time. But I have a two hour round-trip commute, which is a bit excessive for a three hour shift. And I really… well… hate it. Yeah, hate is a harsh word, but that just about sums it up. Really, the store…
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Wiccans seem to be pleased that we have no sacred texts, no written scripture. Many of us claim that it is better this way. Practitioners can rely on personal experience instead of the experiences of others. We can discover things on our own, and make things up as we go along. Yet, at the same time, we tend to be a well read group. And the market is flooded with good, bad, and horrible books about Wicca, Neopaganism, and magic. Are there books we all should be reading? Should we have some sort of central scripture or group of writings?…