May your Samhain be full of family and friends, those here and those that have passed over. May you find solace in their presence, and may you find comfort in with the Lord and Lady. I also wish fun, tricks, and treats for you on this day of joy and sadness.
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The Seeker’s Guide by Elizabeth Lesser is one of the myriad of books that I am currently reading. I read it several years ago when I lived in a different city and was a different person. Now that I am married and have a young child, I’m finding that other parts of the book make sens to me. One of the first chapters discusses spirituality and states that we don’t need to be part of a religion, or to be religious, to be spiritual. I’m not sure if the younger me would have agreed with that, but this older me…
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Over the years that I have been aware of the greater Pagan community, I have seen some relatively well known spokespeople step away from Paganism and declare that their beliefs now lie in another direction. Some do this vocally, and insult Paganism on their way out the door, others do it quietly, making us wonder what caused them to change their minds. When the reason for leaving the community is because the person found a new faith, I am a bit surprised. I think that to be a spokesperson, either through teaching, writing or producing a podcast, one must be…
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**I’ve edited this entry to remove potentially controversial content, because if my husband didn’t understand what I was trying to say, then I suspect no one will. It is better to take out anything that tempts people to read into it something I don’t mean.** I recently received an email from a teen who occasionally writes me asking questions about Wicca. This time she asked me about the Lord and Lady, because she said that they weren’t explained well enough in the two books she is reading. (Yes, Silver Ravenwolf books.) Below is essentially the answer I wrote her. The…
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Some fun and interesting Pagan news – a woman with a blue crescent moon tattooed on her forehead finds it difficult to get a job. (The full story can be read inthe Elmira Star-Gazette.) Personally, I’m not surprised! Now, putting aside the fact that facial tattoos just aren’t a great idea (case in point a father and son in central Florida), I think it is an even worse idea to get a tattoo on your forehead, to represent your faith, that is inspired by a book that has no basis in reality. For those who are unaware, in The Mists…
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Wicca is generally viewed as a Celtic-inspired faith. The names most Wiccans use for the Sabbats come from Celtic culture, as to some of the most common names used for the Lord and Lady. In actuality, Wicca has very little in common with the religious practices of the Celtic people. But this doesn’t stop people of Irish/Scottish/British ancestry from saying that they are drawn to Wicca because it reflects the ways of their ancestors. I am of Scotch-Irish stock, and I am a practitioner of Wicca. However, my path isn’t that of Traditional Wicca, the path most heavily influenced by…
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Generally speaking, I am fascinated by people who choose to follow their religion in a very fundamentalist way. That’s not to say that I agree with them, but I am always curious as to why they choose to follow the rules, often ancient and unsuited to the modern world, so closely. A. J. Jacobs, an author from New York, decided to live by all 700 rules outlined in the Christian Bible for a year. The result is the book The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. The book is due…
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This afternoon I spent some time looking around on eBay at items listed using the keyword “Wicca”. There was the usual assortment of stones, jewelery, herbs and candles. There were also some handmade Books of Shadows, and quite a few pages for them available, something that I feel isn’t quite right, but not offensive. (I’m of the opinion that one should create all the pages within one’s own Book, rather then just slap in some pages bought off of eBay.) I was, however, offended by a series of listings from a lady calling herself “Canada’s most powerful psychic and Wiccan…
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American Wiccans realized a rather large victory yesterday, over a very small symbol. Wiccan soldiers can now have the pentacle on their headstones, thanks to a settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Read more at CNN.) The “Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers” page on the Veterans Affairs website has already been updated with the addition. In all honesty, as a Canadian, I haven’t been following this whole situation too closely. I have always understood the gist of it, but I never really understood why it was an issue. By that I…
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I’m not a big fan of Witch School. And their stock with me fell even further this morning when I found out about this: WitchSchool.com World’s Largest Witch School for Sale. That’s right, Witch School is for sale to the highest bidder, be it responsible pagans or a Christian evangelical group. And the winner gets access to the private information of every Witch School student, as well as the right to award degrees in one of the flavours of Correllian Wicca. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. This, of course, is another in a long line of fun and…