PBP: J is for Jesus

Yes, you read that right, J is for Jesus, and I mean that dude who walked around the Holy Lands two millennium ago healing people and collecting misfits only to be martyred on a cross by the Romans.  That guy!  Yes, I'm sure you are flabbergasted at the fact that Jesus has come up and are certain that he has no place in a pagan context (aside from, maybe Christio-eclectic Wicca).  Those things said, Jesus and even *gasp* the Bible can be looked at and learned from in a pagan world view.

To begin, we must strip away our own prejudices (if we have them) in regards to Christianity and the Bible.  If we look at this book in the same way we look at classical mythology, then we can put our prejudices aside.  So, if the Bible is myth, then the stories in it, we will focus specifically upon the new testament here, are allegory.  With that logic in mind, lets look at some of the things Jesus did.

First, he gathered 12 disciples.  Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I have always been taught that the traditional number for a coven is 13.  Twelve named disciples plus Jesus equals 13.  Second, many of the disciples were given new names.  Peter was Simon and Matthew was also known as Levi.  It is also believed that Nathaniel was renamed Bartholomew.  The scriptures do not specify that all of the disciples were renamed, however, it is generally accepted in the Christian community that Jesus gave his disciples new names to reflect the changes within them.  To me, that sounds like the receiving (or maybe taking) of a magical name.

Also, Jesus performed 'miracles.'  Whether healing the sick, feeding the multitudes, or raising the dead, those things sound pretty damned impossible.  However, do we, as pagans, not perform magic and do some of these things?  Do we not heal ourselves and go on to help heal others through our own commanding of The Power and dispensing of the sacraments in ritual?  Do we not feed those who need it, both physically and spiritually?  Even more importantly, do we not live by many of the same principles Jesus taught? "Be ye kind, one to another. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?"  What about, "The meek shall inherit the Earth."  How many of us walk our path with a humble heart, helping those who need it most?  Is there not a meekness to that?  How many of us stand up in the face of injustice? Oh! Jesus did that, too!  Mary Magdalene and something about being without sin and casting the first stone?

So, outside of a Christian context, Jesus did many of the same things we, as witches, do.  He was, at the very least, a Priest of the Power who walked about his homeland dispensing the sacraments to those who needed it most.  He understood the need for spiritual fulfillment that went far beyond what most of the clergy in his time did.  Yes, his enlightenment earned his own death, but he knew that was coming.  He was 'tapped in' to the same Power we 'tap in' to.

Jesus, the man, the myth, is worth learning about.  We learn from him whether or not we realize it, and we are better people for it.

Brightest blessings, Friends!

Life: What it offers sometimes isn't what we expect!

Obviously, I have disappeared from Pagan Blog Project for the last couple of weeks.  Life has not trolled me, as it did last time, rather I have been busy with my students and with my own lessons.  Life has been quite awesome, despite the lingering cold of winter.

My own lessons have been more life lessons.  I have been dealing with a co-worker who is inherently negative.  When I say 'dealing with', what I mean is hitting her with so much positive energy that she either smiles or runs the other way.  Either way, her vibration rises for a few moments and she feels better.  Depending upon the day and how she wants to feel is how she reacts.  Lately, she has been running away, but she hasn't been unaffected by the positivity which surrounds her.  (Two of my other co-workers are inherently positive people, so they have been unknowingly bombarding her with positive energy, too.)

I have also found myself coming to certain realizations about life and people and recognizing how I read it or them.  My High Priest teaches that we all live out the myths and legends.  During the lessons on this, I got the concept and saw the truth of his words, but it didn't hit me until recently.  I have called it something different, recognizing it as 'The Pattern.'

All of life follows a specific series of events which repeat over and over again.  We call these things lessons because as we live the lessons, we either fall into a comfortable pattern of expectation (also called insanity) or we recognize the pattern and try something different.  In recent days and weeks, I have found myself stepping outside of The Pattern (at least, more than I normally do) and 'reading' events with a relatively accurate success rate as to how they will end.  Am I correct all of the time?  No.  Predicting when another person is going to give up their insanity (defined here as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results) isn't quite yet my strong suit.  I'm still working on observing the pattern of trial and error and seeing when frustration leads to a change of habit.  I may never be able to do that reliably with other people, though.  I know this.  However, in working on the pattern in my own life, I should be able to use it to recognize my own lessons and insanities and change my own failures into successes.

I like the allegory I was taught of living out the myths and legends.  It takes a difficult concept and gives a student something tangible like a story to wrap his or her brain around.  It gives us something to relate to because we have all read stories where we were drawn in and lived with the characters as they struggled through whatever was written.  In contrast, the only way I can describe 'The Pattern' is to compare it to being unplugged from the Matrix and being able to 'read' the symbols on the screen which represent certain people or programs.  It's not a perfectly accurate description, but it gives a relatively descent comparison.

So, while I haven't been doing much writing lately, I've been doing other work.  Sometimes life takes away things, like writing, because the receiving of my own lessons are more important.  Writing, for me, is an escape.  I step outside of life, whether it be good or bad, for just a little while, and become nothing more than brain, fingers, and keyboard.  Life has demanded that I be more than that these past few weeks.

Thank you, friends, for checking out my blog in this time, curious to read what I should write next.  It warms my heart and humbles me.

Brightest of blessings, wherever you are!

PBP: H is for Hekate

Hail Hekate, Queen of the Witches!  She who is my sister, mother, and grandmother, Lady of the Crossroads, and torchbearer!  Blah, blah, blah! I could go on and on with salutations, invocations, and other praises to Her.  I could talk about Her history.  I could go on and on about Her in some boring, academic way. (Actually, nothing about Hekate and Her history is boring...)  However, instead, I am going to use this blog to talk about my own personal walk with Her.  She's requested I do so.  Yet, my ego says it's a trite thing to sing the song of my patron goddess, but she begs to differ, so sing I shall.

I have been a follower of Hekate since Samhain of 2008, almost 5 years now.  I can not even begin to articulate just how much I have suffered and how much I have been rewarded in that time.  She is known as a Dark Goddess, and that gives most people pause.  "Dark" must mean bad in some way.  Aren't we conditioned to think that?  For me, "Dark" means tough.  It means strict.  It means she is harder-headed and wiser than I am.  It means that things will be done Her way and in Her time.

I'll begin my story in 2008, on that fateful Samhain night.  Imagine, if you will, a young woman, a solitary practitioner who was wholly in the closet.  As a solitary, I understood that I didn't need a lot of tools to practice my magic.  I understood that I didn't need anything but myself.  For a week leading up to Samhain, I kept getting images of a full altar, a skyclad priestess.  I saw myself calling upon the Crone and asking for guidance.  Until that point, my life had been pretty easy.  I never wanted for much.  I always had a full belly.  I had everything the physical realm could offer, but something was missing.

So, I called upon Hekate, the goddess I saw as the consummate Crone.  She was evoked into my circle and in a rush of power and fear on my part, She was there.  My altar set up was satisfactory and my offerings to her were enough.  Then, She lifted a gnarled finger, pointed at me and said three words, "You are Mine."

I'd been marked.  I asked Her for Her help and she replied, "Are you sure?"  I said I was and asked again.  Another, "Are you sure?"  The third time I asked, she cackled at me and replied, "Be careful what you wish for.  You just might get it." And She was gone.

Since, my life has been in disarray.  I'm not going to say it's all been bad, but every time I step off of the path She has set out for me, I have difficulties. Also in that time, I have had the pleasure of experiencing her as both the Maiden and the Mother.

As the Maiden, She comes to me as The Torchbearer.  Her dark eyes glisten and there is mischief about her.  She holds the flame up high and whispers, "Come, follow me!"  Her steps are light and almost silent, as a deer bounding through a meadow, but her torch guides the way.  I see her light far ahead of me, and then She is near.  I know that there is nothing to fear when we play this way in the darkness.

Often times, She comes to me like this when I am approaching a crossroads and there are serious decisions to be made.  Through this game of chase, she helps me narrow down my choices and I come to a place where they are not so overwhelming to me.

As the Mother, She is stern, but just.  Usually, we meet at a crossroad under the light of the moon.  There is a place we meet that has a small altar, tree, and rough seat.  When I come to this point, I am often weary from weighing the decisions.  I sit in the seat and She puts her hand on my shoulder as I release all of my anguish over my decision.  I find this gesture to be very supportive.  As the Mother, She allows me to take each scenario, each path, through dozens of unnecessary endings before coming to Her and simply giving it to Her.  She allows me this for now.  I know that there will come a time when She will no longer allow it.  There will come a time when She is the one sitting at the crossroads, not me.

As the Crone, She is also full of mischief and mirth, but it is the kind of mischief that can only one with years of wisdom can create.  More than once, I have felt Her near me and, in an instant, She has taken over my brain and words are tumbling out that I could not fathom saying.  Literally, it feels as though She has stuck her finger in my brain.  It can be quite embarrassing!

So many times when I am not paying attention or when I am not listening, Hekate leaves me scraped up and bruised.  It is Her way to let me make a few mistakes.  It is Her way to spank me when I do anything other than she asks.  I would not wish the service of my goddess upon anyone, knowing what I have had to endure, but I would never ask Her to release me, either.

I have said many times and I will say it many times more, "I walk a path of service; service to my gods and service to my community."  Hekate makes sure that my walk stays true to my path.  She allows stumbling blocks.  She removes stumbling blocks.  She gives.  She takes away.  So it is with any path of personal responsibility and any path of personal growth.

Hail Hekate!!

Brightest Blessings, Friends!

PBP: G is for Gender

Once again, I've done that thing where I'm supposed to write but my inner child throws a tantrum and refuses, so I flake out on PBP.  At least this time I'm only late in getting it done, right? :)

This week's blog is about gender, when it's important, when it's not, and my perceptions on why this is.  Speaking in spiritual or energetic terms, gender is a very nebulous thing.  What we term 'male' energetically is  the projective polarity that sits on the opposite end of the receptive polarity we term 'female.'  I see it, quite literally, as the yin and yang.  Two opposite parts of a whole with a drop of each other inside to keep the balance.

In some Wiccan traditions, gender matters.  In these traditions it is said that only women can draw down both the moon and sun and that men simply can not invoke the Goddess. (Here, I speak in physical, genetic terms of male/female.)  Other traditions teach that this division is a load of crap because both the Lord and Lady reside within, two halves making a whole.  My personal belief is that gender only matters at certain times and during certain rituals, specifically, certain Rites of Passage.

Many Rites of Passage are gender neutral, such as Wiccanings, The Rite of Mystery, and Crossovers, however, many are not, such as puberty rites and your Men's and Women's Mysteries.  My understanding of Rites of Passage is that these rites are a celebration of the individual reaching certain physical milestones in their life and these milestones are specifically related to ones gender and the physicality of the body.

So, what exactly, does this mean for our transgendered and gender queer friends?  It means quite a bit, actually.  Whether you have a uterus or a scrotum, quite literally, determines which mysteries you are a part of.  For instance, it would be quite confusing to put a queer boy through a young girls puberty rite.  No matter how he may try, no matter how much he may identify with the feminine, he would never be able to produce the monthly blood of a woman.  Much in the same way, putting a queer girl through a male puberty rite and asking her to produce semen would create internal confusion.

It is my belief that we must first learn the mysteries of our physical body, whether or not we identify with it or want to change it.  In accepting what we physically are and trying to understand it, we can come to a greater understanding of why we perceive it to be 'wrong' mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.  Much in the same way that the modern world requires a certain amount of counseling and living as the opposite sex before a gender transformation operation, we as pagans should do something similar spiritually.

In this exploration of the physical versus mental/spiritual/emotional it is of utmost importance to recognize that there are spiritual reasons and spiritual lessons for being gay or for being transgendered.  It is not punishment.  It is not the Universe being mean.  To be Two-Spirited is a pretty special thing.  However, to completely ignore ones physical nature and toss it to the side because it doesn't 'feel' right is to deny ones Self of that completion.

Gender only matters when it comes to the physicality of this manifestation.  We have lived many lives, many incarnations, in many physical bodies.  The Spirit simply is, but it must manifest itself in polarities.  When we are one within ourselves, then we can become one with the Universe.


Brightest Blessings, Friends!!

PBP Week 13: G is for Great Work

Within my own Wiccan church construct, when one reaches a certain level in their studies, one must begin thinking about his or her Great Work.  The Great Work is something that is going to be a life-long commitment by the practitioner to help in the furtherance of the religion and their own growth.  For soon-to-be-leaders within the community, this is a very important step.  The Great Work is, in essence, how one will 'specialize' within the community.

Just within my own church, my High Priest has the Great Work of promoting the religion of Wicca through (obviously) running a church, speaking to groups and giving workshops, as well as teaching the religion.  One of the students of the church is leaning toward youth teachings as her Great Work and one of the Third Degree High Priestesses I know has a Great Work of community building.  So, as you can see, the Great Work isn't just things like herbalist, healers, psychics, and writers.  It is where your passion lies within this path and how you best fit into the community.  After all, we still need planners and organizers for the festivals we go to; we also need kitchen witches and bards!

Then, you have people like me.  As I was coming upon my First Degree initiation, I had my Reiki 1 attunement.  I have always had an interest in healing and various modalities of healing, so I figured that it would be a natural progression for me to go into the healing arts and learn several different kinds of healing practices, maybe learn accupressure or accupuncture.  Oh, no!  It's not that easy.

Hekate and Ares never make it that straightforward.  Never.  They say, "Okay, Miss Lady, you want to be a healer?  Here is how this is going to go down.  Once you are initiated, we are going to send you far, far away from your High Priest and Priestess, but we aren't going to let you go it alone.  You will have support!  Then, you are going to truly know what 'the healing arts' are all about."

I am sent to a community that is the exact opposite of what I know.  My home community stretches (literally) from West Plains, Missouri all the way to Lake City, Arkansas and on to Jackson, Tennessee (if not a bit farther).  These people, hundreds of them, are from both churches and covens and they work together in an effort to unify everyone within the community whether they are a solitary or group practitioner.

My current community has these pockets of super amazing people!  Like, I've honestly not met a 'bad pagan' yet, however, there has been some trauma that has bred an aura of fear nearly community wide.  The irony of that statement is that this fear seems to have come from within, not without.  This town is very progressive, forward thinking, and liberal and has a huge pagan community in it.  I have talked to a few who have reached out to talk vaguely about the trauma that befell the community long before my time and I am taken back by the fear.

Is my Great Work to heal this community?  My gods didn't say 'You will heal these people!'  I do not want my readers to even entertain the idea that I am destined for something grand like pulling together a whole community, because I'm not.  However, they did have to show me what can happen when a community does become shattered and splintered.  They did have to show me how the efforts of the few walking their talk can sometimes be a struggle.  They did have to show me that sometimes fear paralyzes groups of people and that they lose trust in everyone completely.

The path of a priest or priestess is, sometimes, a lonely one.  It is exhausting.  It is difficult at times.  Those things said, they have also shown me that things worth doing are worth the loneliness, exhaustion, and difficulty and eventually, the hard work is rewarded.

The Great Work is different for everyone on this path.  It requires years, decades of service to the gods and the community.  It is that one thing that, when we are lying on our deathbed, we can say is our legacy.

Bright blessings, friends!!

PBP Week 12: F is for F.E.A.R.

Ah, Fear!  How are you, you wily fucker?  Still stealing people's breath?  Their words, thoughts, and actions?  Oh, Fear, you are a cunning friend.  You quite enjoy comforting us as you stab us in the heart, don't you?  You like whispering all of those negative things, don't you?  You enjoy the tears, the rage, the hurt.  You live for the moment when you can wrap yourself around any one of us and whisper, "It's okay that you can't.  It's okay that you won't try.  Don't.  Ever.  Try."

As you can tell, I have a long standing, masochistic relationship with my fears.  Through my training in Wicca, though, I have learned that fear is a necessity in life and can even be a good thing.  First, I have been taught to define fear as:

False

Evidence

Appearing
Real

The ego, through fear, teaches us how to look out for ourselves.  This is good, right?  Well, it's a great thing if you are standing on the edge of a cliff.  Fear may cause you to take a step back.  However, not paying bills because they are late for fear that your creditors are going to yell at you isn't a good thing.

Magically speaking, how do we manifest our own reality without fear?  Well, we first have to know what we are afraid of.  Speaking from a personal standpoint, I have, historically, been afraid of both success and failure.  How's that for irrational fears?  I have never failed at anything I put my mind to, and can't think of anything at which I am a complete and utter failure.  I'm horrible at tennis.  I'm too tall for tumbling.  I'm mediocre at painting.  However, just because those things aren't my strong suits, doesn't mean I fail.  It just means that I'm better at basketball, stenciling, and writing.

The fear of success has been my own biggest stumbling block.  If I'm good at this, others expectations will rise through the roof.  That has always been my thought.  If people know I'm intelligent, then they will expect more from me.  If people know this.  If people know that.  Until recently, I attributed this fear to my own ultra-private sense of life.  I know now that it is not.  I understand now that saying to another person I am limitless and believing it are two different things.

After figuring out the root of our own fears, what do we do?  I mean, one can not cast a successful spell if one is afraid of success, correct?  After figuring out what we are afraid of and why, we have to face that fear.  Even if facing it means doing so little by little.  Facing a fear of heights means stepping closer and closer to the edge until you go as far as you dare, and then going one step farther.  It means listening to that small voice of fear, but ignoring it.

When I first began facing my own fears, I had to do so in a manner that calmed and tricked my ego into a false sense of security.  It was literally a case of me telling myself, "Okay, Self, I'm going to do something that  you said is going to hurt me, but I'm going to do it a little bit at a time so we feel safe.  If we get hurt, it will all be my fault and you can tell me so."

For the most part, I know now when I am being irrational, and I can convince myself of this.  Magically speaking, I have done many things  since I began taming my ego and stopped listening to the smooth voice of fear.  How do you convince yourself to face your fears?  Do you?

Brightest of blessings, my friends!

Pagan Blog Project Week 11: F is for Fluff Bunnies

We all know that one guy or girl in the community who has the fanciest of velvet robes, the most expensive athame, dozens of tarot decks, and all of these really cool and expensive toys and relics of the Craft, but he or she couldn't cast a circle to save his life.  People like this are, quite arrogantly by some, called fluffy bunnies, and while they get on the nerves of many people, they may just have a place within the greater pagan community.

The above description is for one type of 'fluff bunny' pagan.  There are many types of them.  There are those who would be called a witch simply to be different and cause shock in other people.  There are those who want to claim the label of witch, but refuse to do the work of going through the degree system and changing internally. Then, there are those who would search for knowledge under the guise of 'knowledge is power' and do nothing with that information.  As the Craft evolves and the religion becomes more prevalent, there will be more and more people who come to the Craft for information, not to learn.

So, what do we do with people who come across like this?  What do we do with those who are obviously more into being different than being spiritual?  We do the exact same things with those people that we do with everyone else.  We love them anyway.  Without getting angry or frustrated, we do our best to guide them to their own understanding of their own personal path.

For those with the 'knowledge is power' mentality, dealing with them can be a bit trickier.  We still love them anyway, mind you.  However, these people come across as sincere seekers who are interested in learning and changing.  Then, when things get beyond the general information on the religion and get into the actual personal changes, the approach is a little more hands off.

With these particular people, there seems to be the mentality that if I know what happens, then I can make the choice to do it or not.  This mentality happens when a person is firmly stuck in the element of Air.  The curiosity about something drives them, but the fear of the unknown stops them short of full achievement and moving into the element of Fire.

Insincere seekers follow every religion and paganism is no exception.  We can only accept these people for who they are and hope to help them find their own true path.  They aren't to be scorned or made fun of, as they have their place just like anyone else.  How do you deal with the fluffier of pagans in your community?

Brightest blessings my friends!!