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Paganism Thrives, If Quietly, New Mexico Professor Tells Audience: "Paganism’s many variations make scholarly research a challenge, expert Scott Russell said. But the University of New Mexico professor persevered. He has traveled the country researching the religio"
Morons in the News: Sexual Education Madness!: "A group of Maryland parents wants to make sure kids don't know about contraception so that they won't have sex. Because that's stopping so many of them now. The subject of History may be a treacherous tangle of names and dates, but I am fairly confident that any child about to enter high school could tell you the following two things about it: Ignorance has caused a lot of problems over time. The..."
(Via Morons Dot Org.)
Through a series of seemingly unconnected events of the past months, I have found myself becoming more and more frustrated with a large portion of our community. Not necessarily because they aren't intelligent (although, as in the general population, many are not), not because they are somehow "bad" people, but because they have bought into the modern notion of instant gratification.
I suppose this notion has been applied to religions that claim to provide you with the "keys to the castle" (i.e. heaven) if you simply perform some simple act, such as accept their god, or light this candle, or pay $19.95 before midnight tomorrow. But for Wicca, it simply doesn't work that way.
I admit, it is difficult to learn patience. It is difficult to grasp the concept that this path is indeed lifelong, and can in fact span multiple lifetimes. The young, especially, seem to want "the magick" right now. They want to know how they can "complete the course faster." They want to know how they can "receive their powers." They want the express lane to enlightenment. Who can blame them? It's nice to have goals and to want.
There's just one catch. They already HAVE "the magick." We all do. We have the answers. We have enlightenment. But guess what? There is no understanding, the light switch in your mind does not turn on, and you don't feel that connection or that personal "eureka" moment until your mind has been properly prepared for it. THAT is the part that can take many lifetimes. THAT is where the real work lies. Not in memorizing 100 crystal correspondences. Not in reciting 10,000 spells. Not in reading 500 books. Those may be means to an end, but they are not the end in itself. You can skim through the books, say you've done it, and still be no further along the path than you were when you started.
I've been accused of being "mean" and of "withholding information deliberately" from some starting on their path. They don't understand why I don't "give them the magick." By asking me to, they simply prove to me that they are not ready. They don't understand that they HAVE the magick already and nothing I can do will change that. I can give them a gentle nudge, I can give them means to expand their minds, but I can't give them something they already have.
"Your mileage may vary" is not just an abstract notion. It is a truism across the board. If I could dump the contents of my mind, my spirit, and my being onto a few DVDs that you could load directly into your head, what would be achieved? Very little, I'm afraid. The experiences that have given meaning to those bits of data in MY mind do not exist in yours. For example, the smell of my grandmother's house that triggered the realization that death is not the end is not part of your experience set. You would have the data point, but no means of processing it for understanding.
If you truly want the magick, strap yourself in and make yourself comfortable. Purchase a good set of reading glasses, and some nice sturdy hiking boots. Get yourself some good books, hike as far as you can away from humankind, set yourself up in a nice spot and start to read. See you at your next "eureka" moment....
Alas, All Barrels Have Their Bad Apples: "It is sad but true; all barrels have their bad apples hidden within. The Pagan community is not immune to ignorant and/or immoral idiots who call themselves one of us, and then go on to be the worse kind of bad example, spewing bad PR and worse damage in the wake of their stupid if not outright evil behavior. The problem is, most people do not judge all Muslims by the ‘bad example’ of Osama Bin Laden, or all Christians by the bad example of David Koresh, nor all New Agers by the ..."
A recent federal law says prisoners' religious rights can be limited only when the government has a strong need to do that, and only as little as possible. The question is, did Congress go too far?
Tim O'Brien reports.
TIM O'BRIEN: The right to practice one's religion is one of the pillars of the Bill of Rights. But just how much of those rights does one retain in prison?
Fifty-two-year-old William Morehouse, who practices the Wicca religion, is serving a life term for murder at the Marion Correction Facility in Ohio.
WILLIAM MOREHOUSE (Inmate, Marion Corrections Facility): They would not allow me to have religious articles. They would not allow me to have books. They would not allow my high priest and priestess to come in and hold rituals for our religious holidays.
O'BRIEN: Morehouse claims he is being denied privileges routinely allowed other inmates because his religion is out of the mainstream.
MOREHOUSE: The Wiccan faith is probably the very first faith -- religion -- that was ever practiced by man.
O'BRIEN: Wicca, associated with witchcraft, has an estimated 200,000 followers around the United States -- most of them women -- and perhaps four times that many around the world, although there are no reliable worldwide estimates. Wicca is a polytheistic, earth-based faith that emphasizes feminism, the environment, and diversity of beliefs.
What is wrong with these loony tunes? Why does anyone with a brain bother to listen to them?
Some IMAX theatres are refusing to show movies that mention evolution or the Big Bang because of protests by religious groups who say the ideas contradict the Bible.
The bans, occurring mostly in t [Witchvox - RSS Feed - News from the Nest]
Wouldn't it be nice if this catches on? A female professor led a mixed gender Islamic prayer service on Friday in Virginia, a state not known for its equality. A rather interesting event.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A female professor led an Islamic prayer service Friday with men in the congregation despite sharp criticism from Muslim religious leaders in the Middle East who complained that it violated centuries of tradition.
Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, led the service at Synod House at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, an Episcopal church in Manhattan.
Some Islamic scholars have said they were aware of a few other mixed-gender prayer meetings led by women, mostly in the West, but they are rare.
No kidding, folks. How can one have a democracy when one can't even express ideas for fear of running afoul of intellectual property law, even when their speech is decidedly non commercial? What does this have to do with Wicca? Lots. We're finding that increasing amounts of "non traditional" speech is being squelched by threats of lawsuit if any part of it is quoting other works. Even if those quotes are fair use. The mere threat is enough to silence the speaker.
Wendy Seltzer: "The Madrid Summit was outside my usual realm of intellectual property law, but the change served to remind me that while the copyfight is but a small part of the picture, the principles we're fighting for are more than music. ....At least a part of [the task of promoting democracy] is communication -- communicating with other democratic citizens and with other people seeking democracy. ...I don't think it's stretching too far to say that protecting against abuses of privacy, copyright or trademark online strengthens these tools of democracy."
[Copyfight]An interesting issue to think about.... Check out WitchVox for the whole article
The Greeks made a distinction between theurgy and thaumaturgy. Theurgy literally means “God working” and refers to spiritual work that leads one into illumination or gnosis. Thaumaturgy means, “wonder working” and refers to the conjuration of spirits, casting of spells, blessing, cursing, curing and harming through practical magick. The balance between these two aspects of the craft has been an issue since the emergence of Wicca in the 1950’s. Does spell casting overshadow religion? This debate ... [Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles and Reviews]
England: Carlisle City Council has voted overwhelmingly to deny fundie requests to get rid of its 'cursing stone'. Only two councillors voted in favour of removing the stone, and a familiar member of the public found himself in trouble when he heckled in an aggressive manner:
Leslie Irving, editor of the Christian magazine Bound Together and a campaigner against the stone, was escorted out for squaring up to Currock Labour councillor Paul Im Thurn.
Nor will the current Archbishop of Glasgow do anything to lift the alleged curse placed by his predecessor in the 16th century:
It was suggested that Archbishop Conti, as his modern-day equivalent, would be able to lift thecurse- blamed for disasters including foot and mouth and floods in the city. However ... Archbishop Conti's spokesman said:The Archbishop may send a letter offering his good wishes but he won't be getting his Latin prayer book and his holy water and heading down the M74.
Still, there has been a couple of more unusual offers. The council has already declined an offer from Simon Ralli Robinson, a Dumfries-based shaman:
Mr Robinson said:I can do cleansing ceremonies. That energy can be got rid of. I have sacred wood from Peru which, when burned, has a cleansing effect.
Nor did they seem particularly impressed with the offer from the better-known Uri Geller:
He told Reuters press agency:I have offered to take the stone off their hands, put it in my garden and exorcise it.
The Domesday book records an ancient healing centre in my village and all the ley lines converge on my garden.
I will use my pendulum and cleanse the stone of any evil forces. After that I would like to keep it. It is a work of art.
Indeed, as well as not wanting to look like superstitious idiots in front of the whole world, it seems the council had a very important consideration in mind when they voted to keep the stone:
However, [city council leader Mike Mitchelson] is hopeful that world-wide publicity about the stone will bring many more tourists.
It won't be our number one attraction but hopefully it will have a positive effect on visitor numbers,he said.
Carlisle votes to keep the stone as Christian campaigner thrown out - News and Star, 9th March 2005; Archbishop won't lift stone's 'curse' - Glasgow Evening Times, 10th March 2005; Uri wants the cursing stone -- for his garden - News and Star, 10th March 2005. See also Catching up: A fuss about a lump of rock - Pagan Prattle, 9th March 2005. [The Pagan Prattle Online]
It may not be nice to "bash" Silver Ravenwolf, but it may be MORE than nice to bash the inaccuracies in her work. Often, on many pagan oriented lists, the topic of Silver Ravenwolf rears its head to be rehashed over and over. It usually happens when a newbie raves about her work, and someone else attempts to steer people away from it. Inevitably the discussion disintegrates into a flame fest with the "bashing people is against the Rede" vs. "when something is wrong, you should speak up."
Silver Ravenwolf is the object of a lot of discussion because she has, like it or not, brought her brand of Witchcraft to the larger community. Her books adorn the shelves of many Borders, Barnes & Noble, et al. She has done a lot to bring the subject of Witchcraft into the mainstream. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing can be discussed ad infinitum (and often is) but is not the point of what I'm trying to say. I see it more as a debate between "rocking the boat is bad" vs. intellectual integrity and our duty to point out where it may be lacking.
The idea that "bashing" others is against the Rede is one that I find dangerous and highly unfortunate. That view may be taken by those who fail to understand the complexities of what the Rede encompasses. The Rede is not a knee jerk "white line" test, but a balancing act. It puts a significant amount of onus on the individual to carefully weigh the options, and come out on the side of the greater good. It is careful analysis. It is not dogmatic adherence to a path of cyclically bashing people for their perception of bashing others, while simultaneously patting themselves on the back for being "good."
Now don't get me wrong. I don't believe that everything that Silver Ravenwolf ever wrote is awful. I don't believe that every word is inaccurate or misleading. However, I do believe that enough of what she has to say is questionable if not downright "bad," (especially for those new to Wicca) that I am using her work as ONE example to make my point.
I find it ironic in the extreme that some will defend the "rights" of others to peddle misleading and possibly dangerous information (i.e. it's ok to lie to your parents if you're a "teen witch") while conveniently ignoring the harm that such information causes. Does pointing out inaccuracies "harm" the creator of the inaccuracies? Possibly. Does not pointing them out harm the collective knowledge base? Definitely.
I have stated before that I feel it is our duty to stop the spread of historically inaccurate or otherwise incorrect information. If we do not, especially when that information is disseminated in books as widely as Silver Ravenwolf's, that information gets passed on in our community as well as throughout the not so forgiving outsiders. The harm that is done could be far greater than that of debunking the information.
Those who perceive the debunking of inaccurate information as "bashing" the author, often do not realize that by attacking the messenger, they are ALSO bashing. And in this case, they are bashing those who are trying to protect the greater good.
Yes, of course our pal Justice Scalia, who doesn't understand the impropriety of playing golf with potential parties in cases he has to decide, would also have difficulty figuring out why glorifying Judeo/Christian documents at public expense is a "bad thing." It would be nice if Supreme Court Justices actually protected the Constitution rather than found ways to push their own personal agendas to the detriment of the minority. Yes, the Constitution is supposed to protect against the "tyranny of the majority" but not if people like Scalia have their way.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia today challenged people who want to ban displays of the Ten Commandments on government property, noting legislative proclamations invoking God's name are permissible. "I don't see why the one is good and the other is bad," Scalia said. [CNN.com]