Non Fluffy Wicca

The Good

Those air crews in the Gulf who are flying mission after mission and rescue swimmers who are saving person after person deserve serious kudos. Thousands of people have been saved. Thousands more wait to be saved. The tireless air crews and those amazing rescue swimmers just keep going, flight after flight, rescue after rescue. Thank the Gods for them.

Other stories are coming out now of people looking out for their elderly neighbors, their handicapped neighbors, other people's children and animals, and sacrificing in order to help others. These stories are heartwarming and hopefully will overshadow some of the other stuff going on.

The Bad

In Mississippi, they have no facilities for the dead, so they have to put black paint on the doors where there are bodies inside of buildings and get them at some other point. The water is rising in New Orleans. They have to evacuate the poor people in the Superdome, with overflowing toilets, no water, no air conditioning, but they are still alive, and not sitting on top of a roof.

The human misery is unfathomable as I sit here in my air conditioning with my electrical power, my refrigerator full of food, my working television and my Internet access. Those poor individuals who want to get back to their homes, and possibly their pets, who won't be able to get there for weeks if not months. They're saying that they may not have power for 4 to 6 weeks. I've had to wonder what we would do if we ever had to evacuate with 2 cats, 3 parrots, and right now... 10 dogs. And most shelters won't take pets, so what do you do? You stay home and take your chances, or you abandon your pets. I don't abandon my pets, so guess where that would leave me? On the roof waiting for rescue.

And what about the poor? Those who couldn't leave for whatever reason? Those who were too sick, those who couldn't take their pets, those who couldn't, for whatever reason, get to the Superdome or leave the city? So easy to say "gee, you should have left, you deserve what you get" but who are we to make that kind of decision without being in that person's shoes? Nobody deserves a death sentence for doing what they think is the right thing at the time.

The Ugly

Looters and price gougers need to be shot on sight. Yes, I'm a bleeding heart liberal, and yes I believe in the American legal system (as opposed to that of other countries...not that it's a panacea by any means, but you know what I mean). However, anyone who would take advantage of this type of a situation and this type of horrible suffering does not deserve the benefits of living in society. Either shoot them or send them off somewhere else. Like perhaps....Crawford Texas :-).

Posted by mikki at 05:28 PM | Permalink

A highly disturbing trend with individuals with high media power, broadcasting intolerance and violence throughout the world. Will England step up to the challenge and truly treat all religions equally? They now have a very big opportunity to prove to the Muslim world that they are not being discriminatory.

Memo to Charles Clarke: a pair of "preachers of intolerance and hatred": "

Since the London bombings in July, politicians have wasted no time in deciding what to do about religious bampots. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke recently announced plans to crack down on what he describes as preachers of intolerance and hatred. He declaimed:

We must protect the traditions of tolerance that we have established in this country through centuries of struggle and that means cracking down on those who preach intolerance and abuse free speech to justify terrorism, advocate violence or foster hatred.

Spain, Italy and France had already introduced measures to facilitate the expulsion of such preachers after the bombs in Madrid, and Denmark has acted against both Islamist extremists and those who use them as an excuse to whip up hatred against Islam.

So, presumably a few of the Prattle's favourite loony Christian preachers will find themselves unable to enter European countries from now on?

Pat Robertson is surely guilty of advocating violence when he called for the murder of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez?

Mr Robertson, 75, said on Monday's edition of the 700 Club: You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.

Yet have we have yet to hear a word from the Home Secretary about what action he plans to take against The God Channel, which broadcasts The 700 Club in the UK. Surely the best way to not drive young Muslims into extremism is for the government to demonstrate that it will apply the proposed lesgislation against all those who preach hate, not just the Muslim ones?

Fred Phelps would be another candidate for persona non grata status. He's just decided that he and 20 of his congregation are going to make a trip to Sweden next month to hunt down the Swedish king.

'We'll hunt down your king,' he said ominously to Expressen. 'It doesn't make any difference where he tries to hide.'

Phelps' hatred of the royal family and all things Swedish is linked directly to his equally virulent hatred of homosexuals. He praises homophobic crimes, including murder. When controversial Swedish minister, Åke Green, was convicted of inciting hatred of homosexuals following an anti-gay sermon, Phelps saw red and turned his attention to Sweden.

You're doomed to spend eternity in hell, he continued. All you Swedes and your Swedish king and his family.

But Phelps doesn't seem to have any faith that his god will actually do any such thing.

The minister and twenty members of his congregation from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, are planning to come to Sweden at the beginning of September. They are bringing plenty of placards in order to spread their message that Sweden is the cradle of all evil and that the king rules a nation of sodomites.

King Carl Gustaf is their primary target.

Your king represents your doomed country and we'll find him wherever he may be.

Security around the royal family has been stepped up, though presumably Phelps and his cronies are unlikely to be allowed to enter Sweden after such a rant. And obviously, as he's the sort of preacher Clarke wants rid of, should he come via Heathrow, we will see him packed straight onto the first plane home. Won't we?

Clarke to launch hatred crackdown—BBC News, 22nd August 2005;Europe moves against radical imams—BBC News, 6th May 2004; Denmark targets extremist media—BBC News, 17th August 2005; TV host urges US to kill Chavez—BBC News, 23rd August 2005; Minister of hate to hunt down Swedish king—The Local, 25th August 2005.

Additional tags: religion, extremism, christianity, islam, United Kingdom.

(Via The Pagan Prattle Online.)

Posted by mikki at 04:03 PM | Permalink

Other news organizations are likely being stupid as well, but I'm currently only watching CNN. What I'm wondering is - why are they putting these correspondents in the middle of hurricanes? I find this totally irresponsible. How many people think "oh, well if CNN is here, then I don't have to evacuate. If they can weather the storm, so can I."

We all know that hurricanes are nasty, windy, wet, and have lots of storm surge. We don't need Anderson Cooper being Mr. Macho Man standing up to the wind and showing us how manly he is. We don't need Rob Marciano standing there while pieces of roof fall off and land near him. And for each "manly reporter" there's at least one camera person, and likely a producer. So how many people does CNN send into harm's way for mere sensationalism? And how many people feel that it's a cool idea to copy them?

While I certainly hope for the safety of everyone who is in harm's way in the hurricane, I'm afraid it's going to take the injury or death of media personnel before the outlets "get religion" and perhaps follow their own advice and keep away from these areas. Nature does not differentiate between people with cameras and microphones and those without when she hits.

Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the effected areas. May the Gods protect you. Just don't hang out with the CNN guys.

Update Yep, the idiots are out trying to see/hang out with Anderson Cooper in Baton Rouge. How brilliant can you get? Perhaps CNN is helping with social Darwinism by showing us a live demonstration.

Posted by mikki at 11:45 AM | Permalink

So, we have this Christian "leader" telling everyone on his very own television show, with millions of people watching, that the United States should "take out" President Chavez of Venezuela. This is the same man that claimed that feminism causes women to kill their children and practice witchcraft (damn, we'd have a LOT more witches today if that were the case, eh?).

So, where is the rash of Christians condemning this extremism that is JUST as dangerous as any Islamic radicalism that we are afraid of? I'm watching Rev. Ted Haggard of the National Association of Evangelicals on CNN right now, being an apologist for Robertson's statements. While he's saying that "some comments are more constructive than others," he's certainly not distancing himself, from these ridiculous statements. "Granted, his semantics may not have been well advised, but [fill in how wonderful Pat Robertson is and what great things he's done for Christianity]."

Then we find emails from idiots saying that the reporting of this clearly stated bulloney, on tape, out of his own mouth, is slanted and awful, thereby attacking the messenger rather than distancing oneself from the ridiculousness of the message. Others, of course, state that Robertson does not speak for all Christians, and that the message of assassination is not a Christian one, which is something I would personally agree with (seeing as how Jesus did not assassinate anyone in the Bible, nor order their assassination despite how he purportedly knew they were out to kill him). However, this message is NOT coming from the "higher levels," i.e. those who purport to speak for Christians.

Until the leadership of ALL religions strongly condemns acts of violence, and ceases to encourage them by silence, whether they be manifested through TV begging shows watched by millions, through pastors attempting to force parishioners to vote in a particular way, through Muslim clergy preaching hatred from the mosques, or from convicted child molesters attempting to speak for all Wiccans, there will be nothing but confusion in the religious message they are trying to put forth.

Hypocrisy is ugly, whether cloaked in the Bible, the Koran, or any other Holy book.

Posted by mikki at 02:32 PM | Permalink

Religion increasingly irrelevant—official: "

United Kingdom: Research published today shows that a significant proportion of churchgoers are not believers. Further, an excuse widely used by churches to justify their interference in the lives of non-members—that many people believe without attending church—has also been shown to be a load of old bollocks.

David Voas of the University of Manchester and colleagues report that the number of people who have a real faith is now smaller than the number of people who passively belong to a religion. That undermines a cherished tenet of churches in Britain: that many people implicitly believe even if they don't explicitly belong.

And there’s worse news for anyone hoping to impose their beliefs on their children:

The study, based on a 14 years of data from 10,500 households, found that parents played a powerful role in the transmission of religious belief. But even if both parents held strong beliefs, there was only a 50-50 chance that their children would carry on believing.

In houses where only one parent had strong feelings about faith, children were much less likely to believe. On the other hand, two non-religious parents had no trouble passing on their lack of faith. In effect, attendance fell away steadily with each generation.

Although believers tend to have more children, this rate of failure means they’d need to have at least five children per couple to see even a modest increase in belief. It won’t necessarily be the same beliefs though.

Whatever the parents' beliefs, one child in 12 will join a denomination not supported by either parent.

Study refutes faith in silent majority—The Guardian, 16th August 2005.

Additional tags: religion, Christianity.

(Via The Pagan Prattle Online.)

Posted by mikki at 02:26 PM | Permalink

Contrary to thus far popular belief, I do NOT necessarily believe in "the Fae" or "the Faeries" or that kinda stuff. I *DO* know that something is out there in my woods. Whether that be Goddess, wood sprites, or, as one person put it, J. Random Forest Spirit, I don't know. Maybe they'll tell me. That would be fabulous if they did. I put some stones at the cardinal points around the circle yesterday, and I got some beautiful glass balls in today to put outside as soon as I can figure out how to do it without letting it smash into trees, or use the thin ribbon that came with the witch balls.

So I await enlightenment :-)

Posted by mikki at 12:43 PM | Permalink

Kat MacMorgan coined the term "Unverified Personal Gnosis" or UPG in her book Wicca 333. Throwing my own definition at the concept, I think of it as that magic moment when you KNOW something. You KNOW deep down in your soul that it is true because it has been revealed or come to you in a way that is irrefutable vor YOU. That's the "personal" part of Unverified Personal Gnosis

As for "unverified" that's pretty obvious. Regardless of how real my vision of the Green Man telling me he prefers grape popsicles over M&Ms is to ME, if I told YOU this cosmic truth, your reaction would likely not be quite as enthusiastic as mine, as I rush off to the store to fill my freezer with grape popsicles. "Gnosis" means knowledge, so it's knowledge that I know is "truth" which you may think is "bunk" or "nuts" or simply "not in accordance with any of YOUR UPGs."

So today I had a very happy UPG. My Talia (aka "the Luppy") escaped the house. Since she is still nursing her 5 monster puppies of DOOM, there was much concern, not only for my beautiful blue eyed doggie girl, but for her pups. I was frantic, obviously, running here and there trying to find her, climbing through mud, up embankments, through brambles, etc., all in 100 degree heat with high humidity, becoming a total sweat pit from hell, dizzy, suffering from heat issues, but not wanting to give up. We live close to a very busy road, and I had horrible thoughts of finding her hit by a car, suffering on the side of the road, etc. Yes, "frantic" would have been a good word to describe it.

So, as I was tromping around, I found myself near my circle in the woods. Someone who had been out here before said that the place was a "Faery Mound." Now, to me, the whole idea of "The Fae" is kind of silly, with stylized FLUFFY pink critters with gossamer wings flitting around in your face like fireflies on crack. But you know, I was there anyway, and so there I was, saying "whatever or whomever you are, please help me find my doggie?." In my heat induced hallucination, a voice in my head asked, "then will you believe in us?" Huh? "Hell yes, if you can get my doggie back" was my confused and startled answer.

Immediately thereafter, I called for Talia, and way off in the distance, in an area I had just been driving through to look for her, I heard something crashing through the woods. Then I saw a beautiful white head bounding over the ferns and underbrush. Yes, it was my Luppy, and I had one big ass UPG.

Now I don't know what label to put on whatever it was that was out there that helped me find my dog. It could have been a hallucination, wishful thinking, coincidence, or whatever. But in that moment, I KNEW something existed out there. Forest sprites? Spirits? Something I never heard of before? Doesn't really matter. Something was there, and it helped me find my baby. And for that, I am very grateful.

I'm going to hang a few witch balls on the trees on the mound. I hope that the "whatevers" like them :-)

Posted by mikki at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An important primer for all Wiccans and Pagans everywhere :-)

http://www.whatisdeepfried.com/zogg/zogg1.html

Posted by mikki at 09:54 AM | Permalink

Not sure whether to laugh or cry. Our brilliant National Cemetery Administration, while stonewalling on giving Pagans a pentacle emblem on their tombstones, instead use thousands in taxpayers money to inter a convicted murderer with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. How uh... different?

Killer Interred at Arlington With Full Military Honors: "Russell W. Wagner, 52, murdered an 84-year-old man and his 80-year-old wife."

(Via WTOP Radio - Local News.)

Posted by mikki at 05:19 PM | Permalink

Morons in the News: Bush: Theological Creationism Should be Taught in School: "President Bush told a group of reporters that he believes that theological creationism as the origin of life should be taught in school... Lame duck President Bush told reporters on Monday that he believes so-called 'intelligent design' as the origin of life should be taught in public schools. 'Intelligent Design Theory' is the newest buzzword for theological creationism; it is an..."

(Via Morons Dot Org.)

Posted by mikki at 05:14 PM | Permalink