Pagan Friendly

Yes, that is me, exalted and glowing in my “Higher Self” form.  I have felt this communion with Deity, closeness to God, flying of Spirit, raising of consciousness in many different situations.  I have felt it in a Christian church, consumed with the power of God and awash in the Holy Spirit.  I have felt it in a sacred Wiccan circle, joined together with the energy of people I love and trust. I have felt it alone while meditating, while driving, while praying, while washing dishes, while walking in Nature…  Anyone can tell you who has truly been in the presence of God, it is a feeling like a sneeze or an orgasm that once you truly experience it, you will never again mistake it for anything else or anything else for it.  God is everywhere and in all things and will reach out with warm, welcoming embrace all those who come to that divine presence, regardless of the path they take to get there.

I find it fascinating and slightly disturbing that so many people are convinced you can only commune with the “real” God in one way, through one religion (usually theirs).  It makes me sad that when we are all clearly our best selves after being in communion with God, so many would work so diligently to block the way and insist that only their passage is valid.  Just as people in different lands speak languages we do not understand, so do people in other faiths communicate with God in “languages” we may not understand.  That does not make them wrong.  As long as God understands, that is what matters… and God does because God is not subject to the ego and arrogance of people.

Listed here are some of the musical selections that invariably bring me into communion with God.

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All religions bring with them a series of stories/parables designed to illustrate lessons that help us grasp essential truths.  We often think of these fables as being works of the past and granted, the myths of old all hold wisdom critial to the human condition.

Just as science has never stopped and human development has never stopped and miracles have never stopped, so have the stories that give us lessons in the form of allegories stopped.

Consider these fables, borrowed from many different sources, new and old, designed to give us something to think about:

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There is a very wonderful book still in print (I think) called Saturn, A New Look At An Old Devil that talks a good bit about the influence of Saturn on our daily life as it trudges around its path, touching on our challenges and lighting up the little pinball bumpers that are going to give us the lessons The Universe feels we need. This book is especially helpful in dealing with the real bugger of our 2 Saturn return times.

If Saturn is “An Old Devil,” then Mercury is definitely “That Little Shit.” Read the rest of this entry »

I had a friend named Lee with whom I was having a conversation about manifestation through the movement of energy and she mentioned “Rut Now” magic. I asked her what that was and she said, “That’s magic that you do when you need something ‘rut now.’” It made me laugh and it stuck with me, so it’s a term I’ve used in my teaching since then, which was actually 15 years or so ago.

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I had a particularly odd conversation with a friend several months back, which in and of itself is not particularly odd since most of the conversations I have with this one particular friend tend to drift over into really strange stuff that just does not every come up when I am talking with other people. It is as though she is the sounding board for all of my weirdshit thoughts and I am hers as well. It’s a good arrangement, let me tell you.

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Originally printed in “The Rising Wind,”  Beltane 2003 -   This now defunct online magazine was a wonderful effort put out by Katie Hodges.  It’s such a shame it is gone, but the content still holds up beautifully.

When my dear friend told me that the theme for this holiday’s Rising Wind was to be Beltane and totem animals, I was intrigued. My experience with totem animals was, for quite some time, tentative at best. I’ve had two previous priests who were heavily ensconced in the attributes and blessings of their totem animals, one being cats, specifically a black panther and the other being wolves. In my dealings with those gentlemen and other pagans I’ve met along the way, I will confess to some fairly strong feelings of inadequacies because doggone it (ouch, no pun intended), I just don’t have one.

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This photo is from the wonderful site by the Woodinville UUC

I have to admit, being a Virgo has both its up and downside. The upside is that you are quite in tune with how everything should be done and you have the generosity to share with others that inherent wisdom. The downside is that frequently, they don’t give a shit and do what they want and get it all jacked up, then WHO do they come to when they want it fixed? *sigh* That’s right, the Virgo. Usually, we’re decent enough to just sigh heavily and push them aside, instructing that they get their helmet on and pay attention before they hurt themselves while we explain where they’ve screwed it all up and how if they’d *only* listened the first twelve times we tried to warn them, they’d not be in this mess. So let’s just do it right this time from the beginning and learn, learn, learn the art of invoking without mucking it up and pissing off things that are bigger than you or losing control of mischievous little critters that are smaller than you.

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Although when leading a group we are a representation of Deity, it sometimes helps the magickal atmosphere to employ some special effects and have some swift ideas at hand to make rituals more original and interesting. Here are some that have found their way to me over time:

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You really want to believe that you’re all going to peacefully coexist as magickal peers and that everyone involved in your group is mature enough and imbued with sufficient common sense that you would never condescend to put “rules” down to paper for how to handle conflicts and to ensure that everyone is on the same page on how things are done in the group. Talking among yourselves to establish a good foundation of basic guidelines is a wonderful group experience and can go far in eliminating future misunderstandings and ideas that are assumed (as in makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me”). Just like the picture on the left, a tree can only grow as strong on top as its roots are below. “As above, so below” applies on many levels of life and group dynamics, politics and procedure would definitely be a place where this is true.

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