Living on Death’s Time

Some people are killed before they’re too young to really live. Some die in the prime of their lives. Some die when they’ve lived a full life.

Some have made such good friends with death that they’ll pass on when they’re ready and not a moment before.

My grandmother is one of those people. When she dies, it will be because she’s chosen to move on, and her death will be as a candle snuffed out in the night.

What I’m dealing with is a crisis of life; my grandma is so old that she no longer has any reason to be alive other than to keep my aunt from dying. In the four weeks I’ve been here I’ve held her twice as she has poured out how tired she is of life and wants nothing more than to move to the Great Beyond… and is completely unable to do so by mere fact that my aunt could not deal with it.

Perhaps that phrase underestimates the situation. Let me rephrase: My aunt is under so much stress and fear from her job that when she lost her husband a decade ago, she nearly jumped off a bridge. Her teenage daughter alone wasn’t enough to keep her off the rail. Now things are worse, with a student having threatened her life only a year ago and nasty shennanigans by the school district she’s worked under since the school was built. She’s at more risk than ever before.

In the face of her daughter being so unable to cope with the stresses that she’s under, my grandmother has come to one conclusion: She must be immortal.

While this has never been stated, in many ways it’s the truth. There will never be a time when grandma could die and know that my aunt was okay. There will never be a time when my aunt will be able to really cope with death. There will never be a time when the aftermath won’t be an absolute disaster. And it leaves my grandma in a terrible position: Having nothing of herself to live for, having watched all her friends and family pass away, having no escape from all the pain and suffering she goes through merely from being the age she is. She never planned on living this long and it pains her in the deepest way possible.

She wants nothing more than to die.

I wish there were some way I could ease her pain. No amount of reassurance will convince her that she’s not a burden. And if I dared say that it was okay for her to loosen her grip on life, I’d be a liar of the worst sort, since my aunt would break at her death.

My aunt’s inability to handle grief and the pain of life is also immensely distressing. Death is a part of life. It’s inevitable, and my aunt has known that from an early age. Part of why she married my uncle was because she knew that he was dying of cancer and they wanted to spend as much time as possible together. Instead of the expected six months, they had over two decades together. Instead of seeing that as a blessing in and of itself, she let the pain of her loss overwhelm her.

And how can someone so unable to cope with life and it’s inevitabilities let someone so dear to them go? Simply put, I’ll be dealing with the potential suicide attempts when grandma leaves, as she inevitably will. And it will be long before my aunt herself is scheduled to leave this planet.

Death isn’t something that should ever cause that much pain. It’s true that they never leave us, though they become far less accessable the moment their spirits leave their bodies. I don’t know how I’ll manage to get my aunt to understand this, but for my grandma’s sake, I hope I do.

Familiar Territory: Magical Companions and Physical Friends

There’s a mental checklist of things that people think of witches owning:

-Brooms

-Cats

-Warts

-Pointy Hats

I can honestly say that I only have one of these things. And no, it’s not the warts! The one thing that isn’t easily obtained is the cat. The familiar. The creature that hangs around providing witty commentary and injecting comedy whenever they appear. It’s far from necessary to have one, but it can make for an interesting time.

There are a multitude of familiars in the media, from Iago in Aladdin to Hedwig in Harry Potter. I can think of a number of ones off the top of my head!

Artemis and Luna from Sailor Moon

Daemons in His Dark Materials

Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service

Califer from Howl’s Moving Castle

Greymalkin, Paddock and Harpier from Macbeth

Appa in Avatar: The Last Airbender

The cat from Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Not all of these fall under the traditional ideas of what a familiar is, but in the end, they are all animals that are companions to a magic-worker. Familiars don’t have terribly long roots in history – while mentioned in texts such as the Bible, most of what’s common knowledge about them comes out of the witch trials. They could be quite literally anything: dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, and even people! They could simply appear to a person, or be gifted by another. And always, they were a demon or spirit in disguise; A connection to the devil. They were believed to have powers of their own, which led to cat-killings across Europe. During the Salem Witch Trials, a dog was hanged on the belief it was a witch!

Today, many Pagans have taken the idea of familiars to heart. Familiars are much like guardian angels; They help protect, guide, share knowledge, and augment magical (and sometimes spiritual) workings. And, like the suspected familiars of old, can be nearly any creature! They aren’t always pets, though – sometimes, even though they might connect with someone on a magical level, they have no interest in them as an owner. Pets aren’t always familiars, either. Many Pagans have animals that they simply don’t connect with on that magical level.

Of course, some witches just aren’t able to have a physical familiar for whatever reason – they’re allergic, or they can’t have one where they live, or they just don’t feel like having a pet. If a witch decides that they want to have a familiar anyway, they can go looking on the spiritual plane. Meditation and visualization are big for this. I, myself have done so… and was no less than shocked when I realized the animal I felt called to was a pig! ^.^ I’m very afraid of farm animals, and was quite intimidated when I first came face-to-face with one in real life, but somehow it works. He and I get along quite well… though that’s a story for another time. Some witches end up with more than one familiar, since they can have different abilities/roles that the witch needs.

So what’s the purpose of this post? Well, to say that I’m in a position of looking for a familiar! Things will definitely get interesting at this point. I’m looking for a pet of my own to love and care for, but whether it will be a magical connection is never certain. I’ll hope, pray, and stay on the alert!

Prayer In A New Place

Well, guess who enjoyed their visit to church?

It’s probably no big secret, but I did. I found it unbelievably comforting to discover that the church my grandma and aunt attend is one that symbolizes the California vibe, from a polo-shirt, khakis, and tie-dye-stole-wearing gay pastor, to being pro-choice, pro-other religions, to even preaching on my favorite book of the Bible – Esther – which is most often overlooked and ignored in favor of the more famous canon! ^.^ In short, things couldn’t have gone better. Even moreso than that, I found that it allowed me to pray in my own way to God. I felt *comfortable*. And it was an amazing thing.

Now, this is definitely not going to convert me, but it’s a reminder that there are others who think like I do and feel like I do, and I can’t help but treasure that. It was also so extraordinary that I almost felt uncomfortable (seriously, I KNOW NO OTHER CHRISTIANS LIKE THIS), and wondered if I had stumbled on some strange, trippy Wonderland. Into the other side of the mirror. Where everything was right in a very awesome way. I love the people there, and I love how open and welcoming everyone was. And indeed, some of the things they did reminded me of my own trip to Circle Sanctuary for Ostara. Not because of anything they did – nothing was Pagan – but because these all felt like kindred spirits in how they held their ceremonies and how similar they are to those I met there. It’s a place I feel like I’ll fit in just fine.

So the world is in order. While I won’t be attending every service – my grandmother isn’t into the monthly communion because she’s 92 and can’t get around and move like she could even 6 years ago – I think that I will be happy to accompany her anytime she does.

Faithful Concessions

Moving across the country has been a big experience – physically, emotionally, and will soon be spiritually.

Why? For the simple reason that my relatives are Christian, I’m not, they don’t know I’m not, and are insisting (are going to make me) that I go to church with them.

The question will be how I handle it. It’s really in bad form to say no when they’ve been extremely generous in opening their home to me, but at the same time I feel that my own freedoms are being ignored in favor of theirs. What if I happened to be a different denomination? What if I happened to be an aetheist? What if I had no desire to go to church even if I was a faithful Christian? In some ways, my aunt has made this clear: whether or not I liked it or believed, I’ll be going.

So how does one tactfully assert one’s own faith in another’s household? I have never believed that someone’s habits of faith should be imposed on adults living in the same household. After all, they’re adults. They know what their faith is, they are old enough to do as they see fit in practicing it (or not, as the case may be). That can be frustrating for many parents who see their kids ‘falling away’, but at a certain point they have to find their own path. They have to grow up and live their own faiths the best they can, and parents can’t monitor that 24/7 if they want to see their kids mature at all. These aren’t my parents, though. That would make this much easier since I know that I can assert myself to them.

Instead, I’m living with two relatives I’ve seen extremely sporadically and have never been on the best of terms with. Those few hours on Sunday might mean the ability to meditate on my own faith or not for weeks on end, since I’m taking on many duties and responsibilities that I didn’t have at home in addition to attempting to find a job. My aunt and grandmother are very social people and will talk for hours. I already am aware I won’t have much time to myself at all since I’m taking on the role of partial caretaker to my grandmother. Finding the time and energy to be able to do any sort of study will be a challenge as it is.

But at the same time, I don’t know that I’ll dislike giong to church with them. I’m absolutely sure that I will be bored during the sermons – I’ve been to too many churches to fool myself into that – but the people would be fascinating. They go to an extrememly open church, with a gay pastor and that infamous full-on liberalism that the Golden Coast is known for. I’ve met several of the members before and liked them. Somehow, I don’t think I’d be able to see and get to know them without going, which does seem a bit of a disappointment.

It’s a tough question that I’m going to be navigating over the next few weeks, and am going to pray that a peaceful solution can be found!

In Places You’d Never Expect….

Sometimes, I come across Paganism in places I’d never expect. For me, this really came to the forefront when I went to the Tower of London. It was a fantastic trip, easily worth every penny I spent there, but one thing that really caught my attention was this:

What is it, you ask? Why, it’s a very complex astrological calander, carved by one Hew Draper, a tavern owner, when he was imprisoned in the Salt Tower. The inscription reads that he made (finished?) it on May 30, 1561. He was accused of sorcery and, when confronted, said that he was but had burned the books he had learned it from. The truth of the matter? Who knows, but this is obviously something that no one will ever know, but this shows a layout for day, weeks, and months – and while people who had a lot of learning and education (had gone to places such as Oxford for their lessons) would have known these, since astrology was taught as a legitimate science until around the 1700′s, this… this is something no normal tavern owner would have known. He would have had to know how to read, how to interpret the signs, how to know what exactly he was looking at.

The long and short of it is that someone had to teach him. Tavern owners would barely have known how to read, and this stuff was the stuff of higher education. At the very least, at this time in history, there were probably still a few lines of Paganism that had managed to survive and were continuing to teach some of their traditions. There might have been a book or two – whether they were actually burned? Maybe, especially if he felt that they would question and interrogate his aquantences and friends, perhaps even imprison his family. Could they have been taken and hidden by whomever taught him… or whomever he taught, if he had managed to pass on the knowledge? Perhaps. No one will ever know, and I find this to be a very sad thing.

History is full of the rise and fall of religions. But to see Paganism last so long, and even have someone overtly declare it – in such a way it’s almost undeniable, written in walls of stone! – is no less than amazing.

Valkyrie-in-Training

(warning: Due to some mix-ups in how we did this, things are a little mixed up. I’ve edited to the best of my abilities, but readers, you might have to jump around a bit!)

What do you consider your path, and when and how did you come to it?

I considered my path a year or  two before I got my rune tattoos. I came to it because of my love of Finnish and Scandinavian metal. At the time things just came all together and it all made sense. 4 years later I started getting past life regressions and those confirmed what I believe in now.

So what do you personally call yourself: Pagan, heathen, pantheist, agnostic, druid, witch, something else?

I call myself Pagan, Heathen, Witch and Norse/Finn pagan.

Have you ever had any spiritual experiences that really influenced or touched you?

Yes, several.  I think the most important experience is realizing my path or the direction in life I was going to take with my beliefs. I was in a year and a day class and I was very certain that I wanted to follow the Norse path but I wasn’t sure so I asked for a sign and Tyr came to me. He was the first of my Pantheon to appear to me. After Tyr came to me I realized that the path that one goes on is always constantly changing. As a child my patron Goddess was Artemis but I never considered myself Greek pagan and I did not follow that pantheon.  Then I had Freya appear to me. Meeting my Guardian and dealing with her has also influenced me and has given me strength to believe in myself, my skills and my Gods.

Do you feel able to be open about your faith? Have you faced any discrimination because of it?

I am very open about my faith because what is the point of hiding. Hiding won’t accomplish anything. I have faced discrimination before most people think I’m a Satanist or a Jew. I have faced discrimination from my own mother because I am not Catholic.

How does your faith affect your life? What do you view differently because of your faith?

My faith does not affect my life because my life is my faith. I try to live every day as a good decent human being.  I guess I view life differently because of my faith because I am more open about things or more open to other people’s point of views or lifestyles. I also know that the world is a magickal place.

What (or who) do you think has influenced you the most spiritually?

I would have to say Scott Cunningham. Out of all the great authors he has influenced me the most. I usually borrow things here and there but he is one the few people that I try to think how Scott would have done something if he was still alive. I very much love his style of worship since covens are not for everyone.

Who are some of the gods/goddesses that you feel connected to?

I feel very connected with all of the Norse pantheon and Vainamonien. Aino from the Kalevala or Kuu from Finnish paganism. But for the most part I usually work mostly with Freya, Tyr, and Loki.

How do you pray to them?

Honestly I really don’t make a big deal like some wiccans or pagans I know. I have been accused of not taking ritual seriously before. I really think that the Gods really won’t give a damn the way you talk to them just that you do. I talk to my gods the way I talk to my friends. Most importantly I speak from my heart or I focus on my intent.

How hard was it to find materials relating to Norse Paganism?

It’s actually a challenge to find materials such as books for my path. There barely are any books. If you walk into bookstores most of the books you will find will be intro to paganism or wicca or celtic path books. I consider it an amazing day when I find books from my path. Finnish paganism is also very hard because all we have is the Kalevala. That’s about it. Everything is told orally.

Do you want to travel to Norway or Finalnd one day, and are there any particular places you’d want to visit while there?

Of course I want to travel to Finland and Scandinavia even if I wasn’t pagan I’d love to go because I love the culture and music from there. I’d like to go to Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden; Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Oulu, Turku, Hameelinna, and lapland, Finland.

What holidays do you celebrate, and what have been some of your favorite celebrations?

The only thing that I kept from Wicca is really the holidays. I have kept each holiday and made it more of my own by including Norse and Finnish undertones. I invoke my gods. I blast metal and I just have fun with it. That’s really the whole point of any holiday or ritual to grow and learn something from it and to enjoy it.

Do you have any favorite Pagan entertainment (i.e. tv shows, movies, or music)?

There’s tons of Pagan metal or Paganism in metal. It really is two different things believe it or not. Of course like the good nerd that I am there are a lot great books and movies. I usually read sci-fi or fantasy and the same can be said for tv shows. I really like Once Upon a Time and Grimm.

What do you think the most important issue facing Pagans today is?

I think the most important issues facing Pagans today is being accepted for who we are in our own community. It seems that even in our own community a lot of things or topics are considered taboo or just controversial. Instead of being petty and fighting amongst ourselves we could come together and show the world what Pagans are truly capable. That is the best way to stop lies being told about our beliefs.

What so you wish you could tell everyone about Pagans/Paganism?

Honestly there really is nothing to tell. Pagans are just your average everyday people. We’re just humans. We like to do all the same things that are other people do. Just because we believe in nature or more than one God does not mean we’re strange. We’re not hippies or goths. Pagans are who we want to be. For example I’m a metalhead and I love sports. Being pagan doesn’t change that for me. I am a metalhead who is love with hockey and football and I am also a witch. I plan to be a journalist. Have a handfasting, live in a wonderful Victorian house, have 2 cats and a Siberian Husky and just be happy.  I just want to live a happy fulfilled life like anybody else.

Two Faiths, One Direction

To start off my (admittedly belated) Pagan Paths, I was lucky enough to interview a very interesting practicioner: A Christian Witch!

Q: I know that this will be an obvious question, but what do you consider your personal path, and when and how did you come to it?

A: I am currently in the process of finding my path. I know that my heart leads me towards a mix of Pagan and Christian traditions. At its heart is a belief in the Divine, which is interpreted differently through the various lenses of cultures all around the world. For me that is a single Divine being who is of both and neither gender all at once. I just use God for that since I am not aware of a gender neutral name for a Divinity. I’m fuzzy right now on Christ being of Divine birth, but I have no doubt that he was Divinely inspired. I believe in using Christ as a role model, focusing on his actions and words, and not the interpretations of others of those actions and words. Golden rule type stuff.

As a History teacher, and student, I’ve grown apart from most organized churches and religions, and Christian ones in particular. I’ve seen too many examples in various religions of faith being perverted, or manipulated to serve selfish or evil ends. The crusades were the big attention grabber for me, but only one of countless examples. As such a solitary path with networking, and growing with others is currently what seems to be best for me.

I feel more welcome, less judged, and a kinship with Pagan practices in general. I enjoy the sense of connection, and the knowledge that there is no wrong way to connect to the Divine so long as it harms no other. This is the area of my path that needs the most growth now. I’m already incorporating the elements. I use five elements( Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Spirit), and animistic spirits as part of my fledgling practice, but I’m still figuring out what else has important meaning to me. Lots of research yet to do.

Q: So what do you personally call yourself: Pagan, heathen, pantheist, agnostic, druid, witch, something else?

A: I’m going with “Christan Witch” for now, but while accurate I don’t yet know if that will be my label temporarily as I evolve, or permanently.

Q: “My heart leads me to a mix of Christian and Pagan traditions”… Does that mean you grew up Christian, or did you come to it later in life?

A: I grew up Christian.  Actually, until fairly recently my self descriper was “open minded methodist”

Q: How did you first experience Paganism, and how hard was it to reconcile that to your Christian faith?

A: My first experience with paganism was in college when I was working on my BA.  I was president of our university club for Geeks.  It was called Dimensions and my co-president and the outgoing president suggested I attend a meeting of their new club MUPSA (Millikin University Pagan Student Association.  I had no idea what it was all about, but I knew they were good people.  I attended, and stayed a member for the rest of my time in college.  It was an excellent learnig experience for me.

Q: Have you ever had any spiritual experiences that really influenced or touched you?

A: I have had a number of experiences, though infrequent and irregular. I have felt through prayer that God was there and listening. I have felt peace and a sense of the sacred in meditation, and during ritual. I have experienced Ghosts and Spirits, and felt this as a manifestation of creation, and evidence of the afterlife.

Q: Do you feel able to be open about your faith? Have you faced any discrimination because of it?

A: I am not open about my faith at all. I have always been somewhat private about my faith, even when I was a member of a more mainstream church. I tend to only open up with friend and family after a long time when they have shown a willingness to listen, and have honest respectful conversation. Now that I am Pagan and Christian all wrapped together, I’m a little afraid to talk about my faith for the first time. I fear being judged by others, and the effects it could have on my hire-ability as an educator. I fear family not understanding.

I’m also hesitant to talk about it outside my local Pagan group and select close friends (Pagan and otherwise) until I really have a grasp on how my faith is evolving. I want to be able to explain what is going on with me, and answer some basic questions they may have. Right now I’m not confident I can do that to my satisfaction yet.

Q: How does your faith affect your life? What do you view differently because of your faith?

A: My faith results in me working every day to become a better version of me. Kinder. More patient. More compassionate. Better educated. Better informed. More involved in social justice. Because of this I’m constantly reexamining my words and behavior for room to improve. I’m also willing to forgive, but less willing to permit any form of prejudice, discrimination, or inequality.

Q: What (or who) do you think has influenced you the most spiritually?

A: Picking who has influenced me the most is difficult. There is a friend of mine who is a Pastor in the United Methodist church. He is one of the best people I have ever known. He is a true joy to be with. When I was at my most cynical and skeptical, he through his actions demonstrated that Christianity is not a lost cause, nor bad in of itself. Rather that certain organization and individuals continue to twist branches of the tree of faith in sad and cruel ways.

A Multi-Tradition friend of mine has also influenced me a great deal. She celebrates certain deities in the Norse, Greek, and Celtic pantheons. She has been a great example to me on other ways to live your faith every day.

Q: Who are some of the gods/goddesses that you feel connected to?

A: I view the Divine as a single Source or Creator. Beyond that metaphor and analogy best explain things for me. The Divine is a light, and each culture, religion, and language acts as panes of stained glass. We all look upon the same light, but each of us with a different filter. We need these filters because the light is often too bright to observe directly. And yet the filters also take away a great deal from us. And thus to me all gods and goddesses are legitimate manifestations or avatars of the Divine. They are constructs of humanity in a way. And yet they are still real and true to those who value them. The gods and goddesses, to me, are avatars of elements of the Divine; pieces of a bigger picture.

I don’t really have a relationship with any gods or goddesses right now. I do however feel some affinity with Freyr, and I look forward to learning more about him, and what I can learn from him.

Q:  How do you pray to the Divine?

A:  I tend to pray as if I’m having a conversation.  I want to have a personal relationship with the Divine, and so I speak in prayer in a way that supports that.  Sometimes I pray verbally, and other times silently.

Q: Where do you feel both faiths have room to grow?

A: Right now I feel I have growth to do in both facets of my path, but its hard for me to tell what the Christian half needs right now.  I feel like it’s in a good place, and that the Divine wont mind if that side is on hold for growth while I work on the other half.  Right now I feel like the Pagan balf needs the most growth.  In particular it is difficult for me to convey to myself, or others what I believe right now, how it is different from before.  I do know that on both an intuitive level, and abstract intellectul level it’s iimportant that I take my time to feel it out an better understand.

Q:  What holidays do you celebrate, and what have been some of your favorite celebrations?

A:  I celebrate include Christmas, the solstices and equinoxes, and Easter.  If I’m invited to a celebration for a different holiday, regardless of path or religion, I tend to go and celebrate that too.  I feel it helps enrich my faith, and I enjoy the simple kinship that can grow between two or more people of faith, regardless of what their individual path or religion may be.  Also, while it isn’t a religious holiday, I celebrate secular Halloween so hard that it may as well be one.

Q:  Do you have any favorite Pagan entertainment (i.e. tv shows, movies, or music)?

A:  I’ve not often looked at the entertainment media I consume as Pagan or not.  I usually just look at it as “good” or “not good”.  That said, I recently watched How to Train Your Dragon and it really struck me how characters spoke “thank Odin” with the same honesty and relief as a Christian saying “thank God”.  It wasn’t played for laughs, and I appreciated that.

Though their representation is vary debatable, I have also rather enjoyed The Craft and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  In my old Pagan student Group in college, we used to watch films like that for “Cheesy Pagan Movie Night.”

Q:  What do you think the most important issue facing Pagans today is?

A:  Acceptance I think.  There are a lot of people who react to pagan paths from a position of ignorance.  I know I have a family member who is a strong Christain, but has great respect and fondness for the other abrahamic faiths, and also eastern paths such as Hinduism, and Buddhism.  He doesn’t seem to have that same respect for Pagan paths of European descent though, and I feel that comes from a lack of knowledge and understanding.  I feel like millennia of anti-pagan propaganda on the part of large Christian churches also may have subconsciously played a role as well.

Q:  What so you wish you could tell everyone about Pagans/Paganism?

A:  Pagans are normal people of faith too.  Their beliefs are no further “out there” than any other religious path.  Like most other mainstream faiths, Pagan paths work to improve the world around us in an altruistic fashion, and thus should be accorded the same acceptance and respect as any other faith.

5 Biggest Pagan Myths

Paganism.

The word means a lot of things to a lot of people. Thanks to Hollywood and a fear of learning what it really means, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. There are 5 major myths I’ve come across that should be addressed:

Myth: We are devil-worshippers.

Fact: Satanists are devil-worshippers, but they are not Pagan because they recognize the Christian god. Pagan merely means any non-Abrahamic religion, which encompasses Hinduism, Wicca, Buddhism, etc. Most of us don’t recognize the Christian version of the Devil. That being said, most of us do recognize there are evil spirits and energy, but purposefully aligning with evil isn’t something done lightly, and is far from common.

Myth: We have sex orgies on a regular basis – it’s part of our religion.

Fact: I imagine that there are a few Pagans that are into worshipping the gods of Love and Sex, and do worship via sex, but it’s not something required of anyone at any point. Individual Pagans have personal pantheons and beliefs associated with them, and sex usually isn’t even on the radar with worshipping them. Anyone that’s being induced to have sex is dealing with a sexual predator. The same goes for sexually abusing children; it’s not approved of in any way, shape, or form.

Myth: The Pentagram is a symbol of the devil.

Fact: It’s been around long before Christianity was. Point-up, it’s a symbol of Paganism, while Satanists usually have it point-down. The five points of the star stand for the four elements and spirit. The circle around it stands for unity and harmony.

Myth: Pagans are all social outcasts and trying to rebel.

Fact: Yes, a lot of Pagans have been dealt hard cards socially. But so have others of any religion – how many Christians do you know that suffer from bullying on some level, or haven’t been in ideal households growing up? So Pagans come from a variety of backgrounds, from those who were raised Pagan, to those who found it offered something other religions didn’t. It’s not because it’s ‘cool’ or because we don’t want to fit in; it’s because we feel it’s the right path.

Myth: Paganism isn’t a real religion.

Fact: This is tricky to answer. Paganism encompasses a massive amount of beliefs and systems. While yes, it is defined as a religion by the US Supreme Court and the US military, because we need the rights this designation accompanies, the definition of ‘religion’ itself is… iffy, to say the least. But it is a deeply held set of beliefs and practices, no less important to us than anyone else’s.

I know that these are just the major issues that got brought up, and that there are many others. If anyone has other suggestions, questions, or concerns, leave a comment!

The Journey

Coinciding with my rediscovery of my Pagan spirituality, I’ve been granted an opprotunity to do some actual travelling- overseas! I’m going to be lucky enough to study in Oxford over the summer, and will be taking a look at the spiritual issues over there, something that’s been a bit of a hot topic on some of the blogs I follow. I’m not there primarily for this – it’s very much an opportunty to take classes in an esteemed college while experiencing a different culture.

… Okay, so it’s really an excuse to travel and see stuff I didn’t get to the first time I was over there. Can anyone blame me? I’m out to have FUN! ^.^

So while things have been very slow here, it’s because finals are coming up, I’ve had a few major papers, and and crocheting the heck out of the yarn I have stored up. And, of course, packing up my apartment for my month-long adventure! I can’t wait!

On Eggs, Chocolate, and Bunny Wabbits

Well! This is a bit of a belated post! I hope everyone had a lovely Easter and will have a terrific springtime!

From a Judeo-Christian perspective, the only thing that makes sense about Easter is the rise of Jesus. But what’s the deal with the dyed eggs and the rabbit? Well, that’s where you need to look waaay back, back before Christianity came around. These are remnants of old Pagan traditions. Around this time of year, lots of Pagans celebrate Ostara (derived from Eostre), a celebration of the Goddess of Srping, and is named after Her as well.

Those cute rabbits? Those and hares were her favored animala. They meant fertility and new life since they bear so many young, both things that you really want in the spring.

Eggs are a little more worldwide, showing up as important symbols in many cultures. This again touches on fertility, and giving painted ones as gifts or using them as decoration, depending on the culture.

Eggs and rabbits went together, and old habits die hard – these traditions continued on until modern day, and while for most of the population they have no meaning, for those who remember and still celebrate the Goddess of Spring it’s a fantastic way to get back in touch with our roots.

Now excuse me, I have some leftover candy to finish off.