Wicked Spring

Hey, Readers,

No, the title of this post is not a commentary on the season, nor am I revisiting my trip to Boston. Instead, it merely brings together some of the many things I have been thinking about recently. As you know, because I've mentioned it before, I often think of things I want to blog about and then don't get around to it, and by the time I end up blogging I either have to post a bunch at once or leave some until later! Now, I know I can schedule posts, but I'm not so big on that just yet. So this time, I'll just keep it brief and discuss two main things: Wicked and the general Oz world of literature and other media, and spring-time.

Thumbnail from vlog where I showed the new books I got.
Pictured: Wicked and Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.

Last spring, I was in London and saw a production of the musical, Wicked. Then a few months ago I picked up some new books from the half price store, including Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and its first sequel, Son of a Witch, by Gregory Maguire. I began reading the first book about a week or so ago, and I read casually, a little by little, until halfway through this week when I decided I wanted to finish it before my boyfriend and I went to see the new film, Oz: The Great and Powerful, which premiered on Friday, 8 March. I finished all but a few sections (I guess they're chapters, within books, but the way the novel is laid out, some sections are separated into numbered "chapters" and some are not, so I kept referring to them just as "sections") by Friday night at midnight, so I just left the last few for Saturday morning since obviously we weren't going to make it on Friday.

I am planning a series of videos for my channel where I will talk in depth about various witch-related media, so I don't want to say very much here. But there are a lot of things I have to say about not only Wicked the novel, but also the musical, and then in relation to the new film since I watched it immediately after finishing an alternate view on the story. Trust me, the following is not even a quarter of all I would like to say on these topics, so there will be plenty more in the distant future.

Firstly, the musical is EXTREMELY different from the novel! I expected variation, of course. A compression, at least, and some creative leeway beyond that. But wow, are they ever two different beings. They share a title and a basic plot, following the life of Elphaba, a green girl who grows up to be referred to as the Wicked Witch of the West. But beyond that, they are hardly the same creature. The musical incorporates more of the timeline from Baum's original book, overlapping bits so that you kind of know what's happening in Dorothy's side of the story as Elphaba's life goes on. I liked that when I saw the musical, so it surprised me that the novel ignores certain appearances the Witch makes in Dorothy's timeline in the original book, and instead has her living a whole separate life, sort of on the sidelines, away from Dorothy. Which does make sense in the context of the novel, and I like it very much for that. I just expected a little more of that awareness of the original, having been fooled into thinking the musical was like the book. Sort of like if you've ever watched the movie (or read the play) Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, and every once in a while you see Hamlet and the other characters from the original story run through R&G's scenes, haha. Or like watching Lion King 1 1/2, and getting little looks at what Simba's up to in the original at the time you're watching Timon & Pumbaa get into their own trouble. Wicked the novel is not like that, but the musical is.

And then, seeing Oz! Wow, is it ever different. Parts of the film actually had me wondering if they were combining it with Through the Looking Glass (sources do say Baum was influenced by Carroll), or if I had missed some key points of the canon, having not read all 14 original books by Baum myself. I did pretty extensive research on The Wizard of Oz my freshman year at college, and through it I did read a few synopses of the other books, though I was focusing on comparing the original book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which I do own and have read) to the then SciFi channel original series, Tin Man. It was a great project, but like I said, even so I was left wondering if I had missed things that they decided to use in the movie. I did some basic research upon returning from the cinema, and I learned that throughout the many books, plays, movies, and spin-offs of Oz, the character's names are almost NEVER the same. So we can't really compare one to the other directly, since Elphaba is certainly not anything like the film's Theodora (who becomes wicked out of good, as opposed to Elphaba who was born green at the start), and neither of them are much like Tin Man's Azkadellia or the original western witchy gal. The film's Evanora is no Nessarose (Wicked Witches of the East in Oz: The Great and Powerful and Wicked, respectively), and the Wizard himself lives different timelines in each! Don't even get me started on Glinda, whose very homeland has been confused from the moment the 1939 MGM film hit the screens. The new film does place her in the South, as she was originally, though many people know her as being from the North. Even in the book/musical Wicked, Glinda is from Gillikin to the north, resulting in my forgetting that she was ever from the South. Which reminds me, also don't get me started on the map discrepancies! Each one has things in different places, whole areas looking different, etc. I am rather partial to Maguire's world of Oz, though, having just read it. But I digress.

Captioning is mine, photo from online.
Azkadellia from SciFi's Tin Man series.

I suppose the overall lesson here, as far as comparisons go, is that different people really do have very different views of the same exact things. But at least in this case, it's nice that they DO have all those varying names. Because as I said, Elphaba is not Theodora is not Azkadellia. Oz is not quite The O.Z. It would not be fair to expect them to be alike. It is a little harder to discuss with things such as Glinda, for example, portrayed many ways under the same name, implying that they are the same throughout. Think about your own lives. How many things do people pass off under the same name, claiming them to be alike when they clearly--or unclearly--aren't? And how many times to we encounter situations where people have used different names when they're really talking about the same exact thing? Oh yes, I find lessons everywhere, connections within connections. I love to look at different takes on the same thing, whether it be children's stories, classic plays, or even religions.

After all that, I suppose the spring-time seems a footnote. But I did see Wicked in London in the spring, and it is almost now spring again. Also, both subjects involve a vibrant, verdant green. =) With all these thoughts of witches and green skin and who's good or evil or what evil even is (great discussions about that in the novel Wicked, by the bye)... Today I managed to feel like a witch my way, what being witch means to me. Not to L. Frank Baum or his many successors who wrote so many sequels. Not to the creators of Tin Man, Zardoz (sci fi thing I just learned about, never seen it), or The Wiz. Not to the writers, actors, or production crew of Oz: The Great and Powerful, and also not to Gregory Maguire. I am a witch without much pomp, unlike Az or Glinda or any in the new film. But I am also not a witch who goes out of her way to blend in, like Elphie, covered head to toe to avoid the painful rain water.

I am a witch who runs excitedly outside into the mud, slipping in green and brown argyle shoes bought on discount but loved for their style and comfort; Who stands out on the mossy hill in her bright pink t-shirt, but doesn't mind getting her hands muddy digging to test the soil for a good garden spot. A witch who selectively inspects old flower pots, and while she did light a candle that morning in church in the spirit of the approaching season, really still feels most like a witch when picking the dead leaves off an old mum, reveling in the tiny greenness that is revealed to still be present. As some Wicked merchandised t-shirts proclaim, "Green is Good." That goes for storybook witches as well as for me, as well as for you, as well as for the planet. Green means growth, promise, potential, newness, and freshness. Green means fertility, prosperity, and life. Whether you have green skin, a green thumb, or just like the color, it's good. It's important. It's time.

Blessings~
-C-

Short & Sweet (Fox News, Wiccans/pagans, prejudice reduction)

Hey, Readers,

I'm sure by now you have all heard about Fox News' crew, Fox & Friends, saying some ridiculous things about Wiccans and Pagans. It all started because the University of Missouri recognizes Wiccan/pagan holidays on their academic calendar, so that professors cannot give exams on religious holidays, which means students no longer have to choose between studying or attending an exam and practicing their religion. It's not a day off classes, just no exams. This is great! With the large pagan population at UM, it's also completely understandable. But if you try to find information about this online, at least in my experience when I tried it, the majority of articles are neither neutral nor praising UM, nor are they pagan-centered. The majority of articles that came up when I searched it were from Christian-based sites (many had Christian in the name of the website, so I knew immediately, while I had to click on others with non-specific names which revealed their religious status on the page top) arguing that UM is wrong to include these holidays because Wiccans and Pagans are too small a minority, or too much of a "fringe" religion/belief (I don't even think most of them granted us the word "religion") to have our holidays recognized.

What happened was that Fox News did a segment about this, expressing their opinions. A few things they said were said as fact and are not, of course, but they were at least expressing their opinion and the views of the channel. Anyone who knows Fox knows that they have a distinctly conservative bias to begin with. I don't know if they know this, but there are certainly conservative pagans out there, even if most of us are more liberal. So while I and my friends never watch Fox News, there could have very well been some pagans out there watching. I only watched a partial clip of what people are now calling their "attack on Wicca," where the main comments were things such as (and I am paraphrasing but as closely as I can remember),

• There are pagans and Wiccans out there, I guess, though I don't know if they constitute a significant portion of the population.
• (in response to the previous) They don't. [laughter]
• Fully 20% of the holidays at UM are Wiccan/pagan holidays! (Said as though that were absurd.)
• (Shortly after) Wiccans have 20 holidays!
• I bet Wiccans can't even name all their holidays. Who can name 20 holidays?
• But we can't say Merry Christmas? [nervous laughter]
• I guess if you're going to choose a religion, pick the one with the most holidays, haha.
• Any religion that has Halloween as their most significant holiday, I just can't take seriously.
• All the Wiccans I know are about the Earth and for the Earth. That's nice.
• All the Wiccans I know play D&D and live in basements or are middle-aged women who have been divorced multiple times and work as midwives, hahaha. Also something about loving incense.
• I don't know a single Wiccan!

And so on and so forth. And this was only in a few-minutes-long partial clip. The things I heard about the rest of what they said go on to things like "I wouldn't want to see a Wiccan when they're angry," and "They all hate Christianity." So as you can gather, the things they said were just silly, not researched (they even confused their own data, going from 20% into 20 holidays total), and clearly biased. I mean, we understand this simply based on the channel that aired it. Anyone who knows Fox probably was not surprised. The closest to accuracy they got was the person who admitted knowing that Wicca had something to do with the Earth and nature, but that was quickly bowled over by the other person's stereotypes.

Still, I did a response video, addressing things such as the fact that they said they don't know any Wiccans, so now they know me; the amount of holidays we have and that we can name all eight; the percentage issue, because they never said how many holidays UM celebrates, which I learned from a Washington Times article is 42, and 8 of 42 holidays is 19%; the fact that UM recognizes more Jewish holidays than Wiccan/pagan ones (11 as opposed to 8, so I guess if you choose the religion with the most holidays, go for Judaism); and so on. I kept this video as short as possible because I know people aren't going to want to watch something long, and I planned for the possibility that Fox might actually see my video. I kept this video respectful, because while some people may not earn our respect, I believe it does not benefit us to call names or get riled up and prove their point.

Now, I have been informed that one of the people from Fox did "apologize" on Saturday morning, but I didn't see it. From what I heard, his comments were brief, insincere, and basically just said something like I didn't mean to offend any Wiccans, Wiccans have never done wrong by me, live and let live. Which I guess is a nice sentiment, but I don't need any "apology" that is purely to be able to say you apologized. I know they don't feel bad or even realize why the things they said were wrong (the others didn't even apologize, only one person, though I think it was the guy who said the most ridiculous things, at least), so I say, don't even say anything! I didn't sign the petition to get an apology because 1) I knew it wouldn't be sincere and 2) that's not what we need. We need understanding, education, prejudice reduction.

And you know what? It's on us, too. Since this started, YouTube has been recommending other videos that people did in response to this situation, and while I watched some by people I usually watch (linked in my video's description), others were by people whose names I recognize but don't watch, or from people I've never heard of. Most of them were 15-35 minutes long, and the thumbnails revealed the person's face or body language in a position showing anger, lack of control, or generally looking like they were "ranting." One thumbnail shows someone with their face contorted, hands thrown up in attack mode. Another shows a sarcastic look, mouth open mid-challenge, and the incredible length of the video is what told me it must be a rant. I say to you, fellow Wiccans and Pagans, how does that help us? Do you think they're going to listen to an angry witch yell at them for half an hour or even fifteen minutes? Do you think name-calling and raised voices make them take us any more seriously? It was with all these things in mind that I did my video. I scripted it to make sure I said what I wanted to but did not ramble, I put in my real thoughts about their negative biases and lack of credibility while still remaining respectful and calm, and I attempted to include a solution. My video invites those at Fox News, or anyone watching it, to ask me or any other Wiccan or Pagan about our religion. It invites people to educate themselves, because education is the key to prejudice reduction.

We deal with things like this all the time, whether from family and friends, or from strangers online or through TV. In my opinion, we should speak our peace and not stand by and let people spread falsehood against us. We should be honest about what was said incorrectly and what was wrong that needs fixed. But we do not need to follow their example. There is no need for name-calling, stereotyping and generalizing, shouting, or other such things. While these things certainly make us feel better (and you can bet I did my fair share of laughing and cursing while explaining this ridiculous occurrence to my mother and boyfriend), that's not how to handle interpersonal relationships. And actually, if I got a chance to speak to the Fox News people in person, I wouldn't be ashamed to admit what I said in private to my mother and boyfriend, because I still didn't call them names or belittle their own beliefs. So the point is that we can deal with these things in a way that remains respectful and respectable while still sticking up for ourselves, and there is no need for these extra-long, rambling videos that YouTube keeps recommending to me. Sometimes it's best to keep it short and sweet.

Watch my video here.

Click to Tweet the video to Fox News.

Blessings~

-C-

Experimenting with Magick, Observing Results

Hey, Readers,

This blog entry goes along with a video I did today for The Pagan Perspective, about the science of magick. I want to provide a little context here so that this blog entry can be read alone, as well as in conjunction with the video.

In the video, I talked about how we can study or experiment with our magick by recording our methods and results, somewhat like a lab report. From what I learned in my course last year (the one in which I did my research on prejudice against pagans, where we learned about many different groups throughout the whole class, from weightism to racism to ageism to discrimination against differing levels of financial wealth, and more), the way many of us (at least, I think many of us do this, I'm not actually sure!) record our magickal work is basically a way of conducting empirical research. We are noting our methods/process, writing down everything that could be relevant to the "experiment," and then recording/reporting what we observe occurring. This can be used to further our practice by tracking what is effective and what is not. As I mention in the video,

You can't say it means MAGICK DID THIS definitively, but you can record what you did and what you observed. You also can't say IT WORKS THIS WAY ALL THE TIME because I personally believe magick differs from person to person, so the methods I have found to work best for me MAY work best for you but they may not. Still, each individual can try various methods, write down exactly what they did, and what they observed. Then you can go back and see, okay this method didn't work at all any time I did it, at least not that I could see any results from. But I did see results each time with this method, so I will scrap that other one and do the one that works.

Here is my personal example:

For years I tried to cast circles as described in books. While I did everything right and visualized it correctly, I still felt like I was just going through motions and it wasn't working, or actually doing anything. So I stopped casting circles for the most part because to me, it didn't matter. It was more effective for me just to call the quarters/Deity than to go through the circle process, so that's all I did.

Now, in order to understand the whole experience, you have to know how I believe energy works in my body, personally. You may have learned the opposite or not use these ideas at all, but it's relevant to my interpretation. I believe in energy circuits through the body as therefore meaning we have a sending and receiving hand. When we put our hands together, energy flows in a certain direction. You can change the direction, of course, but I believe one way works best for each person, or is the way energy flows easiest, following a charge like a battery would. For me the dominant hand is the one we use to send energy and the non-dominant is the receiver. I am right-handed. So for me, energy moves counterclockwise, from my right hand into my left and back through the whole circuit.

When I would cast sunwise circles, up here in the northern hemisphere that means walking to the right, but I wanted to use my SENDING hand, which is also my right hand. As you can imagine, this would mean walking to my right, crossing my right hand in front of my body to cast the circle to my left. This was incredibly awkward! So instead I just used my left hand (my downstage hand to use a theatre term, the hand toward the circle's edge). In retrospect, I think this is exactly what affected my results, because I was attempting to CAST energy out using the hand that I believe brings energy IN.

When I started doing shadow work last year, the book required counter-sunwise circles during the waning moon. (During the waxing moon, I still cast sunwise. This idea makes sense to me, so I adapt based on the phase that way.) To cast countersunwise, again being in the north, that meant I was walking to my left and using my right hand, which was comfortable AND felt effective. And when I opened the circle, I was then walking to my right and using my left, receptive hand, to draw the energy back in. From the very first time I did this, I physically felt vibrations and tingling in my receptive hand as I brought the energy back in. As I went around the usual three times, the tingling traveled up my wrist and lower arm. It did not continue once I was finished opening the circle. THAT to me is a definitive result showing that for ME, casting with my sending hand and opening with my receiving hand has a noticeable effect.

When I used to do it the opposite way, I never felt any kind of physical difference. In my early journal entries, I wrote things like "I don't think it did anything," "I didn't feel any change in the environment." But when I switched directions and tried it a different way, I observed a positive difference in results. So while various books I read at first said never to cast a widdershins circle, I immediately took to the practice once I tried it. It felt more natural, made more sense from a body positioning standpoint, and actually "worked" for me.

As I said, that doesn't mean everyone should do this instead because "it works better." It just works for me. And as I mentioned, I do still cast sunwise during the waxing moon, because I believe in the circuit of energy flowing a certain way in relation to the moon, as well. But I have begun using what I feel is the "appropriate" hand for each part, and just positioning my body differently so I don't feel as much that I am awkwardly crossing in front of my myself. Actually, I think in a few circles I didn't use my hands at all, but just walked around, which removed that obstacle. (Which is another experiment you can do! I tried it standing in one spot and turning in a circle, and then later I tried it physically walking around the circle. I found I have a personal preference so now I don't use the other way.) Anyway, it all depends on the individual circumstance and what works best at the time.

And no, I wasn't originally going to put ALL OF THAT in the video, but since I decided to post it here, I did add a little more so that it would make sense when read, rather than leaving it as short notes for me to read from. =)

Do you record your practices for your own personal reference? What kinds of things have you discovered through trial and error (of course only things you would share, as I certainly support keeping some things private)?

Thank you for reading!
Blessings~
-C-

70 Followers!

Absolutely crazy!

I started this blog for those times when I have extra information to add to YouTube videos, and need a place to put it. And I do use this blog for that quite a bit, as you've probably noticed (especially recently).

But since I had the blog, it helped me to start adding additional blogs for other moments along my path. The Witchy Stuff, at least. Now I've gotten to share little thoughts about my path, videos, silly moments, and more. And while I started blogging with no one else reading (maybe one or two), I somehow now have 70 people following this blog! I usually don't remember numbers like that (I thought my YouTube channel had 6,000 subscribers for months now, but I recently learned I have over 7k currently. I just never check!), so I tend to think "Hmm, no one has left any comments, maybe no one read it." But I realize that is not the case at all. Sometimes there just isn't anything to say! I understand that. I just forget.

So thank you all for deciding to follow my blog. I'd keep writing even if no one was reading, but it is awfully nice to know that you're reading, hopefully enjoying, possibly getting something from it. Who knows! I have big goals for the future, and you all are even more important than just my efforts.

Speaking of goals, I do mean to make videos for a lot of the topics I keep thinking about. I also want to blog about a lot more topics, but I don't like to crowd it with multiple per day, or even one every single day. It's the same with my channel: I have no ideas for a long time, and then a ton of ideas all at once! I try to space it out for the times when I have no ideas again. =)

There are several subjects I want to blog/vlog about soon:

• Sex Magick (I already shared some thoughts with someone else, but want to lay it out more clearly)
• Gender
• Prejudice reduction
• Measuring progress
• Seeking faith

And so on. It seems like every day I wake up with a new all-important subject on my mind, and there are just so many, and more research and brainstorming and thought-clarifying that I want to do, that they all pile up and I haven't mentioned any of them to the greater world yet. But I will, eventually. In videos, or here, or both. Whatever seems the best medium for the subject at the time.

Thank you for being here and reading whatever it is I come up with.

Blessings~

-C-

Dianic Wicca & Transgender Pagans QUOTES

Hey, Readers!

I really don't like posting so many things so close together, and I just published my blog about Enlightenment yesterday, but I have some supplemental materials to post that go along with my Tuesday Pagan Perspective video (which, unfortunately, took so long to upload due to our recent internet connection issues that it is now Wednesday).

Watch the video here.

This post outlines some specific quotes I looked at for my quick research. The previous post is the script of my notes for the video.

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Dianic Wicca & Transgender Pagans SCRIPT

Hey, Readers!

I really don't like posting so many things so close together, and I just published my blog about Enlightenment yesterday, but I have some supplemental materials to post that go along with my Tuesday Pagan Perspective video (which, unfortunately, took so long to upload due to our recent internet connection issues that it is now Wednesday).

Watch the video here.

This post is the script of my notes for the video. The following post will outline some specific quotes I looked at for my quick research.

This script is not word for word. This time I'm posting my notes exactly as they were! So there may be improper grammar and stream of consciousness, rather than full sentences as you would see if I were writing it as a blog. The video took forever to render and upload (a good six hours, ending at 5am), so I'm not taking the time to edit the notes. This is just here in case someone wants to look over text after hearing it spoken, or to refresh on the points made.

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The topic comes from runesofshamish
--"I have just come across the practice of Dianic Wicca. They only accept "Women born Women" . So no males are allowed, this includes transwomen (male to female transgender). Taking this beyond the realm of Wicca and into the larger pagan community. How do you feel about Women only or Men only circles and groups and transgender pagans? Do you think Women's groups should include transwomen (mtf) and Men's groups should include transmen (ftm) ? Or somewhere in between. I.E., yes except if the group does some work sky clad, they could be asked to leave."

Enlightenment Road

Hey, Readers!

Sometime last year, my mother gave me yet another wonderful gift: a small box of cards, labeled "Words of Wisdom from His Holiness the Dalai Lama." She got the set from a friend and thought I would be interested in it. She knows me very well! I immediately read the biographical information about the Dalai Lama on the first card, learning a lot that I hadn't known before just because I never really researched him specifically. Then I decided to look at one card each day. I kept that up for a while, but of course missed a lot of days, as well. Now, I change to the next card whenever I remember or feel the need to. Sometimes one message is necessary for more than one day.

My "Words of Wisdom" card for the day.

Today, I switched the deck to show the next card in the stack:

"YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT RESTS ON YOUR OWN SHOULDERS."

My enlightenment rests on my shoulders.
Your enlightenment rests on yours.

This is a very important thing to remember. It is not Enlightenment (capital E) that rests on you, only YOUR enlightenment. It is personal and individual. No one else is responsible for our own personal journey to enlightenment, whatever that means for us. And likewise, we are not responsible for anyone else's journey. Each of us will get there in our own way, in our own time.

Luckily, we can still help each other along the way, sharing ideas and insights and experiences, and we will and DO benefit so much from each and every person we encounter. This is wonderful and beneficial to all involved. The past several weeks at the UU church I attend have been centered around Buddhism, the basics of the beliefs/philosophy and how we can incorporate them into our own lives. I really like the unison Chalice Lighting we have all said each week, and I think it applies here:

"May no one who encounters us ever have an insignificant contact. May the mere fact of our meeting contribute to their fulfillment. May we be a protector of the helpless, a guide to those traveling the path, a boat to those wishing to cross over. May we be a lamp for those in darkness, a home for the homeless, and a servant to the world."   -Shantideva, 8th cent. Buddhist spiritual master and mystic

A Unitarian Universalist "Flaming Chalice"
Photo by Nancy Pierce, from UUA.org

For those unfamiliar with Unitarian Universalist practice, the Chalice Lighting is whatever words are said to accompany the physical lighting of the Chalice, a symbol of UU faith. It has a specific look in most cases (the photo at left shows a traditional style), but can be any style of lamp or flame. At my church, the Chalice is a stout pillar candle sitting in a large, shallow ceramic bowl on a stand. The bowl/stand itself is a work of art, clearly handmade though I don't know by whom.

The words said vary from week to week, but always reflect the idea of the congregation being a light, illuminating something for ourselves and each other and the world. So for this Buddhism series, the minister chose that quote and chose to have us all recite it. (The first week, we were also making scarves for the homeless, making our position as "a home for the homeless" that much more relevant. I'll write about that another time.)


The Dalai Lama's words are important to think about. This past Sunday at church, we focused on meditation, and this card's simple message could be a great mantra. Shantideva's words are also poignant and meaningful. While these two ideas may seem contradictory--one saying it's up to you, and the other desiring involvement in other people's journeys--they really do work together. We can and should be helpful in other people's lives, and we should strive to make every meeting and connection a positive one for all parties involved and for the world at large. And that striving to positively influence others is part of developing our own personal journey to enlightenment. My personal enlightenment absolutely includes leaving positive impressions on everyone I come into contact with, as well as learning from those who can leave a positive impression on me in return.

I'm aware that this sounds a lot like the cycle of Selflessness-to-Selfishness that my undergrad history class discussed in relation to Saints and other religious figures. The idea is that although people are being selfless, putting themselves out there as servants of God, it is also because the work makes them feel fulfilled or promises them a good afterlife. Therefore, the more selfless their work, the more selfish they are, and in being selfish they work harder to be selfless for other people. It's impossible to tell exactly where in this cycle they lie, because it goes around continually. So yes, this topic sounds a bit like we're being selfish, but that makes sense. Of course my own enlightenment is about me! Yours is all about you, too! It is self-centered, by nature, in the most literal sense. Our journey is centered on our Self. It has to be. If we do not put our own enlightenment into our own hands, who will? No one else is responsible. Other people can help, and I could name so many people right now who have been and continue to be instrumental in my journey! But it should not offend them, nor should I feel that I am offending them by saying, that when it comes right down to it, we are all responsible for taking action toward our own Truth, our own Enlightenment.

"YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT RESTS ON YOUR OWN SHOULDERS."

It doesn't mean that we can't assist others, or that we should ignore others by focusing resolutely on ourselves. It simply means, to me, that I have to remember one thing: If I desire to be Enlightened, then I have to make that effort. It's not up to the people who help me along my path to make sure I reach Enlightenment. I have to make the effort, put in the energy, make the changes myself. I already know that my personal Enlightenment Road passes by many areas where I help others and they help me. But I also know that I've already had to explain to some people that THEIR personal enlightenment/journey/spiritual experience is not my responsibility. I can lend a hand, give ideas, and share what I personally have experienced, but that cannot and will not replace someone's own experiences. I can write as much as I want on here, or make as many videos as I want sharing what I have learned, but that will never substitute for my readers or viewers having their own epiphanies. (And knowing how great those moments are, I would never dream of taking them away from someone!) Similarly, I can seek advice from my spiritual friends, but it only supplements my own path. I have to do the work of thinking about their advice, ruminating on it, trying things out, and figuring out how it applies to me. And I believe it is the same for you, and for everyone.

Paths cross. People walk together. One long, wide road is made up of many smaller, overlapping paths. Whether moving forward in a crowd, or taking another route utterly alone, you are on your path and no one else's.

Blessings~
-C-

Offerings (What, and How)

Hey, Readers!

This week on The Pagan Perspective, we got two questions (the text of which will follow) asking about offerings--how we make them, and how to pick flowers/plants to use for offerings. I wrote out notes for this before I recorded the video, so you can read the notes here instead of watching, or as a supplement to watching the video. As you'll notice (from the title and the questions themselves), this covers WHAT I offer and HOW I do offerings. Perhaps another time I will talk about when or why, if there's interest.

CLICK HERE to watch the video Offerings (What, and How)

The questions were as follows:

herkles1
--How do you handle and do offerings to the gods, spirits, ancenstors and so forth? furthermore how do you properly handle disposing of offerings in a proper and respectful manner? p.s: this channel has helped me a good bit, in my own spiritual path and growth. :) 

LynnifferLeDoppel
--Hi everyone, Im back with another question lol. This may be silly but i was wondering if you could explain to me how to properly pick a flower (or other kind of plant). i feel so apprehensive when i see a clover or a flower and go to pick it. Do you need to use offering stones? Im making offering stones, but what should you do in the mean time or what should you do if you dont have anything to offer? Thank you so much, you have all been such a great help ^_^ ~ Love and Light!

And now, the response, which varies slightly from the video due to improvisations while speaking, but is otherwise very close.


The first question asks about offerings to gods, spirits, ancestors, etc. but I don't have any major distinctions between them as far as how I make offerings to different energies. My offerings are basically the same for ancestors or for Deity--the variations depend only on what the celebration/working/ritual is for, where I am, and what I have to offer.

Things I've offered:
--Food (fruits, nuts, baked goods, any appropriate food for the ritual)
--Drink  (water, wine, milk, juice, again whatever is appropriate)
--Flowers
--Art
--Burning incense
--Burning candles
--Reading of a poem
--Singing of a song
--Dance
--Thoughts/meditation time
--Heartfelt thanks

Giving the offering:
If it's food/drink, I partake of it myself and then set an equal portion aside for the offering. In most cases it's a simple, take a bite of the apple or sip of the wine, and then leave the rest of it for the offering. If it's something like flowers, I present it and leave it. If song, dance, poetry, etc. or something else non-physical, it just happens and then it's done with. Incense or candles, I just burn throughout my working and state that it's for an offering, and then I dispose of the incense ashes like I would any other offering, which I will get to. Or for candles, if it's a tall candle that doesn't burn down all the way, I will save it for the next time and use the same candle for the same type of offering, like the one candle I always use to represent the Universe, or the two candles for God/Goddess. I don't personally like the idea of burying a candle after you've used it once, I would just use it over and over for the same use, to keep up that energy, until it's gone.

Offering Disposal:
If I'm indoors, I leave the offerings on the altar until I'm done and bring them outside later. I usually just leave them somewhere in the woods for nature to consume, as Rich said he does with his. For Samhain 2011, which I celebrated with a group, we buried the ancestors' portion of the food offerings so it would go back to the earth directly, and we tossed extra apples into the woods for the animal parts of nature.

If I'm already outside, I immediately set the food in an offering place on the ground or in tree branches or on a stone (wherever I'm working, it depends), pour the drink on the ground, or place the flowers. If it's something like a physical object or piece of art, not perishable, I would leave it on my altar indefinitely or otherwise keep it for use. If it's something I did on paper, I would treat it like any other petition spell and burn or bury it, depending. (In the case of the Hecate ritual that I did with my friend's women's pagan study group, we made offerings to Hecate by writing it down, reading it out loud to the group, and burning it in the cauldron.)

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On collecting flowers:
When I collect flowers for offerings, I just say thank you as I'm picking them. Sometimes I just say thank you, other times I will offer some water if I have my water bottle with me. Sometimes I go back and leave an offering stone if it's in one specific location, or a single plant that I go back to a lot. Other times I will pick up litter from the area as a thank you to the Earth for its gifts.

Litha 2012

In the above picture from my Litha/Midsummer ritual last year, you can see my natural offering bowl. I built up a bowl shape out of sand to hold the flowers and plants I had collected. It's very near the water, so that after I left, the water would eventually break down the bowl and pull the flowers into the lake.

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Bonus Question!

On waste:
Someone commented on Rich's video asking what he thinks about wasting things used for offerings, and as we both said, we put food outdoors for nature so it's not sitting around, but an offering is never waste because it has a purpose. If I ever do feel like "oh I don't want to waste that by offering it to the energies I hold dear" then I'm not really offering it if I feel it's waste. Some people offer jewelry by burying it, for example, and I feel weird about that because I know it won't really go back to the Earth and I think it's impractical for me to buy an object just to bury it or something, which is another reason I tend to use food or other things that break down. What I do think is wasteful is like I said with the candles--I think it's wasteful to burn a candle for an hour and throw the rest away, only to burn another one the next time and throw that out, too. So in that case, I reuse it until it's done so I don't feel like I'm wasting resources. So if you feel like anything IS being wasted, you can probably come up with a way to do it so that you feel like you're using your resources well. Or you can opt to offer things you don't need to dispose of, like your words or actions, song and dance, music, etc.

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That's it for me until next week, so let us know in the comments what you like to offer or how you go about it. If you have any new ideas for people to try, we'd all be glad to hear! Thank you very much for watching (or reading, if you're reading this on my blog), and until next time, Blessed Be, and goodbye!

Blessings~
-C-

Pentacles of Pride

Hey, Readers!

I have a lot of things to blog about, but right now I just want to let you know about something I've recently heard about, called Pentacles of Pride. This is a non-profit organization started by a circle of practitioners based in Arkansas, which seeks to provide free pentacle necklaces for anyone who wants one. Besides this, they also have other community outreach goals, and have begun a scholarship fund for a pagan student. My own local group (the pagan women's study group run by my friend) was talking about doing something like this--not the pentacle part, but raising money for charities we want to gather more support for, collecting scholarship funding for pagan families, and generally creating more of a local pagan presence--so I am really encouraged by this group's efforts, and the fact that they just DID this and made it happen.

I plan to order one of their free pentacles, even though I have access to my own, for two reasons:
1) I imagine they keep track of how many orders they receive, and I'm all for helping numbers!
2) I may wear the pentacle for now specifically to reference this organization, but down the line I plan to pass it along to someone I may end up working with who won't be able to get their own pentacle for whatever reason. Maybe it will be a student type relationship, or perhaps that won't happen and I will end up keeping it in my possession until I have children.

Anyway, there is an endorsement image/button on their site, and I wanted to include it on my blog because one of their members asked (on Twitter) if they could include me as a resource on their website. So of course I want to do my part to let people know about them, as well. I don't know if they plan to include my videos or my blog, or both, because I noticed they have separate categories for each type of resource on their page. But whatever it ends up being, I hope I have earned the privelege of being there, and I hope I continue to help people into the future.

Click the image to go to their website/blog, and click on the tabs at the top of the screen to view the other pages! Some of it is still under construction as of now. And they're on Wordpress, whereas I use Blogger for the Google connection, so I can't follow them on this account. I'm not sure if I have a Wordpress account from the project I did in college, because that project's website is on Wordpress. I'll look into it, though, so I can follow people there, as well.

As for me:

Twitter

Personal YouTube

The Pagan Perspective YouTube

And obviously you're already on this blog. =)

Happy Snipping Blog (t-shirt reconstruction)

Thank you for reading!

Blessings~

-C-

Neos & Recons

Hey, Readers!

Once again, I opened up Blogger with one intention in mind and have completely forgotten it in favor of discussing (briefly) another topic I had been thinking about a while ago, which was brought up again by my seeing it written about in Chris' blog, My Hellenic Life. I don't always go online every day anymore, so I often skip over some topics I would otherwise write about, and this is not the first time I've been reminded (by his blog) of one such topic.

On Yule (21 Dec. 2012) I recorded a video about Christians "stealing" Yule, and how that type of language--while it comes from grains of truth--is ultimately negative. I admit to being annoyed when people condemn a person's faith without realizing or being willing to acknowledge that it is exactly where their own celebrations come from (how can you call my symbols evil and then decorate your home with them, that sort of thing), but I believe we can handle such things without having to run around waving our arms and screaming, "You STOLE from us!" Because I'm an eclectic practitioner. Some people would say all I do is "steal." We eclectics, however, we know that's not quite true.

Anyway, I had recently seen a post on tumblr where someone said "Stop saying Christians stole Yule. They didn't STEAL it. You still HAVE it." And that triggered a lesson from undergrad, when I worked as a Teaching and Writing Assistant, teaching students the difference between theft and piracy. To steal something is to remove it from its source and have it now as your own. To pirate is to create a copy for yourself, while leaving the original in its place. The latter is moreso what has been done, because while other people have used pagan traditions and symbols for their own ends, pagans do very much still have their own traditions. So can't we just focus on that positive aspect, and have fun celebrating in our way? This was the basic idea of my video, at least.

Several days after the video was posted, I got a lot of negative comments in one big burst. Not only about religion, but about me in general, my crafting skills, my outlook... And it got under my skin. So perhaps had this comment come at another time, it would have held less weight. As it was, this day I got a comment on that video from someone claiming that I could not tell people to be happy we still have Yule, because Yule is not ours to "still have," because unless we are reconstructionists, then we never had it in the first place. Rather, we stole it from those who truly celebrated it long ago. Again, one could argue that we "stole" it, because obviously we're using old ideas and making them our own, just as I said is done with eclecticism in general, to an extent. But I absolutely do not think it's fair or even correct to say that only reconstructionists "have" Yule. And this is where Chris' post comes in. On 29 Dec. he posted a blog about this very recon/neo opposition. We both come from a neopagan standpoint in that we are not recontructionists. We do not attempt to recreate exactly how things were done in antiquity. I think finding out things like that is interesting and helpful, as it is always helpful to know one's past in order to learn from it. However, I don't find the idea suitable for me personally.

I believe that times change, ideas evolve and progress. That traditions are great and meaningful and fun, and that we should not be afraid of change. I think some things that were common practice centuries ago are not suitable today, and that some ideas can still be drawn from without being duplicated. That we ought to know what's come before us, yet we cannot ignore what lies ahead.

I think both paths are valid and meaningful to those who choose to follow them. I don't intend to discredit reconstructionism here at all, only to lend strength to what I have been ridiculed for so many times over the years (and always, of course, by relatively anonymous strangers online). Personally, I am a modern witch. People have thrown that at me as an insult more times than I can count, but I own it. I AM a modern witch, and my path fits into today's world. If you're a recon, you're a recon. That's where you find your meaning, and neos find theirs in another way. But can we both celebrate Yule? Of course. Can we both have our own celebrations and traditions based on the older ways? Yes! Yours may be closer to how people actually did things in whatever year you may cite, and mine may come from the same time period but be updated to what I have now, in this time, in this place. As my friend, Eric, and his friend, Stephen, said in a video they did for us over on Pagan Perspective recently, "If the druids had butane Bic lighters, they would have used them!" (I actually have different colored ones that I switch out according to the moon phase, which I started doing because I already HAD the different colored lighters, rather than going out and getting them for the purpose.) And as Margot Adler says in Drawing Down the Moon, "[...] roots are only one part of the whole tree [...]."

Me as Amiens in As You Like It, 2010
All-female cast, modern dress

To bring in another passion of mine, theatre, this is a lot like Shakespeare being performed today in modern dress. By which I mean, not in Elizabethan garb or whatever else people think "looks Shakespearean." Some people think Shakespeare must only be done in doublets and hose, but others know that his actors only wore that because it was their contemporary attire at the time the plays were first performed. They didn't have a budget with which to costume period dress, so they wore what they had. We merely think of it as Shakespearean now because of the time period in which it was performed. But in following suit today, it makes perfect sense to play Shakespeare in what we have now, whether it be whatever you have lying around the costume shop, or the jeans and t-shirts you wear every day. I see many things about my faith the same way. People performed magick and made offerings and worshiped using what they had available to them. Why then, should not we do the same?

We are all doing great things and making wonderful connections and learning truths. We do it differently because we are different. As people, you and I, we are different people! We have different likes and dislikes, we look different, act differently, think differently. Why should anyone assume that we would believe the same? Or if we did believe the same, who's to say we must practice the same? My path involves nature, which grows stronger for its diversity. Paganism is no monoculture.

So yes, I celebrate Yule and other holidays and festivals that other types of pagans also celebrate. We don't do it the same way. That doesn't mean either of us is wrong or may not say that we have those traditions. No one may say what someone else's path entails, includes, or holds dear. Just concentrate on your own practice, and share with others, that we all may grow. But share not hatred or negativity that will lead to anyone's stagnation. Because as Chris said, the gods care not for denomination the way humans do. And in that example, we should really strive to follow.

Blessings~
-C-