Just want to clear things up, in order to avoid misunderstandings. While I do appreciate the offers for readings/guidance and/or cleansing, allow me to explain (#RadicalAtheist? Don’t read any further, LOL);
I do not nor need anyone to “fix” my neck tattoo – thanks anyway. It is a highly personal piece; it does not require fixing.
I appreciate all the offers for readings/spiritual guidance, however, thank you but no.
Practicing Pagan/witch/whatever you wish to call it, I don’t care, since the early 80’s.
Taught Tarot, Psychometry, Guide Connection, Paganism 101 and Witchcraft 101, to name a few.
I do not charge for readings, when I choose to do them. It is part of my early training – you do not charge for the “Arts”.
Was an HPS along with my HP husband for many years.
Kids – now in their late thirties, and early 40’s, were raised as Pagans.
For Tik Tok/FB/Thread/Discord; if your profile reads “Private”, due to the bot and spam accounts, I have no option but to block you.
I have bad eyesight, don’t bother sending a d*ck pic because I have trouble seeing tiny objects.
I am and have always been an Ally.
I have no time or patience for fundies, convoy clowns or anti-science bullshit.
I hate all politicians, regardless of stripe.
I am a gamer; PS4 – RPG’s. Used to play on PC but I fell in love with the PS4 and haven’t looked back.
Serial Killer podcast junkie.
I am a happy Agnostic, I don’t need your god or any gods, thanks.
I always feel kind of retrospective at Samhain. To be honest, I did give up on the religious aspect, for the most part, quite a few years ago but its hard to give up a philosophy that has been a life guide for almost 40 years.
Samhain, to my family, to my former cohorts – is this:
It is not the New Year.
This is the demise of the old year.
New Year does not start until Winter Solstice, when the days start to grow.
This is the time between times. A time when old hurts, emotional baggage, bad habits…negativity, is examined and tossed into a balefire – real or metaphorical.
This has been a good year, for us. My husband and I have undergone a renewal. Our friendship has grown, we’ve become closer. We’ve both changed. Is it the physical act of moving? I think it was probably the catalyst we needed. I have never been happier. This isn’t to say that there are not “things” that require disposal, from this year and years previous. Pfff, of course there are and they will be, duly, changed to ash.
My sons are all starting new journeys: love, career, life. It is an exciting time, for my husband and I, to be their parents. This is what fueled us for all these years, being able to stand and have the privilege of watching them, as men, make their own way. In honour, with bravery.
Our own time is waning; that is the cycle of life but we are proud of what we’ve accomplished. No, we haven’t found a cure for cancer or solved world hunger. We have offered the world, 3 amazing men. 3 honourable men, in a time when honour is so rare.
Saturday is Samhain. What will be offered to the flames? I’m ditching negativity, in my life. I’m not dealing with it anymore. No being dragged into drama, by others. No allowing negativity to darken my thoughts.
Oh for crying out loud…NO, I am not turning into some kind of “Bright Blessings to all. Here…have a flower! Unicorns and fairies.” Not in the least. I am just not going to allow emotional or psychological poison into my life. You have emotional shit? Deal with it. You don’t have the right to infect me or my family with it.
I am going to make an even more concentrated effort to live by the following Tenets, in the year to come:
7 Fundamental Tenets
I
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.
V
Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.
VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
WTF. Until the election of that ridiculous grouping of assumed human DNA in the States; for the most part – I figure, if people want to believe in some sort of Fairy Godfather or Godmother – omnipotent/omnipresent – whatever, then fine…dandy…cool, if said invisible friend(s) didn’t start talking to the individual and telling them to kill things or blow ’em up, then, their beliefs are not my circus and not my monkeys.
Come on. The Trumps and Clintons, Falwells, Bannons and Spences don’t believe in god; they are lying through their teeth at you. What about their lives corresponds with ANYTHING you have been taught about your faith? NOT. A. DAMN. THING.
If they were truly Christian – then they wouldn’t be politicians for a start. They would not be living lives of excess. They are not enjoying rewards referred to in the religious texts. The rewards referred to in spiritual literature are spiritual rewards – not owning 10 cars, chauffeurs, designer clothing – none of which enriches anyone, least of all the people who desire them. I believe that is called “greed” and is frowned upon by invisible friends, of all religions.
This god thing? Come on people – it’s a freaking tool. If the peons/proles/Mom and Pop believe that if they are really good, humble and hardworking, god(s) fearing pious folk – then there is a paradise a’waitin’ around the corner. They will eat the shit that is dumped on them and say thank you, please sir…may I have some more.
What there is, is this life and how you choose to live it. The elite, political – religious – corporate, do their level best to ensure that you (proles) continue to believe in this fairy tale because it is what keeps them rich and unaccountable. You go to your church, your synagogue, mosque or ritual – looking for comfort, looking for spiritual security and the false blanket of faith is pulled down over your eyes and you believe.
The work day arrives and you get up, even though you are exhausted, get dressed, slap back some coffee or tea…struggle into your clothes, schlep to work where you waste your life making someone else rich, at the expense of your health and happiness. But hey…its all good because when that heart attack comes, when that stroke fries your brain – y’all will be goin’ ta heavin wi’the angels….
Bullshit. No. You will just die. There is no god. And yes, they have lied to you. That’s why they have it all and we struggle to pay our bills. They use it as a threat and they use it as a carrot.
Wake up. No god, the bible is a book – just a book and not a very good one. It is a tool to keep you schlepping to work, to keep you from looking around and seeing what is going on behind those false curtains of piety that surround the elite.
It isn’t too late. While I am no communist – “Religion is the opium of the people”1 – truer words never spoken.
1 Marx, K. 1976. Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Collected Works, v. 3. New York.”
Prepare yourselves, dear Merry Christmas-ers, the nutbars and self-righteous asshats will be coming out of the woodwork soon – screaming at you for wishing them a “Merry Christmas.” My heads up to you as a kind-of Neo-Pagan/agnostic sort. I know full well how obnoxious my brethren within the Neo-Pagan community can become at this time of year. They’ll come at you with:
“Christians STOLE our holiday!!” No, you didn’t but don’t pee on their parade. They so love their victimhood. Consider it your Christmas gift to them.
“Christ wasn’t even born on the 25th!!” Yeah, okay – we all know that and what’s your point? The day has come to represent a time of giving and much of the good things – like shortbread cookies. Nothing wrong with people around the world, of the Christian faith, hoping for peace on earth; it is an admirable thought, won’t happen but admirable none the less.
“Christmas is just a corporate sham!” And Samhain isn’t? How many Neo-Pagans think that the biggest deal at Samhain is going to some stupid Witches’ Ball? Or really have no true clue as to the deeper meaning and significance of 10/31? So people go shopping and buy shit for each other. Good on them, spreads a little happiness in an otherwise very sad world.
“Pfff, Christians only give to the poor at Christmas. Hypocrites!” Also not entirely true but hey…whatever. So the majority of charitable donations take place at Christmas. At least they take place. Once a year, kids all over a lot of cities are reminded that they matter. How many toy drives are organized otherwise? How many food banks benefit from Christmas time?
You know what – wish me a Merry Christmas, not a big deal to me. I understand the thought behind it. It is a wish for peace, for love and giving.
Not a surprise to most of the people who know me well. It’s been coming for a few years. I was a Neo-Pagan. Not your “We all come from the goddess”, love and bunny kisses type of Neo-Pagan but a Pagan looking to find answers, which in retrospect, was a fool’s errand. Meh, not really – knowledge is never truly wasted, unless it is used to trick the unwitting or the foolish, as is so often the case in religions, all religions.
In order to find answers, one must search out knowledge – in the form of facts, not hearsay and wishful thinking. Actual facts. Most religions are pretty short in the whole facts department, that’s why they have something they call “faith.” And while most religions are short of empirical evidence, Paganism has them beat. They have no evidence aside from stories created by ancients trying to understand natural phenomenon or attempting to answer humanity’s eternal question: What about…“after”?
So I searched, and I researched and I read and I researched some more. I read obscure books, I read theological tomes, I read whatever I could get my hands on – the good, the bad..the REALLY bad and the ugly. What I discovered was that religion, all religions are basically, full of shit. A bunch of people gather around, create a whopper, call it good and then label it as a “religion”. Just ask L. Ron – his whopper has gone on to make a lot of people rich. Gardner should have stuck around a little longer, he could have had made some serious coin. Poor Aleister…so ahead of his time. A cult would have allowed him to not only live the life of a Golden Magus but he could have had all manner of sycophants just dancing to his tune, indulging his every whim. Instead, both men died pretty much, penniless. So much for the Gods and Goddesses providing…
While religions are bullshit, some of them contain some pretty high ideals, good principles and quite a few parables with application even today. People being who they are, after all. Good stories, illustrating moral standards and encouraging ethical behaviour does not a religion make and so, you have to come up with some larger than life characters. Even a high school kid knows that any really good story must have a protagonist or protagonists and their opposite, the antagonists. Plots, settings – equally as important..oh and a theme. The conclusions are all pretty nifty – if you follow the instructions, you get to go to Heaven, Arcadia, Canaan, Elysium, Shangri-la, Utopia, Zion, Nirvana or if you don’t quite measure up? You are on your way to: the bottomless pit, Pandemonium, Abaddon, Domdaniel; jahannan, sheol., purgatory, gehenna, the abyss or maybe Tartarus, Hades, Avernus, Styx, Stygian creek, pit of Acheron, Cocytus.
Personally? I figure when we go…we go. I toss around the Universal Unconscious theory when I’m on the bus and bored. Or lying in bed with “the scourge of the older than crowd” – insomnia. It’s a possibility, on a positive day; you may even hear me say that it is a remote probability. I don’t need to believe nor am I so arrogant as to think that “the wonder that is me” will continue on, brightening the universe or whatever. I believe, the wonder that is me will be cremated and be so much ash scattered on the trade winds in the Caribbean. That’s it, that’s all. Been real, had a time, what a slice!
And that’s it, isn’t it? This is our life. We need to toss aside the childhood thing that is religion and faith. We need to take control and accept responsibility for our own actions. There is no dessert at the end, if we’re good. There is no eternal torment if we are real shits in this life. Instead, we will have lived a good existence, something of which our family and friends may remember with fondness or we will, if remembered at all – have the mention of our name precede lung butter hitting the sidewalk. Our choice.
There may be a universal unconscious or conscious, who knows? There’s no proof either way but gods, goddesses? Come on. You may as well believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, same premise but far less judgmental.
Kind of funny and requiring pathos at the same time: imagine the difficulties faced by these three in their attempts to walk and chew gum at the same time; they need our pity…
They keep referring to 20 Pagan holidays and how few Pagans can name them – I wonder if they are aware of all the Christian “holidays” and if they can name them? Not all Pagans observe the same holidays just as not all Christians observe their entire plethora of holidays. I’ve, personally, never booked off work due to a Sabbat but that’s me. And Halloween is a holiday? No. Samhain is a Sabbat – there’s a difference. Of course, the concept would be a little too difficult for these three refugees from intelligent society.
Christians are entitled, by virtue of their Judeo roots – to keep their Sabbat holy – that would be every Sunday. I would say, seeing the parking lot at any Wal Mart, on any Sunday…very few Christians follow that edict. God and religion is apparently relative to sales and shopping.
I take it that the entire kafuffle has to do with exams scheduled on Neo-Pagan sabbats at the University of Missouri…a state not exactly known for their tolerant attitude toward anyone not Christian and white. Now, to the people who raised the stink about this? Get a life. Few of us take time off for a Sabbat and this is just a pathetic excuse to time off or addition time to cram. Way to hold us all up to ridicule…Do us all a favour and shut, the hell up, write your exam and get a life. Neo-Pagans are NOT required to follow any rules regarding Sabbats – we do not take the day off, like other systems – we know that outward play-acting is not indicative of faith. Most of us are little beyond that, intellectually and spiritually. This whole day off thing is primarily a Judeo-Christian tradition in order to garner paid time off and an excuse to fake a little piety. They do so love to do the latter.
These three bozos should remember the old adage about stones and glass houses; while they may have their ignorant interpretation of Neo-Paganism…here’s an interpretation of Christianity from the point of view of a non-Christian:
It is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Unlike the Americans, our Thanksgiving is reflective of our Anglo roots, we are thankful for a successful harvest. How very Pagan of the early settlers 😉
But as the majority of us no longer live “off the land” so to speak – we live in cities, in towns – we don’t till the good earth. Most of us wouldn’t know what to do with a seed if it came with instructions and a diagram but that doesn’t mean that we don’t all enjoy a successful, if metaphorical, harvest.
I look back over the past year and I am astounded by the changes. Some were devastating but tools toward growth and harvest. I have so much for which I am thankful.
I live in a country of freedom, of opportunity, of open spaces. I am surrounded by family and friends. I have a roof over my head, food in the fridge, in the cupboard. I have a job that I enjoy. I have co-workers who make going to work a little less daunting, especially at 6:30 in the morning. A time I used to think was the domain of birds alone.
I am thankful for my children and their ability to take the high roads offered to them, more times than not. Happy that they do this of free will, not because they are in fear of some imaginary god waiting to punish them for transgressions.
I am thankful for my parents, my father, who too recently passed over and to my mother – a force of nature. I am thankful for my brother and all his little eccentricities; they make me smile and remember that life is good.
And my husband. We’ve climbed mountains, he and I; we’ve weathered storms and in doing so, the calm is so much more meaningful. I’m thankful for his smile, his sense of humour, his wit and intelligence. I’m especially thankful for the patience he has developed over the years…not due to me, of course… Nooooo. 😉
I’m thankful for Pfizer..yes, Pfizer the pharmaceutical company because, if not for their Aerius? I could not be thankful for our dog – Chico who has brought so much to our lives. The stresses of a day magically melt as soon as we walk through the door and he treats us like the SINGULAR MOST IMPORTANT people in the world.
I’m thankful that I am able to express myself on this simple blog; a pleasure that is denied so many. I’m thankful for you, whoever you are, for taking the time to read this.
WTF. Until the election of that ridiculous grouping of assumed human DNA in the States; for the most part – I figure, if people want to believe in some sort of Fairy Godfather or Godmother – omnipotent/omnipresent – whatever, then fine…dandy…cool, if said invisible friend(s) didn’t start talking to the individual and telling them to kill things or blow ’em up, then, their beliefs are not my circus and not my monkeys.
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