Pagan Blog Project - F is for Freedom of Religion

I am lucky enough to say that I have never been discriminated against because of my religious beliefs. The problem with that statement is that in a round-about way I have, because most times I do not feel comfortable discussing my spirituality with people who I know do not share a like mind.  Other religions proudly proselytize and go door to door, roaming the streets of our cities in an effort to "save" someone or bring them over to their way of thinking. As annoying as that is, I can't specifically say that it is wrong or right except in terms of my own faith, where it would be unnecessary to say the least.

There are legal cases all over the United States right now, many of them due to the perceived idea that one religion is being favored over another, and more often than not those lawsuits have merit. Our founding fathers, wanting to escape religious persecution, came to the United States (we'll have to save their deeds to the Native Americas for another day, but don't think I don't know what they did) to establish their own colonies where people could practice what they wanted to believe without reprisal. In America, there is an assumption that every religion is respected but ask any Muslim or Sikh, or even any Pagan, and you will quickly realize that is not a completely accurate statement.
It is my belief that prayer in schools would be detrimental to the learning environment but there are others that disagree. My opinion is that all religions are valid to the persons following them and as such, all religions should be respected. With that being said, I don't agree that one religion should be able to be pushed onto others more than any other religious belief system, let alone the rights of an individual infringed upon because of said religious beliefs.

Religion is a touchy subject in America, mostly because the Christians claim that they are being persecuted against for being Christian while those in minority religions blame Christianity for the very same thing. I can't speak to those statements except to say that I have seen discrimination on both sides and towards every religious faith - whether it be in online videos, blog posts, discussion groups at my local library, or even from my parent's living room during the newscast. 

The way I see it, we achieve a positive view of our religion by acting in according to our principles and ensuring that others receive fair treatment. Instead of criticizing Christianity for all of its wrongs to us, let's start interfaith dialogue and work to encourage leaders within that faith to recognize that although we have many differences, we all want to live happy and healthy lives while praying to whichever deity/deities we believe in (or do not believe in).

Click here to determine if your religious freedom is being infringed upon.

Invoking Creativity

It's time to break out the citrine, folks.
We're about to get creative up in here!

Well, not really here, but you get my point. I wanted to give you all a little bit of information on inspiring creativity. Whether you write, paint, knit, play a musical instrument, some combination of the above, or are just handy with a pencil and a piece of paper, this post is just for you.

I just set up my watercolor palette with some tubes of paint that I purchased a month or so ago but have lazily been testing out. I also have an ample supply of crayons, oil pastels (they're cheap so they're basically just bonus crayons), gesso, acrylic paint, mod podge, color and watercolor pencils, pencils with graphite, and lots and lots of clippings from junk mail.

As I mentioned in "VR - Pagan Tag" video on youtube, I have been art journaling for a little over six months now. With more emphasis on the art and less on the journaling (writing) aspect since I have a different book for that sort of thing. To me, its all about getting creative and having fun doing it. Sometimes I am proud of the finished product and at other times I am appalled and thankful I can close the book and not have to think about it for a while.

As Pagans, creativity is something that many of us call upon for various purposes: spellwork, rituals, etc. My challenge to you is to do something creative today in whichever medium (fancy art word for material) you prefer. I hope you'll share the finished product with me, but don't worry about that if you're self-conscious. Just have fun with it and enjoy the meditation that school children everywhere participate in.

Interested in Crystals and Healing With Them?

Hibiscus Moon has opened up enrollment for her next Certified Crystal Healing Course!

If you're interested in crystals, I honestly believe that this course is the best way to get started in working with them. This course is also great as a refresher, or in addition to your current practice. Hibiscus Moon is a former science teacher and she shares her knowledge of science to explain how crystals are formed. This is THE course if you're serious about crystals, even if you're not planning on using them for healing anyone except yourself.

Click below to find out more.

Pagan Blog Project - F is for (My) Favorites

Favorites

This week we are tackling the letter "f" for the Pagan Blog Project. I wanted to do something with a bit of a different format and I figured that this would be the perfect opportunity for you to get to know me a little better. Therefore, today's post is based on one of those favorites surveys that usually goes around on social media. I'm not tagging you to do this yourself but I would enjoy reading your answers if you decide you would like to do it too. Share the link, peeps.


Favorite ritual tool: the altar

Favorite crystal: ametrine

Favorite myth: The story of Miach and Dian Cecht

Favorite color: depends on my mood. Right now it is purple.

Favorite chakra to work with: solar plexus

Favorite Pagan book: "The Goddess is in the Details" by Deborah Blake

Favorite Pagan author: Tie between Deborah Blake and Dorothy Morrison

Favorite tarot deck: Shapeshifter Tarot

Favorite oracle deck: "Earth Magic" by Steven Farmer

Favorite moon phase: full

Favorite season: fall

Favorite sabbat: Samhain

Favorite divination method: tarot/oracle cards

Favorite sacred site: Hill of Tara

Favorite ritual attire: regular street clothes

Favorite Pagan artist (any medium): Dryad Designs

Favorite chant: "Earth, Air, Fire, Water"

Favorite pantheon: Celtic, specifically Irish

Favorite element to work with: also depends on my mood. Right now I'm feeling water.

Favorite type of tree: oak

Favorite flower: tulip, followed closely by the orchid

Favorite herb: lavender and thyme

Favorite incense scent: vanilla

Favorite symbol: the awen

Favorite place to meet like-minded folks: YouTube

Pagan Blog Project - E is for Education

Today I am going to be covering the topic of education, specifically in terms of educating yourself about spiritual topics. Those of us interested in the vast subjects today are lucky because there are so many resources available to us. In the last 100 years we, as a species, have truly come a long way in terms of both thinking openly and bringing information to the masses.

Books - self explanatory, these are probably one of the most used sources. Unfortunately, the cost of books continues to increase as booksellers struggle to remain open. We have libraries where one can check these things out for free, although the selection tends to depend on a variety of factors. Still, books are extremely popular because they often provide exercises and lists of other books to check into in order to continue learning about specific subjects.

Websites - When I first started my journey with Wicca in 1998, I could easily count the useful websites with my two hands. A lot of the information out there was directly rehashed from Cunningham, Gardner, Adler, Buckland, Valiente, and Ravenwolf's books. Now the internet has exploded with blogs and social media. Everyone has an opinion these days and people are more than willing to share how they do things.

YouTube - I list this one because it has been profound in my personal spiritual journey. As I mentioned in the websites section, the resources of this video community have become better as the years have gone by. I tend to mass devour videos by adding anything of interest to my "watch later" playlist. One of the best aspects about this website is that there is a great variety of people sharing their practice with others.

Face to Face - While it may not be possible for everyone, in many larger communities one can find Pagan Forums to meet others of a like mind. Learning in this manner is reminiscent of the early days of Wicca when Gardner, Sanders, Farrar, and Buckland used covens and taught people one on one. This avenue of learning is rewarding for those that seek a real world community.

In ending this post, I want to mention that it can be useful to utilize all of the above methods for education. I have personally dipped into each of those categories and have found all to be rewarding in their own right. I encourage you to expand your mind by looking into other ways of education that I haven't previously mentioned, such as through online study groups, web forums (if you can find a good one without infighting/drama), correspondence courses, and so on. The point is to learn and where that comes from isn't as critical as the process of exploring personal beliefs and either changing them or building upon them.

Merry Meet Again!

I have finally received the majority of my crystals from Missouri.

It has been fun to go through and take a look at my long-lost friends. Most of them have been out of my possession for almost an entire year. It is hard to believe it has been so long!

When I was given the opportunity to move to Washington, I packed up the bare essentials and left within a week. It's nice to have my full crystal kit available once again, minus my large peridot and a clear quartz point I purchased from Hibiscus Moon. No worries though, they're at the local post office waiting for me to get in gear and pick 'em up!

Now I have the happy task of going through the plastic boxes I've been storing them in and getting them cleaned out. It is also an opportunity to redo the organization process which, truth be told, is even more important now than it was previously. Perhaps I'll make a video and share the process?

Note: Part of this process has been to match up my Crystal Guidance cards with their corresponding crystals. I feel that this helps them energetically link so that when I do an oracle reading with them, I'll be tapping into the crystal's energy without even having to bring it out from my collection. Not that that would ever be a problem. :)

To learn more about the cards, go here.

Pagan Blog Project - E is for Evil

It's all about degrees.

We know that there are troubled people in this world. We also know that our legal systems have a hierarchy of punishment associated with the severity of a particular crime. Whether or not those punishments are always just is a topic for another day. My point here is that there are degrees of punishment based on degrees of action.

One of the commonly spouted tenets of Wicca is that we don't believe in evil. Some clarify the statement to mean an absolute evil, or even an entity associated as a devil in the Abrahamic religions. Others recognize that the world is full of both positive and negative, from the opposite ends of a battery to the behaviors of an individual. I believe that there are evil deeds: murder, rape, molestation, and torture. I also believe that a person committing evil deeds is not an evil person.

I hesitated on using this subject for this week's particular letter. So many people have an opinion on the subject and yet so few are able to articulate their views about it. That's not the fault of the individual. Instead, I think the blame falls to the different avenues of human study: psychology, sociology, and even philosophy.

If you look into the modalities I mentioned you will find scales of behavior, and more specifically, research into an action and whatever it was that caused said action. You'll also find that those actions can be explained by a myriad of conditions, viewpoints, and characteristics. Often, what one modality explains as XYZ, another will explain it as ABC. That's all fine and dandy until someone comes up to us at the supermarket after spotting our pentacle necklace and goes into a speech about how we're being lured by the dark side, whether we know it or not, and that evil is all around us.

Yes and no. My perspective is that anyone can perform evil actions. It's just that most of us have the correct conditioning, mental stability, and whatever else it may be to keep us from doing those actions. There are no evil people. Just deeds.

I'm interested in your thoughts on the subject. Please leave a comment and let me know if you agree, disagree, or don't really care to think about it in detail at this time.

Late Posts, No Video Updates, and A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Wait, what? No Partridge?

Well, axe that part then. I guess that just leaves the other two to think about.

Some of you may have noticed that I seemed to vanish. I've been feeling a little under the weather for the past week or so and have been taking it easy to attempt to recuperate. Blog posts and videos are coming soon, so keep an eye out.

Just remember to moisturize it now and again so that it doesn't dry out.  (C;