Wicca for the rest of you :-)
A couple of you inquired some month ago about Wicca / paganism. I promised to pick this matter up again. So here we go!
I found an excellent website for you, which is called Wicca for the rest of us; you can find everything there you need to know, and none of the cliches and nonsense that the army of Charmed- and Buffy-fans spread all over the internet.
I'd especially recommend the sections
Defining Wicca
and
Myth and History.
I refer to myself as a Wiccan in lack of a better term. "Pagan" is too general for me, and as my beliefs correspond a great deal with Wicca, that's the drawer I'm stored in. I also wouldn't call myself a witch, but that's the term people need to hear to know what to expect of me.
The author of the website above has listed the following elements as being essential for Wicca. I don't agree with everything, but I list them here, anyway, and add my own point of view.
The God and Goddess
Very important. Everything is dual - good and bad, darkness and light, male and female. I refer to the Goddess as "Mother Nature", because nature is where I find the divine. Many worship the Goddess only ("Wicca is WIMMINPOWER, YO!" - fine for me, but there is no balance in such a belief. And I'm very bad at worshipping anyone. My credo is that I respect and rever Mother and Father Nature and their creation. I also fear it - they not only gives us sunshine or rain, they also give us earthquakes and hurricanes. This is not easy to accept, but our interaction with nature is giving and taking, and endless circle. I respect nature, in return, nature gives me strength.
Works for me - and it doesn't have to work for anybody else, anyway. ;-)
The Wiccan Rede
"An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will" is, at least to me, closely connected with
The Law of Return
Whatever we do, good or bad, will come round thrice. Sometimes I do bad things, fully aware that I will have to pay a price for it. So this is not an universal law to keep us away from doing bad stuff, but a golden rule to remind us that there is cause and effect.
Magic
We all have energies that can have a certain effect on other people. We just don't know anymore how to channel and use those energies. To me, magic is all about digging up the energy I have and do something useful with it, sharing it. This can be by talking to people who have a problem, can be by making my Gris-Gris Frogs and sharing my luck. But first and before anything else, it's about getting myself into balance. I'd be lost without my daily meditation - I have to get rid of frustrations and anger. Especially about the authors of Buffy and Charmed, who really SHOULD be pricked with pointed needles.
Community
I'm SO going put my foot into something here... covens and orders are not for me. I deeply dislike them, because in the end, it's not about spirituality, but about pecking order. I've seen this with a good friend - in the beginning, it was all about community, but in the end, it was about hierarchy. And he was so busy getting to the top of the food chain that he completely forgot what the true reason for meetin gup was.
I have no doubt that the initiation of a new member can be something wonderful and highly spiritual, but unfortunately, so far I've only come across the Priestess Lady Sprinklingstar of the Golden Unicorns in this world. Good for them if the weekend-seminary "tarot-reading for beginners" enlightened them. As far as I am concerned, it only makes me groan.
As we're talking about card-reading: either you can see things, know things or feel things, or you can't. Simple as that. Cards, crystal balls etc. are only means to help you concentrate. There is nothing supernatural about it - it's a talent like singing or playing tennis. Of course you can nurture this talent, or discover it - but you can't buy it at the local esotheric market.
Christians
Some Pagans (especially the Charmed- and Buffy-variety), seem to live under the wrong impression that Christians are the natural enemies of every Pagan. This is, to state it bluntly, a load of bullshit. We might not agree on who created the miracle of nature, but we all admire it. And you will hardly find a Pagan who would not agree with the ten commandments - if you strip them of the religion connection, they are the basis for all social interaction.
The lunatic fringe every religion has (including my own!) aside, there is absolutely no reason for bad feelings.
Business
Part of the money I need for living is made with card-reading, making of lucky-charms or fetishes (no, not THAT type of fethishes!). There is no doubt a chorus of "omgformoneycheat!" somewhere in the background, but frankly, I don't care. If someone comes along with a problem, I can either help them or not. If I can't, then I don't charge anything, and we simply have a cup of tea. Sometimes, that's already enough for people to feel better - someone who listens to their problems.
Everything I sell is made especially for the person who orders it. There are no pre-produced good luck charmes. For how could THAT work? Every person is special and individual.
I have absolutely no bad feelings about my business, as long as I do it in a fair way. I'm not Madame Medusa, the fun fair witch, who will tell people that they will get wet if they go out in the rain without an umbrella and charges 50 dollars for it. And as I said: every deed is returned thrice. One should therefore consider thrice whether it's worth the cheat!
Erestor
I found an excellent website for you, which is called Wicca for the rest of us; you can find everything there you need to know, and none of the cliches and nonsense that the army of Charmed- and Buffy-fans spread all over the internet.
I'd especially recommend the sections
Defining Wicca
and
Myth and History.
I refer to myself as a Wiccan in lack of a better term. "Pagan" is too general for me, and as my beliefs correspond a great deal with Wicca, that's the drawer I'm stored in. I also wouldn't call myself a witch, but that's the term people need to hear to know what to expect of me.
The author of the website above has listed the following elements as being essential for Wicca. I don't agree with everything, but I list them here, anyway, and add my own point of view.
The God and Goddess
Very important. Everything is dual - good and bad, darkness and light, male and female. I refer to the Goddess as "Mother Nature", because nature is where I find the divine. Many worship the Goddess only ("Wicca is WIMMINPOWER, YO!" - fine for me, but there is no balance in such a belief. And I'm very bad at worshipping anyone. My credo is that I respect and rever Mother and Father Nature and their creation. I also fear it - they not only gives us sunshine or rain, they also give us earthquakes and hurricanes. This is not easy to accept, but our interaction with nature is giving and taking, and endless circle. I respect nature, in return, nature gives me strength.
Works for me - and it doesn't have to work for anybody else, anyway. ;-)
The Wiccan Rede
"An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will" is, at least to me, closely connected with
The Law of Return
Whatever we do, good or bad, will come round thrice. Sometimes I do bad things, fully aware that I will have to pay a price for it. So this is not an universal law to keep us away from doing bad stuff, but a golden rule to remind us that there is cause and effect.
Magic
We all have energies that can have a certain effect on other people. We just don't know anymore how to channel and use those energies. To me, magic is all about digging up the energy I have and do something useful with it, sharing it. This can be by talking to people who have a problem, can be by making my Gris-Gris Frogs and sharing my luck. But first and before anything else, it's about getting myself into balance. I'd be lost without my daily meditation - I have to get rid of frustrations and anger. Especially about the authors of Buffy and Charmed, who really SHOULD be pricked with pointed needles.
Community
I'm SO going put my foot into something here... covens and orders are not for me. I deeply dislike them, because in the end, it's not about spirituality, but about pecking order. I've seen this with a good friend - in the beginning, it was all about community, but in the end, it was about hierarchy. And he was so busy getting to the top of the food chain that he completely forgot what the true reason for meetin gup was.
I have no doubt that the initiation of a new member can be something wonderful and highly spiritual, but unfortunately, so far I've only come across the Priestess Lady Sprinklingstar of the Golden Unicorns in this world. Good for them if the weekend-seminary "tarot-reading for beginners" enlightened them. As far as I am concerned, it only makes me groan.
As we're talking about card-reading: either you can see things, know things or feel things, or you can't. Simple as that. Cards, crystal balls etc. are only means to help you concentrate. There is nothing supernatural about it - it's a talent like singing or playing tennis. Of course you can nurture this talent, or discover it - but you can't buy it at the local esotheric market.
Christians
Some Pagans (especially the Charmed- and Buffy-variety), seem to live under the wrong impression that Christians are the natural enemies of every Pagan. This is, to state it bluntly, a load of bullshit. We might not agree on who created the miracle of nature, but we all admire it. And you will hardly find a Pagan who would not agree with the ten commandments - if you strip them of the religion connection, they are the basis for all social interaction.
The lunatic fringe every religion has (including my own!) aside, there is absolutely no reason for bad feelings.
Business
Part of the money I need for living is made with card-reading, making of lucky-charms or fetishes (no, not THAT type of fethishes!). There is no doubt a chorus of "omgformoneycheat!" somewhere in the background, but frankly, I don't care. If someone comes along with a problem, I can either help them or not. If I can't, then I don't charge anything, and we simply have a cup of tea. Sometimes, that's already enough for people to feel better - someone who listens to their problems.
Everything I sell is made especially for the person who orders it. There are no pre-produced good luck charmes. For how could THAT work? Every person is special and individual.
I have absolutely no bad feelings about my business, as long as I do it in a fair way. I'm not Madame Medusa, the fun fair witch, who will tell people that they will get wet if they go out in the rain without an umbrella and charges 50 dollars for it. And as I said: every deed is returned thrice. One should therefore consider thrice whether it's worth the cheat!
Erestor