Meeting CathRadan Again….and thoughts about Wicca
Saturday August 20, 2005 ~1:35 am
Monday August 8, 2005I got to visit Cathradan and his wife again last Monday. It’s an almost two hour drive to their place, so luckily it was before gas prices skyrocketed. I actually got gas for $2.29! Hard to imagine now. :p I’d been trying to meet up with Cath again ever since our last meeting back in ( Read more... )
Monday August 8, 2005I got to visit Cathradan and his wife again last Monday. It’s an almost two hour drive to their place, so luckily it was before gas prices skyrocketed. I actually got gas for $2.29! Hard to imagine now. :p I’d been trying to meet up with Cath again ever since our last meeting back in ( Read more... )
Some advice I was given, was to quit with the leaping from idea to idea, from book to book, from tutor to training program to path, and to just -be still and listen for the voice of the gods direct communication to me-
Look to the practices of the Roman, Greek, Celtic etc peoples for inspiration on ritual if you seek to add ritual to your daily routines. Notice how often times, most times, there was no elaborate ritual involved. A representation or manifestation of the divine (statue, stream, cross roads, etc) was simply the focal point, the place where simple offerings were left, as simple as pouring a cup of water for the God to drink.
Marking the passing of the seasons, the phases of the Moon, the quarters and cross-quarters of the year, such things as eclipses, all that is the reliable progression of Nature, doesn't need complex dogma. It really doesn't. If you're uncomfortable with the level of forced formal structure imposed upon a primal natural moment, then don't do it. If someone says you have to in order to be part of their group, coven, flavor of Wicca, don't do it.
I only say all this because some of the Wiccan groups I've had dealings with over the years have been more rigid, hidebound, and dogmatic than the Christian church I was raised in. Some of the Wiccans I've met and know however, are genuinely great people. It's a toss-up which you find ;)
For me, the Lord & Lady are not some fluffy happy deities but rather the masculine and feminine god forces- they encompass the whole of being, birth/death, light/dark, etc.
remember that ritual is only meaningful if you believe in it. If you want to just sit in the beam of the moon during the Full moon, and meditate, that's ~fine~. Going outside and dancing a circle isn't necessary. I think the God & Goddess, Lord & Lady will let you know what is needful for you to do if you take the time to be silent and let them speak.
Too many people have learned all they know from books, or from people who learned from books, and books serve as a help when there is no teacher, but many books are just utter nonsense as anyone who stops and really thinks about it can see- not many people step back from the whole thing and really put themselves into the hands of the gods to be their instrument. It's scary, and I'm by no means perfect at it, but I know my level of stress, doubt and uncertainty have dropped to very little in the last few months that I quit seeking answers from other people and waited for the presence of the Divine.
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Because just the fact I exist and eat means I harm something, which is in contradiction to the main creed of 'do no harm'.
I never thought about the Wiccan Creed to extending to that extent.
Marking the passing of the seasons, the phases of the Moon, the quarters and cross-quarters of the year, such things as eclipses, all that is the reliable progression of Nature, doesn't need complex dogma. It really doesn't. If you're uncomfortable with the level of forced formal structure imposed upon a primal natural moment, then don't do it. If someone says you have to in order to be part of their group, coven, flavor of Wicca, don't do it.
I definitely agree that complex rituals are not necessary and just, well complicate, what should simply be an intuitive connection to the Universe. For that reason, I doubt I’ll ever formally join a Coven. I’m perfectly content following a Solitary path as I explore Wicca.
Too many people have learned all they know from books, or from people who learned from books, and books serve as a help when there is no teacher, but many books are just utter nonsense as anyone who stops and really thinks about it can see
The extent that I use books is to simply serve as reminders and awakenings to things that already strike true in my heart.
- not many people step back from the whole thing and really put themselves into the hands of the gods to be their instrument. It's scary, and I'm by no means perfect at it, but I know my level of stress, doubt and uncertainty have dropped to very little in the last few months that I quit seeking answers from other people and waited for the presence of the Divine.
I’ve only recently began letting myself go and trusting in the Universe to guide me. It is indeed scary to let go like that, and I’m still in a sort of transition state between releasing myself to the Universe to guide me and trusting in my heart to serve as the communicator of the Universe’s will….and between clinging and second guessing and grabbing onto more mundane means of advice rather than trusting in myself to be properly guided by higher powers.
--Moonshadow
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