I Am Not Nice

From a post, made years ago, in the Pagan news groups.


Hilda Marshall, citing the Rules of Acquisition to All, said:

In an attempt to neutralize a slanderous and utterly unfounded rumor regarding myself, propagated amongst the Pagan community as a whole by I know not whom, I offer this open letter as a rebuttal.

I am not nice.

If the only people who Truly Understand are those who let you use them for whatever you want to use them for, I do not Truly Understand.

If the only Healers are those who let you deplete their personal energy and other resources, I am not a Healer.

If the only True Witches are those whose only reply to your tales of woe is "There, there, dear, of course you were right all along, and anyone who disagrees is evil," then I am not a True Witch.

Since my limits are so clear-cut and appear to be unusually extreme in this community, let me detail what I *will* allow.

You may visit me if I invite you, and stay for however many days we agree upon ahead of time.  You may not invite yourself or extend your stay without my permission, and you should not expect me to keep up with your changes in plans without reasonable advance notice.

You may not prevail upon my housemates.  If I invite you, I'm responsible for setting boundaries; and for informing you if you overstep those boundaries.  My housemates did not invite you, and should not be held responsible for asking you not to eat their food, talk at them when they're not interested, or instruct them on how to take care of their health, their pets, or their lives in general.

You may call me on the phone to request advice or a sympathetic ear.  You may not do so after 10:00 PM or before 8:00 AM unless it is an emergency.  Nor may you do so at ANY time if your sole intention is to whine the I Can't litany at me.  I hate that song.  Save it for the government.

You may borrow my stuff, provided you ask first, and return it to me in the condition in which you first borrowed it within a reasonable amount of time.  You may not loan or give it to other people without asking me first, and I reserve the right to take back anything that is being misused, broken, or left on a wet floor and trampled.

You are VERY welcome to participate in the many fun projects in which I am involved!  I only ask that you think hard about what you're promising and don't agree to do anything that you'll likely decide later not to do, for whatever reason.  ("Things just got too crazy" is not a reason.)  And if you do end up breaking a promise, please tell me as soon as you decide to, rather than waiting until the last minute, so that I can formulate a backup plan.

I understand that there are many Witches who are doing their best to create a world that runs on Pagan Standard time.  I fully comprehend that there are large numbers of Witches who think that all property belongs to all people and anyone who objects has "control issues."  I know from experience that incredible numbers of Witches believe that they are owed attention and support whenever they need it from whomever they choose.  I realize that there are many, many Witches who hope, work, and dream to create a world free from courtesy.

I am not one of them.

Fwd: books

Recommended books for Wicca

"Wicca for Beginners" by Thea Sabin is my first choice for any seeker. Written by a 3*BTW HPS, for beginners. There's nothing in it that I wish seekers weren't exposed to, as is often the case, and it covers all the basics in a way that is compatible with BTW practice.

The Elements of Ritual by Deborah Lipp thorougly explains the mechanics of circle casting. Actually explains WHY. Very helpful.

I really like what David and Sorita are putting out via Avalonia Press. 'Toward A Wiccan Circle', 'Circle of Fire' and 'Wicca Magical Beginnings'. In turn these books cover practical 101, conceptual/symbolism and History.

As for beginners, but not at the total start, I still heart Vivianne Crowley's "Wicca - the old religion for a new century".

One of my up-line elders, Eileen Smith, wrote a couple of books. The first, "Earthgard Wicca" was published almost a decade ago and the second, "A Witches Heart" was published only a couple of years ago. She was also the teacher at the Wicca 101 that got me started in all this.

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The Wheel of the Year: Now available on Amazon Kindle

The Official Manual for Spice Cadets: Now available on Amazon Kindle

Wheel of the Year

Here, within this circle, we shall learn the dance of the Lady, Mother of all things, and her beloved, the Lord of Death and Resurrection.

This dance is ancient beyond time, yet eternally new. It is the dance of atoms and of particles that flicker in and out of existence in a wink. It is the dance of the sun and the moon. It is the stately dance of galaxies in their courses. It is the birth and death of our universe itself - the breath of the Gods. This is the unbroken circle, the Wheel of the Year. The circle is never broken, and its movement is never-ending.

....

The tale of the Lord and Lady is told again and again by every voice in all of time and space. Everything in the universe, from the largest to the smallest, relates the story in its own way and its own time. Their story rings across space and time, and in all the worlds that spin their way through eternity.

We shall follow this dance, in its many intricate steps. Indeed, we shall see this dance as many different dances, woven together into a tapestry of space and time, of light and life, and of mystery. We shall follow the story of birth and growth, of discovery and mastery, of age, ripeness, and decay. We shall pursue the twin mysteries of death and resurrection, and of love, without which none of the other mysteries would take place.

(From the introduction)

Wheel of the Year - Now an e-book

The Wheel of the Year

This book is an exploration of the Wiccan Wheel of the year – the eight festivals of the year. This started out as a series of essays on The Witches' Voice. When I printed them out for a friend who was asking about Wiccan holidays, I realized I had the makings of a book.

The book is now available for Kindle users.

---

By the way, you don't have to buy the physical device. You can download a reader for your computer.

"I Am Woman -- Protesting a Strong Woman"

This came over the transom last night.  After I degaussed my irony meter, I decided to share this with my loyal readers -- all six of them. 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Karl Lembke

Date: Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 10:02 PM

Subject: For blog

To: gmail karl.lembke@gmail.com

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: [SoCalPagans] "I am Woman" -- Demonstration at Sarah Palin Reception in Newport Beach, Sep 25 Evening

 

_PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION at SARAH PALIN RECEPTION_

"I am woman ... hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore,

....

And I come back even stronger, not a novice any longer,

'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul!"

--words/music by Helen Reddy/Ray Burton

_Thursday, September 25_

 

COMMUNITY DEMONSTRATION: "*I AM WOMAN!" ... SARAH PALIN RECEPTION in NEWPORT BEACH (reception for Palin hosted by the LINCOLN CLUB) *

TIME: 5 pm meet (see below for more information about carpooling from TEMPLE)

COST: no cost

DESCRIPTION: The Director of The TEMPLE passionately invites you to join her in full sisterly support of the women organizers of an Orange County public demonstration: *"I am Woman!"* ... at a fundraising reception for Sarah Palin at the Island Hotel (formerly the Four Seasons) at Fashion Island. The event for Palin is hosted by the Lincoln Club of Orange County. Organizers of the protest share: /"Sarah Palin is coming to Orange County on Thursday, September 25^th . She doesn't speak for us! Let us show her what Helen Reddy really had in mind when she wrote, 'I am Woman.' Join us in protest of her run for Vice President. Rally for women's rights to choice, for separation of church and state, to end the war, protection of the environment and more. Come with your signs, banners, flags, flyers, kazoos and drums, and join us as we peacefully protest with a ROAR!"/

/ /

NOTE from The TEMPLE: Also recommended: very comfortable walking shoes, layered clothing, and a no-drip jar candle to hold. TEMPLE will provide signs for some women to hold, and/or bring your own.

MEETING LOCATIONS:

[redacted]

I'm not giving the carpool or contact information.  I figure those who are interested can join the mailing list and find the info in the archives.

What strikes me is, a group of women is gathering to sing about strong, invincible women in order to protest a .... strong .... invincible .... woman.

Go figure.

Giving and taking

George Bush brought gifts to Pope Benedict XVI, and people are carping about them.

There is a link so you can read the case for and against the gift and its giving. But this leads into another topic.

I’ve asked before - how do you receive a good? If someone gives you a gift that they’ve spent a good deal of time selecting for you, even if it is not to your taste, do you accept it and ask for the receipt so you can return it? Or do you accept it and then shove it away in a drawer? Or do you keep it nearby and consider it, use it, and try to figure out just what it was about the gift that made someone select it for you? Sometimes there is some self-discovery in doing that. You learn what you show to other people, for one thing.

I think I want to refer back to this when I do my rewrite of my book on the Wiccan Rede.

More readers of my stuff.

The bumping of this thread afforded me the opportunity to take advantage of FreeSeeker's link to the Karl Lembke essay. (Thanks FreeSeeker.) Oddly, although I am a self-professed word junkie, it had never occurred to me to plumb the definitions of the words in The Rede. How very intriguing. Lembke states: ""Bide" does not mean "obey". It means "endure"." That piqued my interest, so I looked it up. Following is Merriam-Webster's online offering:

Main Entry: bide
Pronunciation: 'bId
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): bode /'bOd/; or bid·ed; bided; bid·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bIdan; akin to Old High German bItan to wait, Latin fidere to trust, Greek peithesthai to believe
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses
1 past usually bided : to wait for -- used chiefly in the phrase bide one's time
2 archaic : WITHSTAND
3 chiefly dialect : to put up with : TOLERATE
intransitive senses
1 : to continue in a state or condition
2 : to wait awhile : TARRY
3 : to continue in a place : SOJOURN

M-W, indeed, confirmed Mr. Lembke's statement with meaning 2. However, I suspect that it also may be a contraction or variation of the more common abide with the following definition:

Main Entry: abide
Pronunciation: &-'bId
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): abode /-'bOd/; or abid·ed; abid·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English AbIdan, from A-,perfective prefix + bIdan to bide; akin to Old High German ir-,perfective prefix
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses
1 : to wait for : AWAIT
2 a : to endure without yielding : WITHSTAND b : to bear patiently : TOLERATE
3 : to accept without objection
intransitive senses
1 : to remain stable or fixed in a state
2 : to continue in a place : SOJOURN
synonym see BEAR, CONTINUE
- abid·er noun
- abide by 1 : to conform to 2 : to acquiesce in

This being the case, perhaps we are being called on to endure or withstand or bear patiently the Rede, or perhaps it derives from the intransitive sense of both bide and abide: sojourn or dwell, i.e., live. As in "where do you abide?" or as some of us who were raised in the Christian tradition might remember, "Abide with Me." Thus our charge might be to live the Rede.

Beyond the denotation, however, isn't the etymology fascinating? Akin to German: to wait; Latin: to trust; and Greek: to believe. Of course, as we know, the word "rede," although related to "read" as a verb, means "counsel" or "advice" in its nominative sense, as used here.

As such, perhaps we are also being called on not only to endure, but also to wait, trust, and believe —- and live — the Wiccan counsel or advice. Hmmm. Think on that. Isn't that lovely? Though I can't explain why, I find those words very comforting. (and very challenging).

My articles get around

The long form of the Rede is traditional, at least in the sense of the term which means "I think I've covered up all traces that I made it up last Tuesday". It appears to be a collection of law and lore which would apply to at least one line of Witches. In particular, the line from which came one Lady Gwen, who founded the New England Coven of Traditional Witches (NECTW).

...

From: Karl Lembke probably published in 'Pagan Ink", although this was received through private channels.

More on Imbolc

From the Wild Hunt blog.

More links to my stuff

Boosting the relevance of pages that link to my stuff.

And also, this'll help me find related stuff when I want to.

Article copied here

Fortunately, with full attribution.

I'm cited here

There's a link to my essay on Imbolc.

Pagan websites

http://www.cog.org/ Covenant of the Goddess, http://www.aquatabch.org/index.php The Aquarian Tabernacle Church http://www.newwiccanchurch.net/articles/index.htm The New Wiccan Church (established 1973)

My Paganism

From the comments to a recent post:

...Side question: in what way are you pagan? Or is that just for a cool sounding buzz in your blog's title?

Well, it is a cool addition to a blog title. It's actually one of the few titles I've chosen that haven't been horrible puns. The title I used for a pagan forum was "The Rite Stuff", and for a Fantasy Role-Playing game forum, I used "Dial M for Mordor".

I'm pagan in the sense that I am not a member of any of the Abrahamic religions. I have been initiated into a Wiccan tradition, and hold the rank of High Priest in the tradition.

One day, a co-worker asked me about Wiccan holy days, and I decided that, rather than spend the next several hours talking with him about them, I'd print out some of my essays. Curiously enough, the theme of the month for one year at Witches' Voice had included each of major festivals.

These are:

• Imbolc
• Spring Equinox
• Beltane
• Summer Solstice
• Lammas
• Autumn Equinox
• Samhain
• Yule

When I hefted the printout, I realized I had enough for a small book. I'm currently re-writing it so it will present a more unified book.

Other essays on the same site have touched on:

• The Wiccan Rede
• The Threefold Law
• The sacred and the profane
• Abortion
• Tolerance
• Faith
• Magic

And more, besides!

In politics, I ran with the Libertarian party for quite a while, because I noticed the guiding principle of the party was essentially the Wiccan Rede. I eventually left when it became apparent to me that they were committing the same sort of errors the "newage" (rhymes with "sewage") crowd commits in interpreting the Rede. Among other things, one of the State officers had proclaimed that anyone who supported the Iraq War was not a Libertarian.

I have taken him at his word, and no longer support the Party.

The Wiccan Rede is quoted as, "If it harms none, do what you will." Far too many turn this into a Commandment: "Thou shalt not harm."

It's not a commandment. "Rede" means advice. Further, even if it were a commandment, all it says is that you have blanket permission to do things that cause no harm. Strictly speaking, it's silent on the cases where harm results.

The implication, though, is pretty obvious. Whether or not you cause harm matters. Given the choice, you should choose to cause no harm. Given real-world choices between greater and lesser harm, you choose the lesser.

One of the sages of Wicca, Doreen Valiente, has said, "Allowing harm to continue unchecked is not 'harming none'. Rather, it harms everyone."

The hundreds of thousands of people found in Saddam's mass graves have arguably been harmed. So have the victims of suicide bombings encouraged, at least in part, by Saddam's $25,000 payments. The US was in a position to stop this harm, and those who say it was wrong to interfere are violating the spirit – at least – of the Rede.

I take my Paganism seriously, and it is far more to me than an excuse to party, or a way to shock my elders. To me, it is not, as Laura Schlessinger had once labeled it, "a teenage fad". (Though at my age, I wouldn't mind being mistaken for a teenager on occasion!) It informs my politics and my judgments in many areas of life.

Although I am pretty conservative, I remain unpredictable, and you can never fully predict where I'll come down on a given issue. (Hi, Joan!)

Why "techno" Pagan? Just a way of dispelling any notion that I might be a back-to-nature type. I embrace technology, and indeed, I expect it to provide the key to our leaving this planet better than we found it. Technology, and the human creativity that has yielded it, is a positive good, and I embrace it wholeheartedly.

Gad! Look at the time!

Look at the date!

Happy Bastille Day!

Being quoted

Every now and then I do a google search on myself. It's a solitary vice, and about as productive as other solitary vices.

I notice I've been quoted in a sermon given February 1, 2004 by Reverend Jane Bramadat

...Imbolc...a time when new beginnings are in the air; a time when, as one pagan puts it: "This is the Maiden Sowing, during which we sow not seeds, but plans. All that follows takes its shape from the shadows we cast before us on this day, and these shadows will become the rows which we plant and plow. And if we choose not carefully, the ruts in which we may be trapped." (Karl Lembke - Witch Vox) Some thoughtful words indeed...first we sow plans, then the seeds for which the plans were made. And we need to make those plans carefully because they cast large shadows and if we have planned carelessly, we may find ourselves in ruts we did not recognize as such and find it exceedingly difficult to get out. This is a time when integrity and inspiration are most needed.

When you scatter seed, there's no telling where it'll wind up.

Happy Imbolc!

Tomorrow is groundhog day.

It's also the canonical date for the neopagan celebration of Imbolc, the first festival of the waxing year. Imbolc celebrates the awakening of the Goddess in her aspect of Maiden.

On this day, we honor the return of the light to the world. Since the winter solstice, the days have been getting longer, but very slowly. And the world itself has been getting colder. Now, the increase in the length of the day is noticeable, and we'll find that the sun is rising earlier. Some of us will no longer be getting up and leaving for work before sunrise.

This is also as cold as the year gets. After this, the growing sunlight overcomes the thermal mass of the soil beneath us, and things begin to warm up.

The trees begin awaken and grow new buds. (This is about the same time of the year as Tu B'Shevat, the fifteenth day of Shevat. In the Jewish calendar, this is the new year of the trees. It made sense to wait until you were sure a tree had survived the winter before paying taxes on it, so taxes were collected on this date.)

I find it interesting that President Bush is giving the State of the Union address on this date, and three days after a world-shaking election in Iraq. If he were Wiccan, I could say he was tapping into the symbolism of the light arriving. It's far from the end of the story – it's barely into the beginning.

But the light is a promise, and the promise grows over the coming months and years, if it receives proper care.

The seed hasn't really been planted yet, but the order we placed in the seed catalog has arrived, and we hold the seed in our hand.

Plants, once in the soil, will do everything they can to grow and spread. But if they don't get proper care – water, food, weeding as necessary – they will die, and the promise of the light will be lost.

There are those who are clamoring for an "exit strategy". We may leave Iraq someday, but we can't pull out now, any more than the farmer can go off on a cruise as soon as he's scattered his seed in the field. If he does, he'll return to a field of weeds. If we leave, we won't have to return – the weeds will come looking for us.

All Pagans Now?

Mary Wakefield talks with a Druid to find out why Paganism is so attractive these days.

Poor thing, she starts with a bit of a disadvantage – she can't spot Pagans in a crowded pub. (Fellow Pagans always seem to have a particular feel about them, which I can read across the room. I call it "The Lady's Fingerprints".) Finally, her contact, Steve, pulls out his copy of a magazine, The Witchtower. (AAAARGH! What a horrible pun! I wish I'd thought of it!)

One of the things that attracts people to the Neopagan movement is the apparent utter lack of rules (or maybe I should write, the utter lack of Rules.)

So, can a modern pagan just pick any god to worship? I asked. Egyptian? Roman? African? Are there any rules? Steve put his hands self-consciously under the table, ‘No rules,’ he said. ‘Being a pagan is about being free from institutional rules.

And another thing that draws people in:

Pagans, I discovered during our second pint, are also united by their sense of the injustices done them by Christians. The last 2,000 years of history, as explained by Steve, is a heart-wrenching tale of innocent occult revivals squashed by ignorant, scaredy-cat Christians; of forced conversions by English kings desperate for Roman approval; of goddess-worship suppressed by chauvinist orthodoxy and cries of 'Burn the witch!' Eventually, after a tour through the Enlightenment (good), Freemasonry (also good), Constantine (bad) and Dominican monks (Satan spawn), we reached the 20th century, where, said Steve, paganism was once again revived by a man called Gerald Gardner. In 1957, after 20 years of frolicking with a coven of witches, Gardner wrote Witchcraft Today — a mix of folklore, Masonic rituals, nudism, sex and Aleister Crowley-style magic which became a sort of handbook for the modern Wicca witch and inspired the whole postmodern frogspawn of spiritually and sexually liberated pagan sects. 'Paganism today is continually evolving,' said Steve. 'There’s no right or wrong thing to believe, so even if we disagree, it’s impossible for pagans to be schismatic.'

<*ahem*> Tell a group of Pagans you charge a set fee for initiations and tell me what kind of reaction you get. There are other Rules – lines you dare not cross. Pagan tolerance only goes so far.

A huge number of folks who join the Neopagan movement do so because they feel alienated from the religion they were brought up in, or never acquired one to begin with. But religion is one of the things that have brought people together for thousands of years, probably before we developed any other kind of social groups. The religious urge exists in most, if not all people. It seems to be hard-wired in to our brains, and in some people, the need to make contact with something higher simply won't be denied.

Jim Taylor, an Eastern Orthodox theologian has written an article, "A Christian Speaks on the Faith and Path of Wicca", in which he states that Wicca is a path to God that is just as valid as his own. He warns his fellow Christians that the judgement they pass upon serious Pagans will be turned toward them on judgement day.

His take on those who reject their home religions and turn toward Neopaganism? "To those who have been driven away from Jesus by bad experiences, incompetent or vicious clergy, or unfriendly churches, Jesus is perfectly capable of relating through the persona of Apollo, of Isis, of Erzulie, or of any other divine being a person looks toward." As C.S. Lewis stated, through the character of Aslan, "When you keep an oath for the oath's sake, it is to Me you have sworn, not to Tash."

At times I worry that many get in to the Neopagan movement in order to have a social group, and not to have serious contact with the Divine. Most of the time, though, I realize the Divine has a way of making contact with those who truly need it.

Autumn Equinox

Greetings!

The wheel of the year has turned, and we have reached the autumn equinox. On this day, the day and night are equal in length, and from here on, the darkness will outweigh the light.

In the Wiccan religion, this is the maiden harvest. The harvest season is in full flow, and all of nature's bounty is reaped, processed, and stored away for the coming winter. That which we have tended in the preceding year is weighed in the balance and judged against our wants and needs. Here is where our intentions meet the results of our actions, and we learn the truth about ourselves.

"Harvest", of course, does not refer only to the crops growing in the field, or even to our activities of only one year. The Wheel of the Year is reflected in all cycles, great and small. We see the same pattern in the lunar month, the course of the day, and even in the cycle of a single breath.

We also see the cycle in the span of civilizations, and of the lives of men.

I happened to think of Robert Heinlein's book, The Puppet Masters. In this story, we see a son, growing up in his father's shadow. He is told that he will be promoted to head the Agency on the day he overrules his father, and is right.

On the day that happens, his father steps aside and tells him he's in charge. What's more, he refuses to take command back. The son is now in charge, like it, or not!

Here, the son has harvested his independence. He has graduated from childhood, and though he has gained responsibility and freedom, he has lost the protective mantle his father had heretofore spread over him. Every harvest has its pleasures and its pains.

This time of year, let us pause to reflect on what we have harvested, both the joys and the hardships. In each case, let us pray for the wisdom to recognize how the seeds we have planted, and the way we have tended them, have combined to give us the harvests we deal with today.

Every moment, for good or ill, we plant a seed. Every choice we make nourishes one crop or another.

Let us harvest, and plant, wisely.