Pagan Blog Project 2013 - M is for Manners

Manners: Noun – Polite social behavior

I’m sitting here looking at Facebook and reading stories about Gov. Rick Perry.  I don’t really care for Rick Perry.  He reminds me of a used car salesman, not to offend used car salesmen.  When I look at him I see a dark aura around him.  Not evil mind you.  Just dark.  He’s up to something.  He, like many others today lack manners.  Recently Wendy Davis completed an 11 hour filibuster to stop a sweeping abortion bill from being voted on.  Mr. Perry held a news conference making disparaging remarks regarding her family. 

Really?

Where are the manners? 

The SCOTUS recently ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional.  Pat Robertson was quoted as making ugly remarks about the Justices including questioning their own sexual activities. 

Really?

What is going on with people today?  I began to look at the people who have the least amount of respect for other’s rights.  The least amount of, well, manners and time and time again they end up being Christian.  What the actual hell??  

I've said it before and I’ll say it again.  I don’t care what you believe.  You can be whatever you want.  You can worship Twinkies on Thursday if you like, just don’t try to make anyone else do it.

Hubby and I were chatting about this today and basically he told me that people like Rick Perry, Pat Robertson, Dan Cathy have all these followers because Christians believe it’s the end times and they want their guy in charge.  

I have a message that I’d like to give to any Christian’s reading this blog.  (Hahahhahah that’s funny)  Anyway, listen, come over here a second… lean in really close…

If it’s the end times, it doesn't matter who is in charge.  And shouldn't you be happy?  You’ll be in heaven soon?  If you’re right, you can say… HA Told you so.  Go over to your church, huddle together and wait for the rapture.  Stop messing with everyone else!!  Don’t call people names, attack their families or try to take their rights away. Have some freaking manners about it!

OH and one more thing.

It’s OK to not like things, just DON’T BE A DICK ABOUT IT.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

Pagan Blog Project 2013 - M is for Moon Magic

The moon is one of the most important bodies to me and many witches alike.  She controls the tides on our planet and even the tides within the bodies of women and in my opinion men as well, though less apparent. 

We use the phases of the moon to preform our magic.  Each phase has a different skill set, if you will, allowing us to start new projects, wrap up old one and banish negativity from us.  The magic of the moon has been in my life since I was a small child.  I remember laying outside on the ground looking up that the full moon in all her glory, tracing the craters with my eyes, memorizing her shape and features.  I was look up at her and know that somewhere, out there, somewhere my soul mate was lying on the ground, looking up at her and thinking of me as well.

Over the years my faith changed and like any other organic being I thrived wherever I was planted; always looking to the moon for comfort. 

Today I find myself in the service of the Goddess Hecate.  Her Moon is the Dark Moon.  I find myself doing much of my spell work for spiritual purposes during this time.  However my first love is still that big ole full moon in all her glory. 

When my hubby and I were first dating he came to the door one night to pick me up for a date and grabbed my hand… He said, “Follow me, I have something for you.”   I took his hand and we walked down the steps of the townhouse and out to the road.  There just above the street lights of Scripts Ranch was the biggest moon I had ever seen.  She was amazing.  He said, “Look what I got for you.” 

To this day, when we see the moon we still embrace, surrounded by the energy and that wonderful moon magic.

Recently after one of my rituals I found myself lying in the moonbeams.  My bed is positioned so that when the moon is full, the moon beams come in and dance across my bed sheets.  I rolled over to cuddle closer to my hubby and felt the energy surge through my body.  Softly caressing the buttons across my handmade quilt, I felt it rise and fall. 

My breath quickened and my heart fluttered just a bit as the circles I drew with my fingers round the buttons moved faster and more deliberate.  I pointed my toes and embraced the moon’s energy filling my body completely.  The power was astonishing. 

I've tried to venture back to that spot, where I felt that energy several times over the last year and it escapes me.  Only once have I been able to draw down the energy and have it fill my entire body.  I’m still not completely sure if the energy I felt was of the Goddess’ energy entering me or what.  The deep rhythmic motion sometimes leads me to believe that perhaps it was more like a magical moon masturbation instead.

Either way, on each full moon, you’ll find me there lying in wait for her satisfying return.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

Pagan Blog Project 2013 - L is for Law of Three

The Law/Rule of Three is something that is generally found in Wicca and basically means, anything you send out to you returns times three.  Some relate this to another tenant of some Wicca followers to “Do what ye will, but harm none”.

I've had many discussions on the law of three.  I am one of those people that do believe that sending out positive will return positive.  This type of thought process is found in many other religions such as Christianity and Dharmic religions.  These are sometimes referred to as “The Golden Rule” or “Karma”.  I did a blog post on Karma for the letter K.

While writing several of my posts on the threefold law, I've been confronted with several arguments.  The most popular being, what about babies that die.  What did they send out to get that back?  I guess that really depends on how you look at death. Is death a punishment or a reward?  And who is the judge of this behavior and who passes out the grades at the end?

To me the Law of Three is something that was created to keep ourselves in check.  Keep in mind I am not Wiccan.  I do come from a background, meaning I was first introduced into Paganism via Wicca, but my stance today is solitary Hecatean.  I do not have a set of rules before me that I must follow in order to be a devotee.  It is more fluid than that.  I use the Law of Three not because someone tells me it is what I should do, but because it is the right thing to do.  

Right in my eyes.  No one else judges this.

What some fail to realize is that the majority of religion was created to do one thing.  Control people.  Either by fear or by reward, religion either punishes those who do not live up to a set of standards or rewards those with the blessings of the God/dess when they are good.

Though I do try to be good to others, and do well for my environment, it is not because of the Law that I do this.  I pick up the trash because leaving it hurts the lands.  I help others, because I would like them to help me.  I stay positive because being negative is not productive for me. 

When I watch people around me, Christian and non-Christian alike; I’m surprised to see how many people whip out their Gods & Goddesses and toss them around for every little thing.  From touchdowns to school shootings everyone claims that their deity saved them, granted powers or gave rewards for their service.  Some even go so far as to claim that their deity actively seeks out the “wrong doers” and punishes them with floods, tornadoes and the like.

I have two responses here.  First, my deity does not have an interesting in a football game.  She does not care if I gain or lose weight and therefore is not expecting thanks or honors if either of those occur.  Secondly, I do not necessarily believe in a physical manifestation of the Goddess.  To me, Hecate was created in order to personify characteristics that we as humans need/want to have.  Meaning, perhaps it wasn't so much that she walks the night with torches to show me the way, but more so that I use my energy to focus on her torches which then light to show me the way. 

That may sound a bit convoluted, but that is what I believe.  We can manipulate energy.  We are energy.  We can send out and receive energy. We can do it with respect to the law or we can do it for our own belief in what is right.

When presented with these types of situations I often think about it this way.  Do I want someone to do something for me because the law says so, or do I want them to do it because deep inside their convictions tell them?

For me, it’s always the intent that defines the action.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

My Philosophy on Life

Over the past year I've struggled with dealing with birth family issues, weight loss/gain, starting a new business and re-opening an old one.  All while working a full time job.  I've started working with clay and sculpting as well as doing other odds and ends.  I've joined many groups on Facebook related to these different aspects of my life.

This past week an incident occurred in one of my groups that really bugged me.  Someone shared an art piece they did and another member shared that piece outside the group in such a way as to mock the artist, simply because they did not like it.

One word came to mine.  Asshole.

As I began to dig around in my brain about why this bothered me so much I began to see a pattern emerge.  I don’t mind if other people are not like me.  I really don’t.  But why ya gotta be an asshole? (Yeah I went there) let’s examine this.

Pat Robertson. 

Dear Pat, you can bible thump till the cows come home.  You can believe whatever you want to believe and I will defend your right to worship as you choose.  Just don’t be an ass about it.

Bryan Fischer.

Dear Bryan, you can hate gay people.  You can believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman. You can believe that the Boy Scouts of America are wrong for allowing gay scouts.  Just don’t be an ass about it.

Westboro Baptist Church.

Dear WBC, you can hate everyone.  You can witness to people, you can even make up little parody songs if you want to.  But please… please don’t be an ass about it.

People for the Ethical of Animals

Dear PETA, you can believe it’s great to be a vegetarian.  You can make “Go Daddy” style videos to try to help people adopt a healthier, more animal friendly stance on food.  Again.. just don’t be an ass about it.

See that’s the problem with many people in the world today.  They are not happy just being an advocate for what they want to accomplish in life.  They want to make those decisions for everyone.  No one can live and let live.

If your religion says it’s a sin to have gay sex, guess what… don’t have gay sex.  It doesn't say that I can’t have gay sex.  It says YOU can’t have gay sex.

If your personal belief is that it is wrong to have a dog as a pet, then don’t have one.   But don’t try to make it illegal for me to have one.

If you believe that it is wrong to eat meat, then don’t eat meat.  Do NOT walk around trying to outlaw bacon!

I posted a similar status message related to not condemning others for their likes and a friend shared the following video.

I love it!  That’s exactly it.  In my discussions with Hubby we talked about how people shouldn't be an ass about things.  I think that maybe dick maybe more fitting.

So if only just for today, if you don’t like something… Don’t be a dick about it.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

*Note:  Asses are all over the place, not just in the areas mentioned above.  Everyone has an ass and yes, some of them stink.

Pagan Blog Project 2013 - L is for Light-bringer

One of the more well-known titles for Hecate is Hekate Phosphoros, meaning Hekate, the Light-bringer.  In much of the art Hecate is often shown carrying torches.  These torches are said to light the way to secret knowledge.  It is said that she also used those torches along with keys to the underworld to lead Persephone out of the underworld.

www.theoi.com

www.theoi.com

So what does that mean to me?  To me, the meaning of the word light-bringer relates to knowledge.  I believe that she brings knowledge to others.  Her “lights” shine the way to understanding things that one may not currently understand.  This is one of the ways I have found that Hecate came into my life in little bits and pieces. 

I am a Knowledge Management Analyst by profession.  My day is spent helping others locate documents and share information with their teams.  I actually unlock knowledge and share it with those that need it.  This struck me in a very profound way.  I’m extremely happy doing this job.  I love it.  I can completely relate to how it must feel to be able to give the gift of knowledge to others.  Teachers and trainers alike must be able to feel this too.

Two of the aspects of Hecate, the Light-Bringer and the Key Bearer both appeal to me. A third aspect completely blew me away.  Hecate is also known to be a protector of women and called upon when justice is needed.  Early in my life I studied law in hopes that I could work to get justice for abused women. I even volunteered at the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office in Virginia Beach for a while, as a paralegal for the Victim Witness Program.  I spent my days working with victims of crimes and assisting them as they prepared for trials.

Some of the correspondences for the Goddess were showing themselves in my life as I continued to look back.  I played an online game where I took the title of “Belladonna”.  Belladonna is an herb attributed to her.  I've always been attracted to dogs, bats and owls.  Each are known to be associated with Hecate. 

Going back to my adolescent years, I loved to sit in front of a roaring fire and gaze into the flames.  I used to think I could see things in the fire.  I loved the way it danced and swayed.  Fireplaces, candles and even grills intrigued me.  One of my best memories is sitting outside and watching as a fire pile (how we get rid of our garden waste here in the south) burned.  I attribute this to Hecate.

I believe that knowledge is power, and to be able to not only possess that power, but to share it with others is a truly magical thing.  Within each of us, is that Light-bringer.  We have the ability to share our knowledge, be it related to mundane or to the magical.  I believe it’s our duty to be Light-bringers for all.

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(