Global Paganism

For those of you who don't know this, there are Pagans living everywhere.  That's right, all over the world you can find Pagans.  Are we a huge group?  Well that depends on your reference frame.  To me one hundred thousand people is a lot of people, but in the terms of the world it's a very small percentage.  That's just an example, as I have no idea how many Pagans there are in the world, but I do know that we're now a global group.

For the past fifty or sixty years now Pagans have been inviting folks to explore Paganism, to see if it's a good fit for them.  Especially now that we are in the era of the internet, this has wide reaching consequences. Personally I think this is a great thing.  People are opening up to the idea of finding their own faith and making informed decisions   That's awesome!  It's a huge part of my personal practice, the right and ability to choose.  However, it comes with certain responsibilities and dangers that I'm not sure we've all faced up to yet.

There are Pagans now in militant fundamentalist areas.  There are Pagans out there in the world that live their lives in fear.  People that are afraid to practice their faith.  People burning or burying their altars and having to hide in doors from patrols for fear of being beaten, raped, and or killed for their faith.  Does any of this sound familiar?  I'm sure most of the Pagans that might stumble across this have studied the burning times.  If not I'm reasonably sure you've heard of them.  An entire era in history where Pagans were burnt at the stake, hung, drowned, beaten, stabbed, stoned, tortured, and otherwise had their lives ruined.  Many of us who have studied this say that it ended in the late nineteenth century, give or take depending on where you were.  This isn't true.  It's still happening today.

Particularly what comes to mind is a young woman in Syria, who was turned over to rebels as a witch.  She was beaten, raped, and killed.  What makes this worse to me?  It was public, in front of a big group of people, and no one did a thing.  Not only that, but there was no global outcry that I heard.  I stumbled across this while talking to some Pagan friends of mine on the internet.

This upsets me greatly.  Writing this over the course of the week I've swung between anger, disgust, and sadness.  Now it's mostly just sadness.  We live in  a universe that is 13.8 billion years old, on a planet that it is 4.6 billion years old, are members of a species that is several million years old and we still kill each other in the streets.

That being said, there are lots of great people in the world.  I'm hoping that some of them see this and realize, that as Pagans and as humans, we can't afford to view ourselves as anything other than a global society anymore.  To pretend that we're not just causes more hate and pain.  The greatest evil in this world is when good people sit back and let evil things happen.

So what can we do?  Well, first off we need to educate people.  The best way to combat intolerance and hate, in my opinion, is through education.  We need to teach our friends, our families, and our associates that we are all one people regardless of color, religion, sexual orientation, or any other defining factor.  A gay, black, Pagan man is just as much a human being as a straight, white, Evangelical Christian, and deserves just as much respect.  The second thing we can do is to start or donate to charities.  Two great ones are the Heifer Project, and Doctors Without Borders, but there are tons of great ones out there.  Make sure you research your charities carefully though, some aren't as charitable as they try to seem.  Third and last, we can pray.  We can all pray, and hope, and choose to live our lives with compassion and tolerance.  Light your candles, say your spells, tie your knots, blend your herbs, bow your head in front of a crucified Jew, or just take a moment to think about the global state of play.  However you do it, it's valid and important, because it raises awareness, and I believe it raises energy.

So go home and hug you families tight.  If you're safe and somewhere you can practice your faith without fear of persecution I'm glad for you.  If you're not, know that you're in my prayers and spell work.

Gods I'm getting mellow in my old age.  Time to go light a candle for folks and practice martial arts for an hour or two.

Until next time folks,  may the stars watch over you, the moon guard you, and may your heart guide you home.

Cars, Kids, and Aging

Now, before I get into the meat of this post I feel that some announcements need to made.  Well, really just two announcements.

1.  I've decided to post every Tuesday, although I'm not comfortable putting up an exact time of day.  It will probably be in the afternoons or early evenings, but no guarantees   Please come read, enjoy, and click on some ad's so that I have a possibility of both being able to write and eat.

2.  I've also decided to participate in the Pagan Blog Project, which means that every Friday I will be blogging about a subject near and dear to my little Pagan heart.  So, if you want to come learn about my views and Pagan's, Paganism, and what it means to be Pagan, then come check it out.  So far it's been really cool and has challenged me to write more.  Once again, read, enjoy, click on ad's so I don't starve.  Can I over-emphasize that last bit again?  Please help me not starve, I like food.

Over view, you get two blog posts a week now instead of having sporadic random posting. Yay?
Now onwards to the actual blog!

I feel like that old guy who sits on his porch and complains about how the world is going loose in it's joints all day.  This is mostly because I feel this gap between me and others of my generation.  They tend to be irresponsible, arrogant, and ignorant.  Which as many of you know is a good combination if you're trying to make me strangle you or become and incoherent lunatic shouting curses at the skies.

Recently I've realized it's not all their fault.  Some of the blame lies with the parents.  Many of these kids didn't have to good fortune to be born to parents that challenged them constantly to be self sufficient and to think for themselves.  I grew up in a small town learning to fish and garden and shoot.  I can clean and dress an animal carcass, I know which parts will make you sick and which parts are good to eat, I know how to cook, how to sew, and how to do my own dishes.  I've been working since I was fifteen, and the longest I've ever spend unemployed was just over a year.  This last one is a minor miracle in today's economic situation.  What all of this is intended to say is that many of the people in my generation were not taught how to live productive or fruitful lives.  This bothers me for more reasons than I care to get into right now.

What specifically brings this up today is that I saw something while I was driving home from class with my partner.  What I saw was a young man, probably sixteen or seventeen, driving an extremely expensive convertible.  As an EMT I frequently refer to convertible vehicles as rolling coffins, because the convertible top does nearly nothing to stop the potential kinetic energy of the road smashing your skull when you have an accident.  My issue with this isn't with the kid, he's a kid, he's going to drive whatever he can get his hands on that has wheels and goes fast enough to do something stupid in.  I get that.  My issue is with the parenting, or rather, the lack thereof.

When I turned sixteen I was allowed to drive the 1984 Toyota pickup truck my parents had owned for years.  It was what I still think of today when I think of a beater truck.  That being said, I had a minor accident in the summer after my freshman year where no one was injured.  I now drive a 1991 Ford Explored.  Still a beater, but I've been in several accidents, it still runs and no one has been injured, except for one person who had a prior injury aggravated if you want to count that.  I was also allowed to drive my Moms' suburban around town and to run errands.  What do all of these vehicles have in common?  They were and are great vehicles for people because of their safety features, something that a convertible just doesn't have.

Something people need to realize is that accidents happen.  It's why we have seat belts and auto insurance, despite the fact that they can both be a pain in the ass at times.  The other thing they need to realize is that convertibles and sports cars aren't designed to be particularly safe.  They're designed to look cool and go fast, which for teenagers whose brains haven't fully developed is a really big temptation.  Ergo, giving your kid a convertible for his sixteenth birthday, bad idea.  Giving them an old beater that they might not like as much but is safer, good idea.

Having this conversation with my partner the rest of the way home, I suddenly realize that I sound like a grumpy old man.  I'm okay with that, I feel like it means I might be getting just a smidge smarter or wiser, but at the same time it makes me feel silly.  I'm in my early twenties!  What am I doing talking like an old man about how the world is circling the drain?  I don't really know, but if it's this or the uninformed arrogance of the so  called "moral majority" of my generation then I prefer this.

And that's my two cents.

Festivals

So I'm participating in the pagan blog project, which is a movement to explore Pagan faiths through blogging. We blog on one topic a week for a whole year.

For this week I've chosen the topic of festivals, also called sabbats or fire festivals. There are eight major festivals in the Pagan year, two are solstices, two are equinoxes, and two others. They are, in order, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltaine, Litha, Lughnasdh, Mabon, and Samhain.  Specifically, I'm going to talk about my favorite things to do on and around the festivals.

On Yule I love to spend time with my family, because Yule is the beginning of the Pagan year we frequently exchanged useful gifts and the greatest gift of all; wisdom.  There's always good food and funny stories, and it is a great light in one of the darkest times of the year.

On Imbolc I also celebrate my birthday, because it's ridiculously close to Imbolc, separated by only six days.  I also get together with those that I love and offer help to those who need it, because traditionally this was the make it or break it point.  You either had enough food to make it through the winter, in which case you celebrated, or you didn't so you ate everything so as to die semi full and happy.  Now it's more about preparing for the coming spring.  It also tends to land right around midterms, so for me it's a big time to pray for focus and success in school!

On Ostara I love to paint eggs and have large family dinners celebrating the joy of life.  It also tends to fall about a month before finals, so I tend to pray for help keeping my spirits high and studying.


On Beltaine we celebrate the marriage of the god and the goddess, and I love to dance the maypole dance and look forward to taking my honey out on a date. It's also a celebration for the end of the semester.

On Litha my family puts on a play representing the death of oak king and the rise of the holly king, symbolizing the switch from the light half to the dark half of the year, and I absolutely love to be involved in everything from props to parts.

On Lughnasdh I like to get together with the group and plan and prepare for the coming winter, especially the coming school semester!

On Mabon we give thanks for all we have and all we have gained over the last year.  I like to write a letter for myself to read next year, all about my triumphs and challenges that year.

Finally I treat Samhain as a day of silence.  I wake up at sunrise and hold a private ritual for my ancestors that have passed, giving them thanks for their lessons and help over the past year.  I don't speak for the rest of the day in honor of my ancestors.  That night I throw a wild party celebrating the Pagan new year.

So that's what I do for the eight major festivals, hopefully that gives my Pagan readers some ideas.  For my non Pagan readers, what do you like to do on your special holidays?

On futility

I truly think that 85% of humanity is a waste of space.  It's a combination of arrogance and ignorance that is displayed by this majority that brings me to my knees in frustration.  The most upsetting thing about this is that there is nothing any of us can do to end it.  These idiots will continue to control and contribute to society in the absolute worst way.

I would love to believe that we could change this through education.  However, no one seems to care enough about their own education anymore to make the effort to learn.  I see this even in my college studies, students are more interested in defaming others and tearing people down then they are in learning.  A large portion of society seems to lack the ability to logic anymore.  They also lack social grace and tact, qualities that were highly regarded in my family as I grew up.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned and frustrated with these idiots.  I have found quite a few people that are willing to learn and grow.  These are the same people that are willing to accept new ideas and support open communication.  They are the same people that cry out against injustice and the shaming of a person for being victimized or for expressing themselves.  I see these voices cry out and it gives me a great feeling of hope, despite the steamroller of idiocy and hatred I see at work every day in my life.

Here's hoping that our efforts aren't the very definition of futility.

See ya soon folks.

Creativity

You know what drives me absolutely nuts? Poetry. Because I recognize now that I am not a very good poet, because to be a good poet involves so many things. It involves rhyme and meter and feel and line length and over all length, which are things either you understand or you don't. I understand them well enough to know good poetry from bad, from a technical stand point, but nowhere near well enough to write good poetry. But here's what bugs me, I haven't found many others my age who do write good poetry. Free form has destroyed poetry, in my opinion. People change rhyme schemes and meter mid-sentence. It's ridiculous.

That being said, write poetry. If it makes you happy don't let my opinion stop you. If you want an editor, I'm here. I'm pretty good at it, and I'd love to see your work and try to help you get better. This goes back to the fact that I feel there is a severe lack of good art in the world today.

To clarify, I define art as something that displays a moment of truth, a shining spot of clarity in an otherwise grim and uncaring world. Art helps us define not only the world around us, but ourselves. That being said, there's a lot of crap running around in the world that pretends to be art. That infuriates me, but what's worse is that people buy into it. It has no creativity, no passion, no truth of the human experience. Whoever made it is quite obviously dead inside. It's pretty obvious to anyone that has spent any time critically examining art.

So I want to help my generation, because I feel that this lack of art leads to a lack definition. That lack of definition, that inability to define yourself and your world, that is what is destroying humanity. Ergo, the only way to try and fix that is to help people grow their art. So bring it to me and I'll try to help.
So, tune in next week folks for a blog post about higher education.