Dragon's Weave Wicca

Since I recently began to study some more current material being published in the Pagan sector, I've been considering (again) what it means to be clergy within our path. It's a cliche in our religion that we are all clergy, but that statement should carry some implications that few of us really live up to. I've written on this subject before, but it bears restatement. If you needed the advice or assistance of clergy, are you the kind of priest/ess that you would go to? Are you skilled in more than Advanced Circle Casting? If your priestly skills begin and end with ritual, then you are not a well-rounded clergyperson. Not at all.

Part of the process of self improvement involves confronting ourselves on our weaknesses and acknowledging them. Occasionally, we must concede that the weakness is always going to be a weakness, and that's that. If we need strength in these areas, we'll just have to outsource. Many of us have had the situation arise where a potential covener is just too psychologically damaged and needy for us to handle, and we refer that person to a therapist. But more often than not, in looking at our own selves, we'll find that there are things we can do to overcome our weaknesses. It may be costly in terms of time and energy, but if we feel the issue is important enough, we'll spend those resources.

Recently, I had noticed that my angry outbursts at home had increased in frequency and severity. Both my wife and daughter had commented on it, but I didn't feel that I was being senselessly angry. I felt I had cause to feel that way, when I did. I'd used anger as a primary response mechanism for most of my life. Of course, that was the problem...

Wandering through Barnes & Noble one evening, I idly asked myself what subject I should be looking for. My eyes settled on the row of books in the aisle to my left, which were all about... anger management. The biggest book in the center of the shelf was The Anger Control Workbook, a book where the title is printed in very large red letters. Now, I can be pretty dense, but sometimes the hint is too blunt to ignore. After lightly examining that book, I rejected it in favor of a book by the same author, When Anger Hurts: Quieting the Storm Within. Ive been working with it for about 2 weeks now. My wife has told me she's noticed and is very supportive of the changes I'm making. It's important work, much more so (in my opinion) than any other studies I'm involved with. So this book has moved to the top of my Must-Do-List.

I'll keep you posted.

I'm working through a few books, with the idea of writing a review of two of them for both this LJ and for other Pagan publications. I'm not nearly ready to do a review of any of them yet, but I certainly have some impressions so far.

The first one I'm reading through is Learning Latex by Griffiths & Higham. And by the way, that pronounced "lay-tek"... It's a publication system most common on UNIX-based computer systems. And you thought I was studying fetish wear, didn't you? Perv...

Another book is Sacred Paths for Modern Men by Dagonet Dewr. It expands on Moore & Gillette's King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by extending the archetypes to 12 in number, rather than 4. I picked up the book skeptically; I've seen far, far too many books recently on how men's issues that intersect with Pagansim that were just so bad, they weren't worth reading. I decided to give this a go, because the writing style reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Dianne Sylvan. Similar use of humor, I think. Anyway, I'm grudgingly starting to like this book, so I may have a good review on it later.

I just received a book from Amazon the other day, but hadn't picked it up until this morning: The Study of Witchcraft by Deborah Lipp. I got through the foreword by Issac Bonewitz and just 8 pages into the meat of the book before deciding I loved this book. I'm really, really looking forward to this one!

I don't normally use this blog for posting of random personal thoughts. I used to have three blogs, the other two containing my political rants and raves, and my off-the-cuff personal stuff. I gave those up, largely because I didn't want to spend all my time in front of the computer.

That said, I'm picking up a Heinlein meme from woodwitch because it supports something I've been saying about and to Wiccan practitioners for years: you need to be able to do a variety of things well, and not all of them religious. I don't know how many priestesses and priests I've run into that believe because they have a library of Wicca 101 books, 4 athames and a metric butt-ton of incense that they're good clergy. Wrong-o.

So here's the meme (which woodwitch yanked from someone else's blog, by-the-bye). Heinlein had this quote:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Take this quote apart, and see how many you can say you're able to do.

Change a diaper. Can do. My daughter's 14 now, so it's been a while, and I hope to not need that particular skill again.

Plan an invasion. Can do. It's a lot more involved than people think it is, since they usually focus on those doing the combat. They rarely think about things like food and water. Always remember your supply lines.

Butcher a hog. Nope. If I tried, I'm sure I would screw it up. I'd like to learn, though. I have eaten meat in the past and am doing so again. I've always believed that people should have an intimate understanding of where their food comes from.

Conn a ship. I know the theory, and I've done it in simulations.

Design a building. Can do. I'm in process of designing our next house, in fact.

Write a sonnet. I've written hundreds. Will Shakespeare, I'm not, but I've been told I'm pretty good at the form.

Balance accounts. Yes. And of all these items, this is a skill that should be required of all Wiccan clergy. If you can balance your accounts, it means you're able to take of your financial affairs. I've seen too many of us living near or in poverty simply because they couldn't (or couldn't be bothered to) properly manage their finances.

Build a wall. Done it. From wood and/or stone.

Set a bone. I know the theory. I've never had to do it.

Comfort the dying. Rarely do the dying need it as much as those who live on. That I've done, and still do.

Take orders. In the SCA, I'm a squire. Taking orders is what we do. That, and plot against the Knights.

Give orders. Do it all the time at work.

Cooperate. Can do, and do well.

Act alone. I usually do.

Solve equations. Depends on the mathematics system. I never learned to do calculus, but I'm very good with advanced algebra.

Analyze a new problem. I do it all the time. In a few minutes, for example, I'll be determining how to fill a need for a low-carb breakfast.

Pitch manure. Been there, done that. My wife and daughter own or have owned horses, and I was conscripted for such duties more than once.

Program a computer. I used to know how, but my programming days were back on the Apple II and II+. (Meaning, back in the Stone Age.)

Cook a tasty meal.. That depends on what you mean by "cook, "tasty", and "meal". For certain values of all these, I can answer "yes".

Fight efficiently. Heh. Oh, yes. I have several years of training with bare hands, both flexible and rigid weapons. Sword and shield, rapier, polearm, Danish axe.

Die gallantly. Never done it, but I know the theory. I also know that Death is a crafty bugger, and frequently likes to present people with opportunities to die in less than gallant circumstances. If given the opportunity to die gallantly, however, I will probably opt for dying fighting, gallantly or not.

Lawrence Douglas Harris, a murderer who stabbed and strangled two young girls, set a fire to cover his crimes, then demonstrates his further cowardice by blaming it all on a "spell that went bad", deserves whatever fate awaits him at the hands of the criminal justice system. He is being reported as being a "pagan", but I can definitely state that whatever kind of pagan he is, he's not any kind I claim kinship with. I offer prayers for the family of the slain, for their community, and for the emergency personnel who were forced to endure the aftermath.

While bracing for the inevitable media feeding frenzy where breathless reporters spew lurid descriptions of the crime (all in the interest of the people's right to know, of course), I was also prepared for the panicked reports of the witchcraft connection, and the suspicious eye turned toward all things Pagan.

Oddly, it really hasn't happened. In fact, in two separate reports, "experts" on spellcasting and Wicca were quoted as saying the murders do not represent our faith or normal spellcasting practices. As surprised as I was by the tenor of the reporting, which has been remarkably subdued, I raised a brow at both Professor Helen A. Berger and Leslie McQuaid, who are quoting giving their expert opinions in the above articles. I applaud them; I just don't know who they are, or what their credentials are. I'll look into that further, but if anyone knows, leave me a comment.

Must be something about this time of year that makes certain right-wing followers of certain variants of Christianity go nuts. If it's not the annual ruckus over whether saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" presages the imminent arrival of the anti-christ, it's something else to indicate how quickly we're all going someplace warm in a velvet-lined handbasket.

For some reason, two such highly-strung entities published works that cast aspersions on our faith, both at the same. I refuse to actually link to them, but if you Google up American Chronicle and look for an article on "symbolism", you'll find one. The author is one of those drooling idiots who believes that a symbol contains inherent meaning, and then proceeds to illuminate us with statements like, "Triangles are very important in paganism and with the dark forces." Her understanding of Masonic symbology and its uses are way, way off the mark, of course.

For the other one, Google "Whistleblower Magazine" and "Witchcraft in America". Now, Whistleblower is a very right-wing rag, and their website contains multiple images, ad boxes and so forth that are not kind to a left-wing perspective. Ignore those, and look at the article, which is mostly an extended advertisement for their issue on Witchcraft. Again, the hilarity ensues with:

Wicca is an official, legal religion in the U.S., and a fast-growing one at that. Judges have ruled that witches must be allowed to lead prayers at local government meetings, and that Wiccan convicts must be provided with requested "sacred objects" so they can perform spells in their cells. Witches in the armed services have even formed covens and routinely "worship" on U.S. military bases.

I "love" the cover art for the issue. The pentacle they're using, however, raised an eyebrow. The interlaced "pent and crescent" is very familiar to me; I'm wearing it around my neck as I write this. The design was created by Paul Borda of Dryad Design. I wonder if he was credited for the work?

[Update: The answer to the question above was "No. Dryad Designs was not aware." A quick email to them on my part changed that, and I was notified last night that they had contacted the editors of Whistleblower. They managed to get the call in before the issue went to press, so Borda will receive credit in the magazine for the design appearance.]

Anyway, what I think is interesting about these pieces is that they struck me as part of growing wave of more-public resistance to the inclusion of Wicca and other forms of the Craft in the public eye. Such resistance only occurs when the object of the resistance is making serious inroads into acceptability. That is heartening.

I have a lot of books that fall into the Wiccan/Pagan category, but there are a small number that are part of my "working set" - the books that I study and re-read for more in-depth content. Some of the books on the shelf haven't been read yet. I'm working on that. But they are there on the strength of a recommendation made to me either personally by someone I know, or by someone's stated opinion that I trust. Here they are:

The Circle Within, by Dianne Sylvan
Wicca Covens,
Spiritual Mentoring,
Devoted to You, all by Judy Harrow
Elements of Ritual, by D. Lipp
Celebrating the Pagan Soul,
Wicca Meditations, both by Laura Wildman
Witchcraft and the Web, M. Macha Nightmare
Evolutionary Witchcraft, by T. Thorne Coyle
Solitary Wicca for Life, by Murphy-Hiscock
A Witch's 10 Commandments, by Marian Singer
Wicca 404, by Esra Free

The latter two are more for reference materials that I am using in writing some of my own essays

Magazines. Either we need more of 'em, or we need better ones. Right now, if I want to read a monthly or bi-monthly collection of articles written for the Wiccan/Pagan market, my choices are rather limited. If you know of any I'm not listing, please, chime in. I'll give any of them a shot. Currently, I subscribe to none of these, but generally pick them up off the rack at the various bookstores around town.

Circle Magazine is an old standby. My first contact with the broader Pagan community was with Circle Network News back in 1989, right before I attended my first Pagan Spirit Gathering. Although Circle Magazine is no longer the newsprint format that CNN was, it is still one of the best resources for community contact and news that affects the broader community. But beyond that, CM is largely a vehicle for rehash articles on basic Wiccan/Pagan themes. Presently, CM is in the middle of a run of issues that focus on "magical tools" (the current issue is on cauldrons) that will extend at least through 2008's four issues. This might have worked well, had the articles had enough substance. The majority of them, however, are single-page light-brushings that do little more than describe the most superficial aspects of the author's belief and/or practice. Articles for Circle Magazine are limited to between 2000 and 3000 words (exceptions are Circle's discretion), which might explain the brevity. The focus on community and news event, coupled with the lack of article depth, means Circle Magazine is probably more appropriate for newer Pagans, or those whose religious needs don't require more strenuous writing.

PanGaia: A Pagan Journal for Thinking People is a quarterly magazine that does deliver on at least some of its subtitle. It's an 80-page journal, compared to Circle Magazine's 72, but its focus is on longer articles. Comparing the most recent issues, PanGaia #47 had 6 articles in the table of contents, which included a poetry/fiction selection. Circle #100 had 9 articles in its special section on cauldrons alone, plus 7 poetry selections and 21 items of "regular features". This comparison is to show that PanGaia is more focused, more willing to devotes multiple pages to articles, which will likely bring it more depth. Whether it's a "thinking person's" magazine or not is debatable. The regularly featured columnists include Judy Harrow and R.J. Stewart, both of whom are known for their insights and scholarship. The regular columns also include Toe-to-Toe, which lets us hear the various conflicting voices on controversies facing the Pagan Community today. The current issue focuses on whether we should have actual "churches" in order to better serve our practitioners. These features of PanGaia strongly recommend it as a Pagan Journal.

The downside to PanGaia, however, can be seen at first glance: the cover is frequently not something that lends itself to the idea that this is a "thinking person's Journal". The current issue has a cover story on Oberon Zell Ravenheart and his impact on the modern American Paganism. Fair enough, but one might ask why he is shown looking like Dumbledore in a production of Hamlet. If PanGaia thought that Zell Ravenheart needed to be shown in his best Renfaire gear for us to take him (and PanGaia) seriously, then the editorial staff was sadly mistaken. The question becomes, why can't a serious journal show itself as being serious? And if we were going for humor, then why does Zell Ravenheart look like he's taking himself so seriously? I am sure that Issac Bonewitz wouldn't have appeared in full ritual attire on a the cover of a magazine. Now, on his website, maybe...

New Witch Magazine is a relative newcomer on the scene. And frankly, it's among the worst of the lot. With article titles that smear sex on the cover, and a raft of material that would be more appropriate to Cosmo, it's not the place you'd turn to find anything that was significant to our religious path. And perhaps that by design, as the magazine is "dedicated to, featuring, and partially written by young or beginning" individuals. There's nothing in the mission statement that says anything at all about advancing the practitioners' real understanding of the path, so perhaps its unfair of me to compare it with, say, PanGaia. Nonetheless, when you peruse the shelves at the local Borders, you're going to see this magazine in the same section as Shambhala Sun and Parabola. PanGaia might be there, but it's more likely that New Witch will be the only "Pagan" magazine present.

Now, having said this, the most recent issue, New Witch #15, has several articles that might be worth more, such as one telling the story of a Pagan serving with the US Army in the Middle East, another offering an interview with author Chris Penczak. I can't attest to the quality of the magazine, as I wouldn't buy it. I'm not in the target demographic. Hopefully, someone can offer a better review.

All of what I've written here is to say that we Wiccans and Pagans really don't have printed materials of a monthly, quarterly or even annual anthology that seriously explores our path with any depth. We write blogs, of course, and might be bothered to write a few paragraphs of ranting as a letter to an editor somewhere, but that's it. So what is it going to take to get a world-class mag running here, besides lots of money. That's always required.

Yes, I know: there are plenty of books on or about Wicca out there.

Yes, I know: the well-read Wiccan doesn't limit himself to just the books on Wicca, but casts a net very, very wide, pulling in material from classical literature, psychology, philosophy, quantum mechanics, comparative religion, cookbooks, investing advice and Star Trek. OK, maybe not the last one, but you get the idea.

Yes, I know: writing a book, much less a good book, is really hard and time consuming, and is likely to end in failure. I mean, we can't all be Dianne Sylvan.

But the truth of the matter is that the number of Wiccan books that really stretch the boundaries of what we know, that add to the Body of Knowledge of our religion, are very few. The majority could literally be made by throwing a few books by Buckland, Cunningham, and McCoy into a blender, pouring the result into a 8" pan and put into an oven at 450 degrees. Then, pull it out when it's half-baked...

There are a few authors that warrant more attention, of course. Foundational works like those of Buckland and Cunningham are important, obviously, albeit dated. I've never liked McCoy, but that might be a personal bias. I've found absolutely nothing worthwhile in anything by Silver Ravenwolf, although I know some people who positively gush about her work. But Judy Harrow is a different story; if you've not read her books, you should. I am re-reading Spiritual Mentoring, as it's one of those works that really needs a few months between readings. And then Sylvan's Circle Within, which is a favorite.

We need more. We need more depth, we need more breadth. We need commentaries, dammit!

In Madison, WI, there was a Men's Expo a few weeks back. It was the first such expo, organized by a group of people who apparently felt that the success of the Women's Expo held at the same place annually (and it is successful, wildly so) indicated that a similar event, aimed at men, would likewise be successful. Let's just say that the jury is still out. Let's see what they come up with for year #2 for the Men's Expo, and we'll see if they're getting it right. I am not hopeful...

At the Expo were several vendors, the usual array of convention-bunnies and lots of beer. What else do men in Wisconsin want, eh? I managed not to roll my eyes at the crassness of it all, and went in to see what it was all about. One of the vendors was a chiropractor. It's a good idea, really, setting up a technoid gadget that measures heat traces around the spine, and extrapolating "damaged" areas based on increased heat. Not that I'm buying the science, but the presence of such a gadget pulled in men from all over, and anything that gets men thinking more seriously about their overall health is a good thing.

So I had the quick scan done, was unsurprised when they found several areas of problems, all up and down my spine. I'm not surprised because I know my back hasn't been in the best shape for years, and because it was an inevitable sales technique. Telling us men that our backs are in such bad shape that we won't even be able to watch TV without pain virtually guarantees a followup visit. I took them up on the offer, because a screening that usually runs a few hundred dollars was being offered for $20. I can always take what I learn to the chiropractor of my choice, after all.

When I got the office this morning, I was greeted by a large display of fitness books that were blatent knock-offs of Body for Life, only these were titled "Body by God". The mission statement for the business was posted prominently (on a sign that offered the background of a cloud-strewn sky with rays of apparently holy light streaming from afar) that told us the doctor's mission was "to serve God" by straightening our back problems out.

Did I mention I wear a pentacle? It's a very tasteful one, sterling silver, interlaced with a crescent moon. You can see it in the picture of me that accompanies my Yule posting. It's not a gansta-sized piece of metal that looks like a hood ornament.

The doctor, when he met with me, couldn't stop glancing at the pent. Every time he did, his delivery got a little more rushed, and the "service" he was providing got more limited. His pre-screening informational talk started out with "God made our bodies such that..." Although the screening usually includes x-rays, he flat stated that we wouldn't be able to do them today. His assistant performed the more complete heat-based screening, but the results of the scan were removed from the screen so quickly, I couldn't ask any questions about the data.

All through this, I was more and more amused. I was polite, I was accommodating ("Oh, no, it won't be any problem for me to reschedule in order to get the xrays!"), and I maintained eye contact as much as they would let me. It got to the point that I was playing little strategy games, positioning myself so that they couldn't avoid looking me in the eyes. I'm pretty sure they thought I was hexing them, or something.

Needless to say, I won't go back, simply because I don't like the medical approach, or the service. It was very, very odd.

To all, a Joyous Yule! This pic was taken from my new cam, plugged into my laptop, yay-rah. That highly lit tree behind me is pulling multiple roles this year, acting as a Yule tree for me, my wife and my daughter; a Christmas tree for my mother-in-law, who's living with us, and as a non-specific secularized winter holiday tree for our housemate, Gary.

It's amazing to me that I've not made a single entry in almost half a year. So where the hell have I been, eh?

Funny how just when you start getting your act together... as I was in June, last year... Life starts taking shots at you. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that the Universe does not have a grudge against us, and that misfortunes are exactly that. So last June, right when I started to get the book study thing going, my mother-in-law went into the hospital for some tests. The result of those tests was a diagnosis of end-stage colon cancer. The blockage required that about 10 inches of colon be removed, just so she could go back to eating solid food. But after that was done, she chose to simply accept the disease, rather than fight it. Her choice was a good one: she is 85, has outlived all but a few friends and family members, and is tired of this existence. Given that she is Catholic, she won't do anything to speed her death, but neither will she slow it at all. She has refused any suggestion of any treatment other than palliative care. Hospice comes in once a week now, just to check in on her. In order to see to it that her final days are as positive as we can make them, my wife and I moved her in with us. This past summer has been insane, since we had to handle closing a house in one location, moving her up to Madison, getting her through the UW Hospital system for the surgery, then renovate around 40% of our house to create the room needed to move her in. There have been insurance troubles, communication issues with those handling her affairs at her old house, contractor problems (resulting in the job still not being finished, and we've already had snow!). These in addition to the usual issues that would come with abruptly adding another person, and her history, to our home.

I regret none of it. I told my mother-in-law the same thing I've told my own mother: So long as I have a roof over my head, you've got one over yours. And I will adhere to that promise.

It has, of course, put a crimp in some of my other plans, not the least of which is my practice. I don't want to make wife's mother uncomfortable, so my altar space has been reduced to an 18-inch stretch of a long table in our meditation room, an altar that has three different religions represented on it. Wicca, Roman Catholicism and Tibetan Buddhism, all side by side. Some might argue that I've compromised on my practice, on my faith, by choosing to reduce its openness in my own home. Perhaps. Another way to view it is that I've chosen to limit the physical reminders of my faith for a short while in order to reduce the impact on an old woman who will only be breathing for another 10 or 12 weeks. I think I can afford to be generous here.

So anyway, yeah... I'm back. I'm thinking stuff. I quietly worshiped a short while ago beneath a full moon that's turning the snow-covered woods behind my house a crystalline blue tonight. It's all good...

The first meeting of our Wiccan book study group was held last Friday, June 8th. There are three of us in the group, and some interest has been expressed by others.

The group was formed when I became frustrated with the apparent lack of forward progress in my own spiritual development. That lack, frankly, was highlighted by the extreme amount of progress demonstrated by my wife, who converted to Buddhism full-time last year. She's been studying at a local monastery for a couple years now, but only last year did she make the transition from Wiccan to Buddhist. I decided I wanted to have similar experiences to the ones she's having, but within the Wiccan context.

One of those experiences surrounds the use of "commentaries". These are writings that are studied within Buddhism that expound on and more deeply explore other writings that make up the body of knowledge of Buddhism. There are literally commentaries on commentaries about commentaries of cannon writings within individual schools of Buddhist thought... and I can name four schools of thought within the Tibetan branch of Mahayana Buddhism alone. That should give you an idea of the breadth of available spiritual writings within that faith tradition. Other faiths are equally well-blessed, and while some of them treat their writing as, well, holy writ, most have at least something that their practitioners can use that exist simply to provide illumination into some of the religions' deeper meanings.

Wicca is impoverished by comparison.

I know, I know. I know all of the explanations and excuses.

I know that as a discrete religion, Wicca's less than a century old. By comparison, the first commentaries in Buddhism came almost four centuries after the death of the man named Siddartha. In the Christian traditions, most of the serious writings were at least 75-125 years after Yeshua's death, and many were later than that. I know that there are very, very few Pagan clergy who can devote the large amounts of time needed to create such writings. After all, we are not talking about the kind of writing that can be cranked out in 10 minutes, whole and complete. Still, if the situation is ever going to change, someone is going to have to step up, and write.

There are some, but not enough. Judy Harrow is doing it. She's got several titles to her name, and one of the best freely available libraries of useful essays (see Proteus in the sidebar). Dianne Sylvan did it. She's still doing it, in fact. A recent post of hers, Definition Soup cuts straight to the heart of this, with comments like these:

...as people advance past the available training and literature, many find themselves drawn away from Wicca itself and toward something less theologically confining--I've heard a riddle to this effect: What do you call a Fourth Degree Wiccan? A Buddhist. As I've ranted before, Wicca needs its advanced practitioners and elders to step up and do some writing of their own, and help our religion grow so that people don't get to a certain stage, realize that to keep learning they're going to have to look to other paths, and throw the baby out with the bathwater instead of bringing those ideas into Wicca and helping it evolve. Anyone, regardless of tradition or pedigree, can influence the future of Wicca--that's one of the greatest things about it.

To this end, our group has met, and has chosen Sylvan's The Circle Within as our first book. We've all already read it before, but now we're going to take it a few chapters at a time, and work through the exercises. Our objective is deeper understanding, and further manifestation of a daily practice, which we all feel is critical. We've got other books on the list for the future. We're going to meet about once a month for a couple hours. I hope to supplement that face-to-face meetings with online work, but I'm having difficulty finding a reliable forum to use that isn't bundled with spyware or onerous terms of service.

Gods grant us success in this work!

This morning, thanks to Google News' ability to provide me with customized news searches, I received links to two stories out of Phoenix, AZ that mention Wicca. And not in a good light. The more complete of the stories is here: Correctional Officer Accused Of Sexually Abusing Girl For 6 Years. The subtitle reads, "Police: May Have Used Wiccan Religion To Lure Victims".

The officer in question is identified as Loren Williamson, who is currently being held without bail. I will firmly state that his innocence is assumed, in accordance with our system of justice. Of course, I will await the results of the investigation. But the early reports indicate that Williamson may have begun to sexually abuse one of his victims when she was 6.

When the Catholic priest pedophilia scandal erupted several years ago, one observation I made was that none of the Catholics I knew stood up publicly to denounce the transgressing clergy. Oh, they made all the appropriate sounds when asked, but said nothing until then, which led me to believe that they wouldn't have said anything at all on their own.

Likewise as a result of the Catholic situation, it was pointed out... usually by Catholics... that they were not alone in having pedophiles among their number. I agreed with the assertion then, as I do now. And this Williamson seems to support the contention, if he is guilty as charged.

So, mindful of the Catholic priest pedophilia cases, and the fact that we Wiccans appear to have similar men among us, I want to say it loud and publicly: This is not our way. Wicca does not in any way, for any reason, support sexual abuse of anyone, regardless of age or gender. If Williamson is found to be guilty, he should be condemned to punishment under the full force of the law.

My prayers go up to The Gods, that They might provide the victims of all such crimes with strength to act, if they still need to escape the abuse, to endure the pain of healing.

Several "moments" occurred in the last 4 days. Moments of great pain, of pride, of understanding and of learning. I've struggled with how to present all this in the limited medium of text, and I guess whatever comes out here will have to do.

My daughter is 13. She is the product of some very deliberate parental choices, most chiefly among them being our dedication to the idea that what makes an adult isn't whether or not she obeys authority, wears the right kind of clothing, or practices a particular religious faith. Adulthood is made on the ability to make a good decision. If you can do that, the rest will come of its own accord.

Yesterday, she was granted the opportunity to test the ability that we tried to teach her, by standing in a horse stall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine alongside her ailing horse, and choosing between having surgery performed, or putting him down. After weighing the costs (both in terms of money, chance of success, length of recovery, probable quality of life post-surgery, and chance of relapse), she instructed the vet to put him down. It was a good decision, and not the one she wanted to make. It was the one she had to make.

The Gods sometimes offer us chances to grow. That can be a euphemism for "test of strength". Sometimes those tests come alone, and other times they arrive in herds. My daughter's second test occurred immediately after the first, when the vet told her that she could either wait down the hall while they administered the overdose of anesthetic, or she could remain and witness it. I said nothing; there was no "right" choice to be made here. My daughter looked at me, and said, "I really don't want to stay here. I'm afraid I'll freak out. But I think I should be here. So I'll stay." I stayed with her, and in less time than it took to write this post, it was done.

Cherokee was a 5-year-old palomino quarter horse, abandoned by his previous owner at the stable where we were keeping my wife's horse. The stable seized the horse for the previous owner's non-payment, and sold him to us when we inquired. He was only half-broke, refused to take a bit and was skittish under a saddle. The stable owners assured my daughter that it would take months to make him rideable. She had a bit in his mouth in 2 days, under saddle and riding well in under 2 weeks. Just over a year after we bought him, he won ribbons as a jumper. He was a member of our family.

This time of testing presented us all with an opportunity to question ourselves again and again on the issues of faith: in the cycle of rebirth, in whether or not our beliefs had value in times of trouble, even in the Gods Themselves... after all, why would They afflict a creature like Cherokee with colic to the point of death? Some of the answers come easier than others, but the questions themselves are what hold the value in these tests. Later, when the raw edges of these moments become more worn by the passage of time, the distilled Lessons will, hopefully, provide a buttress against future troubles that will, as sure as the sun rises, come again.

I have just returned from the Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, WI, which is where His Holiness the Dalai Lama is staying during his week here in Madison. This morning at around 10:30a Central, the motorcade provided by the State Department arrived on the monastery's grounds. Traditional dancers in full costume met his motorcade at the entrance and danced... backwards and uphill... up the 200-yard driveway from the road to the monastery buildings, in honor of him. His car was flanked by Secret Service, but also by young women singing songs from Tibet, and when they reached the main buildings, Tenzin Gyatso (his name; "Dalai Lama" is a title) got out of his car and walked among the Tibetan people gathered to greet him. He also passed by us, the contingent of Westerners who had gathered; there were maybe 20 of us. My wife, who is Buddhist, has been at the center of the organizing efforts in preparation for this week of teachings culminating in a fairly rare Tara ritual (Cittamani Tara Jenang) on Friday morning. In the afternoon, a public talk will be given by His Holiness at the Kohl Center.

So why was a Wiccan at a Buddhist monastery greeting the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism?

( Read more )

Laying to rest more than just a few good men, the VA has complied with the terms of the settlement of April 23, 2007, whereby they promised that the pentacle was "to be placed on military gravestones within 14 days" for those families with pending requests.

A few moments ago, I received an email from Circle Sanctuary that states, in part:

Just past noon, central time, the markers for PFC Jerome Birnbaum and SGT Patrick Stewart arrived at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve near Barneveld, Wisconsin. Circle Sanctuary's High Priestess Selena Fox was on hand for the delivery of the markers, which are now in the Circle Sanctuary Temple awaiting the unveiling tonight. Selena will be facilitating a Quest victory celebration there beginning at 7 pm.

Of more interest, to me, was the link to the Veteran Pentacle Quest page at Circle's site. There, you can see photos taken of the two markers that were delivered for placement at Circle Sanctuary.

Happy Beltane, indeed!

As I wrote recently, as we Wiccans celebrate the success of the Pentacle Quest, we should be aware that this newfound public visibility is going to attract negative responses. Nothing new with this; we've been on the receiving end of all kinds of negative action over the years. A Pagan gathering several years ago near Cincinnati, OH where I was present was raided in the middle of the night by armed police officers from Clermont County. I will never forget seeing them as they came onto the land where the gathering was being held, guns at the ready. Hopefully, there won't be any of that kind of attention now.

What we do see, however, are letters to the editor that appear in newspapers across the country, such as this one from The Chattanoogan. A retired Marine, Mr. James Reilly, is expressing dismay (possibly outrage) at the idea that witches might "be allowed to conduct their rituals on the grounds of our national cemeteries", and he equates this with political correctness.

There are four ways to handle this kind of thing.

• Ignore the letter.
  
• Assume that all retired Marines are religious bigots, and treat them all like this from now on
  
• Write a letter back to him through the paper, denouncing him for his views in the strongest language possible
  
• Write a letter in response to his letter, and be reasonable.
  

I opted for the last option (since the others are plainly ridiculous, except the first which is simply inadvisable), and sent this:

In reading James Reilly's letter "National Cemetery And Symbols" (April 25, 2007), I was reminded again how articles in the newspaper can be influential when forming readers' opinions. The limited nature of the article's treatment of the Wiccan religion is clearly leading to some misunderstandings that form the basis of Mr. Reilly's objections. Mr. Reilly clearly believes that the Wiccan religion doesn't have anyplace for God. I can assure him that we do; our faith acknowledges both the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine, which we refer to as The God and The Goddess, respectively. While our forms of worship are probably (very) different that what Mr. Reilly is accustomed to, the worship itself is at least as passionate and deep as is found in any faith. The words of Frank Lloyd Wright would make a great deal of sense to Wiccans: "I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." I want to express my thanks to Mr. Reilly for his service to our country. And I respect his decision to take a stand. But I would remind him that his duty as Marine was not to further the aims or support the goals of a religion. The Marine Corps Oath states, in part, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;" The Constitution of this country demands that we not discriminate on the basis of religious faith. If Mr. Reilly is to take his stand, it should be alongside us Wiccans as we celebrate the inclusion of the pentacle as a memorial emblem, and he should support the idea that practitioners of our religion could conduct ceremonies in our public cemeteries, as do Christians, Jews, and members of any other faith. -- -Rev. Robert A. James McFarland, WI Dragon's Weave Wicca http://dragonsweave.livejournal.com

Over the years, I've heard more than one Pagan wistfully dream about a time when our religions aren't relegated to the "Other" category, and don't immediately bring a confused scowl to someone's face who's hearing the word "Wicca" for the first time. At one time, that dreamer was me, as well, though I've matured... perhaps cynically, from time to time... over the years. I recognized that when our turn on stage comes, we might not look so good in the bright light of public scrutiny. Not because we will somehow look menacing or evil. Quite the opposite: I was afraid we'll look amateurish and unfinished, and embarrass ourselves.

I think we're about to find out. Some somewhat critical pieces have surfaced in the last 48 hours, but the best one in my opinion is Mark Oppenheimer's.

He's posted an excellent piece over at the Huffington Post entitled Factchecking Wicca. While his tone is a little sharp at first, what he has to say is actually an excellent primer for us Wiccans as our faith moves into the limelight, as it has done this week with the successful conclusion of the Pentacle Quest. Oppenheimer refers to an article in the New York Times when he writes, "Wicca is not 'a type of pre-Christian belief that reveres nature and its cycles.' And he is right, of course. He points out the absolute lack of documentable evidence for any claim of ancientness by Wicca. The article smooths out, however, leaving us with a very reasonable passage:

Finally, taking Wiccans' claims at face value misses a chance to make an interesting point about religion: that religions can be valuable, and even metaphysically true, even if some of their origin stories are myths. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have patently absurd origin stories, and no wise, sane person accepts the literal truth of any of them. But they are all magisterial human (and perhaps divine) creations. They are not diminished because part of their stories are mythology, rather than fact. The same might be true of Wicca. But the great religions survive and thrive despite the un-truths on which they're founded. They have access to higher, different emotional or moral truths. We thus do Wiccans no favors by repeating their archaeologically disprovable notions about ancient antecedents. Reporters are reporters, and our job is to get at the facts. If Wicca is as powerful as its adherents believe, it can survive, and should welcome, the scrutiny.

And he's absolutely right.

I blame Sylvan, who posted her VisualDNA. So of course, I had to go look...