Trump Presidency, a Lesson in Darkness

I  want to  first say that  I  am completely opposed to  Donald Trump, I  did not vote for him or agree with  his personality. So  the man that  led the republican three ring circus has been elected to  be the next President of the United States. With  that, there was an immediate response by  society. There are protests going on everywhere, reports of protesters attacking  each other, and now  legal  action to  dismantle the electoral college.

But there is more to  this madness,  what  I  have seen and read on Facebook  and YouTube has brought me much disappointment. I  have been adamant about  my views of eclectic wicca for  years. There are weaknesses to  eclectic wicca and I  tried to  tell  people about them, and not many  understood what  I  was referring to, but with  the election  of  Trump they  came true.

1. Eclectic wicca is the mixing of different religions and philosophies to  create a personal  belief system that  fits your lifestyle. There are many  wiccans that  have combined Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, Native American beliefs , with  several  different parts of Pre-Christian religions.  Many  of these people have little knowledge of these beliefs and are picking these tidbits with  little study on the subject.  Massive amounts of  backstory and information are skipped over so  that  they  can use a single aspect of a belief.  Then these are assembled in a patchwork  quilt and paraded as a art project by  many  youtube pagans.  All these religions are represented by  different types of fabric and strengths.  These quilts work  great in calm weather, there is nothing testing them. With  the election of Trump  the winds are blowing for the storm that  is coming.  Some of these fabrics are starting to  tear. And as each square starts to  tear it adds stress on the surrounding squares  and the quilt falls apart.

Our Pagan beliefs are supposed to  give us strength to  get through the rough times and guide us through the good times as well.  If these beliefs are tattering , that means that  a strong foundation is missing.  Some of those pieces that  were overlooked could have added to  the strength of  their personal  beliefs. Thus saving them a lot of pain and torment.

2. Some of those very  pagans that I  am referring to  claimed to  be light workers that  preached shunning negativity and 'harm none'.  And with  the torment of Trump coming soon, some have talked about getting a gun. Which is hypocritical  when some of these people have judged me as a negative person that  doesn't understand paganism because I  have a 'warrior witch"  belief system.

There is such  a difference in having a sword and shield as spiritual  tools and owning a firearm.  My  sword and shield can be used in defensive manners working with  energies to  protect what  I  hold sacred, harder to  do  that  with a Smith and Wesson. As a warrior aspect I  reflect that  life and nature can be brutal  and one must fight at times to  survive. Thus I  can handle the Trump  presidency better because I  am better prepared for these situations.  And if you look  at  the Pagans from 2000 years ago, they  were warriors with  a strong code of ethics.

3.There is no  way to  Shun  President Trump, and so  the whole shunning any  negativity  can't work. This New age concept of shunning negative energy is unhealthy.  We gain strength from over coming our fears and threats. People that  refuse to  deal  with  negativity have no  idea how to  handle it when it is avoidable, like it is now with  Donald Trump. SO many  of these young pagans are collapsing because they  don't know how to handle this.

4.It really is a shame to  see so many  young pagans out there confused and scared.  But they lack  the experiences to  handle life still.  I  have grown tired of all  the young pagans that  have read a few books and think  they  are able to  teach  and lead other pagans.  If you are a pagan under 25,  you were safe in your parent home during the last  Republican president.  All  this  information has no  form without experiences.  It is these experiences that  shape us into  who  we are. I  have experienced a couple republican presidents and the crap  they  claim.  I  know what  I  have to  fight.  Obama wasn't  perfect, but  he was a good president.  Eight years of stable leadership  have spoiled many  young people.

So  there is wisdom in my words, I  am not perfect and  not saying everyone should listen to me. What  I  am saying is that  if your are stressed and confused with  Donald Trump  being the next president, and your spiritual  beliefs are not helping you, then  reevaluate your beliefs and what  you have been taught by others.   This is one of those experiences that  you will  learn from. Real life begins now.

Modern Tarot decks, Proof of the downfall in Paganism.

I  have been blown away by  the pop culture and "do whatever" mentality in Paganism.  I  have been talking for  years about how  Paganism will  lose all creditability as long as people show no  restrictions in what  is considered pagan.  I have seen in the last  couple of days  tarot decks that  have  a pop culture theme that has nothing to  do  with  earth based beliefs.  Yesterday  I  saw a "DC Justice League" tarot deck  video.  The first card revealed was the fool with  "Harley Quinn"  So  they  are  having  villain play  roles in the deck as well. 

But the situation gets worse, today  I  saw a "Twin Peaks" tarot deck.  A tarot deck themed after a short lived TV series.  Both of these themes have nothing to  do  with  Paganism. I  looked at Amazon.com  to see what  other  silly tarot decks they  were selling. And I  seen a Gravity Falls tarot deck.  This is based off of a cartoon  that deals with  fictional super natural  events. Pop culture has fully infested  this new age/ Pagan concept and made it a full fledged joke.

These are not pagan concepts,  we can't call this pagan and accept it.  When we do  that  Paganism loses a level of seriousness.  I  ask  you to  answer one question. Would you accept a tarot card reading if the reader was using either deck for your reading?  The few that  I  have ask  all  gave a  solid "No", for  an answer.

I  have stood against this thing for a long time. I  believe that  people that  want to  lead or teach need to  start giving limits to  what  is  Pagan.   In a chat  that  I  had with  others I  called these types of decks the  "Noah's ark and animals"  playset.  It is cute and can be used to  teach  something about there related story,  but  when it comes to  serious discussions it is put away.  There are many  wonder decks out there that  have a pagan feel  to  them, I  have the "Druid craft" tarot deck.  It have wonderful Celtic themed  artwork.  It can be used to  teach  and give readings to  anyone with out worry of appearance.

I  was involved in a discussion about the "War on Christmas" and should there be a war of 'Halloween'.  This goes toward the blurred lines created by  pop culture and "Do  whatever"  influences.  Here is my  initial response.

"Nope, because Halloween is a catholic holiday, Samhain is a Pagan holiday. Why should any self respecting Pagan wanna celebrate a catholic holiday? This is the biggest issue with Paganism at this time of the year, too many so-called pagans celebrating Halloween, when they should be celebrating Samhain.

This speaks volumes to the leadership and teachers of Paganism when they do not try to tell and enforce the differences between the two different events. Halloween was a catholic event to force the Pagans from celebrating Samhain. Because it forced the installed catholic people to be in church and set-up for all saints day.

I am so sick of supposed Pagans talking about Halloween, if they are going to embrace Halloween, they might as well not call themselves Pagans. I know that some people are forced to say Halloween because of family. But I can scroll down my YouTube subscriptions and count 6 "Halloween" videos made by "out of the closet" Pagans. Heck I have 2 Facebook accounts so that I can openly talk about Samhain and other Pagan issues with one, and handle family and Christian friends with the other."

As normal, I  got the 'no  pagan is going to  tell  me what  I  can believe' spew.  I  am not telling others what  they  can and can't belief. But there  comes a time when it stops being pagan.  Nobody can tell me what  I  believe because I  never tell them what  I  believe.  I  talk  in general  terms about things that  fall under the Pagan umbrella and things that  don't or shouldn't.

I disagree with you on that anything goes mentality. There has to be a line where something stops being one thing and becomes another. SO lets say your beliefs are 20% Celtic pagan, 30% Christian, 40% Native American Mysticism, and 10% Buddhist, Is it still Pagan? Not in my eyes, it is something different completely and should be classified as that something else.

So lets use food as an example now. Lets make a Mexican Lasagna . Instead of the noodle s we use soft tortilla shells. We use shredded Colby/jack instead of mozzarella cheese. We use ground beef instead of any Italian sausage, We substitute a medium picante sauce for marinara sauce. Now we layer this like you would a normal lasagna and place jalapeño pepper slices on top. Is this a traditional Italian or Mexican meal? It is neither and an insult to either culture.

So why should we do the same thing to spirituality? There has to be a point where we have to say that this isn't pagan it is something else. Could I take the Christian bible and replace the name of 'god' with " Cernunnos" and still call it Christianity or Paganism?

So Pagan teachers and leaders should be required to call somethings outside of pagan beliefs. And if we restrict those willing to teach and lead in placing some form of restrictions into what Paganism is, then you will end up with a toxic mess that will make the water in flint look safe to drink.

So  what  has the Pagan community done to  help  fix this issue or to  minimize it? Nothing, most Pagan Leaders are to  afraid to  make a stand against anything because they want/need to  be popular.  This is an issue that  needs to  be resolved and handled quickly and properly .  Will  you let Paganism continue to  slide down the hole of pop culture mentality doing whatever they  want?  Does  a religion/beliefs need to  evolve with modern thinking to  survive? Yes it  does, and that  is not a bad thing. What  the bad thing is here is that  false and fake influences are distorting and contaminating what  Paganism is.   It is like claiming a hypothesis as factual without testing it and applying it to  the universe around you.  Facts build-up  the reality that  we live in. When you use fake and false information, large gaps will  appear and everything  resting on this concept will come crashing down.