I have been doing a lot of reading and research into many areas, and I have come to one conclusion. There is no single set way to do anything. I have to first give credit where credit is due. Scott Cunningham's approach is what opened my eyes to this. I got the understanding that you take everything in that you feel is worthy and build from that. His books were talking about the solitary practioner building his path. How you can read 3 different books covering a certain aspect about paganism, and you will get three different views and even some contradicting information. But you need to follow what your mind and heart feels. And for me that is a major step forward because I am a staunch Celtic Recon. And don't laugh at this one, the other piece for this revelation actually comes from a movie. From Dragonball Evolution, Goku was told that he needed to make the movements his own to get better results. Goku was trying to mimic his master with some success, but then when he made everything feel good to himself, he did much better.
So why is this so important? We seek approval on some level with others that walk a similar path. We fear that we might be doing something wrong. Or we want to be just like a certain person that we have a great respect for. I am guilty of all the above. Because of my experiences with the religious debate group, I know that I should have all my ducks in a row and so if anyone asks a question, I can respond quickly. I want to be able to have a well defined set of rules and my gods and goddess known and established , so that I can exchange views with others that walk a similar path as mine.
But this is my path, and I am the only one that needs to be happy with it. I should be able to take the bulk of the Celtic path and use as much of it as I can. When the gaps and the grey areas appear, follow my gut , and proceed with courage.
This is similar to the talk about what language to use when you are creating seals and working with energy. Do you need to write the keywords on the seal in Latin or in English? You should follow your heart and use the language that gives you comfort and energy. What sounds more magical to you "Behold the Sacred Fire " or "Seo an Teine Coisrigte"? They both mean the same thing, just one is English and the other is Scot Gaelic. Do you need the fancy wand to do energy work? No , the wand is just an extension of the body and works as a focus. All the spellwork that you do is a focus for the energy that you send out to achieve a certain goal. And it all boils down to , What would help you focus and shape the energy the best. SO if you need 3 candles lit , your athame in hand and a salt circle to perform a spell, if it helps you, then go for it.
There is a danger to all of this. While it is true in my opinion that you need to follow what is right for you. You do still need to have things worked out and have them make sense. There is still the need for balance. There is still the need to know what you seek and how to seek it. Too many pick and choose itrems from such a wide variety of paths can lack the common thread to stay strong. It would be like sewing together 10 different types of fabric and expecting them all to perform at the same level. Flannel would be warmer than silk. Denim is stronger than tulle. Durlap is itchy compared to Courdaroy. You just can't mix everything together and expect it to work.
A good example to this is Runes. I have done my research and the Celts didn't have runes. THe norse had runes and they are heavily used by many pagans. Some even classify Norse runes and Celtic runes as one style of runes. So wat is a person to do. There is the Ogham alphabet , but I have my doubts about it. It should feel fine with the love for detail, but it isn't comfortable to me. Maybe I should use the Norse runes, surely the Celts did deal with the Norse on many levels. And then there is the possibility that I use basic images to express my desire. It worked well with primative man. I am still thinking about that at the moment.
My message to you tonight is to make your pagan path your personnal path. Unless it feels good to you, it will not grow and work at its best.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Creationism in Schools... what happened to logic and science.
I have been reading and involved in the political process that is going on right now in the US. I am a democratic delegate that will attend the county convention and hopefully the state convention. I believe that if don't take part in it, you have no right to complain about it on the sidelines. I am also very active in reading news , making my videos, and blogging, such as this. What I read yesterday, just blew my mind away. The GOP in Missouri as submitted a bill to require creationism be taught in the schools. How can society allow this to happen. Yes, I have heard that other states have tried to do this in recent years. I just had a thought cross my mind and had to discuss it with everyone. Are we heading into the second dark age of man?
That is a serious question to ask, look in for the religious people of the world are trying to gain so much control over everything we say and do. recently in England there was a 15 year old boy killed because his family members thought he was a witch. We have religious extremist like Santorum running for president. And he scares the heck out of me.
But back to the topic of choice. Requiring the teaching of creationism in any school is a very bad idea. I think that this will open a can of worms that no politician is willing to handle. First off it violates the constitution in my opinion because they are wanting to teach a religious oriented concept , and there is to be no laws pertaining to religion. And forcing any religious concept into any school runs the risk off forcing a different religion on someone's child. No government body should be able to impose a theology on a child. A religious path is something personal and should be done in the child's home by himself/herself or with other family members.
How can a teacher teach such a subject with an open mind and tolerance to every student. What happens if an Atheist student asks questions? " Miss Robinson, How could this god create plants and have them live when he hasn't created the stars that emit light. The plants would have died without sunlight to perform photosynthesis." The teacher would have to answer everything with "It was the glory of god". But what happens when the muslim student objects because the creation story he is being told about is against what his religion tells him how everything was created. Who would be in the wrong? The student who religious rights are being violated or the school forcing a different religious view on children?
What about the divisions this can cause between the students themselves? In my hometown there was a situation when a teacher told a student that he couldn't build an "Altar Table" in shop class. Half of the students created a petition trying to ban witchcraft in the school. Recently there was news of a young lady that got a prayer banner removed from her school. The hatred that poured out from her classmates was astonishing. There were classmates talking about attacking her. So what happens if a Hindu or Pagan student makes a comment about how they believe how the universe was created. If this student stands up for what he/she believes in, that student stands a good chance for being alienated at the school. This alienation can lead-up to a suicide. And we all know that this has happened all too often.
The only way around this is to allow the teachings of all creation stories. But you know that the conservative christian parents would be upset if the teacher was telling the students the Phoenician creation story. They would be going around complaining why are you telling the children about all these silly mythologies and not about how the world was "truly" created. And what happens when the teacher is a devout christian, would that teacher be able to teach the class without any bias? They are to have a text book with creationism in it. If the textbooks have 10 sections devoted to 10 different creation stories, would a devout teacher spend 8 weeks on the christian creation story and then one week the other 9 chapters. I see this causing a lot of troubles.
When I was thinking about this last night I was getting upset because they are walking away from science. We can prove many things in science that make perfect sense. Creationism wants to make people shun science and not think logically. In science for things to be proven as true, the results have to be duplicated with predictable results. That is how man has been able to advance in so many fields. The computer I am using to write this blog is a product of thousands of years of science. When the christians took over most of Europe , they destroyed knowledge. The precious libraries of Alexandria were destroyed by christians seeking to destroy everything that didn't promote christianity. The dark ages began, thinking outside of the box was punishable by death or prison. Galileo was condemned for thinking, Galileo was placed under house arrest for thinking against the church. Many believe that with the destruction of the libraries of Alexandria science was set back 400-500 years. And now the Christians are trying to do it again. I think that we could be exploring the stars right now if it wasn't for the christian attacks on science.
And now christianity is trying to say that they support science and that science proves christianity is correct. And that is a load of crap. The geological record of this planet shows that there has been massive floods but not once has the entire world been covered by water. One of my favorite twisting of science is the resurrection of jesus story. It supposedly explains the creation of the shourd of turin as well. Jesus was laid in the cave and on the third day Jesus's body turned into a quantum singularity and the shroud of turn was perfectly held at the event horizon of the quantum singularity.The shroud of turin then absorbed the light emitted from the body of jesus as it ascended into heaven. Amazing story isn't it. But here is the flaw to this story. What is the shape of all celestrial bodies in space.. spheres. So the shroud couldn't be held perfectly flat at the event horizon, because the event horizon isn't flat.
We need to keep this out of the classrooms and keep it in the church and the home. The Missouri bill wants to require creationism in primary and secondary schooling. Creationism 101 and Missouri University sounds like a joke to me. Forcing more people to endure the brainwashing tendencies of the christian religion. At what point are we going to learn that Christian totalitarianism is a bad thing for this country and the world.
That is a serious question to ask, look in for the religious people of the world are trying to gain so much control over everything we say and do. recently in England there was a 15 year old boy killed because his family members thought he was a witch. We have religious extremist like Santorum running for president. And he scares the heck out of me.
But back to the topic of choice. Requiring the teaching of creationism in any school is a very bad idea. I think that this will open a can of worms that no politician is willing to handle. First off it violates the constitution in my opinion because they are wanting to teach a religious oriented concept , and there is to be no laws pertaining to religion. And forcing any religious concept into any school runs the risk off forcing a different religion on someone's child. No government body should be able to impose a theology on a child. A religious path is something personal and should be done in the child's home by himself/herself or with other family members.
How can a teacher teach such a subject with an open mind and tolerance to every student. What happens if an Atheist student asks questions? " Miss Robinson, How could this god create plants and have them live when he hasn't created the stars that emit light. The plants would have died without sunlight to perform photosynthesis." The teacher would have to answer everything with "It was the glory of god". But what happens when the muslim student objects because the creation story he is being told about is against what his religion tells him how everything was created. Who would be in the wrong? The student who religious rights are being violated or the school forcing a different religious view on children?
What about the divisions this can cause between the students themselves? In my hometown there was a situation when a teacher told a student that he couldn't build an "Altar Table" in shop class. Half of the students created a petition trying to ban witchcraft in the school. Recently there was news of a young lady that got a prayer banner removed from her school. The hatred that poured out from her classmates was astonishing. There were classmates talking about attacking her. So what happens if a Hindu or Pagan student makes a comment about how they believe how the universe was created. If this student stands up for what he/she believes in, that student stands a good chance for being alienated at the school. This alienation can lead-up to a suicide. And we all know that this has happened all too often.
The only way around this is to allow the teachings of all creation stories. But you know that the conservative christian parents would be upset if the teacher was telling the students the Phoenician creation story. They would be going around complaining why are you telling the children about all these silly mythologies and not about how the world was "truly" created. And what happens when the teacher is a devout christian, would that teacher be able to teach the class without any bias? They are to have a text book with creationism in it. If the textbooks have 10 sections devoted to 10 different creation stories, would a devout teacher spend 8 weeks on the christian creation story and then one week the other 9 chapters. I see this causing a lot of troubles.
When I was thinking about this last night I was getting upset because they are walking away from science. We can prove many things in science that make perfect sense. Creationism wants to make people shun science and not think logically. In science for things to be proven as true, the results have to be duplicated with predictable results. That is how man has been able to advance in so many fields. The computer I am using to write this blog is a product of thousands of years of science. When the christians took over most of Europe , they destroyed knowledge. The precious libraries of Alexandria were destroyed by christians seeking to destroy everything that didn't promote christianity. The dark ages began, thinking outside of the box was punishable by death or prison. Galileo was condemned for thinking, Galileo was placed under house arrest for thinking against the church. Many believe that with the destruction of the libraries of Alexandria science was set back 400-500 years. And now the Christians are trying to do it again. I think that we could be exploring the stars right now if it wasn't for the christian attacks on science.
And now christianity is trying to say that they support science and that science proves christianity is correct. And that is a load of crap. The geological record of this planet shows that there has been massive floods but not once has the entire world been covered by water. One of my favorite twisting of science is the resurrection of jesus story. It supposedly explains the creation of the shourd of turin as well. Jesus was laid in the cave and on the third day Jesus's body turned into a quantum singularity and the shroud of turn was perfectly held at the event horizon of the quantum singularity.The shroud of turin then absorbed the light emitted from the body of jesus as it ascended into heaven. Amazing story isn't it. But here is the flaw to this story. What is the shape of all celestrial bodies in space.. spheres. So the shroud couldn't be held perfectly flat at the event horizon, because the event horizon isn't flat.
We need to keep this out of the classrooms and keep it in the church and the home. The Missouri bill wants to require creationism in primary and secondary schooling. Creationism 101 and Missouri University sounds like a joke to me. Forcing more people to endure the brainwashing tendencies of the christian religion. At what point are we going to learn that Christian totalitarianism is a bad thing for this country and the world.
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