Uncommon Spirituality

            The first thing that needs to be addressed before any of you, my gentle readers, go forth into my blog mining for the gold nuggets that might make life if not easier at least more tolerable, is my unflagging faith. Fear not, I will not be Bible thumping or Jesus bashing for that matter. I won’t be proselytizing or trying to convince you I am “right” (whatever that means) and you are “wrong.” I have always believed that it is an utterly stupid and pointless exercise in futility for people to argue, get angry, or fight over the nature and desires of the Divine. None of us know the ultimate will of the Divine so why fight over it? I frankly feel offended when I watch on TV the people who are still fighting wars over It.

            You will read that I often refer to the Divine Creator, what many people call God or Goddess by the impersonal pronoun “It.” I do not do this out of disrespect but as a sign of ultimate respect because, make no mistake about this, the Divine Creator of us all is a being that is NOT human. Gender is a human designation and I feel that to assign the Divine a gender is disrespectful. That is just my personal preference. But when you think about it a minute it makes sense. God possesses no penis; it has no need to eliminate. Ditto for the lady parts. Humans have “humanized” Deity to help us better relate to It. Oh, and it allows the leaders of some religious faiths to scare the shit out of their congregants by making It out to be an old, bearded man with a bad attitude and a chip on His shoulder. I don’t buy that either.

            Lady Gaga, arguably one of the most popular entertainers of our time has labeled herself “Mother Monster” and her fans her “little monsters.” And aside from a few snickers at first which she wisely avoided noticing, these labels remain and are accepted. Let’s just think about that for a moment. Monsters. What are they exactly? Well, she began calling them little monsters over their tendency to crawl all over each other during concerts in their excitement to be nearer her. Later someone called her the Mother Monster and soon she adapted it for herself. But that’s not what most people have meant historically when they yell, “Monster! Run!” But suffice it to say that society is totally OK mingling with little monsters who have a Mother.

            Society is not in general OK mingling with Witches even though very few of them know who or what we are. Yes, gentle reader, Selene is a witch, has been a witch for 25 years and plans to be planted at my death as one. I’ll give you a minute for the shock to pass, for you to be aghast or have a frothing at the mouth fit or to turn off the blog and remain in ignorance about who and what we are. G’head. I’ll wait.

            Done? Good. If you’re still with me I want to tell you just a few things about us since so many people seem not to know or care to know because they’ve been so indoctrinated about us. First, and foremost, we do not worship “the Devil” whomever that might be. In fact, we do not recognize the Devil as an original spiritual concept. Many of us do however believe that when enough people put enough energy into any abstract concept it can become very real. So while I might not buy the whole notion that the loving Creator I know would create a being so utterly opposite Its own nature, I believe wholly that people over the last 2000 or so years have created a being of energy who wishes us all harm. Is it God/dess’ ultimate enemy? Probably not, God/dess being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipotent which I do believe.

            And don’t bother looking around for the “Head Witch.” We don’t have one. In fact, our religion is a very, very loose gathering of souls who more or less believe the same things but even that isn’t quite true. Some of us prefer to worship “skyclad” (that’s naked to you uninitiated). Others of us feel comfortable leaving our clothes on. Selene is a clothes on kinda witch. I don’t have a bad looking body but it is sick and reacts poorly to weather extremes, although I admit to being tempted while worshipping down here in the summer to stripping off completely. Some of us follow certain traditions laid down by witches before us and some of us prefer to integrate the parts of Wiccan belief into a hodge-podge that’s generally called “eclectic.” I am one of the latter. Some of us form groups we call covens and worship together and some of us prefer to worship alone. I’ve done both.

            Contemporary Wiccan religion was started by a man named Gerald Gardiner in the UK in the 1950’s. It quickly gained a following and has been on the rise ever since. But archaeology tells us that our ancestors hundreds of years ago followed the paths of the stars across the sky as they marked the seasons. They watched the Sun and the Moon very carefully for they were an agrarian society and the Sun, the Moon, and the changing of the seasons meant life to them…or death if the changes in any of the three did not come. So we know they celebrated the changing of the seasons and though we think of them now as semi-savage, they worshipped a Divine Creator who provided the miracle of the seasons, the Sun and the Moon. Knowing that makes them seem a lot less savage to me. Contemporary Wiccans also celebrate the changing of the seasons. We give thanks that God/dess in Its divine wisdom has provided for us the means to take care of ourselves by allowing us time during the year to plant and harvest and rest. These holidays we call Sabbats and occur 8 times during what we call the Wheel of the Year.

            Also, at least once a month, usually when the Moon is full, we meet in secret places and we praise and give thanks to the Divine. We do NOT sacrifice babies or animals; what an abomination to our Deity and to us personally! We do NOT engage in any sort of blood sacrifice during our monthly Esbats. We gather, we create for ourselves a sacred space where no negative energy of anybody’s construction may enter, we call our God/dess to be in our midst, and we praise It. We partake in sacrament and offer any of it left back to the earth which shelters us. Sometimes we sing, drum, and dance in our joy. Then we each speak from our hearts about our love and appreciation for the Creator of us all, Wiccan, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and Judaic. Then we go home. Really except for the pews and for listening to one man tell us what to think about the Creator, it is very like a church service.

            Do we cast spells? Do people of mainstream faiths pray? People are people. We have things we desire, things we’d like to be rid of, physical and emotional components of our lives we’d like to see transformed. What I am saying is that we are all the same! A spell just involves the inclusion of some physical things to help the witch focus on the goal but spells also need no such physical “helpers.” All that’s needed, all that’s ever needed is a witch and her will.

            Do we believe in multiple gods? Some of us do; I personally do not due to my own interaction with Deity. It has many faces and lots of helpers but it is a single being who yet manages to be Trinity. I’ve said before and I’ll say again here, God/dess is all things to all people. What I mean by that is that the Divine is EXACTLY what you need It to be for you. It has evermore been so and will evermore be so.

            Do witches worship the earth? No, although we believe it is sacred as are all creations. We do believe, most of us, that a spark of the Creator lies within each created thing on this earth. Science would seem to back us up on this since they’ve discovered that each of us carries within us the same “stuff” that makes up the Universe. All the other things on the planet, too. No, we don’t worship the earth; we honor it.

            Do we believe in Jesus? What on earth is there to believe? The man lived. It is a historical fact. That question is rather like asking if we believe in Ghandi or Mother Teresa. Belief has nothing to do with it! These people lived, they made extraordinary contributions to humanity. They are no longer among us and we are poorer for their passing. But do we believe that Jesus was God’s only begotten Son who died on the cross for our sins? You would have to ask other witches but most of us do not. Personally, I believe he was one of the most extraordinary men, perhaps the most extraordinary man, to walk the earth. His message was one of love, tolerance and forgiveness which is strange considering that most churches who label themselves as Christian practice very little if any tolerance of other faiths. I think that would make Jesus sad. But it’s only my opinion and what do I know? I never met the man.

            I’ve only ever met God/dess. In the quiet of my special sacred space we meet. I talk to It. I violate the rules of my fundamental Baptist upbringing and question It. I am angry at It from time to time. I am abjectly sorry at others. Then, I am quiet and still. Quiet and still. It takes as long as it takes the quiet and still. And I wait for an answer. The answer ALWAYS comes. I have never asked a question that was not answered by the Divine. Never. But they are my answers; they satisfy me. Your answers might be different because God is all things to all people. It is what you need it to be. You only must be willing to accept the uncommonness of the relationship to benefit from it. Since we are all living uncommon lives, that really shouldn’t be too hard.

Blessed Be--Selene