Praying In Church And Other Bizarre And Evil Behaviors.

I was watching a show on A&E the other night. It’s a show I usually enjoy watching called A Haunting or something similar (the exact name escapes me). Each episode features a “haunting” involving a family plagued by unknown spirits. Some spirits are benign and friendly and some are evil and threatening. It’s usually interesting and somewhat educational and I’ve always found it to be open-minded and informational. But, this particular episode surrounded a single mother and her son who were being visited by evil, demonic forces and the devastating ways their lives had been affected. The ensuing story was ridiculous and laughable.

The story was told in flashbacks because it had supposedly occurred in the 1960’s. According to the re-enactment, the woman had “always” been interested and somewhat obsessed with the Occult, Wicca and Witchcraft, much to the dismay of her husband at the time (apparently her interest in the occult had precipitated their eventual divorce). She read “Witchy” books and (gasp) set up an Altar. Her son was mortified with her evil behavior and eventually the two had become estranged. Suddenly, evil beings began visiting this poor, misguided heathen and her life became out of control. By this time her son had left for college and was quite relieved to be free of his devil-worshipping mother. In fact, during a rare visit he was forced to take down a picture of the devil his mother had hung over his bed. His mother was now dressing in all black and even wore a pentagram necklace. What was a good Christian son to do? And so on the story went in the same idiotic way. Eventually, the woman saw the error of her ways. Mother and son blessed the house, said a few prayers and all was well with the world again.

The whole story left me shaking my head and wondering if it had been written by Jerry Falwell. Had I stumbled upon an episode of the 700 Club by mistake? The entire episode was ridiculous. Wicca is a real and recognized religion. There are millions of practicing Wiccans all over the world. There is absolutely no devil worship involved. Wiccans don’t even believe in heaven, hell or the devil. The devil is a Christian myth and nothing more.

Now, I ask you this: Is there a difference between setting up an Altar in one’s home to meditate and going to a building, kneeling, placing hands together, looking skyward and saying prayers? Why isn’t sitting, standing and kneeling several times in one hour considered odd behavior? How about kneeling at a church altar and lighting candles to pray for guidance and healing? What about partaking in wine (juice) and wafers as a way to show reverence to a deity? No one shakes their head and questions these behaviors. No one thinks there are evil consequences to prayer and candle lighting ceremonies. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these things. Prayers are answered. “Miracles” do happen.

There is no difference between Wicca and Christianity except that they are different ways to obtain the same results. Misinformed television shows and movies only serve to perpetuate the ignorance and intolerance of the Wiccan religion. I know stories like these sell tickets and commercialized products, but come on people, enough with the “you’ll go to hell if you practice Wicca and Witchcraft”. Freedom and tolerance of religion means freedom and tolerance of ALL religions. Stop giving Wicca a bad rap. 

I Don’t Want To Die In My Sleep Until I’m Really, Really Old.

“Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take”

I’m sorry, but does anyone else think this is a little scary for a kid to have to say at bedtime, just before drifting off to sleep? Worrying about falling into an eternal slumber is the last thing a small child should have to think about at night. I can understand the message. Just in case you die in your sleep you want to be sure the “lord” takes you instead of being taken by some evil demon.

I used to lay on my bed, completely still and hold my breath. I wanted to see what it would be like to be dead. Maybe this is kind of macabre for a child to do, what can I say, I was a weird kid. Sometimes I’d lay with my eyes open. Sometimes I’d lay with my eyes closed. I’d hold my breath as long as I could, while wondering what life would be like for my family if I were gone. It’s one thing to pretend. It’s another to put the idea in a child’s mind that she might actually die in her sleep.

I remember the first time I became aware of my own mortality. I had a friend who lived down the street from my Grandmother. One day my Mom got a phone call and she told me my friend died. She had drown while away on vacation with another neighborhood family. Suddenly it hit me. I was about eight or nine and I realized that that could have been me. I could have drown and everyone could be talking and crying about me. Laying on my bed, holding my breath and pretending to be dead wasn’t so much fun anymore. I saw how my friend’s death tore up her Mom. I didn’t want my Mom and Dad to go through all that pain. I also didn’t want to be dead.

So, instead of the traditional version of “Now I lay me down to sleep, etc” I’d like to propose a newer, gentler version of this scary prayer:

“Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the lord my soul to keep. If I should cry before I wake, my Mom will bring me chocolate cake”

***This post and all others (including new posts not published here) can be read at my new blogging website: http://www.mylovesleftovers.com thanks for checking it out!

Come Ye Children, Hearken Unto Me, I Will Teach You The Fear Of The Preacher.

In another lifetime I belonged to the Assemblies of God Church. This was before I knew better. This was before I decided to think for myself instead of following other human beings blindly. I never felt comfortable in this church. I always had a dark feeling, something unexplainable, but something that was “off” to me. It seemed hollow, phony and fake. My mom came here to visit once and we all went to church. Later I asked her what she thought about the sermon. She said, “The preacher yells too much. I didn’t like it.” I think she felt the same uncomfortable feeling I did.

One Sunday the preacher seemed very aggitated. Apparently he lost his glasses and was obviously angry. The children were being children out in the vestibule before the sermon. When we went to sit down to listen to the sermon, the preacher glared at every parent sitting in the pews and accused us all of allowing our children to run wild. It was a place of worship he said, not a place for children to be loud and disrespectful. It was all very demeaning and my first instinct was to take my children’s hands and walk out the door, after telling the preacher what I thought of his admonishments and insults. If he felt my children’s behavior was inappropriate for church the decent and christian-like thing to do would have been to speak to us privately after the sermon instead of lecturing and yelling at us from the pulpit. It was a private matter and not something to be brought up in front of the entire congregation.  I just sat there and took it and to this day I wish I had stood up for myself as a parent and also for my children.

Later I told my husband at the time how angry I was at the way we’d been reprimanded in front of other church members and to my amazement he actually agreed. When someone calls himself a man of god then he should show patience, kindness and understanding. Not anger and accusations because he was having a bad day. He should have realized that if  he wanted to be sure his church continued to draw younger church goers then he’d need to be a little more understanding of the behavior of children. Needless to say I never go to this church, nor do I attend any church. I can honestly say that The Assemblies of god soured me towards organized religions of all kinds. I have my own, individual beliefs and am much happier now. I no longer have that “uncomfortable and off” feeling.

Are You Willing To Die For Your Beliefs?

My small, upstate NY town is pretty racist and bigoted. They haven’t had much experience with minorities and are still very closed minded. This still happens in many small towns in all cities. Hispanics, African-Americans, Jews and Gays are all subjects of mistrust, misunderstanding and often hatred. This was a large manufacturing town before the early 90′s and little by little companies began closing and moving to Mexico to save on production costs. Of course no one here thought to blame the companies. They automatically blamed the Mexicans. I suppose it was easier for them to blame foreigners than face the fact that profits were more important to manufacturers than any responsibility they might feel toward the community.

At that time, tension was high, but bigotry was even higher. I began to hear talk about the “Mexicans who took our jobs”. It got to the point where I was more than reluctant to mention my Mexican heritage for fear I’d be ostracized from the community or something even worse. How sad it is when you have to resort to denying who you are for fear of retaliation. I had remembered reading that many Germans blamed the Jews for supposedly taking all their jobs. This lead me to wonder how many Jews were forced to denounce their faith during World War II and the holocaust. Letting it be known you were a Jew lead to an almost certain death. What an awful choice to be forced to make. How many of us would have the courage to die for what we believe?

In Support of Nursery Rhyme Censorship…

Religious and parent groups unite. Do you know what small children are subjected to on a daily basis? Stories and poems that advocate child and spousal abuse. Violence, prejudice and blatant pornography run rampant on the pages of your children’s reading material.  Just when you thought the responsibility would fall on you to monitor what your child is listening to, you’ll again have to be proactive when it comes to monitoring what your child reads. Parental involvement is needed now more than ever. Church involvement is needed to demand we follow the church’s views and opinions to save us from the devil’s clever deceit. Ponder the evidence below. What seems on the surface to be innocent nursery rhymes are really carefully disguised tales of abuse, neglect, prejudice and obscene and lude acts designed to poison the minds of the innocent and impressionable. I urge you to form groups and petition book publishers and authors of children’s literature and demand the censorship of nursery rhymes. Together we’ll continue the christian tradition of book burning. Let’s join the fight to censor any literature that expresses views contrary to our own. In the name of god and all that is holy and just we command you to continue the long-standing history of spreading hate and intolerance. In the righteous words of one writer on Landoverbaptist.org:

“The truth is, burning a book is one of the most loving things a Christian could do for a person they really care about. The Landover Baptist Church is proud to be sponsoring America’s Largest Book Burning on Satan’s Birthday, October 31st. This will be the third consecutive year we have held the event. Last October, we had 152,800 American Christians show up for the event. We burned over 3.4 million books! That’s right! Don’t let the numbers dissuade you from holding a book burning at your local church this Halloween. Thousands of churches in America have collected millions of Harry Potter books to be burned that very night. As a Christian, you should be eager to participate in this Bible based tradition. Burning books just like the first Christians did in New Testament is a great way to say “no” to Satan and “yes” to Jesus.”

The offensive and evil nursery rhymes below are just a small sampling of literature being taught in preschools around the country:

“Rock a bye baby, on the tree top, when the wind blows the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks the cradle will fall and down will come baby cradle and all.” Hmmm…will baby crack her head open like a ripe melon? Most likely. But we still praise the lord baby’s parents did not believe in abortion. And how did baby get up in the tree in the first place? I suspect this is some sort of witchery or sorcery. I suspect baby’s parents to be devil-worshipers.

“Three blind mice, three blind mice. See how they run, see how they run. They all ran after the farmer’s wife. She cut off their tales with a carving knife. Did you ever see such a sight in your life as three blind mice?” So, not only is the farmer’s wife a crazed maniac, she’s guilty of cruelty to god’s creatures and she sits in judgement of those with physical disabilities. Judge not, lest ye be judged, farmer’s wife.

“Goosey, goosey gander. Where shall I wander. Upstairs and downstairs in my lady’s chamber. There I met an old man who wouldn’t say his prayers. I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.” Well, although goosey sounds like she has a future as a nursing home aide, she did remember her responsiblity to proselytize by killing some poor old guy because he wouldn’t pray. However, she’s still guilty of murder. Thou shalt not kill, goosey.

“I love little pussy, her coat is so warm. And if I don’t hurt her, she’ll do me no harm. So I’ll not pull her tail, nor drive her away, but pussy and I, very gently will play.” What can I say about this one that you’re not already thinking? I think I actually saw this once on dvd, um, heard about it. This is nothing more than filthy porn carefully disgused as an innocent children’s tale. Beware, the sin of lust.

“Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn’t keep her. He put her in a pumpkin shell  and there he kept her, very well.” I’m not sure why Peter chose to put his wife in a pumpkin shell but he should be tried and convicted of spousal abuse. Luckily for Peter, his wife took her vows to honor and obey seriously.

“Elsie Marley’s grown so fine, she won’t get up to feed the swine, but lies in bed ’till eight or nine! Lazy Elsie Marley.” I suspect Elsie Marley may be clinically depressed, most likely because her swine of a husband can’t get up and make his own breakfast. Or perhaps the devil has taken hold of her because her lazyness has kept her from going to church on Sunday. Elsie has clearly chosen the sin of slothfulness.

“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do. She gave them some broth, without any bread, whipped them all soundly, and sent them to bed.” Old woman contemplated the option of abortion. One trip to planned parenthood would have avoided yet another case of child abuse, thought old woman. If only contraception wasn’t a mortal sin. god knows what’s in your heart, old woman and now you must be punished with ungrateful and unruly children.

“Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark, The beggars are coming to town. Some in rags, And some in tags, And one in a velvet gown!” Obviously one of these beggars is prideful by dressing lavishly and will face the wrath of god. Perhaps he will be turned into a pillar of salt.

“Four stiff standers, Four dilly-danders, Two lookers, Two crookers, And a wig-wag!”  Obviously some sort of devil-speak understandable only by heathens and devil-worshipers.

“Hey, diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon.”  Talking animals? Flying cows? More trickery and witchcraft perpetrated against our children.

“Higglety, pigglety, my black hen, She lays eggs for gentlemen. Gentlemen come every day to see what my black hen doth lay. Sometimes nine, and sometimes ten. Higglety, pigglety, my black hen”  More pornography. Obviously Higglety is a lustful prostitute luring gentlemen into her sinful lair.
 

***This post (and all others, including those not published here) can be read on my new blogging site, http://www.mylovesleftovers.com. Thanks for checking it out!
 

Tell The Church To Stay Out Of Your Vagina.

A Catholic friend of mine, Sarah was upset.  She and her husband, Shawn had been trying to get pregnant for 5 years with no success. I suggested they could look into artificial insemination. It’s affordable enough for most couples, most times costing less than $1,000, sometimes more, depending on how many times the procedure is required before it’s successful. Sarah looked at me and simply said the idea was out of the question. She said the church forbids it because it’s believed to be a sin. She says Shawn will not go against the church under any circumstance, even if it means being childless. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. First of all, not being a Catholic, I didn’t know the church considered artificial insemination a sin. And second of all, I couldn’t believe that any modern thinking person would accept this and forego the chance to become a parent. I had seen the baby room Sarah and Shawn had kept decorated and waiting for their anticipated arrival and I knew it was heartbreaking for Sarah to see it remain empty.

So what’s the church’s reasoning here? I knew the church forbade artificial contraception and only accepted the rhythm method as a permitted method. But why artificial insemination? Isn’t done with the biological father’s sperm and the biological mother’s eggs? We’re not talking nameless, faceless donors here. After some research, I discovered the church’s line of thinking. According to Catholic law, artificial insemination is forbidden “because it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the relationship that which realizes ‘the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love.” Apparently, this is all according to something called the “Donum Vitae or The Respect for Human Life”. I’m not Catholic and by no means understand any of this, nor do I want or need to. But suffice it to say it’s a very long doctrine dictating the church’s views on conception. I wondered if Shawn was just following this blindly without even knowing or understanding why. This, in my opinion, is common among religious people who just take in and spit out whatever their church says instead of thinking for themselves.

I talked to Sarah and asked what she thought about Shawn’s opinion on the church’s stance. Was he so determined not to go against the church that he was okay with never having a child? Sarah said she wanted to have the procedure, but didn’t want to go against Shawn or the church. I thought about telling Sarah she should tell the Catholic church to stay out of her vagina and let her do whatever it took to get pregnant, but her face told me she was resigned to the fact that she most likely would never get pregnant.

Considering the fact that there are over 1 billion Catholics worldwide, that’s an awful lot of people the church is controlling. And taking into account that 1 in every 6 couples in the U.S. is infertile, perhaps it’s about time the Catholic church moved into the 21st centrury. For someone like me, who doesn’t subscribe to any organized religion, it is incredibly difficult to comprehend how a religious institution can make such personal decisions for its religious followers.

***This post and all others (including posts not published here) can be read on my new blogging site: http://www.mylovesleftovers.com. Thanks for checking it out!

I Am Christian. Hear Me Bore…

Okay. So maybe the title is a little harsh. I grew up Catholic. I was bored. Sit, stand, kneel, sit, stand, kneel. You get the picture. I just remember blindly following the priest’s directions and monotonous drone. I was proud I could regurgitate the entire mass, but now realize I had no idea what I was repeating. The concept of accepting the host as the body of Christ was completely lost on me. Maybe the nuns weren’t doing their jobs during our Wednesday catechism lessons. They were too busy slapping us for major infractions. I got slapped for not facing forward. Being “married” to god must entitle you to abuse small children. But, all I knew was I would be making my first holy communion and I’d get to wear a miniature wedding gown and get money. How many people follow a religious doctrine without having any idea what they mean or represent?

Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife. Thou shalt not do just about anything. I wouldn’t kill anyone and my own personal set of ethics prohibits me from stealing. I don’t intend to covet my neighbor’s wife either. Why do they bother telling you what not to do if it’s just going to be forgiven once you ask it to be? The only unforgivable sin is suicide. And that’s only because you’re dead and can’t ask for anything.

Now that I’m older, I’ve completely left the church. I am by no means a follower of any organized religion. I prefer to think for myself. I do not follow any man-made doctrine. I’ve seen too many cases of people who call themselves “religious” but just end up proving themselves to be hypocrites. Priests who molest children, evangelical leaders who frequent prostitues, etc. Christians often make excuses and put the blame on other entities, never accepting responsibilty for their actions. When life is going well and “prayers” are answered, Christians claim it’s through the grace of god. But when they slip up and commit “sins” they can say “the devil made me do it”. How convenient to have something else to point to. I prefer to be responsible for my own actions and live by my own set of values and morals.

Ethic of Reciprocity

   Mahatma Gandhi – 1869-1948

      

                

• “What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others.” — Confucius (ca. 551 – 479 B.C.)
• “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.” — Hillel (ca. 50 B.C. – A.D. 10)
• “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” — Muhammad (c. A.D. 571 – 632), Hadith 13 of al-Nawawi‘s Forty Hadith
• “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the lord.” — Torah Leviticus 19:18
• “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” — Jesus (c. 5 B.C. – A.D. 32 ) in the Gospels, Matthew 7:12,  Luke 6:31, Luke 10:27, Matthew 22:39
• “An’ Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will” – The Wiccan Rede

Almost every religion and culture has its own form of Ethic of Reciprocity, a fundamental moral principle, which is just another way of saying “treat others the way you would like to be treated.” The best known ethic is the Christian version, which says, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” or “The Golden Rule”.

It’s amazing to me that so many people of varied religions can refer to this concept, but not live their lives according to it. The greatest failure of organized religion is its inability to convince followers that the “Golden Rule” applies to all people, and not just followers of their own particular religion. Religious leaders and followers should be preaching that the ethic of reciprocity applies to people of all religions, all genders, all sexual orientations and all races instead of hiding behind religion to preach hatred, indifference and intolerance.

“Like the bee gathering honey from the different flowers, the wise person accepts the essence of the different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions.”  – Mahatma Gandhi

Spell Casting and The Book of Shadows.

 

It’s interesting to me that many younger people, particularly females, are coming to Wicca with only the “spell” aspect in mind. There is so much more to Wicca than spell casting. The practitioner must know what she’s doing because energy is a very powerful force and it’s unwise to use it foolishly.

The concept of spell casting is no mystery. Many religions advocate prayer to bring upon blessings. Young girls make colorful string bracelets as symbols of friendship, with hopes that it will forge a stronger bond. Wishing upon a star is a perfectly acceptable way to bring luck and love into our lives. The truth is there is energy all around us.  Spells  are the words that are spoken, but the energy is what sends the spell out into the universe. The power of the spell is within the magician or witch, who builds up the energy and lets it go at the precise time so it can perform its intended purpose.

Spells are not necessarily found in ancient books or any store-bought book. The most effective spells are those written personally by the spell caster. And if the spell is rythmical then all the better. Many solitary Witches and Witch Covens have what are called a Book of Shadows. A solitary Witch is a Witch who practices the craft alone and a coven is a group of Witches, usually limited to 13 members. This is a book that is written and added to on an ongoing basis by either the Coven or the Solitary. It’s not a mysterious writing, but a place to record all of your magical work. It is not a place to put thoughts and feelings because these things are more suitable for a journal. Your Book of Shadows is your own personal reference book for your unique path as a Witch.  Books of Shadows are almost never shared or loaned out. They are, however often written with the intention of handing them down at some point to the next generation. Which is another reason to leave out personal thoughts and feelings. A good Book of Shadows contains the moon phases and which spells work better at which phase, information on the Sabbats (the eight seasonal holy days corresponding to former pagan seasonal festivals), information on The God and The Goddess, Magical recipes, meditations and a copy of The Wiccan Rede. As your experience grows so will your Book of Shadows. You’ll want to record each and every spell you cast and its results. It would be disheartening if you’ve cast a successful spell and have forgotten the ingredients you’ve used because you didn’t write it down. A Book of Shadows can be a massive handmade wooden book or it can be as simple as a writing tablet. It’s all up to you. Remember you can always “trade up” later and transfer your information to another Book.

 It is true that spells work with energy and energy means power. Power is neither positive nor negative. It is the intention of the spell caster that makes a spell “good” or “evil” and that determines whether the spell will be helpful or harmful. That’s where morality comes in. Most practitioners understand and follow the Wiccan Rede (Ye Harm, Do What Ye Will) and do not perform any spells to manipulate, hurt or kill anyone. This is why love spells break this important rule. Most love spells are a form of manipulation. Casting a spell to bring love into one’s life is fine. Casting a spell to make a specific person fall in love with you is not. This would involve manipulation of another person. Casting a spell to harm an enemy is negative magic and violates Wiccan beliefs. Using negative energy and spell crafting is harmful to you, to your intended subject and, more importantly, to the Earth and all its goodness.

***This post and all others (including all new posts not published here) can be read at my brand new blog site: http://www.mylovesleftovers.com. Thanks for checking it out!

Wicca and The Devine Powers of The God and Goddess.

Wiccans recognize the two equal but opposite divine powers of the Goddess and the God. We have more of a partnership with the God and Goddess and do not worship them as in the Christian religion. It is also common to commune with past deities, relating to perhaps Athena, Isis, Venus, Apollo, Adonis, Pan, Zues, just to name a few.

Because of the recognition of the female aspect of the Diety, Wicca is an extremely appealing religion to women. Some covens do not even invoke the God in their rituals. However, this type of “Goddess only” religion is unbalanced just as a “God only” religion is. Wicca recognizes the equality of both men and women, unlike Chrisitanity, which historically reserves positions of authority for men only. Christianity also holds men higher in society and in the family structure. A very unappealing concept for enlightened women. Wiccans recognize sexual behavior as a gift from the Goddess where as Christians view sexual behavior in a negative and restrictive way. Many Christians still believe that sex is solely for the purpose of procreation and not an act to enjoy and be comfortable with. Devout Catholics are forbidden to practice forms of birth control because of this belief.

Conservative Christians consider any form of sexual behavior that is not between opposite gender couples who are married to be an abomination of god. In other words, they preach that sex between two women or two men is sinful and immoral. Wiccans, on the other hand, accept all sexual orientations as moral and natural. Wicca as a religious practice is a much more free-thinking religion than most other religions. It is becoming one of the fastest growing religions in the country, but unfortunately, there is still so much ignorance and misinterpretation surrounding Wicca. Despite all the misinformation we are content to have our beliefs and enjoy the empowerment of it.