By no means an exhaustive list... inspired by a young teen who wanted to have a "coven":
What tradition will your coven operate within and what are your qualifications for teaching it?
If it is a tradition of your own making, what are your qualifications for making it? What have you studied to arrive at that point?
What leadership experience do you have?
How old are you, and how long have you been practicing?
Do you have any references (former students, teachers, etc.) that potential coven members can have access to?
How do people know you have a safe and sane environment for them to practice within?
How safe is your meeting area? Do you own your own house or land or do you rent? If you rent, or live with parents, do you have permission to hold religious meetings on the property?
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Better...or worse.
It comes and goes. We're on higher doses of steroids now and I'm still shedding pounds like tears at Les Miserables, so I'm not doing great. I'm good at short, small, twitter-sized thoughts, but writing more than a few paragraphs is too much right this sec.
Also, I think republicans should die in a fire, as I am one of the people who held onto their job too long to get 99 weeks of unemployment because of their shenanigans.
Also, I think republicans should die in a fire, as I am one of the people who held onto their job too long to get 99 weeks of unemployment because of their shenanigans.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Quick note
The course of antibiotics and steroids I am on is wearing me down a LOT. I appreciate the kind words, and comments on the blog, but understand that relative quiet on my twitter feed, etc., and the fact that I'm not answering emails, has everything to do with being just about as run down as ever and nothing to do with any one of my fans!
I do love you all, and I am trying to keep up. Leaving comments here, or talking to Phoe or Lablad are probably the best ways to contact me, as I'm not frequently checking email or the like.
Love to all of you-
KM
I do love you all, and I am trying to keep up. Leaving comments here, or talking to Phoe or Lablad are probably the best ways to contact me, as I'm not frequently checking email or the like.
Love to all of you-
KM
Saturday, June 5, 2010
On being the character from the first act of a House that's really about Cutty, or whoever...
In mid-March I spent a very expensive day in the emergency room of the local hospital which (I did not know at the time) was #1 for customer service, and deservedly so. Even though the ER visit took about 8 hours, several of which involved waiting for tests on my lungs-including some obscure ones-and even though it culminated in my leaving the hospital as the drugs they gave me for pain wore off-making the ride home very brutal. I was diagnosed with "probably pneumonia" and given broad spectrum antibiotics and steroids, which worked well for about 12 days, whereupon I got round two of the pneumonia follies, which we're waiting for obscure test results on, (the first several were inconclusive, now we've got another PCR in the works, which would be done already if *I* was in a lab doing it!) but looks an awful lot like pertussis.
Since pertussis does not respond well to antibiotics past the first week, we settled down for the 4-6 week ride to ride it out, and I did the pertussis heyride. The pertussis heyride, by the way, involves sitting on the toilet with a bucket in front of you going "Hey! my brains are flowing out of my butt!" and "Hey! My brains are flowing out of my mouth." Pertussis basically makes you cough, until you puke. If you're not a puker, pertussis makes you cough, then want to puke, then crap your brains out, a symptom which goes away when dehydration kicks in and your reaction to food is "oh, dear god! take it away!" and I suffered such classical pertussis symptoms, and lost a very slimming 20lbs on it, that the differential board from the pneumonia follies part two literally looks like this:
-Pertussis (assumed.)
If, by the way, I test positive for pertussis, expect to read at least one post from me from jail in the future, because I am going to Falcon Punch the uterus of the first anti-vax mommy I meet post-pertussis. I was titered for antibodies to it last year, and was in the safe zone, so if what led to this because some IDIOT refused a pertussis vaccine and let it mutate in her little plague rat until it found me with a weakened immunity as a result of part one of the pneumonia follies, I will take things into my own hand. Animals who bring disease into the herd should be culled from the herd. {Not sure if serious, buttt....}
After about 5 weeks of pertussis, with some days starting to look better than others, and the puking done, I noticed an interesting phenomenon:
During the coughing fits that followed the brief flight up the stairs to use the only bathroom in my little house, the nailbeds of my toes turned the exact same shade of blue as the grotesquely blue porcelain on our toilet and matching bathtub. Literally turning "It's a boy," bottle of Curel, Jelly Belly Berry-Blue jelly bean blue. Blue Blue. Not blueish. Not like, how I am a pale blue Scottish person, but BLUE BLUE BLUE.
I should add this pertussis even coincided with my insurance company deciding to be the soup nazi of insurance. While my WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL family doctor would have had no problem seeing me whilst I owed them $160 from the last visit the insurance company failed to pay for (they have promised to cut me a check...still waiting) I was not going back until the personal check I cut them went through, which occurred early last week.
On the Wednesday before the pneumonia follies part trois, I encountered my first of what we now assume were blood-oxygen deprivation crises. I literally told my wife that *IF* I MADE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT, I was totally making a doctor's appointment in the morning with my primary. I could not cite anything that was distinctly wrong, but I felt like I was about to die. I didn't want to go to the emergency room because I already owed them $400, after the insurance company played their part.
In the morning, I felt fine, although even taking 3 steps winded me, and we realized I hadn't eaten for 3 days, and chalked it up to low blood sugar. In reality, low-blood oxygen crises tell your brain that death is imminent, and you get the signs and symptoms of diabetes, migraines, sleep apnea, and even psychosis, and the fact that I took my migraine meds, which include a vasoconstrictor for helping blood reach the brain and nowhere else, and then spent the time practicing deep breathing and meditation without moving ANYTHING not involved in breathing, probably kept me alive. The fact that my recurrent anemia has decided to take a break from not letting me have red blood cells also kept me alive...and that's dumb luck...that comes out of remission all the time. Nonetheless, the wife did not back down despite my new claims that everything was 'all better' and made the appointment (at my insistence, not an emergency one) for the Tuesday following the holiday.
Those people who read my tweets at 4am and the like on those days between O2 crisis #1 and the doctor's appointment, and who can read between the lines, will know I spent the next several days afraid to sleep because I was GOING TO DIE if I lost consciousness. When the chest pain got too intense, I'd take a half a moderate dose narcotic, which would reduce my blood oxygen level (making me feel worse) in the short term, but would confine me to sitting in bed or on the floor in the crash position, breathing deeply, and thus raising my blood oxygen level.
My doctor's appointment day began with the worst set of symptoms yet, and a wonderful, wonderful neighbor drove me there. Laying on my back, breathing with all the deep breathing capacity of a Wagnerian Mezzo-Soprano, with my WONDERFUL family doctor using WONDERFUL electronic records to review my sparkling clean ex-ray from Pneumonia Follies parte une, I told her, point blank, that I was not getting enough oxygen, and being a biologist, I felt like this was an anemia (we've dealt with Mr. A. Nemia before) or some other blood disorder, or my mitochondria were dying or something, and so she took my blood oxygen level, remember, as I am lying there, breathing deep, barely moving, and my saturation is a lovely 81%. Normal is approaching 100%, below 80% is getting intubated.
She promptly gave me my two choices: Be driven to hospital by neighbor who was still there or go in an ambulance with the pretty lights.
Walking from the neighbor's car to the ER, where I was expected, my blood oxygen level was now 74%. They allowed me to breathe on my own, even walk, because obviously MY body would handle low O2, probably because I *do* have some experience with dealing with low o2 in both skin diving and mountain climbing. Since I did not have panic attacks or headaches in the 70s, we've concluded I may've gone as low as 50% on those nights with the narcotics and vasoconstrictors... in short, yes, I may've died if I had fell asleep, after all.
Through the night, while I sucked O2 and got up to a whopping 86% on my own, they ran test after test that looked lovely. With the exception of high blood pressure, nothing could be found wrong with me. Heart healthy, actually beautiful blood work, gorgeous cholesterol and my new, slimmer weight moved me from the 'obese' category to the 'overweight' one, (which was always a silly distinction anyway, as I have a big fat belly but carry a muscle mass of almost 20%, which means that if I did not have short stubby legs, but had the same size hips, shoulders, etc, and a few more inches of height, I could look like a female wrestler...the real kind, not the show kind.)
Despite clear ex-rays, my chest CT showed the 'ground glass' effect, and we went with an assumption of either Diffuse interstitial pneumonitis or Extrinsic allergic alveolitis, which could've been caused by my often discussed umbrella cockatoo.
Biopsy of the lung, however, was inconsistent with these findings, and if you're playing House, the home game, this is where we concluded that it A. Was not Lupus and B. Was not Cancer.
In fact, the VERY high doses of steroids and broad spectrum antibiotics themselves were fixing me, again.- we played no games with this, as a former employee working in a research lab where *my* research was BSL2, but where I often worked with researchers skirting BSL3, and where I worked with DOD classified compounds with as-yet-unclassified safety levels, the hospital took me very seriously, which resulted in a lovely private room, and a bunch of blood sent to the CDC. You'll all be relieved to know I have neither Anthrax or SARS, by the way...can't find out about the MDR-TB, because the test for exposure to TB is invalidated by the steroids, but no sign of it in the lung biopsy.
Eventually, I was sent home, after 5 days in the hospital, WITHOUT A WORKING DIAGNOSIS...which is clearly unfun, as not just I but people like my MOM would probably like to know why I was in the hospital for five days getting biopsies and the like. I was clearly not contagious, as no one in my home or family had developed this, and I was sent home with an understanding that a flare-up in symptoms points to environmental causes, and no flare-up points to a hard to catch virus.
Like the patient who nearly dies after the too, too, early release in the first act of House, only to come back in the last act, I am now officially waiting for the change in scenery to do something to me, while we wait for labs and I have to return to the hospital for more CTs and maybe more biopsies in one week...
Until then, my fans, keep me in your hopes and prayers, and OUT of your episodes of House!
Since pertussis does not respond well to antibiotics past the first week, we settled down for the 4-6 week ride to ride it out, and I did the pertussis heyride. The pertussis heyride, by the way, involves sitting on the toilet with a bucket in front of you going "Hey! my brains are flowing out of my butt!" and "Hey! My brains are flowing out of my mouth." Pertussis basically makes you cough, until you puke. If you're not a puker, pertussis makes you cough, then want to puke, then crap your brains out, a symptom which goes away when dehydration kicks in and your reaction to food is "oh, dear god! take it away!" and I suffered such classical pertussis symptoms, and lost a very slimming 20lbs on it, that the differential board from the pneumonia follies part two literally looks like this:
-Pertussis (assumed.)
If, by the way, I test positive for pertussis, expect to read at least one post from me from jail in the future, because I am going to Falcon Punch the uterus of the first anti-vax mommy I meet post-pertussis. I was titered for antibodies to it last year, and was in the safe zone, so if what led to this because some IDIOT refused a pertussis vaccine and let it mutate in her little plague rat until it found me with a weakened immunity as a result of part one of the pneumonia follies, I will take things into my own hand. Animals who bring disease into the herd should be culled from the herd. {Not sure if serious, buttt....}
After about 5 weeks of pertussis, with some days starting to look better than others, and the puking done, I noticed an interesting phenomenon:
During the coughing fits that followed the brief flight up the stairs to use the only bathroom in my little house, the nailbeds of my toes turned the exact same shade of blue as the grotesquely blue porcelain on our toilet and matching bathtub. Literally turning "It's a boy," bottle of Curel, Jelly Belly Berry-Blue jelly bean blue. Blue Blue. Not blueish. Not like, how I am a pale blue Scottish person, but BLUE BLUE BLUE.
I should add this pertussis even coincided with my insurance company deciding to be the soup nazi of insurance. While my WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL family doctor would have had no problem seeing me whilst I owed them $160 from the last visit the insurance company failed to pay for (they have promised to cut me a check...still waiting) I was not going back until the personal check I cut them went through, which occurred early last week.
On the Wednesday before the pneumonia follies part trois, I encountered my first of what we now assume were blood-oxygen deprivation crises. I literally told my wife that *IF* I MADE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT, I was totally making a doctor's appointment in the morning with my primary. I could not cite anything that was distinctly wrong, but I felt like I was about to die. I didn't want to go to the emergency room because I already owed them $400, after the insurance company played their part.
In the morning, I felt fine, although even taking 3 steps winded me, and we realized I hadn't eaten for 3 days, and chalked it up to low blood sugar. In reality, low-blood oxygen crises tell your brain that death is imminent, and you get the signs and symptoms of diabetes, migraines, sleep apnea, and even psychosis, and the fact that I took my migraine meds, which include a vasoconstrictor for helping blood reach the brain and nowhere else, and then spent the time practicing deep breathing and meditation without moving ANYTHING not involved in breathing, probably kept me alive. The fact that my recurrent anemia has decided to take a break from not letting me have red blood cells also kept me alive...and that's dumb luck...that comes out of remission all the time. Nonetheless, the wife did not back down despite my new claims that everything was 'all better' and made the appointment (at my insistence, not an emergency one) for the Tuesday following the holiday.
Those people who read my tweets at 4am and the like on those days between O2 crisis #1 and the doctor's appointment, and who can read between the lines, will know I spent the next several days afraid to sleep because I was GOING TO DIE if I lost consciousness. When the chest pain got too intense, I'd take a half a moderate dose narcotic, which would reduce my blood oxygen level (making me feel worse) in the short term, but would confine me to sitting in bed or on the floor in the crash position, breathing deeply, and thus raising my blood oxygen level.
My doctor's appointment day began with the worst set of symptoms yet, and a wonderful, wonderful neighbor drove me there. Laying on my back, breathing with all the deep breathing capacity of a Wagnerian Mezzo-Soprano, with my WONDERFUL family doctor using WONDERFUL electronic records to review my sparkling clean ex-ray from Pneumonia Follies parte une, I told her, point blank, that I was not getting enough oxygen, and being a biologist, I felt like this was an anemia (we've dealt with Mr. A. Nemia before) or some other blood disorder, or my mitochondria were dying or something, and so she took my blood oxygen level, remember, as I am lying there, breathing deep, barely moving, and my saturation is a lovely 81%. Normal is approaching 100%, below 80% is getting intubated.
She promptly gave me my two choices: Be driven to hospital by neighbor who was still there or go in an ambulance with the pretty lights.
Walking from the neighbor's car to the ER, where I was expected, my blood oxygen level was now 74%. They allowed me to breathe on my own, even walk, because obviously MY body would handle low O2, probably because I *do* have some experience with dealing with low o2 in both skin diving and mountain climbing. Since I did not have panic attacks or headaches in the 70s, we've concluded I may've gone as low as 50% on those nights with the narcotics and vasoconstrictors... in short, yes, I may've died if I had fell asleep, after all.
Through the night, while I sucked O2 and got up to a whopping 86% on my own, they ran test after test that looked lovely. With the exception of high blood pressure, nothing could be found wrong with me. Heart healthy, actually beautiful blood work, gorgeous cholesterol and my new, slimmer weight moved me from the 'obese' category to the 'overweight' one, (which was always a silly distinction anyway, as I have a big fat belly but carry a muscle mass of almost 20%, which means that if I did not have short stubby legs, but had the same size hips, shoulders, etc, and a few more inches of height, I could look like a female wrestler...the real kind, not the show kind.)
Despite clear ex-rays, my chest CT showed the 'ground glass' effect, and we went with an assumption of either Diffuse interstitial pneumonitis or Extrinsic allergic alveolitis, which could've been caused by my often discussed umbrella cockatoo.
Biopsy of the lung, however, was inconsistent with these findings, and if you're playing House, the home game, this is where we concluded that it A. Was not Lupus and B. Was not Cancer.
In fact, the VERY high doses of steroids and broad spectrum antibiotics themselves were fixing me, again.- we played no games with this, as a former employee working in a research lab where *my* research was BSL2, but where I often worked with researchers skirting BSL3, and where I worked with DOD classified compounds with as-yet-unclassified safety levels, the hospital took me very seriously, which resulted in a lovely private room, and a bunch of blood sent to the CDC. You'll all be relieved to know I have neither Anthrax or SARS, by the way...can't find out about the MDR-TB, because the test for exposure to TB is invalidated by the steroids, but no sign of it in the lung biopsy.
Eventually, I was sent home, after 5 days in the hospital, WITHOUT A WORKING DIAGNOSIS...which is clearly unfun, as not just I but people like my MOM would probably like to know why I was in the hospital for five days getting biopsies and the like. I was clearly not contagious, as no one in my home or family had developed this, and I was sent home with an understanding that a flare-up in symptoms points to environmental causes, and no flare-up points to a hard to catch virus.
Like the patient who nearly dies after the too, too, early release in the first act of House, only to come back in the last act, I am now officially waiting for the change in scenery to do something to me, while we wait for labs and I have to return to the hospital for more CTs and maybe more biopsies in one week...
Until then, my fans, keep me in your hopes and prayers, and OUT of your episodes of House!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
When Prejudice and Intolerance AREN'T, plus 10 questions for 'Christo-Wiccans.'
Many people who advocate "Christian Wicca" like to say that those who say it does not work are prejudiced and intolerant...this upsets me for two reasons, one, because it represents a lack of understanding of the terms prejudice and intolerance, and two, because it's usually a highly intolerant and prejudiced view, often touted in an attempt to get people to shut up and go away.
So, I thought I'd talk about these two things, what they mean, and why the view that Christianity and Wicca cannot work as a unified religion without misrepresenting both is neither.
First, there is the idea of intolerance. Intolerance is not the same as disagreement. A person can think your religion is stupid and can say things about it that are disagreeable and nasty without being intolerant. Intolerance is when they try to stop you from practicing your religion, not by calling it names, but by passing laws, bullying, threatening. It is not intolerance to be told your views make no sense. It is intolerance to be told your views will not be tolerated on a message board or email list and that you need to shut up or leave. It's intolerant to be punished for saying things-even true things- in the hopes you'll stop saying them. It's not intolerance when someone says your beliefs make no sense, but it is intolerance when someone tries to bully you out of them. Remember, being told truths you don't like is NOT being bullied. Being threatened is being bullied. Being pressured is being bullied. Feeling pressured because people are saying true things that bother you is not being bullied. These things can feel a lot alike, but if you can step back and view them objectively you'll quickly see the difference- in one, it is a person or people who are pressuring you, in the other, it's reality that's pressuring you.
Then there is the idea of prejudice. Prejudice literally means judging something before you know anything about it. If someone can make a reasoned, coherent and valid argument about something, then by definition that argument is not from the point of view of PREJUDICE. For example, if someone is saying that a person is bad because of their skin color, they aren't making a reasoned, coherent or valid argument about that person, they are making a prejudiced one.
If, however, someone can enumerate a large number of reasons for their views, reasons that obviously require a study of the things they are discussing, they obviously aren't judging before they know anything about it.
It's very common, when people are discussing so-called Christian Wicca for those who disagree with the concept of a "Christo-Wicca" to be called intolerant and prejudiced, but it is very uncommon for those laying the accusations to demonstrate any manner in which those they are so-labeling FIT the labels. They are just saying "intolerant and prejudiced" in an attempt to make people shut up, basically trying to bully people into compliance with a view many of us have problems with. This refusal to hear the other guy's side, and to want the other guy to just shut up and go away, and actions towards that end, are, themselves, intolerant and prejudiced.
So what are the problems with Christian-Wicca?
I've enumerated a bunch of them here, but here are 10 major questions that anyone calling themselves Christian-Wiccan should be able to answer without difficulty, having already thought about them. In my experience, asking Christian-Wiccans these questions tends to result in getting a "whole lot of stupid" in reply, by which I mean getting ATTACKED instead of getting answered. Note that these are not even a fraction of the problems most of us have with Christo-Wiccans, but are a beginning of the problems most of us see. Since I'm writing them down for anyone to read, without me there to clarify, I've tried to make them very clear, so they are long. I've tried to summarize them in a few words in brackets at the start of each one.
#1. [Monotheism vs. Polytheism] Wicca is traditionally polytheistic. Even if you believe, as some Wiccans do, that all the gods and goddesses are one god and goddess, a core expression of Wicca is the interactions between at least one god and goddess, expressed in fertility rites. The interaction of male and female, even when just symbolic, permeates Wiccan ritual, and the Lord and Lady are seen, at the very least, as equals who are nonetheless different. How do you couple this with Christianity's monotheism, or, if you believe that Christianity is not monotheistic, how do you couple this with the God of Abraham's proclamation that he be the highest of highs, the god before all other gods. How can you have two gods that are seen as equals simultaneously with one god that is seen as the highest of high? Since our gods are said to procreate and interact, if there is only one god, how is this possible, and if there is not only one god in Christianity, why are Christians historically so hung up on monotheism?
#2. [Jesus' Death] Why, in your Christo-Wicca, did Jesus die, and what did his dying accomplish? Most Christians believe Jesus' death, or at the least his suffering, was something that benefited mankind, that Jesus died for mankind. One thing Wicca teaches is self-responsibility. How do you reconcile the beliefs that the only one responsible for your actions is YOU with the idea that another person being killed by still other people is possible payment for things you did?
#3.[What practices make it Christo-Wicca?] Christians have traditionally practiced magic, and have a long and storied tradition of magic, including the ideas of elementals and watchtowers, even casting protective circles, using pentagrams, pentacles, sacred swords and daggers, and worshiping on each of the calendar days generally associated with Wicca. It is possible, however, to be a Wiccan without any of these things. With the knowledge that none of the things above 'make a Wiccan,' what makes your practice of Christianity Wiccan?
#4. [How is your God our god?] From the earliest day of Wicca, including in writings by Gerald Gardner, the god of the Christians is described as a god of other people, not as the god of the Wiccans. In some of our oldest liturgy, and in some of the oldest books of shadows, we see pleas for protection from those who follow the god of the Christians, and we're warned against 'their' magistrates and authorities. Were those Wiccans wrong when they said that the Christian god was not our god?
#5. [Law of Return] In Wicca, we have a concept of Return, which some people understand as Karma, but which states that the things we do in this life have an effect upon this life. Most Wiccans do not believe that being good in this life is rewarded solely in the next, but Christianity teaches just that-that the reward for being good in this life is being rewarded after death, and that the reward for being bad in this life is bad things happening after death. How do you reconcile these two beliefs which, on the surface, seem pretty darn different.
#6. [Sex] Our beliefs as Wiccans say that those actions which do no harm are ours to do as we wish, as often as we wish, and most of us believe that all acts of love and pleasure are expressions of holiness. Christianity, on the other hand, has specific prohibitions against many types of harmless activities, such as intercourse between unmarried, committed partners, or non-procreative sex. How do you reconcile these apparently disparate beliefs?
#7. [Salvation] Wicca teaches that there is no need for salvation, yet Christianity teaches all need to be saved. Likewise, Christians are pressed to preach the word to all 'nations,' and Wiccans are taught to keep quiet about their beliefs unless asked, and even then to speak with caution, if at all. How do you pick which to believe- that salvation is needed or not needed, that we must proselytize or that we must not- or, if you believe none of them, how do you reconcile that?
#8. [Sinners]Wicca teaches that the gods can be directly interacted with, yet Christ said that no one got to his father but through him. Again, how do you reconcile these seemingly disparate beliefs without taking sides?
#9. In Wicca, when a child is born, it is a blank slate, but in Christianity a child is born with several punishments already upon him/her. For example, pain in childbirth and 'being a sinner,' are the results of being born human in Christianity, but not in Wicca. How do those work together?
#10. [Special Expertise.] Most Christians do not believe that their religion is compatible with Wicca. Even when those Christians have in-depth knowledge of Wicca, not the silly stuff that they are sometimes fed from anti-Wiccans, they still don't believe their religion is compatible with Wicca. Likewise, most Wiccans do not believe that their religion is compatible with Christianity. While being in the majority does not necessarily make a person right, why do you think they are all wrong? What special expertise do you have that they lack?
Bonus: Several ex-Christo-Wiccans have charged that 'Christo-Wicca' is just a transitional state for those afraid to commit to one or the other, to quiet them, could you name some experts on Christo-Wicca, people who've been practicing it for decades, and where they could be found?
So, I thought I'd talk about these two things, what they mean, and why the view that Christianity and Wicca cannot work as a unified religion without misrepresenting both is neither.
First, there is the idea of intolerance. Intolerance is not the same as disagreement. A person can think your religion is stupid and can say things about it that are disagreeable and nasty without being intolerant. Intolerance is when they try to stop you from practicing your religion, not by calling it names, but by passing laws, bullying, threatening. It is not intolerance to be told your views make no sense. It is intolerance to be told your views will not be tolerated on a message board or email list and that you need to shut up or leave. It's intolerant to be punished for saying things-even true things- in the hopes you'll stop saying them. It's not intolerance when someone says your beliefs make no sense, but it is intolerance when someone tries to bully you out of them. Remember, being told truths you don't like is NOT being bullied. Being threatened is being bullied. Being pressured is being bullied. Feeling pressured because people are saying true things that bother you is not being bullied. These things can feel a lot alike, but if you can step back and view them objectively you'll quickly see the difference- in one, it is a person or people who are pressuring you, in the other, it's reality that's pressuring you.
Then there is the idea of prejudice. Prejudice literally means judging something before you know anything about it. If someone can make a reasoned, coherent and valid argument about something, then by definition that argument is not from the point of view of PREJUDICE. For example, if someone is saying that a person is bad because of their skin color, they aren't making a reasoned, coherent or valid argument about that person, they are making a prejudiced one.
If, however, someone can enumerate a large number of reasons for their views, reasons that obviously require a study of the things they are discussing, they obviously aren't judging before they know anything about it.
It's very common, when people are discussing so-called Christian Wicca for those who disagree with the concept of a "Christo-Wicca" to be called intolerant and prejudiced, but it is very uncommon for those laying the accusations to demonstrate any manner in which those they are so-labeling FIT the labels. They are just saying "intolerant and prejudiced" in an attempt to make people shut up, basically trying to bully people into compliance with a view many of us have problems with. This refusal to hear the other guy's side, and to want the other guy to just shut up and go away, and actions towards that end, are, themselves, intolerant and prejudiced.
So what are the problems with Christian-Wicca?
I've enumerated a bunch of them here, but here are 10 major questions that anyone calling themselves Christian-Wiccan should be able to answer without difficulty, having already thought about them. In my experience, asking Christian-Wiccans these questions tends to result in getting a "whole lot of stupid" in reply, by which I mean getting ATTACKED instead of getting answered. Note that these are not even a fraction of the problems most of us have with Christo-Wiccans, but are a beginning of the problems most of us see. Since I'm writing them down for anyone to read, without me there to clarify, I've tried to make them very clear, so they are long. I've tried to summarize them in a few words in brackets at the start of each one.
#1. [Monotheism vs. Polytheism] Wicca is traditionally polytheistic. Even if you believe, as some Wiccans do, that all the gods and goddesses are one god and goddess, a core expression of Wicca is the interactions between at least one god and goddess, expressed in fertility rites. The interaction of male and female, even when just symbolic, permeates Wiccan ritual, and the Lord and Lady are seen, at the very least, as equals who are nonetheless different. How do you couple this with Christianity's monotheism, or, if you believe that Christianity is not monotheistic, how do you couple this with the God of Abraham's proclamation that he be the highest of highs, the god before all other gods. How can you have two gods that are seen as equals simultaneously with one god that is seen as the highest of high? Since our gods are said to procreate and interact, if there is only one god, how is this possible, and if there is not only one god in Christianity, why are Christians historically so hung up on monotheism?
#2. [Jesus' Death] Why, in your Christo-Wicca, did Jesus die, and what did his dying accomplish? Most Christians believe Jesus' death, or at the least his suffering, was something that benefited mankind, that Jesus died for mankind. One thing Wicca teaches is self-responsibility. How do you reconcile the beliefs that the only one responsible for your actions is YOU with the idea that another person being killed by still other people is possible payment for things you did?
#3.[What practices make it Christo-Wicca?] Christians have traditionally practiced magic, and have a long and storied tradition of magic, including the ideas of elementals and watchtowers, even casting protective circles, using pentagrams, pentacles, sacred swords and daggers, and worshiping on each of the calendar days generally associated with Wicca. It is possible, however, to be a Wiccan without any of these things. With the knowledge that none of the things above 'make a Wiccan,' what makes your practice of Christianity Wiccan?
#4. [How is your God our god?] From the earliest day of Wicca, including in writings by Gerald Gardner, the god of the Christians is described as a god of other people, not as the god of the Wiccans. In some of our oldest liturgy, and in some of the oldest books of shadows, we see pleas for protection from those who follow the god of the Christians, and we're warned against 'their' magistrates and authorities. Were those Wiccans wrong when they said that the Christian god was not our god?
#5. [Law of Return] In Wicca, we have a concept of Return, which some people understand as Karma, but which states that the things we do in this life have an effect upon this life. Most Wiccans do not believe that being good in this life is rewarded solely in the next, but Christianity teaches just that-that the reward for being good in this life is being rewarded after death, and that the reward for being bad in this life is bad things happening after death. How do you reconcile these two beliefs which, on the surface, seem pretty darn different.
#6. [Sex] Our beliefs as Wiccans say that those actions which do no harm are ours to do as we wish, as often as we wish, and most of us believe that all acts of love and pleasure are expressions of holiness. Christianity, on the other hand, has specific prohibitions against many types of harmless activities, such as intercourse between unmarried, committed partners, or non-procreative sex. How do you reconcile these apparently disparate beliefs?
#7. [Salvation] Wicca teaches that there is no need for salvation, yet Christianity teaches all need to be saved. Likewise, Christians are pressed to preach the word to all 'nations,' and Wiccans are taught to keep quiet about their beliefs unless asked, and even then to speak with caution, if at all. How do you pick which to believe- that salvation is needed or not needed, that we must proselytize or that we must not- or, if you believe none of them, how do you reconcile that?
#8. [Sinners]Wicca teaches that the gods can be directly interacted with, yet Christ said that no one got to his father but through him. Again, how do you reconcile these seemingly disparate beliefs without taking sides?
#9. In Wicca, when a child is born, it is a blank slate, but in Christianity a child is born with several punishments already upon him/her. For example, pain in childbirth and 'being a sinner,' are the results of being born human in Christianity, but not in Wicca. How do those work together?
#10. [Special Expertise.] Most Christians do not believe that their religion is compatible with Wicca. Even when those Christians have in-depth knowledge of Wicca, not the silly stuff that they are sometimes fed from anti-Wiccans, they still don't believe their religion is compatible with Wicca. Likewise, most Wiccans do not believe that their religion is compatible with Christianity. While being in the majority does not necessarily make a person right, why do you think they are all wrong? What special expertise do you have that they lack?
Bonus: Several ex-Christo-Wiccans have charged that 'Christo-Wicca' is just a transitional state for those afraid to commit to one or the other, to quiet them, could you name some experts on Christo-Wicca, people who've been practicing it for decades, and where they could be found?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Things New Wiccans can do for May Eve, without any training.
In Wicca, May Eve traditionally runs from sunset on the last day of April until sunset on the first day of May. Unlike the solstices and equinoxes, which are astronomical events, May Eve is dated based on the secular calendar, although some people have decided to replace their May Eve celebration with a lunar holiday, celebrating on the full moon closest to May Eve. I actually dislike this practice, because our Roman-influenced secular calendar was always established with the idea that the first day of the month was special, whether a Roman market day, a Catholic Mass day or even a Bank holiday.
However May Eve is recognized in the Wiccan liturgical calender you use, whether it is dated traditionally or placed elsewhere in the month, whether you call it by a Germanic, Celtic, or Anglo-Saxon name, it still represents the center (cusp) of the holy year, as well as representing a date of maximum fecundity, a day upon which one begins great works, with the hope that they will grow full with time and blossom into something extraordinary.
So, what can an untrained or new Wiccan do to celebrate this season?
1. If you and your significant other are contemplating having kids, or more kids, May Eve is the traditional "first day" to start trying. Assuming you have a place available to you that is private and unspoiled, you may want to try consummating your relationship in the wild, surrounding yourself with the signs of nature and the start of growth as you start that great work.
2. Not all great works are about having a kid. Do you have a project or goal that needs starting? May Eve is a traditional time to start long-term projects that aren't kids, too. Try spending an hour meditating and/or brainstorming about the things you want to accomplish before the new year, then ask the gods for help before you begin. If the project requires more work than can be started in the day, try doing something that REPRESENTS the project. For example, if you are going to start a sculpture, or a garden, or applying to colleges, and you can't start those on May Eve, try praying for assistance in starting it, and doing a token act- drawing a picture of your sculpture, walking through where your garden will be, taking a real or virtual college tour.
3. Celebrate the earth by making and consuming the locally fresh foods that are in season now. Foods in season taste better, don't have to travel as far and often have nutrients your body craves during this time of year. You can use this chart to find out what is available near you.
4. Make a honey, seed or apple cake, representing the use of the last of your stores in the hopes that things will continue to replenish. If you absolutely cannot do this from your own recipe or from scratch, try using a high-end mix, I personally love this one, and we're up to 3 holidays we'll make it for.
5. Share your food with the gods. When you have your feast, take a small amount of the food and place it somewhere outside, preferably away from your house. If you have an outdoor altar, or a small special space (I use the crook of a tree,) leave the food on a fine plate for the gods to use as they will...even if it's just to feed the squirrels!
6. Spend time in prayer, meditation, or just go for a hike in the forest- or do all three. Listen to the world around you, look how the world has changed, how it is changing because of the season. Find three good things about the earth and focus on them.
7. Be a steward to the earth- clean up the winterfall, the bits of trees and bush that snap off in the winter, and any trash that blows into your yard, local parks and wild areas. Declare war on blowing plastic bags, climbing trees or using tools to remove them from the environment. Make it YOUR problem, not someone elses'.
8. Honor your ancestors. Not just your literal ancestors, but all of those who have come before. While it is a tradition to send flowers anonymously on May Eve, some people take that the wrong way, so instead of sending flowers to your local grump, instead, visit your local old cemetery and find out the rules about flowers and the like. Visit graves that no one cares about anymore, and fill the urns with appropriate flowers, trim the grass that grows up against the stones (often even good cemetaries don't do hand trimming against old stones) and, following the cemetery's suggestions and rules for such things, clean and service the stones. This website has some good examples of ways to clean and maintain stones. I especially like to bring perennial, potted plants to place in empty urns in areas no longer actively visited by relatives. Remember, however, that cemeteries have the right to have rules about these things, so find those out FIRST. For example, you may be required to remove the plants after frost. I, personally, find caring for the graves of forgotten children to be particularly fulfilling, because when those parents paid for the stones (often huge amounts of money) they expected the people of the future to care for them and someone good should, even if the parents' churches no longer bother.
9. Be a sneaky earth helper. Find out what local endangered native plants are available in nurseries, and plant them in forgotten public areas. Also, if you have a stand of a local endangered plant in a public area, purchase permanent markers, and mark the area. This will often prevent people from randomly picking them from idiocy, ignorance or because of development. Nearly every year, for example, Yahoo!Answers will have questions from people who've just picked trilliums, which can take 3 years or more to recover from picking! asking "what flower is this" despite the fact that even common trillium are often protected under state law. An example of an appropriate sign might have an image of the protected plant, its name, and, for example: "This plant is a protected species, removal of this plant is subject to a fine not to exceed XXX or jailtime under state law XXX.XX" If the plant cannot be picked without killing the plant, it's often good to add that. 'Picking Trillium, unlike other wild flowers, often results in the death of the entire plant-please look, but don't touch.' Similarly, be vicious towards your local evil invasives, like Japanese Knotweed, following EPA recommended techniques to manage them, even if it involves sneaking over fences or otherwise bending the law. Plant KNOWLEDGE is very important here. If, for example, you see highway maintenance spraying down large hedges, don't assume "the man" is evil, but keep aware of what's going on. Not all plants are equal, if you have a non-native plant that is killing indigenous useful plants, often you need to be drastic. Research ways that are less drastic than what your local government is doing, or maybe more effective.
Each of the techniques above can help you celebrate the holiday even if you are alone, or don't know exactly what you're 'supposed' to do.
However May Eve is recognized in the Wiccan liturgical calender you use, whether it is dated traditionally or placed elsewhere in the month, whether you call it by a Germanic, Celtic, or Anglo-Saxon name, it still represents the center (cusp) of the holy year, as well as representing a date of maximum fecundity, a day upon which one begins great works, with the hope that they will grow full with time and blossom into something extraordinary.
So, what can an untrained or new Wiccan do to celebrate this season?
1. If you and your significant other are contemplating having kids, or more kids, May Eve is the traditional "first day" to start trying. Assuming you have a place available to you that is private and unspoiled, you may want to try consummating your relationship in the wild, surrounding yourself with the signs of nature and the start of growth as you start that great work.
2. Not all great works are about having a kid. Do you have a project or goal that needs starting? May Eve is a traditional time to start long-term projects that aren't kids, too. Try spending an hour meditating and/or brainstorming about the things you want to accomplish before the new year, then ask the gods for help before you begin. If the project requires more work than can be started in the day, try doing something that REPRESENTS the project. For example, if you are going to start a sculpture, or a garden, or applying to colleges, and you can't start those on May Eve, try praying for assistance in starting it, and doing a token act- drawing a picture of your sculpture, walking through where your garden will be, taking a real or virtual college tour.
3. Celebrate the earth by making and consuming the locally fresh foods that are in season now. Foods in season taste better, don't have to travel as far and often have nutrients your body craves during this time of year. You can use this chart to find out what is available near you.
4. Make a honey, seed or apple cake, representing the use of the last of your stores in the hopes that things will continue to replenish. If you absolutely cannot do this from your own recipe or from scratch, try using a high-end mix, I personally love this one, and we're up to 3 holidays we'll make it for.
5. Share your food with the gods. When you have your feast, take a small amount of the food and place it somewhere outside, preferably away from your house. If you have an outdoor altar, or a small special space (I use the crook of a tree,) leave the food on a fine plate for the gods to use as they will...even if it's just to feed the squirrels!
6. Spend time in prayer, meditation, or just go for a hike in the forest- or do all three. Listen to the world around you, look how the world has changed, how it is changing because of the season. Find three good things about the earth and focus on them.
7. Be a steward to the earth- clean up the winterfall, the bits of trees and bush that snap off in the winter, and any trash that blows into your yard, local parks and wild areas. Declare war on blowing plastic bags, climbing trees or using tools to remove them from the environment. Make it YOUR problem, not someone elses'.
8. Honor your ancestors. Not just your literal ancestors, but all of those who have come before. While it is a tradition to send flowers anonymously on May Eve, some people take that the wrong way, so instead of sending flowers to your local grump, instead, visit your local old cemetery and find out the rules about flowers and the like. Visit graves that no one cares about anymore, and fill the urns with appropriate flowers, trim the grass that grows up against the stones (often even good cemetaries don't do hand trimming against old stones) and, following the cemetery's suggestions and rules for such things, clean and service the stones. This website has some good examples of ways to clean and maintain stones. I especially like to bring perennial, potted plants to place in empty urns in areas no longer actively visited by relatives. Remember, however, that cemeteries have the right to have rules about these things, so find those out FIRST. For example, you may be required to remove the plants after frost. I, personally, find caring for the graves of forgotten children to be particularly fulfilling, because when those parents paid for the stones (often huge amounts of money) they expected the people of the future to care for them and someone good should, even if the parents' churches no longer bother.
9. Be a sneaky earth helper. Find out what local endangered native plants are available in nurseries, and plant them in forgotten public areas. Also, if you have a stand of a local endangered plant in a public area, purchase permanent markers, and mark the area. This will often prevent people from randomly picking them from idiocy, ignorance or because of development. Nearly every year, for example, Yahoo!Answers will have questions from people who've just picked trilliums, which can take 3 years or more to recover from picking! asking "what flower is this" despite the fact that even common trillium are often protected under state law. An example of an appropriate sign might have an image of the protected plant, its name, and, for example: "This plant is a protected species, removal of this plant is subject to a fine not to exceed XXX or jailtime under state law XXX.XX" If the plant cannot be picked without killing the plant, it's often good to add that. 'Picking Trillium, unlike other wild flowers, often results in the death of the entire plant-please look, but don't touch.' Similarly, be vicious towards your local evil invasives, like Japanese Knotweed, following EPA recommended techniques to manage them, even if it involves sneaking over fences or otherwise bending the law. Plant KNOWLEDGE is very important here. If, for example, you see highway maintenance spraying down large hedges, don't assume "the man" is evil, but keep aware of what's going on. Not all plants are equal, if you have a non-native plant that is killing indigenous useful plants, often you need to be drastic. Research ways that are less drastic than what your local government is doing, or maybe more effective.
Each of the techniques above can help you celebrate the holiday even if you are alone, or don't know exactly what you're 'supposed' to do.
Friday, April 23, 2010
I'm not Pansexual, and I don't say I am.
I lost an online friend a few months ago not because we disagreed about anything real, but because I have adamantly said that I was not Pansexual, I was a plain old bisexual. After a while, she started to understand my POV, and wrote me a lovely email, but (with her permission) I'd like to talk about what, precisely, that means.
Sir Frederic Bartlett, and Jean Piaget both discussed the concept of the schema, essentially sets our minds create that help us understand our world. To cut to the chase, this is a case of two schemata, which we'll call Set F and Set N.
Most of us who are adults possess these two sets, which are "things we theoretically could have sex with" (The Fuckable Set) and "things we would not have sex with, ever." (The Non-Fuckable Set)
Let's take, for example, the Set F and Set N of a healthy, heterosexual male:
Set F= [Women]
Set N=[Men, Children, Farm animals, Women who are filthy, etc.]
Most of us can wrap our heads around this type of sexual attraction schema, even if we don't share it. We can actually fill Set N up for almost anyone, because even if your attraction is to women, there are women who you will not find sexually attractive, maybe for good reason, maybe for bad reasons... For example, I generally like women, and there is a current commercial with a woman that I think looks like a bag of antlers, and like she'd rattle if you had sex with her...and if you go to any youtube posting of it, you'll find people saying she's gorgeous. I think she looks like an insectoid with a grossly distended head and pointy cheekbones that would stab you if you kissed her ear, but enough about that... clearly, this woman is in F for a lot of people, but she's in N for me.
In general, my set of Ns and Fs look like this, and since I'm not republican, I'll add that they have to be human.:
F=[Human Men, Human Women]
N=[Not human things, immature human things, things that look like immature human things.]
My (since reconciled) friend the pan-sexual had a problem with me because I tend to see androgyny and associate it with immature human things.
In other words, if you lack secondary sexual characteristics, my brain says you are pre-pubescent, and if I had a penis, it would go all flaccid.
That's not to say that I don't get attracted to transgendered people, as long as they have enough secondary sexual characteristics (associated with any gender, not necessarily their gender at birth) for my brain to see them as ADULTS.
For example, I don't know what gender this is supposed to be, but it's clearly supposed to look like a child of some gender or another, and it needs a sammich:
Pan-sexuality includes the ability to be attracted to people of all, any, or no discernible gender. I love some people who are Pan-Sexual, but I need to see something, of some gender, to indicate it is an adult, and healthy enough for sexual activity, before I can be stimulated by it.
It doesn't mean I don't like people who are androgynous, it just means they don't turn me on, no more so than a heterosexual guy gets turned on by a sexy man.
It's just not the way my brain works.
...And for the love of god, get those bags of antlers some sammiches.
Sir Frederic Bartlett, and Jean Piaget both discussed the concept of the schema, essentially sets our minds create that help us understand our world. To cut to the chase, this is a case of two schemata, which we'll call Set F and Set N.
Most of us who are adults possess these two sets, which are "things we theoretically could have sex with" (The Fuckable Set) and "things we would not have sex with, ever." (The Non-Fuckable Set)
Let's take, for example, the Set F and Set N of a healthy, heterosexual male:
Set F= [Women]
Set N=[Men, Children, Farm animals, Women who are filthy, etc.]
Most of us can wrap our heads around this type of sexual attraction schema, even if we don't share it. We can actually fill Set N up for almost anyone, because even if your attraction is to women, there are women who you will not find sexually attractive, maybe for good reason, maybe for bad reasons... For example, I generally like women, and there is a current commercial with a woman that I think looks like a bag of antlers, and like she'd rattle if you had sex with her...and if you go to any youtube posting of it, you'll find people saying she's gorgeous. I think she looks like an insectoid with a grossly distended head and pointy cheekbones that would stab you if you kissed her ear, but enough about that... clearly, this woman is in F for a lot of people, but she's in N for me.
In general, my set of Ns and Fs look like this, and since I'm not republican, I'll add that they have to be human.:
F=[Human Men, Human Women]
N=[Not human things, immature human things, things that look like immature human things.]
My (since reconciled) friend the pan-sexual had a problem with me because I tend to see androgyny and associate it with immature human things.
In other words, if you lack secondary sexual characteristics, my brain says you are pre-pubescent, and if I had a penis, it would go all flaccid.
That's not to say that I don't get attracted to transgendered people, as long as they have enough secondary sexual characteristics (associated with any gender, not necessarily their gender at birth) for my brain to see them as ADULTS.
For example, I don't know what gender this is supposed to be, but it's clearly supposed to look like a child of some gender or another, and it needs a sammich:
Pan-sexuality includes the ability to be attracted to people of all, any, or no discernible gender. I love some people who are Pan-Sexual, but I need to see something, of some gender, to indicate it is an adult, and healthy enough for sexual activity, before I can be stimulated by it.
It doesn't mean I don't like people who are androgynous, it just means they don't turn me on, no more so than a heterosexual guy gets turned on by a sexy man.
It's just not the way my brain works.
...And for the love of god, get those bags of antlers some sammiches.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
