disappointment about placing names

[Luna's Crone]

I identify myself as being a pantheist with a little bit of Buddhism thrown in, I believe that God is in everything and everyone but no one person or thing is a God, the whole collective conscious of the universe is godly, also I much prefer to use the word source of creation than God.

I don't really believe in Wicca, or Christianity although I'm very spiritual I'm quite happy just to believe in my own religion created by me, I don't want to or need anyone to believe in what I believe in, each to there own.

I call omnipresent Divine Creator as in what you created is surely Divine. I call all energy Spirit. And then I have always called Gaia Gaia since i was in high school, and the sister moon, sister moon until i saw the character Luna in HP. Now its Luna (never liked the name cuz of the mental overtones) But character of Luna was beautiful in its own way. And Luna doesn't seem to mind. Me neither. This about as far as my belief goes, but i am open to other worldlyness if i come across.

On my celtic maternal side of the faminly, one girl usually inherits a wee bit of psychic ability. The oldest was my great aunt, (which was a definite in the closet thing) my mom, but i don't remember what hers was, but like me she could really project nasty, hateful, mean vibes. Plus we couldn't be in each others company for long until i hit my thirties. The same thing with me and my oldest daughter. I predict when blood relatives die and sometimes pick up other things. My poor daughter kinda feels everything is haunted and i am always giving her rituals to do to cast out the spirit. I hate to admit it, I make them up. But they always include sage, water and salt for continuity sake. I tried to explain things are not haunted, but spirits or whatever maybe trying to contact her. she doesn't care for that. If my two granddaughters don't have any ability then it has ended with my daughter's generation. Although my son hears voices that are not in his head but they have never been evil or wicked. He used to play with some of the when he was little. I never discouraged it.

my granddaughters have black foot, cherokee and delaware in them. This is what a good part of our NA comprise of because the local delaware where forced to oaklahoma, but came back. We also have the original Blanket hill, and everytime i am up on that hill, I ask for fogiveness. its automatic, i don't think about it. even my husband quit saying things about it. But i need to speak with each granddaughter separately. I don't want it to die out but nurture it. My mom said i had the strongest ability, cuz when i was real little i did things or predicted things other than death, but would never talk about it.

Then there is my great niece Joc. She is interested in paginism. Maybe she has some ability. I am trying to guide her, cuz her bio mom is really nutty in to tarot and has said some things to Joc that I kinda had to correct, her adoptive mom is her dad's sister, my niece, and she is not happy with any of this. Its funny cuz her mom (my sister is couch pantheist too.)

sorry got wordy

blessings

 

[Luna's Crone]

One more thing

I always thought of ireland as THE Sacred land, but when I hit about my late twenties early thirties, it became the middle of Australia, no matter what else tried to believe. Weird huh. Ireland, Scotland a Wales still call me. but if i was capable, I would definitly do a spiritual walkabout with an aborigine guide in Austrailia. But due age and a lemon of a body, I can't. plus i may drink putrid drug stuff, I believe in peyote and stuff like that, BUT i am not eating any bugs.

There is a book that may interest alot of you by Carlos Constaneda (not sure it is spelled right) but was written in the late 60's early 70's about his spiritual journey in south west usa and mexico. Its really worth a read. actually the first 3 i read, but the first i read was Journey To Ixtlan, Separate Reality: Conversations With Don Juan, and a third Tales of Power. I am definitly gonna try and re-read them cuz at the age of 19 and 20 i got kinda lost.

sorry, I am done I promise, have to do my daily draws and journal and get all of my wordiness out of me for the day.

 

[gregory]

I'm not quite sure what has offended you SO much. Was it the actual word chosen ? In which case - suggest another - she did ask. There CAN at times be a need to say something about "non-pagans".

Or was it

And another person says pagans hate it when a pantheist says the are science/nature based.

Which is simply their opinion contrasted with yours. Many pagans would disagree with that. But it wasn't the person you admired who said that, as I understand it.

But why would witches and pagans put me down or other people for having their belief.

There are people in EVERY group who do that, who put down anyone who doesn't believe as they do. That doesn't tar the whole group. There are people here who diss everyone who doesn't believe in tarot and say those people are ignorant and worse. I AM into tarot and I find those posts deeply offensive. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and just because you admire someone doesn't mean you have to agree with everything they say. (MY SO and I have just had a blazing argument about politics and we still love and respect each other And Pope Francis is wonderful - except for the few areas where he isn't...)

 

[celticnoodle]

Joanne, I haven't read through every post here, so excuse me if I repeat things already posted. I think its just in many peoples nature to be cruel in this way. We are all human and we all label to one degree or another. The people who did this to you are obviously not really witches, as they broke the number one rule of witches--as Aunty Anthea pointed out below.

Traditional witches accept everyone and insult none

Being tagged or labeled is often hard to accept and hurtful though sometimes it can also be well accepted and enjoyed. "Pretty", "Popular", "a leader", ect. are often well accepted, as they are the nicer types of labels. Its sad that we do have to put labels on each other however, and especially if they are labels that demean them. Everyone has the right to feel accepted and respected. Sadly, this is not widely practiced, however.

I agree also with Aunty Anthea's idea of finding a closed page to seek support and guidance from. They generally are more supportive of helping each other find their own path, and don't resort to making anyone feeling like they are an outsider.

And then, as gregory mentioned

I remain me. You be you. That's all it takes. A label is just a label.

But, my favorite is the last thing Gregory said, and I also agree--I would love this too!

But I would LOVE to be called a muggle

 

[greatdane]

Labeling is just a way to put people in their place, or the place others think they belong.

If WE CHOOSE to describe ourselves in some way as a way of getting others to know us better, our right. When someone else decides to try to "sum us up" with their OWN labels, that can often literally divide people (She's a this, he's a that, and I'm not, therefore.....).

 

[Luna's Crone]

Names

I'm not quite sure what has offended you SO much. Was it the actual word chosen ? In which case - suggest another - she did ask. There CAN at times be a need to say something about "non-pagans".

Or was it
Which is simply their opinion contrasted with yours. Many pagans would disagree with that. But it wasn't the person you admired who said that, as I understand it.

There are people in EVERY group who do that, who put down anyone who doesn't believe as they do. That doesn't tar the whole group. There are people here who diss everyone who doesn't believe in tarot and say those people are ignorant and worse. I AM into tarot and I find those posts deeply offensive. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and just because you admire someone doesn't mean you have to agree with everything they say. (MY SO and I have just had a blazing argument about politics and we still love and respect each other And Pope Francis is wonderful - except for the few areas where he isn't...)

It was a person i had a great deal of respect for and she had it on her fb page as kinda of a contest. Who could come up with the best name. Yes, I was taken aback. She wanted to call non-pagans muggles or mundanes. To me coming from her was a surprise. I of responded, in a calm but disappointed manner. She took both my post down, but someone read them cuz he said, call them regular.

I am sorry, I am 63 (a cool 63) but when i was growing up a name could destroy you and your family, maybe cause death in the end. I was terrified in high school that if it got out i was half swedish, I was done.

Name groups is one thing. But doing it to demean that group is another. It makes you feel superior. Anyways I had done a 3 card drawing the day after and it literally told me to disassociate myself from her in everyway. Kinda blew me a way, cuz i use cards to get me starting writing in my journels and nothing really comes up that hits and thing on the head. and the other 2 cards where in line with that. So I did.

You see, my not being one of the 3 book religions makes me feel more compasion for those of other religions (although I am really really confused about the 72 virgin thing. why 72, what does that number stand for). I don't say anything that is derogatory and over 63 years I have plenty to say.

I guess i expected more passion from a pagan and wiccan, then those of the 3 great book religions. its my fault. Living a life as white trash i guess had me grow compasionate instead of hateful.

As I said before, I appreciate all the input. I just can't believe at 63 i can still be hurt by words, well not the words, but the person who says them. I don't think i will be over that soon either. Bummer. But it does give me something to journel about. LOL

 

[Aunty Anthea]

I would have thought that being half Swedish would be looked on as being rather exotic

My views on the Abrahamic 3 book religions:

If many millions of years ago a good and caring entity/being created this planet and all the wonderful things on it, would it then make sense for that entity/being to go away for a few million years only to return a couple of thousand years ago and create the 3 Abrahamic religions, that have nothing for this planet other than to destroy much of it and many of the people and creatures living on this beautiful planet

I see only EVIL in the destructive Abrahamic religions

I prefer Hindus 'Happy Diwali' everybody. I love Diwali because everyone shares sweets

Re the 72 virgins. If the men receive 72 virgins what do the women have to look forward to?

Living in the UK I did not believe that anyone would really refer to another human being as 'white trash'. Is that the way the so-called good Christians of America refer to those who are less fortunate

 

[Aster Breo]

I hope someone chats a bit about this, cuz i have no where else to turn to.

Jo Ann, you might want to check out www.ecauldron.com, a pagan-focused debate and discussion forum. Click on the "Forum" link at the top of the page to get to the discussion threads.

At The Cauldron, we use "pagan" to mean any religion or spiritual path that is not Jewish, Christian, or Islamic AND self-identifies as pagan -- which is an extremely broad and diverse umbrella than definitely includes pantheism. There are plenty of people there who enjoy discussing all sorts of related topics.

I do wonder, though, how you're using the word "pagan". Could you please clarify that?

Many people incorrectly conflate paganism (a broad umbrella term, as I mentioned above) with Wicca (one religion or group of related religions) and/or witchcraft (magic use that might or might not be religious). There are so many different kinds of pagans, many of which have virtually nothing in common other than the use of the term "pagan". So, it can be very confusing.

 

[Luna's Crone]

I would have thought that being half Swedish would be looked on as being rather exotic

too exotic and free with favors with one or more at a time. The 60's and earlier where really awful for women and children no matter what color, what people didn't see was black and white men, treated women and children the same. AT least the creepy cruds did no matter the color line or the side of the tracks

 

[Tanga]

I was just surprised by her action, it was deliberately kinda nasty, and inviting others to chime in.

But what i was bummed out about was that it was someone i had been following on youtube for a while and really respected her. I guess I was taken by surprised.

I grew up in the celtic spirit of ireland and scotland. but I am definitely a panthiest with a touch of paganism and a whole lot of science. ;-)

Thanx for all the input, i really appreciate it.

Blessings

OK. I've not read it all - and I am confused about exactly what has upset you.

But - Sod the labels. The problem with them is one persons good label, is someone else bad label, is someone elses mediocre label... and it just goes on like that. Depending on each person/ and then social groups ideas and influences.
I am: A Pantheist, a chaos magic dabbler, an ecclectic Wiccan - and, I love science.

As for the FB lady. Do you know her in person? You can never really tell anything about someone unless you do - and that's the common pitfall of open forums/media of any kind.

AND - beware of the idea that anyone other than someone from a "3 great book religion" must definitely be more compassionate, open minded and understanding. It's not necessarily the case. Pagans fall into the trap of dogma, righteousness and superiority complexes, just as much as any other human beings do.