Category Archives: Spirituality

From the Files of the Obvious

In general I avoid quizzes, as they frustrate me; they’re never multi-dimensional enough, and I usually wouldn’t choose any of the answers, so I’m left with a best-of-the-worst-choices selection. Sometimes, though, I’m curious to see how they’re constructed, how they would slot me into a limited, pre-conceived category.

Today, I discovered via the What Style of Witchcraft Suits You? quiz that I am “best suited to Traditional Wicca!! You feel more comfortable in a structured setting, but have no qualms about doing what must be done when necessary.” Which is true enough, and the only answer which even remotely describes my actual practice.

I also discovered this, according to the What Kind of Pagan Are You? quiz, and I’m pasting the whole thing because Dame Maggie Smith is just cool:

Real thing
You are THE REAL THING!
You are just a regular person with alternative
beliefs. You don’t feel you have anything to
prove and are just enjoying life. Good for
you! What kind of pagan are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

(The “all possible results” was a riot.)

Be a Martyr!

This kind of thing really upsets me:

Church Says Girl’s Communion Not Valid

By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 20, 6:33 AM ET

BRIELLE, N.J. – An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine.

Now, Haley Waldman’s mother is pushing the Diocese of Trenton and the Vatican (news – web sites) to make an exception, saying the girl’s condition should not exclude her from the sacrament, which commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion. The mother believes a rice Communion wafer would suffice.

“It’s just not a viable option. How does it corrupt the tradition of the Last Supper? It’s just rice versus wheat,” said Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman.

Church doctrine holds that Communion wafers, like the bread served at the Last Supper, must have at least some unleavened wheat. Church leaders are reluctant to change anything about the sacrament.

(Full article here.)

For Pete’s sake — The bread. Is. Blessed.

The priest uses his God-given powers to bless the bread, performing the ritual magic which transforms the object into the body of Christ. That’s what transubstantiation means. Are you telling me that God isn’t capable of changing a rice wafer into the body of Christ? That the blessings don’t take if it’s not wheat?

Denying someone access to their faith because the individual cannot/will not comprimise their health isn’t only unfair, it’s bigoted.

The Catholic faith is a beautiful one. It’s too bad the bureaucrats spoil the spiritual aspect of that faith.

Drat Those Celts

From an e-mail conversation:

Me: (in response to a request for an authentic source for some Celtic information) What, if anything, is verifiably authentic when it comes to the Celts? Pesky Celts, doing stuff and not writing it down.

Ceri: And having different names for everything, damn them. They’re worse than people on the internet, misspelling everything.

And if you’ve ever tried to do any sort of Celtic research (and in so doing sought to avoid Llewellyn authors such as Edain McCoy like the plague), you too know this pain…

Witches Weekly Questions

Witches Weekly Questions, August 13, 2004: Sound

1. Do you enjoy having any type of music or sound during a ritual? If so, what?

Always. My life has a soundtrack, and ritual is no different. The score to the film Fairy Tale was nominated as the Official Ritual Score a few years ago. Nowadays I often use the score to Myst as well. It depends on the tone of the ritual. Worship: Fairy Tale. Working: Myst. And because I’m so tuned to music (no pun intended) I can time my words and energy to the music’s crescendos. It enhances everything so beautifully.

Drummingis marvellous, especially when you have a strong and talented drummer. TO drum, however, you have to accept that you’re not in the heart of the ritual, but managing the energy levels on the side. I can’t do rit and drum simultaneously, so I have to look forward to high ritual when others do it. And it has to be done correctly; so many let the beat falter or meander around. I’ve only met a handful of people who can correctly use drums as ritual tools.

2. Do you have a favorite chant?

Good question. I’ve always love The Earth is our Mother; I can chant Holy Well Sacred Flame for hours in ecstatic meditation; and Air I Am was on the list until near the end of this weekend when the Clan’s chants mistress (a woman whom I love fiercely) taught my dedicants to sing “Sam I am, Sam I am, I won’t eat green eggs and ham” to the tune, thereby endearing her to the Seuss fanatics (everyone) and ruining the chant forever for me. Earth My Body has taken its place in my top three chants after this weekend.

3. What sound tends to move you spiritually the most?

A slow well-built orchestral crescendo; rain; water of any kind; the cello (go figure).

Flip-Side

Don’t get me wrong; there were bad things too. We left three and a half hours later than we had intended to thanks to the idiocy of the regie d’assurance automobile; we drove in a blinding rainstorm; the portable CD player and the tape adapter hook-up didn’t work; we set up in the pouring rain, and were subsequently damp all weekend (I’m just throwing my rotting sneakers out); the air mattress had a hole in it and deflated completely within two hours; more people showed up than registered so that there weren’t enough sites for those who *did* register, forcing people to double and triple up on soaking, flooded, bog-like sites; one of the catered meals was rancid, forcing us to default to breakfast food on our barbecue (which was yummy, and a good bonding experience); and due to unclear communicaion about scheduling, we left five hours later than we had expected to leave, forcing us to drive through the night instead of just the evening, and on not a lot of sleep at the end of a draining weekend.

That’s just so you know I’m not romanticising. There were as many downs as ups. However, dwelling on the downs isn’t constructive.