This week I met a friend whose name should be unnamed as I protect the privacy of my confidants, does a name really matter is it not another label, labels that we acquire over time?
My friend and I discussed many topics from religion, Astronomy, to ancient civilizations, Chemistry (the center science), relationships, and everyday things like our kids.
When I looked at him I am and was ashamed on how far down the rabbit hole I have traveled ..I lost my way somehow..between figure it out how much gas can I go on empty before I break down in the highway...or how much money is left for groceries...or why sometimes I feel like I am losing my battle as a single mother. Life is hardship..my grandmother would have said..but I always thought that life was our practice test for the real afterwords.
Sitting there next to me my friend and I drinking some ale and being vulnerable we shared a lot in a short amount of time,...I heard him talk about his way and new path to self discovery, how he got there and I saw peace in his eyes and I wonder why I failed the goddess and myself when it seems that for the last year or more I have not been able to enjoy the simple things without worrying about the mundane things. I don't consider myself to be a perfect human being but I have tried to strive in doing well for myself and my kids every day and of course when possible some of my friends and extended family with what I had. I was honored and I am honored to have such a friend that through meditation and self discovery has found answers and a new way of living what Buddish Religion calls the Eightfold Path.
Most of my family members became outraged and extremely prejudiced over my new found religion almost three years ago. Nonsense! said my mother. Your grandmother will say, that is the devils work! I thought you have gone crazy! My mother exclaimed on the phone..and suddenly I felt really alone, the only one of my kind. A Hedge Witch nonetheless alone and it felt like high-school again when kids will tease me because my parents were the only ones divorced while I was attending Catholic School or when the girls stole the clothes from the gym showers when I was fourteen and I had to walk two floors to the rectory and explain that the girls played a prank on me to try to teach me a lesson: Dont be different! However as painful as that memory is, I told my daughter E., they taught me a lesson..no one can break your spirit if you dont let them. No one can affect your behavior if you dont let them.
So today I decided to explain that not all pagans are wiccans; not all witches are wiccans; and not all wiccans are witches and just because we are wiccans, pagans, witches...or different...that does not mean we are bad. I always remember Jessica Rabbits' words..a cartoon from the movie Roger Rabbit saying: "I am not bad...I am just drawn that way." Are you drawn that way?
Confused yet? It will be difficult for me to explain in a few lines how or why I decided to wear the title of witch or wiccan or both. I defined myself as a Norse Wiccan I identify with that culture..part of my ancestry comes from when the Vikings invaded Spain..my ancestors were the woman folk that were raped or assimilated by that culture.
So fellow christian friends how well do you know your 10 commandments? How well do we all practice them daily? Below is a comparison of the Christian Commandments and the Wiccan.
1. The Judeo-Christian First Commandment says: I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of Bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
1. Wiccan or Neo-Paganism: Thou are God/dess.
2. The Judeo-Christian: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them..
2. Wiccan: As above, so below, as within, so without.
3. Judeo-Christian: Thou salt not take the name of the Lord in vain.
3. Wiccan: Spirit abides in all things. Words and names have power.
4. Judeo-Christian: Remember this Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.
4. Wiccan: Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude. Walk the Talk.
5. Judeo-Christian:Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land.
5. Wiccan: Honor thy ancestors, teachers, elders and leaders.
6. Judeo-Christian: Thou shalt not kill.
6. Wiccan: All life is sacred.
7.Judeo-Christian: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Wiccan: All Acts of Love and Pleasure Are Sacred.
8. Judeo-Christian: Thou shalt not steal.
8. Wiccan: Whatever you sent out returns threefold.
9. Judeo-Christian: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
9. Wiccan: Love is the law, love under will.
10. Judeo-Christian: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, wife, manservant, maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's.
10. Wiccan: For the greatest good an it harm none.
Maybe we should be looking not how we are different but how we are equal. Hugs. Mystique.
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