Witches Brew

Rita Moran is Chairperson of the Kennebec County Democratic Committee, and is attending the Democratic National Convention as an official delegate for the state of Maine. Rita, who runs a bookstore in Maine, was outed and stalked last year by a local conservative Christian organization. Since then she has dedicated herself to being an open and positive Pagan presence within the Democratic Party.

Ed Lachowicz is Vice Chair of the Kennebec County Democratic Committee, and a Maine Democratic State Committeeman. In addition, he is a regular blogger with Turn Maine Blue, a progressive state-focused blog that has been granted press credentials at the Democratic National Convention.

Together at http://bluepagans.blogspot.com/ they are offering a perspective on Pagans involved in the political process.

Not all Pagans are liberal. There are George Bush Pagans out there–even though Bush expressed the opinion that Wicca, one of the largest of the Pagan traditions, is not a real religion. Even though his Born-Again, End-of-Times mindset has played havoc with environmental policy and inspired misadventures in the Middle East. Many Pagans are not involved in the political process at all. But, according to Moran, “[T]he Democratic performance (percentage who say they vote Democratic on polls) of Pagans is higher than Catholics and mainline Protestants.”

–Not that the Democratic Party is courting the Pagan vote. Most Pagans–aside from their religious path–lead mainstream lives. Only minority would be considered to be living an alternative life style. But as Moran points out: “[M]ost mainstream Christians don’t understand us very well, and our overt support might well push center and right Christians squarely in the McCain camp.”

http://bluepagans.blogspot.com/2008/08/are-we-included-will-we-ever-be.html

Moran blogs about attending peace rallies and interfaith events. Lachowicz thunders about the current state of “politics as usual”: “Every time that that petulant son of a bitch up in the Maison Blanche (petulance is best expressed in French, according to the Republican Party) stamps His Mighty Feet, Democrats scramble for the quickest way to insert their heads as far up their asses as they can physically manage. The Republicans, meanwhile, manage that which we cannot- unity.”

Blue Pagans offers a lively look at the Democratic Convention–and a view you won’t get from TV or your local newspaper.

It’s a week till Lammas, First Harvest, also known as Lughnasah. Lammas comes at the height of summer, but it is already looking forward to Fall and the harvest season. There have been changes here at Witches Brew. The Peoria Blog Project changed service providers, and my old site theme vanished. Now I have these spiffy, rotating views of Peoria.

I haven’t posted since Ostara, though I have been thinking about where I wanted to go with this blog. So imagine my surprise when I realized today that I am not a solitary witch anymore. The Central Illinois Pagan Society started out October just before Samhain–right about the time I started Witches Brew. CIPS (with a hard “C”) has grown dramatically in the last nine months and swept me up with it. I’ve been attending the monthly Meet & Greets, and I find myself involved in planning our Sabbat rituals and inaugurating the CIPS newsletter. We our first online issue will be out this coming week.

These kind and caring people have made me feel welcome. CIPS is a family organization. It’s common to have three generations of participants at our open rituals, and members have brought non-Pagan friends and Significant Others. It’s great to be back in a Pagan community again. I’m sure I am going to have lots of news and views the coming months. Thanks, guys! Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again!

Officially it’s five more days till Ostara, the first day of Spring. Today was muddy, it was cold, it was snowing, but a small circle of Pagans came together this afternoon to celebrate the changing of the season. Eight or nine adults and three of four children chanted and danced, feasted and magically expressed ouir hopes and desires for renewal in nature and in our personal lives. We colored Easter egg–Ostara eggs–to honor the Goddess and God who bring new life, to be tools in making manifest our magical intentions, and to delight our inner children.

I discovered that the art of coloring eggs has become more complicated since I last dipped one. We had dye in plastic cotton swabs and glitter paint in squeeze tubes… I ended up finger painting eggs with the glitter paint. My inner child was pleased.

Part of our ritual asked for a healing for the honeybees have been dying across the country, and the bats that have been dying this spring in New York and surrounding states. Nature awakens but many of her children have been poisoned and need our prayers.

It’s been a long, cold winter but Spring is just around the corner. A new energy is flowing through the local Pagan community. Two organizations will be holding Ostara celebrations in the coming week. Generally Pagans celebrate eight seasonal holidays. Ostara welcomes the Spring Equinox and the return of new life in nature. And Goddess, are we ready for daylight, balmy temperatures, and new growth.

The newly organized Central Illinois Pagan Society will host their second monthly Meet-Up meeting this weekend at an area bookstore. The February meeting drew an enthusiastic group.

A member of CIPS, who has an online metaphysical store, announced that he is about to sign the lease on a bricks and mortar store, expected to open in Pekin in April, AND he is bringing a major Pagan writer to town for the grand opening.

Exciting times ahead! I will report on events as information becomes available.

By Presidential proclamation, January 16 was Religious Freedom Day.

Religious Freedom Day
Each year, the President declares January 16th to be Religious Freedom Day, and calls upon Americans to “observe this day through appropriate events and activities in homes, schools, and places of worship.” The day is the anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.

The goal of ReligiousFreedomDay.com is to promote and protect students’ religious expression rights by informing educators, parents, and students about these liberties.

The Religious Freedom Day Organization offers a downloadable guidebook for students, educators, and administrators. According to the guidebook, “Religious Freedom Day is not ‘celebrate-our-diversity day.’ Freedom means the freedom to respectfully disagree. Freedom Day is first and foremost a time to acknowledge one of our most important civil liberties. Schools that promote students freedom of religious expression are not promoting religion but are promoting civil liberties. The main message students need to hear is that they should not feel inhibited to express their beliefs at school.”

http://religiousfreedomday.com/images/RFD_Guidebook.pdf

That sounds fair enough. But it ignores a fundamental difference between Christianity and Paganism. Jesus send his disciples out into the world to spread “the Good News.” For too many Christians it is their mission statement. Pagans eschew proselytizing So Christians feel free to inundate Christians and non-Christians alike with religious messages. There is never an inappropriate time to spam us with “Good News.” Ironically yesterday morning when I was doing the most prosaic data entry, I opened the warranty card for a television manufacturer, and out popped one of those little tracts. This one was not one of the noxious ones. Entitled “Road Map to Heaven” it asks “Who has sinned?” What is the penalty for sin?” yada, yada… Nothing like the noxious one that was handed to me in the hospital many years ago when my mother was dying of cancer. That was one of the little comic book tracts about teenagers dying suddenly in a highway accident and finding their unprepared souls in Hell. Though it would be another decade before I found my path as a Pagan, that evil little book was probably the straw that broke my last, tentative link to Christianity.

I pitched “Road to Heaven” in the trash. And then I pulled it out. As so many members of the Christian Right have pointed out, freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religion. Even in the privacy of my own little cubical, I am not free from unwanted Christian proselytizing. We are constantly bombarded with messages from the religious majority. Most we can ignore, but when non-Christians bark back, “Sit down, shut up, back off,” then Christians feel persecuted. After all they are just following their mission statement.

Then there is the other side of this mission run amok. Because Christians are–well, cursed–with this need to foist their religion upon the world, they are convinced that other religions are intent upon foisting THEIR beliefs upon Christians. Particularly upon innocent Christian children. So we have endless warnings about Harry Potter or The Golden Compass leading children to Witchcraft or Atheism. I have come to the conclusion that Christians are so anxious about their children because their mission statement compels them to steal the souls of OTHER PEOPLE’S Children.

Many years ago when my nieces and nephews were young, I was invited to go to church with them. One of them was participating in a religious program. Their little piece was just a side bar to the main attraction at that Sunday’s service. Two missionaries had just returned from a glorious mission in Africa. They had gone to an African village where–horror of horrors–the adult Christian congregation believed in adult baptism. This Central Illinois church applauded and praised their God as the missionaries told how they had thrown a party for the children of this little village, played games, and given them presents, and then baptized them all. When Christian denominations are willing to cannibalize the congregations of other denominations, it’s no wonder that they are convinced that non-Christians are eager to gobble up little Christian boys and girls.

These evangelists can’t believe that Pagans, as a rule, are NOT interested in proselytizing. That most flavors of Paganism are only open to adults. That children of Pagans may or may not be trained in Pagan beliefs. That children of Pagans are free to seek other paths. That children of non-Pagans are NOT recruited. That children of non-Christians are NOT considered for religious training until they are sixteen or eighteen years old. That younger children are NOT accepted unless they have permission from their parents. Evangelists can’t believe that Pagans do not have mixed emotions about the commercialization of their beliefs by toy companies, book publishers, and film and television producers. Like any minority we like to see ourselves represented in popular culture, but we do NOT have a MESSAGE to broadcast to a non-believing world.

So, on Religious Freedom Day let’s put the “civil” in civil rights. And let’s remember another of Jesus’s commandments: Do unto others as you would have others do onto you.”

Here it is, ready or not: 2008! Have a blessed New Year. I have stated my New Years Resolutions in a public online forum, “The Year of Doing Big, Fun, Scary Things Together.” This is hosted by the same folks who put on National Novel Writing Month. Every year aspiring writers are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November–and yes, I know a couple of local Pagans who participate. At any rate, I found out that BFS is what goes on the “off-season.” One of my goals for the year is to set up a small temple in my spare room. If you have a specific list of goals for 2008, you can register with BFS. Create an account at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/forum/192 and have at it.

If you are not certain what you want to do in the new year, pick up a copy of Michael Norton’s book, 365 Ways to Change the World: How to make a difference–one day at a time. You can work your way chronologically through the year or you focus on one of the twelve themes: community and neighborhood, culture and creativity, democracy and human rights, discrimination, employment and enterprise, or environment. You can also pick from globalization and consumerism, health, international development, peace, volunteering and citizenship, or young people. Many of the daily ideas/projects are suitable for the classroom or the scout troop.

For New Year’s Day, Norton asks you to resolve to change the world. He recommends downloading a picture of Samuel Beckett framed by the words:
No matter
Try again
Fail again
Fail better

Cut this picture out,” Norton says, “frame it, and put it where you will see it every day, Let Samuel Beckett’s words become your motto for the efforts you will be using to change the world.”

You can download the picture at http://www.tomphillips.co.uk/portrait/sbec/

You can read Norton’s blog or sign up for his newsletter at http://www.365act.com/

You can purchase a copy of 365 Ways to Change the World at Global Village in Peoria Heights.

The 2008 Presidential Race intensifies next week as Iowans caucus and New Hampshire residents vote in their primary. In the next eight weeks we will select our Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. Then comes the long, long haul to the November elections.

The Pagan Voting Project encourages Pagans across the country to be informed and involved citizens, to register to vote and to go to the polls in November. Pagans can go to the PVP to register to vote, get information on issues and candidates, and to download PVP banners to add to their own websites.

13 Reasons Why Pagans Should Vote

“Decisions are made by those who show up”

Aaron Sorkin

• Because Voting is Very Pagan!

Many of us come from proud traditions that used a Council and other forms of the voting process to make decisions. Native Americans, Vikings, the Greeks, and other Pagan cultures valued this right highly, and fought to keep it.

Voting is an ancient Pagan tradition. Apathy, on the other hand, is a modern invention – it suits those in power very well indeed, but it disempowers you!

• Because Pagans Know Our History:

It’s easy to say, “Never again the burning times”, but actions speak louder than words. Let them know we mean it. Vote!

• Because The Opposition Votes…A Lot:

Our government was designed for citizen participation. If you don’t vote, other people are going to make the decisions for you. There are people out there who hate us, and who want to take away our rights and freedoms. They are organized, they are active, and they vote. What about you?

• Because Pagans Honor Our Ancestors:

They fought long and hard for the freedoms we have today. Let us respect this heritage and use the rights they won for us all.

• Because Pagans Have Strong Opinions:

If you are eligible to vote, but choose not to, no one should ever have to listen to you whine about the laws and policies of this country. Don’t vote? Don’t Complain!

• Because Lighting a Candle Isn’t Enough:

The last Presidential Election proved that every vote matters.

• Because “The Supremes” Matter:

The next President will appoint the next (2 - 3) members of the U.S Supreme Court. They dictate what freedoms stay and what freedoms are eliminated by their interpretation of the Constitution. These people have a direct (and final!) say in issues that affect us all

(See Issues List below).

• Because “Everything She Touches, Changes”:

Most politicians think that Pagans are a bunch of apathetic wing nuts who never vote. Why then, should they listen to us? But they watch “voting trends” the way a hawk watches a rabbit. Groups who are known to vote on certain issues have political power which they can use to promote positive change for other like-minded citizens. That said, Pagans do not all have to vote the same way or even vote as a group. What matters is that they know we’re out there and that we vote.

• Because the Personal is Political:

Elected Officials make decisions on things that matter to us personally like the environment, jobs, reproductive freedom, education, and health care. Voting is your chance to tell them what you want.

• Because “As Above, So Below” is Also True in Politics:

The Federal & State government decides who gets to benefit from the tax dollars we all pay. Politicians control these purse strings, and they hand down money from above for things like collage loans, animal shelters, libraries, breast cancer research, and more. Make sure that the causes and services you care about get funded. Vote!

• Because Voting = The Power To Make Social Change:

Don’t believe us? Take a look at women’s lives before they had the power of the vote, and see how different things are now. Then look at the struggle for civil rights (including the right to vote) by people of color No one handed their rights to these folks – they had to demand them. And many were beaten, jailed, and killed in the process.

Today, people in other countries are literally dying for the chance to vote because they know how important it is. Social change is only possible when we stand up to be counted. So stand up!

• Because We Want “No Taxation Without (Equal) Representation”:

In Congress only 13 percent of the members are people of color, and only 14 percent are women. Want to change that ratio? Vote!

• Because That Sound You Hear is a Culture Clash:

Right now, there are two major political parties in the U.S. These parties see the world in very different ways and each will make different decisions. Their choices will directly affect your future. Meanwhile, minority opinions still struggle to be heard.

Question: Who gets to decide what direction we take?

Answer: Only voters decide.

ISSUES THAT DIRECTLY EFFECT US

● Privacy and Technology ● Religious Liberty ● Health Care ●

● Reproductive Rights ● Jobs ● The Environment ●

● National Security ● Free Speech ● Marriage Laws ●

●The Protection of Endangered Species & National Forests ●

● Lesbian & Gay Rights ● Drug Policy ● Energy Policy ●

● Student’s Rights ● Women’s Rights ● Racial Equality ● HIV/Aids

http://www.fullcircleevents.org/pvp/index.html

What does a Witch do at Christmas? I can’t speak for all Witches, but this one celebrates.

Christmas was a huge affair when I was a kid. My father was a professional Santa Claus at the Great White Store in Downtown Peoria–back when Peoria had a downtown. The whole family, at one time or another worked for the Great White Store. We lived with my grandmother who was a shopping fool. She not only overwhelmed my sisters and me with toys and clothes, but she also shopped for her deceased nephew’s kids. So giving to the less fortunate was ingrained upon my psyche at an early age.

Gram’s sisters-in-law were both widowed (Gram was divorced when Dad was just a tot). Every Christmas they congregated at Gram’s house. So three crones presided every year over our Christmas dinner. And in the afternoon, Gram’s youngest, surviving brother would sneak away from his own family celebration and take a nap on Gram’s sofa.

They are all dead now or scattered to the four winds, but I still carry on in my own fashion. Last night, Christmas Eve, I watched It’s A Wonderful Life (yet again), finished decorating my tree, and then watched (yet again) the Christopagan A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim. This morning I made a pot of fair-trade coffee, switched on a Christmas parade from Dallas, and sat down with caramel apple turnovers and my new issue of New Witch Magazine (”Cutting Edge Paganism”). Then I went out for the newspaper, greeted some of my neighbors, threw out bread for the birds, celery tops for the rabbit, and ripe hedge balls for the squirrels. Then I came and put some carols on the cd player: Stevie Wonder’s Someday at Christmas, Fa, La, La, La La Doo Wop! (various Motown artists), and Jimmy Buffett’s Christmas Island. Happy Birthday, Jimmy!

Christmas isn’t complete without presents. I am presently watching my new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and cracking open some mixed nuts. Then I’ll open the rest of my goodies while dinner is cooking. Shrimp, yellow rice, and squash…

So Merry Christmas to All, and May All Your Christmases Be Magical.

I just watched a beautifully filmed documentary on CBS.  Filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet were making a documentary about firefighters in New York City when they found themselves in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.  Their ordeal eventually sent them on a spiritual quest to interview a dozen religious leaders around the world, including the pope and the Dalai Lama.  Most turned out to be old men with long white beards. Only one was a woman.  Only the high priest of the Shinto Temple in Japan made any reference to female deities.

Of course I didn’t expect to see any Pagan leaders.  We shy away from the excesses of most world religions:  no marble and gold temples, no sacred texts, and no spiritual “authorities.”  But when the Muslim and the Jewish leaders said, “Our religion forbids killing.  We would never use religion to conquer other nations, but we will defend ourselves if these people attack us!” I wished that the Naudets had sought out Starhawk, one of our internationally known authors and activists.  In 1994 Starhawk wrote The Fifth Sacred Thing..

Frong the B&N synopsis:

Imagine a world without poverty, hunger, or hatred, where a rich culture honors its diverse mix of races, religions, and heritages, and the Four Sacred Things that sustain all life - earth, air, fire, and water - are valued unconditionally. Now imagine the opposite: a nightmare world in which an authoritarian regime polices an apartheid state, access to food and water is restricted to those who obey the corrupt official religion, women are property of their husbands or the state, and children are bred for prostitution and war. The best and worst of our possible futures are poised to clash in twenty-first-century California, and the outcome rests on the wisdom and courage of one clan caught in the conflict.

Ninety-eight-year-old Maya has helped shape the ecumenical culture of the North by reviving and re-creating an earth-based spiritual tradition. Madrone, the granddaughter of Maya’s longtime lovers, is a healer trying to thwart recurring epidemics that she suspects are biological warfare waged by the tyrannical South. Bird, Maya’s grandson, returns from ten years in a Southern prison with warnings of impending invasion and an urgent request for help from the resistance in the hills. When Madrone travels south to aid the rebels and search for a cure to the deadly viruses, she finds herself fighting for her own life alongside battle-weary guerrillas and beautiful pirates.

Meanwhile, in the North debates rage about how to repel the invaders. “All war is first waged in the imagination, first conducted to limit our dreams and visions,” Maya says, and warns that by killing their enemies, they may themselves become transformed by violence and destroy all they have built. Bird champions her alternative vision and becomes a leader of the faction calling for nonviolent resistance. When he is captured and pressured to cooperate with the enemy, the fate of the North hangs in the balance. Richly imagined and beautifully written, The Fifth Sacred Thing is a powerful novel.

I wish all the patriarchs of “The Book” could find wise old women and visionary young men to show them other ways of solving the world’s problems.

It’s Yule, the darkest night of the year.  The Solstice officially occurs just after midnight this year, and I am keeping a very simple vigil tonight.  On the stereo I have George Harrison singing “Here Comes the Sun,” “My Sweet Lord,” and “Something in the Way She Moves Me.”.  I have a white and gold candle burning.  I am replete with pistachios, rosemary and olive oil Triscuits, and chai tea.  Tomorrow night I’ll put together a more elaborate ritual and decorate the little tree I bought.  It’s a live spruce.

“Yule ” means “wheel.”  The Sun is born a-new; though the Earth slumbers, a new cycle of the year has begun.  For Pagans this is often a time of feasting, of visiting with friends, and of quiet reflection.  Pagans may make New Years Resolutions, but those resolutions are written down, embued with magical intent, and burned, sending our resolve into the Multiverse. Some Pagans make practice divination, to see what lies in the year ahead.  Pagans may give gifts, but the gifts may be “magical”.  Incense, bath salts, candles, jewelry, altar tools and decorations, tarot cards or rune sets, books on magic or Paganism…  Treats or good things to drink…   We even sing “Pagan Carols,” familiar tunes reworked to express our joy in the Season.

And now, welcome the Wheel.  Welcome back, Sun!