Bring Rituals outside!

Here's two fine essays at WitchVox that I liked, both concerning the importance of Nature in Neo-Paganism:

Finding Ritual Space in the Wild by Juniper

...Many Pagans, especially those who follow a strongly Nature oriented path often enjoy practicing their rituals, meditations and spellwork outdoors.Celebrating rituals outside is growing in popularity...

That's so true. Our church is the outdoors, our cathedrals the Vault of Heaven.

...Sometimes however, we feel the urge to get outside that comfort zone and head out into the more wild places on Earth...

Juniper next proceeds to give us some basic advice about conducting outdoor rituals. She offers some great advice, as the trickster deities always seem to enjoy sending city Pagans into the biggest patch of poison ivy imaginable! Heh. She points out something that has tripped-up many outdoor newbies--cell phones often don't work in remote areas. In other words, they can't be counted on for help if you get lost in the wilderness.

...Make sure someone knows where you are going to be if you are heading into the bush or wild. Make sure they know when you expect to be back...

Survival books are packed with tales of those who neglected that simple caution. Always tell someone from home about your plans, even if you are just going on a short hike. Most importantly, tell them when you expect to be back. That way, someone will an idea where you are if you go missing.

...Head home well before dark. Do not travel through the wild places on Earth at night alone unless you are an experienced outdoorsman...

The darkness factor has played a roll in many wilderness disasters. What's most dangerous is the combination of starting late and underestimation of the round trip time. People wind up stranded in the dark half way through their trip.

The next article is Pagans and Environmental Issues: Can We Save the World? by Lady Abigail.

...I fear the Mother Goddess cries and weeps for all life on the planet. Her heart is broken from our lack of care. She wails in pain as Her heart is distorted and the seas swell. Her once mighty glaciers of ice melt and shatter into the oceans and life, as we know it, is changed forever. We don’t even respect Her enough to see Her cry...If we, each one of us -- one at a time -- stand together, we are a force for nature. Alone but a part of the masses; possibly we can show how much we truly honor the Goddess of Earth. Perhaps it is time we step up and take care of Her...

Wicca is an Earth-based religion, as Lady Abigail reminds us. Her essay gives us some useful suggestions and practicing to help us tread lightly on our Planet.

WitchVox, WTF?

I think it was the Atheist Richard Dawkins who said "It's good to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains drip out your ears". Maybe we Neo-Pagans can learn a thing or two from our Atheist friends.

I know WitchVox has a policy of not "taking sides" when publishing essays from its members. But do we really need 3 different essays from Global Warming deniers? (Heh, and I sure am not linking to them.) None of the essayists offer any proof of their claims. Sheesh, anyone willing to spend 3 minutes on 'the google' can make mince meat out of their arguments. I wish I had the time to waste taking them on point for point, but all they manage are oil industry talking points or sad displays of scientific illiteracy.

But if you want to check out an article which debunks such propaganda, read BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER:
The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change


Just a preview, in regards to the tired 'there's no consensus among the experts' ploy:

...For example, the National Academy of Sciences report, Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions, begins: "Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise"... The report explicitly asks whether the IPCC assessment is a fair summary of professional scientific thinking, and answers yes: "The IPCC's conclusion that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations accurately reflects the current thinking of the scientific community on this issue"...Others agree. The American Meteorological Society..., the American Geophysical Union..., and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) all have issued statements in recent years concluding that the evidence for human modification of climate is compelling...

So, what next Witchvox? Yule Sabbat suggestions from Holocaust deniers!

Finding your Goddess and God

Quest for Deity

One fascinating element of Wicca is selection of your own personal deities. Over at Witchvox, there is a great essay by Nicole Gilbert called Quest for Deity. Nicole outlines a process to help you find your Goddess and God. The first is a somewhat academic approach:

...A good place to start is to ask yourself some questions. Are you drawn to any particular time periods or cultures? Ancient Egypt, perhaps, Classical Greece, or maybe pre-Roman Britain? How about Ireland? Most people seem to feel some affinity with an older culture or two and that is a good place to start. Studying the mythologies of the times and places you feel drawn to is an excellent idea...

That academic approach works for some. On the other hand, for other Wiccans, it's the other way around--it's you gets selected! Nicole draws on her own process:

...I have had the experience of being chosen by a goddess... I was feeling overwhelmed and trying to narrow it down between Egyptian or Celtic pantheons but also being strangely drawn to the Greek underworld goddess, Hecate...I was napping when I had a very vivid dream. I was standing on a hill, looking up into the sky at a tiny speck way up high, spiraling down, closer and closer. All my attention was focused on the speck, though I did notice a bit of a chilly breeze. Down and down the speck spiraled, growing larger the closer it got. Finally it got close enough for me to see that it was a large white owl...

What a refreshing illustration of how differently the spirituality of Wiccans and Pagans is from mainstream monotheistic religion. It begs the question Joseph Campbell, Jung, Alan Watts, Diane Osbon and others have asked, "Could God exist if nobody else did?" Of course not. That's why Gods and Goddesses need us to believe in them. I like entomologist Alan Watts' answer for this, "If you believe in God, I don't. If you don't , I do". As Osbon states, "There are as many Gods as people thinking about God". For many ancient cultures, all we have left of what they knew and felt about the Cosmos are their conceptions of Deities. The Deities our history has created are really the mirror images of ourselves. Deity is actually the work of human kind, projected in beings we call Goddess or God.

Considering how rotten we have been to the Earth lately, it's really nice of Goddess and God to still believe in us.