Twinkle twinkle little stars

We are all made of stardust. It sounds like a line from a poem, but there is some solid science behind this statement too: almost every element on Earth was formed at the heart of a star.
Next time you’re out gazing at stars twinkling in the night sky, spare a thought for the tumultuous reactions they play host to. It’s easy to forget that stars owe their light to the energy released by nuclear fusion reactions at their cores. These are the very same reactions which created chemical elements like carbon or iron - the building blocks which make up the world around us.
After the Big Bang, tiny particles bound together to form hydrogen and helium. As time went on, young stars formed when clouds of gas and dust gathered under the effect of gravity, heating up as they became denser. At the stars’ cores, bathed in temperatures of over 10 million degrees C, hydrogen and then helium nuclei fused to form heavier elements.  A reaction known as nucleosynthesis.

This gives us the idea that the energy that makes up and dwells in all matter is in us as well, this is why many say the magick comes from within each of us, that is easier to understand once you realize we are made from the same fabric of the rest of creation.  Magick is the manipulation of these elements within you and the nature surrounding you, the tree, the earth, the animals, the plants and herbs we all work with are closely related to us from a cosmic birth.  It is this very connection I believe, that gives us the connection we need to cause a reaction in all matter, and spirit to commune with trees and animals is not far from communing with yourself or another person, forget normal language, element calls unto element, the ability to recognize the common makeup of all things around us.  Remember this next time you cast a circle and work a ritual that when you are calling out to nature and the things of this world for help, or need that you are calling on kindred matter, that you are related in a since to this world and all that is within it.  You will see that once you understand this, it will begin to answer your call and you will have greater influence upon the natural world.

Blessed be, PD

A path riddled with fiction

          The new budding pagan depending on path chosen and deity, will have a herculean effort before them to separate fact from fiction.  There are a few books now especially if one is following a more popular path say like Wicca, or just plain witchcraft, Buckland has books out there thou I am not overly fond of him as a teacher he is an excellent encyclopedia type medium.  Scott Cunningham is also an excellent source though I have found some people to consider him only a work for beginners that while it was okay to start with him, one should, “graduate” to deeper teachings /rolls eyes sarcastically….

          Many practices or paths have fallen into obscurity I am afraid being of the type passed down from teacher to student only by word of mouth, some indeed are lost to us and the only reference material we find is from the accounts of others who observed them, and most regrettable their opinion is often bias.  For instance the early Druids from Gaul what is now modern day France, were nearly tramped out by the Roman invasion.  They passed their knowledge by word of mouth and most was lost.  A great deal of the records we have concerning them comes from the Romans and Greeks.   I have lived long enough to see history modified, also I know that the History books are always written by the victor, he who won the war.  I am sure the early Gaul’s see the, “glorious” invasion of the Romans from quite a different view point.  One must do what one can, in the way of gleaning facts from whatever material they can find. I do not work with the Greek pantheon for instance, but as all should know between the authors of fiction, and Hollywood their story has been twisted, added to and completely made up in some cases.  What I find most alarming is that some will take these purely fictional works as being a guide or gospel if you will, not able or not willing to glean the truth if any can still be found.  Many pagan gods and goddess if their tail lent itself to a great story has been exploited this way, and while I like a good novel just as much as the next person I do not consider it a divine source of inspiration.  I am reminded of a group of people that I met once who, had run into a young eclectic witch friend of mine, and once they found out she was leading a circle of her own with one or two friends her age, they chastised her most vehemently.  They were new comers just moved into the area, but claimed to be, “High Priest of Avalon” and were toting the fictional work, “Mist of Avalon” as a holy writ upon which they base all their authority and knowledge and no one can practice in their area without their guidance and blessing.  First of all the mythical place called Avalon was a work of fiction from the author of the tales of King Author, though there is some debate upon if such a king existed named Author and there may have been one of Roman lineage, he was by no means the representation of the fictional character.  Little is known about the possible figure who inspired the story of King Arthur, a heroic monarch who has been a popular mythological and literary character for some time. It has been suggested that the real-life "Arthur" may have been a warrior/officer of Roman affiliation who led a British military force against incoming Saxon forces during the 5th to 6th centuries A.D. Still, Celtic monk Gildas wrote of the Saxon invasion in his work The Ruin and Conquest of Britain, citing the conflict at Badon Hills, and no warrior named Arthur is mentioned.
In contrast, the 6th century bard Aneirin crafted the Welsh collection of poems The Gododdin in which a heroic Arthur is spoken of. Yet with the work originally shared orally as opposed to being written down, it is impossible to ascertain if Arthur was part of the original story. Another poet, Teliesin, mentions a valiant Arthur in his work as well.
There has also been another suggestion circulated that references to Arthur were actually a way of honoring via myth a Celtic bear deity with a similar name. 

          This is just one example of which I speak, I could go on, but with the fear of putting you to sleep or worse yet glazing your eyes over with information overload I will refrain from indulging my passion.  I have worked with several deities since becoming pagan some easy to find decent information on some so obscure as to be questionable at best.  But a deity that wishes to work with you will make themselves known, I have worked with the Morrigan for quite a few years, she is a Celtic Goddess of which some is known but it is quite hard to find a great deal of information on her.  What I have been unable to pick up from books though I have gotten from her, she is not shy about telling you what you should do and how.  I have gotten the vapors a few times though, when people mistakenly take her; and the again fictional person Morgan Le Fay as being the same person.  They are not, Morgan Le Fay was a person of literary make believe put into the Author tails as sometimes his sister or what have you, for one thing this story was based on the merry old country of England.  The Morrigan was a goddess of the green country of Ireland not even remotely connected, the mistake in identity was being broadcast by a site admin from a Facebook Pagan site.  Please if you are going to be an admin and going to portray yourself as someone with knowledge do your homework..
If you wish to find out more about the Morrigan there is a priesthood of hers that has cropped back up I have read their site and it is quite a work they are doing.  Here is a great reference site on her, https://inanna.virtualave.net/morrigan.html enjoy perhaps she will call you also.
          A friend of mine discussed with me once their frustration now, of trying to follow a Norse path, she can never meditate on Thor now without picturing him from the Avengers marvel story line now, I sympathized with her but also found it quite facetious though I did not let on to her since she seem sincerely upset about it.  So in our efforts to learn new paths and new deities let us strive with our best effort to sift through fact and fiction as best we may, I know it is not easy, but to teach what is obviously a Hollywood fictional representation as knowledge handed down from the ages is not fair to you or your students. 

Blessed Be
PD

More Later

Hello readers, I do have readers right?  I promised more on this later so here is my attempt at that.  Questions, in a society where to think outside the box is discouraged, where any ripples in ones outside persona not matching what passes for, “normal” in main stream population is met with the vigorous and persistent wrap of a blacksmith’s flatting hammer.  How is a youth supposed to flourish and fertilize any creativity, of the mind and spirit?  We are poured into molds that match our culture, both geologically and ethnically tempered by social acceptance based on the opinions of one’s peers and elders.  To march to the beat of one’s own drum is frowned upon, makes you a target for bullies, and generate spontaneous sighs of exasperation from ones parents.  “Why, can’t you be more like your sister, or the neighbor’s kids?”  Perhaps because, I thrive on original thought, perhaps I don’t accept everything at face value, nor do I buy into since we have always done it this way, it is the right way.  NO I did not accept the status of normal much to my parent’s dismay, I was not bound to tradition, tradition does not equal right.  To answer why we do it this way with because the rest of them do it this way is not a satisfactory answer.  Tradition has a place, and there are some things to be said for it in certain avenue’s but as a spiritual practice, tradition if not carefully tempered by wisdom and intelligence, without proper study of one practice and how it relates to life, leads to very essence of blind zealot lynch mob mentality.  Tolerance, acceptance and understanding should be the tools of ones tempering, instead we find arrogance, bigotry, and self-righteousness leading the fray.  Who and what gives anyone the right to impose one’s own moral beliefs on another person against their will?  Having three daughters I see a example of this way too often, if a lady is comfortable with their own sexuality, and decides to dress in a way that makes them fell sexy, or boost their self-esteem who are you oh prudish one to tear them down to your own man made image of modesty?? You attitude is what is damaging the young ladies all over this world, they are going under the knife, and doing things damaging to their bodies all in the name of, what society says they should look like, an image personified by all means of media.  The perfect body type, is a myth who among you have seen the blueprint of what we are supposed to look like?  The standard you should follow, and the only one who matters is the person looking back at you from the mirror mounted above the bathroom sink, you see in the morning when you first wake up.  We are all perfect within ourselves and need no one’s approval on the way we look or act.  Go forth be you, if you cannot find the real you peel off all the layers of garbage that this world has tried to attach to you and start to live life the way it was designed to be lived, a life tailored by you and your dreams however silly they may seem to others and live it to the fullest like every day was your last.

With these ideals I searched out a new path, one in tune with the earth and nature the things that allowed my existence to her I must answer for she brings forth the substance of my life, the energy, the wonder a canvas full of new and exciting things waiting to be discovered.  I returned to the old paths indeed, old as time itself where man walked with nature instead of treading on top of it.  So far it has been a revitalizing venture that has renewed my hope for the future and leached the weariness that life had become.

Blessed be