Z Budapest Tarot Social & Meet

Posted by Z Budapest | Posted in Witch, Women's Spirituality | Posted on 12-08-2010

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Z’s House Oakland , CA
Aug. 21, 2010 1-4pm
Price: $65
(limited to 15 women)
Enjoy tea and sweets at Z’s house!

Location details given after you’re registered.
Fund raiser for the Women’s Spirituality Forum

Go to www.TarotSocial.com to register.

What is a TAROT SOCIAL?

It is a joyful coming-together of the Women’s Tarot community … a Revival of
the 70’s TRAVELING MAGIC SHOW by a FOREMOTHER of GODDESS SPIRITUALITY, The QUEEN
of TAROT READINGS, and the woman responsible for LEGALIZING TAROT in California
… Z BUDAPEST.

What will it be like?

The Women’s Tarot community comes together… experienced and newbies alike.

Practice and deepen your own tarot skills… witness others’ readings in an
intimate setting helping you to hone your own skills rapidly.
Query the Fates together in Circle of Community… learn from The Queen of Tarot
Readings!

You arrive as beautiful Goddesses and all is in readiness for your amazing Tarot
experience ….

Entering into CIRCLE with (or without) YOUR TAROT DECK, you become ONE with YOUR
SISTERS through breathing, humming and chanting …
Together we invoke BINAH, the Goddess of Wisdom – as the tarot is based on the
kabbalah.

Lighting our candle on the altar to the FATES, we sit in circle with our
personal decks before us as … we receive a WONDERFUL and ENLIGHTENING TEACHING
on the TAROT from Z – the tarot’s origination and evolution through the ages to
now.

Dropping deeper, Z takes us to the CAVE of the FATES, where fortunes are created
and measured … The PSYCHIC SELF OPENS …
Now the READINGS BEGIN … feel one with the group, feel the community as ONE BODY
seeking answers together, often sharing the same fate … witnessing each other
… as loving, caring and supportive sisters in Goddess … QUERY The FATES for
each other ….

We, the QUERENTS, ask our questions as Z allows the ANSWERS to COME THROUGH from
the UNSEEN WORLD … YOU, the witnessing souls of The Tarot Circle, have MANY
INSIGHTS from which we can all benefit and learn … Along the way, Z TEACHES More
about each card as it comes up … keeping us sharp and feeling alive.

And we ENJOY and share lovely refreshments together.

Z GIVES A YEAR’s PROPHECY, with SONGS and SPIRAL DANCES to The FATES and more ….

FOR the EXPERIENCED and the INTERESTED BEGINNER alike!

You need have no experience in the Tarot to attend … even if you do not own a
Tarot deck, … be part of the circle, learn and experience! Welcome the Fates!

Goddess Festival Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 Special Pricing

Posted by Bobbie | Posted in Dianic Wicca, Goddesses, Susan B Anthony Coven, Witch, Women's Spirituality | Posted on 01-08-2010

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Blessings Sisters in Goddess!

We are pleased to announce our Goddess Festival Special for the the month of August 2010.

In the month of August only!
We are offering women who register for the Goddess Festival a FREE one year membership into the Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 … the world’s most famous coven!

Membership into the Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 is $50. So you’re getting a savings of $50! Plus, once a member of the SBA, you will find savings on classes worth more than the cost of your membership!

It’s a WIN-WIN!!! You get to come to the Goddess Festival and become a Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 Sister in Goddess … and you help raise funds for the Women’s Spirituality Forum.

The Women’s Spirituality Forum is an IRS 501(c)3 non-profit. Your registration fees and your membership are tax deductible.

* SBA Special pricing ends Sept. 1, 2010

Wilma Mankiller Passes

Posted by Bobbie | Posted in Women's Spirituality | Posted on 09-04-2010

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She was the first woman to be Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She was the first at a lot of things. Wilma Mankiller was a true American heroine and a voice for the masses. Tuesday morning, Wilma Mankiller passed away, but not forgotten. She was only 64.

Mankiller and her family announced last month that she was suffering from metastatic pancreatic cancer. Friends and family gathered around her. Mankiller had survived lymphoma and breast cancer, but metastatic pancreatic cancer isn’t something even a fierce willed woman like Mankiller could beat.

During Mankiller’s 10 years as principal chief, the tribe grew to become the second largest in the United States. Mankiller was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1998.

“Our personal and national hearts are heavy with sorrow and sadness with the passing this morning of Wilma Mankiller,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith is quoted as saying on the organization’s website. “We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because (of) her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness. Her gift to us is the lesson that our lives and future are for us to decide.”

Carolyn McClellan, a Cherokee who is assistant director of community and constituent services at the National Museum of the American Indian, said “She was faced with so much adversity in her life, but you couldn’t keep her down. She had such an effervescent spirit. She would not take no for an answer.”

She was on the board of the Freedom Forum and Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations, which plans to name a scholarship for her. WEWIN founder Susan Masten said “She was a true warrior and an excellent leader in the sense that she worked tirelessly to improve the lives of everyone else, including her own people, and she did it in a humble way. With all the attention she got and the awards she received… that never changed who she was as a person. She had a very big heart.”

As Pagans, we view the work of Wilma Mankiller as invaluable. She was a sister to all of us, as well as a mentor. We learned from her as we read her books. She was a feminist who fought for the rights of women everywhere, for child’s rights, for Native people’s rights, for all people’s rights.

“Early historians referred to our government as a petticoat government because of the strong role of the women in the tribe,” Ms. Mankiller told Ms. Magazine in 1988. “So in 1687 women enjoyed a prominent role, but in 1987 we found people questioning whether women should be in leadership positions anywhere in the tribe.”

She brought health care to the Cherokee Nation. Mankiller was a veteran of the 1960’s Native American rights movement. She led a drive to institute health and social services on tribal lands and marshaled a self-governance agreement with the federal government. During her tenure, membership in the Cherokee Nation budget grew to $150 million a year. Mankiller put much of that money back into health care and educational resources for the tribe.

In 1969, Mankiller became involved with the Native American rights movement when she helped support a group who occupied Alcatraz, the former federal prison in San Francisco Bay.

She is survived by her husband Charlie Soap, a Cherokee who championed tribal language and tradition.

We close our remembrances of Wilma Mankiller with her own words, words that all Pagans embrace:

“I think the Cherokee approach to life is being able to continually move forward with kind of a good mind and not focus on the negative things in your life and the negative things you see around you, but focus on the positive things and try to look at the larger picture and keep moving forward … also taught me to look at the larger things in life rather than focusing on small things, and it’s also awfully, awfully hard to rattle me after having faced my own mortality … so the things I learned from those experiences actually enabled me to lead. Without those experiences, I don’t think I would have been able to lead. I think I would have gotten caught up in a lot of nonsensical things.”

She had told the world that she had accepted her own passing, and now it is the world that must come to terms with it. We loved you Wilma! We will not forget you … what is remembered lives! Deep peace.

DEATH. What If…

Posted by OccultBird | Posted in Goddesses, Women's Spirituality | Posted on 02-03-2010

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RavenCrone

So, been thinking about how to present this thought. I can’t come to something reasonable so let’s out with it.  This has been rolling around in my mind as something that should be talked about especially if we are truly to act in the role of Priestesses – how we define death and how we deal with it

Death. What if ….

As it is, really, I don’t know that anyone knows if there is life after death. There’s a lot to be argued one way and the other. I died, went down the tunnel, met someone, came back, cried because I had to come back. My mom cried, after I was 6 days in a coma, when she saw me come back. I saw my brother get killed while gazing into a crystal and his spirit saying goodbye as I stood on a beach 1,000 miles away. So, it would appear that I could argue for “life after death”.

But…

What if when we die we die? What if this is the only time and place? What if there’s only today? What if we “made up” the Goddess?

Scary? Yes? Why?

This is a case of “you might as well give in.” There’s absolutely nothing that you or anyone else can do about death. As it is, we’re born to die. So, what about the journey in between?

Do we have fun (become enlightened – “lighten up”) and do we make up stories to make ourselves feel better? Personally, I don’t mind the feeling better part and look forward to it and the stories. Why not?

So, what if you knew you could not fail, what if you really “knew” you had only today – right now? What would you do? Would you suddenly look up and see the stunning beauty of this planet, of the people (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 legged people) and their constructs. Consider the imagination involved. Consider that you and I are less important in the scheme of things than grass (which is third, IMHO, on the list behind air and water – everything else is 4th).  No gold medals there.

Hmmm, do you become crazy and try and do it all in one day? Do you sit in front of the TV (or other device) and become a numbed mind? Or, somewhere in between? Or do you start following your bliss? Your art? Your love? Why wait? There may not be a tomorrow; no way to know either if there will be a tomorrow for you or me.

Where do we fit in? Where/what is it that we are just as happy as can be when involved with/in/among/learning/doing?

And do we make up stories? Call them plays. Call them fables. Call them holy. But, the point is, we do call them. And, as long as it’s fun, I can’t see any reason not to call them. After all, I think I’m an enlightening loving individual.

And, you might as well do it in “beauty and strength”. Be the best, learn as much as you can, pass it on to your kids and their friends. It’s been proven that there is only 6 degrees of separation between any of us. 6 people between you and your goal, between you and me.

Can you imagine a world of enlightened people? Everyone being the best they can be at what it is they’re good at and really love doing? Ok, probably impossible because what you love I may hate, but what if? What if when we live, we live? I think we were born to live and part of the living is dieing. Such is life.

All I can say about it is Become Enlightened!! Have Fun. Don’t wait for tomorrow.

And decide how you wish to council others once you’ve clarified your view of death and what to believe or not believe about it.  And, don’t forget, everything changes.  You don’t have to get stuck in anything, even an idea.  In my eyes, stagnation is a sin – the only sin.

And, Her name is Fun.

The Fates and Destiny

Posted by Bobbie | Posted in Goddesses, Women's Spirituality | Posted on 02-02-2010

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The following article is excerpted with the author’s permission from Chapter One of Summoning the Fates, A Woman’s Guide to Destiny, © copyright 1998 by Zsuzsanna E. Budapest. All rights reserved.

“What rules our lives? Is it chance, or choice, or something else? Is it the stars, or that strange force people call Lady Lucky, or Fortuna? Since the beginning of time, people have tried to figure out what determines their destiny. In Hungary, we have a saying, ‘Ember tervez, Isten vegez‘ — ‘humans plan, god finishes.’

But the Fates are beyond even goddesses and gods. They are raw forces of nature. They are rhythms of the ebb and flow of energy, matter, and meaning – the three basic components of the universe. They were here first; they will stay to the last. Everyone’s story is in the Fates’ web. They are one; they are three; they are nine, three times three. Their mystery cannot be totally understood, or can it? All the other goddesses and gods became their emanations through time. It was the fate of Zeus to destroy his own father. The Norse gods cannot avoid Ragnarok. When the gods must obey the Fates, you know who is in charge.

This archetype of destiny is embedded deep in the Indo-European psyche. From India across the European continent all the way to the North Sea and the British Isles, cultures big and small have stories, symbols, and ceremonies for the forces who make destiny. Some of these overlap, some diverge, but they agree on the fundamental concept. There are three sisters who rule our lives.

The three Weird sisters are working women. They are spinners, weavers, cutters of the thread; they are writers of the Book of Life. They are blessers, birthers, deathers, dressed in white and red and black. They are fortune-tellers. They are casters of the lots. They are gamblers and luck-givers. They are living springs of water. They are mornings, noons, and nights. What they rule must be.

Since the dawn of consciousness, people have found it psychologically useful to give names and faces to the Fates. The Greeks called them the Parcae; the Romans, Fata; in Northern Europe they were the Norns, who governed men’s ‘wyrd,’ or fate, and for Anglo-Saxons, the ‘Weird’ were those who could foretell the future.

I am especially fond of the word wyrd, because we use it today when something happens that we don’t understand, cannot control, or fear. The word comes from a form of the old Germanic verb ‘to become.’ When we feel something is weird, we activate our fate receptors, the soul that knows the Fates already. Only the soul can understand something weird – the action itself, the presence of the Fates, and their effect on our lives. Often we resist their promptings only to appreciate them later on.

I had to grow up and discover the Fates for myself. The discovery, however, did not come from a book, rather it was a living process. I had to become aware. You don’t really understand what the Fates can do to you unless you have had a visceral experience of them.

During the Hungarian revolution in October of 1956, I was on my way to a demonstration. When you are 16, being part of a collective uprising is very exciting. I lived on the Buda side of the Duna River, and to reach the site of the demonstration, I had to cross the bridge over to the Pest side. I was running toward the bridge when suddenly something weird happened. My feet slowed as if they were weighted down with lead. Frustrated, I redoubled my efforts, but try as I might, I could only shuffle along, furious that I was going to be late.

When I finally crossed the bridge, I heard shots. That wasn’t too unusual. It was a revolution, and people had been shooting off guns in celebration for days. But when I turned the corner to the plaza, everything was silent. Too silent. Instead of a crowd of cheering, shouting people, the plaza was covered with bodies. All those who had made it to the plaza on time had been shot down. The blood was still dripping onto the stones. I stood stop-still, realizing that I had indeed arrived too late – too late for the massacre.

In Hungarian the Fates are Sors Istennok, the destiny goddesses. But their Latin name, the Parcae, means ‘those who spare,’ and indeed my life was spared by them that day. We all have stories about incidents during which that weird feeling, usually accompanied by fear or frustration, has come over us, and it turned out to save us in some way.

The English name for the Fates comes from the Latin word fata. In the singular, the word was fatum, meaning ‘a divine utterance,’ the will of a god. When a child was a week old, the fata scribundus were invoked to ‘write’ a good destiny for the newborn babe. The fata, with the birth goddess Eileithyia, both established and predicted the child’s destiny. The word fate, fatum, comes from the same root as the words fairy and fay. So we learn the Fates are of fairy origin.

In Greek they were called the Moirae, those who allot us our fate; there was Clotho (the Spinner), who spins the thread of life, Lachesis (Disposer of Lots), who measures it out, and Atropos (the Inevitable), who cuts it off. Clotho is usually portrayed with a spindle, Lachesis with a scroll or a globe, and Atropos with scissors, a pair of scales, or a bowl for drawing lots.

When they are in good spirits, these same Fates become the three Graces. You may have seen them represented in Botticelli’s Primavera or the Three Graces statue at the Getty Museum in Malibu. They are three lush women entwined in dance with one another. Their names are Aglaia (Radiant), Euphrosyne (Joy), and Thalia (Flowering). They are the companions of Aphrodite. When the Fates are angered, they are called the Furies; they are pursue like ill winds blowing and can punish with insanity. Then their names are Alecto, Tisiphone, and Magaera. They cannot be avoided. It is said that the Fates are the parthenogenetic daughters of Necessity. They have no father. They sit under the Tree of Life, next to the sacred spin, where they spin and prophesy, make pronouncements, and enforce natural law.

In Northern Europe we also find three maidens in a deep cavern. These are the Norns from the Germanic traditions, best known today from their appearance in Wagner’s opera Gotterdammerung. They are named in Old Norse: Urdh, Verdandi, and Skuld. Their names come from the words for being itself, and so I will use these names for the Fates in this book.

Urdh (the same word as wyrd and weird) is all that went before. She is the past. She owns the Well of Life and the Tree of Life, which is fed by the well. Everything that has ever been belongs to the past. From this fertile background life emerges anew.

Verdandi, whose name means ‘that which is becoming,’ rules what is going on right now. She is flux. She is the flower of our energies. She is the mother time, the ripe time, the sexual time. She is harvest time. Her symbol is the full loom.

Skuld (whose name is related to ’shall’) is the one who governs that which must be. She is the necessary outcome of the past and that which is becoming. Skuld is the inflexible one, but in some later legends she likes to ride with humans and mingle with men. She is the one who may request a kiss from a handsome man and change into a beautiful young woman if he has enough gumption to kiss her old face. Strangely, the most personable of the Fates turns out to be the death goddess. Her symbol is the crescent knife, the ghostly scythe of the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper is a girl.

This original model of the three sisters is the source for all the other triple goddesses, such as Hecate, who stands at the triple crossroads, her faces looking in three directions – the past, present, and future – and Triple Brigid, who appears as a healer, a goldsmith, and a lady of inspiration. It is the pattern for the trinities of maiden, mother, and crone and all the other goddesses who have three aspects. Each of the many components of our human existence required the Goddess to show a separate face and attributes. Eventually the original trinity became ten thousand aspects, each with her own name, each still harking back to the beginning, the middle, or the end of the life cycle, which the three Fates ruled.

When we summon the Fates we call them out from their deep hiding place in the unconscious. We draw them slowly into the conscious mind, illuminated by goodwill and understanding. This eternal magic can transform the powers that rule us from the misunderstood three Hags into the wonderful three Graces. Or at least we hope so. There are no guaranties with this force. But there are certain practices, a kind of etiquette of interaction with the Fates, that have worked for people before. We call it the technology of the sacred.

State of the Women’s Spirituality Movement

Posted by Bobbie | Posted in Women's Spirituality | Posted on 19-01-2010

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Linking up, networking, speaking back to power.

Here we are in 010, entering the second decade of the 21st century. It is still the sub-age of Aquarius. It is still the favorable times for humans to wake up to a new self understanding. This is happening in big quantum leaps, fueled by technology and science. Congratulations to all fellow planetary travelers! We have arrived in the future.

But now what?

We have more and more women come to us searching for a LOCAL group, contact where they can join, study and grow. This used to be rather easy in the last century. You went to your local bookstore; you hung out around the bulletin board, read the stuff on it, then added your own request, “Goddess study group forming” and the phone number. Pretty soon the first woman would call, who knew another, and in a couple of weeks you had a good little eager group; armed with Goddess books, healthy tea collections, and time set aside to be just a student of your own culture.

Women’s studies at Universities is not what it used to be, its still great we have them at all, alas under the name of Gender Studies, but who cares let’s just be grateful. These are still places where women can gather and plan actions.

Once you have created yourself an account with us, the Dianic University, we will let you use our Global Goddess Dianic Groups virtual bulletin board, look it through for women in your neighborhoods, add you name to the particular state and region you are at. Then we will have a central board to post on for just this. Local connections.

Because we only let people we checked out on the board, you are safer to post and call whoever you find. I recommend exchanging email addresses first and get to know each other. Once you decide to meet up, do it in a public place first … maybe for coffee or tea. Check each other out and then exchange contact information.

But more than beginners, first timers, seekers of all kinds, we also need volunteers who help us battle the cultural anti-woman forces. You don’t think that the battle field is any less than before computers. Each time I go on the radio, or write something very pro-woman, anti-establishment, anti-male god material, I get attacked on the internet from men who hate that we have advanced as much as we have. They would like to see the Goddess Movement fade with my lifetime; me destroyed on the visibility field, my ideas and philosophies relegated to the trash bin.

Bobbie, my mighty Amazon, is the only one on the field battling this, so far successfully. But we could not have been defending ourselves without the help of women working in those technology citadels of power, the Goggles, wikis, who knew about the Goddess Movement. Imagine that! We are everywhere.

We need new allies with some time and skills. Not just hey I want to try to help, but rather … hey, I can battle on the techie field with the best of them and I don’t mind a little work out against the invisible forces.

This is what l’d like to put out to you. Please techie women with writing skills, step forward and make contact with me and Bobbie. The cultural war consists often in creating material, but also tracking down where the trouble comes from, correction information when it’s wrong.

Our visibility on the cultural field is crucial in the elevation of our sex.

When women don’t know how to link up, network, and publish … we can easily be marginalized again.

Don’t forget women are the majority of all humans. We create everybody from our own bodies. We raise citizens, consumers, and all the tax payers.

Women deserve their own culture. This is the part of the battle field that needs boosting. Individuals can do a lot, but we need the help, the link-up with the successful women, the higher end income women, the university program directors, and the leadership who organizes workshops, conferences, and gathering of all kinds.

For example, link us up with organizations where the women already formed groups, where we can cast a wider net when we disseminate information.

When we tighten our skills around the new technology and form a cultural staff around our own interests, then we can serve women on all level much better.

What I don’t want to end up is alone, battling the evil forces of cultural marginalization, and witness the new century pushing women’s issues, women’s needs and women’s spirituality aside.

What we have is a lucky opportunity to flood with our skillful energy into the collective consciousness, making room there for the love and respect for women; create a world where women don’t have to go to collage to learn about their past, our own dianics, and whose shoulders we are standing on.

Information about our spiritual heritage will create a proud generation of women, talented, blooming, and confident.

Let us all go into the depth of the sub-age of Aquarius in this certainty, when women lead the planet thrives.

Blessed be,
Z Budapest

Priestessing When Life Gets In The Way

Posted by Hazel | Posted in Goddesses, Women's Spirituality | Posted on 06-12-2009

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The typical day ends something like this: come in from work, use a crow bar to get the uniform off, get a shower to wash the yucks away, prepare food to nourish the family, wash the dishes, and then finally collapse into the recliner and drift off into sleep.   Then your eyes pop open, oh no, its the night of the Full Moon!  There are candles to be lit, petitions to make, thanks to be offered!   Then your eyes slowly start to close again when the voice calls out “There is work to be done” and you know the Goddess has given you this beautiful night lit by her Sacred Moon to get your work for her done.   You drag your body up from the recliner and stumble over to the candle box.   As you take your candles and oils in hand your energy builds.   Your body starts to come back to life.   Your hands start to tingle.   The energy is flowing.    You make your way over to the altar and begin your Sacred Duties.  Then you disrobe and step out to dance in the moonlight.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

Another work day and you are on your lunch break when you learn that your beloved elderly Grandmother is at her home but only for a moment.   You know that you need to get back to work they have called already unable to locate important documents.   You take your lunch and sit at the table of you Grandmother.   She enjoys your company and you cherish her every breath and word.    After eating you hurry back to the duties that call yet you took time for the Sacred Crone.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

You hostess a lovely gathering at your Sacred Temple and many cherished ones are there with you.   Your sister in law arrives with the Goddess Discord upon her.   You consider pulling your sword but you chose not to let the Sacred Gathering be ruined by Discord.   You smile sweetly offer her cake.   Your Warrior Goddess will fight another day on a battle worthy of fighting.   You preserve the Harmony.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

The young girls have gathered at your Temple.   They giggle and share stories of their day.   They discuss plans for the coming week.  Hair is braided and finger nails are painted by the Maidens in their late teens and early twenties.   Clothes are compared and boys pondered and music is danced to all of which inspires hunger.   You feed the Maidens.   They ask for a reading and you provide the reading.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess.

The Temple kitties that are Sacred to Bast need grooming.   You feed them, you brush them, you hug them.   You clean the litter boxes.   You play with them by tossing their small stuffed mice across the rug.   You Love them.  You vacuum the rugs to keep them tidy for places for the little ones to play.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess.

The evening altars need tending.   There is the Family altar where you honor your Ancestresses and Ancestors.   There is the working altar where most of your healing work requests are made.   There is the Full Moon altar that still flickers from the evening past.   The Warrior altar needs replenishing.   It stands for those in the military and law enforcement.   It will soon be time to add another candle for another Warrior soon to join the battle.   You tend the altars because you are dedicated to others.   You Love and care for them .   Those you light candles for always hold a very special place in your heart.  You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

You are a Priestess of the Goddess!   You tend to the needs of others.   You smile when others smile.   You take comfort by providing comfort to others.   By feeding others a meal you feed your own soul.   The Maiden new to the craft gives you pride as she begins her journey.   The Body of the Priestess is your Sacred Temple like that of the Temple you dwell in.   You go to the spa to replenish your Temple.   You give hugs to show your affection and appreciation.   You sit by the water while it dances on your toes.   You are a very busy Woman! You are a Priestess of the Goddess!!!!   Long May You Serve!!!!

Pagan Priestess Living in Smalltown USA

Posted by Hazel | Posted in Women's Spirituality | Posted on 20-11-2009

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“I don’t know what made me stand up at that moment” says Deborah Faye Winslow* when asked what brought her to launch a law suit against the local town council due to their use of sectarian invocations at the opening of their meetings.   Deborah Faye not only launched the law suit, she won the law suit.   The town council appealed the verdict all the way to the Supreme Court.   The Supreme Court declined to hear the case which meant the ruling of the Federal Appellate Court would stand.   Deborah Faye won the war, but the battles took their toll on this Pagan in a town of approximately 2,000.

Deborah Faye found herself in this small town after the break up of a long term relationship.   She choose the area because it was close to where her mom lived.   Her mom needed help with driving around so it seemed like the ideal thing to do.   Deborah had bought for herself a 1995 GMC Sonoma pickup, and it was the closest thing to a new vehicle she had ever owned.   The year was 2001, and Deborah was proud of her pickup and some of the local men were leaning up against it discussing her bumper sticker.   The bumper sticker said “Witches Heal.”   The conversation didn’t so much bother Deborah, but she asked them to stop leaning on her truck.   Their cuff links scratched the truck.   There in a convenience store a local minister made rude comments.   It didn’t discourage Deborah.  She liked her new home but things would soon get worse, alot worse.

The jeers and rude comments soon turned to threats.   She attended a town council meeting to learn a little more about the people and give them the chance to know her.   Perhaps she could get help that way.  The council opens with a prayer to Jesus that was directed against her!   That was the breaking point for Deborah.   She knew she had to act.  It was then that she filed the lawsuit.

The grandson of the mayor threatened to burn her out.   Deborah took the threat seriously.   The police didn’t help her so she turned to the mayor and asked for help.   He smiled and told her, “Well maybe you should take heed.”   The vandalism to her home became a regular thing then the unthinkable happened.   Deborah came in from supper with a friend and found her beloved African Gray Parrot beheaded and his heart cut out.   There was a note beside the body that said, “You are next.”  She had to search for the head which was found elsewhere in the home.  Imagine how ominous this was to Deborah.   “No respect for people or lives, it’s normal here,” says Deborah about the atmosphere.

“It wasn’t about the Pagan community, it was what was happening to me.   It was standing up for me.   I think as a woman I had to,” says Deborah.   She filed a law suit against the council.   Deborah’s goal was not to convert anyone to her faith or to be disrespectful of anyone else’s beliefs, but she had been harassed and terrorized to the point she had to put a stop to that because she was literally in fear for her own life.   The law suit was the only action she could take and she did.   It was a fight that was fought alone.   “Supporters didn’t come out until I had one the final case,” and even then there weren’t many.   Even after the victory, the threats continued.   One person threatened her with a shotgun.  Nothing came of that even though he was a convicted felon who was such due to his drug charges.

Some time has passed and this Priestess is still living in the town.   The vandalism to her home was so great that it was not livable.   She was able to get financing for a house that was for sale very close by and lives there now.    At the age of 45, she is a full-time student working towards a Bachelor’s degree which she hopes to complete next year.    The town clerk who had once been a bitter enemy, will now stop and speak pleasantly and politely in the local grocery store.   Deborah is still very cautious as she tells about how she still gets crazy calls and things in the mail sometimes.    I asked if she thought tolerance would ever come and Deborah said, “I think it will be a long time.”  I think she is right.

This is over and done with for the most part and Deborah is glad.  “If I knew then, what I know now, I don’t know that I would have put myself out there.”   She is proud of the fact that she dispelled the myth of you can’t fight city hall.   She did.   Now she will occasionally get calls from the locals when they have a problem with city government.   Deborah also has thought of writing a book about her story.   She plans to title it Hate… A Proud Southern Tradition. Sadly hatred is a tradition.   A tradition that will be here for a long time but a tradition that needs to be banished.    Those of us in the broom closet out of necessity respect Deborah for her strength in standing up for herself.   We can all feel pain for the suffering she has faced.

As women we should all look inside ourselves and ask what can we do to lessen the hatred in the world around us.   That is so complicated and I don’t know what the ultimate answer is, I just know we should all practice acts of love, kindness, and patience whenever possible.    I also know that some are in a position that openly standing up would literally endanger lives.   It’s not just overseas.   It’s here.   I chose to change the name of the person this happend to out of concern for her safety.   Her story needed to be told, but not at the expense of exposing her to such atrocities again.    When you are at your altar’s light a candle for those who can’t openly practice or express their religon.   I offer my own blessing for this lady who got caught up in a storm, and that is Walk in peace, Walk in love, and Walk in the light Deborah Faye Winslow, you have seen the horrors of life now may you see the beauty.  Blessed Be!

* The name of the Priestess and the exact dates and location have been changed to protect her privacy and prevent these awful acts from beginning again.

Finding magick in the day-to-day

Posted by Belou | Posted in Women's Spirituality | Posted on 10-09-2009

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Reflect on all of the elements as you go about your normal everyday

life. Experience the Air as you observe the trees sway and the

birds and clouds as they journey across the sky. Even as the Air blow

from a fan know that the spirit of Air is with you.

Think about the magick that Fire brings as you drive your car — it keeps the

engine running. When you eat a hot meal or drink a hot beverage the spirit of

Fire touches you and you are invigorated from the warmth.  A campfire or even

the furnace brings comfort and tranquility to an otherwise chilly evening or day.

Experience the element of Water: as you put a load of laundry in the washing machine,

drive through the rain, or fix a kettle of tea.  The use of water in the process of taking a bath

or shower, has literally and figuratively a cleansing affect, it washes away impurities.

Throughout the day whenever you have the opportunity to walk on the

Earth, or even on pavement feel the Earth beneath your feet.

Consciously connect with her and the strength of the Earth will be

yours. If you must be inside all day carry a crystal with

you: to hold whenever you need that instant connection with Gaia.

Throughout the day, consciously invite the elements in and they

will be one with you.

Sounding the Call to Dianic Feminist Self-Determination!

Posted by Rosmarinus | Posted in Dianic Wicca, Women's Spirituality | Posted on 20-08-2009

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I really feel that most people fear biting into the true meat of Pagan liberation in an Ancient Feminine sense.

Being provocative, promiscuous and hedonistic does not make one truly free. On the contrary, in a society marred with addictive behaviours, and gender roles determined by social conditioning, these so called “PAGAN BEHAVIOURS AND EXPRESSIONS of FREE-SPIRITEDNESS” are merely the end product of EXPECTED GENDER ROLES FULFILLED by men and women bound by the ways of a one-dimensional, patriarchal society.

The Truth of the matter for me, personally, is that Dianic Witchcraft starts to move into the dangerous terrain of the primordial wild wommon realms in ways that ask us to shift our minds towards more vast paradigms of interaction and living; this is a frightening prospect for most “liberated pagans” because of the accountability it

requires of each individual within the Great Cosmick Scheme of things to be truthful in our modes of Being in ways that do not win popularity contests!

Dianic Witchcraft calls forth a way of perceiving Existence that invokes multi-dimensional awareness – calling for personal expansion and innovation of  Self on an Altruistic, Transpersonal Level. It calls for a total surrender to deeper portals of being in which we take accountability for the Ancient sexual self that evades simple, pre-packaged modes of behaviour, or socially acceptable expressions of “desirability” in us.

Dianic Witchcraft is the TRUE HEART of Witchcraft for me, personally.

There is no more dangerous a place to be in than  in the heart, mind and Soul realms of the Dianic Feminist Witch. She moves and shakes… challenges herself and her sisters with love to strive beyond even our OWN internal “cliques” and conformity behaviours so as to shake down the  shackles that relentlessly attempt to bind the Wild Wommon’s SOUL. Furthermore, the Dianic Witch is an ECSTATIC, Life-Force Driven, Shadow-work tempered, radical WARRIORESS of DIVINE Hag-worthy Nature whose vision speaks of Woman’s experience on her own Terms!

This is threatening to many.

Women are counseled by women,  and it is determined by women, for “WOMAN” alone. This Woman’s Mysteries-Honouring Nature to Dianic Witchcraft is jealously attacked by a grasping world that works in infinitesimal ways to distract WOMAN from true RE-MEMEBERANCE via mundane housework, benign task duties benefiting others, child rearing, and the like. Women, furthermore, are raised “to please”, and bring this energy into the Pagan Realms while carrying the Christian hangover of fear conditioned into their Souls to be good, desirable little priestesses and to serve their LORDS!

Forgive me, but this Dianic Feminist Witch shall not undermine the Complex Beauty, and multi-dimensional Nature of her own Soul! Wimmin have too many of their own fantasies to RE-MEMBER, and to celebrate on her own terms, and I intend to dedicate my Life to enabling exactly that.

ALL HAILS TO DIANIC WITCHCRAFT!!!!!!

BB

)O(

Lady RO!