Wicca or Pagan...hmmmm

Many people have been asking are you Wiccan or Pagan....well let me see.....?
I guess I would have to go with more of the Pagan side. Paganism is a large umbrella term. Many traditions fall under the term Paganism. Not all Pagans are Wiccan and vice versa.... I am thinking.
Not all practices are the same. Not all Witches are Wiccan..... this does get complacated doesn't it.

Pagan translates (loosly) "hick from the sticks"...why? The name Pagan was originally used to describe people who lived in rural areas. Time progressed and Christianity spread, those same country folk were often the last holdouts clinging to their old religions.
Pagan is as I mentioned before a umbrella term...Wicca is one of MANY that fall under this term.
Did you know there is even a Christian Witch Movement! And a Jewish one too, Jewitchery....and atheist witches who practice magic! WOW!
So ....hmmm... Not all Pagans are Wiccan. But Wiccans are Pagan. Confused yet?

Pagans are not all similar, any more than Christians are all similar.

From many readings...I think 'Wicca' has more hard fast rules then being a 'Pagan'.
But.... Wicca/Paganism is NOT Satanism.

Blame B moveis on other peoples ignorance towards Paganism/Wicca/Witchcraft.

So in a nut shell ( more or less ) follow the path that makes you feel welcome and at peace within yourself. Call yourself what you believe.
Give Mother Earth a Hug Today!
Brightest Blessings!

This weeks Quote, from Starhawk

The word "Witch" carries so many negative connotations that many people wonder why we use the word at all. Yet to reclaim the word "Witch" is to reclaim our right, as women, to be powerful; as men, to know the feminine within as divine.
Starhawk

Starhawk! Let's sing!

The time is now,
The stakes are high
The wild witch sings
Transform or die..
She sings of love
of freedom, of danger..
Be the change
Be the changer!

This is Great! Starhawk Childrens book

I sure hope this link works!
This is a WONDERFUL childrens book...this is a little vidio of it!
Please watch!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ROPNDyqQQ

Watch-Read- and ENJOY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh7qfrRdpHc

Along the Path....Stop

Along the path we must remember to stop and look we are going. I have been walking for oh so long...in and out, up and down. I still have much to learn. Latley I feel as if I am in a fog and not quite grasping 'it'. whatever 'it' is.

Things have calmed down here. I really think it is worse around a hloiday, and a hloiday as big as Christmas it gets rough. Let's face it Christmas is wide spread...spreads across America! That's how it was taught...if you believe or not, that's the way it is. We were brought up in it, all around us, it's everywhere! I even call it Christmas, it's hard to get around it...and that's OK.

The 'friend' thing has settled down....one has removed themself from my graces ( like how I phrased that?). And you know what...it's OK!!!!

So remember to stop and look around you, see where you are going, see where you have been. Search to see what you have learned from it.

Bright Blessings!
Lynda

Religious Tolerance

In my way ward wanderings in the last year...or many years.... I have been trying to deal with being tolerant of my friends and their religious beliefs. Well to tell the truth I guess it's really hoping they would learn to be tolerant of my beliefs. To me, what or how my friends belive is their choice and what is good for them.

It's only been the last year or so that my beliefs have become more , for the lack of a better word...out of the closet. I have always done what I always have, but some are seeing me in a different way. Why? Why have they not noticed before? I don't know. Is it that more 'witchy', Pagan, Wicca things are being seen in the world, news, movies? I don't know.
Some have really judged me hard, while others I think are in the opinion of, 'don't ask - don't tell'.

I believe in the end we all all traveling in the same direction just by different methods.

If we would all agree to work together in peace and harmony what a world it would be!