The Evil of Non-Action

Which leads us into the important question of what exactly is evil? Back in my days of fanatical obsession with the path I would have quickly spoken that Evil is simply that which either does me harm or is in my way of the objectives I carry. An answer without emotion, without much thought at the real world in which we live. Where a thousand competing objectives might roam and though of course to me, mine is the most important but does it make the rest evil?

There are those of the Path that sit and do nothing. They hide behind the logic that they must always blend in that they must adapt and pretend to be something they are not, that they should present themselves as Light. In some sense I can understand this, to fully combat those that would seek to do us harm simply for the mindset we carry we would have to have a strength that could defeat their numbers. Numbers that truly are without end. There is a choice though that we should make, in less populated areas we can reveal our stances. In less dangerous zones we can commit to making our material accessible for the public.

Yet I find it embarrassing that when the fanatic shields have been used up and there is nothing left to protect the would be Gurus of the Dark. These charlatans run away and lock themselves apart from the rest of the world. Their mission that had inspired people to flock to them to spread the good word is now gone, is now dead.

They do nothing and because of it ignorance takes root in the masses and disallows a fair say on the other polarity. I don’t know if I find that to be evil, I do however find it to be irresponsible.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

 Edmund Burke

What Is Patronage?

From my experiences on this path I have seen many followers decide to request patronage. Since I only serve one patron I cannot comment on the many countless others that can be chosen.

Patronage generally becomes a consideration when an individual has come to a point that she or he cannot do something effectively by themselves. Patronage is not always accessible, and is something agreed upon to the mutual (it is to be hoped) benefit of patron and seeker. No one can determine the viability of patronage for you, other than you – it will be your agreement, your benefits and your cost.

My experiences with the Patron I serve is that I give to gain. There is nothing free in the exchange. I have never been asked to do something in a way that I haven’t wanted to do myself. I have never been asked to make my life into a hellish misery in order to keep my patronage. Going by the experiences of others I have spoken to and their thoughts on this subject our thinking seems to be in accordance for the most part.

Many have heard my analogy about the loaf of bread. Please just bear with me I do think that it is important for me to reinforce it.

In this scenario you are told by your boss, or whomever has the control to require you to do something to bring back a loaf of bread. In this you have many options to pursue all which have their own consequences. This leads into the theory of “Cause and Effect.” Here are just some of the major simplified options you could choose.

Stealing the Bread
Manipulating Someone to Steal the Bread
Tricking Someone into Giving You the Bread
Buying the Bread
Making the Bread

As we see all of these options have their own plus and minus effects. My patronage leaves the ‘how’, these ways of dealing, up to the individual and they may then use, to the best of their ability, the talents they have to accomplish the deed asked of them.

It is highly unlikely that anyone can blame their deeds or misdeeds as a result of their service to their patron. I have yet to see an order issued by a patron that if given a little thought, cannot be fulfilled in a way that is positive to the seeker. Furthermore, I would also say that it is equally as unlikely that anyone could be tricked, or forced into patronage against their own will. This would not be beneficial to either patron or seeker.

Punishment comes from trying to bypass the will of the patron you serve and act in a way that is contrary to the agreement you have made. If this is commonplace and you are punished frequently it might be best that you void your contract and go your own way. How this would be accomplished is beyond my level of understanding, or interest, as I have not met with dissatisfaction with the agreements or tasks I have undertaken with my patron.

One Year Later: The Google Panda Update Effecting Many Websites, Small and Large

As most know, I write articles in various places such as my own website, A Rainbow of Spirituality, HubPages as well as my blog here.  I have been noticing an up and down cycle going on with page views and results of views coming in from Google.  It seems that every time that Google Panda gets a little update, my views weird out.  I have been researching more and more about Panda and to me, it is rather confusing.  I could see how it would have a positive impact weeding out “content farms”, however I am concerned that it appears to be playing around with just us “normal” folks web sites and places we are posting original and unique articles as well.  Below is an Infographic that is used with permission.  Link is at the bottom of the Infographic.

You’re free to repost, as long as you link back to the original here in some way.

Gay Marriage- Maryland and the Churches

I am amazed that the passage of legalized gay marriage in Maryland is heavily contested by the “churches”.  What does gay marriage have to do with “faith”? And… why do they care or even want to move forward to stumble this milestone?

Equality is guaranteed….by that piece of paper called The Constitution…. Who do the “Churches” think they are?  They run NOTHING…. you want to be a Christian, be that, but leave the REST of us alone… YOU do NOT dictate anything in this day and age…and certainly YOU do NOT dictate anything to this Pagan/Wiccan High Priest.

The Sex-Saturated Internet and Google Ads

I have nothing against sex at all. Without sex none of us would be here!

There used to be times that I could not do a search or click a link without something sexual in context coming up, be it porn or a dating site and such. Again, nothing against either if that is your “choice” to view such things at a time that you want to view it, not when someone or something else deems it is time for you to view it.

I have side-stepped that issue with control over my searches by setting my Google search parameters to exclude what I don’t want to see. Easy to do, safe search or not. Use the filter provided by Google.

The ads have been killed overall by using various versions of AdBlock or similar depending on which browser I am using. Again, I was able to take control.

Now there are those pesky pop up floaters, or at least what I call them. Those critters that just hop out of nowhere and appear on your page from the site you are viewing. Those I have yet to control or figure out how to do away with. Somehow they get around any of the versions of plug ins I used to block pop up ads. Yes, and they may well be sexual or very close to porn, or just related to the page you are viewing. I would like to learn how to block them, but my research has not given me a good solution to that so far.

What really amazes me is on my Pagan News Site, Pagan Reports, I have Google Adsense up and running and have adjusted my settings on that site via Google Adsense to exclude certain categories from appearing on my site in the Google ads. For instance I have excluded school, vocational, education as well as “adult” which includes dating and porn to the best of my knowledge.

At the moment, and for the last week or so, the main page of my site displays a dating site in the Google ad. There is nothing on the site dealing with dating at all, so that should exclude the ad from appearing, plus, as mentioned, I have excluded that category on Google Adsense. Yet it appears. It is my contention that somehow, the folks who create these ads are “cheating” and listing their ads as something that they are not so that the ads slip past my exclusions. That is my theory and I could be wrong. But the same thing is happening with educational Google ads. I have excluded educational and still get them. I don’t mind the Pagan educational ads, which do show, but I get those universities or vocational schools most often.

As for “hard” porn, those have not popped up so far, however those “Get Laid Tonight” ones have appeared from time to time, especially on pages that may talk about ritual sex magick and such. Even though the article may be about sex magick, one would think that setting the exclusions in Google Adsense would prevent the solicitation to get laid from viewing a spiritual article.

Of course the biggest money maker on the internet is sex and anything to do with sex. With that in mind, for every way we manage to filter or block such things, there will be those out there, typing away, to come up with a code that somehow will defeat your means of blocking and slip sex at you. After all, it has to be out of love and compassion as they think that they are doing me a service advertising a healthy past time I am sure.

Note about Slideshow Photos: These screen shots were taken while in the middle of writing this hub. They will give you and actual view of what I am talking about. You can view the page, part of the article as well as the title. As you will see, it is amazing! None of the “porn” or “close to porn” came up with my running through these pages.

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Dale’s Computer Repair and Troubleshooting Service – My New Site

I have recently decided to expand and write my computer related articles on my new site, Dale’s Computer Repair and Troubleshooting Service.  

I will be doing various computer related articles as well as internet related articles.  There will be software reviews and download links as well. Many of the downloads will be free downloads as I find them and check them out.  I will personally be trying all that I review and share the results with my readers. I will be working on some SEO articles as well.

I will also continue to write on Hubpages about various “other” topics, not related to the computer repair service and Information Technology (IT) field.

I hope to see some of you on the new site, checking it out, and please, as with here, feel free to leave comments and feedback!

Pagan Goddess Names and Definitions

I am listing some of  Pagan Goddesses’ names that are out there. There are many more, but this will give those requesting the list something to work with!  If you are one of the ones searching for the Goddess(ess) that may call out to you, review the list with an open mind and heart, and She or They will reach out to you. Blessings to you!

Names

While there are stories behind each of these names, I am briefly listing them out for now.

Adsullata – A Continental Celtic Goddess of spring; may be equated with Sul, the Sun Goddess of another pantheon.

Aeife – She was among the instructors of Cu Chulainn, whom he married for a year and bore him a son. She was condemned to be a demon of the air as punishment.

Aibheaog – In the County of Donegal, she was worshiped at Tover Breda. The well’s waters were held to be an effective remedy against toothache, so long as the petitioner left a little white stone beside the well as a substitute for the sore tooth. It is believed that she was also an ancient Fire Goddess.

Aige – Turned into a fawn and plunged into the bay now named after her.

Aine – This is the Bright Faery Goddess to whom the mountain Knock Aine on the shores of Lough Gur is dedicated, and she is one of the great goddesses of ancient Ireland. Daughter of the Tuatha king, Egogabal, and a shape shifter, her alternate form is that of a swan and a red mare. Also as a Moon Goddess, patron of crops and cattle. Her name is derived from Adeh (fire) and could also be identified with Bridget. The Mid-summer festivals were in her honor prior to St. John’s Day. Her energy is the “Big Sun” between Beltain to Samhain.

Airmed – Tuatha who had great magickal powers, especially in herb lore.

Amaterasu – (Omikami) – Japan. Goddess of the Sun. Chief God. Worshiped especially by the Kamikazi Samuri of the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII.

Anath – Goddess of Mars. Greek Anathema – Devoted to evil.

Andarta – (Andrasta) The Goddess of Victory invoked by the Celtic Queen Boadicea.

Anna – Goddess of the Dark Moon. Psychic work, healing and protection.

Anu – (Anann) Deae Matronae of Ireland, Goddess of fertility, prosperity and abundance. Anann is worshiped in Munster Ireland as a goddess of Plenty.

Aoibhinn – Queen of the Faery of North Munster, Ireland.

Aphrodite – (Venus) Goddess of love, young and beautiful, planet Venus, element Water. Aphrodite was concieved from the ocean foam said that when Cronos castrated Uranus and threw the member in the ocean, Aphrodite walked forward.

Aradia – Goddess of Air, protection.

Arianhod – Welsh Goddess of Air.

Artemis – (Diana) Goddess of the new moon. Healing and protection. As Diana, Goddess of Mars and the Full Moon then ruling psychic work, healing and protection. On Earth, she is Goddess of the woods and the Hunt. In the Sky she is Phobe (Selene) Goddess of the Moon; in the Underworld she is Hecate.

Asherah – Goddess of love. Planet Venus.

Astarte – (Ashtoeth) Goddess of love. Planet Venus. Queen of Heaven with crescent horns. Ashtoreth, in hebrew.

Aynia – A Faery Queen of Ulster, Ireland.

Ban Chuideachaidh Moire – The midwife to the Virgin Mary, and a title given to St. Bridget.

Banfathi – The Goddess who accompanies troops into battle, of strategy.

Ban Naomha – (Banna Naomha) A fish Goddess.

Bast – Goddess of the Sun.

Becuna Cneisgel – Fertility Goddess.

Beltis – Goddess of love. Planet Venus.

The Black Virgin – The Goddess worshiped by the Dryadesses of Sena on the Isle D’e Sein. One of their major religious sites later became the Chartres Cathedral.

Blathnat – Daughter of Midir, King of the Gaelic Underworld. She helped Cu Chulainn steal her father’s magick cauldron.

Boadicea – (Boudiga) Queen of the Iceni tribe who personally led a rebellion against the Romans in 61 A.D. Boudiga occurs a a name of a Goddess meaning Victory.

Boand – The Divine Ancestress of the Celtic Boii tribe. Her name means “white cow.”

Branwen – Goddess of love.

Bridget – (Brigid) Goddess of Fire, ruling Mars and the Moon. She is the triple goddess of poetry, healing and smith craft. Psychic work and protection.

Brizo – Moon Goddess, psychic work, healing and protection.

Buana – Which means Good Mother. Irish Goddess as a cow, similar to that of Hathor or Hera. Cally Berry – Ulster Ireland’s Goddess, who has been reduced from a nature spirit, the personification of winter and the guardian of the wild deer, to a malignant supernatural Hag. Her name is derived from the Indian Goddess Kali-Ma, Goddess of birth and destruction.

Calliope – “Beautiful One” Muse of epic poetry.

Canola – Goddess of Music.

Cardea – Goddess of Air.

Carman – Wexford, Ireland Goddess, Gaelic name of Wexford is Lock Garman (Loch gCarman). May have a Phoenician or Greek connection.

Carravogue – Hag of winter. Gabhog & Ghaereagain.

Cebhfhionn – A Goddess of inspiration who stood next to the Well of Knowledge constantly filling a vessel with its water and pouring it out without letting wisdom-seeking humans taste it.

Ceithlenn – The Crooked Tooth; Wife of Balor, the old God who appears in legend as the King of the Formorians.

Ceridwen – Goddess of the Cauldron of life. Moon Goddess. Psychic work, healing and protection.

Ceres – (Demeter) Mother Earth. Searched the Earth for her other half, her daughter is Persephone.

Cetnenn – A great warrior in Irish legend.

Clio – Muse of History.

Cliodna of the Fair Hair – Irish Goddess of great beauty.

Coventina – Goddess who was patron of healing wells and springs.

Crobh Dearg – Red claw, ancient Goddess who was said to be the sister of Latiaran.

Cybele – (Rhea) The mother Goddess. Planet Saturn. Psychic workings.

Demeter – (See Ceres)

Derbforgaille – A swan maiden, who fell in love with Cu Chulainn, and was wounded by him.

Diana – (See Artimis)

Dil – Cattle Goddess of ancient Ireland.

Domnu – Goddess of the Fir Domnann; the goddess brought in with the wave of the Firbolg invasion of Ireland.

Dornoll – Warrior Goddess who was among the Amazon instructors of Cu Chulainn, and whose sexual advances he refused.

Druantia – A Fir-Tree Goddess.

Dubh Lacha – A Sea Goddess.

Eadon – A Goddess of poetry and inspiration.

Ebhlinne – (Ebhlenn) The Goddess worshipped in the county of Tipperary, Ireland. Her home was the 12 mountains of Ebhlenn, the daughter of Guaire from Brugh na Boine, and married to a king of Cashel.

Echtghe Aughty – Daughter of the God Nuada. She may be an ancient form of Anu.

Eithne – (Ethniu) Daughter of Danu and Balor, wife of Mackinely or Cian, Mother of Lugh. May be equated with the Welsh Arianrhod.

Ele – (Eile) The sister of Queen Maeve.

Eorann – Goddess of the woods, married to Suibhne.

Erato – “Beloved One” Muse of erotic poetry or mime.

Eri – Mother of Bres.

Ernmas – Which means murder. She is the mother of the Morrigu.

Ess Euchen – A War Goddess killed by Cu Chulainn when avenging the death of her three sons, whom he had killed.

Estiu – A Warrior and Bird Goddess.

Etrange – Mother of the Goddess Macha.

Euterpe – Muse of lyric poetry.

Fachea – Goddess of Poetry and Inspiration.

Fand – Goddess of healing and pleasure, lover of Cu Chulainn, and wife of Manannan mac Lir. Her name is analogous with the Latin Venus and Norse Vanir.

Fea – War Goddess wife of Nuada, King of Tara and the Tuatha.

Feithline – A seer who lived in the Cruachen (gateway to hell), hill in western Ireland and appeared to Queen Maeve, attired in a gold crown with seven burnt-gold braids hainging down on her shoulders to fortell the queen’s death.

Findabair – Daughter of Queen Medb who died of shame.

Flaithius – Was a Kundry, who originally appears as a repulsive Hag, and then once kindness has been given her, turns into a beautful woman.

Flidhais – Woodland Goddess, ruler of beasts. She rode a chariot pulled by deer. Her husband was Adammair, or Fergus.

Freia – Goddess of love, planet Venus.

Gaea – Mother Earth rules money and healing. That which is earth herself.

Garbh Ogh – Ancient ageless giantess, whose cart was drawn by elks.

Gillagriene – Daughter of the Sun in Irish Legend.

Gwyddynod of Gloucester – Warrior goddesses who are rarely mentioned in literature, and who possibly connected to the smith-God, Gwydion.

Hathor – Egyptian Goddess, Moon Goddess and of Venus. Psychic work, protection and healing.

Hebe – (Juventas) Goddess of Healing, Youth and Beauty. Married Hercules.

Hecate – (Brimo, Diana) Goddess of the Underworld, the Dark Moon. Planet Saturn, Psychic, divinations, healing and protection by means of destroying.

Hera – (Juno) Greek Goddess, Queen of the Heavens, presided over marriages and births. A stately Matron bearing the symbol of the crown. Argus, a peacock is at her side. Her holiday is Matronalia Festival.

Hestia – (Vesta) Goddess of Fire.

Hygenia – Goddess of health and healing.

Ilat – Goddess of the Sun.

Innana – Goddess of the Planet Venus and of fertility, some accounts say the Moon. Also a goddess of War and Excellence in Battle.

Inghean Bhuidhe – Yellow-haired girl, who was the sister of Latiaran. She was honored in Pagan Ireland on May 6th with rituals around a sacred well.

Iseult – (Isolde, Esyllt, Essyllt Vyngwen) Fine hair, Goddess connected with healing.

Ishtar – Mother Goddess of love and fertility.

Isis – Moon Goddess, Hers is the spirit and ether, psychic healing, love and protection.

Juno – (See Hera)

Kali – East Indian Goddess of Fire, birth and destruction – Shiva is her partner.

Kore – (See Persephone)

Lachesis – One of the three fates. She rolls the thread of mortal lives on the spindle.

Latiaran – A Harvast Goddess. She had two sisters, Lasiar (flame) ruled spring, and Inghean Bhuidhe (yellow hair) ruled summer.

Leanan-Sidhe – Mistress of Peace; the spirit of life. Goddess of inspiration to the poet and singer. In exchange for her spirit, she burns them up; living off their life spirit so that their earthly life is brief.

Levenah – Moon Goddess.

Liban – Irish Goddess of healing and pleasure.

Libanie – Beauty of women. Mermaid Goddess associated with Lough Neagh.

Logia – The Goddess worshiped at the Lagan River in Ireland.

Luna – (Selene) Moon Goddess, see Artemis.

Maat – Goddess of Communication.

Mab – (Maeve) Fairy Queen, whose name meant mead.

Mah – Earth Goddess.

Mal – The Goddess of Hag’s Head.

Mariamne – Goddess of Love.

Mari – Full Moon Goddess.

Melpomone – Muse of Tragedy.

Metis – Goddess of Wisdom.

Mia – Goddess of Love.

Mnemosyne – Mother of the muses, Goddess of Memory.

Moingfhion – (Mongfhinn) White-haired one. She is associated with Samhain; the crone, Goddess of Winter.

Morgan le Fay – She is derived of an earlier Goddess of Fate – Fata Morgana.

Moirae – Are the three fates bearing mortal fate.

Morrighan / Morrigan – An Irish earth-goddess of sovereignty. Like their Indo-European coevals, the Celtic goddesses were regarded as local expressions of tribal boundaries. As a result, it was the Chieftain who was ritually mated to the endemic land-goddess as exemplified by the Queen and probably High Priestess. Various place-names and topographical sites are esteemed as Morrighan’s place of frequentation proving her to be a land-deity, while contemporary scholars have begun to question the imposed obsolete nomenclature of ‘war-goddess’.

Muireartach – Eastern Sea, Goddess of the stormy ocean. A one-eyed crone who lived beneath the waves.

Munanna – Bird Goddess, crying “revenge, revenge” on the Scandanavian sea pirates.

Nair – (Nar) Fertility, Earth Goddess. Any King who apparently slept with her died.

Nessa – Ungentle. Originally Assa, or gentle one. Warrior Goddess of Ulster Ireland who defeated King after King.

Niamh – Goddess of great beauty, Lir’s Daughter, chose Ossian to be her lover.

Nike – Goddess of Victory, shown as a winged figure carrying a palm or wreath. Guiding the horses of victors into war, or writing their name on a shield.

Nimue – New Moon Goddess.

Nuit – Goddess of Air, Heavens, her animal representation is the cat.

Pasiphae – Moon Goddess, married to Dionysus every year. She has given birth to the Minotaur. Pasiphae rules dreams.

Pele – Goddess of Fire.

Persephone – (Kore) Earth Goddess, she resides in both realms. Half of which she resides with Hades.

Phobe – Moon Goddess.

Polyhymnia – Muse of Sacred Poetry.

Pomona – Nymph of the gardens and fruits, holding the horn of plenty.

Prithivi – Earth Goddess

Rhiannon – Earth Goddess

Scathach – War Goddess and prophetess from Alba, Scotland, who taught the martial arts to Cu Chulainn, who’s name means woman who strikes fear.

Sekhment – Sun Goddess

Selene – Goddess of the moon

Sequana – Divine Ancestress of the Sequani tribe of France.

Shekinah – The Goddess of Spirit/Ether

Sinnan – Granddaughter of the Sea God Lir. Nymph of a river now known as Shannon.

Tea – Goddess of Tara.

Tethys – Daughter of Uranus and Terra. Married Oceanus and gave birth to three thousand nymphs; Oceanids. She is pictured riding a shell chariot followed by dolphins; Tritons.

Terpsichore – Muse of Dance

Thalia – Muse of Comedy, seen holding a mask

Themis – Goddess of equality, peace and law. She sat by Zeus and aided as a counselor of justice. Her attribute is the scales and a sword. We also see her blindfolded as a sign of the partiality of a judge.
Turrean – Wolfhound Goddess

Uairebhuidhe – Bird Goddess

Urania – Muse of astronomy. Wears a starred gown and holds a globe.

Venus – (See Aphrodite)

HubPages Versus WordPress

Hello everyone! Sorry for being slack here to my 132,000,381 followers! haha! Actually, I have been working on publishing on HubPages.

HubPages offers  revenue based on Google Adsense, Ebay and Amazon, to name a few. WordPress however does not offer any such thing unless you move your blog to your own server.

To see my recent articles, you can visit me on HubPages.  I will post more here as time allows, but I did want to share that I was not like in retirement and have continued to write away.  Also, you have the option of clicking the link there on the right, for my Other Online Articles to view where else I may be writing from time to time.  Links are easy to click on.

My experience on HubPages has been awesome so far. I have met a lot of other authors, and learned a great deal while in the process.

Any authors out there that want to share “unique” content should check out the HubPages link above.

Paganism and Wicca – A History

Wicca is a rapidly growing religious movement, which is a modern day version of ancient religious precepts that far predates both Judaism and Christianity, and whose basic tenets and beliefs go back to the earliest days of humanity. From the time religious thought was first conceived, early humanity was fascinated with the concept of female power, as only women had the ability to reproduce.

Before men realized their role in reproduction, ancient societies were largely matriarchal, based on the awe that men held towards women, who were seen as the life-givers of the fledging human race. As a result, early human spirituality revered an all-female conception of Deity, a Goddess, which represented fertility to the nascent human species. Many early paintings, carvings and statues depict this early Mother Goddess, which includes a bloated womb and enlarged breasts, obviously in honor of women’s ability to reproduce humanity, and intended for use in fertility rites.

Women also had the important role of educating the children, forming the rudiments of language, leading the tribe’s religious rites and probably formulating the early cultural mores and taboos of these early, pre-industrial gentile societies. As a result, the Mother Goddess came to embody intellect and the arts as well.

Since the men were considered more expendable, they were relegated to the important but extremely dangerous task of hunting. They would often wear animal skin with antlers or stag horns on top to get close to a herd of bison or antelope. This led to the eventual creation of a male aspect of Deity, the God of the Hunt. He was depicted as having horns and hooves (and sometimes other animal characteristics, such as a tail), to exemplify his connection with nature, and was modeled on the appearance of the disguised hunters. This image of the Horned God was later severely bastardized by the Roman Catholic Church into the evil entity known as the Devil, or ‘Satan.’

When horticulture and later, agriculture, eventually supplanted hunting as the main form of sustenance for the tribe, the God of the Hunt became the God of Agriculture, and the image of the Green Man, visually represented as a male face in the form of foliage, came into being in some societies (and remains a fairly familiar image in the British Isles to this day), and the replacement of antler and stag horns with goat horns came to personify the God. This later led to such god-forms as the Greco-Roman Pan (and his horde of satyr brethren) and the Celtic Cernnunos.

Still, the female Goddess was held in higher prominence than the God. During these early days of humanity, it is believed by modern archaeologists that many rituals were performed to the Mother Goddess, primarily to insure the fertility of the tribe’s women and possibly also to heal the sick, and the God was probably called upon in these rituals to increase the abundance of game for the hunters and to increase the success of the hunt itself (early cave paintings by Cro-Magnon tribes clearly depict the hunting rituals, showing the tribe members dancing while dressed in animal skins, the leader or “high priest” of the ritual disguised in fur and horns to play the role of the Horned God). Later, the God was probably called upon ritually to insure a good and healthy crop for the tribe. These early exercises in what is today referred to as magick greatly evolved in scope and purpose over time, and early societies eventually developed rituals designed to utilize the energy inherent in nature into granting people whatever they desired, personally as well as collectively for the entire community or tribe. In its earliest days, people utilized magickal ritual for primarily communal purposes, beginning with, for example, a good supply of game for the hunt (as described above) and, after the agricultural revolution, for favorable crop in the planting seasons. As time passed, and human society became more and more complex, the original monotheistic Goddess, and the latter duo theistic reverence of the Goddess and God, were sub-divided into numerous different deities, both female and male, all of which represented a different culturally significant aspect of the society’s lives and ethics (i.e., a god/dess of wisdom, love, combat, writing, etc.), and thus religious structure became more polytheistic.

The early simple folk magick would eventually evolve into more complex rituals for personal use, for individuals to gain things such as health, love and material wealth, finally becoming what we know today as Witchcraft, Ceremonial Magick and many other forms.

When the primitive communistic societies were eventually replaced by private property and class-divided societies, men slowly began to seize power, particularly after learning of their role in reproduction.

However, the early Pagan religions still reigned supreme in these new economies, and the Goddess and God were given many personalities comprising numerous different aspects of each society. Thus, as described above, the Goddess and God were subdivided into different pantheons of lesser gods and goddesses that embodied various aspects that were culturally significant to a given society.

For example, each society had a god/goddess of war, of love, of agriculture, of prosperity and commerce, of the sea, of death, etc. The richest pantheons belong to the Greeks/Romans, Norse/Germanic, Celtic, Egyptians, Native Americans, Japanese, Africans, and many others. Several of these pantheons of gods and goddesses are still revered today by various Pagan religions (the subject of these beings being real entities or merely metaphorical subdivisions of the Goddess and God will be the focus of another section).

Many of these societies, particularly the Celtics and Norse, held women in high regard in society and their goddesses had every bit as much importance as the male deities. However, towards the end of the Roman Empire, the monotheistic, patriarchal religious tendency known as Christianity began, and it grew from a relatively small group of religious rebels led by the great prophet Jesus Christ into a huge political power base. This new religion worshiped an all male personification of a single Deity, and it eventually fully established the patriarchal society that we still see (albeit to an increasingly lesser degree) today.

Note on Monotheism

The concept of monotheism wasn’t new during the twilight years of the Roman Empire. It was first envisioned much earlier by the Egyptian pharaoh Achnaton (also sometimes referred to as Amenhotep IV in the history books) during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, and he called this single all-male conception of Deity Aton. This began the original mistake of monotheism, the ousting of the female aspect of Deity from the consciousness of its followers, and made the social concept of a patriarchy far more acceptable to its adherents; it rejected the concept of duotheism, which would have given equal respect to the female aspect of divinity. It should be noted that it’s very curious that neither Achnaton nor Christ envisioned a gender neutral conception of a single Deity (as a few open-minded Christians are slowly beginning to do today), which would have prevented a huge amount of the social strife and disempowerment that women have suffered from in the following centuries up to the present day. 

The worship of Aton eventually fell out of favor in Egypt, and a return to polytheism was instituted. Most major re-evaluations of religious thought, as well as the creation of new and radical religions, occur during times of social, economic and political turmoil, such as when a particularly powerful nation-state or socio-economic order is dying out. Egypt wasn’t in too major a situation in this regard at the time of the 18th Dynasty, or Achnaton’s cult may have gone much further, and modern day monotheists may be invoking his name as their holy savior rather than Christ, and still referring to their conception of Deity as “Aton” (or an anglicized variation thereof) instead of simply “God.” 

However, when Christ began his religious mission and started gathering his Apostles during the final days of the Roman Empire, his timing couldn’t have been better, for it was a time when the world economic order, then based on chattel slavery, was collapsing (to soon be replaced by a new world economic order, feudalism) and the political structure and social stability of Rome was becoming chaotic. Many new religious orders in addition to Christianity, such as the cult of Diana, began forming, which is similar to the phenomenon of bizarre cults (such as the ill-fated cult of David Koresh) and new religions (such as the resurgence in Pagan faiths like Wicca, Asatru and Druidism) which are appearing today, and slowly growing and thriving, now that the current economic world order, capitalism, is likewise starting to collapse, and much political and social turmoil is occurring as the established norms and religions of our society are now slowly being questioned by an increasingly disheartened population.

Had Christ been born in the Heroic Age of Greece during its stable economic period, his then radical religious ideas would probably have gone nowhere, and Christianity may have ended up as a forgotten footnote in history. The success of virtually all new religious movements have always been dependent on the social, political and economic circumstances of the nation-state and time period in question in which they appeared. Jesus Christ was obviously inspired by the earlier, albeit temporary, success of Achnaton, in attempting to create a religion centered around a single universal male Deity, only this time the new God image was conceived as being totally good (the new monotheistic Deity’s petty, human-like qualities, and his totally evil counterpart Satan, were added much later, once the Roman Catholic Church fully entered its political stage during the feudal era, and Satan was retroactively inserted into the history of Jesus by the writers of the Bible to establish this being’s legitimacy as a “threat” to the devout followers of Christianity). Judaism and Islam, as well as Christianity, owe a tip of the hat to Achnaton and his religious conception, even though none of these three dominant religious tendencies acknowledges his “contribution” to their particular conception of Deity and world history today. 

There are even rumors that a very old and long vanished cult that predated the Pagan civilization of Sumeria/Mesopotamia, the oldest recorded human civilization accepted as authentic by all modern archeologists, had established a monotheistic faith around an all-male Deity called Mithra, and this was expounded upon in the fictional fantasy novels written by Robert E. Howard about the “Hyborian Age,” an era posited to exist about 10,000 years ago, and whose authenticity has yet to be accepted by modern historians, and it is not known if Achnaton’s society would have had any knowledge of the Mithra cult, which may or may not be the earliest conception of all-male monotheism in human history, as well as an unknown major example of monotheism in human history, but that doesn’t change the fact that Achnaton created the first monotheistic religious tendency to be very well documented in history, and would have been known to Roman historians during the time of Jesus, who was quite well educated, as well as a reported master of psychic abilities.

The new monotheistic Christian religion of Catholicism, which became a powerful political force after the fall of the slave economies and the rise of feudalism, co-existed with Pagan religions for many centuries, and finally waged a brutal war to stamp out all vestiges of these older religions in a conflict known as the Crusades. The Roman Catholic Church perverted the word “Pagan,” which derives from the Latin word paganus, and literally translates into “country dweller,” into meaning an anti-Christian and “unbeliever.” Today, many people still incorrectly believe the word to be synonymous with atheism, or the belief in no Deity or deities of any kind, with a strict adherence to scientific materialism, and total rejection of all aspects of spirituality and metaphysics.

The Goddess was excised from the religious consciousness of the masses, to resurface later to the Roman Catholics in the subordinate role of the Virgin Mary. Jesus Christ himself was deified, his teachings perverted and his image transformed into the “son of God.” He became the Christian equivalent of the Sun God, an old Pagan tradition of a beloved male deity born to the Mother Goddess who is killed and resurrected after death (important Pagan Sun Gods include Dionysus/Bacchus [Greek/Roman], Balder [Norse] and Osiris [Egyptian]). The Pagan image of the Horned God was transformed into the visualized appearance of “Satan,” or the Devil, the evil being and avowed enemy of the Christian God, who only “evil” people (i.e., non-Christians) worshiped, and who had allegedly dedicated his metaphysical existence to totally undermining and destroying the moral turpitude of loyal Christians.

Pagan attitudes such as openness of sex and reverence for women were drastically attacked in order to keep the masses under the control of the Church clergy. Now, sex and nudity were considered sinful and abhorrent to the new God image, and women became little more than property to the males, becoming third class citizens, losing all property rights and unable to serve in the clergy until the 20th century (at this time, the beginning of the 21st century, women still cannot serve as priests in the Roman Catholic religion, today still the most influential of all Christian denominations, though the politically right wing fundamentalist “born again” Christians, such as Pat Robertson and his ilk, are becoming very influential nowadays as well).

These aforementioned alterations in the cultural mindset, particularly in America and England, continue to a lesser degree into the present time. Beginning roughly in the 11th century, the Christian knights known as the Crusaders began storming across the Western and Northern world to convert all Pagan tribes to Christianity through sheer brute force and violence, and making the way safe for the missionaries of the Church to come in and “re-educate” the survivors of the carnage. However, certain small groups of Pagans survived in remote areas and in the smallest villages, and continued to practice the “old” ways in relative secrecy, despite the mass destruction of the major rich Pagan cultures such as the Druids (the religious priesthood of the Keltoi, or Celts) and the Norsemen (or Vikings). By the late 15th century, however, Witchcraft officially became illegal, and the Church stopped at nothing to eradicate it from the Western world completely. The people were told that Satan was hiding around every corner, waiting to seduce innocent and devout Christians to his “evil” ways, and that the Church had to take drastic measures to stamp out the menace at all costs.

This created one of the first of the many politically motivated social hysteria to occur in the New World, and was the origination of the term “witch-hunting,” and gave the ruling class of the time an excuse to trample on the civil rights of society at large [this is very similar to the many hysteria engendered by the American government and media, such as the white slavery hysteria of the 1890's-1900's, the "Communist" and homosexual hysteria of the 1950's, and the pedophile and terrorist hysteria of the present era, which proves that social terror tactics are used by our current government in a very similar manner to the theocratic societies of the past, and for the same purpose...creating a public hysteria and inflated "menace" that is so severe and terrifying, the masses are told, that drastic measures, i.e., harsher laws, stronger police powers and erosions of our much sought after civil rights must be enacted to stamp out the menace, and the panic-stricken general public happily complies and even participates with a large amount of finger-pointing and using the new laws to their advantage to ruin the lives of people they dislike, the same as the people of the earlier centuries did in accusing folks they disliked of Witchcraft...how little things change over time]. 

Over the next two hundred years, people across Europe and America were put to death en masse merely for being suspected of practicing Witchcraft, which was purported to support the infamous Christian political bogeyman, Satan. Most of these individuals were definitely not even truly Pagans, but were devout Christians who were merely accused of being Pagans, often by jealous and spiteful neighbors with a personal vendetta. These unfortunates were subjected to some of the most brutal and horrific tortures ever inflicted by one human against another, and they were forced to confess to the charges, after which they were summarily executed for the crime they “confessed” to, and most were either hung or burned alive at the stake (others were killed by dismemberment, drowning, further torture and other equally unpleasant means). Further, the terror tactics were not only used to wipe out the last vestiges of Paganism by the Church, but also to attack practitioners of emerging rival Christian sects, such as the Protestants, many of whom were tortured and murdered after being accused of practicing Witchcraft while visiting a Catholic village; the in-fighting between different Christian denominations also caused much chaos upon American and English society at the time.

This murderous and insane anti-Paganism crusade created one of the earliest of the many “holocausts” in the New World. All of the few remaining real Pagans were understandably driven into hiding, and Paganism and Witchcraft (as well as the practice of almost all magick) was driven far underground and more or less eliminated from the public awareness by the end of the 17th century, and was completely discredited further from the materialist Scientific Revolution that emerged fully in the past four centuries, after the end of the Renaissance. For the most part, the Crusades succeeded in converting most of the Western and Northern world to Christianity (despite often violent resistance by the Pagans), leaving nothing more than small, scattered groups and a handful of solitary practitioners of Paganism alive in the remote countryside, and the Inquisition more or less completed the task of the Church by ensuring that the few remaining Pagans were driven so far underground in fear and hiding that they simply vanished from the world scene with no one to pass the “old” religion on to. 

The several claims in the 20th century by both academic scholars and Neo-Pagans that a few witches survived and passed on their lineage to the present day are nothing more than unproved rumors, and it can unfortunately be said that the Church did it’s grisly job quite well. Confirmation of this is the fact that when the laws against Witchcraft were finally repealed in the 18th century, and when the U.S. Constitution was written, which guaranteed religious freedom in the newly formed nation of America, no “underground” members of the Pagan religion emerged from hiding to set the record straight. Christian beliefs, values and cultural mores (not to mention the laws inspired by them) were just too ingrained into the mindset of the citizens of this new nation, including the incorrect and stereotypical beliefs of Pagans being evil “devil worshipers,” the Mother Goddess image lived on only in the extremely subordinate image of the Virgin Mary, the Horned God image was believed to be analogous to the Christian image of Satan, the old polytheistic deities were now considered to be mere objects of myth, and women, who were often mainstays of the Pagan societies, were legally and culturally servile to the men of the new nation. 

Thus, if a tiny handful of Pagans truly remained in existence as rumors have suggested, they understandably remained deeply in hiding. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century, when a new generation of Pagans would emerge and challenge the still dominating but slowly declining Christian mindset, that the “old” religion in a new guise returned to lay claim to the belief systems of the Western and Northern worlds once more. Hence, even this new nation, with “religious freedom” written into law, was not considered a safe place for the “old” religion, as dominated as it was in both culture and laws by Christian doctrine (some of the American laws, however, such as the idea of a bourgeois democracy, were acquired from the Athenian society of ancient Greece, and the concept of a speedy trial by jury and other legal procedures, such as due process, which was an ideal utilized by the Norsemen, were indeed of Pagan origin; the women’s liberation movement of the Civil Rights era in the late 20th century was a regaining of rights that were common to the female gender in most of the Pagan societies). Hence, by the end of the Inquisition late in the 17th century, the Church believed that all vestiges of the old Pagan religion was successfully defeated, and the brutal attempt to stomp out the influence of “Satan” was relaxed to a large extent. However, despite this defeat of Paganism, it wasn’t the permanent end of the “old” religion .

19th Century through Contemporary

In the late 19th century, the Spiritualist movement, the birth of a new science known as parapsychology and the formation of non-traditional religions such as Theosophy (formed by the eccentric mystic Madame Helena Blavatsky, and which exists to this day) began renewing interest in the occult, and Christianity was slowly being challenged, but not to a major extent in the 19th century.

In the year 1921, Dr. Margaret Murrary wrote a book entitled The Witch Cult in Western Europe, which officially identified Witchcraft as an ancient fertility religion that had no connection to Satan and devil-worship, thus challenging a common and cruel misconception rampant in our still Christian society. She followed this up ten years later (1931) by a second book, The God of the Witches, where she made claims that the religion remained in an unbroken line to this day (these claims have never been substantiated, and are controversial). In 1951, the last of the old Witchcraft laws in England were repealed (and the last of these mostly dealt with matters of fraud, anyway).

In 1954, the modern Wiccan, and perhaps the modern Neo-Pagan movement and “New Age” in general, began with the publication of Gerald Gardner’s book Witchcraft Today. Here he revealed himself to be a witch, and that he was in fact initiated into a coven of a long line of witches (a claim that is now being disputed heavily by even the Pagan community). Nevertheless, despite some of Gardner’s more questionable claims, his book introduced the name Wicca to the public, which is alternately described as meaning “craft of the wise” or taken from the Celtic phrase “to bend.” Gardnerian was the first Wiccan tradition to take root in Europe and America, and it was soon followed by other prominent branches, such as Alexandrian, Dianic and Eclectic (which is actually a ‘non-tradition’), to be followed in the 60′s by a resurgence of interest in Celtic and Norse deities in particular, leading to Wiccan traditions centered around them (Norse Wicca, despite its reverence of the Norse deities, has no connection with another growing Pagan religion, Asatru, which keeps the old religion of the Vikings alive and worships the Norse Gods, just as Celtic Wicca has no connection to the ancient Pagan religion of Druidism, which worships the Celtic Gods, and is now also enjoying a resurgence in the West).

By the 1970′s, Wicca had developed into one of the fastest growing religious movements in an era of many people who are determined to cast off the encroachments of Judeo-Christian society and its continued attacks on sexual freedom, women’s liberation, youth liberation (a budding movement in its infancy that even not all Pagans yet ascribe to, which will ultimately lead to the re-extension of civil rights to youths, who are doing much to help the growth of Wicca; youth liberation should be a major focus for Wiccans today, but the movement has only recently begun).

Also, Asatru arrived on American shores in the 70′s, and a resurgence of Druidism also began to emerge beginning in the late 80′s, thus increasing the spread of Paganism in general across our still largely Judeo-Christian society. This once unchallenged set of virtues is now once again being questioned by more progressive-minded religious tendencies, despite its lack of official organization and its separation into many different traditions.

As the 20th century is now officially over, all of the Pagan religions, including the many Wiccan traditions (as well as others, such as Asatru and Neo-Druidism) are now continuing to grow in number. It may well be that the 21st century will become the era when the Pagan religions again come of age, and eventually cast off the domination of the Judeo-Christian mindset which still rules America and England.

For more information: What Happened to The Feminine Aspect of God

The End Of The World – 2012!?

I know that many folks are thinking this is “the year” for all sorts of things to become a reality!  In all honesty, many things will become a reality!  But… and I say but, all the doomsayers and such will be proven wrong!  The only reality that will be is the reality of  just another semi-normal year for all of us, with it’s ups and downs.

Sure, the Mayan Calendar has been put in the mainstream for the past decade or more…. But, this is an old prophecy, and things have changed and all prophecies change when things change.  It is like Tarot reading…a reading shows you what you can expect if things stay on track and there are no changes made by you to alter the outcome.  In a reading, you can be forewarned of an event, and alter that event by taking action to prevent it from happening.  A reading is a guide, and a guide only, as to what “could” happen, not what “will” happen.

That is the same with all prophecies…whether they be Christian, Pagan, Jewish, Hindu, Native American or whatever…. they were prophecies based on what could happen if change does not enter into the picture…. Well, history is all about change, so the outcome of all these prophecies have been altered as well.

My advice…sure stock up on necessities, but then that is my advice at any given time… You never know what may happen… earthquake, tornado, hurricane, civil war (lol), to name a few.  Always stay stocked up, and rotate your stocks.  Be prepared.  This is NOT based on prophecy, but common sense.

Enjoy 2012 and all the blessings that it will offer to everyone, despite how the negative things will try and attempt you to focus on them versus the blessings.

Happy New Year everyone!  Be safe, be blessed and share love!