Archive for October, 2005
Calling All Eclectics!
Well, I think all the basic denominational types have put their two cents worth in — Christianity of all types, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Vedanism (aka Hindu), Taoism, atheism/humanism, and a couple of flavors of neo-paganism including straight Wicca and my own hunny, Morgan, bearing the druid standard. For that matter, I’m sure I’ve missed a few.
So how many of us are out here not knowing where we fit in? For myself, I’m sort of a New Agey eclectic Taoist neo-pagan animist psychic-oneness-with-the-Aether type… >gasp< …and that doesn’t even get into the Gnostic elements I’m looking at inserting. I guess my religion could be called the school of Stranger in a Strange Land by way of What The Bleep Do We Know (and yes, I know “Ramtha” is involved; s/he’s the one bad part of an otherwise good primer on quantum spirituality). Or vice-versa; it’s been a long road.
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Samhain (Ancestor Night) Ritual
UPDATE: The ritual has been completed, but it existed “at the center of space and time.” So, if you still want to contribute, feel free to do so. Thank you all for your participation :-).
Please refer to my previous diaries for explanations (intro, rituals, ritual outline, and ritual tools). If you have any questions on how something works, please post it in today’s pre-ritual post so as not to disturb the ceremony. I’ll be watching it for new comments :-).
Some of the things in italics are notes of what would be happening if we were doing this in person, done either by the High Druid/High Druidess or the congregation. You may “virtually” participate or just “watch,” depending on your comfort level.
Please post any responses within the ceremony to the appropriate comment, so that they thread properly. Thank you all for your consideration.
One more pre-Samhain post: Ritual Tools
In looking over tonight’s Samhain ritual, I realized I’d left something out. I’ll be mentioning various tools and such, but I haven’t explained what the altar for a Keltrian ritual looks like :-). This is relevant even for most other pagans, since I’m not using the “standard wiccan” tool set (the usual caveats about calling anything pagan “standard” apply >G<).
Virtual Ancestor Night (Post #2 – Ritual outline)
In this post, I’ll cover the basic outline of the Samhain ritual I plan to use, and explain some of the concepts for those who may not be familiar with them. As always, please ask if there’s something I didn’t make clear, or if you want to add something you think I missed.
Since I’d like to avoid questions once the ritual has started, this is the place to ask if you’re not sure of something. I’ll link back to this post at the beginning of the ritual so that late questions can also be posted here instead of there.
As for the ritual itself, I’m planning on posting it Monday afternoon/evening. I’m in the Pacific time zone, so I’ll either start it around 2pm PST (5pm EST), which is about east coast sunset, or wait until sunset here which would be 5ish PST. Don’t forget to Fall Back this weekend ;-).
The Wheel of the Year
With a week to go until Halloween, I post yet another informational entry on neo-pagan belief/tradition. I’ll probably make my last pre-Ancestor Night post on Friday, so everyone will know what to expect.
Most neo-pagans celebrate eight seasonal rituals, which together are called the Wheel of the Year. These include the solstices and equinoxes (collectively known as the Quarters), and the four midpoints between these (the Cross-Quarters). More info can be found on wikipedia’s “Wheel_of_the_year” entry, but I’ll go over it briefly here. You can hit the links for more background on the individual holidays.
We need another word besides evangelical or fundie
OK, once I start to post the same comment on a third diary, it’s time to make it a diary of it’s own :-).
IMNSHO, we need a simple, straightforward term for the RRR Christians, the would-be theocrats, so that we don’t tar the non-radicals that share some of the names. Asbury Park has asked more than once that we not use “evangelical,” because not all evangelicals are in the problem group. I don’t recall who specifically made a similar request about “fundamentalist.”
Religious Misconceptions
I was going to use this for misconceptions about pagans, but it took me a couple of nanoseconds to realize that we’re not the only ones. So everyone, whatever faith or none, feel free to jump in. Roland and I will be AFK (away from keyboard) for most of the weekend, so this seemed like a good low-maintenance topic.
What are some of the common misconceptions you see about your faith? Atheists, IMO you’re included because you have faith that there isn’t a god ;-).
Defining worship
In my post requesting beliefs and opinions regarding polytheists (like myself) from those of Abrahamic traditions, I got many interesting answers. Among the most edifying were responses from a Muslim, lauramp, and a Vedanist (a ‘branch’ of what most Westerners know as Hindu), mondaymedia. Both made mention of the importance of worship when defining what I would call vital aspects of their faiths (lauramp, MM, your call on whether you agree or not 8^).
As a writer, my fallback position on understanding words always involves returning to the dictionary. Dictionary.com says the following (among other things) about the word worship:
Rituals (Paganism 102? :-)
Most of this is stuff that I’ve taken from the post I was going to make next week for the Samhain/Ancestor Night ritual, but I’m posting it now due to the interest from my other diary today. I’ll recap it in the Samhain-specific post later.
Request: Abrahamic views on polytheists?
Well, with my beloved wife doing what she does best (informing others and raising the general enlightenment level ;^), I figure I’ll throw this one out to our monotheistic friends.
It’s wonderful to see so much tolerance of Hindus, Buddhists, pagans (neo- and paleo- alike), and other various and sundry belief systems. What I’m curious to know is how the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim members of our Prophetic community view other metaphysical/theological concepts, particularly in relation to your own belief systems.