The other half of a perfect balance

Six years ago when I first began writing this blog, my original train of thought was to create a free "mini website" of sorts with the intent of introducing wicca to those who wished to learn more about it - the general belief system, the sabbats, esbats and rites of passage, perhaps a bit of spell work and teachings of what I had learned from both experience and from my peers - some of whom had already had their own covens and organizations by that time.

It did not; however, take long for me to realize that an educational type blog was not enough. I soon realized that if you want people to be interested enough to follow your blog, you also need to share a lot more of yourself personally. That was something that did not come easy to me at first because I am a rather private person even though I am a people person at heart.

It was about that time when a pagan Greek fellow came into my life. He politely contacted me to ask me if he may share my post on The Wheel of the Year on his blog. Yup, you guessed it, it was none other than Dark Elf. We eventually became Facebook friends and began having conversations about wicca and paganism, history, etc.

As time when by, I began having less time to blog and I was also getting a bit bored with it all. It is difficult to come up with fresh and new ideas all of the time and then it hit me  - why not ask Dark Elf to join me? We understand where one another is coming from, and, I have learned much from him. I knew that he was a pagan and a scientist and that he was well educated. I, on the other hand, have only gotten as far as a high school diploma and I was pretty much self-taught as a solitary wiccan. 

I personally feel that he is very much an asset to this blog and that his contributions are extremely relevant and important to its' purpose. I have heard many other wiccans state that "we all learn from one another" and I, too, believe this to be so. And so, I have asked Dark Elf to share in his own words a little more about his history and how he came to find his way to wicca and this blog ...  

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(Dark Elf):  When I was a little kid I had an obsession with science. Especially physics, astronomy, and space. I couldn't of course set up a nuclear reactor, or launch a rocket so I got involved in something I could: electricity. I had a lab in the house. People considered me strange and even crazy. Some supposed that maybe I was an alien. Truth is that besides this inclination I had no illusions. I was only a disabled kid. So I tried really hard to get a good cumulative score and the results were average. I entered the Science Faculty, Department of Mathematics and there was a real fight against the corrupt system. Though I tried to remain out of sight and not to start any revolution - I was very different back then - there had been problems with injustices and the like.

I met a professor of Applied Mathematics that helped me a lot and so I decided to enter the Sector of Applied Mathematics for a specialization study. I liked it very much and my scientific take-off started at that time. After a brief work in superconductor solitary waves, I entered the Lab of Chaos and Dynamics. I took my BSC with an equivalent grade of your B+ and then entered the Polytechnic Faculty, Department of Chemical Engineering, Applied Mathematics Sector for a PhD. I studied wave theory and finally got my PhD. I was teaching Computer Science and Numerical Analysis while I was there.

However, after a take-off there is always a landing... So after I got my PhD, I had trouble finding a position in the University. I worked in research but things weren't any good there but I did publish my works under my name and then left. I was listed in many biographical publications including:

“Who’s Who in Science and Engineering”, Marquis Who’s Who, New Providence, New Jersey, USA;
“2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century”, “2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century”, “Living Legends”, “A Lifetime of Achievement One Hundred” (100 names), “Great Lives”, International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England;
“Great Minds of 21st Century” (1,000 names), “World Book of Knowledge” (500 names), “21st Century Genius” (500 names), American Biographical Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

And, my 9 most important published works are:

1.   A. Charalambopoulos, G. Dassios and P. Ergatis, A small axisymmetric obstacle in the presence of an underwater point source field, J. Comp. Acoust. 5 (No 3) pp. 243–263 (1997).
2.  P. Ergatis, A small resistive axisymmetric obstacle in the presence of an underwater point source field, Applied Acoustics, 62 (7) pp. 779–791 (2001).
3.  P. E. Ergatis, Sound scattering by a hard axisymmetric object in a double layered ocean, Applied Acoustics, 62 (12) pp. 1329–1346 (2001).
4.  P. E. Ergatis, P. G. Massouros, G. C. Athanasouli and G. P. Massouros, Time–Dependent Heat Transfer Coefficient of a Wall, Int. J. Energy Res. 27 (9) pp. 795–811 (2003).
5.  P. E. Ergatis, Sound scattering by a resistive and axially symmetric object in a two–layer ocean, Applied Acoustics, 66 (1), pp. 1–14, (2005).
6.  P. Massouros, P. Ergatis and G. Massouros, Εlastic creep of a wheel., 1st National Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering. ASME International – Greek Section, Sept. 2001.
7.  P. Ergatis, P. Massouros, G. Athanasouli and G. Massouros, Influence of Solar Radiation on the Thermal Dynamic Behaviour of Buildings (in Greek), 7th National Conference on alternate energy sources. Solar Technology Institute, November 2002.
8.  P. Massouros, G. Athanasouli, P. Ergatis and G. Massouros, Time–Dependent Building Thermal Resistance to Solar Energy (in Greek), 7th National Conference on alternate energy sources. Solar Technology Institute, November 2002.
9.  P. Ergatis, General form of propagating and scattered acoustic waves from point sources in deep underwater environments, Acoustics 2002, Hellenic Institute of Acoustics, September 2002.

I didn't want to use my disability but I had no other choice.  It's my belief that I was targeted and had no chance anyway. I don't wish to say more about that now but I promise you that you shall see a complete and sincere account of what happened at that time on MY blog so that I won't get my co-author into trouble.

At about the age of 27, I abandoned Christianity since the Bible was so unrealistic.  I happened at that time to see a movie, "The Mists of Avalon," and from there I learned of the Old Religion. I had studied it as much as I have studied Christianity. After some thought, I decided to follow Her (the Goddess).

I lost about 10 years of my life doing nothing. In an already very bad psychological condition, I experienced my father's death and a messed up family that he left behind. My life was destroyed and in complete darkness. Two more years passed and at that time I met Lady Morganna while searching for a Wheel of the Year for my blog, and the rest of the story is left to her. She and some other very few friends are slowly bringing back the light in my life. Now things seem better.