Blessed St. Patty's Day everyone!

What's in a Holiday?: St. Patrick's Day

What does Wicca have to do with St. Patrick's Day? There are some Celtic-Irish Wiccans who may be opposed to St. Patrick's Day as it may be seen by some as a day of celebrating Pagan oppression by the Christian faith. St. Patrick is the man whom many Christians give credit to for converting the ancient Irish Pagans. However, the truth is that converstion of Medieval Pagan populations to Christianity was never a sudden and complete transformation. In most cases, local folks were so deeply connected to their ancestral beliefs and deities that the Christians had to adapt their teachings to better fit Pagan traditions.

In Ireland, Pagans worshipped many different pantheons of Celtic deities - above all, the Devine Triple Goddess representing love, fertility and wisdom (Maiden, Mother & Crone). Although it is said that St. Patrick attempted to convert Pagans by showing the three leaves of the clover to them explaining the Christian Trinity and therefore making it the symbol of Ireland, the clover originally was (and still is) very much an ancient symbol of The Triple Goddess.

Even though today some Wiccans oppose St. Patrick's Day, there are still others who actually enjoy the celebration because they know of its' "hidden" meaning and perhaps may smile at the thought of devout Christians wearing a symbol of the Goddess. (I am one of them!)

It is important for us, as Wiccans, to remember that a majority of the contemporary holidays which we as Amercians celebrate today, including St. Valentine's Day which began as the Roman Pagan festival of Lupercalia, have their roots set in Paganism.

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy St. Patrick's Day and May the Luck o' the Irish be with thee!!

Wordless Wednesday

A little Sunday music

Fun Friday!

Throwback Thursday ...

 

Having a little fun ...

I have been having a bit of fun with Google Images as well as my own personal photos using the Microsoft paint feature. I have added all kinds of cool and inspirational quotes ...

I guess you could say it is like a "mix 'n' match" kind of thing using various quotes and pics put together and allows me to be somewhat artistic I suppose. 💜

The Business of Witchcraft: A Review

The other day, while looking around in our local Barnes & Noble Bookstore, I picked up the newest edition of The Witches Almanac. I usually only buy it for the yearly calendar and maybe a couple of interesting articles and such. Paging through it, I came across an article titled, "The Business of Witchcraft" by Laura Tempest Zakroff

It left such a bad taste in my mouth after reading it that I decided I needed to write a post of my own about both the article and the subject she hit a nerve on! In the interest of keeping this post from getting too long and detailed, I will stick to only the main points from her rather ill-advised views.

She begins by mentioning witchcraft and business, saying: 

"... quite a few witches tend to get uneasy when you mention business and money in reference to Witchery."

Then, she continues by comparing the services of witchcraft to non-spiritual and metaphysical services, stating:

 

"We don't ask our farmers, lawyers, or doctors to give away their services or expertise."

Really? First of all, some services provided by witches such as tarot, palm readings, any type of divination or spell working, even Reiki (although if a Reiki Master chooses to charge money within reason due to materials and their time and cost incurred for their own training it may be understandable), involve the ethics of the witch in question because he or she is  NOT God or our Mother Herself (the Divine). In other words, the witches themselves are only using the "gift" given by the Divine and furthermore, are using the Divine to profit from this gift in regards to the craft and services they are performing. 

I always question the motives of some other witches and how they view their own "ethics" when practicing their craft. I, personally, never ask or demand any monies when performing tarot readings for anyone. I feel however, that if they wish to give a couple of dollars as a thank you (gift) I will accept, but I NEVER charge! I have always held a personal general rule about it because I feel it is too self-serving at the very least.

This author does nothing but make excuses and tries to rationalize personal behaviors. Her attitude is quite obvious in her below YouTube video when she tries to twist and change the idea of The Three-Fold Law - the idea of karma and the universal law of return. 

I, myself, have a few posts on the subject of The Three-Fold Law of Return and protecting yourself the RIGHT WAY while doing so. In my opinion, this author is extremely misguided. 

(For more info regarding this "author", I have included one of her YouTube videos in case anyone is interested)

A belated ...

 

Just a quick post for today. On Saturday I spent the afternoon with my sister Aurora Skye having a kinda "belated" birthday get together since I was away last weekend.

We had lunch at The West Reading Tavern where she treated me to delicious birthday lunch ...

And some GREAT gifts!! ... 

Spring earrings and some wonderful Yankee candles!