Tahlea talks a little about some exciting news, as well as listener email, then a candle magick segment, and finally a segment on initiation and all the quarrels we have about it.
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Introduction and cut music from CustomSerenade.com – Midi #13
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Scarlet 12.24.08 at 3:43 pm
LOL! I just listened to you latest episode where you read my long ramble about my name that I wrote several months ago and had to laugh! At the beginning of the message, I’d mentioned that I’d never be as brave as you as to start a podcast! Well, I guess I’ve proven myself a liar because you, and other pagan podcasters out there, have inspired me to do just that! lol! Just wanted to set the record straight and correct my own erronious statement. It’s called “Lakefront Pagan Voice” and is on PodBean and iTunes now, if you’re ever interested in listening to my awful voice, lol!
As far as your topic goes… well, I’m not a Wican, so I try to avoid arguing about intitiation vs dedication… I have a sympathy and understanding for both sides of the argument and I do have my own opinions, but after years of getting involved in discussions about this, I realized just how many non-Wiccans like myself were butting in on a topic on which they would naturally know little, not being Wiccans themselves and that very little listening goes on during these discussions… so I try to avoid it because the argument can turn otherwise perfectly sane, intelligent and respectable people into angry beasts and raises such a useless and divisive tension… so I try to butt out when that topic comes up because it saves me the drama and because I would have little to contribute, anyways.
Ok, on to Yule… You asked what people did for their Solstice celebrations… Well, my parents have an interesting way of honoring their earth spirituality… my father is really big into astronomy (not astrology) and so they tend to celebrate occasions of interest to the astronomer and stargazer… the solstices and equinoxes of course but also events like Venus passing in front of the sun or the international space station becoming visible in our area. So our solstice celebration took place on the actual universal astronomical moment of the solstice, which was about an hour before the sun was supposed to come up in our region. That was weird for me, being a sun-witch, I like to watch the solstice sunrise, but we were home and feasting before he’d even peaked over the horizon. I later did my own private welcoming prayer, but I thought their interpretation was unique and interesting… It was probably the coldest Yule I’ve ever experienced…
My parents, my husband and I all got up at 5am, threw on our warmest clothes, drove to the lake, jumped out of the car wrapped in blankets, cast a few stones for luck and sang a little solstice song, then hurredly dove back into the car to escape the bitter cold winds! It was a riot, we were laughing the whole time! It really was a beautiful day!
Anyway, glad to have you back and keep up the good work.. congrats on your new job, may it bring you the means to accomplish your life goals,
Blessings and light,
-Scarlet
SpiritHawk 01.01.09 at 11:08 pm
Tahlea,
I wanted to comment on the initiation show. I personally do not see a problm with a non-initate refering to themselves as a Wiccan. I could understand someone initiated in a tradition being upset if a non-initiate claims to be a part to a specific tradition. For example: I say I am Alexanderian but have not been initiated. There are groups requiring an initatio. To be a part of these traditions, I agree, one must be initatiated. I do not think a solitary eccletic witch following Wiccan principles should have to worry about a person from a tradition giving them a hard time because they use the term Wiccan to describe their practice but does not claim membership in a specific tradition. Neither is more or less a witch.
Thanks for listining to my opinion and feel free to read if you wish.
CrimsonSheep 01.31.09 at 2:49 pm
The way I hear it (I’m not Wiccan, or any type of pagan, really, but I know a few Wiccans and a few people who like to call themselves Wiccans), Gerald Gardner pretty much said, “You have to do these certain things this way or you’re not of my religion that I’m making,” which, that religion is Wicca. He also said, “I’m not going to teach anybody who isn’t initiated these certain things, and I’m not going to let any of my initiates do that either.”
Wicca is pretty much an orthopraxy, which means you have to practice the right stuff. It’s also oathbound, which means the “right stuff” isn’t taught to anybody unless they’re initiated.
Obviously, what you believe is what you believe, and you’re entitled to that. Not saying that’s invalid or anything. I’m just saying, maybe what you’re calling yourself doesn’t match up with what you really are. A lot of people get confused about that, especially with so many authors who are either misinformed themselves or outright lying to make a buck printing the misinformation.
With what SpiritHawk said, “a solitary eclectic witch following Wiccan principles,” that’s fine, so long as they realize that what they’re following isn’t core Wicca, but what’s called “outer-court” material, in other words, stuff that doesn’t really make up the religion itself, it just goes along with it and was created by the same people who created Wicca.
Something I always like to reference in regards to this type of thing, is actually a thread on a forum. The author very much cites her sources and backs up all her points, however. It’s the “Wiccan FAQ” on GaiaOnline’s Extended Discussion: Morality & Religion board. The author of it is Wiccan, as are probably most of the posters in the dauntingly 135-page thread. The first two posts contain most of the information, so the rest is pretty much optional, but a good read if you have a lot of spare time.
Thankee for reading (that was longish) and, I guess if you really want to read all of that on the show, g’head, but it is pretty long.