Becca (AKA Dream Celt)

Anne Welch

_Erebus_<

This is a great social, cultural and religious injustice, and should be changed. Christians should not be allowed to continue to celebrate their holiday on a date that was stolen in order to attempt to wipe out other cultures' beliefs and practices.

Many Pagan holidays are celebrated by followers of Aboriginal and Neopagan religions around the world on or around this date, including Wiccans who celebrate Yule. Due to the fact that Christians have stolen this holiday, many Pagan practices have been integrated into their activities, and have been twisted to meet THEIR needs. This is not only offensive, it is something that saddens many followers of various Pagan religions.

Although the solstice is actually around the 22nd, the elevation of the sun's path is most noticeable a few days after the Solstice, so many celebrations are held on the 25th. This is a PAGAN holiday, and should be recognized as such. In addition to ancient Solstice celebrations, December 25th marks the births of many ancient Pagan Gods. I.E.- Mithras, Attis, Osiris, Dionysus and is also the date of the Sun-God celebration of Saturnalia.

"Christmas" to many Pagans represents centuries of hypocrisy, lies and persecution. Even if you aren't Pagan, I urge you to sign this petition and help make this long overdue change.

This petition's goal is 1,000,000 plus signatures. Paganism is the fastest growing collective religion in the world. Wiccans and other Pagan faiths have the same rights as every other religious faith, and this petition represents the Pagans who want their holiday back.

Please sign this petition to recognize this holiday as a Pagan holiday, and take Christ out of it. This petition will be sent to world leaders of countries celebrating "Christmas" and we will be lobbying here in the United States to make these changes. Please help us in our quest to restore a holiday that is rightfully ours, and has been since ancient times.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you for helping us.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/RESTORE-YULE-TO-PAGANS

"We are NOT trying to take away the Christians' right to celebrate Christmas. We are demanding that they move the holiday to Jesus' real birth date and stop mocking our holiday. Christmas was created by the church to wipe out existing Pagan festivals. It was premeditated and designed to force conversions and destroy other religions' beliefs and cultural practices.

If they want to celebrate their holy day, they can go ahead and do it. However, when they decided to PLAN it and USE it to destroy OUR holy day they committed a CRIME. Christmas on the 25th of December represents hypocrisy, lies and the persecution of Pagans, and it has GONE ON FOR LONG ENOUGH. Pagans who didn't conform were KILLED.

Would you ask the Jews to celebrate Passover and call it Nazi day? I think not. Why should we be smacked in the face with the word "Christmas" on one of OUR religious holidays when it represents our own religious persecution that lasted for centuries?"

We have 17 horses out here currently, and plan on getting land and building an off-grid Earth-friendly Pagan horse rescue community in the spring.

Blessings!
Ash

Where going green and saving the Earth is a RELIGION!

TECHNIQUES OF MODERN SHAMANISM VOL.1 - Click here

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"My Law is Harmony with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life and mine is the dish of salt of the earth that is the body of Cernunnos that is the eternal circle or rebirth. I give the knowledge of life everlasting, and beyond death I give promise of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things, and my protection blankets the earth"

Hear the words of the dancing God, the music of whose laughter stirs the winds, whose voice calls the seasons

"I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the light, sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame, I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all it's beings. Through me all things must die and with me are reborn. Let my worship be in the body that sings, for behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness, joy and peace, awe and longing within you for those too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me, all beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings."

I am the consoler of the saddened and the healer of the sick.
I bring comfort to those upon earth and peace and understanding in death, for I am
the changing Goddess.
Forget not my darker side, hidden in the deepest reaches of your mind.
I have been in the underworld and I have returned.

Those who seek to know me, to feel my spirit, to win my favor and my grace:
Come to me with a sincere heart and burn incense upon My altar.
Listen and be still, and look within.
You shall grow in wisdom and nobility of spirit,
if you understand that whatever your wants or attainments,
I have been you from the Start, and I am the Desire that remains.

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Witchcraft Today - CLICK HERE

10. We know of the existence of the life-force which ensouls all living
things, that is, all that exists. We know that a spark of this Divine
Fire is within each and every thing that exists, and that it does not
die; only the form of it's existence changes. We know that this spark of
the life-force returns to manifestation again and again in order to fully
realize and actualize it's potential, evolving finally to the peak and
essence of existence which is pure be-ing. In this process of
reincarnation each form returns in the same type of form, though it's
ever-increasing actualization may lead to higher levels of existence of
that form. Man returns as man, cat as feline, mineral as mineral, each
class of form evolving as the individual forms of that class evolve.

11. This process of evolution through successive incarnations in manifest form
works through the utilizations of wisdom gained, the essence of the
life-experience. This essence of experience, or Wisdom, is an attribute
of the spark of life itself, one and inseparable (see 9a).

12. We must care for the body, for it is the vehicle of the spark of life, the
form by which we attain. Thus we must heal the body of it's ills and keep
it a tuned and perfected tool; so must we heal others (both physicaly and
psychologically) as far as it is within our power to do so. However, we
cannot interfere with the life of another, even to heal, except at their
request or with their express permission; unless such non-interference
would be inhibiting to our own, ethical existence and development -- and
even then the responsibilities and consequences must be understood and
accepted. This, then, is one of the important reasons for the communal
life the Witches under the guidance of the Priesthood: That the group may
be guided by wisdom and experience, with the aid and support of one's
peers; and that one's actions may be guided by the influence of the
ethical life of the group as a whole.

13. Harmony with, and utilization of, the great natural forces of the universe
is called magick. By magick we speak, not of the supernatural, but of the
superbly natural, but whose laws and applications are not as yet
recognized by the scientific establishment. The Witch must strive to
recognize these forces, learn their laws, attune her/himself to them, and
make use of them. The Witch must also be aware that power corrupts when
used _only_ for the gains of the self, and therefore must strive to serve
humanity: Either through the service in the Priesthood, or by example and
effects of his/her life on others. The choice must be made in accord with
the true nature of the Witch.

1. The first principle is that of love, and it is expressed in the ethic,
"DO AS YOU WILL, SO LONG AS YOU HARM NONE"
a) love is not emotional in it's essence, but is an attribute of the
individual as expressed in relation to other beings;
b) harming others can be by thought, word, or deed;
c) it is to be understood the "none" includes oneself;
d) the harm which is to be regarded as unethical is gratuitous harm; war,
in general, is gratuitous harm, although it is ethical to defend
oneself and one's liberty when threatened by real and present danger,
such as defense against invasion.

2. The Witch must recognize and harmonize with the forces of the universe, in
accord with the Law of Polarity: everything is dual; everything has two
poles; everything has it's opposite; for every action there is a reaction;
all can be categorized as either active or reactive in relation to other
things.
a) Godhead is one unique and transcendant wholeness, beyond any
limitations or expressions; thus, it is beyond our human capacity to
understand and identify with this principle of Cosmic Oneness, except
as It is revealed to us in terms of It's attributes and operation.
b) The most basic and meaningful attribute of the One that we, as humans,
can relate to and understand, is that of polarity, of action and reac-
tion; therefore Witches recognize the Oneness of the Divinity, but
worship and relate to the Divine as the archetypal polarity of God and
Goddess, the All-Father and the Great Mother of the universe. The
Beings are as near as we can approach to the One within our human
limitations of understanding and expression, though it is possible to
experience the divine Oneness through the practices of the Mysteries.
c) Harmony does not consist of the pretty and the nice, but the balanced,
dynamic, poised co-operation and co-relation.

3. The Witch must recognize, and operate within the framework of the Law of
Cause and Effect; every action has it's reaction, and every effect has
it's cause. All things occur according to this law; nothing in the
universe can occur outside this law, though we may not always appreciate
the relation between a given effect and it's cause. Subsidiary to this is
the Law of Three, which states that whatever goes forth must return
threefold, whether of good or ill; for our actions affect more than people
generally realize, and the resulting reactions are also part of the
harvest.

4. As Above, So Below. That which exists in the Macrocosm exists, on a
smaller scale and to a lesser degree, in the Microcosm. The powers of the
universe exist also in the human, though in general instance they lie
dormant. The powers and abilities can be awakened and used if the proper
techniques are practiced, and this is why initiates of the Mysteries are
sworn to guard the secrets from the unworthy: Much harm can be done by
those who have power without responsibility, both to others and to
themselves according to the Laws of Cause and Effect and of Threefold
Return.
a) Since our philosophy teaches that the universe is the physical
manifestation of the Divine, there can be nothing in the universe which
does not partake of the nature of the Divine; hence, the powers and
attributes of the Divine exist also in the manifest, though to much
smaller degree.
b) These powers can be awakened through the various techniques of the
Mysteries, and, although they are only capable of small effects in and
of themselves, it is possible to use them in order to draw upon the
forces of the universe. Thus humanity can be the wielders of the power
of the Gods, a channel for Godhead to act within It's own
manifestation. This, then, is further reason for the oath of secrecy.
c) Since the universe is the body of the One, possessing the same
attributes as the One, it's Laws must be the principles through and by
which the One operates. By reasoning from the known to the unknown,
one can learn of the Divine, and thus of oneself. Thus the Craft is a
natural religion, seeing in Nature the expression and revelation of
Divinity.

That is one area which you will need to have crystal-clear in
your own mind before the first meeting (of if you are flexible,
at least be very clear that you are). You must also be clear as
to your personal needs on other points: program emphasis, size,
meeting schedule, finances, degree of secrecy, and affiliation
with a tradition or network. You owe it to prospective members
and to yourself to make your minimum requirements known from the
outset: it can be disastrous to a group to discover that members
have major disagreements on these points after you have been
meeting for six months.

Ritual leadership involves much more that reading invocations by
candlelight. Leaders must understand the powers they intend to
manipulate: how they are raised, channeled and grounded. They
must be adept at designing rituals which involve all the sensory
modes. They should have a repertoire of songs and chants, dances
and gestures or mudras, incense and oils, invocations and spells,
visual effects and symbols, meditations and postures; and the
skill to combine these in a powerful, focused pattern. They must
have clarity of purpose and firm ethics. And they must
understand timing: both where a given ritual fits in the cycles
of the Moon, the Wheel of the Year, and the dance of the spheres,
and how to pace the ritual once started, so that energy peaks and
is channeled at the perfect moment. And they must understand the
Laws of Magick, and the correspondences, and when ritual is
appropriate and when it is not.

By administration, we refer to basic management practices
necessary to any organization. These include apportioning work
fairly, and following up on its progress; locating resources and
obtaining them (information, money, supplies); fostering
communications (by telephone, printed schedules, newsletters
etc.); and keeping records (minutes, accounts, Witch Book
entries, or ritual logbook). Someone or several someones has to
collect the dues if any, buy the candles, chill the wine, and so
forth.

Teaching is crucial to both covens and study groups. If only one
person has any formal training or experience in magick, s/he
should transmit that knowledge in a way which respects the
intuitions, re-emerging past life skills, and creativity of the
others. If several participants have some knowledge in differing
areas, they can all share the teaching role. If no one in the
group has training and you are uncertain where to begin, they you
may need to call on outside resources: informed and ethical
priest/esses who can act as visiting faculty, or who are willing
to offer guidance by telephone or correspondence. Much can be
gleaned from books, or course -- assuming you know which books
are trustworthy and at the appropriate level -- but there is no
substitute for personal instruction for some things. Magick can
be harmful if misused, and an experienced practitioner can help
you avoid pitfalls as well as offering hints and techniques not
found in the literature.

Counseling is a special role of the High Priest/ess. It is
assumed that all members of a coven share concern for each
other's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare, and
are willing to help each other out in practical ways. However,
coven leaders are expected to have a special ability to help
coverners explore the roots of their personal problems and choose
strategies and tactics to overcome them. This is not to suggest
that one must be a trained psychoanalyst; but at the least, good
listening skills, clear thinking and some insight into human
nature are helpful. Often, magickal skills such as guided
visualization, Tarot counseling and radiesthesia (pendulum work)
are valuable tools as well.