What Do I Know?

  

This week, Amber introduced us to the subject of palmistry, and as I stated in the podcast, I know zip-zero-zilch about the subject. Nevertheless, we did have a lot of fun drawing lines on our palms with our pens and comparing what we saw there. I don’t know how much of what we learned was true, or whether it can predict your fate, but it’s often fun to explore different ideologies if for no other purpose than to firmly cement the things we do believe in. I also think that anything to do with spirituality, lifestyle, and goals is very personal and that we are free to pick and choose what works for us as individuals.

This idea reminds me of a sermon presented by Rev. Dennis Hamilton at the Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church here in Carrollton many years ago. Dennis is a former Jesuit priest and an eloquent speaker. The lessons he taught were almost magical, and always eye-opening. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t present this idea as gracefully as he did. I don’t know the exact date, but it was closing on the beginning of Hanukkah, and he spent a bit of time in a discourse about the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil, and how an obscure holiday has now become a Jewish favorite, encouraging hope, faith, family, community, and, of course, giving gifts for 8 days. Dennis wrapped up his sermon by bringing his lesson to the point: celebrating Hanukkah – or any other holiday, for that matter – whether you are Jewish or not, is not cultural misappropriation. 

No religion or belief system is as pure and undiluted as it was in the beginning; all religions and beliefs have been influenced, embellished, and altered over time. Cultures adapt and adopt the beliefs that are appropriate or that suit them until it becomes mainstream. He argues that as long as you stay true to your belief system, then it’s okay to celebrate Hanukkah or any other holiday. Several well-known cases in point include the Christian use of Christmas trees and Easter eggs, Hispanic/Latino Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and even Halloween*. Most of us don’t consider those things to be “idolatrous” or “satanic”, so, the use of divination such as palmistry, astrology, runes, cartomancy (such as Tarot), etc., is not either. If you think palmistry tells you about yourself, your past, or your future, then go with it – there are always lessons to be learned and powerful insights to be gained. And if you think it’s all just a fun game and that it was your friend pushing around that pointer on the Ouija board, that’s okay, too. We all get to create our own beliefs and find our own way, and no belief or spiritual practice is “right” or “wrong” or exclusive. You do you.

I don’t know if I believe in palmistry. As I mentioned, I don’t know that much about it. I do know that years ago, someone read me and told me things that I knew without a doubt were not true, but now, some 40 years later, I look at it again with fresh eyes and wonder. I know that I would love to have a transcript to look back and remember all of it just as I wish I had some record of every tarot reading and horoscope…it would be interesting to compare. For now, I will leave my mind open to the possibilities. Open to the idea that I don’t know everything. Open to the notion that I am still growing, learning, and finding my spirituality. It is always changing, contracting, expanding, absorbing, releasing, and developing, which is the essence of spirituality. I plan to embrace it. I hope you embrace your spirituality, too.

I encourage you to think about your own spirituality. What truths do you know? Where do you have room to grow? Are you open to digging deeper and learning more? Tell us about it in the comments below or start a chat about it in our MMC Chat Facebook group.

*For more about Pagan beliefs in our everyday lives, check out my blog “What is Pagan” on June 13, 2022.

Celebrating the Wheel of the Year Your Own Way

Hi everyone, it is Christen here! This week on the podcast we discussed what being Pagan actually means to us and our own experiences related to Paganism. I will start off by mentioning that I believe the word Pagan or Paganism should be capitalized and if you want to know why, please go here. Now that I got that off my chest,  I thought it would be fun to talk about a couple of favorite sabbats, and talk about creating new ones for you and your family.

Like so many other people in America, I enjoy Christmas and Halloween. I am sure that I have mentioned before that the time from mid-October to January is my favorite time of the year. I have also mentioned my favorite holiday traditions in a previous blog post. Christmas has reigned champion for the past few years, but for the longest time, Halloween was my most favorite time. I loved the haunted houses, scary movies, fall carnivals, trick-or-treating in costume, and decorating my home - all traditions that have been passed on from my family or integrated by me.

In recent years, the Day of the Dead has become more prevalent in American culture, especially here in Texas. I have been fortunate to experience the celebrations, and I have taken some of the traditions within this holiday and married it with my own Samhain traditions which are similar in some ways.

If you are interested in learning about the eight Wiccan holidays, I highly recommend the book The Sabbats: A Witch's Approach to Living the Old Ways by Edain McCoy. This book breaks down each of the sabbats by explaining from who and where the traditions came, why these specific times of the year were celebrated, and how you can celebrate them at home. The part that I like the most, is that the traditions are focused on celebrating the wheel of the year or the turning of the seasons. I truly enjoy embracing the seasons and the activities that are enjoyed during that time.

Sometimes celebrations take planning though, or they will just zoom right past you and you will have your hands full and can’t celebrate. And that is why Mom and I are always planning out fun family activities. Once we have done something twice, we consider it a tradition, and, if you do it a specific way every time, then it’s a ritual. I have had serious thoughts about making my own traditions that correlate with the wheel of the year. That's why I am positive I will be picking up Llewellyn's 2023 Magical Almanac this year when it comes out (I mentioned it back when we were discussing astrology). I still believe strongly that we should honor the earth and celebrate the harvest and those who till the earth, and also honor those who have left this earth, and I feel that we should instill those values with our youth, but in these modern times, I feel that the celebrations need to be customized to our current environment. I mean, I do not see a maypole anywhere on Beltane, the celebration of spring and growth on May 1st, so we just have to improvise.

Here is some food for thought: National Taco Day is a celebration of our adoration of tacos; we are not worshiping them by any means, but in a sense we are thankful for the blessing of this delicious cuisine. In doing so, we are creating a holiday tradition, with a ritual. We are in essence creating and celebrating a Pagan holiday, simply because it is not a religious orthodox celebration. In that case, bring on the Pagan holidays, I will have as many of them as I can possibly fill my calendar up with! 

Do you have any family traditions that could be considered Pagan? Have you ever participated in any of the Wiccan holidays? I would love to hear from you! Be sure to comment below or join in on the conversation over in our MMC Chat group on Facebook!

A Spiritual Journey

Religion is a touchy topic for most. I was in a physical fight once when I was a kid over the concept of life on other planets. In case you were wondering, I believe in life on other planets, and I defended my belief with a punch to the chest. The other person’s argument: if life existed on other planets, it would be mentioned in the Bible. As I said, a touchy topic.

I can only speak to my experience with religion because it directly influenced how I turned out and how I live my life now. That is to say, I don’t consider myself religious. Over the years, I have been called many things such as a “dirty Atheist” and a “devil worshiper,” but really I am none of those things. My beliefs are simply different than the average small-town person. That is where it all started…in a small town.

I was born a Southern Baptist. At least, that’s all I remember growing up. My parents weren’t very religious but my dad’s mom, Granny, took me to church every Sunday at a small, country, Baptist church. In that church, I only knew love, acceptance, and understanding. When I was in fourth grade, Granny moved to town, and we started attending the Baptist church near her house. The difference between the country church and the church in town was huge. For example, it wasn’t uncommon in the country for the farmers to wear overalls or dusty jeans to church, but in town, it was frowned upon if you dressed less than your “Sunday best.” I remember the church ladies treated Granny differently because she didn’t wear expensive dresses and was not perfectly made up. I noticed this type of prejudice at a young age as well as other subtle things within the church that were disagreeable to me.

At that young age, I began to question things about the beliefs that no one else around me seemed to question, like life on other planets, as well as the behavior and intolerance for anything different. At the same time, the young people were pressured to seal their beliefs through baptism. Enough was enough. I wanted to believe what I wanted to believe, and not what I was pressured to believe. I wanted to ask the big questions. I wanted to be spiritual in my beliefs and not confined by them.

What does it mean to be spiritual? According to Dr. Maya Spencer, “spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature.”

In other words, I believe there is more to the world than meets the eye, and I am still evolving and exploring my beliefs 28 years later. I was once told that because I was pressured into being baptized, I will always be a Christian and I can’t “take it back,” but the freedom of choice was taken from me in that regard. What I can choose is how I live my life in the here and the now while valuing myself and being open-minded to anything and everything that comes my way. That is the true lesson that I learned growing up in the church: what I did not want to be.

Would I be different if I grew up in a different Christian religion? Maybe. Probably not.

You are probably asking yourself, “what is her religion, again?” I don’t have one. My spirituality is a patchwork of many different beliefs, but I recently took a “What Religion am I?” quiz* (just for fun) and my result was: Mahayana Buddhism.

I want to hear from our readers. Are you spiritual? What does being spiritual mean to you? Let’s continue the conversation on our Facebook Group: MMC Chat.

*You can take the “What Religion am I?” quiz here.

What is Pagan

Meditation is considered by many to be pagan.

If you’ve been reading the blog or listening to the podcast, you’ve probably seen or heard us mention things that fall into the category of “metaphysical”. Without a doubt, Amber, Christen, and I are fascinated by such things as astrology, numerology, tarot cards, spirit guides, holistic medicine, and many other aspects of what many would call “pagan beliefs”. I also consider myself a “Christian” because I believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, and have been baptized as a pledge of that belief. For a long time, I was torn between my Christian beliefs and these so-called “pagan” practices. I had been taught that anything pagan was evil. But what exactly is “pagan”?

We talk more about the origin of the term “pagan”, which comes from the Latin word “paganus”, in the podcast, but the short explanation is that it was used to describe the simple country folk of the Roman Empire who had not yet embraced Christianity, and more strictly so, the people who still believed in the religions of ancient Rome and Greece. The term was later broadened to include a wide variety of religious beliefs and traditions including Buddhism, Hinduism, and, most especially, the ancient spirituality of the British Isles and Europe. In more recent years, it has been broadened further to include Native American traditions as well. As someone once told me, “Most people [incorrectly] use the term to include anything that isn’t in the Bible, and thus, isn’t Christian.”

Easter eggs, Halloween, Christmas trees, and even birthday cakes came from pagan practices.

The truth is, many people have no idea what paganism actually is, nor the differences between paganism, mysticism, spirituality, religion, and Wicca. I thought it would be a good idea to share some terminology with you. Two that seem to confuse people the most are spirituality and religion. I love the explanation given by Pamela Aloia in “Spirituality: The Path to Reconciling Religion and Energy Work.”1 She says, basically:

• Religion is the man-made portion of law, conduct, beliefs, and more surrounding the relationship with God [or other deities] that creates the boundaries within that sect of worship and ritual.

• Spirituality is the personal relationship we have with God that inspires worship and rituals outside of manmade laws and beliefs.

• Basically, spirituality comes from within and religion comes from without.

I like to think of spirituality as being in touch with my soul. It’s what helps me learn to appreciate the beauty that is all around me in the plants, animals, weather, and yes, even people of this earth. My spirituality is what allows me to appreciate all that I have and helps me learn to accept people as they are, life as it is, and the future as something I can help shape. My religion is what has taught me about the divine creator of this world and the magnificent gift of his own son in order for me to learn a better way and to pave my way for a life beyond this life I currently lead.

Like religion and spirituality, three other words that often get mixed up are paganism, mysticism, and Wicca. Here are the definitions. I’ve cited sources where possible.

• A Pagan is an unconverted member of a people or nation who does not practice Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, especially a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient Rome), or one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods – an irreligious or hedonistic person. Paganism is the beliefs or practices of someone who is pagan.2

• Mysticism is the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience.3

• Wicca is a religion influenced by pre-Christian beliefs and practices of western Europe that affirms the existence of supernatural power (such as magic) and of both male and female deities who inhere in nature and that emphasizes ritual observance of seasonal and life cycles.4

• Heathen refers to people or nations that do not practice Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, their religions, or their customs; an uncivilized or irreligious person.5

As you can see, these concepts are closely related, but really not exactly the same thing at all. One can be a Christian and still observe pagan or even mystical traditions. Many of the so-called “pagan” practices I have enjoyed are not religious at all and have no bearing on my religious beliefs, while many of the religious practices widely observed in America (like Christmas trees, Easter eggs, and Halloween) stem from pagan and even Wiccan religious rituals, yet they are enjoyed by Christians and non-Christians alike. I don’t have a problem with that at all.

What do you think? Do you practice any pagan-based holiday traditions? Has that interfered with your religious beliefs? Let us know. Join us in the Facebook group MMC Chat.

1. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/spirituality-the-path-to-reconciling-religion-and-energy-work/

2. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “pagan,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pagan.

3. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “mysticism,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mysticism.

4. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “Wicca,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wicca.

5. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “heathen,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heathen.