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You are going to hate me for this, but this is a Lesson that must be done all at once. It is one of the most important lessons you will learn. The first being the "Do unto others" rules. I am not trying to point out the differences in our religions here, but the similarities, in an effort to aid in a better understanding of the beliefs of The Craft as I learned them. We need to stop the fear and hatred and get on with living and loving each other before something really terrible happens, something that none of us will ever be able to forget. Something that I refuse to be a part of. And I hope that you do as well. Especially when it concerns our children.  Fight the Fear! If you wish to take the course here on the Occult, then I suggest that you read this first, and then if you still wish to do so, I will be glad to have you join us. There are a lot of myths concerning the Occult. I am going to try to expel some of the fears that many have concerning Wicca, the Occult, the Craft etc right from the beginning. I even got my boyfriend to believe in this just recently. We never talk religion, you see. It irritates him. Oh, not the Witchcraft or Wicca. Just religion in general, if you try to convert him, that is, but he actually asked me about it. So I explained it. I seem to have made a believer out of him which is incredible, especially after 13 years together. lol! But I don't believe in trying to convert someone that doesn't want to be converted or harassing people with my beliefs unless they ask me to....first. Now let's see if I can explain it all to you. You came to me. I did not come to you. But first, just in case you haven't read the page where I talked more about myself, I would add a reminder here that I was raised in both the christian ways (Holy Roller: Church of God) & also in The Craft. Later I also studied Wicca in a well known coven, catholicism by marriage, & many other religions by choice. I put down no man's religion or beliefs and I would prefer if you do not put down mine, but if you have to, then make it public so that everyone can see your arguments and reasons and logic. And unless your religion is what I personally consider evil, then there will be no criticism here of any kind. Now let's proceed: The idea of multiple deities is abhorent to some but then our religion was handed down to us just like yours was handed down to you. No one really knows how things should be or what deities actually exist, although many are adamant that they do. This is because they have been "conditioned" to give this response. From the time a child is small, the church teaches that the bible and God (Jehovah) is the one and only way. With everything that they teach, if you ask a question that can not be answered, then "the answer" is "just because that's the way it is" or "it's not within our right to question God" or "because the Bible says so, that's why". As a small child, none of us would have accepted this without question. We would have continued asking, "But why, momma?", "What did he...?", "Why?" etc, until we drove our parents crazy. But as adults, we just accept "brainwashing"? My question: "Why is that?" Why on earth does anyone raised as a Christian "fear" asking questions that the bible can not or does not answer or is contradictory about? It's because the church, to this very day, says that we must go on "faith". It just "is" this way. Do you believe everything that you read or hear? No? Then again I ask... why this? Why not challenge it? Because you were "conditioned" not to, that's why!! You were taught that this would make God angry. Well, if God is "our Father", then He'll get over it, won't He? I'm sure if Jehovah is as loving as the Bible and the church tell us, then He won't stop loving you just because you have some questions. He's not a child, after all. Is He? He knows that we have questions even if we don't ask them, now doesn't He? Isn't He all-knowing? Then sure as the world, He Knows! In the Bible, there is a commandment that says, "Thou shall have no other gods before me for I am a jealous God..." This in itself, tells you that there are other gods, if you but read it. Otherwise, wouldn't Jehovah have said that He was the Only One? Multiple deities were accepted long before the Bible ever came into existence. It was the "Church" back in the olde days that tried to change everyone's mind as to how they should worship. Why was it so important? Money, that's why! The church was a greedy institution back then because they survived on what the people gave them, or rather what they took from them. Taxes! It was this same church that taught our forebears "religion". They used "witchcraft" as a means to grab land and riches from many different people. They made it seem evil and devil-oriented, when it was nothing more than a nature religion. They murdered thousands if not more. Probably more. All for what? Money to line their coffers. Don't believe me? Well, where were you during history class? Go and check it out on your own then. Now to move on a bit: Today many still worship multiple deities but few bring it into the open because of attitude. Their children still can't go to school and believe the way they want to without being criticized, ostracized or made fun of. I have to wonder exactly where the Craft came into existence as a monotheistic sect because it was not like this back in the olde days. I must ponder if this was brought about by one of the Craft members themselves, one that was afraid to acknowledge the truth of his or her beliefs out of fear, .... or perhaps by members that were formerly Christian that just could not bring themselves to actually leave Christianity behind completely. Whatever brought about this change, many occult religions today have gone down a different pathway because of this, and now see all the deities as myths or "aspects" of the One God. They acknowledged the other deities as merely different aspects of the God and Goddess, who are also One. (Sad, isn't it? That we still treat each other this way.) Forced religion is just NOT the way. Isn't religion about seeking our own spirituality, our own relationship with our Creator? If they forced you to believe that Santa Claus was real or you'd go to hell, would you do it?)It seems that most would these days. Now let's get on with comparing these two religions. If you have grown up christian, then you have all heard the stories about how Lucifer was a fallen angel and was kicked out of heaven. Am I right? Correct me if I'm wrong here. And you all know about the different angels such as the Archangel Michael and Gabriel. Correct? According to the story, there are many more, both those on Lucifer's side and those on Gods. There are many "gods" of one kind or another in Heaven, according to this story ...if this is true, because both Lucifer and God were Heavenly Beings, which makes them both "gods" by theory. A "Love" god and a "War" god. And yes, I KNOW they are Angels, but then again the Deities of the Celtic people were winged creatures as well. So multiple deities isn't all that far fetched, now is it? Especially when it comes from bible stories.
Now let's talk about the faeries: As I stated previously, you believe in angels, correct? In the ancient Celtic world, the faeries were the deities. The Goddess Dana or Danu of the Tuatha de Danaan is the major goddess. Tuatha de Danaan means the "people of Danaan" and it refers to the "little people" as some like to call them. However the Irish don't always describe them as little. They are often described as being a normal human size. Do you believe that a being can have wings and fly? Hard to believe this. Am I right? Of course I am. I'm always right! heh...Angels. Faeries. Not much difference there, is there? They both have wings and they both fly and have "God-like powers". Call them whatever you like, but don't give one credence and not the other if you are being logical. Heavenly beings with wings.... Now what about miracles? The Christian church teaches this. Do you believe? Then what makes magick any different than a miracle? Having faith is a prime example. Having faith in the Creator. In the Craft, we believe that the God and Goddess are in all things. This means that you must have faith in "yourself" because you are an essential part of the Spirit and the Spirit is an essential part of you. If one comes from a Creator and is made in His/Her own image, that makes us One with Him or Her. If you have God and the Holy Spirit and faith, aren't all things possible? So it is in the Craft as well, because we believe that everything revolves around Akasha, which is also called Aether, or the "Spirit". Akasha is the great etheric record of all that ever was or will be. Miracles? Magick? Magick equals Miracles here...You just have to have faith and a belief in yourself and your Creator. Anything at all is possible then.... Akasha is THE big word. This explains it all so if you're serious, you MUST understand this. Akasha is the Spirit or the 5th element or the Holy Ghost, as you say. Yet Akasha is also you. It is me. It is the birds and the trees and the rocks and the oceans and the seas. It is everything. Everything that WAS and everything that IS and everything that WILL BE. Some practitioners believe that the Creator has both male and female aspects within himself, thus we say God and Goddess. The Creator is omnipotent and omnipresent. This means having UNLIMITED influence over all things and that His/Her presence is also UNLIMITED. If this is true, then He MUST have a female aspect. And She must have a male aspect. The Creator is male and female. God is you. Goddess is me. Akasha is ALL things rolled up into one shiny little ball. From the Beginning to the End... Now the easiest way to explain this is to give an analogy. Like the spider and its' web, this is Akasha. The spider spins the web and each thread is linked one to another by another tiny thread. In life, so are we linked together one to another by the Spirit or energy. The church says:(God= Father, Son, Holy Spirit)....So:(Spirit=God).... (God made Man in His image so: God=Man)..... (God made woman from man so: {God= (Man=Woman & Woman=Man)}......(Man and woman) = (God and Goddess)...So: We are all interconnected sort of like parents and children and our ancestors. The Spirit and the Deities are from the Heavens (Universe) and man and woman are from the earth, so that links us all the way from the cosmos. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. = God The Maiden, the Mother, the Crone. = Goddess These things equal God and Goddess, as you can see above. God and Goddess are One which equals the Spirit of Akasha. We as followers of the Occult see this as being energy within ourselves, energy that we can tap into to create magic or a miracle. Cause and effect. If there is energy in me and you and the plants and animals and rocks and metals and the God and Goddess and the World, then we all make up Akasha. The Spirit is within. Akasha also consists of the earth and planets and the universe. Akasha is all, and all is energy, and we are all connected by this energy, one to another. Have you heard the phrase in the christian church (now I can't quote this exactly), where the Lord says that for groups of people or many heads bowed in prayer, He will listen. If anyone knows this verse by rote, please let me know. The more people that pray to God over something, the clearer He hears it? Well, in the Craft, we gather together as well. In a coven. In a church. Not much difference there. We all worship. The more people, the more energy poured into a spell, prayer, chant, the more likely it is to work. Lots of energy = POWER. Now on to my next point: "But christians don't use all those pagan tools like you do." Someone said this to me once and I had to laugh. "Oh no?" Well, then why is there an altar to kneel on in the church? Did a Pagan leave it there by accident? Why are there candles and Holy Water and the wine and the body of Christ wafers. And a Bible is also a tool that tells the history of God and all his tenets etc as is the dreaded Book of Shadows or the grimoire. There are crosses and in some, statues of the mother or Virgin Mary. No tools? No rituals? So your preacher or priest does NOT preach and pray and sing? That would seem mighty odd. Yes, christians have rituals. They prefer to call it services though. Priests and nuns in the catholic church wear robes. Preachers may not but the choir usually does. Christians pass around an offering bowl. Oh MY GOD! Sacrifice? Lord have mercy on my soul. (Raises hands in supplication for being sacrilegious.) Did I say such a word? Christians do make sacrifices. They sacrifice their money to pay tithes. They sacrifice their time to help out in the church and some even go door to door or help feed the poor or give shelter to the homeless. Wiccans and Celtic practitioners sacrifice these things as well. NO! If we do blood sacrifices, we use ONLY our own blood. No one or nothing elses. No people. No animals. I have never done a blood sacrifice to date and don't intend to. One great blood sacrifice involves pagan marriage where both parties share blood.... NO! Don't drink that, dammit!! You know how to do the blood brother thingy. Whew! You guys had me scared there for a minute. There is NO divorce however from this type of pagan marriage! There will always be a sharing of blood. A permanent bond. I prefer handfasting myself. That way if I get sick of him, I only have to put up with it for a year and a day.(After 13 years, how much more married can I get, right?) Besides the blood thingy is dangerous these days and not at all necessary. There are more similarities then you might think between these two religions, so I really can't see the problem, but there are...problems between christians and pagans in many ways these days...still. We need to stop it. All of it. Hatred has no place here. Can you, either one of you, pagan or christian or whatever else you are, absolutely, positively swear on the life of the person you love the most on this planet, that your religion is the "Right" one, and that all the others are wrong? Yeah? Well, Prove it to me! Not on faith either because I don't do things just because of conditioning. There are many other religions out there too....Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc. I will never swear that my religion is the absolute "right" religion because personally I believe that each of these religions is just a different road to the divine or to the cosmos itself. The Big Bang perhaps? heh... nah, we won't even start on that one. You'd really hate me then. And that is the end of this lesson but I do have one more thing to say. I was asked about worshipping Satan. Does he even exist? I couldn't say. Most Wiccans don't believe in him. Personally, I believe that there is good energy and there is bad energy. It just depends on your focus. I was also asked about the rite of "kissing someone's ass" (The high priest serving as the devil in Satanic ceremonies.) as a sign of devotion. Sure! If you want to kiss someone's ass, go right ahead. Just don't expect me to greet you on the street like I know you, because I won't. And you will never, ever see me doing something so degrading or plain out and out stupid!! Forgive me to any Satanists out there. You have a right to your religion as well. If there is a hell and you go there, it is not my concern. *grins* It is only a ritual or two that I find obscene, just as you do concerning mine, I have no doubt. However if you are conducting evil rituals, then just be a good boy or girl and Go Away! PRAYER: Please OH Lord and Lady, will you make Debi shut up now? Thank you very much. Blessed be! And Amen! Heh...  
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Celtic: Honor, Responsibility and Duty Always!
Strength be to me and to thee."
Blessed be!