Wicca 101: Imbolic

Here is my 2nd blog of the night.... so, here it goes.

Tonight, I also want to talk about Imbolic.  It is the 3rd Sabbat, or Pagan Holiday, in the Pagan calendar (First Samhain, then Yule).  Imbolic occurs around Groundhog's Day in the North America (February 1st-3rd). 

Imbolic is a time of warmth and love.  I guess you could say that Imbolic can be considered a "Wiccan Valentine's Day" due to what it is about.  It also is about passion, and anyone knows that anything that has passion has a fire to it.  That's exactly what it is: Worship of the fire deities.  The most popular one is Brigid, the Celtic Goddess of fire.  However, there are a lot more.  On Imbolic, I will be worshiping Hestia, the Greek Goddess of fire.  She is also the Goddess of one of my elements.  

I have also known Imbolic to help others with divination.  It is a good way to enhance your spiritual energies.  Because of this, I would say that tarot reading, any fortune-telling activities, meditating, and other things to that nature is beneficial.  

Some ways to celebrate this holiday is to either work with divination, bake and cook (seeing as though you bake and cook with a fire), or going to a bonfire.  

I rarely talk about stones and gems, but amythist can help with one's spiritual energies and divination.  Rose quartz also helps with being calm and attracting romance, and I would probably recommend it to you guys.  

This Imbolic is special to me.  Since I am not quite out of the broom closet, I am going to a Church event.  On the day of Imbolic, they decided to have a "fireside chat."  That means it will be more like a bonfire situation.  They have no idea that they are celebrating Imbolic, and it's phenomenal.  I can also practice with fire scrying.  It is one of my favorite types of divination, and my friends enjoy scrying with me, too.  I will also wear my gem bracelet.  It has amythist and rose quartz in the mix, and it'll help better my mood.

Wishing you all a blessed Imbolic,
Dawn )O(

Huge Steps

Hello, again, guys! I'm Dawn, and today, I'd like to share with you what actually happened yesterday.  I talked about it briefly on Twitter, and seeing as there's only about 140 characters, I couldn't explain on what I was saying and what had fully happened, so I'd thought I blog about it.

Yesterday, I had met not only another Pagan, but I had met a Wiccan.  It started when we were talking about religion, and he claimed he was a witch.  He prefers the title to be called "Mage," so I asked him if he meant real life or Skyrim (because that was quite a bizzare statement).  He said both.  

At this point, I was really interested in the conversation.  He told me about a couple of spells that he had cast...  He had cast a couple for revenge, which I'm mostly against.  I wouldn't cast one in order to put a family member in the hospital, which is what he did to his sister, but if it was to teach another person humility, then MAYBE.  (Let's just say the other involved extensions falling out. Yes, I laughed my butt off.)  So, he's more into... a darker side of Wicca, you could say.  

He explained to a friend that was sitting with us that Wicca is all about manipulating energies and that is how spells work.  He actually volunteered to help her learn more about Wicca and its beliefs.  He also stated he works with candle magick, and I was happy that I wasn't the only one.  After he said this, I stated that I knew a lot about Wicca and asked him how long he's been a Wiccan.  He is on his 7th month, 5 months after I became a Pagan.

The conversation had died out, and he left to check out a devotional book from the library.  I then took a deep breath and said I researched Wicca for a year, and that I am Wiccan.  She is quite accepting, and now she has 2 friends that are Wiccan.  She has yet to get used to the fact that I don't believe in the Christian God and that I believe in Apollo and Hecate and other deities of this nature.  As a matter of fact, she loves religion and is kind of wondering if she wants to minor in Theology like I might do.

So, that's yesterday in a nutshell. I am so glad I was able to find another Wiccan, and I am starting to get out of the broom closet. 

To all of you who are still in the broom closet, I suggest that you tell your best friend about being a Pagan first. They are usually the ones to understand you a lot more.

Much love and blessings,
Dawn )O(

I Am Offended...!

Hello again, guys! It's me, Dawn, and I want to tell you guys about something that is making me angry at church. (Yes, in case you didn't notice, I am still in the broom closet, but I'm becoming more bold and may tell others about my actual religion.)

So, the minister is doing a series about the main questions people don't have answered, and that is why they aren't Christians (to his logic, that is).  I thought it was a brilliant idea at first, but he is doing things that are very controversial to not only the church, but Pagans as well.  

I have never heard the word "Pagan" so much when a minister is preaching.  It seems as though he brings it up every single Sunday, and so many people are confused as to why.  Are you trying to tell the church that Pagans are bad, or are you trying to drive them away from the Christian God to...  I don't know, Gaia and Zeus?  If you drill the word in their head, they're going to get a little curious.  After all, that's what happened to me. Oh, and here's the best part.

 According to him, there are Roman Pagan documents that state that Jesus was alive. Does it, like, matter where the documents are from?  I mean, they're from Rome, alright.  But did you have to include the word Pagan? 

This minister also downsized the Pantheon that I associate with, the Greek Pantheon.  It stung when he looked at me when he said the insult, about how it is "mythology" and "false deities."  Let me put it this way: I am a Wiccan and a Pagan inside of a church.  I respect the Bible.  As a matter of fact, I'm going to highlight some teachings that I can apply to my Pagan life from there.  I don't downsize the Christian God.  To be perfectly honest, church saved my life.  In order to preach your opinion to a bunch of people that aren't a Christian and not knowing what background they're from, you must have a certain compassion.  You can't just talk lowly of the Greek Pantheon.  What if there was a Pagan wanting to convert to Christianity and you offended them because they used to work with the Greek Pantheon?

He also insulted some of my views on Jesus.  I know that he was a Rabbi (for those that don't know what a Rabbi is, it is a religious leader for Judaism) and spoke wise things, and I like his teachings, but I am a Wiccan.  I'm not denying that he isn't the son of the Christian God, but... I'm not worshiping him, at least for this moment in time. But the minister says that if I believe that, I'm denying him and his existence. 

Let me just throw a little something out there... If you worship a person, that can be considered Paganism, correct?  So why does the minister focus more on Jesus?  If he says that Jesus is God, he's denying Paganism in a way. It's the exact same thing that's frustrating me.

I have respect for the Christian religion because it is where I stemmed from regarding my spirituality, but this minister is getting on my nerves. Here's some points that a Pagan can pick out and argue on.  Excuse me if I was venting way too much, but I can't tell the minister about how offended I am.  Otherwise, everyone will start talking and... I get shunned from all of my friends and family. Hopefully you guys understand that.

Thanks for dealing with this.

May positive energies flow your way,
Dawn )O(

Christian Friends With Wiccan Aspects!

Hey, guys! It's me, Dawn, coming at you with another entry. First off, I wish you guys a prosperous New Year and I send you all positive energies~!

I was just thinking (yes, I know that this is how I start out every other blog, but I do think a lot) about all of my friends.  I was wondering why I got along with them so well, and a new friend had brought it to my attention when she said something about aromatherapy. 

I realized that most of my friends, whom ARE Christians, have some sort of Pagan beliefs. They don't designate that they are Pagan, but they do share some belief in some Wiccan ways. This shocked me a little, but it makes sense that I believe a little in what they believe in, and they believe a little in what I believe in. So, there are about 4 friends that I'll describe, and you'll see what I mean. Of course, aliases are in order, so, I'll make them up as I go along.

I'll start with the newest friend I made. I'm going to call her Cynthia. I've hung out with her as we rang in the new year together. Cynthia has had such a troubled past, but she's overcoming it as we speak. She's so strong-willed and loves to have many adventures. As stated, she believes in aromatherapy, as do I.  One odd thing I've noticed about her is she believes that everyone has a Lilith side to them. At first, I thought about that name. I had thought I heard it from the Greek Pantheon, and I was right. Overall, I haven't really sat down to talk to her about any spiritual things, but she absolutely loves it when I do some divination.

The second friend will be called Willow. She expresses herself a lot. She's a talented actress and singer, but also acts as one of the guys.  She has read the House of Night series, so, she's pretty much familiar with Nyx, the Goddess of Night, casting a circle, and other things deemed Pagan in the book. She's pretty satisfied that there's a Goddess in the story and that the elements are active in them. What she doesn't know is that she loves elemental magic. Willow has also believed in some paranormal things.

So, I am going to talk about my 2 best friends right now. Excuse me if I get way off topic because one of them is like my sister, and the other...

Let's call that friend Aiden. I will not lie, he is the complete and utter love of my life best guy friend any girl can ask for. He's beyond nerdy and is more into Medieval fantasy. That means, he believes in elven races, faeries, magick, and what have you. He is quite the religious person. If he was Pagan, we would probably form a coven together with him as High Priest and myself as the High Priestess. ANYWAYS, since he believes in magick, he can write his own spells. It's more-so for our LARP (Live Action Role Play) sessions, but nevertheless, he does write them.  AIden's also the one who got me into doodling elves and believing in Celtic aspects such as different types of faeries (again). 

And the last friend. The one that is most controversial.

Let me call her Raven. She actually helped me come up with part of my magickal name, and that's why Raven is in it. I talked about her numerous times...

Anyways, Raven is a huge believer in divination. She introduced me to a type of it, and sometimes I use it to locate a lost/misplaced item. She also has influenced me to attempt to make a wand, as she has one herself. Raven also ended up having paranormal things going on around her house. She has to leave a window open so that the spirit won't bother her. Raven's also had tried Lucid Dreaming... On top of this, she wants her tarot read. She shows a lot of potential for a Wiccan one day. The only thing that is holding her back is the fact that her father and grandfather are leaders of the church.  They wouldn't approve of a Christo-Witch/Wiccan in the family, or even in the church. The last Christo-Witch that was in the church had been forced to leave, and that is why I can't talk about my actual religion. I wonder if I should secretly teach her about Wicca, read her tarot in her own house with a Youth minister involved, etc. Either way, I'm walking on a very fine line here (these people consider me to be one of the "most Christian-like" in the church when I absolutely am not).

I mean, all of these don't define a friend, but these are kind of interesting friends I have here. It's funny how some morals we believe in can belong to another religion. Just thought that I'd share. 

Many blessings,
Dawn )O(

My Story

Within 24 hours, I come at you with a 3rd blog entry. I have been blogging a whole lot lately, so please bear with me.  

Anyways, I was thinking about where my path had stemmed from and when it actually started. I guess you could say that I didn't really notice it until my freshman year in high school (I'm a senior in high school now, so...) . 

It all started when I was 7. I was entertained with the idea of magick. Something about it had drawn me in. I read books that had had magick within them, and I used to create my own world with elements and faeries. I was completely lost in it as a child would be.

When I was in 8th grade, I started to see a huge change. I was into things like intuition, the laws of karma, and all of those types of things. I absolutely believed in self-control and if something needed to be said, I wasn't one to hold back. It seemed as though when I got mad, something was controlling me to say mature things. I thanked it each and every time. I believe it was the God and Goddess controlling me, and I didn't know it yet.

By my freshman year in high school, I had a unique friend. She wasn't exactly into church, and she introduced me to types of divination. She read my numerology (which was a 2) and said that I was bound to be a leader and do great things. I laughed at her when she said that, but now I'm starting to see what she means...

She also used a Ouija Board while I was on the phone with her. You could hear and feel the spirit she was talking to. I never really believed in such things until then. She also read my palms and taught me a little about palmistry. She had tarot cards, too, but her mother had threw them away, claiming that they "belonged to and served the devil." 

Also in my freshman year, we had this huge research project due about a Greek God or Goddess of our choosing. As much as I wanted to choose Apollo, the God of music and light, many people had chose him. Instead, I chose Artemis, Goddess of the hunt. I found that she was independent and the twin of Apollo. I had so much respect for mythology after this, and I literally obsessed over this project. I lived, breathed, and ate the project until I had to present. I had to edit my 10 minute speech because I had acquired so much information about Artemis. 

In my sophomore year, I found myself going back to church, but as soon as I did that, I began looking up spells and became a Christo-Witch. That contradicted everything in my opinion. I just couldn't make up my mind.... Until my junior year.

I actually met a pagan through a music program that unites our school district. He was goth and Pagan, so I thought he was quite unapproachable. I was wrong. He was one of the most awesome people I've met in my life. I found that surprising, not because I had heard that goths were so distant and cold, but how a Pagan, something that I was taught was wrong, was amazing and confident in what he believed in. He also developed a small crush on me, and I was pretty much liking him, too. I thought that if I got some more religious tolerance under my belt, I could actually date him and make this work. Unfortunately, we didn't end up dating, but, about a week later, Wicca became my obsession. 

I researched it night and day, tried a new moon ritual, tried keeping a Book of Shadows, and researching Gods and Goddesses to work with. In about 2 weeks, I had known most of the basics, and did a dedication ritual to the God and Goddess. It was about a week or 2 after Imbolic. I took notes, tried to memorize things, and now I have the days of the week correspondences memorized. I also have some colors that I mostly use memorized. 

I fully couldn't grasp the idea of a Goddess until I reasoned with it in a Christian way. "Ok, so God... The Christian God, has a masculine and feminine side. The feminine side would be the Goddess, right?"

Long story short, it's been about a year since I actually got into Wicca. In my opinion, it was only a matter of time before I got into a great religion. And now, I'm starting to learn from a mentor so that I can continue on my path, form my own coven, and become an effective leader.

Well, that's my story, but it's still not written to its fullest.

Wishing you many blessings,
Dawn )O(

Starting to Step out of the Broom Closet

Hey, guys! It's me again.

So, today, I wanted to talk about getting the courage to step out of the closet.  It's extremely hard to do, especially when most of your friends happen to be another religion, especially Christian.  Nevertheless, I have gotten a little more bold with my religion, Wicca.  Yesterday, I took some steps out of the Broom Closet.

Something that I was bold enough to do was explore into a bookstore.  As though it doesn't sound all that exciting, I dashed for the "New Age" section. Alright, that's somewhat bold, right? What's even more bold is picking up the last tarot deck and asking my cousin that is agnostic but leaning toward Christianity if I should buy it.  And let's face it, when you live with Christians who disapprove of any sort of divination, I admit, it's bold.  Especially when you do a reading and have to find a hiding spot for your precious cards. This is nothing like buying candles and incense, now is it? 

Another thing I did was to change my religion on Facebook from Christianity to Wicca.  The only thing is I have to hide it. Why?  It's because... Well... A couple of ministers are my friend on Facebook, and it'd look funny to delete my best friend's dad, mom, and grandfather. (In case you couldn't tell, they have a strong faith in Christianity.) So, only I can see my religion, and no one would flip.

Oh, and my best friend who lives in this religious family seems to feel the need to discover a new religion.  She's only 14, but I can see she loves to dowse and has a wand.  I suppose that sooner or later, she'll discover Wicca and love it.  Anyways, this gives me the idea to give her a reading with my tarot cards. She's been wanting one, but... I don't know if it is possible to do one in her house....

Anyways, there's some things that I've done.  The next step might be to order a Book of Shadows online from Amazon or eBay. Although, my family will have no idea what thoughts I'll keep in it.  And after school kicks in after break, I'll tell my 2 closest friends that I am Wiccan. It'll be some sort of a relief and a great support system.  Then, they'll ask me exactly what it is and I can thoroughly explain to them what it's about.

That's my plan for 2013: to be more open about my religion and spirituality.

Wishing you love, happiness, and joy,
Dawn )O(