Wiccan, Pagan, Texan

Jesus Prayer Opens Texas Textbook Meeting

2010-05-21T21:48:00.001-05:00

clipped from newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Friday's meeting of the Texas Board of Education, charged with revising the state's social studies curriculum, began with a Christian prayer on behalf of "a Christian land governed by Christian principles," a prayer made "in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

"I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the Spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses," board member Cynthia Dunbar said.

The board is expected today to approve final revisions in the statewide curriculum, amending textbook standards to correct what conservative board members such as Dunbar view as hostility toward Christianity and traditional values.

And of course they are doing this by being as hostile as possible toward non-Christian and yet entirely American values.

Atheists Lose Suit Against 'God' in Presidential Oath

2010-05-08T10:17:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.christianpost.com

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that challenged prayers and religious elements in presidential inaugurations, including President Obama's in 2009.

The claims made by atheists regarding the 2009 inaugural ceremony are moot, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia concluded, and the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the 2013 and 2017 inaugurations.

References to "God' by Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., and the invitation of ministers to pray "might have misled the uninformed to think the imprimatur of the state had been placed on the invocation of the Almighty and contributed to a social stigma against them as atheists," the atheists maintained.

The plaintiffs conceded that the President cannot be denied the prerogative of making a religious reference because doing so would abrogate his First Amendment rights.

It's been a year since my last post?!

2010-05-03T09:18:00.002-05:00

Ye gods, I really need to keep up with the blogs I open. Note to self - crossposting is your friend. Same stuff, but different audiences.

So, hi to anyone who happens to wander by here. I'm still on LiveJournal (Seshen), and have recently been assimilated to Facebook (Seshen Wolfsong). A new web site @ http://seshen.us

Will remember to crosspost here to keep things current.

Poll: Obama's First 100 Days

2009-04-29T21:11:00.001-05:00

This is the poll I have on my LiveJournal blog. Thought I'd share it here so you could grade in the Comments area and discuss.

clipped from seshen.livejournal.com

Poll #1392156 The first 100 days
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
How would you grade President Obama's first 100 days?
A: He's done an excellent job so far. Very impressive.
B: It's been a reasonably good 100 days. I'm feeling optimistic.
C: Fair job, but I was expecting more.
D: He's down near the bottom rung of Presidential successes.
F: OMG. We are SO doomed.

Druid symbol on veterans' headstones

2009-03-28T22:52:00.001-05:00

clipped from paganwiccan.about.com

To date I have not received any new letters from vets stating their desire to have the ‘Awen’ symbol on their headstones, nor any copies of letters to next of kin or clergy stating the same. It will be very hard to proceed with this cause as a religious freedom issue unless we can show that there are Druid vets out there who want the symbol. The campaign is at a critical point once again and we really need those letters. Can you please alert your members?

It is a good idea to get letters from Druid vets and Druids on active duty in the US military who state that they have the Awen symbol as their emblem of belief and that they want it added to the Va’s list of emblems of belief that can be included on gravestones it issues for deceased veterans.

Their letters should state that after death, they would like the Awen included on their VA-issued grave marker which will be ordered by next of kin.

Vernal Equinox - Busting the Myth of Balancing Eggs

2009-03-20T10:50:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.universetoday.com

Spring officially arrives for everyone, including astronomers on March 20.

The word "Equinox" literally means "equal night". It's all about the balance of
light - not the myth of balancing eggs. On the universal date (UTC) of Friday,
March 20, 2009 at 11:44 (am) both the day and night are the same length. But
what's so special about it? It's a date that most of us recognize as symbolic of
changing href="http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/earth/why-earth-has-seasons/"
rel=external>seasons. North of href="http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/earth/"
rel=external>Earth's equator we welcome Spring, while people south of the
equator are gearing up for the cooler temperatures of Autumn.

So where did the urban myth of balance eggs on vernal equinox come from?

It may very well have been the good folks in China who orginally began the myth
by patiently practicing standing eggs on end during vernal equinox to symbolize
the restoration of balance to the world after a season of darkness. If this
symbol of fertility could be balanced on such a day of significance, then surely
nature was in harmony!

Spirituality, not religion, makes kids happy

2009-01-09T15:41:00.001-06:00

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com

The link between spirituality and happiness is pretty well-established for teens and adults. More spirituality brings more happiness. Now a study has reached into the younger set, finding the same link in "tweens" and in kids in middle childhood.

Specifically, the study shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships — both measures of spirituality, the researchers claim — are happier.

Personal aspects of spirituality (meaning and value in one's own life) and communal aspects (quality and depth of inter-personal relationships) were both strong predictors of children's happiness,

However, religious practices were found to have little effect on children's happiness, Holder said.

The relationship between spirituality and happiness remained strong

However, counterintuitively, religious practices — including attending church, praying and meditating — had little effect on a child's happiness.

checking in, ya'll....

2008-11-25T20:50:00.002-06:00

I haven't really used this blog much, but since Blogspot seems to be popular, might as well drop by now and again. ;) So look for more posts here in the future.

Check out my web sites! I have a new personal site up, as well as a web portal for the San Antonio pagan community.

Fortunetelling Ban Tossed

2008-10-08T23:19:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.2theadvocate.com

A Livingston Parish Council ordinance outlawing fortunetelling and soothsaying is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

A Wiccan minister, Cliff Eakin, sued the parish over the ordinance, asserting inspiration from the divine transmitted by a Wiccan minister should be treated legally the same way as a message from God transmitted to a congregation by a Christian minister.

Under the First Amendment, the government can’t prohibit the expression of an idea just because society finds the idea disagreeable, according to the opinion by U.S. District Judge James J. Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District.

Eakin said that a Wiccan who accepts a donation for telling fortunes, for instance, shouldn’t be treated any differently from ministers or churches accepting tithes for passing on instructions on what they believe is God’s will.

Video shows Palin in anti-witchcraft prayer

2008-09-24T18:42:00.001-05:00

Here's the video; a number of interesting quotes, but the prayer comes near the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkViRp6W5oE

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

A video has emerged showing Sarah Palin playing a central role in a church service in Alaska in which witchcraft is denounced.

Thomas Muthee, a Kenyan who is a regular preacher at Palin's local Pentecostal church in Wasilla, made a passionate plea to defeat witchcraft and other supposed enemies of Palin during a sermon three years ago.

The role of the witchfinder in the life of the vice-presidential candidate running mate raises new questions about how much his team investigated her background before naming her as John McCain's running mate.

The video, available on YouTube, shows Palin standing in front of him at the service, head bowed, her hands held by two members of the congregation.

He spoke about the hindrances she faced from her enemies. "In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, every form of witchcraft is what you rebuke. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, father make away now," Muthee said.

World's oldest blogger signs off at age 108

2008-07-14T21:51:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com

An Australian woman renowned as the world's oldest blogger has died at the age of 108, with her last posting talking about her ailing health but also how she still sings a happy song every day.

Olive Riley, of Woy Woy about 50 miles north of Sydney, began blogging in February last year, sharing stories from her life during the two world wars, raising three children on her own, and working as a station cook in the outback.

The physically frail but mentally alert Riley won an international audience with her blog, The Life of Riley (www.allaboutolive.com.au), and series of videos posted on YouTube with her talking and singing.

"She enjoyed the notoriety -- it kept her mind fresh," her great-grandson Darren Stone of Brisbane told local newspapers.

In her last and 74th post (http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com) on June 26 she spoke of moving into a nursing home and of her ill health, saying: "I still feel weak and can't shake off that bad cough."

a wonderful George Carlin obit

2008-06-23T14:52:00.001-05:00

Excerpted from John Nichols' great obit at "The Nation"

clipped from www.thenation.com

In recent years, in front of audiences that were not always liberal, he
tore apart the neo-conservative assault on liberty with a clarity rarely evidenced in the popular culture.

Recalling George Bush's ranting about how the endless "war on terror" is a battle for freedom, Carlin echoed James Madison's thinking with a simple question: "Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?"

Carlin gave the Christian right – and the Christian left – no quarter. "I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State," Carlin said. "My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death."

Bob Barr wins Libertarian presidential nod

2008-05-25T18:28:00.001-05:00

This is the fellow who tried to actively put forth legislation in 1999 to ban Wicca from military bases.

clipped from politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

(CNN) — Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr is now the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee — and a potential headache for John McCain, as he reaches out to conservative voters who might otherwise vote for the GOP nominee in November.

The former Georgia congressman — who left the Republican Party two years ago, citing differences over fiscal policy and concerns over civil liberties — was nominated on the sixth ballot at the party’s convention in Denver. The vote on the sixth ballot was 324 for Barr, and 276 for Mary Ruwart, the last remaining candidate out of 14 originally seeking the Libertarian nomination.

The Republican Party al la Princess Bride

2008-05-16T10:41:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.daybydaycartoon.com

My first YouTube video

2008-04-10T00:34:00.001-05:00

My first attempt at making a video using my digital camera. Somewhat grainy, but we have to play with iMovies to see how we can get the quality higher while still remaining within the upload limit.

clipped from www.youtube.com

The Christian Church and Wicca

2008-02-29T19:05:00.001-06:00

clipped from wicca.timerift.net

Q: How many Pagans
does it take to change a light bulb? A: Six. One to change it and five
to sit around and complain that light bulbs never burned out before those
damned Christians came along.

Wicca is NOT about confronting or combating Christianity. Rebuking their
beliefs or soiling their historical legacy is not our purpose, nor should
it be the purpose of any religion. Those who are turning to Wicca simply
because they wish to leave Christianity, or they object to Christianity,
or they just want to shock their Christian family should look elsewhere.
Religion, ANY religion, is about belief, not negating another's belief.

The "We're Better
than Them" theory.

The Purpose of
Christianity or Get Over Yourselves

The Theft of Pagan Holidays

We've replaced
these people's pagan gods with Folgers Crystals. Let's see if they notice.

I've subscribed to YouTube

2008-01-30T23:35:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/WiccanTexan

thoughts in between cleaning for Esbat...

2008-01-26T13:56:00.001-06:00

61° and sunny; should be nice this weekend and through part of next week. All the windows are open to air out the house after last week's rainy/cold spell.

Changed format of my Witches' Meetup after having a WOW! debut of my Wiccan one. It's been getting too generically social and less witchcraft-focused, and my focused-topic Wiccan Meetup did so very well that I applied it to this last Witches' one. What a difference! I'm psyched now for the next month.

It's also helped me realize that I need to loosen up for coven meetings. Sometimes I get too much into "priestess mode" and therefore my talk is stilted. The ones I've just relaxed for went much better. So, I'll take the Meetup lessons to heart in terms of how to keep people focused and interested, and me less involved in personae and more in presentation.

Otherwise, I hope everyone is doing well!

Texas declines to sign on MySpace agreement

2008-01-14T18:27:00.001-06:00

clipped from www.ksat.com

A MySpace agreement announced Monday outlining steps it will take to protect children from online sexual predators and bullies was signed onto by every state but Texas.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a letter to MySpace's chief executive officer that he was not endorsing the agreement because it takes no action to verify people's ages.

"We do not believe that MySpace.com -- or any other social-networking site -- can adequately protect minors" without an age-verification system, Abbott said. "We are concerned that our signing the joint statement would be misperceived as an endorsement of the inadequate safety measures."

Abbott, who has made a crackdown on child predators a leading issue for his office, said the steps announced by MySpace are "remedial measures" that "constitute a starting point rather than a point of conclusion."

However, he praised MySpace for its willingness to work with his Cyber Crimes Unit.

H. Res 847 - Recognizing Christmas & the Christian faith

2007-12-12T20:41:00.001-06:00

Yes, it's for real. Check the Library of Congress for latest status.

clipped from www.govtrack.us

Introduced Dec 6, 2007
Passed House [details] Dec 11, 2007

This resolution has been passed in the House, which
is the end of the legislative process for simple resolutions. The resolution
now takes effect.
[Last Updated: Dec 11, 2007]

Dec 11, 2007:
On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 372 - 9, 10 Present (Roll no. 1143).

Dec 11, 2007:
This bill passed in the House of Representatives by roll call vote.
The vote was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate
short and pass the bill, needing a two-thirds majority.
The totals were 372 Ayes, 9 Nays, 50 Present/Not Voting.
View Votes
(House of Representatives roll no. 1143)

You are not watching the votes of any senators or representatives. To monitor votes, look up a Member of Congress.

Friending, Ancient Or Otherwise

2007-12-03T18:48:00.001-06:00

clipped from www.nytimes.com

THE growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Second Life has thrust many of us into a new world where we make “friends” with people we barely know, scrawl messages on each other’s walls and project our identities using totem-like visual symbols.

Academic researchers are starting to examine that question by taking an unusual tack: exploring the parallels between online social networks and tribal societies. In the collective patter of profile-surfing, messaging and “friending,” they see the resurgence of ancient patterns of oral communication.

“Orality is the base of all human experience,” says Lance Strate, a communications professor at Fordham University and devoted MySpace user. He says he is convinced that the popularity of social networks stems from their appeal to deep-seated, prehistoric patterns of human communication. “We evolved with speech,” he says. “We didn’t evolve with writing.”

Religious scholars mull Flying Spaghetti Monster

2007-11-16T22:36:00.001-06:00

clipped from www.cnn.com

When some of the world's leading religious scholars gather in San Diego this weekend, pasta will be on the intellectual menu. They'll be talking about a satirical pseudo-deity called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose growing pop culture fame gets laughs but also raises serious questions about the essence of religion.

The appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the agenda of the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting gives a kind of scholarly imprimatur to a phenomenon that first emerged in 2005, during the debate in Kansas over whether intelligent design should be taught in public school sciences classes.

The title: "Evolutionary Controversy and a Side of Pasta: The Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Subversive Function of Religious Parody."

Students walk out during Pledge of Allegiance

2007-10-05T11:16:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.denverpost.com

Boulder High students walk out during Pledge, recite own version

BOULDER, Colo.—About 50 Boulder High School students walked out of class Thursday to protest the daily reading of the Pledge of Allegiance and recited their own version, omitting "one nation, under God."
The students say the phrase violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

"Boulder High has a highly diverse population, not all of whom believe in God, or one God," said Emma Martens, a senior and president of the club, which has about a dozen members.

Remembering...

2007-09-10T22:23:00.000-05:00

My Sept 11th tribute page

Why did I become Wiccan after being born-again?

2007-09-01T22:12:00.000-05:00

I was asked this question on a Christian forum. The original question and my response are below.
__________________

Q: What made you become a non-Christian out of curiousity? Not trying to attack you but based upon my experience I don't think I could ever leave the presence of the Lord. I may get angry at God but to leave makes me wonder if you really gave your heart to the Lord. The wiccan group is such a different spirit than that of the Holy Spirit that I am afraid you have been deceived by something when you "first gave your heart to Christ". Again just curious ...

A: Nerohdam, thanks for asking. It was the hypocrisy of the institution that led me away from Christianity. When I first proclaimed myself to Jesus Christ, I had an inner emotional shift that has never been equaled to this day. It put me on very solid footing, even in my darkest hours, that there was a Divine presence in the world. The love was so pure, so powerful, so intense, I cannot begin to describe it in text. However, the church itself left me cold. So I asked, “where do I go where my questions will be answered, where this experience makes sense when shared with others?” And here I am today. Through study and experience, I have found a serenity in Wicca that was not found in the earthly church. I never got angry with God, I never left the presence of the Divine. I simply realized that, seeing and understanding the profound complexity of the creation around me and within me, that God having many paths to the center made perfect sense. The Holy Spirit is the divine spark that illuminates us with the wisdom and knowledge of the Divine. How each person walks with that knowledge is personal. That’s a very basic answer to a complicated journey, but it’s a summary.

Bush apologizes to Wiccan war widow

2007-08-30T22:49:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.signonsandiego.com

President Bush called a Fallon military widow on Thursday and apologized for her not being invited to a private meeting earlier this week in Reno, when he met briefly with the families of fallen Nevada soldiers.

The president's phone call to Roberta Stewart came a day after White House and military officials said her exclusion from Tuesday's meeting was an oversight and not an intentional snub because of her Wiccan faith.

“I was very pleased with the way the conversation went, very pleased that he did call and put this right,” she said.

With regards to her faith, Bush told her he “would not discriminate against someone because of their religion,” Stewart said.

Presidential Snub Of Wiccan War Widow

2007-08-29T21:54:00.001-05:00

clipped from www.lvrj.com

CARSON CITY -- When President Bush took time Tuesday to meet family members of some of the fallen soldiers from Northern Nevada, a woman whose husband made the ultimate sacrifice was notably absent.

Roberta Stewart of Fernley, who lost her husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, when the helicopter he was in was shot down in Afghanistan in September 2005, said she was not invited to the meeting that followed Bush's speech to the American Legion's national convention in Reno.

Roberta Stewart said she believes she knows why no invitation was extended to her by the White House.

Roberta Stewart, like her late husband, is a practitioner of the Wiccan faith, and she fought with the Department of Veterans Affairs for more than a year to win the right to display the pentacle, the emblem of their faith, on his memorial marker in the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley.

Friday Favorite Quote

2007-08-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

"Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose all respect for humanity. That's how rich I want to be." -- Rita Rudner

"And What if the Aliens Were Freemasons?"

2007-08-14T08:38:00.001-05:00

I forwarded this clip for the Masonic cartoon.

clipped from burningtaper.blogspot.com

What if there was a town called Bugsport, Maine? And what if most of the inhabitants were little grey aliens that the government had moved there after their flying saucer crashed in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico? And what if the aliens were Freemasons?

And what if... Bugsport was a comic strip drawn by Bro. Ted Bastien?

Elsewhere on the Net....

2007-08-11T16:21:00.000-05:00

I've put links on the righthand menu for my personal web site, other blogs and profiles where you can find me on a regular or semi-regular basis. As mentioned previously, LiveJournal is my primary blog location, but Blogger seems to have enough of an "oft-read people and columnists convene here" to make it worth coming here.

Hope to meet a few more interesting souls in this neck of the woods!

Since the earth's been shaking again....

2007-08-08T15:45:00.001-05:00

Thought folks might find this of interest.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/historical.php

Learning about Blogger, and why I'm here

2007-08-08T09:56:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems for now that I can do everything from work except view the actual blog itself, which I can circumvent by going to Preview Layout (there's always a way to cheat the censor). At least, until they figure out that "blog" is in the title of Blogger.com. ;)

So... I'm here for three reasons. One, that LiveJournal and SixApart are going through some growing pains and many of my LJ friends are either exiting entirely, or setting up alternate accounts here. Two, because I see so many interesting people and topics that are shared in the Blogspot universe. Three, because I'm proprietary about my screen Craft name so I claimed it before some doofus decided to snag it. I think I'm covered on most of the social network sites. :)

And so, I look forward to connecting with old on-line friends, meeting new ones, and everything in between.

Hello, LJ refugees....

2007-08-07T17:59:00.000-05:00

You've come to the right place. I'm sorry to see that you left LJ, but I'm happy you decided to keep in touch here!