There are few things quite so wondrous in this world as offering a drink to the deity you love more than you can say,
and for him to take it with solemn grace and a "thank you",
so simple but so genuine that it fills your soul with aching pleasure.

Man, I've been slack. Well, here we are, another entry to Witches' Weekly.

What is your hearth culture? What ethnic culture do you relate to the most (Celtic, Norse), if any? 

Those that know me know that I am an eclectic. I worship gods from a variety of cultures, but, to be honest, I mostly worship deities from two main pantheons: Greek and Norse.

Now, I like to explore Pagan religions and pantheons, and to learn about specific worship along with the pantheons. Culture and pantheon together mean you understand the deities better. So I work at it, and research the ones that call to me. Despite my Celtic blood, I don't feel the pull towards the Celtic that I did when I was a small child. There's only a couple of deities from the Celtic pantheon that show much interest in me, and even then it's a more "oh, hello! There you are. Nice to see you, bye!". I don't actively worship them, but that could be because I haven't researched the Celtic culture and pantheon as a whole. I like to look into the recon worship, because they do try and they do their research and all that, so I find them a fairly good source. They also focus on just the one pantheon, which is a help. Anyway, I don't actively worship those few at the moment.

The Greek I almost grew up with. The myths are very familiar, I read them avidly as a child. They were the first pantheon I explored when I came to Paganism, so I have a particular fondness for them there. But even when first exploring them, it was clear that I was only going to worship some of the pantheon actively. The others gave me a nod, but weren't overly bothered with me.

The Norse were always "next on the list". A pantheon I knew I had to explore sooner rather than later. Even so, it took me a while to stumble upon an appropriate book. When I did, I expected to be "picked" by a few different gods... but not so many! The whole Heathen outlook fascinated me, and the pantheon chimed with me in a way I hadn't anticipated. Even more than the Greek! I do have to say, if I was going to name a "hearth culture", it would probably be Norse.

But then, I have so much left to explore. The Egyptians are letting it be known that they'd like to hear from me sooner rather than later.  I do expect the Egyptian way of doing things to influence my current practice. That's one of the things I like best about eclecticism: if I come across something I like and it doesn't conflict with my current practices, I can find a way to incorporate it without losing the spirit and sense of culture behind it.

OKay, I have to write this quickly before Iforget something so don't expect my usual eloquence.

I heard this loud plane go over, and thought I'd go see what it looked like, so I step outside onto the deck and look up, and there's the plane off to the right but I don't care about the plane because in the sky is a rainbow-coloured cloud.

I'm not talking just like minor colours. It was VIBRANT. More vibrant than most normal rainbows.

It looked lower in the sky than the other clouds, but the other clouds, after about six or seven seconds, I don't know how long because I was staring at the sky with my mouth open going "WTF?!", they covered it over. It looked like they crashed into it but they couldn't have because when they had passed it was still there, only it was a little more whispy and the colour had almost completely gone.

It was small, and almost completely rectangular in shape. Like someone had taken a rainbow-striped scarf and clipped out a bit and shoved it into the sky. It was much wider than an average rainbow, and quite possibly one of the most fantastic and beautiful things I've ever seen.

I bet you're wondering whether I felt any divine wossname, aren't you? Well, frankly, I was too busy standing there aghast thinking "WTF?!" to feel any divine wossname. And then when it went away, I walked around the house shaking my hands and not knowing what to do with myself. Like I should tell someone but not know what to say. It's WEIRD. and INCREDIBLY AWESOME. And I don't know what it is, or whether anyone else saw it, or whether it was a meteorological thing or whatever.

ZOMG.

But I had to write it down before I forgot something!

And and, and because it was stationary or moving really slowly and the other clouds were moving quickly it almost seemed like it was moving in the opposite direction to the other clouds. And I know it's insane but I seriously seriously thought it was lower than the other clouds, and the only reason I know it wasn't was that in spewing the story out on msn to a friend like two minutes ago, I thought after I'd written it "hang on, if it was lower, how did the other clouds cover it?" Well?! How did they?!

Wah! This is.... just... WOW. 

I need to make another journal section called "OMGWTF" or something. This is just beyond.

I've been thinking about priesthood, and what the title "priestess" really means to me. Note, importantly, I'm not talking about "High Priestess" here. A High Priestess is specifically a woman who serves as a leader for a worshipping group. But simply a priestess, what is that?

Is every Pagan a priest/ess, or only a few? Must you be some form of religious leader in order to qualify? Is it important to consider yourself "clergy", that is, in service to your spiritual community? Or is it a personal thing, a representation of your dedication to your deities? To be a priest in that wise, must you serve only one deity, or can you count yourself a priestess of many? Are you a priest of all your gods, or only a few?

I've seen quite a bit lately about Pagan clergy. I think it's a great idea, myself, but it's got me to thinking about priesthood. Not long ago, browsing on Cauldronfarm (which, by the way, has some of the most awesome Pagan devotional goodies around, check them out!) I found the most magnificent ritual jewellery for those following the Northern Tradition. Ritual Bracteates, specially dedicated to the god or goddess for which they were made, "for Gythias of all sorts". They are marvellous - the Skadi one in particular is spectacular - but my eye caught instantly, as it tends to do, on the name of the Sky-Treader himself, and the beads created for him. "For the woman who loves Laufey's son", it said, and there are ever-growing numbers of us.

Gythia jewellery, however... Was I a gythia? For those unaware, in the Northern Traditions such as Asatru a priest is called a Gothi (or Godhi) and a priestess a Gythia. I may love the Norse gods, but of course they aren't the only pantheon I worship. Nevertheless, when in service to the Norse gods, do I count myself a Gythia? When in service to any deity, do I count myself a priestess?

It's a point I'm still musing on, and really the only opinion valid here is my own - I'm not about to declare myself Lady Such-And-Such and go about claiming some sort of authority, after all! Group things aren't my bag, anyways. I may love helping people out with their religious searches, but I'm hardly qualified for any form of real clergywoman role. Imagining myself as a priestess in an ancient land, in a Greek temple for example, what do I imagine myself doing? Not standing in front of crowds leading worship, or counselling someone, but standing or kneeling before an altar or shrine, in prayer and service to the god to whom the temple is dedicated. For me, then, this is more what "priestess" means.

Still, as I said, I continue to muse, and my opinion may change. In the meantime, I'd like your opinion! Complete the poll, and/or leave a comment. I'm interested in your ideas.

 

 

How slack has Windwalker been? Very slack. 

I blame this entirely on the world of fanfiction and BTAS. Damn you, Mark Hamill. Damn you and your fantastic Joker laughs. *cough* Anyway... I've been focusing on that, and not on my Pagan studies.

Such as Druidry. Yes, I have discovered that I disagree with so much that I won't be able to pass the course. But I still intend to do it, and following the wheel-of-the-year thing have done two weeks worth of assignments in two days. Now all I need to do is remember to meditate regularly!

I also just got around to writing out Doreen's original Charge of the Goddess in my Book of Shadows. It's one of those things I've been meaning to add for.... forever. But my pen was low on ink. Got it running again, thank the gods - it's a fountain pen and the ink was gooey - so I wrote that up, but I wasn't connecting with my Book of Shadows. All the Wiccan stuff that I'd added in five years ago no longer sits with me, and I hadn't set the book out very well as far as sections go, so I haven't been exactly in love with my BoS lately. And you know, I think the book noticed that. It was almost as if it was sulking.

After I wrote out the Charge (which ended up being less than the marvellous devotional exercise I was hoping for) I felt unfulfilled. Plus, the Charge took up two pages. I wanted to add in the Charges of the Odinic Rite or a mention of the NNV, but not on the page facing the end of the Charge of the Goddess. So, I decided to write in my poem to Kali (two blog entries back, if you want to read it). I usually draw a border and a pretty title, but for this I just wrote out "To Kali" in red pen, in capitals,  fairly plain,  and then wrote in the poem in my black ink. It was perfect, and as I wrote I got really into it, and my Book of Shadows started to respond. It started to warm and become more charged in my hands, and it seemed happier. So we've made amends, which is not only nice but a great experience.

I think I'll write in the charges another day.