witchcraft

In The Broom Closet: Celebrating Yule

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Yule is in just a few days! Celebrating Yule can be a tricky situation for any pagan with close relatives who are skeptical of other religions, especially one who is in the broom closet. If you live with people you are not yet out to, it can be difficult to do a ritual, but there are many other ways to honor the God and Goddess this time of year.

One advantage to Yule, over other pagan holidays, is that I find that my family are more open to lighting candles this time of year. My parents are quite strict when it comes to open flames in the house, but they are more lenient during the winter months. It’s always pleasant to have the extra heat, not matter how little. I particularly love the smell of sugar cookie candles for the holiday season. I always find myself staring at the flickering flame. It relaxes me.

Various plants that are associated with the holidays can attribute this to their pagan backgrounds. When your relatives are decorating the traditional Christmas tree, you can appreciate its importance  to your religion, as well. Many people know bringing a tree indoors during the cold months is a pagan tradition. It was meant to keep nature safe during the harsh winter season. Poinsettias and mistletoe are other plants that are common during the holiday season, but they are not often recognized as having their beginnings in paganism. Kissing under the mistletoe is a well-known tradition. It was based off the fact that ancient pagans believed it to be helpful in fertility workings. Poinsettias represent joy, good luck, and celebration, suiting the theme of the holidays.

Enjoying holiday treats is another way to celebrate Yule, even in the presence of those who do not observe it. Baking cookies for Santa is an age-old tradition. Candy canes are also popular. Eggnog is one of my personal favorites. There’s nothing quite like the smooth taste of cold eggnog around the holidays (with or without alcohol). Food is a holiday tradition which people of any religious background can relate. Don’t forget to make an offering to the God and Goddess!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my tips on celebrating Yule in the broom closet. Happy Holidays and Blessed Yule! )O(

Fox News’ War on Religious Freedom

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Once again, the lovely people over at Fox are complaining that there’s a “War on Christmas”. They claim that saying “Merry Christmas” is looked down upon. They seem to feel forced to say “Happy Holidays”, instead. They state how horrible it is that religious Christmas decorations are scarce in public areas. The infamous Bill O’Rielly spoke out, saying since Hanukkah will be over soon there is no need to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”. To him, Hanukkah is the only other holiday he could possibly conceive of anyone celebrating this time of year. (Yule, anyone?) Fox News has a map of locations in which they feel that their rights to Christmas have been violated. The interesting thing is that not all of these stories are actually about the “War on Christmas”. Some of them are in fact, quite the opposite. One mentions that Alabama wants to give teachers the right to wish students a “Merry Christmas” in public schools, not take it away. Does that sound like a “War on Christmas” to you? Here’s a link to the page, in case anyone is wondering exactly what Fox is whining about: http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/12/04/war-christmas

When Fox News reports on the “War on Christmas”, they conveniently forget about the war on religious freedom. They refuse to believe that people exist who do not share their own religion. Unless there comes a day when crosses, stars of David, and pentacles can all be displayed in public, then none of it should be. When a nativity scene in every town square is pushed for, it takes away freedom from other religious backgrounds. Until songs about the Winter Solstice can be sung at school programs, you better bet that pagans won’t want their children singing “Joy to the World”, while their own beliefs are pushed to the side. Fox News claims that Christians are the victims, they don’t here people say “Merry Christmas” as much as they used to. But until pagans feel safe saying “Blessed Yule” to people they meet on the street, then I suppose we all must say “Happy Holidays”.

In The Broom Closet: Pagan Jewelry

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Living with people who strongly disagree with your religious beliefs is never easy. When it comes to paganism and branches of paganism, like Wicca, it’s usually even more difficult. It’s an unfortunate fact of society.  I know many of you may be in the broom closet when it comes to the people you live with, but you are open about your religion with others. If this is the case, you may want to display a symbol of your path. However, when you live with those that you do not yet feel comfortable revealing yourself to, it can be tricky.

Pagans and Wiccans wear all different types of jewelry to both display their path, and for other personal reasons. It may be a symbol or a specific stone that means something to you, but doesn’t scream “Pagan” to everyone else. Wearing a certain crystal with properties that seem helpful to you is a great way to have a constant reminder of your faith, without having anyone ask you uncomfortable questions about it. Some of my personal favorites are amethyst and garnet. A few symbols that could help you feel like you aren’t trying to hide your spirituality from the whole world (just the people you live with) could be a triquetra, a crescent moon, a black cat, a wheel, a Celtic knot, or even a shamrock. Pick a symbol that means something special to you. If you work with the Egyptian pantheon, you could use an ankh. If your matron goddess is Athena, like mine is, you can wear a piece of owl jewelry, to symbolize your faith. You could wear a shell, pearl, or another sea-related symbol if you work with Poseidon, or another sea-deity.  Be creative, a piece of jewelry can symbolize your religion without anybody knowing it.

I realize that sometimes nothing but a pentacle or triple moon will do . These symbols, of course, are commonly associated with paganism and witchcraft. If someone whom you are in the broom closet to sees you wearing one of these, it could compromise your privacy. However, I think if you are careful and keep it hidden, you can get away with owning one. As long as you tuck it in your shirt, or take it off around those who you are not yet open about your religion to, it should be fine. It’s easy to find an online store that you can order pagan jewelry from. For anyone who is interested, I recommend Etsy ( http://www.etsy.com/ ) as a great place to find beautiful pagan jewelry.

In The Broom Closet: Witchy Books

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As someone who is in the broom closet myself, I have had to come up with some ways to cope. I hope you’ll find these tips helpful.

In my personal opinion, one of the most important aspects of Wicca is learning new things about spirituality. If you’re in the broom closest, it can be difficult get your hands on any books, though. In my experience, the best way to hide witchy books is to buy them in an ebook format.

Personally, I use an Amazon Kindle, but there are many other options. You can use an Apple iPad or a  Barnes & Noble Nook. Even if you don’t actually own an ereader, there are still ways to read ebooks. iPhones, Android phones, and other smart phones can be used to read ebooks. All you have to do is download the app that goes with the ebook store you want to buy from. As far as  I know, you can’t buy ebooks right on your phone. You have to go to the company’s website, on a computer, to do that. You can also simply download an ereader app to your computer. However, the last two may be more difficult to hide if you use a shared computer.

Ebooks are probably the best way to hide your books from others. You can even read them right in front of someone without them ever knowing! But if you do choose to purchase physical books, you can keep them hidden as well. Just be sure to hide them somewhere safe, like in your closet, dresser, or under your bed.

I hope everyone had a great Blue Moon and Blessed Be! )O(

Do I Really Need All These Tools?

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In the pagan community, I’ve heard many people state that absolutely nothing is a necessity when it comes to what we use in our practice. It’s the opinion, of most, that nature and our own minds are all that we need to live a fulfilled, spiritual life.

Photo Credit: www.paganparent.net

Photo Credit: www.paganparent.net

For someone new to Wicca, or any other type of paganism, it may be hard to believe this idea. Most books written on the subject of witchcraft for beginners will have diagrams on how to set up an altar, using such items as candles, statues, athames, wands, chalices, cauldrons,  altar cloths… The list goes on and on. But how much of this stuff do we actually need? In my opinion, the answer is different for each and everyone of us. I feel like none of us need any of these tools, but some of us make a much greater use of particular items, than the rest of us might. For example: incense is a commonly used tool in paganism. Many of us even use it on a daily basis, whether part of a ritual or not. Many people just like the smell of it, as well. For others, it may not “feel right”. Many pagans describe a sensation of just knowing whether something clicks for them, or not. Sometimes we feel no spiritual connection with something or a need to use it in our practices. It just depends on the person. We don’t absolutely need any physical tools, but for an individual, some may be much harder to live without than others.

However, there are a couple of items that almost everyone in the pagan community would feel very lost without. Most of us enjoy reading books on witchcraft, or on other related topics. It would be very hard to consider yourself Wiccan without having read one single book on the topic. Books seem necessary to me to learn the principles of paganism/Wicca. Of course there’s always YouTube or blogs, like this, but they may not always fill the void for a good book!

The second item many pagans use almost everyday is jewelry. It would be difficult to consider this item a tool, but it’s something that most of us seem to never be without. Many of us like to wear a pentacle necklace to display our faith. It shows others who we are. It’s a symbol of protection. It can aid in striking up a conversation with someone. They may be a fellow pagan, or know very little about our religion. They may have negative thoughts instilled in them towards what we believe, but we may be able to educate them, if they are reasonable.

Photo credit: dark.pozadia.org

Photo credit: dark.pozadia.org

Another tool that would be almost impossible to do without  are candles. Pagans and witches use candles for everything! They’re an important part of our daily lives. They’re used, in what seems like, almost every ritual. They can be used in simple ways, such as meditating, or just for having a comforting flame and scent nearby. Sometimes we must be resourceful and use something other than a candle because we may be living somewhere where in which we are not allowed to have an open flame. This is my point exactly! My advice is that we don’t need to buy anything to help us with our practices. It’s nice to have a few tools, but no one can have it all. Sometimes we have to use what we already have, substitute one tool with something else, or just be happy with nothing at all!

Photo credit: wiccanink.tumblr.com

Photo credit: wiccanink.tumblr.com

Blessed Be! )O(

Fox News: Ignorant on Purpose

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I’m finally getting around to writing my post about the Fox News team’s recent “discussion” on Wiccans and pagans.

It’s been a long week for most of us pagans and Wiccans. My feeds have exploded with blogs, videos, comments, and tweets about the news “report” that was given by Fox with Friends earlier this week. They made some generalizations that have upset me deeply. I’m sure you’ve seen the video by now and know what I’m talking about, but I’ll point out the most offensive statements.

First of all, they had the opinion that witchcraft is a bad thing. They didn’t call it “evil” or “devil-worship” or any of those typical, conservative responses to the pagan community, but they didn’t have to for us to know that that’s what they were thinking. There’s no wondering why so many people still feel this way concerning witchcraft, today. When a “trusted” news team makes statements like this, some people are going to be ignorant enough to believe it.

There was also a comment that Halloween is the most important holiday that we observe. This is not true. I personally don’t even see Samhain and Halloween as the same event, or as occurring on the same date. Halloween is when children dress as whatever they want to and go trick-or-treating, and is celebrated on October 31st. Samhain is, in its most basic form, the pagan new year, and I observe it on November 1st. Halloween is not a religious holiday to me and I think the most important pagan holiday is a matter of opinion.

I haven’t heard many people point out the following comment specifically, but it really hurt me, so I think it needs to be addressed. One “journalist” remarked that many Wiccans are “twice divorced midwives, who live in rural areas”. The “twice-divorced” comment is specifically what I’m referring to. Why is it that someone would think of Wiccans as commonly being divorcees? Is it that Wiccans can’t get along with our spouses, or that we are to focused on our Craft to keep a partner’s attention? Could it be that they didn’t realize “all the weird stuff we were into” before the wedding? This statement made me sad, really, more than any other.

Fox News is known for its reports being skewed strongly to the conservative side. They made this report just to mock our religion. I’m not normally a negative person, but I had to make exception after watching this broadcast. They put this out there to have a good laugh about Wicca and other minority religions. They complained that Christians have to take backlash for saying “Merry Christmas” in public. This is true, in some cases, but they know nothing of how hard is be to be pagan or Wiccan in many public situations. They know we are a comparatively small, widely disregarded group, and are trying to make it worse for us by pushing these stereotypes that there are so few Wiccans, making it seem like we don’t matter. They do it on purpose in an attempt to make it so that there are even less of us and even more of them.

As we know, our numbers keep growing, despite media like this. They are trying to bring us down, but their attempts won’t work.