I am confronted with a mystery.  I have now been an active member in two covens.  They both self destructed from within.  Personalities were the problem I guess.  In the second one the hight priest went on some egomanical trip and  boom no more coven.

I have watched several others from a distance.  They are old and well established but it seems to be a personality cult.  I know the High Priestess has to rule in a way but in this one she seems to have absolute power.  Is that  how it works?

I am now in a small coven and it seems to be working just fine but we are afraid to grow for fear of the same thing happening.  Id love any imput from you.  If you are in a Coven please let me know how problems are dealt with.

Thanks for your time.

It has been a long election season that has seemed to drag on forever.  There have been many arguments along the way.  Everything from the war to the economy.  If you have been watching closely however there has been one theme that keeps popping up.  That topic is religion.  First it was to see which was more christian with the republicans.  After that we had to see if the democrats were of the correct religion.

Recently there have been many attacks on freedom of religion in the congress.  We won the right to have a pentacle on headstones in Arlington.  Many are not aware that several congressmen then filed a protest and promised their constituents that they would overturn this travesty.  We need to watch carefully and be involved in the process.  Our rights to worship our Gods as we wish are threatened now more than ever.  Diverting the masses away from the real problems many politicians see this as a way of making people happy with little risk politically.

We are growing in number but we still are a minority and so must guard our rights by being vigilant.  Don't let us return to the times where we had to remain hidden.  Be involved and be vigilant.

I have been a pagan for over thirty years and a witch for a great part of that.  I hate to phrase it this way because I sound old but back in my day (haha) it was hard to find a pagan or witch.  They kept to themselves and were generally hidden.  Word of mouth was about the only way to find others of like mind.  There seem to be more of us these days but I have seen the rise of something different.

I now hear so many   pagans saying oh you must read this book to be a true believer.  This author is the only one worthwhile while they dismiss others as sell outs or not true to the Craft.  They also say you must receive this kind of training or you cannot be called a witch.  They also say you must follow the rede as a way of life and absolutely never cause harm to others.  Healing is always ok and cursing is never the right thing to do.  Oh and if you have not been talked too by  Lord High Buffoo you havent been properly introduced to the life.

Does any of this sound familiar?  Im hearing  THIS is the Way.  The ONLY way is through this PERSON.  We must remember that there are many paths to follow, and many ways in which to get there.  Do not read fall for the rambling of those who limit their exposure or knowledge.  We must all think and make up our own minds.  Learn all we can in order to follow the path that suits us.  We may end up on a path alone, but that is the beauty of it all. 

Dont let us fall into the trap of thinking our way is the only way.  There is room for many paths and opinions.  We weaken ourselves if we start judging the validity of others beliefs. Magick is in us all so let us be able to see the magick in others as well as ourselves.

Thank you for listening.

Phellendrake 

I know that most politicians are not worth even looking at, but remember the old addage  know thine enemy.  We have politicians out there that are very much against us and our clinging to that old document, oh you remember the Constitution.  Some of the more rabid ones are still complaining about the pentacle being in the military graveyards.  They tell their constituents they will have that overturned.  If that happens I guess that Witches will no longer be required to serve.  Ill throw my purple heart over the fence and return it to them.  Funny how they dont care what you are while you are fighting, but afterwards it becomes important to them??  They say it upsets people visiting.  Well I was pretty upset where I was as well but they didnt care then.  The atheists get a symbol and nobody cares.  More power to them but it seems like a disconnect to me.  No belief gets a symbol, our belief they dont want to give one.

Rambling I know but lets be careful.  The two republicans out front look to be starting some sort of bible war to see who is most christian for the christian right.  Lets be sure their choice is someone we can "live" with.

BB

Phellendrake 

Who would have thought that a baptist and a witch could solve the country's religious problems at a Denny's?  Tonight I was with some Coven members and we were talking.  A person near us kept sighing and breathing deeply so I turned to him and asked what his problem was. He of course said I was the problem, my "kind".  I asked what had I ever done to him  I was told I had wrecked the school system and christmas.  Wow I have such power.  I asked him to elaborate.  Well according to him because of me they couldnt call it Christmas any more it was winter break.  They didnt even say it on TV or commercials.  I chuckled a little on the fact his kid couldnt have a christmas tree in the room.  Once he was finished I asked if I could speak since he sounded reasonable.  He did by the way have a thick southern accent which is cool since Im from TN.  I informed him that I loved holidays, and christmas trees which were ours btw.  He said because of religious "freedom" I had to have they could not put up public displays so as not to offend me.  So we basically came up with the following:

Religiuos freedom does not mean that all religions will be equally displayed or that we are free from being offended.  Witches dont care if you have christmas just dont make our kids think this is the only way.  Have your moment of silence, please take several we have more Gods/ Goddesses to pray too.  We know that if 80% if the room is christian you might mention things.  Thats fine just dont persecute me when I say mine.  The few shouldnt be able to ruin it for everyone.  If an atheist is upset about it being calles Christmas, sorry its cultural as much as religious now.  Cowboy up, some things will bother you.  As long as we are free to go our own path we have to realize others will as well and since there are more of them they will be more visible.  We only ask that you dont stop us from following ours

After talking for about an hour he blushed and said I made more sense than a lot of his friends.  He said good bye have a good holiday and I smiled and said Merry christmas.  LOL  What a world.  Thanks for letting me ramble.