tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post8547684559548112584..comments2023-10-05T06:20:40.173-04:00Comments on Quaker Pagan Reflections: Cat’s Spiritual Journey, Part IV: The UnderworldCat C-B (and/or Peter B)http://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-23044198887675905272007-08-18T09:35:00.000-04:002007-08-18T09:35:00.000-04:00Hi, Macha,"Hello, Cat. Finally took time to read m...Hi, Macha,<BR/>"Hello, Cat. Finally took time to read more of your fascinating journey. What a fine storyteller you are!"<BR/><BR/>Coming from you, that's quite a complement--thank you, my friend.<BR/><BR/>"I'm seeming to be moving from deism/polytheism to something else, something like the Web of Life..." <BR/><BR/>You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that! I have never been a "hard polytheist" (the kind who thinks Thor is not Thunor, and Aphrodite is most <I>definately</I> not Aphrodite)but, though it's not something I can really use personally to connect to Spirit in much of my own worship, I appreciate and empathize with <A HREF="http://quakerpagan.blogspot.com/2007/08/merrymeet-feast-for-my-mind-heart-and.html" REL="nofollow">Andras' nontheist Pagan understanding.</A> Certainly I find myself moving toward a less deistic understanding of the Ground of Being than I used to try to make work for me... but I feel vaguely disloyal to Paganism when I think about it too hard. (Michael York's disparaging comments about panentheism didn't help me, there.)<BR/><BR/>I'll be interested in your response to my <A HREF="http://quakerpagan.blogspot.com/2007/08/god-stuff-and-god-talk-cat.html" REL="nofollow">God Stuff and God Talk</A> post, if you get a chance to read that one, eventually.<BR/><BR/>Thanks so much for stopping by. (I can't tell you how much I enjoyed spending time with you at MerryMeet--or how much I wish we'd had a bit more time. Call me sometime? I've got till Labor Day before I turn into a pumpkin again for the school year...)Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-72985116269367329212007-08-17T19:27:00.000-04:002007-08-17T19:27:00.000-04:00Hello, Cat. Finally took time to read more of your...Hello, Cat. Finally took time to read more of your fascinating journey. What a fine storyteller you are!<BR/><BR/>I'm seeming to be moving from deism/polytheism to something else, something like the Web of Life. I really relate to the concept of Indra's Net, not in a Buddhist sense but more along the lines of David Abram's <I>The Spell of the Sensuous</I><BR/><BR/>I read philosopher Daniel Dennett's <I>Breaking the Spell</I> about a year ago, then Christopher Hitchens' column about his promotional tour to sell <I>God Is Not Great</I> in the latest <I>Vanity Fair</I> a few nights ago, and I'm finding a lot of what they say makes sense.<BR/><BR/>Which is not to say that I don't feel a sense of spirit.<BR/><BR/>If I make it, I'll be going to a monthly Kali puja at a nearby store. One of the things I find in short supply in Paganism is devotion or <I>bhakhti</I>. Like your Quaker sitting, these pujas are done with a group, not alone. That makes a difference. I like the kirtan singing and I like just being with Kali Ma and Her worshippers. I know that sounds contradictory to what I've just referenced, writings of atheists.<BR/><BR/>I'm also intrigued by an article Michael York wrote with a Japanese scholar in the latest issue of <I>The Pomegranate</I> about the false division of the world into secular and sacred.<BR/><BR/>I know this sounds like complete garble. I guess I really need to think on these matters a lot more.<BR/><BR/>As always, you've provoked me in a really good way.Broomstick Chronicleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11217890674112142957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-65752087396503588952007-07-14T17:38:00.000-04:002007-07-14T17:38:00.000-04:00Cat,I so rarely have time to get here but I wanted...Cat,<BR/><BR/>I so rarely have time to get here but I wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your sacred thread of story in the tapestry. The color and texture of it is so rich, I wish I had hours to hold it and contemplate it. I know it will work on me regardless now that I have taken it in.Jacquelinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16439450014430654418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-80604914905393624222007-07-06T13:52:00.000-04:002007-07-06T13:52:00.000-04:00Hi, Heather,You wrote, "The words about teaching y...Hi, Heather,<BR/>You wrote, "The words about teaching your daughter to be more careful chilled me. I read them as 'Surrender your female power and teach your daughter to surrender hers. Any expression of your sexuality outside of male control is dangerous.'"<BR/><BR/>Yes. That's how I heard them, too. There's no question that the Abramic religions have not cornered the market on misogyny.<BR/><BR/>You also wrote, " was in worship when I let go of my Pagan identity. At first, I felt a lot of grief and a bit lost. I'd identified as Pagan since I was 15. I'd given birth four times with the assistance of the Goddess. I had deep and precious memories of trees, volcanoes, stars, and the view of the Earth from space. I thought I was giving up a great deal."<BR/><BR/>The question of what to leave in and what to leave out as our spiritual understandings change is very much a live one for me (obviously--since it's the whole basis of this blog). But it's even more live, at the moment, for my friend Yvonne...She has been blogging and writing poetry along these lines. I really liked her latest, <A HREF="http://nemeton.blogspot.com/2007/07/glory-in-things.html" REL="nofollow">The Glory in Things</A>. Perhaps you would, too.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-31903165889155989202007-07-06T13:15:00.000-04:002007-07-06T13:15:00.000-04:00Hi Cat,I'm a bit late getting back to this discuss...Hi Cat,<BR/><BR/>I'm a bit late getting back to this discussion.<BR/><BR/>My daughter is the only one of my children who clearly remembers having a mother who identified as Pagan. She was with me at a lot of Pagan events until she was a young teenager, and she was 10 when I started attending Meeting.<BR/><BR/>Your series is bringing back my own feelings during my Pagan years. I remember that sense of soaring on the forces of nature (most particularly Madam Pele, on a night when I was camping in an ancient Hawaiian village and the volcano started erupting).<BR/><BR/>Paganism wasn't, for me, about feeling safe. Very little that I did or experienced in direct connection with those forces felt safe. It did, however, feel deeply true and holy.<BR/><BR/>I find Marshall's comment interesting. There might be some truth in it. In the past, I have thought that misogyny and war are part and parcel of the Abrahamic religions.<BR/><BR/>In our society, a lot of men can't handle unbridled female sexuality. There's an assumption that female sexuality ought to be under male control. A woman who claims control of her own body, for her own purposes, is threatening to a lot of men. Rape and sexual harrassment are still effective tools of male domination.<BR/><BR/>The words about teaching your daughter to be more careful chilled me. I read them as "Surrender your female power and teach your daughter to surrender hers. Any expression of your sexuality outside of male control is dangerous."<BR/><BR/>I was in worship when I let go of my Pagan identity. At first, I felt a lot of grief and a bit lost. I'd identified as Pagan since I was 15. I'd given birth four times with the assistance of the Goddess. I had deep and precious memories of trees, volcanoes, stars, and the view of the Earth from space. I thought I was giving up a great deal.<BR/><BR/>What I really needed to give up, however, was my rejection of other religions. I needed to open myself more widely to different expressions of the Divine, to explore other aspects of spirituality.<BR/><BR/>I think I'm now moving through my Pagan antithesis phase and towards synthesis. On this turn of the Wheel, anyway.Heather Madronehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14822864657970530172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-88322625364296483292007-07-06T10:38:00.000-04:002007-07-06T10:38:00.000-04:00Thanks, Cat, for taking the discussion a bit deepe...Thanks, Cat, for taking the discussion a bit deeper.<BR/><BR/>You write: "I really don't think that Afagddu's words--especially that dreadful little warning--were from Herne."<BR/><BR/>I think my hunch arose out of a storyteller's and storyreader's intuition about "might have beens."<BR/><BR/>But you were there, and you know what followed. I trust your judgment.<BR/><BR/>You say it well here:<BR/><BR/>"[Afagddu's] actions, by intimidating a priestess, risked permanently depriving the Pagan community and the Goddess of a priestess. Because it is, in fact, not possible to do that kind of deep trance work with one eye open and scanning the crowd for trouble; you've got to trust your community to do that for you...."<BR/><BR/>I also agree with Yvonne's assertion that in a healthier world "the impulse of the man would be to worship Her, not to tell the woman to hide the light because men would want to destroy it by raping it."<BR/><BR/>Thanks again,<BR/>MichaelBright Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678898117491633098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-26663162248405691782007-07-06T05:24:00.000-04:002007-07-06T05:24:00.000-04:00I don't think Herne was speaking through Afagddu a...I don't think Herne was speaking through Afagddu at all.<BR/><BR/>In an "unfallen" world (or however you prefer to express that concept), a woman could walk down the street naked with the power of the Goddess blazing forth from every aspect of her being, and the impulse of the man would be to worship Her, not to tell the woman to hide the light because men would want to destroy it by raping it.<BR/><BR/>I'm also interested in Marshall's comment about the Pagan gods - my view is (along with CS Lewis) that they are indeed Powers of Nature. The Neoplatonists practiced theurgy in order to take on the qualities of the many faces of the Divine. Lewis believed that after the Incarnation it was no longer lawful to have dealings with them - I am not sure I feel that way, since many Pagan rituals feel sacramental, but I do think there are too many Pagans on power trips.Yewtreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02028699564003381058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-76250651012408167272007-07-05T22:30:00.000-04:002007-07-05T22:30:00.000-04:00Oooh! I almost forgot to thank you, Michael, for ...Oooh! I almost forgot to thank you, Michael, for such a juicy and thought provoking comment! And, as always, for caring enough to read and think deeply about what you've read!<BR/><BR/>Again, many thanks. It's a priviledge to share this story with you.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-10960734089674269542007-07-05T22:26:00.000-04:002007-07-05T22:26:00.000-04:00Mmm... Michael. I really don't think that Afagddu...Mmm... Michael. I really don't think that Afagddu's words--especially that dreadful little warning--were from Herne (or any other god, IMNSHO). I think they were Afagddu, having figured out that he was not going to go ahead and add acting on his impulse to the already offensive deed of communicating it, trying to rationalize something that made his lust my (and perhaps all women's/the Goddess's) fault.<BR/><BR/>I'm pretty sure Herne wasn't buying it, judging by Part V (hopefully to be posted tomorrow, when I'm done editing it and figuring out where to break it off at the end).<BR/><BR/>But I'm 100% sure that the Pagan community, if it wants to have effective ecstatic priestesses of the Goddess is going to have to step up to the plate and make the world of Pagan events safe places in which to lower one's guard. To the extent that drawing down is a service we value as a community, we have an obligation to the men and women who provide it to let them do so effectively and without fear.<BR/><BR/>Of course, there are other reasons for us all, as a community, to own this one. Like the fact that, where sex is a sacrament, rape is a crime of blasphemy in addition to the personal offense. And, since the central myth of Wicca is that of a God and Goddess joined in loving sexual union, and giving birth to all life, sex is sacramental among Wiccans (and in the greater Pagan movement, to the extent it is rooted in Wicca, which is great.)<BR/><BR/>I know you're not justifying Afagddu, BTW. But his actions, by intimidating a priestess, risked permanently depriving the Pagan community and the Goddess of a priestess. Because it is, in fact, not possible to do that kind of deep trance work with one eye open and scanning the crowd for trouble; you've got to trust your community to do that for you, when you go out walking the planes, or let the Gods take over the wheel of the car...<BR/><BR/>I have other issues with drawing down, incidentally. Since become Quaker, I have not engaged in it, and I don't anticipate I will again. I find Quaker techniques preferable for a host of reasons, which I'll probably talk about later. But, to the extent that the Pagan community wants this practice available, we are obligated to provide safe space in which it can occur.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-9720073675112329752007-07-05T21:54:00.000-04:002007-07-05T21:54:00.000-04:00Cat,Maybe I should clarify...In your response to M...Cat,<BR/><BR/>Maybe I should clarify...<BR/><BR/>In your response to Marshall's comment that "craziness is perhaps inevitable in Paganism...because paganism divinizes, and to some extent worships, the forces that make people crazy," you suggest that I am "perhaps saying something similar when [I] write about 'the dangerous power of dancing the Goddess'."<BR/><BR/>I meant something different than Marshall.<BR/><BR/>Reading your story of Afagddu, I had one of those "perk up and pay attention" moments when I got to this point:<BR/><BR/>"He ended his little discourse by telling me that I would be more careful in the future, wouldn't I? And I would go home, and teach my daughter to be more "careful", too. Wouldn't I?"<BR/><BR/>Whether or not Afagddu meant that warning as a threat, I "heard" it as Herne warning you (through Afagddu) about what dancing the Goddess can summon up in men.<BR/><BR/>Not that one shouldn't dance the Goddess, but that one must do even "ecstatic abandonment" with full awareness of its potential dangers.<BR/><BR/>I think of times in my life when I have done what in retrospect I see as outrageously dangerous things--spiritually, if not physically dangerous--and skirted past the disaster, as if under divine protection.<BR/><BR/>Not because I particularly merited the protection, but because God/dess watched out for me.<BR/><BR/>This is the darker import of Walhydra's rant about not wanting to trust to remembering the right incense or hand gesture. I'm just too naively, ego-centrically human, even at my best moments, to really know what's best for me and my fellows.<BR/><BR/>What rings out for me in your story is something you wrote in "<A HREF="http://quakerpagan.blogspot.com/2007/04/lloyd-lee-wilson-herne-and-sea-of.html" REL="nofollow">Lloyd Lee Wilson, Herne, and the Sea of Limitless Light</A>":<BR/><BR/>"I can trust Herne not to guide me away from the path I'm meant for. He is the God of integrity--the willingness to act, and the willingness to abide by the consequences of action."<BR/><BR/>This is where your sense of Herne and my sense of Jesus resonate closely.<BR/><BR/>If Afagddu was not, in fact, deliberately acting out his predatory lust for you as a way of warning and teaching you, Herne was certainly doing so by getting you attention so clearly.<BR/><BR/>And so it is.<BR/><BR/>Bléssed Be,<BR/>MichaelBright Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678898117491633098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-41735729521125891452007-07-04T10:41:00.000-04:002007-07-04T10:41:00.000-04:00Forgive my garbled sentence!The first sentence of ...Forgive my garbled sentence!<BR/><BR/>The first sentence of the last paragraph should read, "As for the possiblity that the Light I experience in meeting for worship was present there that weekend also, I cannot imagine it could be otherwise."Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-25828357483209196012007-07-04T10:34:00.000-04:002007-07-04T10:34:00.000-04:00Michael,Thank you for your comments...and I'm tick...Michael,<BR/>Thank you for your comments...and I'm tickled in return that Wallhydra can recognize herself along with me in the toothbrush incident. It's nice to know that I share that particular foible with someone I enjoy so much...<BR/><BR/>Marshall, <BR/>You write that craziness is perhaps inevitable in Paganism, because "divinizes, and to some extent worships, the forces that make people crazy." (Michael, you are perhaps saying something similar when you write about "the dangerous power of dancing the Goddess") <BR/><BR/>I do think that the Pagan gods, whether we're talking of the duotheism of Wicca or the pure polytheism of reconstructionists, are not entirely about humanness, and that, yes, at times, They can think and act in ways that are "insane" by human standards. My Shaman friend Brian, for instance, when given over wholly to the spirit of the caribou, would probably be committed were there a psychiatrist in the room--you look in his eyes and there's not just no Brian there any more, there's nothing <I>human</I> there any more. It's terrifying--and magnificent, the way that nature itself can be terrifying and magnificent.<BR/><BR/>Some--many--of the Pagan gods are, like the caribou, powers of nature without a human moral dimension to Them at all. It is not <I>wrong</I> for a hurricane to destroy a city--and the power of the hurricane <I>is</I> a glorious and wonderous Power in nature, worthy of respect and even worship. But careful worship--for if the hurricane does no moral wrong in destroying a city, the human being who takes on the spirit of the hurricane and also destroys <I>does</I> commit a wrong.<BR/><BR/>We are responsible for the Gods we choose to worship.<BR/><BR/>For a variety of reasons, I suspect that the being Afagddu may have genuinely been invoking at the circle that night would have been Ogun, an Afro-diasporic deity whom I would be extraordinarily careful about inviting in... I'm not sure of this, of course. <BR/><BR/>But I am sure that, just because it's sacred, doesn't mean we humans have any business inviting it in and letting it make our decisions for us without applying a moral test to our acts. Just because it's a god doesn't mean it's right, or just, or kind. Again, we are responsible for the gods we choose to worship... To forget that, and to practice an ecstatic Pagan religion, <I>is</I> to court a kind of insanity. And even with care and wisdom, there are assuredly pitfalls and snares set for ecstatic Pagan practitioners that are not there for stay-at-home, common-sense types... or even Quakers. (I have come to prefer the communal practice of listening to God over the individual ecstatic practice of drawing down for many reasons...)<BR/><BR/>Sometimes, though, the insanity can be a kind of blessing. And, despite the painful nature of this weekend, it has been a blessing to me--one I cannot imagine having done without. Some of the gods are quite kindly disposed and loving, and well able to inspire moral growth in us. <BR/><BR/>As for the possiblity that the something that the Light I experience in meeting for worship was present there that weekend also, I cannot imagine it could be otherwise. The endpoint of this story, after all, will find the writer a Quaker; all my understandings of the Pagan gods, these days, have fallen in line with a sense of a Light that is beneath and within and before everything else. And I'm pretty sure that Light is what you mean when you say Jesus or Christ (though I'm not sure it's what Pat Robertson means when he says those words...) So, however odd the territory in between, you are going to find a Quaker at the other end, albeit a Pagan one...<BR/><BR/>Thank you for continuing to read.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-4367654747122013302007-07-04T07:30:00.000-04:002007-07-04T07:30:00.000-04:00Dear Cat, I just want you to know that I'm still r...Dear Cat, I just want you to know that I'm still reading and listening intently.<BR/><BR/>The sort of craziness you describe here -- which I found in that world in the Sixties, and still find in it today -- is <I>exactly</I> why I rejected this particular path. Unlike you, and unlike some of your readers, I have come to the conclusion that it is inevitable in paganism, because paganism divinizes, and to some extent worships, the forces that make people crazy.<BR/><BR/>(Aren't there even sayings about that? -- like, "<I>those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad</I>" --?)<BR/><BR/>We can agree to disagree about that, if you like.<BR/><BR/>What I am very glad about is that you saw that danger and were led to reject making that mistake yourself.<BR/><BR/>Now, I would also say that the one who led you to reject that craziness was Christ -- whom you maybe didn't recognize standing behind "Rosie", both because your attention was on "Rosie", and because Christ seldom thrusts himself forward, but who was there, nonetheless, urging you to choose what is right and kind and healing, as he always does.<BR/><BR/>Well, we can agree to disagree about that, too.<BR/><BR/>I look forward very much to your next installment. I just hope it doesn't come out while I'm on the bus to North Carolina.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-84635806337480811472007-07-03T21:32:00.000-04:002007-07-03T21:32:00.000-04:00Cat, Dear One,This part was like a needed splash o...Cat, Dear One,<BR/><BR/>This part was like a needed splash of cold water in my face.<BR/><BR/>I almost don't want to intrude by commenting, because it feels like "me-too-ism," a variation on teacher's-petitude. I honor your eldering of us by telling this story.<BR/><BR/>You took me back to my own mid-twenties level of quasi-maturity and reminded me of the wake-up call I got then...from an Isle of Wight man who decided I needed and was ready to grow up and stop playing "pagan."<BR/><BR/>In my present live with Hubby Jim, I sense that we are turning another corner on the Circle--to express it in ridiculous metaphor--and your jarring my memory of that earlier wake-up is immensely valuable to me.<BR/><BR/>Thank you.<BR/><BR/>Walhydra got quite tickled by the Toothbrush Incident...in which she recognized her own bitchy self, distracted from the Life (capital L) going on right in her face by her own measly inconvenience.<BR/><BR/>She also chuckled and nodded with recognition at your saying, "One of the things I've always been good at...is yielding to a majickal impulse," and your grabbing a twig at random.<BR/><BR/>But then...Oh....<BR/><BR/>Bless you for sharing this dark story in a way which shows how much you love and honor where it led you, and how!<BR/><BR/>Afagddu was claiming the Hunter, but wasn't Herne actually speaking through Afagddu to warn you? I'm not defending Afagddu; just noticing how Herne told you what you needed to know about the dangerous power of dancing the Goddess.<BR/><BR/>Bless you and Peter.<BR/><BR/>Bléssed Be,<BR/>Michael BrightCrowBright Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678898117491633098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-69655435051303481532007-07-03T13:45:00.000-04:002007-07-03T13:45:00.000-04:00Wow... this businesss of getting immediate gratifi...Wow... this businesss of getting immediate gratification via blog comments is pretty addicting. *grin* Seriously, it is wonderful to have such supportive feedback--and especially good to have thought-provoking comments. <BR/><BR/>Erik--coming from you a "wow," is especially gratifying, but it also meant a lot to me to hear how the reference to the father-daughter connection made this entry real to you. I know that part of the horror of Afagddu's words, to me, was his mention of my daughter. On one level, it was absurd: he never met her, and almost certainly never will. On another... the mere fact that he mentioned her at all made his words so much more terrible.<BR/><BR/>Every now and then I run into someone who believes that the fight against violence against women is of interest only to women. But the vast majority of men I know put such a lie to that! Certainly, as the protective father of a beloved daughter, I know that you have as much stake in a world free from gender violence as I have. Ah, the tender protectiveness we feel for our kids...<BR/><BR/>Heather, thank you so much for your comments. It's interesting to hear you discussing your experiences with Pagans with <I>your</I> young adult daughter; my own has formed opinions of Paganism from within that are not entirely postive, too. I think her objections are more <A HREF="http://hilleeree.livejournal.com/14133.html" REL="nofollow">about the dire flakiness of a certain kind of Pagan</A>, but I think she would agree with you (and with me) that there are a fair amount of people drawn to the Pagan movement for reasons that are far from healthy. I do sometimes speculate on why that should be, and I have a few theories--maybe worth a post one day.<BR/><BR/>On the plus side, I think the Pagan community is gradually becoming wiser, saner, and more mature. I have <A HREF="http://besom.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">a good friend</A> whose signature line is often "Yours in changing culture," and I know that a good many of us are working hard to make the positive folks become the norm, and not the power-trippers. <BR/><BR/>Yet it's still true that I have few peers and fewer mentors in the Pagan movement. Peter and I have been so relieved, since becoming Quaker, <I>not</I> to constantly have the sensation of being among the few grown-ups in the room on any given occasion. There are more models of spiritual growth among Quakers than the Pagan movement has to date, and so Quaker practice can feed something in me that has otherwise been hungry a long time.<BR/><BR/>As to that realization of being no longer a hyphenated Quaker AND Pagan, I can see both how that could happen and how it could be a relief in some ways. For me, given the depth of the love and commitment I have to so many Pagans (as well as to the theology, as you mentioned, too) it would be a terrible loss. And yet, I think the real betrayal to any spiritual path is not to follow where it leads... I hope both that I do not lose my own Pagan identity--AND that, if that is the way my path leads me, I'll have the courage to let it go. (Does that make sense?)<BR/><BR/>David, thank you for your kind words.<BR/><BR/>And Derek, that wonderful sensation of peace and the pull to do something with your life is the result of a little something I've had slipped into your water--you should begin to feel the urge to send me large, unmarked bills in the mail very soon. ;)<BR/><BR/>No, really--thank you. If my words move you and help you along your own path, I am truly delighted, and I feel that I'm getting to pay back in some small way the ways that other writers and especially spiritual bloggers have done the same thing for me, especially over the past year.<BR/><BR/>Blessings, all.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-27530241349992823482007-07-03T11:56:00.000-04:002007-07-03T11:56:00.000-04:00Why is it that every time I come by your blog, I a...Why is it that every time I come by your blog, I am left with this wonderful sensation of peace and a need to do more in my own life? <BR/><BR/>Darn you, Cat. You and you're good storytelling!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-16558575178653781072007-07-02T22:47:00.000-04:002007-07-02T22:47:00.000-04:00This is a very powerful series. I am just awstruck...This is a very powerful series. I am just awstruck.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-29924135861124021512007-07-02T18:43:00.000-04:002007-07-02T18:43:00.000-04:00I was talking with my 18-year-old daughter yesterd...I was talking with my 18-year-old daughter yesterday about my journey through Paganism. I caught myself saying that I liked Paganism, but I didn't like a lot of Pagans. I ran into too many people on power trips of one sort or another. I had a number of bad experiences with men, so I circled mostly with women. A lot of those experiences were powerful, but I never found a circle that felt like home to me.<BR/><BR/>I clung to my Pagan identity for a couple of years after I joined the local Friends' Meeting. One day, I realized that I wasn't a Pagan anymore, just a Quaker.<BR/><BR/>I still have tender places inside for Pagan theology, but not for Pagan theatre. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for sharing your journey.Heather Madronehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14822864657970530172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-51198260248731488692007-07-02T14:49:00.000-04:002007-07-02T14:49:00.000-04:00Wow.I've been meaning to say that about this whole...Wow.<BR/><BR/>I've been meaning to say that about this whole series, actually - that, and "thank you".<BR/><BR/>The line about "Daddy's beloved clever daughter" really brought this entry home for me, BTW... I have one, and it suddenly hit me - again - that the day is coming when I will have to let go and entrust her to the big wide scary world, however much I might want to wrap her in cotton wool and keep her warm and safe forever. <BR/><BR/>Erik<BR/><BR/>PS - I'm right there with you on wood smoke!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com