Tag Archives: wiccan

The Humonculous

I’m sick of sex in Paganism

Leave a comment

Let me shed some light into my spiritual life: I have never once danced naked under the full moon. I have never culminated a ritual with a sexual act. I haven’t endulged in nudist drum circles, or prayer rites. Sex is not the foundation of our religion. Why the fuck do modern pagans turn EVERYTHING into sex?

It has become blatantly obvious that I am, apparently, not the “typical” pagan. So, perhaps my opinion on the matter is not in good company, but I am sick of all the flaunting and glorifying of sex in Paganism, whoring around everywhere. And yes, I call it whoring, because that is exactly how it comes across. Extortion? Desperation? Using it for leverage? Everything you associate as being a negative aspect of sexuality – that is exactly what you are doing, and rationalizing it away as liberation, or becoming one with nature, or a oneness with self, or whatever else psycho BS you can pull out of your ass to try to make it seem like anything less than an orgy or the sake of religion.

Why does sex have to be such a big issue to “our kind”? It seems like so many aspects of Paganism these days is for shock value, or simply for the sake of being the anti-christian movement. Anti being opposite of, not opposed to in this context. Christians say sex is a sin, we’re here to tell you it’s a beauitful act of power and liberation! To Prove thats what it is, and we’re not ashamed, we’re all going to orgy it up right here in front of you!

I read a lot. I follow a lot of blogs. Though, ironically, I can’t seem to name you one single “pagan” author, save for the horrendous, like Silver Ravenwolf (one of my many damning qualities, according to my oh-so-welcoming community, I’m a “bad pagan” because I can’t appropriately name-drop MVPs….) But amongst all the snippets I collect and read through week to week, one thing blares blindingly clear. Without fail, every time some spiritual ritual is mentioned, sex and sexuality is a headlining topic.

The beautiful thing about nature-based religions, and all the many fascets of Pagan paths is the understanding of sexuality. Sex is natural, it is a regular part of life, and therefore should not be demonized in the slightest bit. But being a part of life doesn’t me ruling life. It does not need to be included in everything.

Do you have sex while doing the laundry? Are you masturbating while preparing breakfast? Do you jackoff your man / fist your lady while watching family feued? Does your gamertag include your O face? If yes, any sane individual anywhere would tell you you have a problem.
The reality is, NO. We don’t function like that. Sex is not a part of everything we do in life, so why on earth does it make sense to be a part of every aspect of our spiritual selves? Everything does not have to be a discussion on sex. Stop it.

I just read Sex and the Parliament of World Religions and it is a prime example. It both confuses and infuriates me.

“One commonality that stood out to me was our relationship to sex. While there were other faiths that honor sexuality as sacred, nowhere was it as explicit as in the Pagan community.”

Nowhere was it as explicit as in the Pagan community….
How does that line make you feel? Why is this something to be proud of? It makes me sad, and ashamed. We are the trashed party-girl of the Religious community. And we have somehow convinced ourselves, like every other party girl in history, that that is a good thing. It’s not. People only like us because we’re easy. We need to wake up and realize that.

And as I continued through this shameful article, and coming to the grand conclusion, I didn’t understand…What does sex have to do with ANY of this? It was completely unnecessary to her experience with the conference or community. Why must being happy in your own body have to be about sex? Why does a closeness with someone else have to equal to sex or sexuality? Why do you admit that most contact was not sexual in nature, but then forcibly bring the conversation straight back to sex? Why does ANY of this have to be about sex, why must we be EXPLICIT in our community instead of giving our bodies, the act itself, the way we view and represent ourselve, and even our ceremonies the respect and honour they deserve?

People get the wrong idea that in order to be ok with yourself or your sexuality that you must overtly flaunt it, that if you cover it up, then you must either be ashamed or oppressed -that that is just the radical extreme of the opposite end of the spectrum. Being respectful to your body, and your faith, does not mean defaming it, and not thinking about what you do or how you use it and just throw it blindly at anyone, or use it for any little opportunity is not respectful.

My next question is: Are you all that vapid and shallow?
Do you think you are being deep and moving by takling about sex all the time? What are you trying to accomplish? Do you think being a “feminist” means shoving your tits and pussy at everyone and making them deal with it? That’s not how it works. You are trying too hard. You are desperate.
A psychologist would tell you that folk who are this engulfed and vocal about sex have some severe insecurities, or trauma they are trying to work through – those who scream the loudest have the most to hide. Which is fine, if that is the case, but we are not your therapy.  There are real and true traditions, we are real people, will real faith, and real customs and spirituality and things that were once sacred that are being desecrated in falsehoods and misrepresentations. Being proud doesn’t have to mean making a mockery of us. And if you think sex is all there is to paganism, or even one of the biggest points of paganism, you’ve entirely missed the point.

 

The Humonculous

It’s Beltane…and it’s not what you think.

Leave a comment

The obligatory Beltane / May-Day post.

Well wishes, happy harvests, and bountiful blessings for everyone this season – as it should be (or hoped to be) every season.

But, I can’t say that it is a warmly welcomed season so far. Every holiday / harvest day / celebration that comes around – I am bombarded with article after article and post after post from pagan communities, blogs and centers from all over blaring out, and sharing, and reposting on histories and traditions…….that just aren’t true. Or misconstrued, greatly.  And it’s disheartening. 

Now, if you are a Neo-Pagan, and you follow these modernized traditions – then you go for it.  BUT, when we are discussing histories and traditional ideology of where the celebration is rooted – that’s a much different discussion than simply talking about personal practices or customs. 

I’m sure you’ve all heard all the discussion of the sexual prowess of Beltane, and the Great Rite, and the copulation of the God and Goddess and the marrying of the Land and great orgies by bonfires for the sake of fertility.

And frankly, in my own opinion – that is all blasphemy. And insulting.

Beltane is a harvest festival. That is all. It is the celebration of the bounty of Spring, and welcomes Summer. Traditionally, it marked the “beginning of summer” and was a time that they would reap harvest, turn fields, begin the breeding season of certain livestock, and send the cattle out to pasture, and hope / pray for the fertility and ripeness of the land. 

As a celebration of summer, and the over-turning of the seasons, it was thought to be one of the pinnacle points of the year when the spirits were most active, and the veils between worlds was the thinnest – allowing the influence of the gods / spirits to be at a peak. They would make offerings to the gods for their blessings for the upcoming season, and they would perform special rites to purify and protect their livestock, land, and even the people themselves. 

It’s basis was centered around a sense of renewal, blessings, optimism and hope. Not a sex fest as modernism seems to have turned it into.  And yes, arguably – you can say that the idea of the rebirth of the land, and it’s heavy focus on fertility *could* be interpreted in a sexual and symbolic manner. Yes. That could be argued – but that interpretation and ideology has developed over the modern era, and was not *traditionally* what Beltane was about at all. 

Beltane is rooted in Celtic Ireland, and can be read about in some of the oldest, most influential Irish mythos – and has been well documented throughout the medieval era all over Celtic Europe.

We, of course, don’t know everything, in every detail about the very first traditions and customs of those first Beltane rites – but the fact that they had survived for so many centuries, and had been documented by many different cultures throughout the region leads us to a pretty clear picture of what exactly this Season, and celebration, meant to them. And to imply otherwise, or to perpetuate wrong-information as fact – or to state that modern interpretations and rituals as “traditional” is ignorant, and doing a disservice to the culture – regardless of if you try to walk a traditional path, or modern one. 

There is a reason why we are often looked at in society today as being little more than a bunch of free-lovin-hippy-cult-revival of over-sexualized debauchery – or why certain circumstances of criminal acts seem to be so scrutinized, and impactful to our community – because the community continues to influence the idea that our culture, and history, is rooted in nothing more than a prominent sexual overtone. Which is a very shallow, cut-and-dry image to paint to a culture that has so many depths and histories within it. 

We are much more than a Sex-cult. So on these days, lets try to share some of the proud, deep rooted histories of our people and customs so that others may see a different, and hopefully insightful, side to the people we really are. 

The Humonculous

The Christmas Tree and the Dregs of Winter

Leave a comment

In the olde faiths, the Irish Celts (and much of their brethren) would light candles and lanterns and hang them in the trees to illuminate their path and spirits through the Dregs of Winter – the 12 darkest days of the year leading up to the Winter Solstice – And in memoriam, as a Vigil, to the spirits of the Earth that dwindled and died in the bleak Winter Months. 

The Solstice itself culminated the Dregs of Winter, and was celebrated not only because it marked their end, but also the return of the Light beginning the waxing of daylight hours towards the Summer Solstice. 

Because of this, the Solstice was celebrated with many rites, rituals, feasts and celebrations. They would light all the previous candles and lanterns lit through the dregs, in honour of the returning light – and would garland the trees with sweet treats, heady foods, and lush offerings to the Gods to bless them for the upcoming year, and to ensure the return of light, life, fertility to the lands and abundant harvests for the growing seasons that laid ahead, and the rebirth of the Land and Earth that had been slumbering through the season. 

They would do this as they believed the spirits of the Earth and the Gods lived in the Trees, and by placing the blessings and offerings in the trees, they would be handed directly to the Gods and Spirits of the Earth themselves. 

As time went by, and the New Faith spread across the lands, and crossed the Sea to the Isles, the faiths became mingled. As the Celts did not fear or resent change as many people do – they accepted it, and honoured it. They were very easily converted to the New Faith because of this acceptance to change, and their easy and willing natures to grow and evolve as Time and Earth ever does – but because they were also a people of great respect, pride and integrity – They never, completely, let go of their olde ways or beliefs, and continued to observe certain sacred traditions and rituals, integrating them together with their new Faith, growing and evolving them both into something new – something unified together. Just as is their nature, until eventually we forgot about the Yule tides of the Northmen and their relative Tribes, or the Festival of Lights of the Gauls and Galacians, or the Midwinter rites of the insular tribes of Celts, from Goidelic, Manx, Picts and Brythons. 

Until these were all blended together with the new reigning faith, and as their empire grew they adopted it and defined it as their own, and slowly over years and years of exaggeration with new tradition built ontop of new tradition it has grown into modern times – but nonetheless, we are all each tied to our distant past in a least expected way. 

Each time you decorate your christmas tree. 

The Humonculous

I’m a pagan – who hates pagans.

Leave a comment

This is the time of year I get most offended…..by everyone….from all sides. And it seems to be coming full-force, a hell of a lot early this year (or at least, a more steady – constant stream of it this year)

Before I go on, I feel like I need to explain some things so I don’t sound like a complete ass, although it’s inevitable. 

I am a pagan. I’m not your run-o-the-mill umbrella term pagan, I am a very educated, self-aware, specific type of pagan. 

I am an Irish Celt (the pre-christian kind celt that is). I consider myself a traditionalist, in truth and sincere honesty. No – I am absolutely NOT a witch, and nothing related to. No – I am absolutely NOT a wiccan, and nothing whatsoever related to. No, I am not a Druid, because a druid is much more than just a believer. I am exactly what I said I am, and nothing different than that. And no, this is not open to your personal interpretation of semantics.

Why am I so specific about what *exact* type of pagan I am, and why do I follow a traditional path?

Because I am a pagan who hates pagans. 

In the sense that – I hate *neo* pagans, modern pagans, and the hodge-podge crap that has spewn forth from their ignorant creations. 

I am sick to death of giant umbrealla Pagan “denominations”, organizations or “covens” that think that if you happen to not be a christian, or happen to be some type of animist, or happen to believe in magick, that somehow that means you’re automatically a “pagan” and that somehow that means all pagans are the same, and interchangeable, and that ALSO means it’s synonimous with the words “wiccan” and “witch”.

I hate them for the same reason I hate these Decaturite busy bodies and moms. You’ll only get that if you live in Atlanta……..but if you live in Atlanta, and have ever made an expedition to Decatur and Buckhead to observe the horrible upper-middle class monstrousity of women (and sometimes men, but sadly mostly the women) then you know *exactly* what that means.

I hate ignorance, stupidity, lies and self-righteousness, no matter what form it comes in or from whom. I just. hate. them. 

Unfortunately, it’s been a growing trend -as far as I’ve been witnessing – over the past several years that the Pagan community is slowly becoming less sheepish, and secretive……and as part of their coming out, apparently, is breeding a thriving community of exactly all the things I hate.  And it is frustrating, embarrassing, disappointing, and purely angering. 

I’ve grown up my whole life having to learn how to cope, dodge, and overcome these exact same things – only from the outside. I was never a ‘normal’ child, as far as religious teachings go. My family is Irish – and country. Religion plays a -huge- factor in family, and life in general. 

We were forced to go to church, and bible school. Even though I was too young to get it, really, even then I knew this wasn’t the place i was supposed to be. Of course, if you ask my mom – that’s not true. Children don’t think that way, I was too young to know what I was doing, or what I wanted. 

Yes – partly – but there’s also that part of children that is just pure instincts, that people should absolutely listen to instead of just ignore it or shrug it off as ‘they’re just kids’. Children have more intuition than adults. And I just knew something wasn’t meshing right for me. Not in general – but for me. 

My mother’s disbelief of that, and disapproval, is just one more stepping stone of life. I’ve been kicked out of places, called endless amounts of names, forced to remove jewelry or items of clothing, oppressed into not celebrating holidays, or singing certain songs, even was fired from a job.  Religious discrimination ! you shout and scream, which yes. It is. But fighting it is a very different story. For those who are unfamiliar, the legal clause that protects religious freedoms and liberties are only applicable to those religions *federally recognized* as religious organizations. And guess whose religion is not federally recognized?

yup.

So, legally – it’s not religious discrimination at all, when what they are discriminating against *isn’t* a religion.

Bet ya didn’t know that.  I didn’t either. Lots of what you think are you’re natural rights actually come with stipulations. 

Even so recent as last holiday season, I was yelled at by one of my customers at work to turn off the music that was playing because it was “heathen” music and was shameful, offensive and inappropriate for the “Spirit and sanctity of the season”.  The music that, just so happened to be playing on a random compilation played on ‘shuffle’ that she was referring to was celtic music. Not even celtic pagan music. Just regular ol’ – completely instrumental – celtic flutes, harp, fiddle and drums.

She refused to pay until I turned it off. 

So after growing up, learning many hard life lessons of the world and how unequal it truely is; having to deal with all of this from the outside world, I sure as fuck don’t need to take it from my own people. 

Or who *think* they’re my people.

It is hard living a life as I do, because I have learned over the years a very hard truth:

The Pagan Community is more hateful, judgmental, ignorant, and alienating than any outside source. 

Because for people like me – not only are you generally looked over from the outside world because of the simple fact that you don’t fall into the 3 majorly accepted religions (or really, 2 accepted religions after 9/11) but you are also shunned from your fellows because you’re not the *right* kind of pagan. 

Because, apparently, there are extremely strict guidelines of what it means to be a pagan these days – and if you happen to disagree with one of these “Facts” or do not support a widely praised, or followed networks – you are a fake. Or a pretender. 

This is a lonely path. I knew that when I first fought my mom one Sunday morning, when I yelled at her that I didn’t want to go to church with Gramma anymore. I knew that when I started learning more and more of what actually *did* make sense to me. I knew that when I made the decission officially, and when I went behind my mom’s back to learn from my brothers – who supposedly didn’t exsist. It was ground into me even more when they had to leave, and I continued on my own – and opened even more doors that were even more guarded.

I knew what it meant.

I guess I just never thought it would be *completely* alone. I thought there would be someone to bump into somewhere down the road, and exchange scraps here and there and pass on to someone, or to receive from someone else, tid bits here and there of what they learned and what they knew, and could each take that back with us on our own way. 

But no – it’s not like that at all, and not because it *has* to be like that, it’s like that just purely because of the complete utter closed-mindedness of the community…..that they are completely oblivious too, because of course, ask any pagan – they’ll slather you with how open, and enlightened they are towards all people…..

Sadly, it’s just a lie.