lewellyn books

I was using the computer at my boyfriends parents house yesterday; I looked over at the printer and was delighted by what I saw laying on top of it. The Way of Four Spellbook: working magic with the elements by Deborah Lipp was sitting there as if it had been waiting for me to pick it up (okay so I exaggerate a little, but just a little).

When I first started studying Wicca, just over ten years ago now, I was a voracious reader with an addiction to metaphysical books put out by Lewellyn press (even the brightly colored, glittery, bubblegum books). My love for Lewellyn however, faded with time and as I advanced in both spiritual and magickal practice. I have found that this is not uncommon, as many other Wiccans have spoken to me about similar experiences with Lewellyn.

I think that I know the reason for this. First let me start out by saying that I am thankful to Lewellyn because though it was a friend that started me traveling down the Wiccan path, it was certainly Lewellyn that gave me the tools and information to hurtle down that road. With that said I can feel less guilty about pointing out some of the publishers shortcomings.

In my opinion Lewellyn focuses mostly on attracting newcomers to the craft. They do this by marketing mainly beginner books. Many of these beginner books are referred to derisively as bubblegum books by members of the Pagan community. The term basically means glittery books with watered down information meant to attract young people enamored with the movie the craft and the t.v. show Charmed. Some members of the Pagan community are downright hostile towards these books and towards the young, new and often bedazzled people that these books attract to the community.

I disagree with and am saddened by such hostility. After all, we were all newbies once to modern Wicca and paganism. Even those of us that came from family traditions (I did but in my family we certainly didnt call it Wicca, nope we were non-practicing Catholics, lol) were new to the revival, trying to suspend our disbelief while we assimilated the mainstream cousin of our family trads. And for those that came from very strict Christian upbringings, these supposedly bubblegum books served as a great way to ease the transition. Converting to a new religion is hard for anyone, even those who do not come from strict religious backgrounds, and beginner books help ease the transition.

Many people who start out with these beginner books lose interest when they realize that the glittery spellbook that promised them a quick finger snapping journey to happiness and fulfillment was wrong and that Wicca consists of both complex magickal and spiritual systems. And that's all right. In my opinion the experience that these people had and the knowledge that they learned from these books is still highly beneficial to the pagan community. Though these people are no longer members of the community, they often remain friendly to it. Good relations with members of other religions is vital if we are ever to achieve equal rights. These people also often remain open to Wicca as well and have favorable reactions when one of their friends, children or other family members decides to embrace Wicca.

So, before I digress any farther those are the reasons why I think that Llewellyn's plethora of beginner books is a good thing. However, I think that Lewellyn focuses to much of its energy on the beginner books and not enough on more advanced texts.

I know I am not the only one who after making my way through many beginner books kind of felt like I reached a dead end. I was strictly solitary at that time, and Lewellyn and other publishers (there are a few other small presses that market Pagan books) lack of advanced texts left me at a loss as to where I should go next. For many solitaires books are their main form of guidance and once they make it past the beginner stage they start to feel like "Now What?"

For me this ended up being a good thing as a lack of advanced texts pushed me to seek greater involvement and help from the Pagan community. I learned a lot from other Pagans sometimes in better ways than from books and sometimes in worse ways than from books. I also began involvement in Pagan Pride day and found fulfillment in service to my community.

However, I still feel an empty place within me that comes from a lack of involvement with a coven that I mesh with. I know that without that kind of involvement with a coven that I truly fit with I am not reaching my full potential, and my journey is certainly being slowed down. I fully believe that solitary practitioners are Real Pagans, can go very far and can quite often surpass members of established covens in terms of both spiritual and magickal practice. However, I must acknowledge that the journey is simply made more difficult by a lack of trusted, like minded souls around one that can support and enhance ones efforts.

There are also many Pagans who are deeply in the broom closet about their faith. I completely understand this because real world pressure caused me to hide out there for years. Even now I am a quasi-public witch. I will tell just about anyone who asks me what my religion is...but they have to ask. For people forced to hide out in the broom closet, public events (such as pagan pride day) are out of the question. Many times, involvement in a coven is also just too risky for these people. So the lack of advanced texts out there really hits them hard.

But there is hope ahead that this lack of advanced texts will eventually be remedied. First, the Pagan community is growing up, particularly Wicca. And when I say that I basically mean the average age of members. The Wiccan revival exploded in the United States starting about fifteen years ago. And quite often its open minded youth, who haven't been exposed to 3 or 4 decades of religious strictness that embrace Wicca. So to start with Wicca was very young. Its still young, but since many of the newbies who were attracted to the craft ten or fifteen years ago stayed our community is quickly changing and the call for advanced texts is growing.

To help accelerate the growth of availability of advanced texts though, we must all do our part. Next time, you are browsing at Barnes and Noble or other bookstore for a new metaphysical book pass over the glittering spell books and go for the more advanced (if rather more dull looking based on the cover) texts, or just buy them both. Lewellyn, like all publishers, stays in business because it markets books that sell. And the only way they will ever begin really offering advanced texts is if they see a great demand for them. If you really want to help, send Lewellyn an email and tell them that beginner books are not enough and that you are ready for something more than glitter.

And now, that Ive aired all of my thoughts and grievances with Lewellyn I will soon settle in to read the Way of Four Spellbook . It focuses on working with the elements which are some of my favorite components of magickal practice. I also noticed that the book is a companion to Deborah Lippels book The Way of Four. Hmmm....if the spellbook turns out to be good, I may just have to make a trip to the bookstore to purchase the first one.

I have planned, for some time, to write reviews of the many metaphysical books out there such as: Buckland's complete guide to Witchcraft, To ride a silver broomstick, solitary practitioner, to stir a magick cauldron, green witchcraft and others. These books and I have become old friends and I have found that each focuses on and serves a few different specific purposes. I hope that by writing reviews I might assist some Pagans in finding books that will help them achieve their goals.

Check back soon for a review on the Way of Four spellbook. I have found that writing book reviews is easier when I am currently or have recently finished a book, so I will review this one before I start catching up on previous Lewellyn titles.

I am keeping an open mind that The Way of Four Spellbook will be more than just a beginner book. After all I began Green Witchcraft by Anne Moura with trepidation that I might be wasting my time and was more than pleasantly surprised by the information I found concerning magickal practice. I was also thrilled by Moura's depiction of her family tradition, which was very similar to mine in many ways one being that neither tradition called itself Wicca. The book also allowed Moura to demonstrate her way of living, in addition to spells. Information on incorporating magickal and spiritual practice into real life to promote serenity and peace is always helpful. So with that in mind I leave you for a while to dig into this new book. Who knows I may just like what I read.

marriage is not only a Christian Institution

I read a blog today that disturbed me. I'm not going to post the url because even though I didnt like the contents I'm not trying to send a bunch of haters that blogger's way. The blog was about why the author thought gay marriage should not be allowed.

What got me was that the man's main arguement for outlawing it was that marriage was an entirely "Christian institution". I couldn't help but think "are you kidding me?" I guess no one got married earlier than the 2,000 odd years ago that marked the start of Christianity. That is the biggest load of crap I have ever read.

Its as bad as that article I read where this Christian lady wanted everyone who wasn't Christian to quit celebrating Christmas and get their own holiday. She was astonished and unbelieving at first when I and many other readers informed her of Christmas' very Pagan roots. Lol, no one stopped there either her illusions about Easter and even Groundhog day were shattered by the time readers were done with her. Even other Christians were laughing and telling her she needed to grow in Christ and become more informed.

I saw that same kind of ignorance at work when I read that blogger's claims that marriage was a christian institution. Marriage is an institution and tradition among people of all cultures, ethnicity's and faiths. And with each group its idea of what marriage should be is a bit different. And that is the way it should be. We should celebrate our differences instead of trying to force people to bend to our idea of how things should be.

I acknowledge that Christianity has many followers. In fact roughly 1/3 of the world's population is Christian making it the largest religion in the world. But what that really means is that 2/3 of the world's population are something else. So why is 1/3 getting to make the decisions for the 2/3?

The other main argument that I see against gay marriage is that Christians feel marriage is the foundation for strong families. I believe that too (not to say that long term boyfriend, girlfriend relationships can't ever be just as stable as a marriage. they can but that is usually not the case. And children born to a married couple that stay together are statistically better off than those raised by single parents or an unmarried couple.).

But I don't see how gay marriage undermines traditional marriage. What are they afraid of? Are they worried that untold number of housewives are secretly lesbians that are going to leave their husbands and run off with their girlfriends if gay marriage becomes legal? lol, i just don't get it.

Even though I am divorced I actually have a pretty traditional view of marriage. I believe that married couples should do everything and anything in their power to stay together, paticularly if they have children. I used to believe this so strongly that I tried to save my marriage even though my ex-husband was severely physically abusive to me. I did everything I could but after many injuries such as cracked ribs, broken teeth and a split scalp that had to be stapled back together I realized that what I had wasn't really a marriage anyway. For me it was a form of bondage that chained me to a man that would have killed me if I'd stayed any longer.

My views about marriage though are why, ten years after leaving, I have not remarried. I have come close but I won't do it until I'm absolutely sure that I have a man worth spending the rest of my life with. And you know what? It won't matter if one or a million gay couples tie the knot by the time I get married again, the sanctity of my marriage won't be affected. I am not threatened by beliefs, views, and sexual orientations that differ from mine. I don't need strength of numbers to stick to my guns.

I also can't help but notice a trend. Anytime one group tries to make another group second class citizens they deny them things that should be theirs by right. Such as the old laws outlawing marriage for slaves. Slaves could not legally be married rather they had their own non-legal ceremonies. These ceremonies actually resembled handfastings. Many slaves even did things like jump a broomstick in their ceremonies. As cool as that is, it was a travesty that slaves were denied the right to marry. Wiccan and other pagan ceremonies used to not be recognized as legal either until Wicca gained status with the IRS as a bona fide religion. Until then people had to go to the justice of the peace at the court house and have a little mini ceremony there in order to be legally married.

I see the idea of "civil unions" as just a way to throw a bone to a group of people that the majority seeks to treat like dogs. Marriage is not the property of any one group, ethnicity or religion. So therefore no group, ethnicity or religion should have the right to define what marriage should be to others.

Phew! Rant done! Bet you all wish i would stop being shy and just come out and say how I really feel, lol.

religion and politics

I heard something today that made me very sad. I was talking to my boyfriend's sister about the presidential election. I was surprised, a few weeks ago, to find out that she planned on voting for John McCain. You see, she is young and what I would call an agnostic with pagan leanings. Despite a very strict conservative and religious upbringing she turned out pretty liberal. she is pro-choice and believes in equal rights for gays. So I figured that McCain's anti-gay rights stance and plans to overturn Roe v. Wade if given a chance to appoint conservative judges to the supreme court would totally have her voting for Obama.

So when we were talking about it today I asked her why and her answer astonished me. She said that she just doesn't trust him because he is a muslim and belongs to a radical "anti-whitey" church. The muslim part had me perturbed; its the second time I heard that he was muslim but I didn't think that he was. I asked if she was sure, and she assured me that he was. She said those two things plus all of his funding made her nervous about him and made her not trust him.

I think that she thought there was some kind of conspiracy from rich arab oil people to put an extremist muslim in the oval office. Wow.

I was skeptical about the muslim part because I watched election coverage for hours on election night and the announcers just kept saying that if Obama was elected history would be made because he would be the first african-american president. If he were muslim I'm sure that they would have mentioned that because that too would have made history. After all, every President we have had with the exception of John F. Kennedy has been a part of some branch of Protestantism. Considering the effect that muslim extremists have had on the world since September 11th, 2001 I know that they would have mentioned something. so I looked it up on the internet.

By nature I question everything. And this time I am glad I did because Obama is not a muslim. He is a Christian that belongs to an "afrocentric" church. The church's leader is pretty radical though, i'll give her that. but geez the man cant be both an extremist muslim and a racist christian. it was Hilary Clinton that brought it up during the dem. primaries because Obama went to a muslim school for a couple years when he was a kid living in India. Most people don't realize that there are two kinds of muslim schools, one for secular teachings and the other for religious teachings. Obama attended one of the secular primary schools.

Honestly, the whole thing upset me quite a bit. Because why should it matter if the man were muslim or not? I love her to death but man some religious bigotry has got a hold of her. It makes me sad, really sad because true Islam promotes peace and forbids the killing of innocent people. It in no way justifies, excuses or promotes terrorism. And honestly if you want to compare track records Islam's is a heck of a lot cleaner than Christianity's. After all, it wasn't Muslims storming london during the crusades. Most Pagans I know won't use a cross for any sort of magickal purpose not because it's Christian but because it is a symbol of war. Untold number of murders happened in the face of that symbol in the name of God not Allah.

But because of the actions of a few extremists many now equate the word "muslim" with "terrorist". I feel this deeply since many of these same people equate the word "Wiccan" or "Pagan" with "Satanist". There are plenty of Christian extremists out there too. Man would some of these bigots get a taste of their own medecine if everyone began calling christians "terrorists" or "satanists" because of a few of their whacked out members.

An example of this is the Westboro Baptist Church. That christian church believes that the war in Iraq and many natural disasters happen because God is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality. They regularly picket military funerals and the scenes of things like earthquakes, freak landslides and so on with signs that say things like "he deserved to die" and "God hates fags." that's even the name of their damn website. How horrible is that to torment people that are already dealing with the worst pain there is - the loss of a loved one. Oh And on their horrible website they celebrate the murders of gay men such as Matthew Sheppard and encourage more violence against gays.

Would it be fair to judge and label all christians on the basis of these few religious nutjobs? Absolutely not. And its not fair to do it to muslims, pagans or anyone else of any other religion. You can not judge a religion based upon how it has been twisted and warped. It's that kind of attitude that makes me feel like equal rights for Pagans will be a long time in coming. And its that kind of attitude that has me keeping one foot always in the broom closet so i can jump back in an avoid persecution if I have too. I hope I will never have to, but I am not so certain.

I'm not sure what to do really except to continue to raise awareness and work for the cause of religious tolerance by setting the record straight about Paganism and Islam for anyone who wishes to listen (mind you no prosletizing just informing those who would like to know). I also plan to continue to help out with events such as Pagan pride day. But I can't do it alone. so if any of you reading this have a chance to help the cause of religious tolerance please give a sister a hand!!

Had a rough day

I put a lot of my articles on this blog. I am a freelance writer so a lot of the time I get to choose what I write about. Thats one of the perks of the job as I get to write about things that I like. So whenever I write an article about something relevant to pagans I post it on here. But I also use this blog as many do to relate my thoughts and things that are going on in my life. I tend to limit this to things that are relevant to other Pagans, though. This is one of those personal posts.

I had a very rough afternoon today; an emotionally straining one to say the least. I feel mentally beat up like someone walked up and beat the crap out of my psyche. Yep, a metaphorical curb stomps got me down.

Im not going to get into why I feel that way beyond summing up my issues. It would take too long and as we all have our own problems I dont think anyones going to want to read a few thousand words that detail mine. Besides, what Im going through now is pretty common. I bet most of you will understand with just a brief description.

Financial worries have me stretched to the limit, as usual. I grew up in poverty around dysfunction, abuse, and substance abuse of all kinds. The poverty has proved to be the hardest cycle to break out of. Things that werent a big deal as a child and very young adult are becoming a big deal now. An example: crowded teeth that crack each other, making them more prone to cavities. And when you dont have money to have a cavity fixed you end up needing a crown. Lack of health insurance, no savings and a horrible economy have really taken their toll on me.

I am a single parent living far from all my blood relatives, except my children. Like many women I am solely responsible for providing for and caring for two of my three children. Their father helps in now way what so ever and hasnt seen them in two years. That puts a huge burden on me trying to be mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle to my kids. I have friends who help me though (thanks guys I dont know what Id do without you!).

Ive slowly been working my way through college. I know I will get through this dark time, I always do and end up stronger for the struggle. But sometimes I must admit, the fight is bigger than me. Today was one of those days. And Im sorry to say that it got the best of me for a while. I broke down crying. Between bouts of tears I was wringing my hands anxiously thinking about everything I need to do to: not only keep going but get ahead at least a little bit. If I dont then my situation wont get any better. But its a very tall order.

As rough as its been, I came to a realization today about personal power. And this realization is an important one. While I was freaking out thinking of all my responsibilities, I noticed that I was having an extremely high amount of negative thoughts. Like "I can' t do this." "It's not possible." "There's just no way." "This won't get any better." "There's nothing I can do."

And being a pagan, I have a strong belief in the power of the mind. I realized that I got in my own way today, many different times. I was sitting there freaking out when I could have been working to make my situation better. How much time did I waste like that? And how often do I waste my energy during the day, because I have so many worries in the back of my mind? But most importantly, how often do my negative thoughts manifest themselves in my reality? And when I consider the run of bad luck I've been having for a while, I think I may have been jinxing myself and attracting negativity to me for some time.

I've been feeling helpless in the face of all of that. But, I should know better. After all, I am a witch, or what?? I mean I've spent years learning magick, ritual and communion with the Gods and Goddesses. Like all learned witches, I can walk between worlds yet here I am feeling sorry for myself and like I have no power. Also, like all people, I have talents and gifts many of them when I stop and think about it. Unfortunately, I haven't been using them all. And the ones I choose to use have been negatively affected by my anxiety and response to stress.

It's time I remembered that I have power and stop dreading the day when I wake up in the morning. I need to start waking up like I used to: excited because with a new day I had another chance to make my life better and pursue both happiness and my dreams. Sure that was easier when I had less baggage, fewer regrets and the endless energy of a teenager. But I have had many positive things come to me in the years between now and then. I am have much more wisdom now than I did then. Sure I was a real go-getter in my teens. A real "go-get-myself-in-trouble-leaping-before-I-look" kind of person. I'm better off now and I need to remember that.

So with all of that in mind, I'm going to bed now (I'll post this later) and in the morning when I wake up I'm going to remember that every new day is a gift, a chance and an opportunity.