I was just wondering since Samhain is coming up how do you guys plan to celebrate it?(If you do celebrate it.)
I'm still trying to think of ideas-particularly 'cause I'm so scatterbrained I nearly forgot-and I wanted to get a broader sense of what some people did.
I've been doing a lot of thread reading around the Cauldron and I've seen the issued of sex in ritual addressed a couple of times. It sparked a particular thought process and I have a question or two.
From what I have picked up it appears that Deities may ask things of you. I also have picked up the idea that if you say no, for whatever reason, They don't burn your crops and kill your family. That it's okay to say no.
So my question isn't so much about saying no as related to the Gods and Goddesses. It's more about groups, traditions, belief systems, etc. What if you said no to a group? Then what? How much are you allowed to deviate from the 'accepted norm' in order to value certain principles in your life? The biggest reason I ask is that a lot of information I get on a tradition or a specific group in a tradition is really basic stuff. So, there is a wee bit of mystery as to what might be expected of a person if they are initiated and how much 'squirm' room is allowed. Is this something you would know before deciding to ask about initiation?
I should probably explain that the sex in ritual lead me to this thought because I'm in a committed relationship and although we've discussed doing this between ourselves I have no clue as to how he would react if it was something that was expected in a specific ritual. He's solitary and not really inclined to have a specific tradition. And I don't know how I would feel, really, if it was the other way around. I don't really like to share. lol So it got me to thinking about other stuff too and saying no. There's not a whole lot I can think of at this point that might really bother me, and I could probably choke my way through most of it if I had to ... but this particular topic caught my attention because it doesn't involve just me, but someone I love. Sorry if I'm rambling ... but I am very curious how to twine together everyday life and the spiritual if the two are in disagreement?
Thanks for any thoughts!
I'm absolutely not out to insult anyone ... but I find the whole skyclad thing very hard to deal with. I have only checked on a three of the Wiccan traditions and read a couple of websites on CR and they all have stuff about going skyclad (naked) during rituals or special rituals. I understand the reasons given ... but seriously ... does the general population of certain religions really do this? I admit to it being the main reason I draw back and pass over a tradition. It might fit me everywhere else, but I just can NOT see myself getting naked for a ritual. By myself. No problem. With my SO. No problem. With a bunch of others. No.
So, I'm wondering if maybe I would be better off just being solitary or sharing my circle with my SO and no one else but the Gods and Goddesses?
I never liked dualities because they seemed too pat.
So you can imagine my horror when I realised that my perception of my godforms has gotten increasingly dualistic.
Of course they don't fit together in a neat abstract way. It's just that it's possible to fit the concrete details I have about them into abstractions. So, for example, even though it's more fire/dark, I can fit that into light/dark. Or immanent fire/dehydrating water can be shoehorned into fire/water. Stick figure/female into male/female, you get the drift. Intuitively I feel like this approach can be helpful, if it isn't carried so far as to flatten individual characteristics for the sake of conceptual neatness
I'm curious, how many others here would say they work within a dualistic framework? Is it a part of your path, or simply your own approach to your path, and if so how do you think the dualistic framework contributes to a deeper understanding of your path? How have you developed your framework to take into account the 'textured' nature of reality (as opposed to flattening things out)?
Well, what do you guys think about revenge? Sometimes it makes me feel relieved to see a person suffer who made me suffer too. But on the other hand, hate shouldn't consume you entirely. Is revenge justified? Do you turn the other cheek? How far do you go when it comes to revenge, are you actively boycotting that person, or just enjoy when things go wrong?
I was wondering about the rule of 3. I'm not sure if I should follow it or not, but the people who do, do you think revenge is also part of it, like you hurt me, I can hurt you 3 times as hard? Or do you see it in another perspective?