Working the Medicine Shield?

I've been working on a whole new ritual structure, that is unfamiliar for the most part, and has required more study time to put together than pretty much all of the Wicca/Feri/Hindu/Tantra/ random stuff I've ever gone into. COMBINED.

While of course there are connections, there are also some just brain beating contradictions that are taking time to assimilate.

The Medicine Wheel/Shields is something that is turning out to be quite the undertaking. I'm working with primarily Plains tribes, because the tribes in the East Coast systems that I'm intested in integrated hundreds of years ago, not leaving much in the ways of spirituality behind. (Wampanog, Pokanoket)

While I spent my childhood on the east coast, I've spent the last 15 years give or take some loose change on the west side of the country. The recent (2yrs almost) move to Texas seems to have cemented the "here I am" in all of this. So plains tribes it seems to be. With some integration of the East Coast tribes.

In the Hopi systems, They work with quarters the same way Wicca does, but compared to the 'classic' pagan ritual structure, they are just flat out wonky in some ways.

South for example, is still fire/summer/ but it is red, green and black, and also has an earth aspect, the green comes in looking at the germinating aspects as being life, and thus part of fire as well as earth.

The other thing that's getting me is that they don't have a solid demarcation of four directions and four elements. North can sometimes be earth, sometimes water. Dependant. Cross quarters also have a whole set of aspects that are breaking my brain trying to put together.

Sometimes it seems to cross top to bottom, with north facing top, but sometimes the opposites seem to be next to each other rather than across from each other. The sticker in this being that when working with shadow and reflection selves, the qualities that are directly across from your home space, are the shadow and reflection. The places that need work.

Each direction then has a receptive, and an assertive set of qualities; and then each of these qualities is split again into constructive and destructive qualities with crossover for dual qualities that can both help and harm in different situations.

My head is exploding. I've come to that *stuck* point where I'm going crimeny, if I could just push on through one more book, one more page of diagramming, focus just a little longer then it would all fall into place, but CRIMENY!

Anybody done anything with the medicine wheel/shields? Any help is appreciated.

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Hey! Someone Pay Attention to Me!

There are a couple of recent threads talking about "thwaps," which set me wondering, what about a "thwap" from the other direction (that is, a person trying to make themselves known to a deity)? Can it work that way? How would it work, for example do you think a "pay attention to me" ritual be effective, or ignored, or even insulting?

My thought was that someone crying for divine help in an extreme situation could be pretty close to a reverse thwap; there's a purpose there, and a lot of emotion. But I don't personally have any experience with this, so I'm curious to hear what people think.

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The Less Popular Deities

A lot of the people I see on the Cauldron worship the, uh, bigshots of their pantheon. Deities like Set, Apphrodite, Apollo, and so on.

Does anyone follow other deities, ones which we don't usually hear about like Iris, Bes, etc.?

Why don't these deities seem to thwap people as much as their more popular kin? Is it a matter of interest? Power? Something else?

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Cauldron Member Handbook (January 2007 Edition) Available

After almost 18 months and 2975 downloads, a new, updated, and expanded edition of the Cauldron Member Handbook is available for download. This pdf file collects information on The Cauldron (e.g. message board rules, faqs, info on how to use our messsage board, and more) and makes in available for offline reading (or printing) in a form that can be viewed and printed using free software available for most major operating systems.

The January 2007 edition of the Cauldron Member Handbook is just under 150 pages. The download is a zip file that is just under 600K. Be sure to download your copy!

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Coming out of the Broomcloset: The Negative Experiences

I've skimmed through many Pagan forums and articles, and one of the major issues that most people seem to face is negative reactions to their coming out of the broom closet. Almost everyone seems to have a story to tell about being discriminated against at work or even at the family Christmas party.

The only person who has ever had a negative reation to my religious choices is my grandmother. Everyone else has been really cool about it and even taken an interest.

I was just wondering if anyone had experienced an overwhelming amount of negativity when it came to speaking about their religious beliefs, or if most people were relatively lucky like I am.

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Children's Altars?

Ok, the thread on Personal Touches to Honour Deity in the other forum started me thinking about altars for children but I figured it'd be better over here rather than cluttering up that thread.

For a long time I had a nodding acquaintance with Brigid, but since my son was born She has been a bigger part of things, at least where he is concerned. So, in addition to the charm bag I made when he came out of the nICU, there is also what you'd best describe as an altar to Brigid in his room.

So, now I'm wondering what, if anything, anyone else has...

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Funniest Moment?

What was your funniest moment working with/speaking with your Deities? (If you don't mind sharing)

Morrigan was the inspiration for this thread. LOL. Earlier tonight I was in the midst of prayer/meditation. I have been giving serious thought to trying "trance dancing" (other than astral) of late. She asked me "Why DON'T you dance?" My reply was "I'm afraid I'll look silly." That did it. Her response was "And you think you DON'T look silly with headphones on going like this?" (at which point, She started mimicking me bobbing my head and moving my arms around in circles in front of me.) She had a very valid point, but it made me crack up and it took me a minute or so to stop laughing.

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Ease of Learning?

Peter (I think) said in another thread that people *should* be able to pick up just one book and get the basics of the religion.

Is that true? Do you think your religion could be turned into a book format, if it isn't already? if it is, what book? Would reading that book without ANY other context lead to the same understanding, or is context essential?

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Do the Gods Know? Do They Care?

A question came up elsewhere about the relative importance of belief and practice and it got me wondering. I can't imagine bothering with practice unless there was an underlying belief on which to base it, but that's about the importance to the practitioner. Does it matter to the god/s what you believe about them, whether you have faith? Can they tell or are your thoughts as hidden from them as they are from other people?

Do the gods know or care what you believe?

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Happy New Year

2007 arrived overnight. The hosts and staff of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum wish all our members, friends, and site visitors a very Happy New Year.

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