A MagiQal Life

Marshall University, a college in Huntington, W.Va., recently became the first college in the country to grant pagan students excused absences for celebrating pagan holidays.

While many colleges have policies allowing students to miss any class for religious reasons, no other school has recognized paganism by specifically granting students permission to miss class for pagan holidays, The Associated Press reported.

I’m simply thrilled by this news, as it’s one step closer to making the various pagan faiths once again mainstream…something that has not been done for generations. And while I am not really sure of the specifics of it all or which holidays they are allowed to miss, I really do feel that this is a step in the correct direction. Now if all goes well other schools will follow suit, and then maybe rather then closing the school down for the Christian holidays they will close them for government holidays (veterans day, in service, boss’s day, etc) and then allow the students on an individual level leave when they need to observe something for religious reasons.

Luckily many of the holidays are pretty close to one another, if not on the same day, so such a transition should not be all that hard of one.

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I recently took a trip to Knoxville to McKay Books, a simply FANTASTIC used bookstore. I do my best to make it over there at least once every few months and would like to go more but generally do not have the money. They sell high quality, but used books that are generally at least 50% off of the cover price, though even better deals can certainly be found.

In the past I have gotten several magickal text, a few craft/project books, and even a gardening book. I generally head out there with my Most beloved, but sometimes I’ll head out there with her daughter, which is who I went with this last time. She got a few novels of the time travel/paranormal variety, and I got three books on superstitions.

• The Encyclopedia of Superstitions, by E. and M. A. Radford [Barnes & Noble, 1961]
  370 pages of information on European and American superstitions complete with a decent bibliography and a handy index for cross-referencing. Well worth its $7.50 price tag.
• Dictionary of Superstitions, by David Pickering [Cassell, 1995]
  It has 294 pages with more entries then the previous book, but less information for each one of them. It offers no other perks, but is still rather handy as an A-Z guide for it’s topic. Certainly a good starting point, and I’m glad that I got it for $5.25.
• A Treasury of American Superstitions, Claudia De Lys [Bonanza, 1948]
  This little gem has 484 pages, a bibliography, and a decent index. It is not an A-Z guide however and finding things quickly could prove difficult without it’s index. It is well written, easy to follow, and has more information then either of the other two on the topics that it covers. One nice thing is that it focuses on American traditions, though many did come from over seas originally.

I plan on writing up several articles on what can be had in all three books so stay tuned to both here and the main site for updates concerning superstitions. To get a small taste of what is inside the three books check out these Occult Corpus discussions for superstitions for the entire week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

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The Church is sometimes the best friend that the Pagan Community has ever had. For instance, in an article  from Today’s Christian Woman, there are several grand claims in it based on personal experiences from people the author knows.

 In reading the article I have learned that if I leave Christianity behind I can then use spells to get a better job, use a spirit guide for guidance, and otherwise lead a very happy and healthy life through the use of witchcraft and magick. Simply fantastic if you as me!

 Dr. F. Douglas Pennoyer, a cultural anthropologist and senior pastor of Snohomish Free Methodist Church near Seattle. says that “it really works”. I mean, the guy is a doctor and an outstanding member of the community and church. I’ll certainly take that as an endorsement any day!

 Once it gets done with all of the wonderful examples of how Witchcraft can make your life easier, better, and more fulfilling, it goes on about how all of that is a contradiction to biblical scripture. Even in the middle of all that Pastor Doug Pennoyer agrees that “There’s a resurgence in Wicca because people are seeking power in their lives, something that works”. Of course he then says that parents should pray that their children never find such joys in life as something that works. Though, he does have a point with something else that he’s said; “Neo-paganism is simply old garbage recycled.”

 Either way, in reading the article I see that A) The Occult and a New Age lifestyle are means to better ones life, and that B) God thinks that doing these things is “bad” though other then saying that it’s bad, there is no real explanation as to why. Why? Likely because there isn’t one.

 Blessed Be.

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Those who can not see that there is magick in mundane life, are not living life to its fullest potential. Magick is all around us, and it does not really take all that much to see it. I’m not talking about pretty colored leaves that have fallen into the creek, and I’m referring to the autumn leaves that have turned color, but have not fallen, but there is magick in that as well. No, I’m talking about talking…

A simple hello and a smile can make a dim day bright, even if that hello is too a stranger. On a recent trip to Cades Cove with the family Lakota and I sat in the back of the van with the door open. When we passed by random hikers, bikers, and people riding horseback we talked to them. Most of the time it was little more then a How-dee-doo but at other times we asked them relevant questions to the days outing, like whether or not they saw the giraffe a few miles back, or if they got any cool pictures of the elephant. It didn’t matter that neither giraffe nor elephant were there to see or get pictures of, what mattered was the friendly way in which we asked. Friendly, polite, and with a sincere smile…

We passed two ladies on bikes and wished them the bestest of days. A very short way up from them we passed two guys. We pointed to the ladies a ways back and said they may do well to ride as team and make new friends. The ladies were glad to give us their hellos, and from the looks of the guys, they thought the idea I gave was a grand one.

A bit later we passed by some nice people on horseback. We called them cowboys, took their picture, and waved as if we were old friends. I could see them smiling broader as we drove away then when we drove up. On some level, we helped make their day a better one.

There was a nice couple with the largest lens we’ve ever seen, and asked them if they shot anything nice. They said “not yet” so we wished them luck…and I hope they got lucky.

A little girl riding her bike was wished well too, though that wish was likely foundered as she nearly crashed into the van while spitting expletives…though maybe had we not said hello, she’s have fallen, and made her day a bad one. Who can really know for sure.

All in all, we talked to at least 30 people, and of those 30 people 29 smiled, and I really do like those odds, and each of those 30 people made my day a little brighter, so I hope that my smile also brightened their day. Have you said hello to a stranger lately?

If not, then spread the magick…

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Back in 2005 when I was a full fledged member of Occult Forums we got a loony that made an account named “Jack Blade”. Half of this members posts seem to claim he had some affiliation with Satan. The other half had him claiming that he was Jesus Christ.

Through some twist of normal logic he claimed that there was proof of his divinity on his birth certificate. (exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C), and his twisted logic is thus:

Technically look at it.. My mother’s name is Caroline Rosser.. Carol as in the song.. See sign’s C.Rosser like Jesus died on the cross.. Which made God crosser.. Then my father’s same Stuart Evans.. Stu Art.. As in the Devil makeing art of food.. Art of you.. You become the Devil’s toy an he ain’t human.. I got all nature im like a wild animal when i want to be.. An then he sign’s S.Evans As in Seven spirit’s of God.. An also like the film Seven which show’s how dark my metality goes.. Understand if it exist’s it exist’s in me an my head.. Makeing it my metality an memory’s.. Then we have me my name is Geraint David Evans.. Which break’s down into G Re Ain’t Vaild Heaven’s.. Why ain’t Re correct or vaild.. Because Jesus was God an Devil.. Not just God.. Jesus was the man with the spirit of the Universe.. Makeing him both God an Devil.. Then my birth date prove’s this.. 21 April 1983.. 21 as i said is the number.. An even my birth year add’s upto it.. 1+9+8+3=21.. 3×7=21.. 7 an 21 are the Alpha an the Omega of the last chapter of the bibel Jesus is coming.. Jesus say’s he the Alpha an Omega would return then i turn up haveing the number’s which prove me to be the Alpha an the Omega of that chapter.. See i said i would return an i have.. An the fact that my number’s prove God as similer number’s to Devil prove’s they are one an the same.. Just different side’s of God’s metality.. An the fact that the number’s is proved by the supposedly holy bible.. Prove’s it is from God.. No matter what crap they pull.. If they think im nothing but the Devil then i would not be connected in such a way to the bible.. A book you claim is so holy.. Yet it was wrote by them ba*tards who killed me.. Holy i think not.

Post after post of bad poetry and random biblical ramblings followed and proceeded that revelation to the point that the member had to be banned for breaking several of the forum rules and regulations.

Almost two years later he was accused of killing Father Bennett, a Vicar at St Fagan’s Church. While this is a story out of the UK, it crossed over to the states when the news had an image of the forums he was a member at. Oddly enough, they equated the forums with Satanism and other evil things, where that was not really the case. Either way, the publicity of the event has forced the current administration to ‘archive’ the posts of the member, so I’ll not be sharing anything more.

But if you would like to know more of the story from the media you can check out this story, and this video.

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