I am a Pagan.
I am a part of the whole of Nature.

The Rocks, the Animals,
the Plants, the Elements, are my relatives.

Other Humans are my sisters and brothers, whatever their races, colors, or sexual preferences.

The Earth is my Mother and the Sky is my Father.
The Sun and the Moon are my Grandparents, and the Stars my Ancestors.

I am a part of this large family of Nature, not the master of it.
I have my own special part to play and I seek to play that part to the best of my ability. I seek to live in harmony with others in the family of Nature, treating others with respect not abuse.

I am a Pagan.

I celebrate the changing seasons, the turning of the Wheel of the Year, with music, feasting, rituals, and celebrations.

Samhain, or Halloween, is a time for paying homage to my ancestors and friends who have passed into the Spirit world and a time for gazing into the future.

Yule, the Winter Solstice, is a festival of Peace, Light, and the Celebration of the new Sun, and my home is filled with lights and Holly, Mistletoe, Evergreens, and other herbs sacred to the season.

Candlemas, Imbolc, or Groundhogs day at the beginning of February, is a festival of purification,a time for clearing away blockages to prepare for the coming of Spring and new growth.

At Ostara, the Spring Equinox, I celebrate the greening of the Earth by dressing in green myself and sharing colored eggs with friends.

Beltane, May Eve, is a festival of fertility and creativity, and I decorate myself with bright colors and flowers and dance the Maypole to bless gardens and projects in the growing season.

Summer Solstice, Litha, is a grand gathering time when I meet old friends and greet new ones, and celebrate the change of the Sun by burning the Yule wreath made six months before.

Lughnassad, Lammas, is a celebration of the height of Summer, and I give thanks for the herbs and other blessings that are starting to come to fruition and pray for the continued abundance.

Fall Equinox, Mabon, is the time of Thanksgiving for all the harvests I've reaped during the growing time.

At Samhain, the Year starts again.

I am a Pagan.

I pay attention to the seasons within myself and others... of beginnings, growth, fruition, harvest, endings, rest, and beginnings again. Life is a Circle with many cycles.

I am a Pagan.

I work magick by the Moon to help and to heal myself and others. I activate beginnings in the Waxing, energize manifestations at the Full, clear away obstructions with the Waning, and experience the wisdom of transformation at the Dark.

I take part in Circles at the New and Full Moons, and I know that my Circles are part of the whole web of Circles that meet at these times around the Planet.

I am a Pagan.

With every Death there is a Rebirth.
For every problem there is a solution and an opportunity for growth. I create my own reality with my thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Whatever I send out always returns.
I seek to abide by the Rede: An It Harm None, Do What You Will.

When I work magick, before I raise and direct energy I seek always to look at the larger picture of which my needs are just a part.

When problems come my way, I seek to understand their cause and messages as part of my finding a solution.

In doing healing work, I seek to correct the underlying cause, rather than just treat symtoms.

I am a Pagan.

I acknowledge that the Divine is everywhere in the energy of life.
I am Animistic.
I sense the life force in the Oak tree on the hill, in the Herbs in the garden, in the Birds singing at my window, in the Boulders on the hill, in myself, and yes, even in things such as my car and computer.

I understand that everything has its physical and non physical aspects, The physical and spiritual are deeply intertwined, not separate, and one is not better than the other.

I am a Pagan.

I know that Divinity has many facets and I Experience this through a variety of Goddesses and Gods.

I also honor Divine Oneness, the Unity of All.
My personal encounters with Pagan Goddesses and Gods have transformed and enriched my life.

Hecate appeared at a Death to teach me of Release and Rebirth,
As a young child, Artemis flowed through me to scare off a rapist, Selene of the Bright Moon brings me visions and my name.

I have heard Pan play his pipes in the glade, and Cernunnos has appeared to me in the forest as a young stag.
I've experienced the union of Goddess and God while making love to my mate in the fields on Beltane Eve.
Bast has helped me deepen my connections with my cat friends.
Isis has spoken to me in bursts of radiance in the deep of the night and in flows of energy through my hands in doing healings.

I am a Pagan.

My worship is one of communion, not groveling.
I share my views with others when I sense it is right, but I do not proselytize... there are many ways, not one way, of spiritual growth.

My holy places are under the open sky... in the Stone Circle, in the Oak grove, on the top of the mound... on the Vision Rock on the high cliff... in the Garden, in the fields... in the Sweatlodge by the Stream... by the clear pool of the Sacred Spring... in the Rainbow Cave in the valley.

Yet my worship can be anywhere... my magick circle is portable.

I can call to the four quarters, to the Earth and Sky, and to the central Spirit point wherever I may be.

I am a Pagan.

I journey into the Otherworld in my dreams, My Meditations, my Rituals.

I use magickal tools to aid me in my journeys and my magicks:  incense, cauldron, candles, chalices of water, pentacles of salt, crystals, feathers, bells, rattles, drum, wand, staff, blade, and mirror.

I fly with my consciousness through time and space.
I return with insights.
I go between the worlds for healing, growth, and transformation. Psychic perception is a natural, not supernatural, part of my daily life.

I am a Pagan.

I attune myself to the four elements of Nature: Earth, Air, Fire, Water... and to the fifth element, Spirit, which is the force that connects all.
I see these elements as parts of my Self: my physical Body is my Earth, my Intellect, my Air, my Will, my Fire, my Emotions, my Water, and my Inner Self is my Spirit.
I endeavor to keep myself healthy and in balance in all these parts of Self.

I am a Pagan.

I hear the cries of Mother Earth.
I see the pollution of the air, the soil, the waters.
I see the games being played by nations with the fire of nuclear weapons.
I see the spiritual pollution, too: selfishness, hatred, greed for money and power, despair.
I sense these things, but I sense, too, a cleansing, healing energy manifesting on the Planet at this time.
I know that I can help bring the Planet into greater balance by seeking balance in my own life.
I know that my attitudes and my way of living can make a difference.
I endeavor to be a channel for healing and balance.

I am a Pagan.

~ By Selena Fox ~

 

(To The Tune Of "Hush Little Baby")

In this version, you can subsitute 'wytchling' for 'baby' if you like!

  

Hush little baby/wytchling don't you squall,
Mummy's gonna buy you a crystal ball.

And if you still can't see beyond,
Mummy's gonna buy you a magic wand.

And if that wand don't change your fate,
Mummy's gonna teach you to levitate.

And if the astral makes you sick,
Mummy's gonna buy you an incense stick.

And if that frankincense smells rank,
Mum'll buy a sens-ry deprivation tank.

And if that tank don't float your bones,
Mummy's gonna buy you some precious stones.

And if those gems don't ease your heart,
Mummy's gonna buy you a natal chart.

And if your planets go berserk,
Mummy's gonna buy you some bodywork.

And if your aura still needs kneading,
Mummy's gonna buy you a past life reading.

And if your destiny stays hid,
Mummy's gonna buy you a pyramid.

And if your chakras still feel stressed,
Mummy's gonna take you on a Vision Quest.

And if your Totems don't come to charm ya,
Sorry, kid, it's just your karma.

You Know You Are A Pagan If.....

1) When you are sworn into court, you bring your own Grimoire.

2) You've been seen talking to cats.... They talk back and you understand what they are saying.

3) When asked if you believe in God, you ask, "Which One?"

4) You know what "Widdershins" means and what happens when you do it.

5) You have an entire spice cabinet and you don't cook.
(You know that laurel and bay leaves are the same thing.)

6) You have a frequent buyer card at the local antique bookstore.

7) You think Mercedes Lackey should be a cultural icon.

8) You know there are exceptions to the law of physics. You've caused them.

9) The first things your guests say is "My, That's a nice... altar... you have there."

10) On Halloween, you yell "Happy New Year!" at passers-by.

11) You know that Christmas trees were originally Pagan symbols.That's why you bought one.

12) You have friends who say they are elves and you believe them.

13) You commit blasphemy in the plural.

14) Upon dying, your first thought is, "Damn it, not AGAIN."

15) When you say "Mother Nature," you don't mean it in a anthropomorphic way.

16) Gaia is NOT the lady on Captain Planet.

17) You think 'The Mists of Avalon' should be a religious text.

18) In Religion 100, you were disappointed because they didn't cover YOUR gods.

19) You know there is a right way and a wrong way to draw a pentacle. You CAN explain the difference.

20) You've spent the last year and a half looking for a familiar.

21) You talk to trees and they talk back.

22) You know dragons and fairies exist. You've seen them.

23) Painting yourself blue, spiking your hair, and dancing naked around a bonfire sounds like great fun.

24) You've seen "The Craft." You know they were making stuff up in "The Craft." ...You have explained this to other people. ...You can do it better than they did in "The Craft."

25) You understand the sybolism behind a maypole.

26) You've ever ended a phone call with "So Mote It Be."

27) Your children go around telling people that, "The Goddess loves you."

28) You think that "Scott Cunningham" is a household name...

29) You feel that there is no such thing as having too many cats...

30) The emergency calls you get at work are your teenagers wanting to know the whereabouts of the extra candles, incense or other misc. ritual items.

31) Someone asks you what you are doing wandering around in the woods wearing a robe, and you answer cheerfully: "Going to church!"

32) Friends give you candles and incense as a gift.

33) There are more jars of strange smelling plants in your cupboards than there are cereal boxes.

34) You find yourself making corn dollies in the checkout line
at the local grocery store.

35) You start answering the phone with "Merry Meet!"

36) When cleaning house you have to specify. "Where is the broom? No, not *that* broom - Where is the one to clean the floor with?"

37) You're reading this page and you clearly understand what it's talking about.

38) You have even more to add to this list....

 

 

 

 

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it" he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10 percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one."

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on. "No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live-and live to be a healthy, happy young girl.

But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers: "I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything, trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I couldn't listen." I said, "No, that is not going to happen, no way! I don't care what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!"

As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae's under-developed nervous system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that The Gods would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her parents were finally able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later-though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero.

Danae went home from the hospital. . . just as her mother predicted.

Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no signs, what so ever, of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more - but that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas - Danae was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering non-stop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes honey, it smells like rain." Danae closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're all about to get wet, it smells like rain." Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Her... It smells like The Goddess when you lay your head on Her Breast." Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children.

Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were far too sensitive for them to touch her, The Goddess was holding Danae to Her Breast, and it was Her Loving Scent that she remembered so well.

This is a True Story - Pass it On!

Footprints in the Sand
 ~Pagan Goddess Version~

One star-lit night, amidst a wondrous dream;
far below, a tropical shore could be seen.
As I gazed down upon this peaceful land,
I saw The GODDESS' Footprints in the sand.

Her Tracks went deep in the glittering shore,
evidence of the heavy load that SHE Bore.
I looked around and was about to ask,
"What is the source of so great a task?"

But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked HER, "What have we here?
These two prints are round and neat,
but much too large to be from feet..."

"My child", SHE said in somber tone;
"For Miles I Have Carried You Alone.
This Walk Was To Help You Learn And Grow,
You Must Walk To Learn What I Already Know.
So Out Of Love, I Finally Gave Up,
And There I Dropped You, On Your Butt.
In Life My Child, There Comes A Time,
When One Must Fight,
And One Must Climb,
When One Must Rise And Take A Stand,
Or Leave Their Butt Prints In The Sand."