Official Pagan Thread!

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
Your mom sounds like mine when she Lost Her Mind... LOL My mom had it in her head that my books and stautes were causing demons to attack her... NO Mom... The voices in your head are called schitzaphrenia(sp?) LOL

oh dear! mam was going through her hyper-christian phase so when questioned she lied and said that she didn't know what had happened to my books (isn't that a sin? LOL) then "and anyway, I don't want evil THINGS like that in my house..." (what, including historical texts that I needed for my degree? just because they were about celtic gods etc? ) and on being questioned about what could be evil about a book about attitudes to a subject etc, said "I just worry, must be because I'm a mother!" because of course that made perfect sense.... bleh! She did seem genuinely convinced that those books were allowing evil things into her home just by sitting there, boxed

of course, she also has the worlds most intense case of denial so because this incident wasn't good she now doesn't know what I'm talking about when I mention it... so I give up.

Gotta love them Mommas... LOL My mom finally got over the Super Holier than Thou attitude and now leaves me in peace...

 

[ebwy]

Quote:
I think mam is over it now, she doesn't go to chapel any more but equally I don't discuss my beliefs with her either... things are strained enough without risking that!

 

[deb1]

I feel so bad about some of the stories that you have told.

My mother once told me not to read horror novels because she thought that I could open myself up to being possessed. Of course the fact that millions have read authors like Stephen King without being possessed didn't shake her belief at all.

 

[ptig78d]

Just a fun lil fact.....Stephen King lives in Bangor, ME...which is only 20 minutes drive from me. I've been past his house a few times.
He's got the coolest fence!!

http://www.horrorking.com/photo2.html

This is a good website (I just found through searching) of the house, and some scenes around Bangor.

 

[Kanchii]

Whoa Stephen King DOES have a cool fence!

 

[deb1]

Do you all have any particular God or Goddess that you like to work with?

 

[CoopCrazy]

I tend to use many Gods and Goddesses, it mainly depends on the outcome or season.. I do love Calliech though, and Aros..

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Hearing about others' experiences with their parents makes me so grateful for my mom and dad! My second year of college I wrote them a letter telling them how much I appreciated them and the way they raised me... I hadn't realized till then how lucky I was. I am still blown away when I think about the contrast between them and the rest of the world. I have friend who isn't allowed a tarot reading because of her husband's beliefs. My former room mate who insisted we place all the Magic books (hers and mine both) on the bottom shelf where a chair would block their view just in case her dad came to visit...
And would you believe that yahoo answers removed our question when we asked as delicately as possible for suggestions of ways to honor the spirits of the chickens we were butchering? To my household it makes sense that taking a life is not to be taken lightly, especially when it is a creature you have cared for. We wanted to thank them for their sacrifice and were simply looking for others who had ideas of possible ways to honor them. We said nothing offensive, nothing about sacrificing them to our evil gods... but we were accused of devil worship and our post was removed. The ignorance of some people!
I wish I had known you all were here then... Last summer was the first time any of us had really taken a life. I had caught a few chickens as a child that my grandmother killed and stewed. I had raised 3 bull calves 2 of which were killed and eaten. Dani'el had raised pigs in 4H, but as far as being adults and choosing to raise our own animals, and to proccess them ourselves was a huge and difficult step. Everyone we knew who had killed was very... nonchalant about it. Like it was their right and the animals deserved no better. Everyone we knew who shared our beliefs that our animals were special and deserved respect couldn't and wouldn't kill their own dinner. Being unable to convert to vegetarianism, we felt it ws something we had to do.... not just because we strive to be self-sufficient as much as we can, but sort of as a way to earn the right to eat meat. If we are not willing to have the blood on our hands, what right do we have to let others be stained so we can eat? (I am not even gonna get into the 'humane conditions' debate of factory farms!) Needless to say, it was a trying time. Our very first chickens... hand raised, named, and loved, then killed and eaten... It is hard to find someone who can understand that.
Do any of you raise meat birds/proccess surplus roosters? If so, I would be interested to know how you deal with it, from a spiritual perspective. Really the best I can do is be as kind as possible and endevor to ensure nothing goes to waste. I make masks from the feathers, we dry the feet around polished stones and make them into wands or charms, the inedible insides go into the ground for the garden, I make soup from the bones, I made fans from the wings of the last rooster we killed (he had been getting too aggressive with the kids) Some consider it a bit morbid, but I do it to show my respect. Every piece of every life is valuable and the idea of throwing any piece away is horrifying to me. How do you deal with it?

 

[ebwy]

the whole "an animal died for my dinner" thing has always been something I've been aware of, unlike most of my friends growing up! I occasionally came downstairs to find a pile of dead rabbits in the hallway, or my dad went to buy the chickens to kill (cheaper that way). Most of my friends don't like to think about it, but I think NOT knowing and acknowledging the death of the animal would be wrong. I don't DO anything specific to acknowledge it, but I am always aware of it when I eat meat. I'm also aware that vegetation is alive, different but alive too. Therefore (for me, I don't judge anyone else for their food habits) whatever I eat, something had to die for it.

but if you do it yourself, you know the animal didn't suffer unnecessarily at the end. If you raise it yourself you know it didn't have a hard, cruel life. it's got to be better than some of the meat factories.
Not sure I would name the animals to be eaten, though. I've always thought "you name pets, you don't name livestock" so that's my own little bit of hypocracy!

 

[ptig78d]

I know what you mean. It's hard to kill something you took so much time and care raising...but, it does have to be done at one point. We had an overagressive roo....Rodney, that I beheaded after he attacked my son. It was a wierd experience, processing him, knowing who he was....but I was also angry about the whole thing too.
I would think that there are some Native American ceremonies, prayers that would suffice. Coyote Magic might know some...
gotta get the boys to bed. Talk to you all later!