Symbols Part Three: The Ankh

Ankh literally means 'life'. All life. Earthly, spiritual and even underworldly. It is an ancient Egyptian symbol that is so old, many scholars are not sure of when or where it came from. Whether from a the shape of a sandal strap or that it is the rising sun, the loop being the sun, the horizontal bar the horizon and the vertical bar the sun's path, or even the Nile.

On walls of tombs, many gods are depicted feeding pharaohs an ankh, giving it the sub meaning, 'breath of life'. It is also said to be a gateway between this realm and to the Underworld. It unifies the male and female, through the loop (Sun, which is masculine) and horizontal bar (Earth, which is feminine), or through the cross being male and the loop being female. Mirrors, which are also doors to the otherside, were made in the shape of an ankh.

Symbols Part Two: The Caduceus

The Caduceus is a rod or staff with a knobbed top, a pair of sprouted wings and two serpents weaved around the staff. It is often mistaken with the rod of Asclepius, a staff with a single serpent wrapped around it representing Asclepius, Greek god of medicine and healing and son of Apollo. Because of this, the Caduceus is used in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. But it represents Hermes, the Messenger God and a patron of travelers, merchants and thieves.

There are stories behind the Caduceus. The one story is where Hermes stole some of Apollo's sacred cattle. To appease for what he did, Hermes fashioned a lyre. Apollo, in awe of the lyre, traded Hermes his staff. Another is one where Hermes had found two intertwined snakes, battling each other. He took his staff and drove in between the two snakes and brought peace between them.

Through the months in preparation on my tattoo, in which is now the Caduceus on my back, I did research in finding the meaning of this symbol has it has popped up a few times  in meditations, along with the Ankh and the Blood (or Knot) of Isis. During that time I also broke down the Caduceus into the parts that make up it.

Symbols Part One: The Goal

Been feeling like I have no idea what to write here anymore. I forgot how sometimes sharing can be the hardest thing for me. Communication has always been difficult for me.

But then last night I thought of doing a series of posts that goes through different symbols in Paganism as well as other religions and spiritual paths and describing their meanings, and then meditate on the meaning of the symbol to me and post my findings.

Tomorrow I will start with the Caduceus.

I hope this will help me some up with other thing to write about.

An Epiphany of Enlightenment

A moment of being. An epiphany. My mother calls it an "Ah ha!" moment. Whatever term you use or make up, those moments have helped me see the world, or myself, in a different view. Many of which happened in my more recent years. Such as a moment at one of my great uncles' funeral, where I learned the connection of death between us all and how it is only just the last great journey in our short lives. With such a short time to fill that indiscriminate void in our hearts and souls, a women came to me about Jesus, giving me another epiphany. She said that Jesus was inside her. I remember thinking that I had found "Jesus," though I use a different term. Gaia. Earth. Be it God, Allah, Jesus, Mother Earth or even the "Force," to me those terms were all synonyms to each other. But the one moment of being that pops most in my head was when I was much younger.

Passive Agressive Ignorance

GRR!! While I appreciate these people actually acknowledge that Wiccans don't knowingly worship the devil, they still seem to think that we do unknowingly. I'm a little appalled at how they write about Wiccans. Some things they have right. Most are wrong. And they do this don't insult these deceived people who don't realize the forces they call upon are demonic. Seriously?!

Wiccan's are nature based, and to us Nature is God. Nature is Divine. The forces we call upon are the forces of the Divine. Christian used similar mysticism in their practices. This website aggravates me because they are so hypocritical in their words. They say not to try and convert us but then say to in another sentence.

What aggravates me as well is it's obvious that most of their information that comes from Wiccans are from fluffy bunnies. A fluffy bunny in the Pagan society is someone who is not truly serious in the spirituality of Wicca and Paganism. See here for more details.

“The further you get into Wicca, the further you will move into darkness. The further you move into darkness, the more hostile you may become to Christianity, the idea of the cross and its sacrifice, etc.  Oftentimes those who are involved in occult practices develop an attraction for dark things, the nighttime, skulls, various forms of rebellion, dark clothing, and a desire for power. These things are the fingerprints of the enemy that gradually overtake a person involved in occult practices.  Have you been touched by the enemy?  Do you desire these things?  If so, have you been touched by the darkness?”

First off. There is NOTHING evil about darkness. Darkness is the unknown. Darkness is our animal instincts and desires. Darkness is intuitive. Darkness helps keep us in balance. There is nothing wrong with nighttime. Not with dark clothing, but not all Wiccan wear dark clothing and not all who where dark clothing are Wiccan.

“The reason the Bible forbids witchcraft is because the power that comes through the incantations and spells are derived from demonic forces, not from God.”

The line “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.” First and for most, the bible has gone through SO many translations, and so exact words really shouldn't be taken literal. And also, though my own studies, the work 'witch' was originally 'sorcerer', in which back in those times, meant 'murder through poisoning', NOT a mysticism.

Also Occult does not mean evil or demonic. It actually means 'mystery'.

I went and looked at the Islam page and was more disturbed when I looked at their 'Muslims, pleas read this first' page. Not because it was worse. No, all they did was basically say that they apologize for anything that may be incorrect. But on the “Wiccans, please read this first' page, they say is that we unknowingly are in contact with evil.

“How do you know that what you are contacting is good or bad? What standard do you have by which you can judge whether or not the results you are getting are from the God and Goddess or are instead from some demonic forces that impersonate various deities in order to deceive you?”

How do we know? Because the forces we use are neither good nor evil. It's like saying a sword is bad. Now a Sword can be if used to kill others in cold blood, but what about in self or familial defense? Is it truly evil, completely evil, to use a weapon in defense of your own life or the life of a loved one.

I do believe that there are beings out their that create chaos and such, but chaos is not completely bad. It is necessary for change. It is natural. Just as order is. That is what Wiccan believe. Balance between opposites. Yin and Yang. It's law of nature. And Nature is what again? Nature is Divine. Nature is God.

Just because we celebrate both aspects of the Divine and not one does not make us unknowingly celebrating evil.

Yes, I'm a witch. And I'm proud of it!

Not much to say today. Been rather lethargic and depressed the past couple of days. Things like this happen to me. But I think I might introduce myself a bit more in this post.

I was born on a Friday at exactly 5:30 in the evening. It was the Day of the Dead, which giving when I was born, explains a lot about my own personality. I was born into a Methodist family with several great uncles who were pastors, one of them only alive today. I grew up without a father, but not because I was unwanted. My father had sadly passed away when I was about two years old. So with that, I was raised by my mother, but had a grandfather and two local uncles who helped fill in the father figure gap in their own distinct ways.