I really want to give a shoutout to the author of the plugin that counts my site visitors. That little box to the upper left? The guy who made that is a wonderful plugin author. The name of the plugin is Count per Day and I think it is the best counter plugin out there. His site is at Tom's Dimension. Go download them from that site if you want a good counter plugin.
Let me explain this page for a bit. Most of the pages in this Journal are static, meaning that once I put something up, it tends to stay up. This page, however, is fluid. It changes almost daily. This is the feed for my blog. I have a WordPress blog on this site, mostly to facilitate expressing my thoughts to everyone. This is the dynamic section where you can read my current thoughts on matters, my health, my complaints and just quick opinions. It's not meant to be the same page as it always is.
A friend of mine likened this page to the introduction of a magazine, and in some ways she's right. This is a page that tells you what this Journal is about. So read on. In brief, this is one Druid's thoughts on life, spirituality, Wicca, Druidism, religion and all those things that affect humanity. Even some snarkiness. I teach through here and use this as a medium to preserve my beliefs for my daughter and her children.
Astute readers of my Journal will have already noticed that the name has changed. That’s what should be. But let me tell you why.
As you may have read in earlier entries, I’m transitioning from Male to Female. Well, in recent months I’ve made some major strides forward in that regard, namely I’ve come out to everyone I know that I’m transitioning, and I’ve legally changed my name from my male moniker to a more female name.
With this change came a LOT of soul searching, a lot of meditation and a lot of discussion with the Gods. Finally after a long time, we all determined that I am Their daughter just as much as I was Their son. I am Their Priestess and still Their Priest.
Confusing? You bet you. About as confusing as being female, dressing as female, being called “She” and “Her” and “Miss” and still being called “Dad” by my daughter. But that’s okay, things take time, and I’m only partway through the hormone treatment. Read the rest of the article...
I really appreciate you taking the time to write to me. Thanks so much. In thanks, why don’t you grab this banner for your site? I’ll even throw in the code for you… This is 272 by 82 pixels
This is the HTML code:
<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”JourBanner.gif” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal. Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>
Here’s another one just in case you didn’t particularly like the first one.
This one is 427 by 113 pixels. The code for this one is:
<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”JourBan.gif” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal. Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>
And this is a “standard banner” size. It’s 486 by 60.
<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”468-banner.gif” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal. Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>
And finally I have a button for those with limited space:
Read the rest of the article...
From time to time the topic of Pagans and Sacrifice comes up in various forums online. Unfortunately, the majority of people (including pagans) who talk about Sacrifice don’t seem to understand about sacrifice. Most think of sacrifice (in the connotation of Pagan religions) as dealing with human sacrifice or animal sacrifice. While those are ancient practices and valid forms of sacrifice, they are not all that is.
First we need to understand the definition of sacrifice. Sacrifice means simply “to make sacred”. It is from the Latin root and in modern times it is defined as giving up something of value to gain something you wish.
Pretty cut and dried, but when it is translated into Pagan Religion, all anyone can see is things like the Wicker Men of legend, bog drownings, burning bodies and cattle dropping dead. Read the rest of the article...
So, you want to create a website to tell the world about your new found spirituality and how happy you are about it? Fantastic.
Let me offer some pointers for you to think about before you start coding the HTML.
First off, think about what you want your website to be about. I mean this. It may seem obvious, but there are facets of your spirituality that are reflected in your website, and all of them are going to affect how your website looks.
Things to consider: Read the rest of the article...
- Is it going to sell products you make and dedicate to the Gods? Some possibilities are candles, oils, incenses, food, tools and many other things.
- Is it going to talk about things you learned?
- Is it going to educate those who find your website?
- Is it going to deal with problems you have and how you over came them?
AE: this is the abreveiation for “American Eclectic” in which elements of many different traditions are taken and mixed to form a new kind of spirituality, while respecting the cultures those elements were taken from. Has a strong sense of history and a seeking of continuity. See this article for an excellent discussion of the various flavors of Wicca.
BTW: this is the “short term” for British Traditional Wicca. Normally this is typified by Gardnerian and Alexandrian, but it can be any group that is a lineaged mystery tradition. See this article for an excellent discussion of the various flavors of Wicca. Read the rest of the article...
When the discussion topic of “can I charge for the reading I did” comes up in most forums, it really turns into a free for all fight. There are the proponents of “yes you may” and the opponents who say “no you may not”. I can see both sides of this discussion and I offer my own humble thoughts here.
First, the side that opposes payment.
Most often they point out that you are using a gift from the deities and that, as such, you will “contaminate” it by having money change hands for using it. They point out that since the future is always in flux and you could be wrong, that it is impossible to guarantee that you are accurate or that what you state will happen. They also (if they know their craft history) might point to the “ardanes” and show that Gardner didn’t want the Arte being sold, meaning that by his rules that one could not take money in exchange for the casting of a spell. They also point out that it’s traditional. Read the rest of the article...
I follow a lot of people here (on Tumblr), and most apparently don’t understand that it’s not just the outside package that is beautiful, but the internal personality, attitude, love and joy that shine out that combine to make someone beautiful.
Yes, the outside package is what people react to first. Yes, it is the one that most will judge you on first. But just like a Christmas Present, sparkly gold paper and nice ribbons do not make the Popeil Pocket Fisherman any better. Just like wrapping an iPad in the comic section of the newspaper doesn’t detract from the present.
However, since humans are visual oriented, presenting an attractive outer casing is what seems to be important in the very short term. Yes, beautiful people are more desirable to be around, they are more envied, but that is ONLY because people who look at them ONLY see them as the outer casing. Just as if you only saw the gold wrapped package or the comics wrapped package. The casing would be what you would judge on first. Read the rest of the article...
The Witches’ Almanac LTD., 2010 $11.95 US
ISBN 978-0-9824323-0-3
Review by Daven
Rating: 
I honestly thought this was a mistake when it was sent to me. I hadn’t requested this book, and I tend to avoid reviewing things like calendars and date books, since their usefulness is very limited. But I am glad to have the opportunity to review this book.
Like all almanacs that I have ever seen, this has a calendar in it. It has articles and also information on planting cycles. The required articles and mentions of astrology are also present. But as the title implies, this also is a book packed with information for Witches.
No, there are no recipes for making your own wormwood flying ointment, but there is an article on the use of Cauldrons in Celtic Myth. There is an article on the Mexican Day of the Dead. The Holidays for most Pagans are listed in the calendar accurately. There are moon phases in the calendar as well. Read the rest of the article...
[Copyright Freeman and Sky Dancer, 2003. All rights reserved.
Permission to repost or otherwise distribute is granted provided
the essay is kept intact and this notice included.]
The question keeps coming up, what makes someone fluffy, or a fluff-bunny? The concept of a fluff-bunny is similar to “twinkie” as used in many American Indian communities: someone who either plays at the spiritual practices or is serious about it but goes for stereotypes and glitz rather than factual information.
Practicing any significant number of these characteristic behaviors will be good and sufficient cause to label you accordingly. These are from actual experience, but they don’t all apply to any one person — we hope. Several of them seem contradictory; this doesn’t appear to matter to the people in question. Note: if you find this list offensive (especially if it bothers you that it has 13 items), then you are probably a classic fluffy. If you think we’re being unnecessarily confrontational with this, you may be right (but see item 5). If you think we’re picking on Wiccans, maybe so; but we do know plenty of non-Wiccan fluffies (check out http://www.whywiccanssuck.com/ and http://wicca.timerift.net/ for other detailed views on the Decadence of Wicca). Read the rest of the article...
<– continued from
*WHAT SAYS THE WORD?*
(I must make a digression here. It is true what this man says here. But remember that it is only true if YOU BELIEVE IN HIS RULES. By our very religion, we do not believe in any of this and never will, so who’s rules are we violating? A God whom we honor, but whom we don’t give homage to? An individual person? It does not matter what someone else’s religion says we are doing, because WE DON’T BELIEVE IT. So given that, none of this has any authority or power over us, only the Christians. This is a very important distinction since you will hear things like this thrown at you all the time by the Bible-thumpers. They will try to use their rules to force you to do as they say. It is analogous of obeying the laws of Angola while living in the USA and being an American citizen. And having an Angolan citizen try to force you to follow his country’s laws. It is ludicrous and beyond belief that anyone would apply their standards to you and me. But unfortunately, it happens far too often. Daven) Read the rest of the article...
This is a preview of "Christian View of What Wiccans Believe pt 2". Read the full post (estimated 25:15 minutes reading time)
(Note from Daven: Some might question the necessity of this piece of information here, but I think it’s necessary. So long as we are living in the United States, it behooves us, as Wiccans and Pagans, to take a hard look at those in power and in charge of our government and look at the weapons that we can use and what can be used against us. Even if you live in another country, you may want to think about the points raised here.)
Magick and the Second Amendment
Yael Dragwyla
More from this author: http://www.livejournal.com/users/polaris93/
http://www.greyarchive.com “Yael’s Page”
email: polaris93@aol.com Read the rest of the article...
This is a preview of "Magick and the Second Amendment". Read the full post (estimated 3:20 minutes reading time)
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