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:

<a href=”http://davensjournal.com/index.htm”><img src=”DJButton.jpg” border=0 alt=”Daven’s Journal.  Pagan information freely available on the Internet!”></a>

I’m no good at saying “thank you” to a whole bunch of people.  Your emails let me know that I’m doing a good job and that I matter.  I’m very glad that you all are communicating with me.  It helps when I get down that I’m not reaching anyone.  I know it’s silly, but hey, I’m human too.

Anyhow, thank you very much for taking the time to drop me a line.

Originally posted 2009-10-30 09:55:49.

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.

Emo (an abbreviation of “emotional”) is a term now broadly used to describe almost any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that expresses emotions beyond traditional punk’s limited emotional palette of alienation and rage. It is also used to describe fans of this genre, most commonly teenagers. (e.g., emo kid). The actual term “emo” originated in the mid-1980s D.C. scene, with the band Rites of Spring. The term addressed both the way the band connected with its audience, as well as its tendency to deal more with topics of personal and relationship politics than with the standard themes of rock music.

Evoke: To ask a being/emotion or other noun to mainfest outside of ourselves to be with us, as another person would be. To evoke an emotion is to bring that emotion forth. To cause to occur.

Fluffy Bunny: A full explanation of this condition would take too long. A short definition is one who insisits that their view of Wicca or Paganism is the correct one, despite reams of evidence being presented to the contrary. A person who is willfully ignorant. For further explanations, see What Makes a Fluffy Bunny and Standard Fluffy Statements

Godiots: Defined as a God Idiot or a God Zealot. Basically a Fundamental Religious person who makes it their business to shove their beliefs in everyone else’s faces. Most notably refers to Christian Zealots, but can and does apply to Pagan, Muslims and other religious practices.

Invoke: To invoke something is to bring that something to being inside ourselves. To invoke a deity to to ask that deity to manifest within us and within our lives, as reflected by ourselves. It is literally to bring something from outside ourselves within, to invite it in.

Karma: Religious doctrine that each rebirth in the cycle of lives is based on the sum of the merit accumulated by an individual during his previous lives. Karma establishes the general tendency of a life but does not determine specific actions. In each life, the interaction between individual character and previously established karma forms the karma of succeeding lives.

Polyamory: participation in multiple and simultaneous loving or sexual relationships DOES NOT IMPLY PROMISCUITY.

Sheeple: People sheep. A person who just follows the crowd with whatever they are told, who never questions or wonders or tries. They simply do what they are told to do like good little sheep.

Spitball or Spitballing: to toss ideas around with no expectation of them coming to pass, to brainstorm.

Straw Man: A straw man or man of straw is a dummy in the shape of a human created by stuffing straw into clothes. Straw men are used as scarecrows, combat-training targets, effigies to be burned, and as rodeo dummies to distract bulls. In otherwords, a disposable target. In the context of an argument, it is a distraction, a target presented to sidetrack the discussion from one area onto it with the purpose of derailing the discussion/debate/argument. A target intended to be destroyed.

Vanity Search: A Websearch where you enter your name, handle, or website, to see who mentions or links to you. Normally used as an ego boost.

Wictim: A Wiccan Victim or one who believes that you are persecuting them right now. Generally a trait of the Fluffy Bunny.

Yahoogroup: A group run and hosted by Yahoo! Groups which is based on the email list format. Emailing an address as a member will post that email to the entire group, as well as all responses. MajorDomo is a form of this, but it is a bit more clunky to use.

Originally posted 2005-05-31 10:37:59.

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.

And we are even warned against this.  ”Don’t judge a book by its cover.”  ”Beauty is only skin deep…” and many other such sayings warn us that it’s not the casing, the package, the wrapping that is important, but the contents of the mind, soul and spirit.

So I see people worried about their appearance to the exclusion of all else, and I get very sad.  I get upset when I see someone who only thinks that attractive appearance is what is important.  Hey, I like looking at pretty things around me too, but to stay around those pretty things there has to be more than just pretty appearance.  Because beauty fades, the nicest flower in the world will whither, and the most gorgeous gown will rot with time.  But the personality and the internal qualities are what will last.

I’ve known many girls in my life.  The beautiful ones are very rarely the ones who stay “beautiful” and “thin” and “tanned” and “fit” and “skinny” three or more years after I come to know them.  There are a few like that, but most understand that while their looks may have initially turned my head and had me look at them, the contents of their character are what kept me around.

And I’ll tell you something else.  It’s the “sad, weird” people I enjoy spending time around.  Cookie cutter personalities like are shown on Mean Girls or Bring it On are not anything that interests me.  But the girl with an armful of books, the one who wears spiked hair or a collar, the girl with the black makeup and the pale complexion, THOSE people are interesting.  They have a persona they want to show, and they apparently are willing to show it and be contrary to society rather than trying to conform and blend in.

Those people are worth the time to get to know.

So, ladies and gentlemen, no matter who you are, please revel in yourself.  Yes, put on an attractive appearance but understand it is not the appearance that will keep someone around.  The gestalt of you is what keeps someone.  And understand that even if this person over here left you, it is their loss due to you being a beautiful creature.  Someone else will be with you and the others, well, they have to content themselves with the Pocket Fisherman.

> I was just wondering has anyone gone to their local churches or
> communities and educated people about the Wiccan religion and the danger
> of doing spells with no knowledge of how and why to do it? Like a goddess
> or god invocation, and what it means to do an invocation. Or the
> unforeseen consensequences that doing spells can cause? The law of
> returns, ending a spell and closing a circle correctly. There are alot of
> young people drawn to doing witchcraft that don’t properly research or
> have the knowledge of what they are setting into motion. I am thinking
> about doing it because there are people who are interested, but want
> privacy, and not getting proper guidance from the massive contradictory
> internet about where they should start. So they jump right in and end up
> doing something unknowingly, like inviting then trapping a spirit in the
> house, without proper knowledge of what they did and how to fix it. And
> how to keep it from happening again.

What makes you think that we have not been doing this all this time? Many of us have been trying to educate the public about the dangers/rewards of magick, it’s just that you fluffy canars don’t seem to get the point. Let me illustrate for a minute…

I’m teaching a class online in magick and part of the course requires the student to be familiar with different schools and philosophies of magick. So far, I have been teaching this class for about 9 months and I’m only half way through it. This is an enormously complex subject and you can’t learn it by sitting in the Circle with your HPS and chanting for a bit. You cannot call yourself a witch because you make one potion of relaxation bath salts successfully ONCE. You don’t know everything when you walk into someone’s home and ask a benevolent ghost to leave. When you have walked into a house and forcibly ejected a malevolent spirit bent on destroying the occupants of the house and you have kept it from coming back, when you have successfully conjured the elemental ruler of Air, made him obey you and had him assign one of his dukes to be your personal servant, when you have cast enough spells to bring money to you that you realize that the Threefold return and the Rede are simply known as “cause and effect” THEN I will let you call yourself a mage and a witch. Until then you are a fluffy canar, and depending on the severity of the affliction you may even be a fluffernutter.

Has it occurred to you that 90% of humanity doesn’t WANT us sticking our nose into their business on a regular basis? Has it occurred to you that a Christian being told that by praying to God that he’s casting a spell doesn’t WANT to know that, even if it is true? Has it occurred to you that you would be so totally insulted and you would go immediately into “persecuted witch” mode if a Jew came in and corrected your pronunciation of the chants Gardner added from the Key of Solomon, and that you would be ready to hit something if a Catholic Priest decided to teach you how to conduct a ritual correctly? Has any of this crossed your puny pea brain? No? Why not?

Could it be that according to you, it’s good and correct for you to stick your nose into everything in the universe, but no one better stick their nose into yours? Guess what…. THAT’S CALLED KETTLEITIS IN MOST PLACES.

Oh, and by the way, can I watch as the Goddess slaps the crap out of you for breaking the Rede? How you may ask? Causing harm to these people by going in and condescendingly telling these people what they are doing wrong with spells and such you are causing so much mental trauma to them that you deserve to be bitch-slapped by Kali or the Morrigon. I want to watch it. After all, this could be their way of learning, through trial and error.

And what makes you think you are qualified to tell them that their spells are wrong in the first place? Don’t you fluffy canar realize that most of the spells you are going to be “correcting” came from the RCC in the first place, or at least from those who were members of the RCC? In fact, there are several Popes and Cardinals who were rumored to be magickians that could blow away those like Crowley. Did you know that Elphias Levi, one of the huge magickal minds of the 19th Century was a Catholic Monk for most of his life? Ever heard of the Grimoire of Pope Honorous III? Do you even know who Elphias Levi was?

In short, fluffy canar, you are doing to them what you have accused them of doing to us for centuries. Besides, if the infestation of the ghost is too severe, they can always call in an exorcist to drive it out. Yep, there is a whole section of the RCC that deals with JUST driving out malignant spirits that infest people and places, the difference is that they actually STUDY the problem before leaping in and deciding that THIS is the problem. Ya know, like they do some experimentation and actually use Occam’s razor to see if there is another explanation before chiding the occupants of the house for summoning a spirit they can’t control.

Ever walked into a chapel? Ever felt their Wards? What?!?!? You don’t even know what a ward is? Then how does that qualify you to chide these people for miscasting spells they don’t know how to control? They seem to be better magickians than you.

In short, silly fluffy canar, back the hell off and cast the beam from YOUR eye before touching the mote in theirs.

Why do people have to endlessly reinvent the wheel?

Is it that there are no original ideas left? Is it that if we stop speaking, the world will cease to function? Is it that we have been so inundated with chatter that we cannot stand to hear silence?

Let me relate this to you in a real life scenario. I do reviews of books. Some of you have seen my reviews, and you may have come to this site because of them. Well, I review a narrow range of books in an attempt to keep my focus on the topics I know and can comment intelligently about. It would do YOU no good for me to comment on a book about quantum physics when I don’t know a thing about the subject in the first place. It would mean that my review was worthless since I have no foundation to base it on.

Because of that I get a selection of books that I understand and most of which relate to the material I have on this site. Books on magick, Wicca, Druidism, Shamanism, healing and ritual are what I keep reading. I do this for several reasons, one of which is to educate myself.

Why then do many authors think that we have to be endlessly, mindlessly reintroduced to Wicca, as if we can’t read one of the hundreds of thousands of books introducing us to Wicca ourselves? Why does everyone who decides to write a book on a topic, like how to write a spell on paper, feel the need to talk endlessly about Wicca and the basics of Wicca? Why can’t they simply refer us to the books they used to gain an understanding of Wicca?

I talk endlessly on this site about things, mostly my spirituality. I have been told that I go on a LONG time in places. However, you will not see me going over the same Wicca 101 information that has been covered in other places. Yes, I have a copy of the Rede here on my site. You will not hear me talking about what it means nor the ethical constraints that bind one if that path is followed. I assume that you are intelligent enough to do a search for the words “Wiccan Rede” if you want to read more about it. Research is a good and necessary thing since it keeps the mind focused.

So, why do certain publishers think that we must be told over and over and over and over that the Rede is THE ethical statement of Wicca? As sure as a clear sky follows the rain, comes the “Threefold law”. It’s like the two are joined at the hip, and we can’t escape them.

Here’s a book dealing with Magick and it’s applications, talking about magickal activities and help for the budding magickian. Throwing out the above statement says to those who are reading it that it’s a rule for magick too, and that means that they can’t use magick to get what they want! What’s the point of the book then?

I would honestly like to see a book, written by someone in which the original sources for THEIR spirituality are referenced not regurgitated intact. That should send the reader to the books the author discovered Wicca from. The book would then fill in the sections between the knowledge contained in those books, like mortar. Ultimately, it leads to the reason that the book was written. That should take about one chapter at the front of the book. Instead, most books these days take up to 8 padded chapters to do this, leaving one or two chapters at the very back for whatever topic the book is suppose to be about.

Why reiterate the same thing others have already written about?

This is my dream. A book, level 201, 301, 401 or higher, in which Wicca is not mentioned anyplace after the first chapter. A book in which a subject is studied in depth without assuming that the reader is too stupid to make a few research material choices that will lead them to this knowledge AGAIN by repeating it AGAIN. I don’t know why this infects Wiccan books and metaphysical books over and over again. You don’t see texts on physics going into the basic laws of gravity and light again and again. They assume that because you purchased that book you already know the basics. Stop haranguing all us with the same material over and over!

Is anybody else as frustrated as I am? Is anybody there?

Time for another rant from yours truly. The theme this time, boys and girls is common courtesy.

Or should I say “Uncommon Courtesy”. I mean, if it were common, everyone would have it right? Everyone would think about other people. Everyone would hold the door open for someone with full arms and let others in front of their car during rush hour. More people would have good days because others would be thinking about how to reduce the stress on them through random acts of kindness, right?

Oh, sorry… < /sarcasm >

I don’t know why this is so extraordinary. My wife thinks I float above the water and earth simply because I went one night at 1 AM to get her Orange Juice when she was sick and this would bring her comfort. Now, it was Winter as well, and pouring rain, but you know what, her comfort and happiness meant more to me than my sleep. But she raves about this act to this day, 11 years later, because I was kind and considerate. (*Wife’s comment in an informal poll for the last 11 years, no one could honestly say their partner be they male or female would do the same thing the Daven did.)

What the hell happened to people saying “Good Morning”? What about “please” and “thank you”? My parents would have flayed me alive if I forgot “Sir” or “Ma’am” when speaking to an adult, and I demand that my daughter is courteous to others herself. Why is it society says casual rudeness is all right?

Think about this for a few moments…. What is your reaction when you are waiting in line at a store and someone cuts in front of you? Why is it okay for you to do the same thing? Why do people with full carts force someone with 2 items to stand there in a long crowded store line? Why can’t those people that are NOT at the cashier say “You only have 2 items, why don’t you jump in front of me.” And why is it such a big deal to say “Thank You” for doing that? Will it take any money from their pockets to do that? Will they become less of a person by doing this act? Will they be diminished by this and belittled, or will those nearby ridicule those who do this?

These are rhetorical questions, I don’t expect answers. I am truly confused by this, and I’m a normal person. But because I’m courteous to others, because I let someone who is trying to merge in traffic get in front of me, there are a lot of people who think I’m great. I got an award once for being the most consistently courteous person at a job I was in. What do you think a commendation for customer service is based around?

The impetus for this rant is my job, again. I had replaced the computer for one of our managers and the computer was pretty important. It had software on it that was necessary to bring cash into the company from a bank (electronic transfer of funds). So, I replaced it, and there was some problems. I had a modem there, but it was the wrong one and the software would not work with it, so I had to look for an older modem to replace this one. Frankly I didn’t think that it would work or that I had one, and I said so to the Manager. But I found one and replaced the newer one. Once I had the older modem in place, things went right and it worked as it should.

I get into work the next morning, there is a message on my phone where the manager called me and made a huge deal of my replacing the modem. He was so appreciative of my doing that, I was actually surprised. I sent him a quick e-mail saying “no problem” and he praised me to my supervisor, my manager and my Vice President in charge of Information Technology. The only person he didn’t mention this to was the owner/CEO. And I thought, “All this for doing my JOB?” This is what I’m paid to do, this is what brings in the money for the company, and ultimately myself. But simply doing my job with a cheerful attitude gets praise from everyone in the chain of command. This is from the one man in the company who always knows the glass is half empty and someone will drink the half that’s there.

So I started thinking about it, and looking for courtesy in life, then I discovered that common courtesy is really uncommon.

So, here’s what I’m going to ask you all. If you gained anything from my site, don’t tell me about it, don’t send me anything (well, okay if you must…). Take the time out to hold a door open for someone with full arms and to say “thank you” to someone who did something for you. That will pay me back.

Who knows, perhaps if this reaches enough people, courtesy will become fashionable again.

The theme of this rant is “the Universe is NOT a friendly place.“

I understand why many people think that the Universal Consciousness is kind and gentle, willing to take care of all of us and make sure that we all have what we want. It’s because we are scared. It’s comforting to think that we have a creator up there that wants the best for us and makes sure that we are completely happy in every aspect of our lives. No matter how adult, we all long for “mommy and daddy” to take care of us, allowing us to continue to play.

Let me tell you now that it just ain’t so.

I’ll illustrate this with a joke I know of….

A good man, who tithed, gave to charity, was humble, honest and kind, a saint of a man prayed every night to God, “Please Lord, I love you so much and I NEED to win the Lottery.” Every day for 50 years, he said this prayer, and every night he didn’t win.

Finally in the latter days of his life, he prayed a mighty prayer, “God, I have asked you and begged you every night to let me win the Lottery. That’s all I ever wanted. Now, I’m in the latter stages of my life, and I’m going to die soon, and I need to win the Lottery to pass this along to my children. Please let me win the Lottery, and I love you.”

That night, he heard the voice of the Lord and it said to him, “So meet me halfway already…. buy a ticket.”

Which illustrates the point, we have to do what we can to help the Universe help us. The Universe does not care that we are here, it does not care that we are on the Earth, it does not even care that the Earth is here. What it cares about is itself. That’s all. So, it behooves us to take care of ourselves, and ONLY when every other option has been used up and discarded should we put our trust in the Universe.

Now, yes, the Universe may be able to take care of us ONCE WE HAVE DONE EVERYTHING WE CAN, and we will actually succeed. At that point, we can and should put our trust in the Universe, God, the IS, whatever to allow the outcome we want to come to pass. That is the essence of every spell, after all. Putting trust in Magick, in ourselves and in the Gods that we have done everything. But, NOTHING will happen unless we have done the preparation work.

Here’s another example:

I have a bowling ball at the top floor of a 50-story building. I have to get this ball from the roof to the ground floor. Now, I have several choices at this point. I could just drop the ball off the roof, trusting the Universe to catch the ball and lower it gently to the ground, but I’m going to be really surprised when it takes a 5 story bounce and kills people at the bottom and destroys cars, so forth and so on. However, if I build a scaffolding, balance ramps and rails to channel the ball in specific directions, and THEN drop the ball into the beginning of the “route” I constructed, it will probably stay in that route and THEN I can trust the Universe to keep it in the channels and that route, and I can see the way it falls. However, I still had to do something in the beginning to have this outcome occur. I had to do a LOT of prep work FIRST in order to get the most out of trusting the Universe.

Can you see what I’m driving at? Can you see what I am trying to point out? It’s fine to trust the Universe and have faith, it’s alright to believe in “invisible men” who care about you and want what is best for you, but you HAVE to do everything you can do to take care of yourself before putting your trust in that universal energy.

I have been messed up in my life, here is a whole essay on that very subject, and I can say that the only times I have been messed up the worst was when I stopped working for myself and trying to do for me, and put all my trust in the Gods to do everything for me. What I don’t say in that essay is that I bought a Lottery ticket and BEGGED the Gods to let me win it, and I didn’t. I came to depend on that money, to the point of spending it before I had the check. I trusted that it would be there, and when it wasn’t, I was devastated in every way imaginable.

However, now that I know better, I put my trust in the Universe and the Gods to take care of me and my needs, and I still do everything I can to take care of myself first, then I am never disappointed. I DO have what I want, and what I need, and I do have a lot of lucky breaks, which I capitalize on quickly. But I do make sure that I have done everything I can to make things better before I put my trust in the Universe.

Mercedes Lackey, in one of her books, makes this point as well.  There was a man who was very lucky, who had come to depend on that luck to keep him alive and prosperous.  One day, his luck deserted him.  He went to the shaman of his tribe and asked if the Goddess would hear his pleas to help him live and prosper.  To which the shaman said “no, you are not dead yet.”  Meaning that he had not done nearly enough to help himself first.

Sometimes I get really frustrated at the level of education that some people exhibit.

I mean, I understand how not everyone can be a computer whiz, and need to be shown just how to turn on a PC, I understand that there being two separate power switches for the computer is confusing (one for the “hard drive” or “cpu” or “that box” and one for the TV screen). I can get behind this and somewhat accept it.

But how can someone who pays attention to the media, watches movies, TV, and other media outlets not know about basic things, like how a nuclear blast happens, why the US is really careful to give other countries an out or why an asteroid 100 miles across is known as a “Planet Killer”.

I mean, these topics have ALL been dealt with in the recent past, the media. Armageddon, the movie with Bruce Willis and the space shuttles, you know that one? It dealt with the concept of a “Planet Killer” asteroid in depth. It was the basis of the entire movie’s plot. There would be no way they could skip over this piece of trivia if someone was paying attention. EVEN CAUSAL ATTENTION WOULD HAVE GIVEN THIS PERSON THE INFORMATION I SPENT 4 HOURS EXPLAINING.

Sorry to be yelling, but I’m frustrated as hell. I have had to explain everything to this person who is supposedly writing an entire movie based on the book of Revelations and the final destruction of the Earth.

He is taking this section of the Bible, and trying to transpose it to a movie which he will make. He does pictures and CGI work, and it’s really good the work he puts out. But he should leave the scriptwriting to someone else. Someone with a brain.

Having to explain spacial mechanics and how centrifugal force and gravity work, how it’s highly unlikely that an asteroid would crash into the Earth, how the Japanese cultural mindset works, how a nuclear bomb will not affect the SUN at all, what a Supernova is, how Chernobyl affected him (and he lived through it) and he didn’t remember Three Mile Island either.

I really wanted to scream.

Since I’m in the office with 5 other people, while I was explaining this to him, they were throwing in their comments as well. All of them showed more knowledge than this idiot. If it were not for the fact that he kisses ass well, he would not be working here.

So, raise your glass to the stupid people of the world, the ones who don’t know who is buried in Grant’s Tomb, the ones who think a Water Closet is another word for a busted pipe, the ones who don’t realize that pantaloons are not filled with helium. Raise your glass for all those poor souls who will spend the majority of their lives going “Huh?” to everything, and most especially raise your glass in toast to those who make the rest of us look smart.

It’s sad sometimes to realize that half of the problems I have on a day to day basis are caused by these people. And my friend, the one I work with who started this diatribe, he screams and yells about stupid drivers on the road. Talk about kettleitis….

Okay, here is something that is hitting my “piss-off” buttons. Not listening.

I recently posted a theory that I have dealing with Druidism and Wicca, stating why I believe that Wicca=Goddess and Druidism=God. Here’s the text in full:

“I have a theory, but absolutely nothing concrete to back it up other than meditation and inspiration. I’ll share it, but can’t do more than share it.

I think that the trend springs from valid sources. Wicca is based on female worship, and in some cases, very few, direct traditions passed on in the form of teachings from mother to daughter, like herbalism.

It is my theory that when Druidism/Feminine worship were common, in the 200′s CE or so, that there were the Male Druids (with some few female practitioners) and the Female Priestesses (with a few male practitioners). That the mysteries of the male were shared among the Druids, and the feminine mysteries were shared among the priestesses. This was not to divide, but what the heck would a male care about the celebration of a young girl’s first menstrual blood?

This can be seen in some native magickal practices, like among the Native Americans, but once again I have no concrete references. I know that this happens, but I can’t cite examples.

Anyhow, when the Romans came in to the Isles, they saw the Druids as the visible representatives, and wiped them out. The female contingent saw what was happening and decided to hide rather than fight, and went underground. The practices and folk practices were passed down, and I have a past life where I saw my wife then continuing those traditions in 850 CE. Once again, subjective.

So, these traditions get mixed up and thrown together and homogenized until we now have superstitions and folk remedies, but enough can be extracted to make Wicca, with anthropological evidences showing a female worship cult and so on, and the records we have of Druidism, we now have Wicca = Female and Druid = Male.

Besides, look at the general gods of the respective practices. How many times does a Druid call upon the Goddess, and how many traditional and hidebound Wiccans credit the God with anything other than being a living dildo for the Goddess?”

Please note that even though I wanted to change this text, it is untouched.

Okay, everyone read that? Read it again. Now, that you have read it twice, can you tell me why anyone would think that I’m saying that Wicca is ancient? I am very clear in my statement that elements of Wicca go back that far, but that only those elements. I am very clear in stating that this is a personal theory, with no proof, so why would people start demanding that I prove it, and dismissing me as a know nothing because I have read the wrong books? What the hell is going on here?

Is it Mercury? I don’t think so, that retrograde action was over Feb 18 and I posted this March 6. Is it that people just aren’t reading what I’m saying? Probably. I have seen multiple emails stating that I’m wrong, that there is no evidences of this, that Wicca is NOT ancient, that there were Female Druids, that dividing spirituality like this did not happen, and so on. That Druids called upon the Goddess too, and still do.

Where the HELL did I say that they didn’t???? Can someone point this out to me?

The point of this rant is PAY ATTENTION. If someone is giving you something, money, their time, the benefit of their thoughts, their opinions, whatever, they are giving you something they have, and you, out of respect, should pay attention back. Make sure that you understand what they are saying, instead of jumping on them for being wrong. Make sure that you have some kind of mutual lexicon of terms so that there are no misunderstandings as to what the other person is trying to say. To do this, you have to pay attention.

Yes, you may still disagree after hearing them out, listening to them and understanding what they are saying, but at least you won’t be jumping to conclusions. Too many times these days, I see a statement posted on a Newsgroup or an email list stating something that can be taken multiple different ways, and it’s ALWAYS taken the worst way by the most people. Stop it. Listen to what the other person is trying to say FIRST, then figure out what they are trying to say in the context of your thoughts and opinions, THEN disagree with them if it is merited.

That’s the problem with the Western World. No one listens to anyone else. We all talk at each other, hardly anyone talks TO each other. We tune too much out as a matter of course. This is a trend that needs to get reversed desperately.

Okay, time for another “duh…”

If you know someone is having a lot of trouble in their personal life, why do you take advice on YOUR life from them?

Example: Don’t take advice on how to diet from someone who is 5 foot nothing and weighs 250 lbs. Obviously they either don’t know or don’t care about weight on them, and they don’t care about the health risks involved with high weight. Why should they care about your weight? If they DO care and know, then they are probably using their own techniques, and you can obviously SEE how much help it’s been to them….

The theme, in case you missed it, is “Don’t take life advice from someone with a messed up life.”

You wouldn’t go to a Doctor who has a reputation for killing all his patients, would you? You wouldn’t go to a “hair stylist” who can’t keep their own hair in any kind of pleasing style. You would not even think of going to a broke banker for financial advice.

So why would you go to a “Spiritual Counselor” who has a completely messed up life?

Point in my argument: “Miss Cleo”. Here is a woman who graces our television sets and harangues us about “love, life and money” and who (according to the ads) has a 100% accuracy rate, even to pulling facts such as “he’s tall and skinny with a wart on his cheek” out of thin air, to the telephoned amazement of callers.

However, this is the same woman who has been charged with violating the “Do not call” list in one state more than 100 times.

One wonders if her tarot cards showed her THAT.

(Details go here: http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/psychic1.htm and do a search on the Web for “Miss Cleo”. You WILL get a lot of hits on this one.)

So, now Miss Cleo has a messed up life. Do we still call her? Not this witch. I didn’t call her in the first place, and one wonders why anyone would.

Taking advice from someone who’s own life is a shambles is like asking Fate to kick you in the head. It’s stepping in front of the Mac Truck of Karma and letting it run all over your Dogma.

In other words, think first. Ask yourself a few questions before you ask everyone in your life for their advice, or listen to their unsolicited advice.

Ask yourself “What makes this person more qualified to run my life than I am?” Ask yourself, “What would I do in this same situation?” Ask yourself “What AM I going to do now?”

Start taking responsibility for your own life, rather than allowing someone else to run it for you. Let yourself be entirely responsible for your decisions as well as your mess ups. Don’t find someone to blame for the problems you are having, if it’s your fault, own up and view it as a learning experience.

And as a corollary to all this, don’t start giving advice that no one asked for either. One of the most irritating habits that some people have is to run around and start telling everyone else what they need to do when they can’t make their bills this month. If your life is in the toilet, you have no right to start telling others how they should be living/doing/being in whatever situation you see them in, even if you know exactly what they should do in this situation.

The only qualification that you have to have to be allowed to give advice to someone else is successfully coming through it yourself. In other words, if you have gone through a divorce, from either side, THEN and only then do you have the right to tell someone who is going through a divorce what worked for you. You do not have the right to tell them what they SHOULD do, but rather what you did.

I honestly believe that if everyone in this world started living their own lives as well and as accurately as they tend to live everyone else’s, then this world would be a much better place.

( 4-2-02) For more information on this scam, please see With Psychic Friends like these…

Okay, the theme today is “Paying for your Education“.

You pay out money to the colleges and Universities for them to teach you their knowledge on whatever topic.  You pay for books, you pay for supplies, you pay for the expertise of the instructor and so on, why don’t those in the Magickal and Pagan Community pay for their education too?

Is it fear?  “If I pay for this, it will cheapen the information”?  If that were true, then all the instruction from educational institutions would be valueless.  Saying that paying for information will invalidate that information is making all the classical instruction from the dawn of time to now worthless.  If this is true, we should only be giving degrees to those who go out and on their own time study Law and Jurisprudence, Anatomy and Physiology, so that they get their degrees sometime in their late 40′s so we have experienced doctors and lawyers getting those degrees, rather than these young pups who only study for 8 years or so to become what they want to become.

But, wait, that doesn’t make sense.  What do they do in the meantime?  How do they make a living?  And how many would fall into the “trap” of “there’s time, I can put off these studies until later” and then later never comes?

So, what then?   We honor the PhD holders because they have devoted themselves to this course of study to the exclusion of all other things, so that they can share their professional expertise with the rest of us.  In fact, most of society looks down upon those who do the same job, but don’t have that degree, and the only way to get the degree is to pay for it.

So, will the information and knowledge disappear when we fork over money to acquire it?  If we are giving money to get information, I don’t think it will ever disappear.  In fact, we are perpetuating it.  Let me make this assumption about you, the reader.

If you spent your time looking up facts and learning those facts, paying out money each time to get those facts, be it a quarter, a dime or whatever, you would value that information more.  This is information you got from another source with your sweat and effort and your means of income.  Because it has the price of giving up something you produced, you will automatically value it more than you will something that was given to you.

Think of the gifts you have gotten over the years to see this point in action.  The super-expensive gifts that you got were not that important to you, but the items you paid for were more important than something you got for free.  Right?

The same process applies to knowledge.  You have to pay for it in some manner in order to value it and cherish it.  If you don’t, then it’s just clutter in the vestibule of your mind.  This is why the teachers and mystical men of the past made their students go to great lengths just to get into their class, so that the student would pay attention and value the information.

Besides, having the dollar to give for information puts the power back into your hands.  If the information has no value to you, don’t pay for it.  This is the same consumer right that has been exercised since the founding of the Consumer mindset.  The quality is worth the cash.

But if you think that the effort of the researcher and teacher is worth it, sending a dollar won’t break you or make you any worse a person.  Mowing their grass won’t invalidate your education, cooking them dinner one night won’t make you teacher’s pet.

I will make this prediction, if people are unwilling to pay for the information they want to have, then there will be little reason for authors to write, researchers to look up facts, scholars to pontificate and teachers to teach.  They have to make a living too, and if no one is willing to pay them for knowledge and learning, then they will find other occupations where they will be paid.

(See the update to this article at the bottom)

I sit here and write this and think “Goddamn lady, just blow your brains out and get it the fuck over with.”

I type this because it is currently 2 AM, and I’m listening to some drunk lady next door crying over how bad her life is, and I’ve been listening to this for the past 6 hours. Every minute, I hear this whine about how no one loves her and blah blah blah….

I can’t tune it out either, it’s one of those cutting, piercing whines that go right through things like earplugs, cotton balls, pillows, music, noise and snores. I want to pound on her door and tell her to shut the fuck up, but you know what, that would only prove to her that her life IS really as bad as she says it is and how everyone is out to get her and no one loves her…

Why am I so pissed that I fervently wish for the death of a fellow human being to stop it? Because I’m sick of listening to her go on and on and on about how SHE is the one being put out and how SHE is the abused one here.

Mind me, I have been living next to her for the last week, and the walls are so thin that I could hear a fly crawling on the wall in the other room. So I have been an inadvertent eavesdropper on everything that has been going on in her room for the past week. I have yet to hear her being sober, I have not heard anyone do anything other than talk to her in a reasonable tone of voice. In short, she’s whining and having a pity party simply because she’s spineless.

Take this past weekend for instance. On Saturdays I get to sleep in for a bit. So, at 11 AM, my wife got me up so we could watch a show that has come to be a pretty good one for us, and a time of bonding. The drapes were closed and we were not partying. Why on a bright Winter day would we have the drapes closed you may ask, because we were all (including my daughter) stark naked.

Who should hear our voices and decide to pay us a visit? Yep. Her. She comes trotting over without so much as a by-your-leave, knocks on our door. I (being the trusting fool I am) step up to the door, pull the drapes back just enough to see who it is that is spoiling my Saturday. She stands there, viewing of booze fumes (I had not opened the door yet, so I can’t say “reeking or smelling”) drunk as a lord, holding a dollar in her hand. In the boozy condition she was in, she asks if she can come in and use our phone.

Okay, let’s back up for a moment here. We are in a hotel room. It has a phone in every room. It costs 35 cents to dial out on a local call. She has a phone in her room, she has a dollar in her hand…. Everyone with me here? Can you see my train of thought yet? Why didn’t she trot down to the front desk and get her own phone turned on?

I know it worked because I had been in that room with other former neighbors and helped them with their computers and hooking them up to the phones. So it’s not something that is wrong with her phone. I KNOW it works.

So, she’s standing there, with me in my skin and only my face visible through the window, and I say “Not right now…” and she wanders off in some sort of boozy haze with this look like I just kicked a crippled puppy because it is in my path. Like I’m abusing her. Let me lay a few facts out for her perusal.

My grandfather died almost two years ago, and we moved out of his house because it was being sold. We moved in here to live and we have been here for about a year and a half now. It sounds horrid, but we decided staying here was in our best interests for several reasons; a) we pay no utilities, b) there is a maid service 3 times a week c) the rent is lower than in most apartments in the area, d) you have bills to pay off, old debts that need to come off your credit report before you can get a house or apartment, e) we are saving money to allow us to get a house.

So, given that, the fact that I work a full time job, my daughter goes to school, my wife just got released from her job because they dissolved the position, I have little pity for her. I dropped the curtain back in place and forgot about her. Until that night when she started going on and on and on about how terrible her life is.

Mark my words, I would help her if she needed it. In my opinion, from what I have heard and overheard she is no where near that point yet. She does not leave her room except to go to the liquor store, she goes no place, has groceries delivered to her and whines. She is drunk 90% of the time. So she obviously has money to afford all this, it’s because she does not want to do and help herself.

It could be that she needs a friend. I will grant that I am not behaving in friendly manner, but I have had a LOT of negative experiences in the past with drunks and lushes, and I will not get into that type of co-dependant relationship again. I’m just getting my life straightened out, I don’t need another leech.

Come back and talk to me when you have been betrayed by everyone you counted as a friend. Come back when you have been sleeping in your car for two weeks along with your spouse and child. Come back when your spouse has lost track of both of her children by her first marriage and is almost frantic with worry because she has no idea if they are even alive anymore. Come back when you had to make the solemn decision whether to eat that day or get a room so you can have a shower for the first time in a week. Come back when you have nothing of value anymore to sell to raise money and you are waiting on your paycheck to try to make it through another week. Talk to me when you have decided to commit suicide simply so the stress and pain will end. THEN I may have some pity for you and help you out.

Until then, either get the balls to do something or stop fucking whining about how horrid your life is. Whining does not solve any situation. The most it will do is drive those away who MAY be in a position to help you.

This rant is dedicated to all those who were in bad situations, and who had the courage to do something about it, rather than sit around and feel sorry for themselves. Some sorrow is natural, good and normal. However, feeling pity for yourself to the exclusion of doing something constructive to get yourself out of this situation is insane.

In short, grow up, get a life, get a clue and start behaving like an adult, rather than a 50 year old child who can’t have the toy they want.

Update Jan 31, 2001 This woman is with us no more.  She was evicted several days after this was written.  There had been multiple complaints against her, and the manager had begged those of us who were complaining (and I was one) to not call the police on this matter (due to there being one too many complaints and her job being on the line).  Probably stupidly, we agreed not to call the cops.

The manager, good as her word, evicted the drunk lady three days later.  The drunk had not been home too often in the ensuing days.

I found out some of the back story in this matter, and it’s not that sympathetic.  She was drying out (supposedly) from Alcohol.  She also had someone with her, either a husband or a lover or someone.  He brought the food and such into the room, but I think he was enabling her to continue to act in the manner she was doing.  I personally don’t know how he stood it.  If someone had been whining at me for that long a time period, I think I would have either killed her or myself just to get it over with.

Anyhow, we moved rooms as well, and so things are going alright now.

One thing that must be stressed, Wicca, Druidism, Celtic Spirituality, and Paganism are NOTHING like each other.  To say that a Wiccan is a Druid and that what the Druids are now is how the Celts believe, is to say that the the sky is purple and pink and yellow.  There are bits and pieces that are correct and accurate between the different groups, but that’s all.  Go here to see an article dealing with this subject of how Celtic Spirituality and Wicca not being the same thing.  And to equate a Pagan with any of the others is to make such a gross understatement that it boggles the mind.  A Pagan is any of many different religions, and individually they are all Pagan, but all Pagans ARE NOT Wiccan.  This is a misconception that has started creeping into common usage, and it must be stopped.

Paganism is “any religion that is not Christianity” to quote many different dictionaries.  That means, if you are Hindu, you are Pagan.  If you are Islamic, you are Pagan, if you are Buddhist, you are Pagan.  None of those religions are Wicca, so to say that ALL Pagans are Wiccan makes me wonder just where the author got their information.  Wicca is a specific religion, usually British Traditional Wicca (see, I’m not even Wiccan anymore), with it’s own set of rites and practices.  While all Wiccans are Pagan, not all Pagans are Wiccan.  All Druids are Pagan, but not all Pagans are Druids.  All Celtic Reconstructionists are Pagan, but not all Pagans are Celtic Reconstructionists.  All Asatru are Pagans but not all Pagans are Asatru.

This misconception needs to be stopped as soon as possible.  It’s a bad trend, and many Elders of the various Wiccan/Pagan communities are getting tired of being equated to something they don’t believe in.  And to be frank, so am I.

Originally posted 2009-11-05 19:23:48.

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.

So, with the new name, new gender and the acknowledgment of the world at large, I rededicated myself one morning near Samhain.  I abandoned the name Daven and took the name Erin to be my magickal working name.

You may be able to see some of the changes.

Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

So, the name of the Journal is changing to Erin’s Journal.  But the content is not.  It will still have the same content as any you have come to expect.  The look and feel will be the same.  It may have more personal focus and changes based on crossing gender lines and still being a representative of the Gods.

I am going to be taking time over the next months to find and change all references to Daven’s Journal and replace them with Erin’s Journal.  I am going to do this gradually since it will take some time for you, the reader, to adjust to this change too.  Everyone knows Daven’s Journal, but it will take time to realize that it is the same site as Erin’s Journal.  Thus the “new and improved” logo upstairs.  Hopefully by keeping something the same, it can become normal, then we gradually phase out the various elements of Daven and replace them with Erin.

But also, like the Shattered Tower, this is a change that has happened and cannot be undone.  But also like Death, it’s one that has been a long time in coming.

All of the information on this site is what I have found valuable to me, and only me.  If you find it of value as well, well and good.  But I must stress that this is what has either worked for me, or these articles are what has prompted my thinking along different lines. I do not have all the answers, I’m looking for answers.  These are the answers I have found that work for me, and only me.  If you learn something, wonderful.  I’m not perfect, nor is what I say the only way to be.  I am only sharing the paths that I tread to get to where I am now.

DISCLAIMER: Let me be perfectly clear here, and I know I have said this before, but for those who can’t read I need to repeat myself. I am NOT saying that what I say is right and everyone else is wrong. In fact, I am saying that the information contained in this site is one of many ways of doing things. It is ONE way, not THE way. I don’t know it all, I only know what I have learned. I am sharing this with all of you in the hopes that my blood, sweat and tears can be of use to someone else who is just starting, or that it can make those who have been traveling this path for some time think of different things. Everything in this site could be wrong and I know it. If it helps you, well and good. If not, that’s fine too. I hope that is clear enough for the nay-sayers. If not, learn to read what is written, not what you think is written.

For those of you who found me through Something Positive I need to share my disclaimer with you:  NO, I am not Davan McIntyre, I am not a cartoon character, I am not based on the cartoon character, the cartoon character is NOT based on me, I am not Randy (the author of that comic), I don’t know Randy, and other than the fact that I advertise on his site, there is no connection (besides serendipity) between Randy and Myself.  This is a serious site, not a satire, and I am very serious about my spirituality.  Capiche?

I also see this site as a location where one can come to learn deeper aspects of Wicca and Druidism, in fact, just about any spiritual Pagan path.  I try not to discriminate with any of this information.  Things like deeper discussions on ethics, Magick, teachings on Astral Projection, and so on.  In many ways I see this site as a “Wicca 201″ site, and in some cases a “Wicca 301″ site.  which means that there is Intermediate and Advanced information here, rather than the basics that everyone else seems to be throwing up and forgetting.  There is some of this basic information as well, but only enough so that you can reference it in case you need some part of this site defined in more basic terms without having to go to another 50 sites.

You can navigate this site via the frame to the left. I have tried to have series of articles linked in a ring so that you can read from one page to another.  All of the hyperlinks, regardless of the page, are in Green or Brown if you have visited it and will have an underline when you put your mouse cursor over top of it.  As a lifeline, the “Daven’s Journal” graphic, the top frame up above, will not change, no matter how deep you go into this site.  Clicking on that will bring you to the Home.

Originally posted 2009-11-06 22:07:15.

PantheaCon has no personal effect but I feel the need to contribute to the discussion of the issues that have been made public.

The comment on the Wildhunt by Z Budapest that follow prompts my response.

“This struggle has been going since the Women’s Mysteries first appeared. These individuals selfishly never think about the following: if women allow men to be incorporated into Dianic Mysteries,What will women own on their own? Nothing! Again! Transies who attack us only care about themselves. We women need our own culture, our own resourcing, our own traditions. You can tell these are men, They don’t care if women loose the Only tradition reclaimed after much research and practice ,the Dianic Tradition. Men simply want in. its their will. How dare us women not let them in and give away the ONLY spiritual home we have! Men want to worship the Goddess? Why not put in the WORK and create your own trads. The order of ATTIS for example, (dormant since the 4rth century) used to be for trans gendered people, also the castrata, men who castrated themselves to be more like the Goddess. Why are we the ONLY tradition they want? Go Gardnerian! Go Druid! Go Ecclectic! Filled with women, and men. They would fit fine. But if you claim to be one of us, you have to have sometimes in your life a womb, and overies and MOON bleed and not die. Women are born not made by men on operating tables.”

It is on this comment that I want to speak out.

I am a transwoman myself. I was born in a male body, but I have always felt that I was a female, born in the wrong body. This has been a condition of my life. This means that in all likelihood my brain is wired like a female’s brain, and I can and do empathize with many female issues of the day.

• I fear being raped.
• I fear being attacked by those who don’t understand me and my life.
• I wish to have children of my own body.
• I have raised my daughter when she was younger.
• I have taught her to be proud of herself as a woman.
• I have helped and tried to talk to her about female issues, including telling her about her period and other such “female-only” topics.
• I have given her much advice on relationships, and reveled in her relationship with her lover.

Do these make me a woman? Probably not.

However, having the internal plumbing of a female doesn’t either. Here’s what we can look at:

1. Am I genetically a female? No, I’m not.
2. Do I have a period and bleed from my uterus? No I don’t.
3. Do I have the biological ability to give birth to children from my body? Not yet.
4. Do I have hormones of a female in my body? Yes I do.
5. Do I have the mood swings associated with estrogen and other female hormones? Yes I do, and I have for long before I had HRT.
6. If I take a pregnancy test, will it be positive? Yes, it will.
7. Can I lactate from my breasts? Yes, I can.
8. Do I have to worry about HPV and Breast Cancer? Yes, I do.
9. Will I have a subcutaneous layer of fat, making my skin softer and a bit more squishy? Yes, I do.

However:

1. Do women who have a hysterectomy bleed from their uterus? No they do not. Are they considered women? Yes.
2. Are infertile women considered women? Yes they are.
3. Do women who have mastectomies still have access to “women’s Mysteries rituals”? Yes, they do.
4. Do women who have had their cervix removed still have access to a women’s bathroom? Yes, they do.
5. Are people who go to work in paying jobs outside the home, who have two X chromosomes considered women? Yes.
6. Are AFAB who put on a tuxedo and boxers considered to be female? Yes.

Yes, these lists are a bit scattered. See, assigning gender to a person is slippery.

I can have all the sexual organs of a female, transplants work. I can have someone’s uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries implanted in myself, and I can have things redesigned, cut and changed around so that I can have all the same equipment to carry a fetus to term and give birth to it.

That is, if I had the money for it.

Does that make me more of a woman? Does it allow me to enter the “sisterhood of the bloody week”? Will that give me access to “feminine mysteries”?

I worship a goddess. Does that make me a girl? My wife worships a God, does that make her male? Is it that my wife has a female name, and I have a name that is typically assigned to a male?

What standard are you using to define who is and is not a particular gender? Is it ultimately genetics that tell you which you are?

If I can find a AMAB who has two X chromosomes, can he enter into the Sacred Sanctums of the Goddess? Or will he be denied too?

See, in my mind, the problems is not “who can participate”. The problem is “What defines gender” and that has ALWAYS been the problem.

I don’t have a problem, really, with those who want to have a AFAB ritual. I truly don’t. But when an intersexed person comes in who has a vagina, uterus and all the equipment, along with a penis and tries to participate, and they are turned away, is that truly what the Goddess wants? Will only lesbians be allowed into those rituals next?

Z. says that women are born, not built on a table. I can see and I actually agree with that. However, a woman who has an extra appendage has it surgically removed still a woman? If they have a rhinoplasty, are they women? If they have a facelift, are they still a woman? What if they have a “Vaginal Rejuvenation” as in getting a facelift for the lower lips? What if they are in an accident and have to have a complete Vaginoplasty? Are THEY still considered women?

Is the difference a matter of what we grew up with? How we were taught? Do I have to be beaten up by boys who don’t like me to be a woman? Do I have to learn how to cook and sew, how to put on makeup? How to walk with a book on my head? What about having a relative molest me, or a stranger who wants to grab my “private parts”? Do those make me a woman? Do those experiences make me closer to the Goddess? Will I commune more successfully with the nurturing mother, and the self-centered maiden or the wise crone if I have been abused sexually?

Here’s the central question: If a person who was assigned male at birth, who has had ALL of the above happen to them, rape, abuse, being beaten for being gay, for being too effeminate for being too swishy, for not liking to play football, a person who has studied how to provide a loving and happy home, who takes care of children, who looks and acts and has the hormones of being a female, if they tried to declare “I am Woman, hear me roar!” and stood out and asked to be allowed to be with her sisters, is it right and the Will of the Goddess that those who were assigned female at birth continue to abuse them by saying “no”, or would the Curse of the Goddess fall upon them?

A drag queen who revels in being a parody of a woman? Sure, deny them. Someone who does it for humor? I can see that too. Someone who only crossdresses because they get a sexual thrill out of lacy underwear? I can get behind those who want to deny them a place in the Circle. But someone who has had every, EVERY thing happen to them that you think makes a female, other than the genetic accident of XX instead of XY, why do you insist on continuing the abuse? Have they not suffered enough? Will YOU, Z., will you personally stand before the Goddess with them and say “They are not a woman”?

I think that is the central problem here. You say you speak for the Goddess, that you are Her representative on the Earth. Yet, you are spewing EXACTLY the same discrimination that the other Churches and religions out there do in denying this person the ability to be who they are. Hell, the Muslims don’t have a problem with TransGender people, they are commanded in the writings of Muhammad to be whom they are, and those who feel they are female should be female, living that way, even if they don’t have the equipment.

You are right in that there were groups in the past who would change themselves to be more like the Goddess. They would keep to enclaves where they could be with their own kind. But I want you to think of something for a minute: How do you know about them?

The men of the day wrote down about these deviants and about the weirdoes who cut their balls off so they could sing female parts. They told stories about men who dressed and acted like women, as they derided and made fun of those deviants. There was no place for them in any aspect of “Western” society. The Native Americans treated the berdache people as the sex they wished to be. The Japanese did the same. They weren’t hunted and hounded. They were allowed to live their lives as they chose, identifying as they chose.

So how is what we have now progress?

To those who have problems with these “men” being included, I say to you; Yes, I can see your point. Men should not be part of those rites of femalehood. But when someone goes through two, three, four and more years of effort to be female, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to correct a genetic mistake, all to be simply who they are, if you can HONESTLY say that they are mocking the Goddess in that effort? Will you continue to kick them when they are asking you to treat them as a Sister?

I can tell you that it has been my experience that many male groups would welcome FtM transsexuals with open arms. Why are you so threatened by a person who wants to be treated as a woman being included in your rituals? Shouldn’t women be allowed at all rituals that celebrate womanhood?

I would think that you, as a true Goddess-loving female, would want to celebrate any form of womanhood. That to have a ritual dedicated to bringing a new woman into the fold would be something to bring joy, not something to be disrespected.

Or do you plan to stop having “coming of age” rituals for girls who start their menses too? After all, they aren’t women but they want to be women, and a little blood does not a female make. After all, I can bleed.

And think about this: Here is a male, someone who has male privilege, who you allege has a lot of power in our society, is VOLUNTARILY deciding to become a minority, a female. They are giving up their “place in society”, as you seem to suggest, to move down the ladder of empowerment, right to the bottom as a transwoman. They will have no rights to anything, they will get the short end of being female, they will get the hate of being a “failed male”, the bad parts of being gay, all of it, heaped together. They will be denied the use of ANY bathroom in public, because the women don’t want them in their bathroom and the idea of being forced into a men’s bathroom is repugnant. They will live with fear EVERY DAY that someone will spot them as a transwoman, and that they will be killed with sticks and bricks. They will be killed and the cops won’t do anything. They will be beaten by the cops too and no one will believe them.

Why all the hate and rejection? Because they are the person they were meant to be.

And you will be adding to that. Think about it.

Originally posted 2011-03-02 00:07:09.

Welcome my friends to my Sitemap!

Here you will find an alphabetical index of all the pages on my site, including all the blog posts. There are a lot, so I hope you aren’t using this as your primary means of navigating my site.

If you want to navigate this site by topic, the index to the left is where you need to be. THAT group is broken down by category, where as this is just an alphabetical listing. So if you know the name of the article you want to read, this is probably the place for you.

If you want to jump to a specific page, without doing the “Next Page/Previous Page” thing, in the address bar in the top, add /[number] to the address, and it will “warp” you to that page.

The way this sitemap is displayed is that all the pages are listed first, the articles. The WordPress posts are listed last and they are broken down by category. Thankfully any additional posts/pages will be added here without much ado.

Regardless, take a look. I hope you can find what you are looking for. Lord and Lady know I’ve needed it before.

Originally posted 2009-11-23 09:33:39.

Okay, in an attempt to raise money, I’m going to be offering a service for sale.

Ask me your questions, any questions.  I’ll do a tarot reading and tell you what you need to know and do.

What are my qualifications you may ask?  Well, I’ve been doing tarot readings for the last 14 years.  I became Wiccan and started studying the Tarot, my wife taught me everything I know about it and she should know since she’s been doing this for the last 40 years and taught three other tarot readers that I know of, possibly more.  Since then, I have worked as a professional Tarot reader with Kabrina’s Psychic Answer (a phone in TV Psychic service) which is now defunct, leaving there because of not enough calls for when I could work.

I was able to support my family on what I made as a TV Psychic.  So I do know what I’m doing.

Finally, I went to private practice, doing readings for myself, my wife, friends and those I know in various forums.  Generally I didn’t charge money for those readings, but there was a quid pro quo exchange of energy and effort to those readings.  I’ve even had good reviews on these.

Now I offer you the chance to get your reading done by me.

I use the Robin Wood deck to do these readings since it’s the one I have been working with since I began.

I have three levels of readings, one that is $15 for one question and answer, using a five card yes/no or a ten card Celtic Cross spread depending on how complex the question is.  One is a reading (spread of my choice) answering one complex question.  That’s $30.  The last is answering two complex questions for $50.

I have one more spread that I can do but it has never taken less than an hour, but it is a thorough life reading called an Astrological Spread.  Given that it will be even more complex with having to interpret EVERY card in the deck, I’m not even going to consider doing that one for less than $90.  But it is a very good spread to understand what is going on around you and in various aspects of your life.

I also have one unique reading I do.  It’s called “The Bondage Spread” in which you are shown what is holding you back and how to get free of this.  It takes an hour to do and costs $25.  But hopefully with it you will see what you need to do to get free.

So, click below to get these readings.

Be warned that I may contact you for additional information, so your email address HAS to be correct and I do need your name.  A picture of yourself would be very helpful as well.  All readings and additional information are shredded upon completion so you don’t have to worry about that.

Testimonials

Some testimonials with contact information. These clients have kindly consented to have their names and contact information listed for you to ask about the readings they received from me. Hopefully this and any questions that they answer will allow you to feel more comfortable in purchasing a reading. Please do contact them if you have questions you feel uncomfortable asking me about the reading.

“A few months ago I had Daven do a generalized reading for me, just to see what another reader could find that I’d overlooked; I’ve been reading for a decade and I’m pretty good on my own, but sometimes it’s best to get a second opinion. What I got from Daven was an excellent (though sometimes surprising) assortment of cards and his interpretations thereof that really pinpointed some areas I’d missed, and made a few situations I’d been wondering about more clear. The details are personal, but I’ll say this–I highly, highly recommend Daven as a reader.”

Lupa
Author of “Fang and Fur, Blood and Bone: A Primal Guide to Animal Magic” and
“A Field Guide to Otherkin
chaohippie (at) excite (dot) com
http://www.thegreenwolf.com

“I found Daven’s readings to be well done. He is very concise and clear in his presentation. He isn’t one for mincing words- and he won’t cater to the ego. He’s straightforward and professional. I would recommend him to other people for readings with no hesitation.”

Hope Jackson
hcjaxn (at) yahoo (dot) com

Keep checking back here for other information. I plan to have a sample reading up on one of my spreads so you can see for yourself just what the reading consists of and how I interpret the cards for you.

Originally posted 2009-11-06 22:53:30.

Originally posted 2009-11-15 02:12:38.