Copyright 1993, John Shepard, Performed at Dragonfest, August 1993

[Materials required: On the altar there are brown candles, a Tootsie Roll (the great big one---as the athame), a large glass with milk in it (the chalice), a small dish of Nestle's Quick and a spoon, a small dish of chocolate sprinkles, a plate of cupcakes and some Yoo-Hoo along with a goblet. Participants approaching are given 1-2 shiny pennies with instructions that they must hold on to them until the appropriate time in the ritual. When feasting begins, they must surrender a penny for cakes and one for wine or one penny for both, if only one penny is handed out.]

(Attunement chant is similar to the “Ohm” chant but is focused to the ritual, “Yum-m-m”)

CLEANSE THE SACRED SPACE:

Chocolate sprinkles where thou art cast
No calories in thy presence last.
Let no fat adhere to me,
And as I will So Mote It BE!

Nestle’s Quick where thou art cast
Turn this milk to chocolate, fast.
Let all good things come to me,
And make my milk all chocolatey!

CAST THE CIRCLE (using a tootsie roll):

CALL THE QUARTERS:

MAIN RITUAL:

HANDMAIDEN (Henceforth known as the Swiss Miss): Listen to the words of the Mother of Chocolate, who was of old called Godiva, Ethel M, Sara Lee, Nestle, Mrs. See, and by many other names.

HPS: Whenever you have one of those cravings, once in a while and better it be when your checkbook is full, then shall you assemble in a great public place and bring offerings of money to the spirit of Me, who is Queen of all Goodies.

In the Mall shall you assemble you who have eaten all your chocolate and are hungry for more. To you I shall bring Good Things for your tongue.

And you shall be free from depression, and as a sign that you are truly free, you shall have chocolate smears on your cheeks, and you shall munch, nosh, snack, feast, and make yummy noises, all in my presence. For mine is the ecstasy of phenylalanine (FEEN-EL-AL-A-NEEN), and mine also is Joy on Earth, yea, even into High Orbit, for my law is “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.”

(Note from Daven: It should be noted that the ecstatic ingredient in Chocolate is not phenylalanine, but THEOBROMIDE or PHENYLETHYLAMINE.  For more information, please see http://www.chocolate.org)

Keep clean your fingers, carry Wet Ones always, let none stop you or turn you aside. For mine is the secret that opens your mouth, and mine is the taste that puts a smile on your lips and comfy, padding pounds on your hips.

I am the Gracious Goddess who gives the gift of joy unto the tummies of men and women. Upon earth, I give knowledge of all things delicious, and beyond death…well, I can’t do much there. Sorry about that.

I demand only your money in sacrifice; for behold, chocolate is a business, and you have to pay for those truffles before you eat them.

SWISS MISS: Hear now the words of the Goodie Goddess, she in the dust of whose feet are the cheap imitations, whose body graces candy racks and finer stores everywhere.

GOODIE: I, who am the beauty of chocolate chips, and the satisfying softness of big bars, the mystery of how they get the filling inside of truffles, and fill the hearts of all but Philistines with desire, call unto thy soul to arise and come unto me. For I am the soul of candy; from me do all confections spring, and unto me all of you shall return, again…..and again……….and again………………and again.

Before my smeared face, beloved of Women and Men, thine innermost divine self shall be enfolded in the rapture of overdose. Let my taste be within the mouth that rejoices. For behold, all acts of yumminess and pleasure are my rituals. Therefore, let there be gooeyness and mess, crispness and crackling, big slabs and bite size pieces, peanut butter and chocolate covered cherries all within you.

And you who think to seek me, know that your seeking and yearning shall avail you not unless you know the Mystery; “We will sell no chocolate until you pay for it.” For behold; I have been with you since you were just a baby, and I am that which is attained at nearly any shop in the land.

Messed Be!

SWISS MISS: Hear now the words of the Chocolate God, who was of old called Ghirardelli, Milton Snavely Hershey, Bosco, Fudgesicle, and by many other names.

HP: I am the strength of the candy rack, and the piece that fell on the floor, but looks like it might not have gotten too dirty, and the deepest bitterness of dark chocolate. No matter how you try to resist the call of chocolate, I will hunt you out and I will become your sacred prey. I am the warmth of hot cocoa in the dead of winter, and the call of the road that leads you to that really expensive Godiva store downtown.

I give you, my creatures, the fire of love of chocolate, the power of jaw strength to bite off a piece of that frozen Milky Way bar, and the shelter of Haagen Daaz when that big date didn’t work out. You are dear to me, and I instill in you my power; the power of a piece of chocolate that you had forgotten you had hidden, and the power of vision and magickal sight with which you can spot a candy counter a mile away.

By the powers of the half melted bar in the glorious sun, I charge you; by the darkest depths of the bottom of the cocoa pot and the lingering smell of bittersweet chocolate, I charge you; and by the beauty of a perfectly swirled vanilla butter cream, I charge you:

Follow your heart and your instinct, wherever they lead you. The wealth in your pocket can buy you treats that a Mayan king would envy. Take joy in that first bite of lecithin emulsified cocoa, and in the last satisfying slurp of Yoo-Hoo. Yet you must be wary of deceit. Eat not of that which is called “Baking Chocolate,” for it is vile and bitter.

Lastly, always remember to leave some chocolate behind you. Be not greedy, but let yourself be known as a connoisseur. Leave a little for someone else.

I am with you always, just over your shoulder, or around the next corner. I am the Lord of Chocolate, and when you have reached the end of your hoard, I will never be farther away from you than that 7-Eleven on the corner. I am the spirit of the Wild Child; the Inner Child who can never get quite enough. If you are a true chocolate lover, then your soul and mine are intertwined.

Cupcakes and Yoo-Hoo: (the Blessing of the Yoo-Hoo)

We all come for the Chocolate
And for it we shall remain
‘Til we get our fill—
No calories and no weight gain.

DISMISS QUARTERS:

HPS: Oh, ye mighty goodies of the ______, We thank you for attending our rites and guarding our circle. And ere you depart for your sweet and sticky realms, We say unto you, “N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestles makes the very best.”

ALL: “Chooooc-laaate.” (use sacred hand signs to salute the close of each quadrant)

Close circle. (HPS, HP and Elements join hands and intone as they lower hands to the ground to earth the Circle)

Haagen Daaz Forever!

copyright August 1993, John L. Shepard. Permission is given to post anywhere as long as the content is not altered and this notice is attached.

Added to and revised by Daven Jan 2000.

Originally posted 2009-11-14 14:46:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

by Kala Trobe
Llewellyn Publications, 2001
ISBN 0-7387-0096-7

Review by Daven

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Invoke the Gods is the companion book to Invoke the Goddess, also by the same author. Now, I have not read the first book at the time this review is being written, however, I have read this one through and I think I was expecting something else.

That does not diminish the information contained in this book. While the pantheons are not covered as in depth as I would like, the Gods that are presented are written on authoritatively and succinctly. I enjoyed reading about the different Gods and continued reading even when I knew that I would not get what I was looking for. It was an enjoyable read.

The basic premise is this is a mythological study of a selection of 5 to 7 gods from either the Hindu, Egyptian or Greek pantheons. The selection criteria for these gods seems to be importance to the over all pantheon, rather than the jobs they held. Instead of choosing Osiris, for example, the author chose Thoth to include due to Thoth’s job (knowledge) being more important than Osiris’ job of being the husband of Isis, genitor of Horus and God of the Dead.

Looking at this book from a Priest’s standpoint, I was expecting a book dealing with the God aspects of Wicca. What I got was a book that deals with mythology, their place in the pantheon of their culture, ways to invoke elements and aspects of their personality into your own consciousness and so on. For working with these individual deities, this is an excellent resource.

I appreciate the way Kala has related these gods to “modern man” and how she describes them. They are described in the Modern Archetypes and in the Tarot Cards so those who have different feelings on these deities can understand exactly the feeling she is trying to generate from these Gods.

My objections are minor. I think that there is a need for more gods to be described and expanded on, but I can understand why it did not happen in this tome. I feel that this is not what I thought I was or it was being presented as, namely a guide for working with the Gods in a Wiccan setting. But then again, it never was advertised as a book for Wiccans.

I DO think that this book could be improved by adding a piece stating how other Gods could be added or worked with in a similar manner. I do think that this book could be improved by dealing with the Celts and some other cultures other than the Hindus and Egyptians. That is a personal qualm, and it in no way affects the book itself.

This is a good book for a practitioner who is trying to explore the male archetype in themselves and find which God-type speaks to them. As a tome of how to summon the Gods and work with them, I think that there is probably some work that needs to be done which could improve this book. It’s a good guidepost, not the road. I give this book 3 stars out of 5 for it’s usefulness.

Originally posted 2009-11-15 15:24:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

(Note from Daven:  This is another of Kenneth’s excellent articles on the Druids and the Celts.  Please see my notes on the Dhulie for any further comments.)

Time and the Celtic Wheel

By Kenneth R. White

The Celtic people reckoned time differently than we modern folk. For example, a day began at sunset and ended at sunset the following day. The yearly cycle began on Samhain and ran until the following Samhain, the year offically ending the night before or Oidche Samhain (Samhain eve).
The changing of the seasons and the cycles of nature played an important part in lives of the Ancients. The Celts had eight special days throughout the year which marked significant changes in the seasons. These eight holy days are still observed by modern Celtic Pagans.
Some other ways that modern Celtic Pagans use to reckon time are the Tree calendar and the Coligny Calendar.

The Celtic Tree Calendar

As given by Robert Graves in his book “The White Goddess” is an interesting theory linking trees and the months and seasons of the year. This was not used by the ancient Celts but, it quite popular with modern Druids and those who follow the Celtic Traditions.

The Coligny Calendar

Discovered in Gaul in 1897. It is believed to date from the first century AD and is engraved upon bronze plates which have been reconstructed. The calendar reckons the beginning of the months from the full moon rather than the new moon. And to make up for the extra days that tend to accumulate, there are 13 months.

The thirteenth month, which was added as needed, was termed Mid Samonios, which was a repeat of the month Samonios. The length of these months was variable and followed the cycles of the moon.

Originally posted 2009-11-14 14:18:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

By Ben Gruagach
WitchGrotto Press (print on demand from Lulu.com) 2007, $19.99
ISBN13 978-0-6151-4311-8

Review by Daven

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Mr. Gruagach (and no, I don’t know how to pronounce his last name myself) asked me to consider doing a review of his book, and obviously I agreed. I’m very glad I did.

The subtitle of this book is “Exploring a Magickal Spiritual Path”. That’s a very accurate subtitle. In this book, Ben gives a good description of not only what a mystic is, but how Wicca can be a mystical path just as well as any other spiritual path.

The impressions I got as I was reading this is that he has spent some time on this path himself. He has apparently thought about how to be a mystic and what it means to be a mystic. He gives instructions on how to be not only mystical, but also how to be a mystic on a path that is more practical than mystical.

The cover is plain white with a nice picture of a fossil of a snail shell and a pentagram in on the fossil. It is obviously a vanity press publication and there isn’t anything wrong with that. For it being a vanity book, it’s a good publication. But Lulu is a good “print on demand” company anyhow.

The contents are well laid out and well written. I have to compliment Ben on his writing style it is clear and concise, without being so esoteric that it loses the reader. Instead he goes out of his way to explain everything he is speaking on clearly and thoroughly.

I was surprised at the depth he went to in this book. Most books about such esoteric subjects tend to skim the surface of the topic and then expect the reader to do a lot of soul searching to find the answers to the more esoteric questions. But Ben does not do this. He clearly explains what is happening and why, how to live in a mystical mind set and he goes over basics of things like meditation and ritual, and how to apply them to your life.

I honestly can’t find anything to criticize in this book. I tried and it is not there. It is a shame that this is a Lulu imprint because I don’t think this will get the mass market circulation it deserves.

If you have multiple books on how to meditate, what sacred space is, how to live in a sacred space, what to do while you are there, you will probably not need to get this book. However, if you are just starting on this path, this is THE resource to buy instead of all the others works.

I’m giving this 5 stars of 5 and advising you to go get it. This is one book you won’t be sorry to have.

Originally posted 2010-01-25 18:05:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Mary and I were talking in bed, our last interaction of the day, and the topic turned to some of the problems we have had and overcome in our life.

It tied into the movie “Serenity” in which the main character (Mal) is a lot darker and a lot more desperate. At one point during the movie he’s talking to his Second in Command about the bare fact that if they don’t get money they don’t fly and don’t eat. It’s a moving piece of cinema, setting up the rest of the movie.

Having been there and done that, I was moved to say this:

“It’s easy to have morals when your belly is full. It’s keeping those morals and living up to them when you are near starvation that is the true measure of a person.” – Daven

Good quote.

Edited later to add: I say this because not too long ago I went to Wal-mart to get some gas. SAM’s club has a gas station and the Wal-Mart is next to it and could refil my gift card. I paid for $10 in gas, and when I got to the pump, I discovered that the kid running the register had put $100 on the card. I could have kept that $90, and I was REALLY tempted to do so. We needed the money. But, the kid would have come up $90 short in his register and that would have had him fired. I would have been dishonest, and I would have been a hypocrite. My daughter would have learned that it’s okay to steal if you really need it. So I took the money back.

It hurt to do so.

The kid in quesiton wasn’t impressed, and the managers were like “okay, fine, give us the money….” I was proud of myself and so was my wife. The few people who heard of it were like “wow…. I wouldn’t have done it.”

But it was the only honorable thing to do.

It’s easy to be honest when you have enough money for everything, and that was one of the hardest things I have ever done. That’s what prompted that quote.

I did have one lady say that the universe was trying to help me, and I slapped it in the face by taking it back and I should have kept it and I should be ashamed of myself. But in good conscience I couldn’t do anything else.

Originally posted 2006-04-21 01:11:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

September 21-23

[The Altar and surroundings should be decorated with autumn flowers, leaves, pumpkins and squash, as well as pinecones, leaves, and boughs around the Circle proper. Once the Temple is erected, the Priest and Priestess join in front of the altar and kiss. ]

Covener: Now that the season of plenty draws to its close, let us listen to the words of Rhiannon as she speaks through her Priestess, ___________ here.

[The Priestess spreads her hands toward the people.]

Priestess: My love is ever with my Pagans.
Although the season of plenty draws to a close,
Think not that I forsake you,
For I am with you always.
I watch over you, as does my Consort, The Horned One.
When the dark months descend
Then will Woden hold vigil over you;
As you will over him.
For know you that as Man needs the Gods,
So do the Gods need Man.

[Priestess takes up the Salted Water. The Priest leads the coven members in a dance around the Circle, the Priestess sprinkles them with the water as they pass her. They dance around three times. Priestess replaces the water on the altar.]

Priestess: To the good seasons that have already passed, and to those that are yet to come.

All: Woden and Freya give blessings.

Priest: To the beauty of Autumn and to those good friends we treasure.

All: Woden and Freya give blessings.

Priestess: To Woden and Freya, who bring peace, joy and love to the world.

All: Do we give our blessings.

Priest and Priestess: So be it!

[The ritual of Cakes and Ale should follow. Eventually, when everyone is partied out, the ritual of Closing the Temple should follow.]

© Raymond Buckland, 1970, The Tree.  Used by Permission.

Originally posted 2009-11-03 18:26:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

by Dorothy Morrison
Llewellyn Publications, 2000
ISBN 1-56718-496-0

Review by Daven

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

This is another in the “Sabbats” offerings from Llewellyn, and it lives up to the same high standards as the previous titles in this series.

Dorothy Morrison is a wonderful author with several innovative ideas that I found truly refreshing. Considering that this particular season and holiday is probably THE most written about holiday in the Western World, that’s saying a lot.

For example, she has an innovative method of harvesting a Yule tree. First she finds the tree and makes friends with it. Then on the day she wishes to cut the tree, she asks the tree to move it’s spirit deep into the tap root, and she cuts off the section of the tree that the spirit has fled from. She knows where that is, and ties a rope around the trunk about 8 inches off the ground. Once all that is done, she cuts the tree. By way of thanks and care for the tree, she then inserts fertilizer sticks into the ground around the stump of the tree to encourage it to regrow the top of the tree. She also comes back several times to give it more fertilizer and talk to the tree. Thus she encourages the trees she has cut from to regrow their tops. I don’t know if she returns and re-harvests trees but I would bet she could.

She covers the other celebrations occurring around this holiday briefly, enough to give the reader a feel for the season so you will know what is being celebrated and why. The holidays thus covered are Yule, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukah, since between those four celebrations, most of the parties during this time of the year are covered.

I was happy to see “Holiday Customs around the world” in this book. She has a chapter dealing with how different countries celebrate this time of the year. It’s good to know that people are being taught just because we do it *this* way in America, it does not necessarily follow that the whole world does it that same way.

Dorothy has an extensive knowledge of folklore and it shows in this book. She shares a lot of crafts, customs, folk traditions and other information. I truly enjoyed the wealth of information she has assembled, things like the omens of the season are needed in many cases these days.

The projects are interesting. One of the projects is how to turn a can for holding chips into a can for holding incense. I thought, “You know, this sounds really interesting. Apparently they ARE good for something other than holding change.”

One other thing, this book probably has more recipes for food than any other book in this series. This is certainly understandable since this is the time for eating. This book also has a day by day breakdown of what happens during this time of the year, and good suggestions as to what to do with all those left over decorations.

It is a book that focuses on the season, rather than the Pagan celebration of Yule. There is only one ritual in there, if you discount the granny projects. It would be good for those who want a book on the season and general ritual information. There is not much about the Pagan history or the pagan celebration in here, but that lack does not really detract from the book overall.

Dorothy has done a good job with this book, and she and her book have earned the 4 stars I’m giving it. This one is another that anyone who wants in depth information should get.

Originally posted 2009-11-15 18:50:09. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I am not shy about being on a lot of different Pagan Yahoo groups, discussing things from integration of sexuality with Paganism to how to bake cookies for Litha’s Cakes and Ale. Most times the discussions are fantastic and full of information.

But there is the occasional set of posts that devolve into a screaming match between four or five people, each of them stridently trying to make their particular voices heard above all others.

What is ironic is when all sides are saying the same thing.

It’s something that happens more and more often, and one that needs to stop. Communication breakdowns happen, and when they do there are things that can be done, but rarely are.

• DO NOT WRITE FROM ANGER. Writing from anger only means that you will be slinging aspersions and insults, most likely, without cause. If you are mad, write your response by all means. But then put it into your “Drafts” folder and let it sit there for 24 hours. It will still be there when you want to respond, but you won’t have to go back and say you are sorry.
• If you are being ironic, say so. People who are reading your words are not psychic. They cannot see that you are bring ironic or hear the tone of your voice. The ONLY thing they have to go by is what you say. It’s like talking to people who have Asperger’s Syndrome where they are incapable of reading nuances like body language and tone of voice. The accepted convention now is to put fake HTML around statements where you are being over the top. Doing <>I am SOOOO over him< /irony > will save you a lot of grief. Please note the space between the bracket and the word to keep the readers from recognizing it as a HTML command.
• Smilies Work. Sometimes the emoticons are overlooked during the rush to read the post, but very few times are smilies missed. If you have the capability of using them, please do so. Some email programs even change the text emoticon to a smilie in the process of reading it.
• Give others a break. If you read something that is inflammatory, ask for clarification. It could be that they are unclear in what they are saying. Asking for clarification will allow them to explain or to be clear. And you won’t look like a hot-headed reactionary.
• Understand that the Internet is worldwide. I am amazed how many people seem to forget this and only speak to those who speak English or assume everyone is from America, Australia or England, ignoring the fact that there are French people who speak and write English fluently, as well as Russians and so on. Just because your BBS is local to the Toronto area does not mean that someone from South Africa can’t sign up for that list and participate.
• Because the Internet is worldwide, don’t assume. I have had this come up over and over and over on some lists where person A posts about this event that happened and was on the News, and somoene from Angola had no clue what was happening or what was going on. Or a long explanation about American Politics was posted and half the list who were from England or Europe or Asia couldn’t follow it because they didn’t know squat about American Politics. Just because you understand something does not mean that everyone who is reading will understand. Don’t assume they will.
• Cartoon. I saw a cartoon once that had one of the most accurate descriptions of how a jerk is made. Take a normal person, add Anonymity, add an audience, and you get a troll who causes problems simply because they can. Keep this fact ever in mind.
• Be clear. If it takes going down to the local college and taking a course in writing, DO IT. Learn to write and learn to be clear in what you are saying. Don’t use five words when one will do and don’t assume that everyone can pick up on your nuances. Write clearly and succinctly and for an audience of 5th graders. If you do that, you will be understandable to 99% of those who are reading your words. Remember, as Mark Twain once said “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lightening and the lightening bug.”

Using these simple steps can prevent better than 90% of the drama that is online currently.

One of the fastest ways to drive me off a community, even one that I am enjoying and love posting to, is to have it become mired in drama and “he said/she said” accusations.

Originally posted 2005-07-19 00:46:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Sorry that I had to shift to an email form, but I wanted to get some specific feedback from you all, and I just can’t get that the way that I am getting email now. So, this change. I hope you will see this as a sign that I still care and want to hear from you, rather than me being a stand-off jerk. I WILL answer every email that I get.

Before you go and ask me to teach you, I suggest that you read the A letter to a young girl and see if any of it applies to you.

Just fill out this form and click on “Send to Erin” and I’ll get it right quick.

Any fields that are in bold face are required fields.

If you would like to contact me via more traditional means, please email me and ask for my address. My wife has some concerns with her safety so I will send you my physical address if needed.  But be warned, I am REALLY bad about answering letters written on paper.  I’m really good about email, and that’s what I usually go with, but if you require an answer by mail, you may be waiting for a while.    You have been warned.

Originally posted 2009-10-30 09:27:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

One of the core desires for humanity, for all that we are social animals, is that we want to be special. We want to stand out from everyone else; we want to be unique. When we can’t find a unique thing to be proud of and to stand out, we will make them up.

For instance, freckles. A lot of people have freckles. Some even want to have them despite problems with those who do have them, as in the story “Freckle Juice”. Freckles are uncommon, so they are somewhat unique. But I have heard tales of those who DO have freckles comparing the arrangements of those freckles into patterns, making constellations of their freckles to be even more unique. And this is what I’m talking about when I say that even among those who have cause to be distinctive, there will be a trend to want to stand out from that group.

And with that, we come to the reason I’m writing this article. It is the “grand destiny” group that really makes me want to beat my brains out.

See, I was a member of that group as well at one point. Yes, Daven, the guy who knows some and tells much, who is equally adept at speaking out of his oral orifice as well as his anal one, used to think he had a great destiny. I honestly and passionately believed that I was put on this Earth to reclaim Wicca and to make it a haven for those who felt that connection and who needed a place where they weren’t freaks. I thought it was my duty to provide that to them. And I worked at it, long and tirelessly.

And I got burnt out.

But, that story is not for this article. The past, while being important, is irrelevant in this case. My point in mentioning it is that I understand what it’s like and the mental gymnastics that those who feel this way have to go through to convince themselves that they are more special than the rest of the world.

Most of it can be summed up by saying that they are unsure of themselves and have a bad self esteem.

Generally speaking, age tempers this impulse and it tends to make it so that the person in question no longer needs to be “more specal than thou”. It doesn’t happen with everyone, please understand, but most often the adults understand that there is a point where they don’t need to feel so super special.

Not everyone grows out of this impulse, but most do.

That realization, that they don’t need to feel special, generally coincides with a scaling back of their goals and their dreams. But it also marks a right of passage when they start thinking about other people besides themselves.

I know a lot of people who didn’t really grow up until they decided to be responsible for more than just themselves. It may have been a marriage, it may have been having a child, but in each and every case they made a decision to be responsible for more than one person in their life. And that caused a change in them that took them from the realm of “I’m so special and I have a great and ultimate destiny” to “I don’t have time for fantasy anymore. I have to take care of ______.”

For some reason that is the telling point. Once you have to take care of more than yourself (and animals don’t count), you seem to mature into a different human being.

But that does not mean that the great destinies aren’t out there. The general trick is that the people who have those destinies don’t know about it until later in their life. They certainly don’t go around and declare it to everyone they know and many they don’t. The key; if you think you are destined for great things, you probably aren’t.

The people who really have great destinies normally have a lot of humility, they understand that they may have the spotlight, but the people who actually do the work and keep the world spinning is the shopkeeper, the parent, the policeman. The people you see every day are the ones who make it possible to have a world and a society are the ones who actually matter.

It’s good to have heroes, to have those who live laser edged, diamond hard, huge lives. They make living for us less of a drag and less of a chore. They show us that people can have exciting lives, that there are people who do HUGE things that have an immediate impact on our life.

But the people who generally have the most impact on history are those who live their lifetime quietly and do what they should. Do you think that Sacagawea honestly thought she was making a huge impact on history by showing some people how to navigate rivers and negotiating her own safety to gain passage through territory held by others? Or that Elphas Levi knew his work was going to last through the centuries?

Those who have grand destinies generally only live their lifetime and try to do what they feel is right. They are quiet and you wouldn’t really pick them out of a group of people if you didn’t know who they are. And those who are in the spotlight and doing and being aren’t necessarily those who have a grand destiny. You can only judge if someone had a grand destiny only from a historical perspective.

We know, for instance, that Alexander the Great was a brilliant general, a heck of a tactician and he cut the Gordian knot. We know this because of history. But I bet that those around him didn’t necessarily think he had a grand destiny when he was 12. I bet that those who raised him just did the best they could as parents or guardians rather than with an eye to him being a HUGE influence on history.

Every parent hopes for, and every child wants a grand destiny, one that will change the world. But in a realistic sense, only about one person in a million will have that grand destiny. Those that do have that destiny will have lots of pain, heartache, frustration and loneliness to go with it. They will be isolated from most of the groups they have pledged to serve and to have the destiny for, and they will be misunderstood by just about everyone.

Do you really think Jesus was happy traveling from town to town, teaching and being hated, moving around so the authorities couldn’t find him and then finally being murdered by the very people he hoped to teach?

One of the best movies I have ever seen that highlights this difference between those with grand destinies and those who make the world continue to function is called “Pippin”. You can find it in the video stores. Rent it, watch it. Remember it.

Grand destinies generally lead to grand funerals. I would rather be one of those people who is in the background making sure the computers at my company work so that you have your insurance for your car, than someone who is fated to go out and teach the masses about how wonderful Wicca is. Yes, I have this website and it’s fairly popular. Yes, I teach through it. But if everyone who was reading this website stopped tomorrow, I would still be putting up articles and thoughts and so on. This is for my daughter and my granddaughter. That is who I am writing this for.

I am glad this site helps and teaches, but I know for a fact that my destiny is to have a family and make the world a better place through teaching them, and helping them make the decisions that will affect the world, not to do it directly myself. And I’m okay with that.

See, contributions that make a difference don’t have to be huge ones. A contribution that makes a difference is giving the food you may have eaten at a meal to the homeless shelter. THAT makes a direct difference in someone’s life. Going there and working for a day to help the shelter out makes even more of an impact. Giving to others makes a difference.

You don’t have to be Superman to make a difference or to have a grand destiny. Just by helping each other out on this planet, you can say that is a grand destiny.

But don’t EVER think that what you do is worth nothing or that what someone else does is a job that no one would miss if it disappeared. The people who wipe the phones have just as important a job as those who write the laws and those who assemble the chairs for others to sit in. Just because you bring a pizza to someone doesn’t mean you do a nothing job. And just because someone brings you the pizza does not entitle you to be rude to them. Understand that they have emotions, a heart, blood and a soul just like you do.

But remember, if you think you have some great overriding destiny to change the world, in a realistic sense, you probably don’t. If you keep doing what you are doing with little thought or regard for yourself while you are doing that job, you probably have something to offer that is more than what you think. And if you feel compelled to help a fellow human being out of the mud, then do so. But don’t ever mistake the dream with the actuality, or you will piss off those you are trying to reach.

Originally posted 2009-11-11 22:24:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter