Letters from the Editor

Okay, for those of you who come here a lot, here’s the latest updates from me.

1) I had my “Pagan Basics” lessons taken and used by the ULC church. It’s not their fault, they accepted it in good faith, but Lord Starwalker, whoever that is, is the one who took it. We’ve worked things out and it’s okay now, just saying.
2) Still no permanent job, although I have had SEVERAL interviews.
3) We are totally out of cash and have no prospects of more to come in.
4) We got notice recently about being foreclosed on. Want to buy our house? The auction is October 14.
5) Our health is good, although deteriorating, as it would with anyone who is alive. Nothing really recent to report.
6) I have a part time position teaching at a local community college. It brings in some money, not nearly enough though.
7) The cats are doing well. As is my daughter.

So those of you who feel that this is all what I deserve, and who like to gloat at my misfortune, go ahead. Send your vitriol to feedback@davensjournal.com

I look forward to being entertained by your hatred.

(For those of you not in the know, last time I put up an update like this, I got a gloating email later that day saying that this was what I deserved because I am a bad person. It hurt at the time, but not a lot since the person in question didn’t give me any kind of information to connect their facelessness to someone I supposedly hurt in the past. So whatever.)

So that’s where we are now. This is one reason that I’ve done very little with this site recently. I’m not closing it at all, and as long as I have the $15/month to pay the bill, I plan to keep this site going.

Hopefully things will turn around sometime.

Okay, as you may have noticed, this site hasn’t been updated in a while, or on anything one could call a schedule.

It’s due to a huge combination of factors. Part of it is an evolution of myself, a maturing and a changing into someone else. This does not mean that I’m changing my religion completely, but it does mean that I’m going to be withdrawing from a lot of stuff I have been doing as Druid Daven. Among those is my participation in various online forums, bunnyhunting, active teaching and article writing.

I’m taking a hiatus for a while. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but this site will remain. I might be back as Druid Daven, or Druid Erin, it depends on a lot of things that I have to work out.

I love you too Dad. Thank you for trying to force me to be a narrow minded bigot and driving me away again.

To everyone who reads this, I love you all and I hope that you will take this ride with me and come out the other side. It’s a really deep rabbit hole.

Kink Magick just arrived, by Lupa and Taylor, with a guest essay by yours truly.

Ya’ll excuse me while I disappear for a day or two to read. (although first glance shows a lot that I agree with, have participated in or had happen to me, or that I could have contributed a lot on. Not that I could have written it better, they did a fantastic job. But lots that I’m seeing are what I would have said, if not how I would have said it.)

Wow, this looks really REALLY good. Too bad I can’t review it since it’s a conflict of interest. But I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

Okay, time for a small rant.

Every year about this time you see all kinds of “return to Christ” publicity, to put the Christ back in Christmas and so on. I’m sick of those. Not because my holiday is Yule, but because Christ didn’t go anywhere.

Christmas is the name that the Christ Mass turned into. You never hear about putting the Michael back in Michalemas, do you? Christ is a religious figure, and on Christmas that religious figure is celebrated by those who honor and worship him. They have a feast day, a religious celebration and take time to remember Him and all He did for them.

But the whole “put Christ (etc.)” is silly. It is an attempt to change a secular celebration (X-Mas) into a religious celebration when most of those celebrating X-Mas are not Christian.

And that’s probably the biggest sticking point. It is an attempt of the religious right to enforce a state religion on all of us again. Not just on the “pagans” but also on the Athiests and Hindu and the other established religions. Basically it is one religious group saying that this time of the year is their celebration and ONLY their celebration, no one else can touch it.

For the truly religious, the “put the” movement is able to be ignored. For them their god didn’t go anyplace or leave their celebrations. He is still there for them to worship and honor on this day when his birth is celebrated. And that’s fine. I would never dream of asking Christians to give up that aspect of their religion and their faith. That is what they believe and what they want. But by the same token, I expect to be extended the same courtesy.

So don’t “restore” something that never left. That’s like a movement to restore the sun to the sky because there are clouds up there. The Sun is still there, just waiting for the fog to lift. No “restoration” needed.

This is a new article I just posted. I think it’s a really needed article.

Religion In The Workplace

New article, one that I’ve been writing for some time.

Non-Standard Deities in Traditional Wicca

This is an article that answers a persistant critique I keep getting from those within Seax-Wica. It’s not that I’m trying to cause problems, I’m simply posting this to dispose of the subject.

Truthfully, this is a topic I am more than willing to dispose of. I’m tired of this debate. One would think that if the Founder of Seax-Wica answers this question in the positive, that should be enough for everyone else.

This FINALLY answers the question of “Is Daven Seax-Wican”?