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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by deirdrehbrt on March 11, 2006, at 10:28:07
Found this peice about a Wiccan killed in the war who still hasn't been allowed his symbol of faith on his toumbstone. It's in the Stars and Stripes.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=35639--Dee
Posted by Bobby on March 11, 2006, at 22:27:04
In reply to Interesting peice about Wiccans and the military, posted by deirdrehbrt on March 11, 2006, at 10:28:07
Hi Dee,
Could you explain what a wiccan is for us ignorant. Isn't that someone who worships mother nature--or something along that line?
Thanx
Posted by deirdrehbrt on March 12, 2006, at 9:24:04
In reply to Re: Interesting peice about Wiccans and the military » deirdrehbrt, posted by Bobby on March 11, 2006, at 22:27:04
Hi Bobby,
Wicca is a religion that comes under the body of religions called Neo-Pagan, or New Pagan. (Similar to how Catholic and Anglican come under the broader 'Christian')
It is an Earth Centered religion, having reverence for nature in that we believe that deity and spirit exist within all living things. Some believe that deity exists in all things, including the rocks, water, etc.
Some Wicca believe in a 'universal source', an ulitimate deity or godhead figure. This 'source' is incomprehensible, so we worship aspects of this godhead as individual Gods and Goddesses. In that sense, we are polytheistic.
In my tradition, it isn't really "mother nature", as we believe we need both God and Goddess for fertility, but the Goddess could roughly be interpreted as what some people call "mother nature". We revere the cycles in nature, the cycle of the moon, the death and rebirth seen in the seasons; the waxing and waning in the length of days. We respect that life is dependent upon death; those of us who eat meat respect the life of the creature that was taken for our sustinence; likewise with plants.
Some of us are the tree-huggers; and can feel the energy of deity flowing through these majestic beings. We're all over the board, just as are the unique natures of Mormonism, Fundamentalism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, etc.
If you'd like to see a place that shows what we're all about, you can go to http://www.witchvox.com It's not a course on Wicca, Paganism or Witchcraft, but more of an information clearinghouse with lots of good articles. Lots of people write here, from teens on up. They have a real nice RSS feed for newspaper articles dealing with subjects that affect us.
Anyway, that's a bit about who we are. Our claim is that, contrary to our what our president says, we are a legitimate religion. Hope this has helped,
--Dee
Posted by Bobby on March 12, 2006, at 11:19:19
In reply to Re: Interesting peice about Wiccans and the military, posted by deirdrehbrt on March 12, 2006, at 9:24:04
Thanks Dee for the enlightenment. I guess I was close.
Posted by Bobby on March 12, 2006, at 11:21:52
In reply to Re: Interesting peice about Wiccans and the military » deirdrehbrt, posted by Bobby on March 12, 2006, at 11:19:19
p.s. Do you practice love potions, curses, ......?
Posted by deirdrehbrt on March 12, 2006, at 12:12:23
In reply to Re: Interesting peice about Wiccans and the military, posted by Bobby on March 12, 2006, at 11:21:52
Most witches / wiccans, etc. have some form of 'spells', etc. We also follow strict moral principles though, which prohibit us from working against an individual's free will. The idea of a "love potion" or spell to that effect would be contrary to their free will, and would be considered negative, with negatvie repercussions toward the person who cast the spell, performed the ritual, etc. Curses are in the same category; it's operating out of anger, jealousy, hatred, etc. There may be some who do such things, but many of us, possibly the majority won't deal with such things.
We will though, just as Christians offer prayers to their god, hold rituals, etc. for pease, for the world to come to it's senses and strive for environmentally sound decisions from our leaders, etc. We will cast spells, etc. to keep negativity out of our homes, for our gardens to grow, to keep our children safe. We will perform cleansings and blessings on the homes of our friends (with their permisson).
Some of us are legal clergy. We will perform handfastings (weddings), wiccanings (blessings of babies and young ones), and that sort of thing.The closest thing that we have to a universal law is this: "An it harm one, do what thou wilt". On the surface, this seems to say "If it doesn't hurt someone, do what you want". IRL though, it's like the last 7 commandments all rolled into one. If you're being selfish, you're probably harming another. It's not license to do whatever pleases you. Even smoking hurts yourself, and others. hurting yourself is out too.
Many of us are quite politically active. We have lawyers working for true freedom of religion. A Pagan alternative to scouting has been created to allow children to enjoy scouting without having to make pledges to a Christian God. http://www.spiralscouts.org/metadot/index.pl This group is quite environmentally conscious.
If you would like more details of what Paganism / Wicca / Witchcraft is about, why not do a post on Faith? On Politics, I'd rather discuss the political issues, like the memorials and such for service members, how we tend to be discriminated against regarding states that require clergy to be licensed, that sort of stuff.
Thanks for the interest and questions though.
Blessings,
--Dee
This is the end of the thread.
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