How to be a better Witch, Wiccan, Pagan, etc...

I get emails from people asking me this question alot.  I should be amused, and in the beginning I was taken aback but by now I am comfortable with this question.  First, you obviously need assurances if you ask this question and so let me say...there is no WRONG way to be any of these things.  There are ways I wish you would not portray our "Craft/Path" but these are my perceptions and this is my blog and I do not wish to fill it up with silly drivel or assy statements about who "embarrasses me" or my brothers and sisters of the craft.  That is not my job; my mission is to help others and encourage them.

That being said...and remembering there is no award or Trophy for what we do.....

How do you get better at a Path?  Well you practice it.  You put down the book you are reading, or the blog you are looking at right now and you do something to help you grow.  These are some suggestions, not mandatory things I think can help you.  Actually, I know they will help you.

1.  Go for a walk.  If you live in a suburban neighborhood like me, look at the trees, notice and smile at your neighbors and listen to the birds, notice the clouds.

2.  Go out every morning and greet the sun.

3.  Go out at night time and connect with the moon.

4.  Notice the stars and the formations and planets, see how many you know.  Learn a new one.  Hey download that Google app for it on your phone hold it up to the sky!  Now you know what you are looking at.

5.  Pray.  Yep, I said it pray.  Talk to Spirit, feed it your dreams, your hopes, your fears, ask for direction and wisdom.

6.  Respect the planet you live on.  Do not litter and yes this counts cigarette butts and cups from Mcdonalds. 

7.  Give the benefit of the doubt to others that either share your path; or do not share your path.  If you truly believe we are all Spirit, then respect another person's Spirit.

8.  Share your observations with others if they ask how was your day?  Say I got up and saw the sun and stretched and it made me smile and think of you and how there were Goddesses like Isis and Saule, and Amaterusu that were female and considered to be part of the Sun Energy.  Why do you think that is?

9.  Look for the Goddess and the God all around you, and within you, but most importantly WITHIN others!

10.  Get up every morning and turn your day around by humming, singing, dancing, and tapping your foot (even it is impatiently why the coffee is a brewing).  ASK God/Goddess how you can serve them.

11.  Help others.  If you can possible help someone, do it.  Do not starve yourself to help another, but yes stop and help someone change a tire; or buy a used tire, or just give them a book to read or send them a text.  Don't sad face them on facebook, or air hug them...reach out...be real!

12.  FEED your soul!  Pagans have an issue with reading daily devotionals because they notice they are geared to Christians.  SO WHAT?  I mark out Jesus and put in Isis in it's place same principal.  Hey!  Read a Self-help book, but feed your soul...IF you do not feed your soul, then how can you grow?

13.  Have altars set up in your home.  Yes, that means if it is a picture, a plant, a gnome in the front yard take the time to make your space sacred and a sanctuary.

14.  Go to a meetup for Pagans/Wiccans/Witch's you don't have to commit but you might find out about something going on in your area you want to take part in or could help others with...and that is always good.  Plus, you learn about others paths and they help you. Learning is cool! 

15.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen, or clothing swap, or any kind of public charity and let them know YOU ARE PAGAN!  Yep, help change our public image by showing people that we are real, and normal (well that is overrated but you get my point) and we do make a positive difference.

16.  Be a great parent!  ( I am leaving this open because you know what that is to you and I do not judge other's parenting skills unless you harm the child or starve them)

17.  Share your abilities.  If you are Pagan/Wiccan/Witch then please share whatever you do with the public.  If you do Reiki, share it.  If you read cards, share it.  If you are a medium share it. Gifts are not given to keep or hide under a bushel.

18.  Go to a Pagan festival.  This will help you grow more than anything I know because you will be forced to open your mind and heart to others that walk your path and it will show you how diverse it is!

19.  Spend time with an Elderly person.  Yes, I said that because it shows you the Crone and the Sage in the Physical form and it teaches you to be comfortable and see the beauty and swap off that comes with ageing.

20.  Trust yourself.  Believe in yourself.  Believe in your connection to source.


Now I am sure you are going to think of others, I can right now as I write this.  However, if you do one of these a day I guarantee you will grow.  I say this, because the only way to be better at anything is to grow.  You know when you stop growing?  When you die. 

Thank you for the gift of your time, and keep those emails a coming!

 

Are you sure it isn't the Cherry on top?

I just got back from New Orleans, Louisiana.  My husband Brian and I went there to get some “couple time”.  It is a funny thing that happens when you start running any kind of business or organization when you get married you get to running around so much you forget what got you propelled to where you are in the first place.  I have not forgotten.  Before I met Brian I was pretty cool.  After I met Brian everything fell together for me, and I relaxed into life. 

We fell in love.  I think we knew the minute we met each other that nothing from that moment would be the same.  We are still in love.  People forget this at times since we are just a 40-something couple and a High priest and Highpriestess of a Wiccan Temple.  No, we don’t bandy about naked underneath the full moon.  No, we are not swingers or in a cool “open” or polyamorous relationship we are just two people; who met and fell in love. In short very unusually boring for a Pagan anything especially in the year 2013.

We open and close the Temple of the Sacred Gift four (at least) out of seven days a week with a few other couples in the church.  It is hard to maintain a good relationship with your significant other when you both work all day, and then come home to grab food and run up to teach a class, shake hands with strangers, sell wares, run circles, bless homes, and banish spirits. Usually one of us has to stay home with our Pagan Toddler so the other can serve the community and maintain the ministry; but, somehow or another we have maintained it. 

How?  By feeding and filling our well.  Normal people, call it “hard work”  I will call it taking trips to New Orleans, trips to Nashville, trips to Gatlinburg, renting a Hotel room, going out to dinner, and buying each other things to express our love for one another.  When we chose together the Temple logo we placed in the middle the cup and athame; a symbol for the merging and interconnectedness of the God and the Goddess themselves.  Many look at this symbol for the “Great Rite” and laugh and say it is all about the sex.  Hey, I will not lie sex is a physical way of expressing the “Great Rite” in fact it is probablly the cherry on top of all of life.  However, after being married in more than one way to a person I will tell you it is more about the collaborations that occur between the female and male within each of us and being comfortable enough to share that with each other than great bedroom shenanigans that truly is the GREAT RITE.

We have collaborated on raising four children together Brian and I.  We have collaborated on paying bills together, on retiring together, on taking care of each other when we are sick.  We have collaborated on building a physical worship space together and a spiritual one not only for people that come and ask for guidance; but for each other.  He has his path, which is Eclectic and I have mine which is very much Egyptian Heka.  We collaborate on work schedules, and doctors’ appointments, and on insurances, and on who is going to mow the lawn and who will fold and put up the laundry.  In fact, there is not one area of our life that is not collaboration, and I feel that this is truly what the” Great Rite” is all about.  It is not about two people becoming one in a hot sweaty embrace it is about two people whose lives intersect and respect, love and admire one another in and outside of the sexual act.

 

 

Today, I read a prayer aloud to the Goddess Opis and re-minded myself who she was and what Opulence truly is.  It seems many people can define Opulence as being diamonds, pearls, fancy cars, chandeliers, and over the top “lifestyles of the rich and famous”.  Yet, it seems to me since very few of us will ever experience that kind of opulence that maybe what it really is about is figuring out what your Opulence is.  To me, Opulence is being married to and being the Highpriestess of Brian Miller.  To me, building a life with this person, sharing a world with him, living in a home with him, and co-creating a Temple and community with him is Opulence.  BTW so is the Great Rite with him…J 

 

Thank you for letting me share what I feel is the "cherry on top" of life!

Under the Sun

This weekend I was honored to take part in my very first pagan festival, The Brothers of the Sun. What an amazing experience! I was welcomed in to a group of pagan men from various traditions as a brother. I learned so much about male camaraderie, masculine energy, and other male mysteries. And I definitely learned a good bit about myself. What I learned most was that my family tree of pagans has more branches and deeper roots than I realized.

I wish I could share with you all everything I learned this weekend, but these are men’s mysteries. What I can share with you is that I learned that this community of men is not a group of bystanders at the will and service of their witches. These men are roves seeking their own destiny, fathers shaping their future and the future of those they love, and sages manifesting the will of paganism as a whole. I am proud to call these men my brothers.

I can also share with you what I learned about myself. I practiced a solitary path for many years. When I was led to formal training at Temple of the Sacred Gift I looked upon this training in a preconceived notion of what a church is supposed to be. I also looked at my training as a training of rules, guide lines, and how-to’s on the right way and wrong way to practice and worship. I had decided without thinking that because this training was from an eclectic church and not a coven I would still be a solitary witch. I would be a part of a fellowship of like-minded individuals and learn what has been written and recorded about witchcraft. I would take this information and apply it to my own spiritual practice but ultimately I would still be a solitary because I wasn’t practicing like anyone else; my roots were my own.

Just before I left for my men’s weekend, my teacher invited me and others to be a part creative part of Southern Fried Pagan. Our first task was to create our bios for the page so that readers would know who we are and from what perspective our views originate. I did this quickly, because I had began writing a blog of my own earlier this year. I sent it to her and she wrote me back to inform me that I needed to look at blog bios because they tend to be short and to the point. And I wasn’t a solitary like I claim any longer. My first reaction was who is she to tell me I’m not a solitary. I latched on to my ideas of what my training was going to be and swung from the tree limb beating my chest. I have thankfully learned to avoid discussing things until I have had time to think about them. I used the weekend to plan on what I was going to say to my teacher to make her understand and accept my idea. Funny I know. Tell your high priestess she’s wrong about something she’s been formally teaching for a few years.

I was involved in a casual conversation with a sage of high respect as a brother one night during this weekend. He was saying something about the students he teaches and how he has to teach to each one differently because they are different people. This sparked in my head and I said, “Aha!” I realized now why I needed to go to college to become a teacher of elementary school only to leave that field. Differentiated instruction, the biggest concept of my college training. And this high priest has been using it for a lot longer than it has been in practice in public schools. I then began to think about teaching and how friends in college would tell professors that the idea of differentiated instruction, teaching to reach every level and type of student and to each individual student, was good in theory but wasn’t realistic. After some time examining lesson plans of differentiated instruction and some training on how to construct them, I was quite able to apply this skill. I thought, “How dumb are they to tell the teacher their wrong.”

“AHA!”

What had I just done? I had to think about this. I looked around and saw the men and the ways they did things. I learned the connections these men had and why they had them. I saw practices of various sages being used by the fathers and learned by the roves. Some of these were discussed openly after rituals and workshops. And the answer to my quandary was revealed. Traditions were made and passed on and are being passed on. These traditions were not limited to the men or this festival. I realized I wasn’t just learning what someone else had learned; I was learning traditions. Now my high priestess and high priest and maiden and squire had told us this many times. It never made it past my preconception. This weekend I saw the traditions from one hand to the next. I was a part of these traditions. I learned a way of thinking and doing that had been passed down from generations much older than one that attended the festival.

 

No I am not a part of a coven, but I am part of a tradition. It is an eclectic one. But it is a tradition. I have brothers and I have sisters. I have fathers and mothers. I have grandfathers and grandmothers. I am not alone anymore unless I choose to be. I choose it no longer. I WAS a solitary pagan. Now, I am a Templite.  

My advice: If you are practicing solitary do not seclude yourself. Get out and be part of the community. If you wish to be part of a group, which in my opinion most of us do, get out and do whatever it takes to find an accepting, loving group. A new light will dawn within you. The Charge of the Goddess states, “If that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without.” I hold that some things cannot be found within unless we actively seek them without. Paganism is about community and traditions. If you do not make yourself a part of the community you will not know paganism completely. I may be wrong. These are just the ideas of a seeker in training.

 

Kevin Red Patrick is a seeker at Temple of the Sacred Gift – ATC. Raised in Memphis, TN, and educated at the University of Mississippi. His pagan path began at the age of thirteen after understanding that his views of life, spirituality, and sexuality did not align with his Christian upbringing. He has followed an eclectic Wiccan path with strong Celtic influences for twenty-two years. Divine direction led him to TSG-ATC in December of 2012, where he is now receiving formal training with aspirations of becoming clergy. He now lives in Southaven, MS with his partner of thirteen years and two dogs.

If it don't take the first time, can I get a second dunkin'?

I get allot of emails and people asking me about Initiations.  They want to know if I am "self-initiated" or did I have a teacher.  They want to know if they can "self-initiate" and if so why do they want or need a teacher.  Here in the South, we have some deep "Christian" ways of thinking that go down deeper than the psyche possibly into our bones that we are not aware of.  I think this is why this question comes up allot down here.  I am going to try and answer this question; and I am going to honestly share my OPINION.  This does not make me an expert, just someone who has been around a bit!

First, I want to specify what Initiation is; according to Webster it is the following:  "Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. Examples of initiation ceremonies might include Hindu diksha, Christian baptism or confirmation, Jewish bar or bar mitzvah, acceptance into a fraternal organization, secret society or religious order, or graduation from school or recruit training."

So if we look at this definition is is HIGHLY Unlikely that you can give yourself an initiation.  For how can you declare yourself part of a group if you are the only person?  If, however you are trying to declare to the Universe or the Source that you are now officially a "Pagan or Wiccan"  then I guess you could do that by yourself.  I find it baffling that in the year 2013 we whom are Pagan/Wiccan/Witch still remain Solitary and are "non social" and "very judgemental" of other groups, circles, covens, and Pagan organizations which will gladly offer these services to you in exchange for your discipline, time, commitment, and exchange of energy.  How are we to be "light bearers" and "be one with the earth" if we are so standoffish and solitary?  (Notice I ask this question but cannot answer it).

In my tradition,  Initiations mean something.  They mean you have crossed a fork in the road, devoted a year or more of your life, that you have devoted yourself intensely to the God or Goddess of your choice, that you have given all you have and you would like your community, your family and your teachers to still continue on with you down the road you choose.  They mean that you are ready to learn, and to grow, and to share yourself with the world.  They mean that you are ready to "set yourself aside" and try to work with others for common goals that you think will help the city you live in and yourself.  It means you stand for something, and you are willing to accept a few "responsibilities" and "roles" and the expectations that come with them.  It also means, you will not walk that path alone ever...that I (if I am your teacher) will give you part of myself and stay connected to you forever.  That is the deal I made with my Goddess Isis, and thus she too will always be there for you if you need her.

 

Back in the late 80's early nineties many of us were initiated in a way that reminds you of a fraternity rite.  We were picked up without warning, we were blind folded,  a bag placed on our head, our hands tied together, and we had to sit in a car or back of a truck and ride not knowing where we were going.  When we arrived at the destination the bag was removed, our feet tied together, and then the Priestess started to ask us questions that we should be able to answer if we had studied diligently and paid attention.  Then you were anointed, cleansed, and saged.  You would be unblindfolded, then untied on your hands, then your feet, and this would be so that you could "see the new path before you", and so that you could "use your hands for the craft" and "walk the path before you in dignity and grace" .  You would take an oath to your High priestess, and Circle and community and Gods .  You would mean it and the difference would be palpable. Then you were measured and given a cord by your High priestess and it was understood that you and she were tied together like a mother and baby; and all your brother and sisters in the coven would rejoice.  You now were initiated!

 

I have done some of these (minus the putting a bag on someones head) and I have experienced it.  It is a tad bit scary but this is about trust.  Do you trust your Gods?  Do you trust yourself?  Do you trust your circle/tribe/community?  If so then you have put yourself in a very uncomfortable place...and now you are ready TO GROW!

 

Today in 2013 I will not blindfold you, I am not going to bind you like this...but I am going to make sure you feel like you are on the spot.  I am going to make you feel a tad bit uncomfortable, I am going to make it sacred, and reverent, and you are going to answer questions to prove that you have learned what you needed to in that year and a day, you are going to take an oath, you are going to hear the words of the Goddess and the words of the God, you are going to be reminded of the ethics and values of the Tradition you have been trained in! (However, none of that can happen unless you have gone to your classes and turned in your lessons for a year and a day not missing more than three sessions and turned in a BOS to your teacher that she/he approved several weeks before). Yes, you have to have discipline and focus to be part of our tradition.  Then, your teacher and I will give you a cord and explain to you the significance of this act.  The Clergy will share once again with you the tools of our Path, you will be reminded that not just "anyone" needs to know the secrets of our traditions because they not all will understand them and we will anoint your third eye, your lips, your throat, your heart, your hands, your belly, your feet, and you will be iniated!  Everyone will celebrate, you will be hugged allot, and at the end you are given a graduation certificate.

 

CAN YOU DO THIS ALONE AT HOME?  You answer me .

 

 

The following Rites of Passages are also Initiations:  Baby blessings, Weddings, Graduations, Funerals.  NONE OF THESE do you do alone...so why would you do your most important decision in the world alone ? (Well I thought it was one of my most important things I have ever done maybe you don't think this)

 

 

 

You would think the majority of students in our classes would be young twenty somethings fresh faced and eager for the Craft not knowing the consequences of the decision to be Pagan forever. However, I can tell you after all of these years the majority of people that come to learn and take classes at the Temple are not.  They are people that have been solitary for ten or more years.  They know basics; they have read hundreds of books they come to learn a "tradition" the come to learn structure and the "order" in which to do things.  They have already figured out that "intent" is nice but knowing how to formulate the spell is really more important than just copying and pasting from Facebook.  In classes, they are helped to find their OWN personal path, they find their OWN God and Goddess, and they are forced (through their own consent and life) to work only on a few things for a year and a day and do them well, they are forced to work with others and learn to get along and deal with "discord" gracefully and wisely.  They come out learning skills that help not only them spiritually but practically.  I know I did and still do.

 

To be a THIRD degree in the Temple means you have devoted at least (and this means you have not missed a single anything and were a genius) three and a half years of your life studying and applying that knowledge and contributing to a community.  Once you have done this, you are ready (we feel) to lead a group and start a circle within the community thus contributing to the greater whole and sharing YOUR PERSONAL gifts!

 

I pray now that I have explained what Initiation is and how we do it you can answer this question better.  Oh, and if you have been iniated in the Craft and you decide to get married and start a family, and then revisit it later...you can always pick up where you left off.  YOU DO NOT have to get "Re- baptized" or ask the Gods to observe your decision again" :)  We are Pagans after all.

 

THANK YOU for the gift of your time....

 

Because of Isis We give thanks! (Ritual to Isis included)

I rarely, if ever, do this; but I am going to jump out on a limb here and share one of my private group rituals with you (the public).  They are very easily duplicatable, and I feel pretty much full proof.  If your goal is to worship the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses and to "walk with the Gods" and to live in Ma-at then this is the ritual for you!  

I also hope that people will search Google and find this, because so many people nowadays use other people's group rituals or base on on them from something that someone else wrote on the internet.  I am embracing technology and offering you the opportunity to experience what we at the Temple of the Sacred Gift feel every other weekend.  Enjoy!  and Thank you Isis.

RITUAL TO ISIS for her BIRTHDAY

Bowl for water,  blessed water from the River (the closest body of water to you will do mine is the Mississippi),  two cloths one dry one wet, blue lotus oil, candle, confetti, beads on a safety pin to hand out (Looks like a friendship pin from the 80's)

Purify the space before starting any ritual!  Sage, sing, beat drum, sweep up the residue!

CLEANSE the worshippers

Have everyone wash their hands before entering washcloth, one wet , one dry, and blue lotus oil in the bowl…

Cast circle SONYA:  RA INTONED OVER AND OVER UNTIL CIRCLE IS RAISED

….

CALL IN ELEMENTS:  SONYA AND ANGELA TOGETHER Who walk to every quarter

TOGETHER (this is the HPS/HPor HPS and HPS): Before us is SHU

EAST:  (Evocation)  Shu, God of Air please bring a Gift to this circle  and join us in the circle tonight to honor your Grandaughter Isis.  Hail Shu!

To the right of us is SEKHMET

SOUTH:   (Evocation)Sekhmet, Goddess of Fire please bring a gift to this circle and join us in the circle tonight to honor your friend Isis.  Hail Sekhmet

Behind us is Neferet

WEST:  (Evocation) Neferet, Goddess of Water please bring a gift to this circle (keep it open and let her decide what to bring) and join us in the circle to night to honor your Sister Isis…Hail Neferet!

To the left of us is OSIRIS

NORTH:  (Evocation)  Osiris, God of Eternal Life please bring a gift to this circle (keep it open and let him decide what to bring) and join us as we celebrate your wife’s Birthday Isis…Hail Osiris!

Below is always our father GEB

THE EARTH POINT DOWN:  ( EVOCATION) Geb, Father, we feel you under our feet please bring a gift to this circle (keep it open) and join us as we celebrate your daughters birthday isis…Hail Geb!

 Above us is always NUT our Mother the Sky

THE SKY ABOVE YOU THINK ATMOSPHERE POINT UP:  …(Emily evocation)  Nut, Sky mother you stretch out above us smiling please bring a gift to to this circle (keep it open so she can bring what she wants) to celebrate your daughter’s birthday Isis…Hail Nut!

Now we will call in the Special guests…

Aspirant:  Horus, Golden one, will you please come and join this circle and bring a gift for your Mother Isis as we celebrate her day of birth today?  Hail Horus!

Aspirant:  Thoth, Scribe of the Ages, will you please come and join this circle and bring a gift for your friend Isis as we celebrate her day of birth today?  Hail Thoth!

Angela:  Hathor, will you please come and join this circle and bring a gift for your friend Isis as we celebrate her day of birth today?  Hail Hathor!

Sonya: Isis, Will you please make a grand entrance and join this circle because we are all gathered here today to celebrate your birthday!  Thank you for all you have done for me, and the Temple of the Sacred Gift!  Hail ISIS!

ANGELA:  I am pretty sure that you all know by now it is Isis birthday.  I think it is pretty awesome that out of all the Goddesses I have met that Isis has a birthday! She was born according to Historians on July 17^th.  All Egyptian Goddesses have birthdays. Back in the day people from all over the world came to celebrate, party, dance, drink, laugh, and be happy that a Goddess had been born on that day!

SONYA:  Did you know that when Isis was born, she was not the ALL POWERFUL glorious Goddess she is now, she was not even in the top ten worshipped!  Hathor was the Top Goddess of Choice, along with Sekhmet and Wadjet, Bastet and many others including Neith!   But as time passed, she endured surpassing them all in popularity.  I know Osiris would say it was because she married him; but I would like to say it is because she is the most easily relatable.

Angela:  Isis was human like us, she was a child, she was a teenager, she fell in love, and she married.  She became a princess and lived in the palace and visited all of her fellow Goddesses who also had palaces, and then her husband was killed and she was dethroned.  Then she became…

SONYA:  Homeless, and poor.  She had to find a way to make a living.  She took up the art of hairdressing, she became a perfumer, a midwife, an herbalist, she worked as a maid, she became a Nanny, and apparently she wasn’t very good at any of these jobs…because every story entails her being fired by her employer.  Then she became …

Angela:  ANGRY and SAD, just like our modern day emos she cut herself with her nails until she bled, even her beautiful face, she pulled her hair out in clumps, to remove the pain that was inside herself.  It is said that she was depressed, and cried all the time, to the point where people stopped and asked what was wrong only for her to ignore them and not take solace from others.  She was so angry it is said her screams rivaled the lions, and the vultures, and her words were like poison and even the scorpions ran in her presence.  Then she became….

Sonya:  Focused and motivated, she devised a plan and went out searching and gathering every piece of her lost love Osiris and decided to re-construct him.  She approached the Gods and Goddesses and asked them to help her with her plan…they pointed her in the right directions, and her step son Anubis promised to sew him back together.  Then she

Angela:  Like us her plan fell apart, Anubis sewed him back together but nothing happened; he remained motionless.  Only Ra could bring the dead to life.  Not be undone…She unveiled her trickster aspect and got Serquet and Wadjet to give her poison so that she could trick the King of Gods into giving her his power.  She then places a thorn in his path, while he is doing his daily walk (which means she had to stalk him and do detective work hiding in the bushes) and he steps on it becoming poisoned…then she

Sonya:  Offers to heal him, because Ra calls her to his bedside to make him well.  She offers him a deal (becoming a business woman) I will do this in exchange for your powerful name.  He gives it to her, she returns only to find out that once again Set had scattered her husband….The bastard! THEN SHE….

Angela:  becomes tenacious and reassembles are the parts and finds that he is missing his penis, creates one from gold (yep she is a sculptor and artist) and then becomes the Queen of Magic raising the first person from the dead.  Thus it is stated that in this Act Isis the Human becomes Isis the Goddess, and is given the crown of the Sun disks (the first female Goddess ever to wear this crown)

Sonya:  Isis then loses her husband to the underworld, but gains the throne, only to wander for forty years, while gaining armies, allies, and friends as a Goddess protecting her child, then as a mother providing, and not as a princess or queen but as a savage warrior who slays anyone who approaches her child.  

ANGELA:  Isis is considered the best mother and is the epitome of all Mother Goddesses we study, she holds the child to her breast to feed it, just as she feeds us, she fights for her child, and she raises him to become a leader and to claim his destiny like all mothers do…

Sonya:  I know you are all thinking, yeah, well I don’t worhship isis…well you might

Angela:  If you worship:  Astarte, Aphrodite, Erishkagel, Innana, Ishtar, Ixchel, Fortuna, Thalia, Venus, Vesta, Neferet, Hathor (even) Athena, Artemis, Diana, Selena,  Demeter, Babao, Amaterusu, The Virgin Mary, Mother Goddess, you could be worshiping Isis.

Sonya:  As time progressed Isis was so popular that as other Goddesses temples fell, she came in and resurrected them adding her name and a hyphen to their name.  In the case of Venus and Aphrodite she saved their worship in an age where men could not stand the idea of Women being powerful. 

Angela:  She is also the first Goddess to travel the world, leaving her own continent and spreading her love and message to people of every race, color, caste, and sexuality (she had transsexuals priests in Persia!)  

Sonya:  In the year 300 ad it was written by the Historian Theolipius that it was a mystery as to who the people would worship…Isis or Jesus

Angela:  It seems the trinity of Male Gods only won, and Isis became sitting in the corner of every Temple with a shrine, at every Christian church… as the Virgin Mary.

So in her honor today, we are going to sing a little diddy I wrote to her…

Have people pass confetti around while singing this….

"Because of Isis, there is a heaven

Because of Isis, there is an earth.

Because of Isis, the river floods in springtime

Because of Isis, the trees bear fruit

Because of Isis, Because of Isis,  we give thanks

Because of Isis, Because of Isis, we are here

Because of Isis because of Isis because of Isis we give thanks

Because of Isis because of Isis because of isis we are here

Because of Isis

Because of Isis

Because of Isis we are here

Because of Isis 

Because of Isis

Because of Isis we give thanks..... "

SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY….throw the confetti, and blow the horns,

Light a birthday candle…….

Then have everyone get a bead from Isis as a party favor….

(TELL PEOPLE) These are from Egypt and are called Mummy beads or ubashi beads you wear them every day until you die, then they go with you to the underworld so that the spirits realize that you have spent time with the Goddess Isis.

Now it is time to party…I hope all the Gods want to join us…

Leave the circle open and feast or potluck with the Gods.  Then play dance music and shake a tailfeather! Then take down circle, clean up...and Sing Because of Isis all the way home!

Why is it so hard to start a coven? OR is it really that hard to start one?

" Xwitch made a suggestion that it hard to get into a coven. I think this would be somewhat true and depends on where you live. e.g., I would love to be able to organise a study group/coven in my local area, I thought about doing flyers or a mail box drop advertising as such but then I feel that I would get phone calls or emails from negative people and/or a mole might get in, kinda like what we get in this group, and a heap of other factors that have turned me off it completely. Mind you though I have gotten a flyer in my mail box about a local churches bible study group so I see it as a huge unfairness on us as Wiccans that we still have to hide away even with all the laws protecting us."

I have decided to address one of these today on a public forum because I want there to be MORE Pagan/Wiccan/Witch groups not less. But for that to happen, I need to share in a bigger way how to start your own coven.  FIRST, let me state there are not "all of these laws out there" protecting you as a Wiccan unless you decided to get organized and get a Legal 501c3 Religious organization license.  For you to think that your coven will be protected is naive, study the law and all of the cases and you will see time and time again the odds are stacked against you.  You live in a world where people understand Church, Temple, Worship center but they do not understand "coven/circle/grove/backyard".  So if you think that forming a coven will protect you and your buddies from "discrimination" and that you can do anything you want and sue then think again...that is not the way the law or the world works.  This is why after years of leading covens my husband and I banded together and organized and formed a legal 501c3 Wiccan Church  with a whole bunch of other fabulous folks (Wicca is protected Pagan and Witch are not).

IF however, you want to form a coven with people because you have a sincere desire to learn, to grow, and to practice magick with people you enjoy then you have the RIGHT reason to form a coven.  So first I would advise you to sit still and figure out WHY you want to form a coven.  If it is for POWER POWER POWER or because you are Lonely then DO not form a coven those are not good reasons.  NEXT, what kind of coven do you want it to be?  Do you want it to be a women's only group?  Do you want it to study the Celtic path?  Is it eclectic?  Hellenistic? etc.  Do you know anything about these areas?  IF not, then be honest and say I want this to be a coven for people that are new to the path and want to learn together. DO NOT( and I repeat this do not) call yourself a Highpriestess if you have no experience on the path; give it time you will grow into that role the Goddess truly initiates her own and you will know when that "title" is right for you. Priest and Priestess we all are, but Highpriestess or Highpriest is earned.

This is the tricky part...are you starting the coven alone?  If you are then you have to decide are you going to be the leader?  Would you rather it be a leaderless group? If there is a leader will it be just you or are you going to share that responsibility oh and HOW WELL do you know them?  Where are you going to worship, a park or your back yard?  Do you want to have a bunch of people worshiping in your home but you have no control over what happens?  If not, then you do not want a leaderless group worshiping in your back yard.  (BTW I love how people say this alot because I do not believe in leaderless groups, whomever founded it and whomever home it is at is the leader and if who founded it and the house used to do it are owned and run by two different people there usually are issues that arise I am sharing this from alot of experience. Because truthfully we humans like boundaries, rules, leaders, and struggle with control all of us do.)  

What kind of rules do you want to have?  Yes, Covens have rules, like you have to study with us for three months before we decided whether we want to take you on or not.  OR you are only a first degree after a year and a day and we initiate you.  Oh yes, what kind of initiation will you have? What kind of mission will your coven have?  Or you all going to do things to help each other, help the library, what about the food bank, etc?  How will you dress?  Will you wear robes, wear street clothes, etc?

HOW many people do you want in your group?  Remember the more people it seems the merrier but if this is your first time the more people who share energy the more you have to get them to mesh, get along, and be in sync and this is so much harder than it looks on the surface.  WHO or HOW are you going to pay for all the rituals?  Cakes and ale, herbs, resins, stones, incense,  altars, altar cloths, God and Goddess statues, cauldrons, sage sticks, all of these things cost money...so how are you all going to pay for this?  When I first started we all rotated this together one week I provided candles the next the sage and incense, etc.  HOW often are you going to meet?  Every week thus every moon cycle, every new moon, every full moon, only dark moons, etc...THIS is important for if you do not meet enough the bonds are not there and the group falls apart.  IF you meet to soon you burn out and then the group also falls apart.

HOW long do you want the coven to work?  Would you like to re-address it every year?  Every three years?  How will you know when it is done...I am not saying you will have the answer to all of these going in, but if you think about all of this BEFORE you try to form a coven then you have a leg up and might be able to make it work.  Because, let it be stated here that leading, organizing, and running anything is hard work so if you work 40 plus hours and have many other obligations (like many children and a high maintenance marriage or full time college) starting and running a coven is NOT for you!  Being in one, now that might be more your speed and for Goddess sake if you cannot run one and know it please be nice to the person that is sacrificing their time, home, and energy it is a HARD job; respect them!

NOW after you have done all of these things, and have decided you have the time and energy and money to do this thing and know where you are going to meet then what?  Advertise.  Yep, you heard me, advertise.  Do it on Facebook say I am forming a group, and send me an email if interested.  PUT up flyers in the coffee shop, or occult store, or at the New age place, or at your local Wiccan church. Twitter it if you want! Once again have them email you if interested not call you. DO NOT advertise your phone number that is a mistake!

WHEN they email you send them back a list of questions that answers for you why they are interested, what their experience is, and if they have psychological issues, or drug and alcohol addictions (yes, please ask this sure they can lie but you will be surprised how many will be honest and you don't want to start off with people that might not benefit from this spiritual path due to psychological issues or addiction issues).  Read the emails, screen them, pick your favorite then call these people back and set up an appointment to meet them face to face!  Make sure it is in a open area like a coffee shop and go meet them and talk and see how you feel about them.  IF you like them set up a date for a future time and get together again, do this until you feel comfortable and add people as you go...and then VOILA!  You have the startings of a coven anything more than three is just that...!

NOW see it really is not as hard as you thought?  It really is more common sense than you realized?  Of course it is.  IF you feel a need or a calling to start a group, then please do so...if it does not work out then so what you tried.  If it does work then WOO HOO you are on your way to growing together!

GOOD LUCK, and GODDESS BLESS.  My email is revsonyamiller@gmail.com if you need any further advice or help in this area for that is what I am here for.