Nine Things I Think

October 24, 2013 By John Beckett

Nine Things I Think is an irregular feature whenever I have a list of things I want to talk about that aren’t long enough for their own individual posts. Some may be expanded later, but most won’t. There’s no theme, just nine things I want to bring to your attention. Feel free to expand on any of these topics in the comments section.

1) There’s a new blog on the blogroll to the right: Under the Owl’s Wing. Subtitled “just a boy whose intentions are good,” it’s the home of Conor O’Bryan Warren, a young Hellenistic polytheist. I’m adding it not because I know Conor and I like him (although I do and I do), but because I love the passion he displays for his gods, his tradition, and the community he desperately wants to build. He’s not afraid to challenge anyone anywhere when something doesn’t look right to him, but when he’s wrong, he’s not afraid to admit it. It’s worth checking out even if you’re not a Hellenist.

2) After eight years and 141 episodes, Tommy Elf’s podcast From the Edge of the Circle is coming to an end on October 31. Almost all of the podcasts have been monologues, with Tommy giving his views as a mostly-solitary Pagan who loves Nature, hates politics, and thinks everyone should follow their own path.

But I think Tommy is addicted to podcasting. In November he’s starting a new show called Upon A Pagan Path. It will abandon the monologue format in favor of guests and conversations, including one with a certain Druid blogger. Tommy’s blog From Within the Circle has also been added to the blogroll.

3) I don’t watch much TV and I haven’t regularly watched a show on the broadcast networks since the end of Alias in 2006. But the previews for Sleepy Hollow grabbed me and I’ve been watching it. After the first episode, I said it was “Washington Irving meets Charmed meets Dark Shadows meets the Book of Revelation.” That’s still pretty much where I am with it. I like the premise and I’m enjoying the two leads (both the characters and the actors) but the writers are taking huge liberties with history, religion and magic. It’s on break till after the World Series – I’ll pick up again on November 4, but I don’t know for how long.

I’m reading very good things about American Horror Story: Coven. Peg Aloi has a review of the series and Jason Mankey is doing mini-reviews of each episode. But I’ve been teaching a Pagan class on Wednesday nights and I haven’t seen it yet. I’m hoping to catch up via on demand before too long.

And I’m going to give NBC’s Dracula a shot starting tomorrow night, because it’s Dracula.

4) There seem to be a lot of supernatural shows on right now and witches seem to be particularly popular. I suspect much of that reflects the general atmosphere of fear and pessimism in the mainstream culture – people are looking for a supernatural cause to our problems, and have a desire for supernatural skills to deal with them.

Some people only want fantasy and others won’t be satisfied with anything less than fantasy-level magical abilities. But for those willing to explore the possibilities of real magic and willing to make a commitment to excellence, this is a wonderful opportunity to re-enchant the world.

5) Most new technology is marketed to the young, but Samsung’s new wristwatch phone appears to be aimed squarely at my generation and above. I remember all the sci-fi references in their TV commercial except for Dick Tracy, who was before even my time.

It’s a cool looking toy, but it only works if it’s within 25 feet of a companion Samsung smartphone. I’ll stick to the iPhone.

6) The Wild Hunt’s Fall Funding Drive continues through November 25 – as of today they’re at 89% of their goal. The Wild Hunt is the best source of Pagan news and news of interest to Pagans. We’re never going to get the coverage we need from the mainstream media (neither are other religions), so we’re going to have to support our own news outlets.

The Wild Hunt is the crown jewel of the Pagan internet and it’s well worth your financial support. If you haven’t already pledged (I have) please do so to whatever extent you can.

7) I love football, but the recent rash of “normal” injuries in the NFL plus the continuing research into the effects of concussions has me questioning its morality.

All athletes run the risk of injury – I still have a foot injury from training for marathons in 1999 and 2003. But the human body is simply not made for repeated high-speed collisions and no amount of padded armor can prevent the debilitating injuries that are a regular occurrence in football.

The game is too popular and it brings in too much money for anyone to seriously consider ending it. More than that, it’s too popular among its players who know the risks and possibilities, even if they wrongly assume a severe injury will never happen to them. But at times, I can’t help feeling like I’m sitting in a very different coliseum, wondering who will walk out alive and who won’t.

8) The government shutdown that frustrated me and many others is over, but the current continuing resolution only extends until January 15 and the debt ceiling is only suspended till February 7. I understand that democracy is messy, but government-by-crisis isn’t in anyone’s best interests. Shutting down the government – much less defaulting on our financial obligations – should never be an option.

Strengthen your tribes and take care of each other, because the structures and infrastructure our parents put in place is crumbling, and those with the resources to maintain it are more interested in exploiting it for their own benefit.

9) I’ll be in the pulpit at Pathways UU Church in Euless, Texas on November 17 at 10:00 AM. The service title is “The Art of Wild Wisdom” – it will be a look at ancient and modern Druidry with an emphasis on a reverence for Nature. If you’re in the North Texas area, come by, say hello and meet the folks at Pathways.

That’s what I’m thinking right now – what about you?

Nine Things I Think

September 19, 2013 By John Beckett

1) I’ll be at the OBOD East Coast Gathering this Thursday through Sunday, my once-a-year reunion with my fellow Druids. This year’s special guests are musician and OBOD Pendragon Damh the Bard, artist Ceri Lee, and OBOD Tutor Coordinator Susan Jones. I’ll be co-leading the Cernunnos Ritual Friday night, and I can’t think of a better venue than the Storyteller’s Circle in the wooded area of the camp. If I’m slow in approving comments or answering e-mail, it’s because I’m in our own little slice of Avalon. I’ll have pictures and a recap when I get back.

2) As a good Nature-loving Druid, some of my favorite places to visit are our National Parks. Teddy Roosevelt had it right: National Parks demonstrate “ the value of natural beauty as a National asset, and the effectiveness of outdoor life and recreation in the production of good citizenship.” They also have the best t-shirts I’ve ever found. They’re not just souvenirs, they’re great to wear – they’re big, soft and durable. If a National Park is on my agenda (like this year at Acadia in Maine) I don’t even bother with the tourist shops.

3) One of those t-shirts is from a 2004 trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, near Estes Park, Colorado. That’s been the scene of some horrendous flooding over the past weeks. Please keep the people and other creatures of this area in your thoughts and prayers, and consider giving to the relief effort.

4) Recently a friend of Denton CUUPS brought in several boxes of books to give away. As I was scanning the table, my eye caught Monsters by John Michael Greer. I picked it up and flipped through it – my first thought was “well, that’s one he wrote for a paycheck.” But I took it home and examined it more closely – it’s a lot more than I first thought. Greer draws on his extensive knowledge of history and folklore to explain what magical beings are and how they differ from some of the pop culture variations we see in the entertainment world. If you’re someone who dismisses anything supernatural, you won’t be convinced. But if you’re open to otherworldly beings, or if you simply want a good explanation of how they were viewed in earlier times, you may find it helpful.

5) While Monsters gets a qualified recommendation, I recommend John Michael Greer’s last two Archdruid Reports to all with no reservations. His September 4 entry “The Next Ten Billion Years” is a speculative but highly plausible look at the future of life on Earth (hint: it’s not all about humans, and it has an uncertain but unavoidable end date). The follow-up to that, “A Sense of Homecoming,” is a very good explanation of religious sensibilities, how they differ from religions, and how a critical mass of a new religious sensibility is emerging.

6) In the interests of full disclosure, I’m not a disinterested party when it comes to John and his writings. I first met him at the House of Danu Gorsedd in 2009 where he led my Druid Grade initiation. In 2011 I began studying under him for ordination, which he performed a year later at last year’s East Coast Gathering. I continue to study with him toward future goals (that are one to two years away).

I get no credit (financial or otherwise) for promoting John’s work. When I think something is particularly good and would be of interest to my readers, I review it or mention it the same as I do with writers I don’t know but find helpful. John writes on a wide variety of topics, not all of which interest me. When I come across those books and essays I simply don’t mention them. I’ve yet to come across any of his work I’d put on a “do not read” list, nor do I expect to.

7) My current reading project is Greek Religion. It’s an English translation of the 1977 German original by Walter Burkert, Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Zurich. The stories of the ancient Greeks are very much a part of our Western culture and most of us know at least a thing or two about Zeus and Apollo and Hecate, but most of us don’t know that much about what the Greeks actually did. Burkert does an excellent job of cataloging the historical and archeological evidence and using it to reconstruct their rituals.

My only disappointment is that it took me this long to hear about it and start reading it. I’m hoping to finish it on the trip this weekend.

8) We’re a little over two weeks away from DFW Pagan Pride Day, which will be the first Pagan Pride Day here since 2010. It will be Saturday, October 5, from 9:00 till 5:00 at the Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake in Dallas. I’ll be leading a workshop titled “Nature Spirituality – A Druid Approach” and Denton CUUPS will be leading the Cernunnos Ritual at 4:00.

Most 2013 Pagan Pride Days have already happened – we go a little later than most to avoid the worst of the heat. To see what is – or was – near you, check the Pagan Pride Project website.

9) The week after Pagan Pride Day, Denton CUUPS will begin a four-week class on shielding and warding. It will be held on Wednesday nights from 7:00 till 9:00 at the Denton UU Fellowship starting October 9. Cynthia Talbot and I will be leading the class. We’ll use Kerr Cuhulain’s Magickal Self Defense: A Quantum Approach to Warding as our primary text. There is no charge for this class but donations are requested. If you’re in the DFW area, we hope you’ll come out and join us.

That’s what I’m thinking right now – what about you?

Nine Things I Think

August 22, 2013 By John Beckett

1) Concrescent Press bills itself as “the union of practice and scholarship.” Its new volume Pathways in Modern Western Magic is just that. It’s a collection of seventeen scholarly articles, some by university professors, some by independent scholars, but all by people who are actually doing modern Western magic. There is some disagreement in the academic world about the objectivity of scholar-practitioners (based largely on the unstated assumption that only materialistic atheism is a truly objective viewpoint), but I like learning from writers who’ve been there and done that.

Editor Nevill Drury’s articles on the Golden Dawn and on Aleister Crowley’s sex magic were the most informative to me. For all my varied reading and practicing, I’ve never done much with either of these topics, even though they’ve been very influential in the development of modern Paganism. Don Webb’s article on the Temple of Set shed some light (pun intended) on an organization I heard about long ago but knew virtually nothing about. And Dave Evans’ look at the origins of chaos magic confirmed what I thought: the techniques are powerful but the philosophy isn’t well suited to me.

At $39.95 Pathways in Modern Western Magic isn’t cheap, but it costs an order of magnitude less than if you tried to buy the articles individually from scholarly publications.

2) The engineer and mathematician in me is fascinated with ceremonial magic, but the more I learn about it, the more I’m convinced I’m on the right path as a Nature and Deity oriented Druid. The idea of alchemy – of practicing magic to refine the soul – makes good sense, but it’s a very intellectual approach. I don’t need any help being intellectual. Nature and the gods speak directly to my soul – I need lots of help there.

3) The plans for the Dallas – Fort Worth Pagan Pride Day are coming along nicely. It will be Saturday, October 5 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake, the same location where we held our Egyptian Summer Solstice ritual in 2009. There will be rituals, entertainment, workshops, vendors, and the opportunity to meet and talk with Pagans from around the North Texas community. Admission is free, but everyone is encouraged to bring canned goods to support Soupmobile Charities and to participate in the blood drive.

I’ll be leading a new workshop titled “Nature Spirituality: A Druid Approach.” Denton CUUPS will be leading the Cernunnos Ritual at 4:00. If you missed it earlier this month, here’s another chance to experience it.

The Pagan Pride season is already in progress – check the Pagan Pride Project website for the event nearest you.

4) Football is violent, militaristic and exploitative, but gods I love it. There is no other game that features strategy, power, athleticism, and sheer force of will in such a dramatic combination. I never played it above the backyard level – I was too small, too slow, and too pain-averse. But it was enough to grab my interest for life.

I keep up with the local baseball and basketball teams. I love hockey in person but can’t stand it on TV. I’ll watch soccer if one of the US National teams (men or women) is playing in the Olympics or the World Cup. But football is the only sport where I’ll sit in front of the TV and watch entire games week after week. NFL preseason games are lousy, but after a six month football fast I’m enjoying them and can’t wait for the regular season – and the colleges, and the high schools – to start.

5) I’m now registered for Pantheacon 2014. Pantheacon is the largest indoor Pagan gathering in the world, held every February in San Jose, California. I’ve been wanting to go for years and have kept coming up with excuses not to go. Jason Mankey pushed me to attend next year – I decided it was time. There are speakers and musicians I want to hear and rituals I want to participate in. Mainly, though, there are friends I only know through the computer that I want to meet in person, some for the first time ever and some for the first time in a long time.

I still have to book a flight and find a hotel, but there’s plenty of time for that. I’m registered and barring a last-minute emergency I’ll be there.

6) I don’t have a lot of apps on my phone and I rarely download one I have to buy. ShamanMagic is a notable exception. It’s a drumming app – it plays five different drum beats, with eight optional background sounds (forest, rain, stream, waves, etc) that can be mixed in at the volume you desire. It has a timer that will play for 10 minutes up to 4 hours.

The app is promoted as a tool for shamanic journeying. That’s not one of my practices so I can’t offer an opinion on how well it works for journeying. But I’ve used it for regular meditation: it’s relaxing without putting you to sleep and it’s very helpful in blocking outside sounds and distracting thoughts. And it’s far easier (and cheaper) to use for solo meditation than drumming CDs.

ShamanMagic is $2.99 and it’s available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod. It’s not available for Android, though the developer says that will come “as time goes on.”

7) I’m getting ready for my third trip to the OBOD East Coast Gathering next month. I love my CUUPS group and I love the interaction with my on-line Pagan friends, but there is no substitute for spending a long weekend with my own tribe. This year’s special guest is Damh the Bard. Artist Cerri Lee and OBOD Tutor Coordinator Susan Jones will also be in attendance.

Last year’s gathering featured a Chosen Chief and an Archdruid – Lorraine figured attendance would drop this year. But registration reached capacity in June and is now closed. Druids (mainly OBOD, but some ADF and some AODA) have figured out what a great experience it is.

I’m not teaching this year, but I will be leading the Cernunnos Ritual on Friday night. I’ll have a write-up on the camp when I get back.

8) I would not want to live in Texas without air conditioning. I grew up in Tennessee where the Summers are hot, but not as hot as here. We didn’t have air conditioning until I was 9. The days weren’t so bad – you got used to the heat. But the nights were horrible – I can still remember lying awake at night, flipping the pillow over, trying to relax enough to get to sleep… and failing.

I occasionally come across environmentalists who claim air conditioning is immoral – since it’s not necessary it’s an unacceptable use of energy. I suspect they don’t live in Texas or Arizona or most of the Southeast. Dallas – Fort Worth averages eighteen 100 degree days each year. In 2011, we had 71. Most Summer days that don’t make 100 don’t miss it by much. The average low in July and August is 77, meaning many nights it doesn’t get below 80, and that doesn’t happen till just before dawn – it’s still in the 90s when you’re trying to get to sleep.

The American South began growing with the spread of air conditioning in the second half of the 20^th century. If that air conditioning went away so would the people. A few hearty souls would stick around, but most would head North, crowding the already densely populated cities… and burning fossil fuels to keep warm in the Winter.

Our house is well-insulated, we have two large live oak trees shading the front of the house and some beautiful vines shading the rear. All the appliances are Energy Star certified and incandescent bulbs have been replaced with CFLs or LEDs as they’ve burned out. But I like sleeping at night – I’m not turning off the air conditioner.

9) And speaking of stretching fossil fuels out as long as we can, my Prius is back from the body shop for the second time. I wasn’t joking about that heavy-duty warding spell. As soon as I got it home I drew banishing pentagrams on all four sides using Full Moon water, then drew an awen on top. So far so good… though I still get nervous when I see someone getting too close to my rear bumper.

Some people knock the Prius and Prius drivers for making a statement rather than making a change, but if driving is necessary (and if you live in all but a few cities it is – public transportation in most of this country is somewhere between lousy and non-existent) then drive the most efficient car you can afford. And besides being efficient, my Prius has been extremely reliable – it’s almost seven years old and all I’ve replaced are two light bulbs and the 12 volt battery. The hybrid battery shows no signs of degradation and while I can’t find any hard statistics, anecdotal evidence says it should last at least 150,000 miles and probably much longer. It’s been a good choice for me.

That’s what I’m thinking right now – what about you?

Nine Things I Think

July 24, 2013 By John Beckett

I know, other bloggers do “Ten Things I Think,” but I’m a Druid so I’m doing nine.

Nine Things I Think will be an irregular feature whenever I have a list of things I want to talk about that aren’t long enough for their own individual posts. Some may be expanded later, but most won’t. There’s no theme, just nine things I want to bring to your attention.

1) Prince Herne has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? It’s an English name, it has historical associations with royalty, and it’s definitely different from the usual Charles or William or Edward or George. I suspect his grandfather might approve… his great-grandmother, not so much.

2) Like many Americans, I’m fascinated (though not obsessed) with British royalty. I love the history, the tradition and the pageantry, even as the egalitarian UU in me screams about the unfairness of spending millions to support a few in luxury based solely on their bloodline. I suppose it’s not much different than spending millions to maintain old buildings in the name of heritage.

Instead of royalty, we Americans obsess over celebrities, and like everything else in this country, when we get tired of them we tear them down, throw them away and find new ones. There’s something to be said for the British way.

3) The Hyundai Elantra is a nice little car and I don’t mind driving it, but I want my Prius back from the body shop. Again. Preferably with deflector shields installed on the rear bumper. Time to compose a heavy-duty warding spell.

4) Journeys of the Soul is another book that should be on every Druid’s must-read list. It’s Philip Carr-Gomm’s biography of OBOD founder Ross Nichols. Part factual biography, part tribute by a student to his beloved teacher, and part collection of Nichols’ writings, it’s a look into the life of a quiet man whose importance has only been recognized after his death.

Nichols was a friend of Gerald Gardner (they belonged to the same naturist society) and did some editing on Gardner’s books. If you’ve read Gardner’s original Book of Shadows you know he needed a good editor. They make an interesting contrast: Nichols, a very private educator and Druid, and Gardner, a flamboyant and public Witch. It’s no surprise Wicca became far more popular – it’s also no surprise I ended up in the order Nichols founded.

5) I’m not enjoying this season of True Blood. The show broke completely away from the Sookie Stackhouse books last season (never a good thing), then producer Alan Ball left. I had high hopes the new producers would create tighter stories focusing on the main characters, but instead they’ve gone even further into fantastical and weak attempts at social commentary (good social commentary is fine, but without a good story the message is forced). Too many storylines, characters acting out of character, weak plots, and ridiculous dialogue. There are four more episodes (this season only has 10 instead of 12 like the first five seasons) – hopefully it will all make sense by the end. Ratings are down slightly, but True Blood has been renewed for a seventh season in June 2014.

6) Morpheus Ravenna is doing some excellent scholarly work on ancient Celtic religion and on the goddess Morrigan. Her most recent blog post “Ghost stories of Gaul” is a description of a pre-Roman Gaulish temple. We’ve all heard the Celts had no temples, but what is absent from the written record (because of the Celts’ oral tradition and because of the Romans’ propaganda) is clear in the archeological record. I love the way Morpheus blends history, myth and mystical experience into her worship of and service to Morrigan. The more good sources we can incorporate into our religion, the more robust it will be.

7) Cynthia Talbot and I could talk all afternoon on our ideas about the origins of religion. Cynthia is an anthropologist by training, while my scientific interest in the origins of life has spread to the origins of humanity, of language, and of religion. But in a four hour class on Modern Pagan Religion, there’s only so much time we can allocate to our ideas about the ancients. We managed to cover paleolithic religion, classical paganism, the Axial Age, pagan survivals (and the lack thereof), and the beginnings of the Pagan restoration in about an hour and a half, which left us two and a half hours for our presentation on what modern Paganism is all about.

How much history do you really need to be a good practitioner of Paganism or any other religion? I don’t know, but considering how much bad history I see in Paganism, in Christianity, and in our mainstream culture, I don’t think you can get too much.

8) I’m as excited about Denton CUUPS upcoming Cernunnos Ritual on August 3 as I’ve been about any public circle in years. I’ve led rituals honoring Cernunnos before, but always along with another deity or deities (most notably this past Winter Solstice). Three weeks ago I wrote about the inspiration for this ritual. Now I’ve got the script finished – Cynthia and I are getting together this weekend to fine tune it. But while there’s a script, the main event will be mostly unscripted. What will happen depends on what Cernunnos decides to do and how everyone in attendance decides to respond. I’m not comfortable with open-ended responses. But as a priest, it’s not my job to be comfortable. It’s my job to honor Cernunnos and to create an environment where people will hear him. So that’s what we’re doing.

9) I’m glad Patheos exists, and not just because they host my blog, and not just because my pageviews are double what they were on Blogger. I like being a part of a multi-faith website that doesn’t try to diminish the very real differences between religions, but instead brings together dedicated practitioners of many religions to talk about what they think, what they believe, and what they do. I like reading commentary from Evangelical, Progressive, and Catholic Christians. I like reading thoughtful essays from atheists, Buddhists, and Muslims. And I especially like that Pagans get equal billing with everyone else. If you haven’t wandered through some of the other channels here at Patheos, I encourage you to do so. You never know what you might learn.

5 Things I’m Thankful For This Year

November 21, 2021 By John Beckett

I have mixed feelings about the spiritual practice of gratitude.

On one hand, much of what we enjoy did not come from our own labors. We benefit from the legacies of our ancestors, from the commonwealth of society, from the generosity of our family and friends, and from the grace of our Gods. It is good and right that we give thanks for all of it.

On the other hand, an overemphasis on gratitude can lead to stagnation. While it’s good to be thankful that our basic needs are met, we have no obligation to be thankful for leftovers and crumbs. Carried to extremes, we can come to the conclusion that the poor and oppressed should be thankful that they don’t have it even worse than they do – and thus we have no obligation to help build a more just society.

Still, it’s good to be thankful, and giving thanks is a part of my daily spiritual practice.

As we approach the American Thanksgiving holiday, here are five things I’m especially thankful for this year.

1. I’m thankful for my students

I always wanted to be a teacher – in a different world I could have been a history professor. I didn’t give up on the idea of a Ph.D. (it would have been in business, sadly) until I was almost 50 and clear that my true calling is here, as a Druid, a priest, and a writer.

I started the first Under the Ancient Oaks on-line class as a way to promote Paganism in Depth. It went far better than I expected, and so I’ve kept doing them. There are now five classes available on my teaching site. They’re all on-demand, meaning you can take any of them at any time.

I write because I’m a writer and I have to write even if no one reads it. But there would be no classes without those who sign up for them, work through the modules, and report back on how things go. They push me to articulate my beliefs and practices in ways that are clear and concise.

And sometimes, they push me to teach things I didn’t know I needed to teach. I always said I didn’t have anything to say about magic that someone else hadn’t already said. But my students wanted me to teach a class on magic. Not only is Operative Magic the most popular of all the UTAO classes, I learned more while teaching it than I had in the past several years of practice.

I feel odd calling them “my students” – some of them are my friends who are at least as knowledgeable as I am. But whatever you call them, I’m thankful for them.

2. I’m thankful for people who disagree with me

I’m thankful for people who appreciate my writing, especially when life is challenging, blog traffic is down, and I wonder if I’m doing any good. It feels good to know I’m being heard.

But I’m especially thankful for those who disagree with me. Not the ones who tell me I’m delusional for believing in Gods and magic, or the ones who tell me I’m wrong because I don’t worship their God – they can all STFU.

Rather, I’m thankful for the people who read what I write, spot weaknesses in my logic or rhetoric, or who just offer a differing view. They force me to be deeper in my thinking and more precise in my language. And sometimes they show me that I’m flat-out wrong and need to change.

Whether I make big changes, small changes, or no changes, people who disagree with me in a rational and respectful way help me become a better practitioner and a better advocate for my Pagan polytheist religion. I’m thankful for that.

3. I’m thankful for the young public Pagans

I’m on the latest episode of the Occulture Wars Podcast with Lilith Scorpius. During our conversation, Lilith said “I’m 25.” I can’t imagine putting my beliefs and practices out in public when I was 25. Even ignoring where I was on my spiritual journey at that point in my life, I didn’t have the confidence or the presentation skills to talk about it in public.

Recently I’ve seen some complaints from a few older Pagans complaining about young practitioners not “knowing their place.” I think most of this is envy – the younger people have a following and an influence previous generations could never have had, because social media didn’t exist yet. Good for them for using the tools available to them to present magic, witchcraft, and Paganism to the public.

Yes, there are a few “influencers” who are more style than substance. But most are teaching what they know to an audience of beginners, and they’re doing it well. People who aren’t interested in old guys who write blogs are following young women on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. They’re learning something good and helpful, and I’m thankful for those who are doing this work.

4. I’m thankful for responsible and inclusive media

In certain political circles it’s become de rigueur to blame the media for everything – particularly when they report inconvenient facts. All reporting involves choices, beginning with the choice of what to cover. Good reporting doesn’t give “all sides” equal treatment – it looks for the truth and reports the facts that lead readers and viewers to see the truth and to understand it.

The question of what to cover is especially important when it comes to religious reporting. The affairs of Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists (the two largest denominations in the United States) will always be newsworthy, but so are the affairs of smaller religions – including Paganism.

We’re used to “Pagan puff pieces” in October. Some are decent – others are less so. Occasionally we still get articles that are condescending and insulting.

This year I’m thankful for some much better work, including very good articles in USA Today and The Washington Post. Religion News Service has periodic Pagan and Pagan-related articles – I was interviewed for one by Emily McFarlan Miller for this year’s Imbolc.

And I’m always thankful for The Wild Hunt, the Pagan community’s “newspaper of record.” They bring Pagan news and commentary every day, and they do so without putting up a paywall.

5. I’m thankful for small occult publishers

I’m happy that my books are published by Llewellyn. They’re the largest Pagan and esoteric publisher in the world, which gives my books the best chance of being seen by readers around the world. But some books are too specialized even for Llewellyn – they won’t sell enough to be economically viable.

Enter Scarlet Imprint, Anathema Publishing, and what seems like dozens of tiny publishers who produce books with print runs in the hundreds or even dozens, not thousands. Some of them create special editions that are works of bookbinding art.

Most of their offerings are in the realm of ceremonial magic, which isn’t one of my primary interests. I’ve read and reviewed a few of the Scarlet Imprint books, most recently The Brazen Vessel.

These books aren’t for everyone – if they were for everyone we wouldn’t need small publishers. But they aren’t, and we do, and I’m thankful we have them.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, whatever you’re thankful for.

5 Things I Had to Unlearn as a Pagan

September 16, 2021 By John Beckett

Thorn Mooney of the Oathbound blog had a post last week titled Learning and Unlearning Witchcraft: Can Bad Info Ruin Your Practice? It’s a excerpt from her new book The Witch’s Path: Advancing Your Craft at Every Level. I encourage you to read the post – if you like it read the whole book.

Her point in the post is that while there are problematic sources in witchcraft and Paganism, beginners shouldn’t obsess about avoiding all the “bad” stuff. Learning is a process and none of us get it all right the first time. She concludes by saying:

You don’t “unlearn” things – you analyze why they were meaningful at the time, what should change, and then you take the next step forward. That’s all any of us can do.

When I think about how my spiritual thinking has changed over the years, I see that I’ve followed a very similar process to what Thorn recommends. Is it fair to call that “unlearning” or is there a better term for it? I don’t know. But I think it’s helpful to review some of those changes, and the process by which they changed.

1. The Divine as a parent in the sky

Growing up Christian, I was taught that there is one God who is our father. I was taught that he loved us, but that he was a very strict and angry father. Being Baptist, we never heard about Mary or about the femininity of the Holy Spirit. One of the main things that attracted me to Paganism was the idea of a Mother Goddess as well as a Father God.

But early on I simply substituted a kindly Mother Goddess for an angry Father God. And in doing so, I kept the same monotheist cosmology, including the idea of the Divine as a parent.

In retrospect, I don’t know how I could have done otherwise – I had spent my whole life thinking of the Divine as one.

When I spent nine nights meditating on the Gods of the Egyptian Ennead, I realized that my experience of each deity was different. And so if I experienced Them as individuals, then I should understand Them as individuals and relate to Them as individuals.

Beyond that, I came to understand that the real problem here isn’t the idea of the Gods as parents, it’s the idea of humans as children. Sometimes the Gods are our parents, but They’re the parents of adult children, not the parents of infants. They’re not trying to smack us down and They’re not trying to make everything OK for us. They want us to be healthy adults.

2. Magic requires payment to keep the balance

This comes from fiction, but it’s made its way into Paganism and witchcraft. I’ve seen multiple fantasy authors create a world where magic exists, but it disrupts Nature. Payment is required to “maintain the balance.” Sometimes that’s a sacrifice (“a life for a life”), sometimes it’s suffering, and sometimes – clearly inspired by Doctor Faustus – it’s damnation.

The idea that Nature desires balance is attractive, and when we see symbiosis it’s understandable that we think that’s the way things should be. I don’t fault myself for thinking this way.

But when you step back and look at the big picture (especially from the perspective of deep time) you see that Nature is in constant change. Any balance that occurs is only temporary, at least on a cosmic time scale. There is no “balance” to maintain.

Beyond that, payment to maintain the balance requires some sort of cosmic accounting system, and I see no reason to believe such a thing exists.

The more I’ve practiced, the more I’ve come to see magic not as something outside Nature, but as part of Nature. Magical ability is part of our legacy as humans. It’s not evenly distributed: some of us are born with a lot, most of us are born with some, and a few are born with little. At the end of the day what matters most is what we do with the ability we have.

Either you can work the spell or you can’t. There is no balance to be maintained.

3. Interfering with someone’s free will is a terrible sin

“Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill – an it harm none do what ye will.”

Those words come from Doreen Valiente, in 1964. It’s a good piece of non-dogmatic ethics. It’s also a good piece of PR for witches, who historically have been feared as evil doers. But when I came into Paganism in the early 1990s, it was frequently expressed as “you cannot interfere with someone else’s free will.”

That’s a noble goal, and it stands in clear opposition to fundamentalists who attempt to force everyone to live by the rules of their religion.

The problem is that it’s an impossible goal. No one is an island – we are all connected, and whatever we do has at least some impact on everyone else. And while the universe is a place of abundance, it’s not a place of unlimited abundance. Work a quick spell to find a parking place and you may get it, but if you do you’ll keep others from getting it – and they may need it more than you.

This isn’t something I’ve unlearned so much as it’s something I’ve moderated over the years. I do my best to respect other people’s free will, because it’s the right thing to do. But to work magic is to steal fire from the Gods. It’s to say “I choose this” with the full understanding that there will be unforeseen consequences, some of which you will bear and some of which will be born by others. We make this choice because we also understand that if we don’t, others will – and we may not like what they choose.

Respecting other people’s free will is a noble goal, but violating it is a necessity.

4. The old ways are best

I think there’s something universal (or very nearly so) in the idea of a Golden Age – a time when all was right in the world. And then – so the story goes – either something bad happened or people gradually fell away from the True Way, and now the world is all messed up.

Christianity teaches a Golden Age: Eden, followed by the Fall. Beyond that, the fundamentalist church of my youth idolized “the New Testament Church” – which had little to do with what we know about how early Christians worshipped and more to do with retconning the Bible to match the 19^th century U.S. revival movement.

Pagans have various expressions of this. The idea that early tribal societies were matriarchal and peaceful (they weren’t, at least not most of the time). Margaret Murray’s idea of medieval witchcraft as the remnants of a Goddess religion. The reconstructionists who aren’t satisfied to be inspired by our ancestors (as are most reconstructionists) and instead try to mimic their every custom and practice… with an emphasis on those that look like they came off the set of Vikings.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking into the origins of religion, and also into the origins of language. Part of that is simple curiosity, but much of it is the feeling that if I could grasp how it all began, I could connect to the Gods and other spirits in a cleaner, purer, and more direct manner.

The first problem is that we will never know enough about the supposed Golden Age to be able to reproduce it with any degree of accuracy. The more important problem is that we are not an ancient tribal society, or first century Christians, or Vikings. We’re 21^st century Americans (or Canadians or Italians or whatever you happen to be). Our religions, our beliefs and practices, have to speak to us here and now.

Yes, there are some timeless truths. Hospitality and reciprocity are virtues today just as they were in Iron Age Britain. And we struggle to reclaim what was taken from our Pagan ancestors when Christianity and Islam conquered them. But our Paganism, our polytheism, our witchcraft must be ours.

Let’s build a place where we belong instead of searching for a past that never was.

5. Gender polarity is a necessity

I learned this early on my Pagan journey. Male and female had to be kept in balance. Every ritual needed a high priest and a high priestess. It needed a Goddess and a God. Some traditions taught that initiations could only be given male to female and female to male (and some still do).

Coming out of centuries of male-dominated religions, this made sense. Women had been ignored and excluded, and in some religions they still are. As modern Pagans, we would do better.

I didn’t give this much thought until I got to Denton CUUPS in 2003. And then one time I questioned the ritual part assignment – it wasn’t balanced. The leader – who was much younger but also much more experienced than me – said “yeah, well, we like to gender bend around here.” We did things her way, it worked fine, and I started wondering just how important all this was.

It wasn’t until one of our lesbian members asked “where am I supposed to fit into all this polarity?” that I started seriously questioning the whole concept. The more I thought, the more I realized that while like so many of us I simply accepted the gender I was assigned at birth, gender didn’t seem to make much difference in my spirituality.

Where do childless people fit into a fertility religion? Where do gay people fit into the chalice-and-blade Great Rite? Where do asexual and demisexual people fit into a “sex positive” religion? What do we do about those who pervert these sacred concepts for exploitative purposes? How do we deal with those who use these concepts to exclude trans people from their groups and their events?

There’s more than one good answer to each of those questions. My answer has been to make gender irrelevant. We honor the Gods for who and what They are. Any human can take on any role they’re up to doing, and they don’t have to take on roles that don’t feel right to them.

It works.

What do I need to unlearn next?

This post is over, but the process of learning and growth is not.

Some religions teach that revelation is sealed and that our understanding of the truth should never change. The Romans built some great roads, but I want my bridges designed and built by 21^st century engineers. The Egyptians had some good physicians, but I prefer modern medicine, particularly if surgery is involved. Or vaccines.

I look back at some of the things I believed (and some of the candidates I voted for) when I was younger and I cringe. But only for a moment. When you learn better, then you can do better.

I genuinely do not understand people who deny facts and twist logic so they can cling to lies, misinformation, and ideas that just don’t fit any more. They insist they’ve always been right, facts be damned. I’d rather change my beliefs and practices and actually be right going forward.

And so I have no doubt that there’s something I think or believe or do right now that some day I’m going to have to unlearn. I don’t know what it is – if I did, I’d already be working on it. But when I find it, I’m confident I’ll change it – because I’ve done it before.

9 Things You Can Do To End Fundamentalism

August 20, 2020 By John Beckett

Christian fundamentalism in the United States has been losing for the last couple of decades. Fundamentalists embraced Donald Trump in part because they recognize him as one of their own (despite their vast moral and theological differences) but also because he is their “Battle of the Bulge” – their last-gasp effort to extend the culture war and hold on to power. If Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump – particularly if the margin is large and unquestionable – the fundamentalist dream of imposing their ways on everyone else will be dead, at least for a while.

When I wrote about this last week, a Facebook friend asked what else we can do to end fundamentalism besides voting Trump out of office. After some thought, I came up with nine things we all can do to help end fundamentalism.

1. Heal your own fundamentalist wounds

The best way to end fundamentalism is to remove it from your own life forever. If you fight fundamentalism without doing this first, it will always have a tentacle in your soul.

Stop the bleeding – get away from fundamentalist churches, preachers, and their way of thinking. Find an alternative. For me this was Paganism, but you may find a home in an inclusive Christian church. If you leave a vacuum, old ways of thinking will seep back in and you’ll be right back where you were. Build a new life that has no room for fundamentalism.

I’ve written about this on several occasions – these posts may be helpful.

Escaping Fundamentalism

Killing Your Inner Fundamentalist

“Growing Less Religious” and “Overcoming Intuition” – More Bad Assumptions

Exorcising Fundamentalism: The Steps On My Journey

2. Embrace religious uncertainty

At the core of any fundamentalism is the idea that out of all the religious and spiritual traditions in the world, one and only one is completely true and all the others are false. And fundamentalists will go to great links to “prove” their presumed truths.

I remember being a teenager sitting in a Baptist church (involuntarily, of course) hearing the preacher talk about how “you can know this is true” and thinking “no, you believe it’s true.”

I’ve since come to appreciate the knowing that comes through first-hand experience and deep intuition, but that’s not what the fundamentalists mean. They claim things are literally true that clearly are not, like Young Earth Creationism.

Where do we come from? Are there many Gods, one God, or no Gods? What happens after we die? There are many many possibilities. Some of them are more likely than others, but we can’t know which if any are completely true with any degree of certainty.

Religious questions are inherently uncertain. Wrestle with them and see what makes the most sense to you, but reject false certainty.

3. Support women and LGBTQ persons

Patriarchy is a foundational element of fundamentalism. And nothing annoys patriarchs like people rejecting fixed roles around sex and gender.

Is misogyny and homophobia at the core of this? Is it lust for unearned privilege? The assumption that the strong should rule the weak, and the delusion that straight cis men are always strongest? Or that the culture of a few people in the Middle East centuries ago is somehow divinely ordained?

It’s likely a combination of all of the above, but why doesn’t matter. What matters is that anyone whose life rejects “traditional” fixed gender roles is a rejection of fundamentalist values, and therefore helps bring about its end.

And if you happen to like “traditional” sex and gender roles? That’s fine – you do what seems best for you. Just remember to support others whose identities and orientations are different from yours.

4. Promote cultural diversity

While strictly speaking religion is one part of culture, other elements of culture such as dress, hair styles, music, and especially language are often so intermingled it’s hard to tell where religion stops and other elements of culture begin. And while fundamentalists sometimes pay lip service to racial and national diversity (though many times they’re explicitly racist and nationalistic), their missionary programs are designed to export white American capitalist culture right alongside their exclusivist Christian theology and doctrine.

Want to tear it down? Promote cultural diversity. Learn about other cultures, particularly those of your neighbors and coworkers. This will help you be respectful of cultural differences and not assume the way you’ve always done things is the only way (see how that ties in with fundamentalism even though it’s not necessarily religious?).

5. Support liberal and moderate religions

For most people, the alternative to fundamentalism is not atheism. It’s some other, non-fundamentalist religion. The religious impulse is strong in humans, and New Atheist Christopher Hitchens’ comment that “religion poisons everything” is a strawman argument that assumes fundamentalist tendencies in religions that simply do not have them.

So be careful that you don’t buy into the arguments that “religion is stupid” or “all Christians are evil.” The Southern Baptist Convention and the United Church of Christ are two very different kinds of Christians.

Liberal Christians, Buddhists, religious humanists, and other people of good will are not our enemies. We may not be able to worship together (deep down we’re not all the same) but we can work together toward the common good.

Like ending fundamentalism.

6. Ignore arbitrary authority and respect the right of self-determination

Fundamentalism operates on a hierarchy of arbitrary authority. Their God is nominally at the top, but their God always seems to say what the preachers want him to say. Men are above women, women are above children, the rich are above the poor and so on. Those in positions of greater authority must be obeyed and rebellion must not be tolerated.

Why? I’ve yet to hear a good reason beyond “we like it this way.”

Instead, recognize each person’s right to live their life the way that seems best to them. You don’t have to like their choices, but if it doesn’t impact you, it’s none of your business.

And while you’re at it, respect the authority of competence. As a group, fundamentalists are some of the worst for denying the expertise of doctors, scientists, social scientists, and other subject matter experts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about whether a particular course of action is good or bad. But facts that go against your religious assumptions are still facts.

7. Promote your own inclusive religion

Pagans don’t proselytize. Neither do followers of most other inclusive religions. But fundamentalists do proselytize – it’s one of the reasons their rate of decline has been less than the Mainline Protestants. Recruiting works.

Aggressive, coercive recruitment is unethical. Besides, if you don’t think your religion is the One True Way, why would you want to recruit people who don’t really want to be there?

But people need to know there are religious alternatives, so that when they start to think about leaving fundamentalism, they know there’s someplace for them to go.

That’s one of the reasons I write, speak, and teach. You don’t have to do what I do. And you certainly don’t want to be the Pagan version of the guy who’s always inviting everyone to his church. But to the extent that it’s safe for you, be “out.” Let people know who and what you are – let them know there are many religious alternatives.

8. Work narrowly-targeted magic

Some people like big magical workings for big change. If that’s you, go ahead. It won’t do much harm. But it’s also not likely to do much good.

Magic works best when it’s carefully directed at a very precise target. “Ending fundamentalism” is far too broad and high-level to be effective.

But you can work magic for your own religious healing, or for the healing of someone who comes to you for help. You can work magic to help change laws and practices around diversity and inclusion. You can work magic to help publicize your big public ritual… whenever we get to have big public rituals again.

If you really want to end fundamentalism, use all the tools at your disposal… just use them wisely and in the most effective manner.

9. Remain vigilant

There are two things to watch out for as you work to rid the world of this religious plague.

The first is that you become so obsessed with what you aren’t that you forget what you are. Once you make good progress toward healing your own wounds, most of these other steps should be done as part of being a good Pagan (or a good Buddhist or UU or liberal Christian or whatever you decide to become). When you define yourself by what you’re opposed to, you never really leave it behind.

I left fundamentalist churches in my early 20s. I didn’t completely exorcise fundamentalism from my soul until I built a strong Pagan practice in my early 40s.

The second thing to watch for is complacency. Fundamentalism is more than a religious movement. It’s a human impulse, driven by a desire for certainty and superiority. That’s why we see it not just in Christianity but also in Islam, atheism, and even Buddhism.

Christian fundamentalism in the United States is dying, and a decisive victory over Donald Trump in the upcoming elections will hasten its loss of power. But it will never be truly dead. It can be kept down only by a respect for diversity and a refusal to make unsupportable claims of certainty.

Eleven Things I Think – Special Thanksgiving Edition

November 28, 2019 By John Beckett

I hadn’t planned on posting today. But the Awen isn’t flowing on the full-length essays I’m working on and I have numerous random thoughts. So rather than staring at the screen and dropping a few lines on Facebook, here’s an unplanned edition of Nine Things I Think. Only I have more than nine things to talk about, so this post is titled Eleven Things I Think.

1) I’ll be one of the headliners at the 2020 Florida Pagan Gathering Beltane event, Wednesday through Sunday, April 22 – 26. This is actually the third time I’ve been invited to the Florida Pagan Gathering. The first two times I had to decline due to previous commitments. I appreciate their persistence, and I look forward to spending a few days with everyone there.

They’ve asked me to lead three workshops. One of them will be “I Like It Here – Why Do I Have To Leave,” a new workshop based on the Interlude in Paganism In Depth. I haven’t decided on the other two, but at least one will be a new offering.

2) The header of this blog says “musings of a Pagan, Druid, and Unitarian Universalist.” That’s what Christine Kraemer and I came up with when I moved to Patheos in 2013, and it’s still true. I identify as a Pagan, I’m a member of two Druid orders, and I’m an active member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

But I write as a polytheist. Or more precisely, an ancestral, devotional, ecstatic, oracular, magical, public, Pagan polytheist. If you expect my theological blogging to be as inclusive as my UU sermons you will be very disappointed.

This hasn’t been a big deal for a while. We fought some nasty battles in 2015 and mostly came to an understanding. But I’ve had some private complaints recently, and while I’ve addressed those privately, there may be others who are thinking the same things.

If you’re a non-theist, a monotheist, or a pantheist, know that I respect your beliefs and that you’re welcome in my virtual home and at any public event I lead. But my blogging is about my spiritual journey, which is unapologetically centered on the worship of the Many Gods.

3) I’m not ready to write my year-end review yet, but 2019 has been a difficult year. I’ve had work stress, health issues, house problems, and difficulties in organizations that are important to me. I haven’t said much because others around me seem to have it worse.

When asked about this in prayer I got an immediate answer: “you’re living in Tower Time – what do you expect?” It wasn’t said callously, just matter-of-factly.

I’ve tried not to lean on people who I know are hurting just as much or more than I am – they already have their hands full. But I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be able to do that.

This much I know – none of us are going to get through these trying times alone.

4) Paganism In Depth – the On-line Course went far better than I expected. I got even more signups than I thought possible, and from a very experientially-diverse background. That presented its own challenges – I had to try to not go over the heads of the beginners, while not boring the more experienced folks. Based on the post-class survey, I think it went about as well as could be expected.

The class is set up to be on-demand. If you missed it, you can sign up and take it any time. I’m no longer reviewing homework, but I am available for any questions related to the class.

There will be a new on-line class early next year. Look for an announcement sometime before the Solstice.

5) I’ve seen another round of comments about keeping politics out of Paganism, so I want to make my position clear. What I do here is religion. Religion is not only theology and ritual and interacting with the Otherworld. Religion – good religion, anyway – also has a this-world component. How do the deities you worship and work with inspire you to live? How to do you manifest Their virtues, and promote those virtues in this world? How do you live respectfully with the many other persons with whom we share the Earth?

Politics – particularly the partisan politics that dominates our society – is no substitute for devotion. But even the most pious devotion is no substitute for being an engaged citizen.

I do both. Most of my blogging deals with the Gods, magic, and our experiences of them. But when I feel the need to say something political, I’m going to say it.

6) I’m disturbed by those who insist on ideological and political purity, especially those who say that if a candidate doesn’t have the “right” position on all the issues, or if they once supported something objectionable, they won’t ever vote for them.

I like the meme going around that says “politics isn’t marriage – it’s public transportation.” You don’t have to wait for just the right one. If you can’t find a bus that goes exactly where you want to go when you want to go there, you don’t stay home. You take the one that will get you the closest.

not an American bus – but it went to some great places

7) However, this is primary season. This is the time to shoot for the moon, to argue for your political wish list… and to weed out candidates who won’t be strong enough to win a general election.

The field for the Democratic nomination for President is still far too large. I had hoped it would be down to six or seven by the end of the year – that’s not going to happen. Those who know they’re not going to win are trying to stay in the media light – they’re running for Vice President or a cabinet position or to improve their position for another run in 2024 or 2028. I wish all but the top few would do the right thing and drop out, but the kind of ego it takes to think you should be President of the United States doesn’t lend itself to admitting defeat.

8) I’m supporting Elizabeth Warren. I want a President who’s a true progressive, who will approach issues thoughtfully and compassionately, and who will restore dignity to the Presidency. There are others I could be happy with, but Warren is my first choice.

She’s slipping in the polls, although until people actually start voting I’m not sure how much the polls really matter.

I do know Wall Street does not want her (or Bernie Sanders) to be President. They’re pushing Biden – and now also Michael Bloomberg – as a “mainstream” alternative, as a return to the Obama years. I want a progressive, not yet another center-right old white man.

Mainly, I want a candidate who will inspire the people who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 but who stayed home for Hillary in 2016. Turnout wins elections.

9) But after the primaries are over, I will support the Democratic nominee no matter who they are, even if it’s (Gods forbid) Joe Biden. Any Democrat would be better than four more years of Trump.

And I’ll support Democratic candidates for Congress, Senate, the state legislature, and every other office up for election. Good government requires more than a good President – it requires good, honest, progressive people at every level.

To be clear: I have no great love for the Democratic Party. At the end of the day they’re in the pockets of the rich just as much as the Republican Party. But how they govern is significantly less evil, and so I vote for them.

10) Don’t come into my spaces with “both sides” bullshit. Especially don’t do it if you’re arguing that racists, homophobes, TERFs, and Nazis just want to be left alone to do their own thing in peace. We saw what that looks like in Charlottesville.

In the words of James Baldwin “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”

We can agree to disagree about the number of Gods, the meaning of life, or what happens after death. We can hold different positions about tax rates, centralized vs. decentralized government, or public approaches vs. private approaches and still be friends.

But if you want to argue for white supremacy and racial separation, that LGBTQ peoples’ marriages are invalid, or that trans people don’t exist, we cannot agree to disagree.

There are sides. I have chosen mine, and if you claim “there are very fine people on both sides” then you’ve chosen the other side.

11) I’m glad we live in a world where extravagant beauty exists.

This wedding piece from Vogue came across my Twitter feed yesterday. It’s titled The Brides Wore Ralph Lauren and Carolina Herrera at Their Wedding at Ashford Castle in Ireland. The first thing that caught my attention was the contrast of one bride in the dark green velvet cloak and the other bride in a traditional white gown. The story and the rest of the 52 pictures are just amazing.

Twitter estimates on the cost ranged from high six figures to well over a million dollars – there were the inevitable comments that the money should be “given to the poor.” But I think we need castle weddings and cathedrals and sports stadiums and other things that cost too much but that show us what can be done, even if most of us will never do them.

This is a story of great privilege – beginning with both brides hitting the genetic lottery. Cathy and I had a very nice church wedding on a very tight budget that didn’t strain our finances or the finances of our parents. I wouldn’t have been this extravagant even if I could – it’s just not me, and it’s certainly not Cathy.

But I’m glad things like this exist in our world. At heart, I’m a democratic socialist who has no desire to live under Soviet-style communism. I don’t want to eat the rich – I don’t want to tax them into pedestrian lifestyles either. I just want to tax them to the point where everyone has enough.