This Maxim is pretty self-explanatory. I don’t have much to say about it. It’s a very different emphasis from Wicca, which emphasizes doing your will, or Aradia which with it’s encouragement to poison the rich makes the most tense Occupy protest look like a kindergarten play. I guess in a way this is a very useful thing to remember today. Pagans have to obey the law too. They have to pay taxes. They have to stop at stop signs. They... Read more
The first Delphic Maxim is a doozy. It’s got a very monotheistic sound to it. One rough translation of it is “follow/honor that which is godly” which isn’t much better. It sounds like a line out of an Evangelical exhortation from the pulpit. Yet when over the centuries the lists of the Maxims, the wisdom of the sages of Greece, and the moral exhortations of the oracular temple of Apollo at Delphi, this was first on their list. If you’re... Read more
I awoke this morning intending to begin a series of meditations upon the Delphic Maxims. Not an easy task, but not nearly as difficult as what I’m about to write. As I began my morning routine of e-mail, rss feeds and social media I read Micheal York’s guest post on The Wild Hunt. It’s already received quite a reaction, and I’m going to do my best to respond thoughtfully to it because it touches on threads I have been silently... Read more
I need to start this post with this note before getting on with the topic at hand. When I wrote about realizing that traditional Witchcraft was a Mystery Tradition and not a religion, I received a lot of positive feedback from trad folk. It was an odd thing, because they seemed to not understand I was in a very real way rejecting Wicca and traditional Witchcraft. My Craft experience was positive, and my initiation profoundly meaningful, and I recommend the... Read more
My mind is full of car-shopping panic and to ease it I made something for my new car (she says with grim optimism). It’s an ornament to hang from the rear view mirror, and on the back is inscribed the names of Hera Hyperkheiria and Hermes Pompaios. One of Hera’s cult titles in Sparta was Hyperkheiria, or the goddess who holds her protecting hand over a thing. In this case, that thing is the car I’m hoping to get since... Read more
I’m taking this blog off-track for a moment. I had an eventful day yesterday involving my vehicle and the vehicles of my friends ending up in the shop for various mechanical failures. Which was ironic because one of the astrology blogs I follow mentioned some gloom and doom, and I brushed it off. So it was only this morning that I noticed Gus diZerega’s latest post on Beliefnet: I think in the absence of a sincere apology from Kerby (NOT... Read more
Following up on my last post hasn’t been easy. Both a lack of time and deciding what to write has been difficult. Maybe my week off spoiled me and I’m just finding it hard to get back in the groove. My last post got some surprisingly positive feedback from surprising quarters. I’ve received a lot of kind and interesting responses I’m still trying to process. One was public, and I strongly suggest you read Ian Corrigan’s response post. I want... Read more
This is proving difficult to write, despite the fact that I’ve had a few days to think about it, even now that I’ve stared at this blank screen for several minutes. So first let’s get the disclaimers out of the way. This is my truth, not universal truth. Your mileage may vary. Also, what I say may be very different from your experience, and might possibly make you angry. That’s not my intention, but I have to speak my truth.... Read more
A week ago I took a blogging sabbatical. Since then I’ve received a lot of feedback, mostly supportive. Even so, by Saturday I had decided to permanently archive this blog, and quit blogging altogether. Then I received some advice, and had significant conversations that gave me new insight. This insight not only changed the way I thought about blogging, but the way I thought about my spiritual path. So this blog will change significantly. The minor change is that I’ve... Read more
Jason Pitzl-Waters, over at The Wild Hunt, made me promise him something once. He made me promise not to go crazy. Because writing for the Pagan community can do that to people. So in order to keep my promise, I’m taking a week off. Blogging here will resume on the 16th, and if that changes, a note will be posted here on the 16th. I began blogging because I needed writers here on Patheos, and I was both cheap and... Read more
PANTHEON
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In