It's great to be me.

[azurelunatic]

This morning, I got to be the innocent bystander caught up in the "we are Jewish males and therefore we must discuss/debate religion" at school, between Skippy and Ron. It was actually a debate of the secular implications of Jesus's politics, and what side of the then-current political strife going on he would have been on, given that he was busting up the market-day being held within the temple.

Before that, Skippy did me the honor of respecting that I'm a very open, solid, grounded pagan rather than a fluffybunny "I worship Anne Rice" sort. I attempted to try and map out to him where my traditions come from. I'm actually a rather non-Celtic-based neopagan, for all that I vaguely identify with Wicca. I wound up getting many of my ethical tools from Mercedes Lackey's writing. Having not studied Celtic traditions, I have no call to particularly follow them. Most of my general interactions with the Divine are done not through any specific Form, but through whisperings from the universe around me, and intelligence and ethics applied to knowledge. The only one Form of the Divine that I talk to on a regular basis, in fact, is Raven, and I have the feeling that I only know Raven since I spent so much time in the company of the actual bird. Not that He wouldn't be a great guy to get to know if I hadn't already gotten to know Him.

Raven likes junk food, by the way. Pizza crusts and french fries are where it's at. (Mutter mutter. I should have dumped that creep the minute he dissed Raven. Mutter.)

What an eclectic mix. A vaguely Judaistic engine at the heart of my faith, with Wiccan/neopagan ethics plugged in, and then most of the ends of the user interface set to default, except for where I applied the custom images of a vague Dual Goddess and the specific image of Raven.

Comments

[ishmael02.livejournal.com]

*grins* So.. you're vaguely Taoist?

*pokes* *teasing*

*more serious*

Sounds like it though - Taoism isn't a religion, per se - but the way you go about finding your religion (observation, understanding, listening) - these are Taoist principles on how to /relate/ to the divine.

Wonderful. Now I gotta send you a book. Sheesh.

*wink*


Ishmael

[azurelunatic]

Hmm. Interesting.

I'd always thought of it as my dad's Quaker influences coming through.

[elorie.livejournal.com]

Wicca's not Celtic, really. The word is Anglo-Saxon, the holidays are a combo of Celtic and Germanic festivals, and the magical system is Euro ceremonial magic only more shamanic and less, uh, uptight. That people often ascribe to Celtic deities is just another aspect of it's essentially syncratic nature. Mind you, I think syncretism/eclecticism is a GOOD thing....

Have you read The Spiral Dance?

[azurelunatic]

Ah. Mixed-bag Anglo-Saxon, then, those bringers of fine words including many four-letter ones. (Gotta love Etymologies class.)

I've read it: I have it, somewhere around here, and I have the vague impression that since it left very little visible impression upon me, that I've never read it, but every time I go to re-read it, it proves out that I have read it.

Not my cup of tea. Cunningham is generally fairly relevant to me, and so's Kraig: he's good at making the Kabbala accessable to those not wanting over-religious ranting/raving along with their magical system.