And then there was politics.

January 29, 2012 at 4:23 PM (Uncategorized)
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My dear, dear friends, normally I wouldn’t ask this of you, but please. Be offended. Be offended and talk to everyone you know about it too. About what you may ask? Well, have a look:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/newt-gingrich-gay-marriage-_n_1234955.html

It’s pretty simple: marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a historic doctrine driven deep into the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and it’s a perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism. The effort to create alternatives to marriage between a man and a woman are perfectly natural pagan behaviors, but they are a fundamental violation of our civilization.

 

Not only does he sound like a complete idiot when it comes to his opinion, he wants to enforce his brainless opinions in office. It really wouldn’t be AS bad if he just wanted to go create more jobs and work on that sort of thing, as he discussed in his response when a gay man asked him why he should vote for Gingrich (to which he responded don’t, vote for Obama, I’m here to focus on jobs). If that was the truth, it wouldn’t be AS bad. We’ve had plenty of jerks (even assholes) filling the position of President of the United States of America.

However. He wants to enforce his opinions on the American people. If you look at the link, you can see his plans. And hit google and do a search for his actual speeches and discussions on this matter. Articles can try to sway your opinion, but they can’t change HIS words.

Please people, do not vote for this man. Help us make a better future for America. A real American future, where everyone is free to be who they are as the law says we should be able to.

– Cami

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The Meaning of the Christian Pagan (well, of THIS Christian Pagan)

January 13, 2012 at 11:41 AM (Spiritual Traveling)
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I know I’ve posted on this topic before, but I’ve had more time to figure out just what this title means to me. And it means a lot.

Mostly, my revelations have come because of the interfaith conference and having to explain myself. No one thinks that those two titles can be combined seeing as Christians have waged war on paganism for pretty much all of time. But this makes me bring up a very important point:

I am not every other Christian!! I am my own person. I hate being forced to read the Bible in a certain way, and I don’t always agree (strike that…I almost NEVER agree) with what people on the pulpit say. I’m not a fan of people blindly following without educating themselves in ANY department, but it’s most frustrating in religion. I know far too many people that go to church and just rely on what the preacher says. I bet you could convince most of them that “Jesus then said ‘fuck you stupid bitch!!’ and went on his merry way.” Ok, that’s an exaggeration. But they are extremely blind.

I see the afterlife aspect as just one part of our existence, not the whole reason we’re living. Nothing says we can’t be happy to be alive! We just aren’t supposed to weigh ourselves down with love and adoration of the physical things because they are not eternal. Cool. I can deal with that. But I’m not going to live my whole life waiting to die!

This is where my paganism comes into play. We are also part of the earth and the world around us. We need to respect and love our natural planet. Thank the world for not ending, you know? Be happy in our world, and love the nature that we came from…All of that pagan stuff. 🙂

I don’t see the earth as a deity. I see it as an ever changing, living thing (don’t argue that rocks aren’t alive or have never been alive; they are made up of cells, the building blocks of all living things). I see the great spirit, God, as the deity. (Many religion quizzes like to tell me that I’m Jewish because I don’t see the trinity as three separate entities.) I also see them as working together (God and the Earth, and, at a greater distance, the great universe out beyond Earth) to make our world, universe, and the beyond, all one reality.

I really hope that makes things a bit clearer for anyone who has questions. And please, feel free to rapid-fire me with more questions should you feel the need.

-Cami

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The Sheet Music

January 12, 2012 at 10:03 PM (Uncategorized)
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– (title and content inspired by an Eboo Patel speech earlier today :D)

Day one at the interfaith conference, and already my brain is spiraling for things to write about (that DON’T pertain to my complaints of how the Sims 3 updates won’t download…). Naturally, it’s only fitting to start with my thoughts on some things said at our dinner speech today.

Essentially, Eboo Patel summed up both the press and the interfaith group in the form of song lyrics. We see news all the time about how people of different religions are always going to fight and how there is just no feasible way for them to get along. It’s just what they do. It’s ‘natural.’ As he said (directly) – “Society prints religious ignorance.”

You know it’s true. It’s something we see on a daily basis.

It leads people to believe that there is no way we can ever really have peace. It breeds apathy, and a huge lack of caring and lack of hope.

Our goal in interfaith is to write and publish and sing different lyrics.

To remind the world that those stereotypes don’t have to be reality.

But there’s another problem we face. It’s that not everyone, even in interfaith, knows what they’re doing. AND there is a huge hurtle we have to leap, that being actually talking about it. We’ve made religion into an extremely uncomfortable topic, ostracizing the devout and ostracizing the loose and those who are searching and those that know…Everyone suffers. So many are quiet. The ones that are the loudest are those that aren’t afraid to be heard. Unfortunately, the loud ones don’t tend to be the people we should be listening to (Westboro Baptist Church anyone?).

So where do we go from here?

We talk.

We talk, we talk, we talk. We are all humans, and we can’t let things like this divide us. Besides, most religions tell us to love one another, to care for each other. Not to rip each other to shreds because we’re different.

That’s our goal here. At the conference that is. To learn how to tell other people about it.

(And you can check out my other blog for how this feels pertaining to my Christian background.)

– Cami

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De-stressing

November 14, 2011 at 5:50 PM (Better Living)
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For me and Crim, using the term ‘de-stress’ means ‘do things that will help you procrastinate so you can stress more later.’ Please, please folks, do NOT follow our example. We’ll look at our workload and put it away to play games or slack off in any other numbers of ways…this is not the appropriate way to handle stress!

Note: As an aside, I feel the need to point out why I’m not putting this on my regular blog. Why the Pagan/religious blog? Mainly, it’s because stress is a big part of life, not just for us college kids but for anyone. It’s very prominent in religion, too. Stressors can come from religion, but religion can also help break them. And…this blog actually has views. 😀

1. Get enough sleep and eat a balanced diet.

Got a headache? Do this. Sad? Do this. Stressed? Do this. You’ll see this all the time, and this is key to getting a better life. Cut back on the stuff that’s bad for you, have a piece of fruit once in a while, and make sure to get more than eight hours of sleep as often as possible. The less sleep you get, the more you start stressing. Among other things. So this is key number one!

(And to anyone in college, I understand. This is not feasible! Just try your hardest.)

2. Don’t you dare procrastinate!

At least, not with everything. Work on it little by little, break it into more manageable chunks. Paper to write? Figure out how many days you have left, divide the number of words you have by that number, and there is how many words you need to write each day. Granted, make sure to give yourself at least one whole day for editing. Also, try to pass up that number if you can so you get done sooner. The sooner you get done, the less stress you have on your shoulders.

Also, make sure you know when all of your deadlines are. Walking into class and being told ‘hey that paper is due today!’ is never a good thing to hear when you thought it was due next week.

3. Socialize.

Don’t hole yourself up somewhere until you crack. I’ve done this. It’s not pretty. Go out and get dinner, talk to your roommate for a little while, maybe set up counseling appointments so that you have a planned hour each week to talk to someone. Don’t trade all socialization for your work. Even after the work is done you’ll still be in a bad place, and you don’t want to be there.

4. Meditation

I love meditation. Find someplace comfy, cross your legs (make sure to be sitting up so you don’t fall asleep, since you’re already so stressed out all you want to do is sleep all day), close your eyes, and meditate however it is that you do that. Deep breathing, empty minds, pretty music…

Make sure to set yourself an alarm for less than half an hour, or pick a few songs that add up to less than half an hour (and when the playlist is done, you finish your meditation).

5. Take a nap.

I know I just said don’t sleep, but do! Just not…not for twelve or more hours as I tend to do sometimes. No, just a power nap. Set an alarm for thirty minutes and curl up in bed. It’s ok if you don’t actually sleep, just make sure to close your eyes and clear that mind of yours! Actually, this could be seen as another form of meditation, just with the illusions of sleeping…

6. A little organization doesn’t hurt.

Some people really get an urge to clean sometimes, and that could be because the space they’re in isn’t productive towards what they should be doing. It’s ok, take some time out and organize your desk, put away your clothes, sweep the floor. Your mind will be more at ease.

This one also goes towards getting your schedule organized. For me, I take all of my syllabi and write all the important dates (paper due dates and exams, for example) into my schedule book early on in the year. If you haven’t done that, or if you don’t have a planner, you should try it. That way everything is in one place and you can just flip to it if you need to know “should I work on my Confucius paper first, or should I write those sonnets for The Renaissance Author first?”

All-in-all, I hope everyone, even with all of the stress, has a great week before the American tradition of Thanksgiving. One last bit of advice…if you hate stress, stay indoors next Friday. Those shoppers are MEAN….

-Cami

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In the Night

November 1, 2011 at 9:52 AM (Holiday Chatter)
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As the sun set on ‘Halloween,’ Crim and I ran over to the campus store to purchase (with our pitiful food points) the makings of…well…A college made feast. Can’t expect it to be too epic. We had mashed potatoes, rice, and pumpkin spiced milk. I had tomato soup, since no one else wanted to delve into that with me. We also had sour cream and cheese that Crim and I beat into our potatoes until they were less bland.

We had…well, three places set out, but multiple more guests in attendance. Two humans, six animals. Rice isn’t good for them, but its not as bad in the spirit world, I would hope.

I know my Bandit said goodbye last night. However, I don’t know if my father came…But someone did. Someone I didn’t recognize. Probably mid-twenties, definitely more strongly northern-European than my father. He was much paler.

But he enjoyed dinner.

So friend, whoever you might be, thank you for coming. (And not being super scary when I had to wander back to my room alone last night.)

The bonfire we had planned for last weekend didn’t happen because people were sick and it rained. But things worked out well anyway. For our lack of available food (it was Halloween, of course there was no food in the store!) and fire, I think we managed a very nice dinner.

I can still feel that sensation from last night though, and I think I want to hang onto it for a while. Someone was really happy with what we did.

So Crim, Lumi, thank you for indulging me in my ignorances last night, and I hope we can do this again next year.

-Cami

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Meditating on Regret

October 25, 2011 at 8:46 PM (Holiday Chatter, Spiritual Traveling)
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As my spirits lift with the new week (and with the approaching holiday), I feel a need to…share. Last week I was terrified and depressed to the point of sickness over the events that were occurring (trailing right after the death of my rattie boy, Bandit). Tuesday or Wednesday I started pulling web pages on self-forgiveness, because that was part of the problem and I knew it. I had made a mistake and it was tearing me apart. Sure I was mad at the immaturity that followed my mistake, but I couldn’t get past blaming myself and hating myself for what I’d done.

There was one page that had a very good strategy set up, but they have since changed what was on it so I can’t link you back to it if you want to check it out. However, I will outline my meditation here for you.

First, taking a breath in full of good, clean air. Then breathing out all of the toxins that filled the body. Do this until the mind is clear. Repeat for every step as you meditate on it to remove the negative energies.

Step one. Name the problem. Why is there regret or guilt in the soul? What is weighing you down and holding you back?

Step two. Allow yourself to grieve. It hurts, a lot, when we make mistakes and when we hurt someone. Step back, accept the mistake, and grieve over the fact that it happened. When you come to terms with yourself, move on.

Step three. Figure out what led to this. This is different from defining the problem in that, through this step, you find out why the problem occurred. For me, the roots of mine come from how easy it is to feel secure on the internet (no one really reads this stuff, right?) as well as the family influences I’ve had of people doing things without thinking when they’re angry. The Ny-Quil certainly didn’t help, either (and taught me a good lesson – never get on the laptop after taking medicine). It is important to realize what caused the problem, since it has caused you so much grief, and work to resolve it. It won’t be easy, but change can happen. It helps to ask friends to spot-check you to make sure you don’t fall back into acting in the manner that led to this problem. It also helps to meditate on these things, as I did and am continuing to do, to check in with your own self.

Step four. Apologize and/or make amends. Depending on the situation, it can be as simple as saying ‘I was stupid, I’m sorry.’ Other times, it takes much more, such as community service for a misdemeanor like trashing someone’s yard. Depending on your belief, you might say a prayer to your deity (or deities). It all depends on your beliefs. In meditation, if you don’t want to break to find the people you have wronged just yet, then apologize to yourself and promise yourself to apologize later to the others. Self-forgiveness is extremely important if you’re going to move on from this. It won’t be as easy as it is in the movies, though. Which leads to the next part:

Step five. Accept the consequences. You can’t account for other people, don’t try to. Just strive for a better tomorrow. Some people are going to be really hurt by things done to them and an apology won’t fix things instantly. You’ll have to work to earn back what was destroyed. Sometimes things can’t ever be fixed (I hope that this is only in the case of extreme circumstances, but extreme is a different level to every individual mind). All you can do is keep on living. Tomorrow will come. Embrace it for what it is. A new day.

Step six. Recognize what you’ve learned. If this guilt creeps back on you and tries to bring you down again, turn your mind to the lessons learned. We make mistakes so we can learn and become better. These mistakes are going to follow you, but, as a wise baboon once said, ‘you can either run from it, or…learn from it.’

Breathe in the good clean air, and breathe out the toxins. Breathe in, breathe out.

These steps might take more than a single session of meditation. You could spend whole separate sequences meditating on each piece if you wanted to. However, I have found them extremely freeing. My mind has been freed to think of things other than what was upsetting me. Granted, the troubles in your life are not always going to be caused by you (people will do you wrong, just as you can do them wrong), but getting past guilt and regret can be a good chunk of the burden.

I wish you well in your endeavors and happiness in your life (especially on those Mondays when getting out of bed is nearly impossible).

– Cami

edit: Ok, I found one of the links I used that actually really closely follows what I talked about here. It’s not the one that I focused on when I did this, but I think this is the one I was drawing from when I wrote this.

http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Serious-Regrets

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Animals

October 13, 2011 at 8:06 PM (Uncategorized)
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There is a great debate out there: Animals.

Just…animals.

Crim told me that a boy in her Myth, Legend, and Folklore class raised his hand one day and said ‘nothing anyone says will convince me that animals have souls.’ That gives me chills, because I’ve come up against that belief so often, and I don’t understand it. Why are humans so conceited? “Humans are the only ones that can have souls, Humans are cool enough for aliens to want to seek us out, out of the billions of planets out there, and destroy us specifically.” (Sorry about the second one, but that’s another conceited thing I hear a lot. We aren’t that special guys! We’re one in a billion! Is it sad that Star Trek is the most realistic way of describing how things would go down if we really did meet aliens? But I digress.)

Animals are extremely important in our spiritual lives, no matter what our point of view. In what I know of paganism, this is an obvious statement. Animals are of nature and should be respected, just as much as any other part. To the Christian side of me though, there is a lot of oppression to this statement.

Verses are quoted left and right to ‘prove’ this statement, but, in my eyes, these verses hold less sway than when people try to use the bible to say that gays shouldn’t be allowed to marry (and that is a very weak argument in and of itself). When the verses are read to me, all I can hear is the conceitedness of the man who had the bible re-written (King James) and the other men of his time that helped him. However, I don’t hear anything that points to animals being soulless.

Also, if time has proved anything, it’s that animals are the angels of the world. They bring cheer and happiness back to the sick and desolate, they save lives, they make a house into a home, and they are our connector to nature. Even most people that live in the middle of the concrete jungles can’t deny the dogs and cats around them. The people that do tend to be ignorant and turned into themselves. I dislike them.

How can our worldly angels not have souls? How can we condemn our angels to…nothing?

No, I truly believe that they do have souls, and they are here because we need them. HOWEVER, I am not so selfish to think that they are only here because we need them. We are here because they need us.

We are all here together, sharing this world.

-Cami

(Picture – Bandit, exploring, taken by me. RIP my little sweet-heart. I love you.)

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A Grounding

October 6, 2011 at 6:24 PM (Uncategorized)
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Today was the blood drive at our college, and myself and Crim gave blood (I sat by Crim’s side is how I can speak for her), and Nadia tried but was deferred, as were some of our other friends for various reasons (being out of approved countries within the last twelve months, for example, such as one of our friend’s visit to Haiti last May).

The experience was very grounding, and always has been for me.

This was my fourth time with the needle, my third time actually giving blood (the first time I tried to give blood, my blood clotted up before anything really happened). One time I was deferred due to low iron (it was 11.8 on one check and even lower on the second, while the number they need to see is 12.5). Every time, just trying to donate is a powerful experience.

I like to think that it’s spiritual for me. Not because it’s a good deed that will get me in good with some deity, but because I know I’m saving three lives. And my blood is extremely needed and extremely likely to be used because I’m O negative. So they really need people like me to help them out because everyone can accept my blood.

So, maybe I’m being selfish, a bit, when donating my blood, because it does make me feel good to know I’m helping someone. But I also feel more in touch with the world. This is why just trying is powerful for me. I may not have made it, I may not have actually helped anyone, but I tried. And it is so grounding.

 

– Cami

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Prompt – Christian Paganism

October 3, 2011 at 7:27 PM (Uncategorized)
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Prompt: Christian Paganism? Is it possible? Personally, I know of at least one person that claims to be a Christian Pagan. While I don’t really understand it, I find the thought of combining two religions into one rather intriguing. Especially when one of those religions practically hates the other…. Do you have any experience with Christian Pagan(ism)s? Or perhaps you yourself fall into this category? Please, enlighten us with your thoughts on this seemingly oxymoron combination.

Pagan Blog Prompts – Pagan Christian

Most Christians will vehemently disagree, but I don’t think most religions are all that different. There are things that everyone will nitpick at (Oh, they don’t think Jesus was Christ, Oh they don’t value the virgin Mary, OH they…). We get it. You want to be different.

But I don’t think any religion is really all that different (except Scientology and Satanism…those are…well, my opinions of them aren’t high at all). My personal belief is that all of the religions we have today stem from one, common, ancient religion. There are far too many similarities for me to see them as all being their own distinct entities.

That is my personal belief, though I still call myself Christian, and, through my love of Pagan rituals and such, Pagan. Yes, Crim, I said it here. I see both sides of myself here, and I can’t deny either. The Christian half longs for a different name, though, but I also feel I shouldn’t be ashamed of the name it already has.

It is the stereotype that has been attached to Christianity that makes me ashamed to use that word. A Christian must believe this, must hate that…But it’s not true. A good Christian is open and loving to everyone, no matter what their religion. It’s in the bible! The Bible itself doesn’t tell us to hate, that’s a stigma attached by man. And that strange need so many people feel to shove their beliefs down throats…But Christianity isn’t the only religion guilty of doing that, it’s just the most common criminal. That’s because there are many branches that say they have to do that. I can point to the screamers on the street corner of my college for that example.

These stereotypes are what make this sort of thing so hard to believe. Christians must see Paganism as a Satanic religion because they do weird ritual shit, and Christians must be ass holes about themselves…it’s just…completely incorrect. Not every member of any given religion is the same.

This combination comes from people that have open minds and open hearts, instead of iron-locked ones.

From all that dwell below the skies,
Let songs of hope and faith arise.
Let beauty, truth and good be sung,
From every land, by every tongue.

~Cami

(Quote from Crim, making fun of me – “Oh I’m Christian, but I’m Pagan, but I’m Christian and I like Paganism, but they hate each other, but they have to be able to get along but they hate each other but I’m Christian and I’m Pagan and I like Paganism..”)

 

I delve more into this in my other blog, Getting By. (“I want to be open minded…“)

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Into Autumn

October 2, 2011 at 5:09 PM (Holiday Chatter)
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It’s been a week and two days since Mabon.

About three weeks since I first learned what it was.

Mabon is the holiday of the harvest season, celebrated on the first day of autumn (the autumnal equinox). It is the pagan thanksgiving, a time to thank the world for everything it’s given you.

A time for feasting and thanking your ancestors and your god(s) and whatever else you need to thank. A time for rekindling what has fallen apart (like the Jewish Yom Kippur, which is in the same time of the year), for beginning again.

We actually read a few Jewish prayers at our celebration.

We forgive ourselves and each other. We begin again in love.

It was because of this holiday that I started looking into the calendar. And, so long as pagans don’t mind, I think I’ll adopt it into my life. It’s beautiful, and it feels much more natural than the holidays we have set now. Granted I’ll still celebrate Christmas with my family (mostly my niece) and Thanksgiving if I have someone to gather with for it, but the Wheel of the Year just feels…right.

So while we were running around looking for a nice patch of nature to celebrate this holiday (a first for all three, and a curiosity for me).

Well, we did learn where we will not be going in the future. However, we did discover that the little park just up the street will be a nice place to go. Just not for Samhain. That will be hopefully held somewhere for a bonfire.

So the holiday has past and the temperatures have dipped. All I ask is that we remember what we’re thankful for into the season and the next year, even when our college food sinks into the lowest bowels of inedible and our exams strip us of any energy we had two weeks ago. Even those that don’t celebrate the holiday can respect that.

~Cami

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