Green Beer & Gray Skies

            Just like on Columbus Day, there’s a group of folks who refuse to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day because of the historical truth behind what it represents. They say that when the stories tell of how Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland, what that really means is the decimation of the Pagan religion and peoples as Catholicism moved in and began to take over.

            The Kelswitch started as a blog about being Pagan in the south, and lately I’ve been feeling the itch to write a rant about religion, but I don’t think today will be that day. History is history, and when that history is covered in blood the best thing we can do is to create something happy to overpower those memories. That’s not to say dismiss them or what they mean today, but don’t let it rain on your day, I suppose is the best way to put it.

            I wore green to work today. I played some Irish (ish) music. Celtic Thunder. Dropkick Murphys. A little bit of Nebelhexe. Some Maidens IV, a group we saw at the Renaissance Festival a few years ago. I enjoy Saint Patrick’s Day and I wouldn’t mind celebrating it with a gathering of my friends, whether or not green beer is involved.

            Here’s the thing. Saint Patrick may have started the movement to end Paganism in Ireland, but guess what dude, it’s still alive and well. It survived. So in your face!

            Here’s to your health. ;) Kelswitch, over and out.

We all want to know. Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

            A Pagan on the outskirts would be a good way to describe myself. Solitary. Not particularly ritualistic. Belonging to no particular sect or group. It might be considered natural that there are things in the Pagan community that I heavily disagree with. And their anger at the media’s portrayal of witches is one of them.

            The last movie to stir the cauldron, so to speak, on this issue was Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Pagans, not all of whom identify as witches, did not appreciate how Hollywood was once again portraying their kind. The obvious suspects being pushed to the forefront. Witches are ugly. They fly on brooms. They do magic to harm others. They’re evil. It is a bad image, I’ll admit, but as previous blogs will indicate, I’m a firm believer in not letting the media control our views of the world. And in this instance, I didn’t see a threat to how I explain my faith to my grandmother. I saw a kick ass movie that I was dying to view for myself. I missed it in theaters, but I finally got my chance this past weekend. All of my expectations were blown out of the water.

            Hansel and Gretel wasn’t just a tale of evil witches and the mortals who destroy them to save the world. It took it a step further, it became more than even I expected. White witches. Witches who use their magic to heal and protect. Witches who hide in the shadows to keep themselves safe from those who would condemn them. Witches that, when confronted for their magic, do not run or bow. They stand strong and prideful, taking whatever “punishment” someone else decides that they deserve. I could see some historical parallels there. It was surprising as much as validating. The bottom line is that Hansel and Gretel wasn’t just about evil witches, as the previews might lead one to believe, but it showed that there are good witches in the world too. You may not know they are there, just like Hansel and Gretel didn’t, but it doesn’t change their existence.

            So Pagan community? All you naysayers who cussed this movie up one side and down the other? Bite my broom stick.

            Now that I’ve said my peace about that, I have a vow to make. This movie was incredible, but I did wish that the white witches showed a little more muscle, so to speak. I wanted badass witches fighting for good, I suppose like I saw when I watched Charmed, but on a more realistic, less cheesy scale. So here is my vow. I’m going to make witches cool. Maybe not the kind of cool that Twilight had, because that’s just bad, but the kind of cool that makes people examine their take on it.

            Charmed started my fascination with witches and gave me strong women as role models. That’s what I want to write about, even now. Strong women with active powers to protect, destroy, or even heal. Whichever they do is a choice that has to be made by the witch by herself. Like anything else in this life, the powers aren’t evil themselves, it’s how they use them.

When Fox News Does Something Stupid...

            I’m not the type to be easily offended. I mean, other than the no-brainers. “You’re less because you’re a woman.” “You’re white, so you’re…” Insert whatever comes to mind. But on the religion front, I’m not that touché. Or, I try not to be. If someone says Happy Kwanza to me, I just smile and nod in return. They took the time to say something nice to me, why should I be offended because it’s not Happy Yule? No, that kind of mess doesn’t bother me. However, what does bother me is the blatant mocking of my faith. That’s strike one. Strike two comes when it’s so obvious that you, small minded moron that you are, have no clue what you are talking about.

            I’m referring to a specific small minded moron. Or, morons rather. Fox News apparently runs this show called Fox with Friends and on February 17, 2013, they aired what was perhaps the biggest demonstration of ignorance that I have seen in my entire life. I’m young yet, which is scary given how bad this was. The headline which grabbed my attention to watch this filth was “Fox News Attacks Wiccans.” Number one, they didn’t attack per se, and number two, it wasn’t just Wiccans. No, what they did was openly mock all Pagans and Wiccans, even though our numbers are so insubstantial they barely acknowledge our legitimacy. Not only did they mock my faith, they got their facts wrong. So horribly wrong it was painful to watch.

            I vibrated with rage. I was, surprising to realize, highly OFFENDED! And that’s a word I try to avoid in my life.

            Apparently, Wiccans have so many holidays that we can’t even keep track. Because eight is really a high number. And all Pagans inhale so much incense we can’t even count that high. But we sure know how to use twenty-sided dice. Also, Wiccanism is a legit word and Halloween is a ridiculous holiday to put real stock in. They just can’t take anyone seriously who looks to that as a real holiday. And we should be offended that the University of Minnesota has put our holidays on the calendar, because that’s just agenda pushing and we’re being used.

            …Where in the hell to even start? Dear, your lack of research is showing! It is my sincere hope that anyone who might follow this blog at least semi-regularly knows better. Pagans have eight sabbats. Samhain is the biggie, the last harvest festival and the beginning of our new year. It’s part of a little thing called the wheel of the year. Samhain is what modern day Halloween is based on. Are you following me, class? Wiccans are followers of Wicca. Oh, and that agenda we should be offended for forwarding? I assume, since it is Fox News, that they are discreetly referring to the liberal agenda, which is all about free sex and killing babies. Of course. It couldn’t be just because we want our own faith recognized, in however small of a way.

            Then, one of these lovely reporters had the audacity to bring Christians into it. The same old argument that a Christian can’t say Merry Christmas without being berated and accused of shoving religion down someone’s throat.

            …Sweetheart, we’ll talk about interfaith equality when you get your facts straight. I still haven’t picked my jaw up off the floor from the bullshit you just spit out of your perfectly done face.

            I’m in an interfaith relationship. Bear is Christian and very much dedicated to that path. There is nothing wrong with that and there is nothing wrong with me talking to the Goddess every day. We are fortunate enough to live in a country where that is accepted, as one of the aforementioned morons so lovingly tried use to further her point, almost insinuating we should just shut up and be happy with that. No. Just…no. Darling, so long as people like you walk the earth, spitting out your ignorance and mockery, that’s never going to be good enough.

            I have my moments of tree hugger behavior. Then I also have moments where I act like the loud mouth redneck I was raised to be, drooling over that jacked up Ford F-250 that just drove by, with the pipes and mud down the sides. Not only did Fox News mock us, they stereotyped us. Which, I’ll be the first to admit that stereotypes don’t just appear out of thin air, but it’s like with anything else. When they have to interview a person out of a particular group, like Pagans, they somehow manage to find the craziest, most out there Pagan, tree hugger, activist to represent all of us. And then dude sitting at home watching this on his couch thinks that is how we all are. Dude proceeds to go out into the world and he meets one of us. When it turns out to be his twenty year old niece who he’s known her entire life, suddenly it’s as if the girl has grown horns.

            That’s the risk Pagans take when telling family members. That’s the line we walk every single day. It’s one Christians will likely never have to deal with, not in this country. And yet we’re not the ones being persecuted, they are. We’re just being used to further some insane agenda.

            It’s not fair. It’s most definitely not right. I won’t write Fox News off as the devil, but now, when my anger has cooled down, I am just disheartened and disappointed.

I’m including a link to the video in question and the petition asking Fox News to apologize for this mess, even though it won’t repair the damage done.

 http://witchywords.blogspot.com/2013/02/news-station-attacks-wiccans.html

http://www.causes.com/actions/1733105-demand-fox-news-apologize-to-pagans-and-wiccans