Monday, May 27, 2013

Morphing of Words

Of course we all know that words change their meaning over time. One of those that always amuses Gavin is virgin. In the (Welsh) Laws of Hywel Dda given in the White House on the River Taff, it is decreed that a nobleman may marry only a virgin with two healthy children. Obviously virgin didn't mean intact, as it has come to mean currently in the United States.
A simple little word such as nice might confuse you when it is applied to an adolescent, for it means exact, as in a nice distinction ... that is, if any distinction can be exact.
When it comes to other words such as hag (see Yvonne's thoughts below on hq/crone) the Christians have had a field day. Crone also falls into the same category, although of course Chronos is the elder god, the god preceding all others.
Yvonne muses:
Only Mecca itself surpasses Hagia Sophia in the reverence it receives from worshippers and tourists. Sophia means wisdom, but what does hagia mean? Hagia means holy! A word from ancient Egypt gives the clue: hq or hk is a holy woman.
Because of assorted malevolent propaganda masters working through the centuries, hk/hq has morphed into hag. Likewise with crone: one crowned (cf corona) with wisdom and maturity, meriting our deep respect.
My thinking is prompted by reflection on hk/hq and on crone. If I'm perceiving everything wrong, please give me information (specific information with sources, not just vituperation) that will set me straight.

another day, another tornado

Yvonne reflects.
Monday, May 20, 2013 saw yet another tornado tear up Tornado Alley, again destroying town after town with particular activity at Moore, Oklahoma. Does anyone else see a pattern here, or see grounds for speculation based on a long-term view of events?
I can't help musing. In the 1800s untold thousands of First Nations peoples were killed and displaced from the lands they had inhabited and cherished since time beyond memory. Don't get me wrong: the slaughter and ethnic cleansing were impartial. "Don't take this personally. We just want you dead or out of the way. Here. This black book will comfort you--or it would if you could read King James English."
A web search names nation after nation that got such treatment, labeling the nations "Native Americans" or "Indians", giving us a choice between two further insults. Among those nations listed we found Plains Apache, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Caddo, Cayuga, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Comanche, Creek, Delaware, Ioway, Kaw, Keetoowah Cherokees, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Miami/Peoria, Missouria-Otoe, Modoc, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Ponca, Potawatomi, Quapaw, Sac and Fox, Seminole, Seneca, Shawnee, Tonkawa, Wichita, Wyandotte, Yuchi.
If my usage constitutes yet another insult, I ask pardon: My mistakes are those of ignorance, not of ill-will. My own Cherokee grandmother was often quoted around the table,
"I don't want any preacher throwing dirt in my face at my funeral. Just give me a banjo solo."

Thus a thought occurs to my deviant mind:
The guardian spirits of those nations are fed up to here with the way white (make that pink) people have usurped and abused those beautiful and beloved lands. Said spirits may now feel they have waited long enough for an apology or for any symptom even of awareness, let alone remorse, and have declared payback time. Hence the events of the tornado season. If I am wrong in my thinking, please correct me with specifics.
Blessed Be Yvonne

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Consortiun of Wiccan Groups

It has been high in our list of priorities for many years that we who practice the Craft need greater numbers to speak with authority (with a single voice, if you will) on a range of topics.
It seems to us that the only way such a thing can happen is if we form a new consortium of churches and other groups to identify some shared ideas that we can all subscribe to. We believe that some form of democratic organization of associated groups will be able to speak with greater authority than we Frosts alone (or indeed, any isolated voice) could muster.
To this end, then, we believe it might be possible to use our (Church of Wicca) website to put up a page for each group that wishes to join, where they can outline their philosophy and perhaps see who salutes. After all, the website is very high up on any of the search engines, and does achieve hundreds of hits a day. Just now it is limited to promoting the Church and School of Wicca alone, but it could easily be expanded.
Your thoughts on this topic will be appreciated, especially on the idea of whether it would be an association, a consortium, an information booth, or ... who knows? Let's be very clear on one thing: We're not talking Mount Olympus here. It might resemble a town hall, where people could reveal their thoughts and beliefs and perhaps find others of like mind. The key point is that the Church of Wicca would not be in control, except in this aspect: if we really objected to something, we could remove the page from the website--but it would have to be a very dramatic disagreement, maybe something on the level of child pornography. We don't think such a thing will happen.