Amazon SMILE for scholarships

Amazon SMILE scholarships to inmates In the early days of the Church and School of Wicca, we were able to award scholarships to worth-while inmates and to support other inmates in their quest for freedom to worship while incarcerated. Partially as a result of that policy, in the case of Dettmer versus Landon Wicca became a federally recognized religion. All of us still owe a debt of gratitude to those courageous people who put their chances of parole in jeopardy by persisting in their drive for freedom of worship. Recently, though, the Church and School has been unable to financially support such efforts. We have looked for people who will sponsor inmates from among society at large, and have failed to get any--any! The Church and School is now part of Amazon SMILE Program. In the program Amazon donates 0.5 percent of the purchase price of any object to the charity designated by the purchaser. Some friends of the Church and School have designated the Church and School as their SMILE recipient. What we now plan is that we will use any SMILE proceeds--every last cent of it--to support worth-while inmates. Your help in this matter will be appreciated: by us ourselves, of course, and by the target inmates. All you have to do when you make a purchase from Amazon is to designate the SMILE money to go to the Church and School of Wicca. Keep in mind that all such outlay on your part is tax-deductible. Thank you from us and from recipients, and Blessed be! Gavin and Yvonne

Goldilocks and God

"God" in the title of this blog isn't meant in any conventional sense. Instead you might want to call it the First Cause (hereinafter TFC). There are a series of far-out coincidences that allow us to exist on earth. The first and obvious one is the temperature, that allows a carbon life form such as ourselves to exist. This is where Goldilocks comes in: The planet we call ours is not too hot and it's not too cold; it's just right. But there are a lot of other "coincidences" without which we could not live on this planet. It has been argued that life forms based on other elements could exist. The one most frequently posited is silicon, the element closest to carbon on the Periodic Table. We can imagine the life form that exists and uses silicon dioxide as a source of energy, though silicon dioxide is a solid, not a gas. A silicon-based life form could probably show some semblance of life as we know it, but it's probably difficult for most of us to imagine how. Other carbon-based life forms could also exist. We know that they exist near volcanic vents on the ocean floor in areas of extreme pressure and heat, though again, it's difficult to imagine a planet that could support them, simply because of the pressure and heat that it would have to continually generate. So what about other planets that have an environment similar to earth's? As you know, earth's orbit is an ellipse, and that helps. It is tilted relative to the plane of its revolution. The tilt is only about 2 percent. It can be calculated that if the tilt were 4 percent, then for half the year the oceans in the northern hemisphere would freeze and those in the southern hemisphere would boil. Our distance from our star, the sun, is also highly critical. Again, a small percentage difference would give us an atmosphere in which life as we know it could not exist. The so-called probabilistic argument considers all these probabilities and concludes that the chance of conditions favorable to any life happening is one in 1018. Since the latest SWAG (SWAG: scientific wild-ass guess) of planets is 1011, you can see that you simply can't be here. This always comes back, then, to the question of: How did life as we know it arise? Was it by a miracle performed by TFC? Or was it something that could not have failed to happen? Recent experiments with what are called hard vacuums and the CERN Giant show that matter blinks into existence and almost immediately disappears. Such a generation of matter from apparently nothing is, shall we say, somewhat puzzling to today's physicists. We do not find such spontaneous creation-of-matter in anything but the hardest vacuum, and so far the theory is that a vacuum could be filled with virtual particles that occasionally collide to form real matter. The renormalized mathematics which shows why matter blinks in and blinks out is as weird as anything even a Christian could envision--unless perhaps Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 is reversible. To wit: Put in a large amount of energy, and matter is formed So then the question arises: whether it is from these first infinitesimally small pieces of matter that everything was built. Apparently it is possible (at least theoretically) that such a thing can happen--but apparently it can happen only when the conditions are just right: firstly in the plasma of the first creation, then developing in the nuclear furnaces of stars, then to a Goldilocks planet where semi-intelligent life forms can presume to ask the question: Is there any need for an existential god or goddess--a juju? We guess we do need a TFC, to write the equations ... or do we? If this makes you feel like soaking your head, join the crowd. Blessed be. Gavin and Yvonne

Chips on Shoulder Etc

As many of you know, for over forty years we Frosts have gone through attack periods which (to us) seemed endless. During that time we felt as if the whole world was, if not trying to kill us, at least trying to damage us severely. First it was the Christians. Now more recently it's been self-described Wiccans/pagans. We endured it all with what we like to think of as quiet perseverance. Thus at this point it looks worth while to review our thoughts on other people's dilemmas brought on by their being (gasp) D-different: being outside the "normal" pervasive Christian mainstream or particular "Wiccan" sects. When all the flap started, our first inclination was to strike back; but fortunately reflection showed that such a mindset was not going to be the best way. We lived in a small community, and it would have been only too easy for people to attack us, maybe burning a cross or two in the front yard--and in fact, through our forty-some years of living the Craft, some have attacked! In one incident we were shot at and people left a bomb at the hotel where we were scheduled to speak. (Apparently they didn't trust Jesus' ability to take care of it.) On another occasion, people tried to steal the wheels off the car while we were doing a radio show. Our answer was not to hit back, but to use a more subtle approach. It was not difficult in those early days to get both radio and TV time, so we went on a tour of the States, clocking more than 2,000 hours and several thousand miles of time and travel. Finally, when people attacked us, we could fall back on our local community because now we had become not just Witches, but St. Charles' own Witches. In St. Charles, when the high school history teacher invited us to speak, the self-anointed "opposition" got a subpoena to stop us. (In that time people were not so forcefully aware that when one tax-exempt religion badmouthed another tax-exempt religion, the attacker risked their own tax-exempt status.) The students were furious. We rented a disused movie theater in town to speak to them on their own time rather than during school hours. It was standing room only, because students and parents from all over the area came to see the show. Months earlier, the county's ministerial alliance had refused our request to join with them; now its representatives decided that they too would like to investigate this phenomenon. We agreed to meet with them in the presence of the press. The press, in the form of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, had a romp at that meeting. They were 100 percent on the Witches' side. The effect of all this furor and work (work on our part, we hasten to add) was an abrupt cessation of local attacks. And when people did attack us, they became the bad guys and we were the poor innocent persecuted victims. There are a lot of good friendly honest Christians out there--especially (Pay attention here, boys and girls.) when you have demonstrated over time that you don't shave your palms on full moon and go out looking for something to sink your fangs into. If you get those people on your side in any debate, then be assured: You will win. Confrontation simply doesn't work. And if you become rigid in your total opposition to Christianity in all its forms, then the opposition in turn will become hardened in its response to you. Yes, of course to maintain your religious freedom, when that freedom is violated, you must respond with form and protocol that are both legal and relevant. Again, this approach assumes that you have done your homework, that you know what is legal and what is effective--and what is illegal, what is irrelevant, what is useless, and what may well have a negative effect, thus making your quicksand deeper. Recall the old adage: A picture is worth a thousand words. Photograph the attackers or their actions or their vehicles. Over many years we have learned that a lawyer who is a member of a minority group sometimes has a tendency to be more supportive and will occasionally even do pro bono work for you, or at least may reduce his fees. Do not be afraid of trusting the law courts when it is a straightforward civil matter. A neighbor blocks your driveway because you (gasp) celebrate different festivals than they do? Sue. A local church is causing you trouble? Offer to meet with the leaders of the church in a neutral setting ... with reporters present. Point out to those leaders that neither side will win if they continue to be negative. It may seem to many that simply striking back is the answer. It is not. It drags you down to the same level as the attacker is on. Get that chip off your shoulder and replace it with friendship. Many of your opponents can't stand such behavior. It pulls the rug right out from under all the stereotypical assumptions they've embraced so enthusiastically. Your lifestyle and the lifestyle that your kids and your associates display are the example which you must set to show that you are the good guys. We've had well over forty years of experience in this arena; and so far most of the people who have attacked us for standing on our rights are other self-styled pagan/Wiccans. With allies like these, who needs enemies? Blessed be each one who seeks. Gavin and Yvonne PS One more time a not for profit 501C3 is not a church a church is a religious association.

Death with Dignity

The town where we dwell has a high proportion of oldsters, as a youngster at our local fellowship describes them. As the nation's Congress goes red this year and more and more social programs are aborted, life is becoming increasingly difficult and painful for such oldsters. But this "Christian" nation has grown so horrified at the idea of death (gasp) that the oldsters are required to clutch with their last fingernail at the metaphorical windowsill of life. Any younger relatives within range must put their own lives on hold in support of the weakening elders. That's the American dream. When ISIL casually murders five hundred people at a go--innocent people in every age group--how can human beings still claim that we honor life? Jack Kevorkian paid the price for being outspoken and for promoting the idea of death with dignity. In too many cases, people who have debilitating illnesses and/or endless unremitting pain to live on through the horrors of dependence and illness, especially when they have to eat cat food or dog food to make their budget work. Some states, Oregon and others, are now allowing what is called assisted suicide. Why not move toward a federal law that allows it? After all, as in so many cases (reflect on abortion, same-sex marriage ... you can probably think of others) optional is not mandatory. If you find my thinking is beyond the pale, refrain from subscribing to it. Is that concept beyond your grasp? In other words, you run yours and I'll run mine. That is called adult behavior. Blessed be. Yvonne

Malleus Maleficarum, or a fantasy that will not die

The Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of [Female] Evil Doers), written by Kramer and Spengler, is reputed to have served the Offices of the Inquisition in causing many thousands of Witches to be burned. Simply put, none of the above is true. The authorities had much better guidebooks than the Malleus would have been. In fact a more accurate bottom line here would be: The Malleus is nothing more than what the publishing trade calls a one-hander. Anyone who has read it knows that even in its translation, which didn't happen until the 19th century, it would generate very few questions regarding the real beliefs, practices, and activities of people who were accused. The inquisitors had far better guidebooks containing the questions they should ask: books that were continually updated just like a modern company's standard operating procedures. These books were Bernard Gui's Practica officii inquisitoris heretice pravitatis (1324); and Nicholas Eymeric's Directorium inquisitorum (1376). Kramer himself was so lasciviously obsessed by the sex life of young girls that he was dismissed halfway through the second trial he attended as an inquisitor. We always are horrified that people reflexively parrot the tired old unexamined claims about the Malleus without ever approaching the book to see for themselves. Even Dan Brown in his best-selling Da Vinci Code played it back again, in another disappointment to the scholars. And as a sidebar, we do wish that Brown had been ethical enough to acknowledge the fact that he derived the whole idea for the book from Picknett and Prince's Templar Revelation. In fact there was a lawsuit--which Brown lost. Now that you have read this blog, you know better than to commit the same tired old mistake. As a Witch/Wiccan/pagan, do please hold yourself to a higher standard. We refer you to the three-volume exposé of the Inquisition written some time ago by H. C. Lea, Materials toward a History of Witchcraft, Thomas Yoseloff, New York 1957; as well as to Jean Bodin's Demonomania (1530) that King James used to write his Daemonology.

Crimen Religiosa

Since the beginning of modern history, the records show that more people have died through adhering to their religious beliefs than from any other cause including dictators and land grabs. Quite apart from the thousands who were burned by the Christians because of their faith--not just the Tudor Catholics--we are currently seeing again the same religious fundamentalism causing the same death and destruction wherever it occurs. In the late middle ages the Christian church got over it and the burnings and murders almost stopped. The argument now between Sunni and Shiite is just a continuation of the religious crime--crimen religiosa--just the latest demonstration, of the tired old thinking that has darkened the story of the human race for many centuries. There is no doubt in our (Frosts') mind that if the Ayatollahs, the Imams, the Mullahs were as smart as the medieval bishops were, they could stop a great deal (if not all) of this crimen religiosa in, say, 48 hours--simply by uttering a new vision from Allah, something to the effect: "He says stop fighting." You're listening, we hope, gentlemen; we're listening too, but we hear no such utterance. They might also, say, take from another religion or philosophy that which is good and acceptable to themselves, while ignoring the rest. The early Hindus did exactly this. Only in modern times are the followers of various Hindu deities attacking one another. It is clear that a philosophy of tolerance and acceptance of the good in another path, and of ignoring that which you don't agree with, would greatly help the small group of self-styled Wiccans who are so unsure of their own path that they attack everyone else--everyone who has a successful path. - - - - - - - - - And now while we're at it, a PS: We want to thank you wonderful commentators who have taken the trouble to write us via snail-mail with your thoughts. We would mute the blog, but that would stop everyone; so we're happy that people care enough to write to us and shortcut the clown who is filling the Comments space with trash. Let's all join in asking the Guides that the creature doing this dumb stuff will never reproduce another like itself. Blessed Be G & Y

Could a Psychic Help ?

When all their clues in a crime have run dry, it is not uncommon for police forces to ask (even if they do so furtively) for the aid of their local psychic. Sometimes, though not always, a psychic's suggestions and impressions can lead to the criminal being apprehended. We have many friends who are psychic, and they can--and do--tell us unusual things that turn out to be factually correct. It occurs to us then that we have been put through a series of mystery plays about such things as the Oak Island treasure, the Egyptian ruins found in the Grand Canyon, and no end of such musings as those on (gasp) ancient aliens and similar quasi-scientific discoveries about the roots of our so-called civilization, the good old U.S.A. "What an interesting invention! How can we use it to kill people?" Perhaps these gaspers could be guided in a helpful way if they employed a psychic to tell them a. Where to look and b. What their discoveries really mean. All too often, it seems, the discovery of a copper rivet or other minutiae causes the gaspers to go overboard. Often real scientific discoveries are dressed up and the point is lost in the fanfare of the gaspers. Get over it, you guys. Don't be surprised when you find that the Japanese really did get to South America or the Egyptians got to the Grand Canyon or the Norse actually sailed further south than Canada. Why wouldn't they? Blessed be G & Y

Invidia

The title of this blog means envy: the Latin root video (I see), plus the prefix in- that reverses its meaning. Ergo invidia means refusal to see. In 1609 when Galileo looked through his improved telescope and decided that Copernicus was right, many people (especially the alpha-male Catholic masters) refused even to look through the telescope. To those people Galileo rightly applied the word invidia. To us it seems that we are going through an invidia phase in the development of Wicca. Just as in Galileo's experience, part of the problem seems to be envy and another (perhaps greater) part is a refusal to accept reality--a denial. So as you all know, we Frosts are continually accused of everything from sheer stupidity to being anti-gay and/or being homophobes--and, worst of all, of being child molesters or pædophiles. The cluster of such claims implies a surge of creative fiction. Quelle imagination! When we say if you cast a circle using certain specific materials and certain specific dimensions you will get better results than if you cast it with (for example) a sword, many people won't even try it. They refuse to look. They are invidia. In conjunction with an international cast of students of the School of Wicca, we have cast more than 5,000 test circles using a wide variety of materials and a range of dimensions; and in another series of experiments have employed a super-sensitive magnetometer to prove the results. Still, despite these real-world facts, people cannot be bothered to run their own tests. Instead they start howling "Fake! Fake!" without making the first gesture themselves toward demonstrating how dishonest our claims are. Older (that is, more senior or earlier) students of the School share a common joke: Some years ago the ladies ran a ritual for more men to participate in circle events. They got their wish: the School was inundated with gay men who signed up and formed their own (warrior) covens. We are accused of being anti-gay because many years ago at a party an attendee asked Gavin whether gays could be Wiccans. Gavin replied that at heart Wicca is a fertility religion; that a) gays are welcome but b) must define their own fulfilling path c) in today's self-styled Christian nation where we are even now resisting the tedious drumbeat of the Christian "right"--an oxymoron if ever we've heard one--and are still articulating a more inclusive mindset. Part a) is never quoted. Part b) has been repeated ad nauseam. Part c) is a work in progress. The Church and School of Wicca is proud and grateful to boast the largest gay population of any group. We even held a Gay Wiccan Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The motel personnel made a perfunctory howl of protest, but were supportive after that moment of oscillation. Yvonne gratefully recalls their roadside marquee: "Welcome, Gay Witches." Of course this caused a furor in the press and many comments from the "community" saying we shouldn't have done that ... while they sat on their big fat davenports doing their customary Nothing. When we can arrange it, we march in Gay Pride parades. The last one we made was in Charleston WV. Yvonne's placard read on her chest "If you don't like it" and on her back "You can't have any." Credit for the thought traces back to Oberon Zell. How many of these self-appointed critics of the Church attend gay-pride parades to represent the Path? We seldom see anyone. The most egregious accusation is that we Frosts are pædophiles. In The Witch's Bible (which has been criticized on many counts) we went to the trouble of reprinting it with notes to satisfy all the complaints that we had received through 1986. The one page that escaped everyone's notice was the one on which we talked about initiation or dedication of youngsters. We used the word child. In other parts of the book we clearly noted a) that no one should break any civil law in the name of the Craft and b) that sex magic should not be taught to anyone under the age of 18. We have now changed that single remaining page. For more than forty (40) years no one noticed the page we had overlooked--but suddenly a small noisy percentage of self-styled Wiccans broke the Prime Guideline "If it harm none, do what you will" and accused us of that which is not true. A speculation: They were in genuine (self-induced) trouble and hoped to distract attention from their very real behavior as miscreants by dragging a smelly red herring into the discussion. We have never been pædophiles in fact, in fancy, or in imagination. We have never written anything in support of such activity. Like Richard Dawkins, we ask you to provide take-it-to-the-jury evidence for any such claims. Now we calmly suggest that if you don't like the things we do, invent your own. Make sure they work, and practice and publish them as your version of a spiritual path. Just please don't call that path Wicca. If you are not willing to look, you are indeed invidia.

Ancient Wisdom

We are as intrigued as anyone else about how some ancient stone monuments (e.g. megaliths) were built. Some of the technology, such as the fitting of the stones at Cuzco, is truly amazing. Some sixty years ago Gavin spent time on Salisbury Plain at Her Majesty's weapons-testing ranges, where experts were testing infra-red weaponry such as the Sidewinder. Most of the testing was done at night. This gave the scientists time to explore the landscape, and to bat theories back and forth on how and when and why Stonehenge was built. Gavin offered the theory that the quarrying and transporting and building of the stones, and putting the lintels on the tops of the megaliths to form trilithons, was no problem--if you simply thought winter. Why bother with rollers and ropes and all that, when a couple of buckets of water thrown on the ground would freeze and you could slide the blocks across the frozen surface? We had fun. We demonstrated to our own satisfaction that a single lightweight man could move a one-ton stone with ease, provided that it had even one flat side. To get the stones upright, build a ramp of ice and snow. To put the capstone on, another similar ramp would be needed ... and would be built just as easily and serve as well. Then in spring it would return itself to the earth. So the construction resolved itself into a simple application of manpower--people who were doing little else in the middle of winter. Next we looked at the thermocline: that is, the temperatures thought to have been prevalent at the time when Stonehenge was constructed. Lo and behold: It was a cold period. That still didn't solve the problem of how they aligned the stones nor how, for instance, they figured out where to put the Aubrey holes and why there should be 56 of them to predict lunar eclipses. Recall that they ultimately had to calculate astronomical patterns happening over approximately 200 years. So we solved half the problem, at least to our own satisfaction; and we will leave the rest to you. Think about it. Was life expectancy so brief? Or did people live to greater ages than we've always assumed? Were the knotted-string methodologies (quipu) known, or did those people have writing and calculation methods that we wot not of? We've puzzled over our uncertainty for years. Every time we see a piece on Stonehenge, it reinvigorates our thoughts. Will you share your thoughts? Give us feedback. Blessed be those who question easy assumptions. GY

Overcoming Verbal Diarrhea

As I'm sure many of you have noted, our blog is overrun with the verbal diarrhea of third-eye spinning. All that stuff blocks the intended replies of you troops who are interested in such real-world thinking as, for instance, the earliest use of the word Wicca. There seems to be no way of blocking this childishness, so we have to ask you to write your replies to Church of Wicca - PO Box 297-bg Hinton WV 25951. We'll gratefully publish those incoming thoughts in future blogs. We hope the creature with obvious two-digit IQs will eventually get bored, and will cease and desist. Be patient. With luck there'll be another flap on another topic next week, and the whole screaming throng of knuckle-draggers will lurch on down the road ... maybe eventually get a life ... or (file this under Remote Possibilities) accomplish something useful themselves. Due to the tenacity of the "psychotic postings" we have dis-allowed any comments at this time. We are very sorry as we do enjoy reading your comments on our blogs -- it often gives us food for thought, although random nonsense about Beatles songs and chess in prison only makes us wonder if you need a better doctor.

Forming a Church without Agony

In 1971 CE Gavin worked in the aerospace industry designing and later selling military armaments of various sorts: a death industry, if you will. A very good friend of his was a high-powered corporate lawyer. When it came time for the Church of Wicca to go public, Gavin consulted with that lawyer on the best approach to take. Gavin's thinking was that the Church of Wicca was entitled to all the rights and privileges of, and should have the same structure as, any major Judeo-Christian letterhead. After several months of investigation, it became apparent that the Church should be a religious association: not a not-for-profit, not a foundation. The reason for the decision was that any other organizational structure would require constant reporting to various federal agencies--including the IRS (cue dread music.)--whereas religious associations do not have to report anything. Most especially, they don't have to reveal their membership or any financial information. Forming a religious association turned out to be extremely simple ... and inexpensive. Still today it will cost you a couple of first-class postage stamps and a phone call. The religious-assocation format gives you all the protection that any other church enjoys. Obviously you cannot do anything illegal; you cannot, for instance, borrow money without repaying it. When the late Jesse Helms of North Carolina (Senator "No") learned there were Witches in his constituency, he asked the IRS to investigate. The IRS put the Church of Wicca through the wringer and concluded that that the Church of Wicca was totally legitimate. After that time, two inmates in Virginia started a lawsuit to insist that they get the same religious rights Inside as their fellow inmates got: whether Christian, Hebrew, Islamic, Buddhist, or any of the others. This is the famous Dettmer-v-Landon case, in which Judge Butzner ruled for the Fifth District Court that Wicca was a genuine religion and that its adherents should enjoy the same rights as the adherents of any other religion enjoyed. Today several other, later Churches of Wicca are religious associations. Unfortunately, a couple of groups who went the not-for-profit route have been denied religious rights because various courts have held that they were a philosophy, not a religion. If you want to learn how to form a religious association, please send a Number 10 self-addressed envelope to Church of Wicca / PO Box 297 / Hinton WV 25951 bearing enough postage for a two-ounce package. If other questions occur to you pertaining to the topics above, write them in a separate letter, again enclosing appropriate postage. We'll share what we've learned in life's bitter school.

The earliest use of Wicca

We want to run a competition: just for fun, but with a serious purpose. The winner will receive a copy of Margaret Murray's God of the Witches. It's very simple: Document a single case of the word Wicca being used to name a spiritual path--meaning a religion or a spiritual way of thinking. Whoever finds the earliest use, apart from use by Frost, wins. Note that Gerald Gardner used "wi(c)ca"* only once, and he did not use it in the meaning we delineate here. The earliest use by ourselves was in our booklet "Witchcraft the Way to Serenity", the first copy was sold on 4 November 1968. In the back of the booklet there was an advertisement for the School of Wicca's course in Wicca. Therefore we were using Wicca at least a month prior to the sale we can justly claim a documented** date for first use of 1 October 1968. The Articles of Association for the Church of Wicca are notarized 13 December 1971. Okay, troops. Have at it. The winner's name will be announced in six (6) months. * We have been told that in early copies of Gardner's book it is spelt with one C and in later editions with two Cs. **Documented does not mean a quote from Wikipedia.

The Problem with the Internet No recourse to Gossip

Anyone with access to the internet can diss anyone almost without fear of reprisal. Recently we have stopped blogging because people amused themselves by misquoting and disparaging our work. These two-digit IQ's, obviously jealous, with little or no accomplishments to their own credit, have taken it upon themselves to degrade and belittle almost sixty years' work that culminated in getting Wicca to be a Federally recognized religion. We ask those of you with negative things to get off your chest: What have you done that is positive in the Community? Currently those of you who are perpetuating myths are supporting gossip: gossip that has no basis in fact and is of a deliberately, deleterious, titillating, and personal nature: a shining example of an attack ad hominem. The ancient saying ordains: To know, to will, to dare, to keep silent. People spreading gossip do not know. They only have negative will. They do not dare. They talk but have no record of accomplishing anything on their own. And obviously they do not keep silent. We suggest that such behavior should not be welcomed. Further we suggest: Know the real Community and the facts. Have will to be positive. Dare to support your Community. Keep silent. To keep silent means to listen well; to absorb what you hear. It does not mean to keep damaging secrets or to hide truth. We are not advocating a culture of complicity. Blessed be those who recall the Wiccan Rede and live by it.

Summer Plans & Good Witch's Bible

We haven't been posting frequent blogs recently because (A) we're preparing a series of eight lectures to be given at the Sankofa Festival and Sirius Rising at Brushwood Folklore Center, Sherman NY, beginning on July 8. To learn about the wonderful annual festival that is planned at Brushwood Folklore Center, see website brushwood.com. See you there? And because at the same time (B) we're writing the lectures that will comprise the School's new course. We're calling this one the Video Course because, along with the printed material, it includes fourteen DVDs. This course will be the most complete course ever put together on Wicca as a magical spiritual path and religion. It will include segments from Wiccan leaders including Margot Adler, Oberon Zell, and others. If you have completed the School's Essential Witchcraft course, you can get a discount of $50 on the Video Course by showing your student number on your letter to us. Remember always too that if you have taken the School's Survey Course, you get a $25 discount on the Essential Course. Another thing we've been busy with is the making of very minor modifications to Good Witch's Bible, to make a handful of self-appointed critics happier with it. Revised copies are now available through the School of Wicca at $ 25.00 each plus $3.95 S&H. Ironically, revisions to only two (2) pages were needed for an independent evaluator to say it was now okay. Of course, since it took forty (40) years for the recent criticism to surface, we expect that when cultural mores change again, we'll have to revise the book again. Hmm. GY

Mythistory

The word mythhistory is used for narratives that may be myth but that have a grounding in factual real history. Some women were burnt at the stake as witches; true enough. The myth comes with the numbers. In Wicca there are many myths. Some rely on actual historical facts, but many are fabricated: what Yvonne calls history-as-wished-for. Perhaps chief among these pieces of mythhistory is the burning of nine million people as witches. Under the influence of feminist Wicca, the number morphed into nine million women. Many people were murdered by the Christian establishment over a considerable length of time in its drive for centralized power. The Christians have said that nine million from a population of probably less than fifty million would have been missed. That's a specious argument, though, when we think of a period of at least two hundred years when the murders occurred. We do know this much: An appeal was written to King James pleading for a cessation of the murders because "there is only one female left in the town and she is three years old". Similarly we know that the production of lace almost ceased because of the killing of the lace makers. So who knows how many Witches and "heretics" died? No one can be sure. One is too many. Remember: the vast majority were labeled heretics, not Witches, by the official centralized (Christian) power of the day; and many were hanged, not burnt. That's just another hair-splitting quibble, though: dead is dead. Burning at the stake is a persistent common image; whereas many were roasted on a grill, and their roasted body parts tossed to the cheering crowd. In a similar mythhistory vein: who was actually burnt? The little old lady herbalist living in a cottage in the woods? The midwife? No, the most common victim was the wetnurse or lying-in maid who minded the newborn infants of the gentry. In a time when absolutely nothing was known about hygiene, nutrition, or sanitation, she was blamed for the death of the child in her care. Another common victim was the landowner or the person of wealth whose relatives conspired to get at the land or the money. A modern myth that seems to be morphing into historical "fact" is the allegation that Gerald Gardner invented Wicca. In all Gerald's writings, he used the word Wicca only once--and even on that occasion he did not mean it to define a spiritual or religious path. Unless his spirit rose from the grave, he couldn't have done it anyway; because Wicca was first used by the Frosts in 1968 and Gerald died in 1964. The word was also used by Martello in NewYork in 1968. Gardner did a lot to popularize Witchcraft, and we admire him for his work. We are also pleased that some who travel the Gardnerian path now call themselves Gardnerian Wicca. Remember that unless we get our facts right, the scholastic establishment will continue to scoff at our efforts to gain credibility and spiritual freedom for all. Let's show some integrity, boys and girls. Fair enough? BB all Gavin and Yvonne

Newcourse

As a result of the recent furor over Good Witch's Bible we have decided to offer a new course. For some time we've had on the shelf videos of various leaders in the alternative/pagan community talking about all sorts of subjects. Those subjects range widely: Margot Adler talks, mostly about her childhood experiences; Janet and Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone talk about the pagan/Wiccan path; Professor Skip Clark talks about the mythhistory of Witchcraft and Wicca; St. Isaac does one of his flow-of-consciousness rants. So we're putting together what we call the video course. There will be a standard twelve (written) lectures and an introduction, but each lecture and the introduction itself will be accompanied by a DVD. It will be the most complete Wiccan course ever offered or completed. If you're interested, we'll be limiting enrollment until the fine details are sorted out. To get in at the beginning, then, write (as ever) to the Church at PO Box 297, Hinton WV 25951.

Write us

Greetings, The recent discussion/panel at FPG about the attacks on the Frosts and the non validity of various accusations showed a relatively clear split in the self-styled Community. From here the split appears to us to be between the current leadership of Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) and everybody else. Thinking about it, it may be that the split started in Minneapolis in the early 1970s over the nature of the Ultimate (Unknowable) Deity. We believe that it is now time (indeed, overdue) to attempt a healing of the split. Such a standoff as this one does not help the Community grow and thrive. Therefore we of the Church of Wicca offer to meet with representatives/spokespersons of CoG in private at a major festival to see whether we can at least clearly define any differences and, if we can't agree, agree to disagree on certain points and then to go our ways. Here is a further thought on the same topic: We Frosts have already rewritten Chapter 4 of Good Witch's Bible. We feel that even this rewrite may not be enough, so we are going to rewrite the whole book. Therefore we ask those (CoG people or anyone else) who have problems with any part of the book to write to us with your thoughts and suggestions through the School: School of Wicca PO Box 297 Hinton, WV 25951 with their proposed improvements. Please note: We do not expect the rewritten book to be all apple pie and ice cream. We will retain as much of the vigor and spice as we can. If all parties behave like intelligent, articulate adults, we can look upon this recent airing of opinions as a starting point of a new reïnvigorated Community. We strongly believe that honest discussion of differences is good for the growth of our spiritual path; but that ad hominem attacks should be outlawed. Blessed be all

Possibe other projects

Is it possible that Wiccans could come together and work together on a single project? The way things are, it seems very unlikely. Still we persist in believing--hoping--that it might just be possible. Self-appointed detractors of the Frosts have united behind negative causes, but all we see are words--no actions. Surely within all the Frost books and all those pages there must be other passages besides the current hot topic that they could find obnoxious. Try, people! Pay attention! So what could such a project be? Well, the most popular project these days seems to be to save our Mother the Earth. The easiest kind of such a project, one sadly neglected, is recycling. The two specific areas of recycling that are in sad need of help are (a) canning and (b) glassing. (Yvonne notes, I won't even lift the lid on the topic of roadside paper/plastic/styrofoam, nor on contraception ...) In many areas of the country there are more and more miles of highway / roadside lined with millions and millions of cans that could be collected and turned into ready cash. Any group can ask the local highway authority for a piece of road--and ask for a sign telling the world who is keeping this stretch of road clean and picked up (the Coven of La-de-Da, maybe; or the Baby Bambi Coven). Then they can indeed clean up--and make a profit doing it. It takes probably one day a month at most. There is potential here for a two-fold gain: money and advertising. Or, publicity or not, just go get the cans. You don't need a sign! The question of glassing is an interesting one because many American communities do not recycle glass, whereas the rest of the world outside our own borders does. In European recycling centers you will find separate bins for glass of each color. In the United States it is difficult to find a bin for glass of any sort. This nation recycles only at large centers, where there's enough population to support the effort. So processing glass will take work. You'll have to get your own community to add a glass recycling bin to their setup. In southern West Virginia at the present time we have to take the glass we collect across the state line into Virginia if it is to be recycled. So find out where the nearest glass recycling center is, and collect glass. Can you do it? Yes, you can. The time you spend playing the latest thumb-game could well be spent more productively. BB G and Y

Always Positive Paganism

Over the many years we have run the Church and School of Wicca, we have seen the "Pagan Community" unite under various war cries of "My tradition is better than your tradition." Because we believe in "Walk in Balance on The Earth we feel strongly that there is too much negativity in the Pagan Community. Therefore, in order to find balance, we hereby ask that you enter into a covenant -- that when you feel anger that you direct that strong emotion towards positive goals. As such, this is a place for posting positive actions that help -- your home community or the Pagan Community that suggests positive growth.

Always keep in mind the Law of Attraction, therefore what you do good will come back to you and build our community.

Posts on this page indicate that you agree with and support this mission.

Beltane

It's that time of year again when celebrating the return of Spring occupies pagan minds. In Europe and the western hemisphere, indeed all around the globe, many festivals are based on Beltane, the ancient Irish fire festival. Two need-fires were lighted on Beltane among the Gael, between which they drove their cattle for purification and good luck. Bel = bala = blaze; tane = teni = warm.* At this time of year too the stubble in the fields was burned to kill off vermin and crop diseases. An alternative timing is based on the end of seeding. Scheduling depends on your distance from the north pole or, in the southern hemisphere, from the south pole. All this means that the dates of celebration vary from place to place. Which date is the appropriate occasion in modern life, when so few people in North America live truly rural lives? In the past we Frosts, as Wiccans, have simply assumed Celtic tradition and have said, "Celebrate on the full moon nearest 1 May." However, on reflection such an assumption may not be valid. Is full moon indeed the most fitting time? Since Beltane is a fire festival, it might just as appropriately be scheduled by the apparent movement of the sun. When Gavin lived in a Tantric house in the Punjab, its residents emphatically suggested that the full moon was not the right time for any festival; because, as they rightly observed, the delay in the tides caused by the hysteresis effect meant that the forces were at their highest level three days after the full moon crossed the zenith. One way would be to celebrate when the sun is crossing the zenith on the day of new moon, because that is one of the times when the moon's influence would be maximized. Another way would be to do the festival at dawn. This is recalled in other religions' dawn festivals at their Easter/ Ishtar/ Astarte/ Eostre observances. (Note here the cluster of goddess names and their clear relationship to our word estrogen. " In your estrogen bonnet, with all the frills upon it ...") Wiccan groups might prefer to do it at sunset, in case getting up at the crack of dawn is anathema to them. The Roman church held to its normal plagiaristic pattern, usurping the original Beltane and labeling it a saint's day: Saint Joseph the Worker was declared the patron of workers. From that beginning, Mayday on the Roman calendar became a day to honor workers, especially celebrated in communist nations. So we hope that we have summarized at least some of the choices. We encourage Wiccans to keep these in mind when you're picking your date for the celebration of Beltane. As you may know, we Frosts have habitually used the moon calendar. Remembering that Christian Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after spring equinox**, let's follow that pattern and say we could celebrate at sunset on the first weekend after the full moon nearest to May 1. It behooves all Wiccans to make their own decision as to when and how they will observe this most ancient of festivals. What say you? * Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Oxford Clarendon Press ** Yvonne has to count forward, not backward, so she says: Start with spring equinox. Find the next full moon. Never mind the Roman calendar's "Sun"-day.

Referencing "Child"

It wasn’t until yesterday, April 6, 2014 CE, when we read the post on our blogsite from Blackbird, that we realized how our words could be misconstrued by those wanting to push their own agenda or wanting an excuse to denigrate more than forty-five (45) years’ work by the Frosts in promoting Wicca. Thank you, Blackbird, for your post; but please note: The text reads: sponsor or father.

The regrettable problem that has bugged us for forty (40) years now is this: Everyone concentrated on the word phallus instead of on the possible problem of misinterpreting the word child. We truly are sorry that people did this. If someone had told us what their real objection was, we could have corrected it.

In writing the chapter, we started out naturally enough talking about the sealing and blessing of children, and carried on then to the next step of first initiation. Unfortunately, we continued to use the word child through both those sections of the chapter. It was never our intent to say that anyone under eighteen (18) years of age should be initiated. In the preface to the revised version of Good Witch’s Bible we clearly stated that fact--in English.

The chapter was rewritten in June, 1969 CE, as Lecture IV of the School’s Essential Witchcraft course. That lecture deleted mention of the phallus. The School also does have a study relationship with parents of young adults. They have a special contract asking both the young adult and the parent to sign stating that the parent will supervise the student's progress every step of the way. This is to honor the special need that young people have to express their personal identity through exploration, in a healthy manner, and to honor the requests of modern marketing. Modern marketing is something most of you are painfully aware, given that one of you making regular comments uses our writings to link to his books and another one of you brags of the enormous increase in traffic to her blog postings because she has chosen to discuss this current negative controversy. So much of this nonsense is internet marketplace driven, because you somehow imagine that you launching yourself based on a negative platform will do something beneficial for YOU, not your spiritual path. Are you enjoying your hubris, thinking you have something new to add? Growing your business or website traffic based on people's pain? Really? How exactly do you believe you are honoring the Rede with that mess?

As things stand now, we will modify the extant copies of Good Witch’s Bible remaining on our shelves so that no further people can be misled.

How to Kill Wicca

The most recent series of attacks on us Frosts has become farcical in its wild accusations. Talk about creative fiction!

For those many of you who have defended us: We believe we owe you a "THANK YOU" and an explanation -- as if there were any explanation for current events, which are reaching new heights of weirdness.

Good Witch's Bible, that most-quoted and least-read book, has again become the basis for a flap and a furor in the Wiccan community, especially in Florida. It is mis-directed attention from a legitimate crisis in New Orleans whose victims deserve positive, healing energy. Nothing new there. For many years the book has served as a pretext to demonize the Frosts nationwide -- served people who have wrought precisely nothing in furtherance of the Craft, much less read GWB carefully with an open mind.

In recent weeks we Frosts have been accused (yet again) of pedophilia and sexual misconduct. There is no evidence to support either accusation. No social-services agency (eg. child protective services) or civil authority has ever accused us of any pedophilia. In fact, we say again: We are not pedophiles; nor do we endorse, encourage, or condone pedophilia in any form; nor do we support any pedophile who attempts to use Wicca as an excuse for any form of illegal behavior in any form.

At the time of New Witch's Bible's publication, we had the opportunity to review its contents with Carl and Sandra Weschcke of Llewellyn Publishing. The Weschckes were upset at charges brought by Herman Slater of the Warlock Shop in Brooklyn, New York. Basically Herman was using the Frosts, as so many have done before and since, to further his own agenda. After the conference with the Weschckes and the "trial" of the Frosts (attended by nearly four hundred [400] pagans), we agreed to change the book's title and to add those explanatory notes that the group meeting in Minneapolis thought advisable. "Change" here meant the removal of the definitive article (The) in the title, to be replaced by Good.

In Good Witch's Bible as it was first published and as it stands today, there is a clear statement on page 61 (a direct quote here):

    No formal initiation into the a group that practices the Great Rite should be done before the candidate attains the age of eighteen (18).

And we recommend that for female candidates the hymen be broken surgically by a physician rather than being a cause of pain during a first sexual experience.

If your group practices the Great Rite, then surely it is better to state that fact plainly than to hide behind euphemisms and try to blame others for things that those others have not done. And, surely, you do not have active members in your group under the age of 18. Living in the Craft means that you work daily to realize how sick and twisted are the "norms" of the culture in which you find yourself.

The claim that the Church of Wicca would not teach females by mail until those same females had given sexual favors to Gavin as a partner are simply salacious, hysterical fantasies. The School also has a strict no student under 18 policy. When the Church of Wicca was getting started up, Gavin was an international sales manager for Emerson Electric. He traveled extensively in Europe and in the far east. In fact, in one year he crossed the Atlantic 33 times. Why the odd number? He returned to the continental U.S. through India or Japan 9 times. In that period the School was run by Yvonne, mainly by herself but occasionally with the aid of a a (female) secretary.

After that period, when Gavin "retired", the School was given over almost entirely to the management of a capable secretary while the Frosts divided their time between writing books and the nearly full-time operation of running a feeder-pig farm in Salem, Missouri. Following that time, we continued with the practice of having the School run by a series of managers under close supervision. We have also had a couple of short-timers where that role was filled by a male, but about 99% of the time the manager was a female, hence the lack of legitimacy to any accusation that Gavin asked for sexual favors as an admittance requirement. At no time was the staff wholly pagan; in fact for the longest period of time (in New Bern, North Carolina) the lady who ran the School was a dedicated Roman Catholic. Of course all these staff regularly referred to the Frosts to help answer questions in the student mail.

Recently when the volume of mail had decreased and we had moved to Hinton, West Virginia, at first we continued with the female executive. Only in the past four years have the Frosts been back in full charge of its management. During the past three years Gavin has frequently been in and out of hospital beds for surgeries on his spine. Now he seems to be recovering from a situation in which the surgeons said he would never walk again.

The very mention of the phallus has always seemed to bug people, although such phalli are seen in every anthropological museum worldwide. We do not know why originally a phallus was used to break the hymen. Perhaps those ancient peoples were smart enough to know Perhaps those ancient peoples were smart enough to know that young women tend fall in love with -- to imprint on -- the mail who shares their first sexual experience. Whatever the reason, it is clear that a baton de commandment was historically used.

The decoding of the marks on the ishango bone, a 6000-year-old piece of bone showed how someone, presumably a woman, carved symbols on it representing moon times. The realization by Dr. Marshack that there were thousands of such carved bones in southern France and northern Spain, as well as hundreds scattered across Europe and even into Russia, revealed their widespread use. (Marshack, A. [1972] The Roots of Civilization: The Cognitive Beginnings of Man's First Art, Symbol and Notation. St. Louis: McGraw-Hill Book Company)The figures linked below shows the cyclical nature of the carvings on the bones. If you look at the top line of the picture, you can see the full moons and, below, the cyclical markings on the bone/baton itself, which clearly shows cycles -- and are the earliest known form of writing. This fact alone qualifies to be a matter of pride to women everywhere.

Thus when we Frosts put the phallus into Good Witch's Bible we were memorializing as a part of Craft heritage a practice considered to be 20,000 years old. The Cornwall coven that initiated Gavin in 1950 followed the practice. Again on Page 61 we clearly state: "The use of the phallus is usually dropped."

We keep records of everyone who has ever contacted the School, recorded for posterity every since those prehistoric days of KayPro computers. We have in folders information on who has been a student, and at least 90% of the letters they wrote are also preserved. Of course it has amused us over the years to look at the many spiritual descendants of the School who now claim their own unique "ancient" tradition. Of course we have never allowed anyone, not even the most qualified researchers, access to our files. For your amusement, when we recently moved the School's premises, the man who helped us move has had nightmares that he's being chased by filing cabinets; there were just so many to move!

A last thought occurs: Inmate plaintiffs called on the Church of Wicca in the Dettmer-v-Landon case in which Judge Butner reaffirmed the Frost version of Wicca as deserving all the rights, responsibilities and status of any other religion within the United States. Denigrators, please recall that the book you are denigrating was used to get us (and maybe you) that status of Federal recognition. The reason that we have not sued our detractors is quite simple: If we were to sue, the whole question of the religious status of the Wiccan community would naturally be revisited -- but remember that 90% of the population at large in this purported Christian nation would like to see Wicca and Wiccans gone.

Do you really want to risk that? We don't. That is the simple fact for our holding back, for our never having sued anyone ... YET ... for slander or for defamation of character or for libel.

For further resources on the Ishango bone, look here: http://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/IshangoBone.html

http://www.sudaneseonline.com/cgi-bin/esdb/2bb.cgi?seq=print&board=12&msg=1283356463&rn=

As a final thought, and a parting post script, why not turn your anger and frustration towards building community and helping others? There are so many ways that you could practice "An it harm none,...." without resorting to personal, false attacks. Here is a short list we came up with in a 5-minute brainstorming session:

1) Volunteer at the local animal shelter;

2) Foster a child or children;

3) Volunteer with the elderly;

4) Volunteer at hospice;

5) Adopt and clean your local roads;

6) Recycle;

7) Spend time reflecting on lunar cycles;

8) Teach children about the sun, the moon, and the stars -- help them learn to read a compass;

9) Begin a community watch program;

10) Dance!

11) Support local artists and artisans, and

12) Support a living, unsigned musician.

Click here for more information about the Frosts and their teachings.

Psychic versus centralized power

psychic versus centralized power Many humans have an instinctive lust to have what they think of as power: to snarl out orders and have everyone within hearing range scramble to obey. One of the biggest dreads on Yvonne's dread-list indeed is the accumulation and exercise of centralized power. Where can we find a demonstration of centralized power? Look no further than the Kremlin to see an illustration of CP in the temporal/mundane world. In the world of religion? Hmm. That's a tough one. Anyhow, reflect one moment on our most recent blog concerning spirituality versus "real"-world magic. Every human born has one or another form of power. Some have telepathy. Some have far-seeing. Some have the power to heal. Some can read cards. It's only a matter of research to find the specific power(s) innate in your own self. Now think a moment. If we get in touch with our own power(s) and exercise them on our own initiative, what happens when we have a precognitive dream? When we heal a child's skinned knee? When we communicate without electronics with a distant friend? When there's a "death" in the family? If we do this stuff on our own, what about that clergyman standing there with his hand stuck out? He's gonna have to get a real job, boys and girls. No wonder, then, that for centuries conventional clergy have threatened the direst fates they can invent (emphasize: invent) to deprive us of exercising our own innate powers. The powers are "dangerous"? "evil"? "satanic"? I don't think so. Blessed be Yvonne

Real Natural Magic

In popular thinking, magic (whether spelled magic, magick, or magik) is an integral part of Witchcraft and Wicca. In some ways the popular view is correct, whereas in other ways the two topics are distinctly separate categories of human consideration. In this blog we hope 1. to show that magic is a misunderstood natural phenomenon*, and 2. to clear up the distinction between a) the broad popular view that includes using magic to harm and b) the narrower Wicca practice that is limited by our prime guideline: If it harm none, do what you will. The guideline is further limited by consideration of the Law of Attraction: What you send out will return to you. In considering a "miraculous" healing wherein for instance cancer simply disappears, today's medical practitioners call it spontaneous remission, whereas in ancient times it was attributed to magic. If we admit that the mind controls the body to a much greater extent than we've been allowed to realize, and if in addition we admit that telepathy is real, then the ideas both of spontaneous remission and of magic disappear like the phantoms they are. The "remission" was not spontaneous. It was caused by the body healing itself as it had been told to do 1. telepathically or 2. magically, when the mind was convinced that the healer had magical power. You might quibble that here Wiccans are in fact causing harm to a tumor or (in the more general healing case) to the organisms that are causing the disease. Yes, we admit that possibility, but we sacrifice whatever entity or thought prompted the medical condition on the basis of the greater good. What about magically gaining an objective? We know from astral-travel experiments that the future is not fixed. When we travel forward in time, the scene we observe or participate in gets more and more variable--more fragile--until our least thought alters the future. Example: If you sincerely desire a blood-red Subaru WRX, you can travel astrally into the future and place the WRX in your driveway. Since the future is the consensus of everyone's thoughts and thus can be influenced by a number of actors, you must keep returning frequently to the driveway, each time putting the WRX into your future. This means that you alter the consensus reality first in the far future, then in the not-so-far, and so on. You may have to do this for several months; but eventually the River of Time will bring the WRX into your present reality. Presto-- "magic"? or another natural occurrence? We recognize that every creature has certain powers. You can demonstrate this fact to yourself with the aid of something like a Crooks radiometer or, even more simply, by exercising your innate ability to affect the height of a flickering candle flame--but, in our opinion, using magic to perform parlor tricks or to bring gain to the practitioner at the expense of the underlying spirituality of Wicca is regrettable: disrespectful, ungrateful, deficient, hollow, a prostitution. In fact, the two activities (the spiritual and the "real"-world) are simply in different dimensions of reality. In the vertical dimension, you have the reaching-upward of the spirit. In the horizontal dimension, you have the "real"-world activity of attempts to influence future events. The two fields intersect only in the human mind. It is sensible to watch your semantics so you can accurately say what you mean. Further, doing magic does not imply subscribing to the spiritual path called Wicca, nor does subscribing to Wicca imply any necessity to do magic. People who have confused the two fields should indeed learn and understand their powers in use and practice, preferably when those powers are applied to healing. Further, such individuals should think carefully about the long-term effect of their activities in light of the Law of Attraction. The use of power for personal gain or for parlor tricks or to injure another living being is abhorrent to those of us who walk the Wiccan path. When embarking on any effort for selfish reasons, always keep in mind the Law of Attraction. Even in such simple things as control of weather, remember that the storm is going to hit somewhere. If you deliberately shift its path, whom else will your efforts affect? Our cherished friend the late Dame Sybil Leek spent her final years on the east coast of Florida. We were always amused by her re-directing of hurricanes away from her home; however, there seemed to be a bounce effect: they would bounce off her part of the coastline to turn back westward (that is, inland)and would re-appear, usually just north of her somewhere in Georgia or South Carolina, with devastating effect. It happened so many times that it was obviously beyond chance. Was she following the Wiccan Rede--If it harm none, do what you will? In our thinking the question remains open. So we beg of you to think of the possible consequences of any action you contemplate. We publish these ruminations to encourage the examination of assumptions toward the setting of a pride-worthy example in a cowan world. To explore further thinking on power and related topics (for example, healing), see our website www.wicca.org. Blessed be those who live mindfully. GY - - - - - - - - - * More on this topic very soon

summer schedule

Gavin's health has improved to the point where we plan to travel and to speak at several festivals this summer. It is especially important for those of you who wish to be blessed-and-sealed or to be dedicated to contact us (Gavin and Yvonne) through the School and let us know what you would like to do. The first gathering we expect to attend is Beltane with Florida Pagan Gathering in Lake Wales, Florida 33898 on April 30 to May 4. Camp la Llanada, 2819 Tiger Lake Road, Lake Wales, FL fpg.com Although we are not listed, we will be there: we promise. Next we anticipate our first visit to Michigan Pagan Fest between June 13 and June 15 at Wayne County Fairground, Belleville MI. 10 a.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday. MIPAGANFEST.com Following that, we will again enjoy our old favorite events at Brushwood Folklore Center near Sherman, New York: Sankofa (the replacement for SummerFest) and Sirius Rising. These two festivals occur back to back between July 7 and July 19. camp@brushwood.com We'll look forward to seeing you troops. Remember: At Sirius Rising there will be a meeting (a convocation) of existing Wiccan churches and of other Wiccan churches that would like to become part of a larger Wiccan church community: not to march in robot mode, but to lock our shields and thus strengthen the voice of Wicca in a larger world.

Defining Wicca

Much confusion reigns about what constitutes the religion (or more properly the spiritual path) of Wicca. As the younger sister of Witchcraft, in popular thinking Wicca is still burdened with all the negative crap that the Abrahamic faiths loaded onto it so that they could use their Eternal Trinity, their three favorite sheep-controlling methods (guilt, shame, and fear) to increase their congregations. In fact, today's Wicca has two main ingredients: 1) From the elder sister it inherited rituals that were directed toward what is loosely called cosmic maintenance. That is, people prayed to maintain the cycle of nature and to ensure that (for example) the sun would rise predictably and the volcano wouldn't destroy the worshipers. When people moved from the gatherer-hunter mode to settled communities, a period called the Axial Age began, tentatively dated as 800 BCE. (We use the terminology gatherer-hunter because most of the tribe's nutrients came from gathering done by women.) 2) During the Axial Age, thoughts turned more toward attempts to understand self and spirituality. Questions arose such as: Why are we here? and What happens after "death"? and What is god? Rituals now began to concentrate on keeping the juju happy and benevolent. To do this, the maximum possible number of adherents had to praise the particular juju favored by the local priesthood and submit to the juju's will as spelled out by the priesthood. Wicca blends pre-Axial- and post-Axial-Age thoughts. It does cosmic-maintenance rituals as well as rituals aimed at understanding the reality of self and spirit. Today with the Green movement, many people are turning back to thoughts of cosmic maintenance; thus Wiccans find themselves at the forefront of religious and spiritual thought. Blessed be Gavin and Yvonne

Thinking about Cancer

Blog 140125, drafted 140125, published _________ Tell Us Your Thinking Cancer is a terrible disease. More and more of our friends seem to have got it. Curiously, our blog too is suffering from a cancerous illness, simply because some self-appointed individuals have decided that they should put a cancer of unrelated pathetic ‘replies' into the blog so that people with genuine questions and comments cannot read it for themselves. For that cancer there is a simple cure: use the USPS. Now. About physical cancer, not the spiritual kind. Edgar Cayce, described as the sleeping prophet--more accurately, the entity that used his body to give information to his supporters --recommended three (3) raw almonds as an essential part of anyone's daily routine. Yvonne recalls the era when everyone was going to Mexico after laetrile to cure their own cancer. Incidentally, our own physician took this cure many years ago and is still free of cancer. Laetrile, we were told, is derived from apricot pits. Being a bookish sort, she referred to the Encyclopedia Britannica to ascertain whether there is any real-world relationship between apricots and almonds. What do you think? They're on adjacent twigs of the botanical tree. Thank you, Saint Edgar Cayce. Let's all work together to recall the Law of Attraction, to avoid both physical and spiritual cancer. Let's ingest three raw almonds every day. And as you take breath to utter criticism of us Frosts, take time to recall the Law of Attraction. Remember always that hate begets hate and destroys the body's immune system. So let it be.

Thinking about Cancer

Cancer is a terrible disease. More and more of our friends seem to have got it. Curiously, our blog too is suffering from a cancerous illness, simply because some self-appointed individuals have decided that they should put a cancer of unrelated pathetic ‘replies' into the blog so that people with genuine questions and comments cannot read it for themselves. For that cancer there is a simple cure: Visit wicca.org, the oldest Wiccan website, or write to us at Wicca / PO Box 297 / Hinton WV 25951. (If you understand that we live under a vow of poverty, you'll realize that we'll be grateful if you enclose return postage.) Now. About physical cancer, not the spiritual kind. Edgar Cayce, described as the sleeping prophet--more accurately, the entity that used his body to give information to his supporters --recommended three (3) raw almonds as an essential part of anyone's daily routine. Yvonne recalls the era when everyone was going to Mexico after laetrile to cure their own cancer. Incidentally, our own physician took this cure many years ago and is still free of cancer. Laetrile, we were told, is derived from apricot pits. Being a bookish sort, she referred to the Encyclopedia Britannica to ascertain whether there is any real-world relationship between apricots and almonds. What do you think? They're on adjacent twigs of the botanical tree. Thank you, Saint Edgar Cayce. Let's all work together to recall the Law of Attraction, to avoid both physical and spiritual cancer. Let's ingest three raw almonds every day. And as you take breath to utter criticism of us Frosts, take time to recall the Law of Attraction. Remember always that hate begets hate and destroys the body's immune system. So let it be.

wicca association

We have just returned from Fireheart, where we had a meeting of some of the Churches in the Association. For you who don't know, the Association is at the present time a small group of Wiccan Churches that have agreed a) not to attack one another and b) to work together on projects that will enhance the Wiccan image and presence in the temporal world. There is no attempt on the part of the Association to control anyone else's spirituality or to issue orders from On High. Any Wiccan church can apply for membership--and will be accepted provided they show that they harm none and are ethical in their behavior. The Association meeting discussed milestones in a neophyte's life and path. 1. We agreed that the sealing-and-blessing is the first milestone, wherein the Community commits to looking after the neophyte. This can happen at any age, though everyone agreed that they prefer it happen earlier rather than later. 2. The next milestone (which some call a first-degree initiation and others a dedication) is that in which the neophyte announces their wish to become a member of the Wiccan Community, and states what they are willing to bring to the Community. This is the complement of the first milestone, in that it is the neophyte's promise to support the Community. 3. Plans are in the works to articulate agreed definitions for further milestones in the life of Wiccans. We just thought you'd like to know. Blessed be those who seek.