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Crone's Song

But I really do think that Spirituality is different. Sure I studied and learned some meta-physicial truths from people who studied it and found them. It gave me a short cut back to my own Knowing... but that is different then being told that Ritual/Spells have to be done only the same way they do them. Where did they get that knowledge? Was it passed down from generation to generation? Not likely. Most of our ways of doing rituals have not been around very long, and even if they have been we live in a very different world then the ones that some people romanticize.

Now I agree that there has been knowledge, in the past, that we have lost. I think we have lost, for the most part, the potential use of the magnetic lines, the ley lines, in the Earth. I think we have lost, for the most part, using the human magnetic lines, the Aura field, for healing . But I don't think that what was done in Ritual even 300 years ago has bearing on what we do today. So much of it was based on superstition. We are coming out of 5,000 years of superstition disguised as religion. Now we are in a very difficult part of the life on this
Planet, that call home, our Mother Earth.

It is going to be difficult because there are so many people that are still steeped in superstition. Our government leaders are. They believe that their God is on their side, and their side only. The energy force that we choose to call God/Goddess is not on anyone's side... they don't understand that what they call God is the same energy as what other calls Allah. Do they say He is on our side because we are a better people? I don't think so. We have the same range of people's behavior as any other country. We have people who are working for peace on one side and people who are pushing for war on another, and so does every other country. We have people filled with greed and we have people that are saintly and so does every other country.

So why do I call myself a Pagan/Wiccan/Witch when I rail against the use of certain tools, and the teaching that they are musts? I rail because it is another control of people's minds. If I tell you you must use an Athame, and I am the only one to tell you how...and I will charge you money to learn that it brings me back to the good old days of the Roman, Catholic church selling indulgences. That selling fed into the people's superstition and the leaders greed. And on the other hand I understand
full well how difficult it is to give your life to something that doesn't financially support you. I understand that in this day and age that money is a necessity, and we do need it to carry on the Work. But what is the Work and so why are we teaching things that come from a age of superstition? Why are we not teaching of the freedom of the future.

Now any of you who have been in the office knows that I love my "stuff." No I don't love it... it just makes me feel good to have items that I can use in Ritual to help us focus, and I enjoy my silly things. The Witch with the hat that if you press it it cackles... just because of the silly ideas some people have about Us. I like my robe, but it doesn't mean I can't hold, or be in, an effective Ritual without it.That is different then teaching that you must have these items, and use them in the way I say or you can't do it the way I say.... and if all our rituals/spells worked with using those tools how come we are not all rich...financially ... that use them? I am rich in my Spirituality. I know I am on my Path, but all the Ritual tools in the world aren't going to bring me the pot of gold at the end of rainbow, or the winning lottery ticket. I can put out, and have done so, the energy for my needs. IF I connect with the energy, at the juncture of the correct energy flow, it will help me be in the right place at the right time to work to bring in my needs.

I want for us to trust our Knowing. I want us to know what is inside..the joy...the connectiveness ...the Knowing and then to develop ways, that are personal to celebrate it. There are some of us that can do math. There are some that can do computers. And there are some that come up with some effective Rituals, effective for our sense of drama/ritual, and we think they are special. Well, sure we are all special in our Knowings... but we take those people who can do effective rituals and we listen to them and follow how they do it, and before you
know it it must be done their way.

I hope the legacy I leave behind is not the way I do ritual... the ones I have led and/or planned, but that I have awakened the Knowing within yourself and that what is important for you is to celebrate your life. I hope that it includes the Knowing of not doing foolish things in Rituals. (Like calling in a live Parrot - or as one woman asked me about a "Spell" she was planning to connect her to a man, that wasn't divorced...but he was going to... forever. Never, never ask for anything forever)

I can teach you some sensibilities. I can teach you what I have found out. I can teach you some of my Truths. I can't teach you what will need to be done in the future. We will have to live, and change, each and every day as we go along. I can't teach you what people did in the past.... oh, wait a minute ... how about the part of ritual where a virgin maiden is thrown into a deep well to provide...of I forget why, but we kept doing it for many years... or our king was killed and his body put in the building blocks of the new temple, because that would give us good government ... well maybe we should resurrect that one....Or how about while living in the desert we don't have water so the Priests come up with a rule that you can't eat with the same hand
you wipe your butt...makes sense, but then it becomes a religious law...do we need it? I can tell you about those rituals, but do I want to continue them, or teach you that is how we do it in ritual, now?

I have one important tool and that is my Will/Mind/Thoughts/Heart. What I think about is what I bring about. If I keep thinking about that negative person in my life, and becoming depressed by their behavior then I will be depressed. If I bless them and understand that they have problems, and those problems aren't mine then I can dance the dance of life in Joyousness.

There is a song by Mara Berg, that Majik sang in ritual at Camp last year, and it goes: "All I have to give is to tell my story...All I have to give is to sing my song...Sometimes you'll like it and sometimes you won't...the lesson for me is to let go and trust....that all you have to give is to share your story..."

That song goes around and around in my head. I think it is a really important one. Why do we do Ritual? Is it to do over and over again what we think, maybe, the people in the past have done? Or are we doing Ritual because it feeds a basic need within ourselves? A need to feel like we have some control... a need to celebrate... a need to feel connected with others and the Whole? What do you want from Ritual? Decide that and then make your plans around it... you can do it...
it is all in your Knowing. And invite me, if you wish, to share in your
story.

Goddess Bless,

Norma Joyce