MacMorrighan
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Hiya'! I'm not exactly new, I was a previous member (just making some personality changes via my "UserName") known as "WiccanWade"; so I thought I'd introduce myself [For further information about me, my Blog may be accessed at: http://myspace.com/MacMorrighan]:
I'm a Witch, yes, a Witch-- just don't tell that to my folks that, or they'll accuse you of not being able to spell! LOL... Okay, that's my bad attempt at a joke that I ripped off-- err, ugh...I mean was "inspired by"-- Bell, Book, and Candle.
I have been studying/practicing Witchcraft [not "Wicca," per se] for nearly a decade. However, my journey to this faith was quite an interesting one, to say the least. At first they seemed like random coincidence, however, when you have more than one coincidence right after the other, you have what is known as "synchonicity", which basically means that it was meant to happen. Even Carl Jung, who was a student of Freud, believed in synchonicity!
It began with a life long interest in The Occult; a life-long "calling" if you will. I was never reared into many of the Christian trappings of guilt, even though my parents went to church on the extremely odd occasion (like, once every 10 years, or so)-- and for that I consider myself greatful. And, so, my jorney began...
While I attended Junior High School I became quite environmentally aware (I was always a hippy at heart)! And, also, quite interested in Native American religion, including my own Irish-Celtic heritage; much like many Witches that I know, I also obsorbed all of the mythology that I could get my hands ahold of throughout Jr. High, etc. Two of my favourite books-- at that early time-- were Bulfinch's Mythology and Brian Froud's Fairies.
These formative years were quite literally years of progression. Because I was always highly psychic, from a very early age (from as far back as I can recall), I saught to explain these abilities which other members in my family also seemed to posses-- I should also mention that I'm a die-hard skeptic at heart!. So, I hit the books, trying to quench my desire for knowledge, which wasn't easy in the small town that I grew-up in, as the libraries were equally as small and sorely under stocked. I wanted to know how to explain them-- their physiological basis.
It seemed shortly after my initiation into the realms of parapsychology that my family & myself began to study the Mormon faith. And, it was also during this treatise, that my whole spiritual perception was forever changed: I, being the cheaky 12 year old I happened to be, took it upon myself to seriously question what I was told and asking some very advanced things-- for any age, really! One such life-altering example occured one evening when the missionaries stopped by for their weekly lesson. And, so, because we had been taught from the beginning that we are Jesus' brothers and sisters, and that we are God's children, and having a basic working knowledge of genetics & family structure, I asked, 'Well, if we are God's children, and Jesus is our brother... Does God have a wife?', using the words and knowledge available to me at the time, for I had never really thought of (nor been exposed to) the feminine pronoun of "God" as "Goddess" as a practical Aspect of religion-- this was before my later interest in ancient religions. So, I simply used the word "wife". Their answer? 'We believe He does, but...He loves Her so much that He does not reveal Her name to us.' Strange seeing as how they taught us that His actual Name was "Jehova"-- an ancient Pagan Name of the God from the Middle East! But, they admonished me with the following, "But, we don't pray to Her!" What the...?!?! "Nuts to that," I thought! And, it was from that moment that I began to pray to the Goddess.
But, my formal introduction into the religion of Witchcraft would wait until my first year of college. It was through a friend, naturally. She was performing some research on it, herself, and when I saw the word "Wicca" (having never heard of that term, before) I simply asked her what it was. And, so began my journey into The Craft. Because, it pulled together everything I had experienced & believed & researched so much earlier in my life... It was truly a Home Coming!
I do consider myself lucky, however, because I knew that Witchcraft was nothing 'evil' or in any way associated with any 'devil' or other such nonsense. Thanks, in no small part, to Leonard Nimoy's old 70s series 'In Search Of...' (I still galdly make time to watch it whenever I catch it airing on Sci Fi). On one episode it did, in fact, detail a coven of American Witches and interviewed them so that we could walk away with a wonderful understanding of another religion, quite different from those that most knew. Incidentally, [perhaps this is synchronicity at work, again, as we will see?] the Coven of Witches was those presided over by Laurie Cabot!
But, I digress... My friend had only a passing interest in it, and soon dropped it altogether, which leads me to believe that I may have, perhaps, been lead down this Path from the very beginning-- because I firmly believe that many things happen for a reason-- call it "synchronicity"!
I found it utterly fascinating, and felt the calling of the Goddess, and that of my ancient heritage, once again, since all those long years ago. So, I began to further research it, as best I could, anyway. And, eventually found it frustrating, because I wasn't finding the answers to many of the questions I was asking-- questions which many books, at the time, seemed to avoid, with such dodgy answers as "You have to believe in spells for them to work!" without giving any rational, logical, or left-brained reason "to believe". Regardless of this fact, I would not, could not, waver in my devotion to the Goddess. Of that I was stead fast!
And so, in the time that I began to doubt my faith, I raised my voice in a silent petition to the Gods asking for Their guidance in answering the questions that I saught! (You have to realize that I come from a world in which "spells" are given over to the world of dreams and fairy tales, with no factual basis in reality.) And, They did! A book found its way to me, as an answer to that humble prayer. It described, using Quantum Mechanics, a world and Universe which makes sense to the Witch! Having, since then, read a number of books on physics, I came up with the following analogy! The more I read about it, the more the Universe seems like the film "The Matrix", if you've seen it. Incidentally, science writer (Michael Talbot), and physicist (F. David Peat), also believe in "synchronicity"! Peat defines it, as such: "Coincidences that are so unusual and so psychologically meaningful they don't seem to be the result of chance alone."
Soon after, however, my Matron Goddess, The Morrighan ["Great Queen"] came to me upon one Lughnasadh Eve. It's quite a lovely story, and I hope you enjoy it [it's actually one of my favorite stories to tell!]:
Generally-speaking, if you ask most ol'-time Witches, they'll tell you that the Gods choose us, rather than the other way around. I live in a small town (a farming community) surrounded on all sides (for miles!) by farms, fields & farmers! And, in the field in front of me, off in the distance (on the Eve prior to Lughnasadh) I was treated to a spectacular fireworks display! I have often wondered if the farmers new that this was the Eve of a Sabbat, or that it was at least a Harvest Feastival!?!?!? So, soon after the last whisp of light faded into the warm embrace of the night, I went back inside, and retired to bed. That night, one of The Morrighan's triplicities (whom is also frequently honoured on Lughnasadh) came to me in a dream. She came to me in the guise of the Macha ['Plain' or 'Field']! And, because I'm sure The Goddess knows how stubborned and left-brained I can sometimes be, She came to me on the Eve after Lughnasadh; this time as The Morrighan, dressed in Her dark robes & vestments. That was enough for me to take the hint! I have worshipped Her ever since! And, since, I have heard music in the call of the crow- fealt Her black wings of protection & love! After all, we worship the old Gods because we love Them."
Furthermore, my 'Pagan name,' if you will, came via similar means, as well. Albeit, a number of years there after. It is merely a spiritually adopted surname: Wade MacMorrighan [Ir., "Wade Son of The Morrighan"*]. It came to me, one quiet night, during a light state of trance and meditation. And, being as stubborn, as I often am, I could not accept it at face value. So, I had to validate it, rather than seem somewhat foolish in adopting a senseless soiritual name. And, it so happens that it was correct! As with all things, I neither chose this name, nor the Goddess whom I serve!
* Similar to other such Irish-Gaelic names, although this patronymic happens also to be Scottish-Gaelic, as Manannan mac Lir [Ir., Manannan Son of the Sea"], Aengus Mac Og [Aengus the Son of Youth"] or Mac Grinene [Ir., "The Son of the Sun"], etc.
Oh, and, incidentally, because of my belief in synchronicity, I am in the process of writing a few books, too! For about 3 months straight, I'd talk to several fellow pagans, or dear friends of mine (this was about 3 years ago), and talk about this-or-that, and each one would say to me, "You should write a book!" So, I am! I'm actually co-authoring two with a well known Pagan author-friend of mine, and have permission to use the local history museum, and the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, England, to perform some further research! I can't wait!
Although, speaking of "research" my current interests have been leading me towards stone age Archaeology and religion, which have recently been ciphered [eg. stone age art and motifs, such as spirals, lozenges, etc.] due to neurological lab work, etc. Two fascinating books on the subject are: The Mind in the Cave, by David Lewis-Williams and Inside the Neolithic Mind, by David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce.
Furthermore, despite the fact that this research has been going on since the late 1980s-- and yielding identical resaults-- it has only been taken seriously relatively recently, by scholars; they basically treated theories and interpretrations as inconsiquential because they were not facts, senso stricto, which seems like poor meathodology to me, on one level. Bummer!
Other than that, the only other bit of information I have to add is this: I'm a Consecrated Priest of the Irish Earth-Goddess, The Morrighan (don't take my word for it, look it up if you don't believe me-- please!). And, unlike some other posers that are skulking about, She chose me to serve Her, rather than so many Buffy Bunnies (and Fluff Bunnies) invoking Her to their pedantic ends, or what they think She is based upon spurious, "fixed," late 19th. century pseudo-scholarship.
But, I really am a nice guy, honest! I just tend to get upset by all of the posers that plague modern Pagan Witchcraft these days. Especially the anti-Fluffy Fundamentalists (despite the fact that I'm as ati-Fluffy as all get-out, but not to such an extreme!) which are just as bad as the Fluffy Bunnies in many respects (they like to tell everyone how wrong they are, or claim one's research is crap, regardless of the shifting winds of academia or meathodology), or enact out-and-out character assassination for no other reeason than their own selfish Egos. Another personal quibble I only very generally admit to having is that such individuals refuse to, for example, question what they are "taught," taking it for granted as some "holy writ"! "Initiation" is a prime example of this: Far too many so-caleld "Pagans" (and un-Initiated, too boot!) are under the impression that it denotes a membership into a secret club, to learn said "secrets". In other words, this is the ONLY acceptible definition of "Initiation". Well, this is only an erroniously simplistic definition as far as I'm concerned. And, for this reason, I have differentiated what I term "Ritual Initiation" from "Authentic Initiation"-- an "Authentic Initiation" being that which cannot be bestowed upon by anyone else, but can only, ultimately, come from within; The Charge of the Goddess even speaks of this! In fact, the author of The Charge, Doreen Valiente, also questioned the Initiatory-mandate that "only a Witch can make a Witch"!-- she's my hero (another hero of mine is UCLA Archaeologist, Marija Gimbutas, because she dared to interprate)!
Albeit I do not consider myself "Wiccan"-- despite the fact that this was the method through which I came to The Craft-- structurally-speaking (it even applies to the 8 Sabbats that I personally celebrate-- hey, I'd be mad to turn down a chance to party! LOL) I follow "Wiccan" proceedures to an extent, while following at the heart of my practice what may best be described as Gaelic Traditionalism (i.e., Reconstructionism).
Thanks for letting me ramble, a bit!
Take Care,
Wade
I'm a Witch, yes, a Witch-- just don't tell that to my folks that, or they'll accuse you of not being able to spell! LOL... Okay, that's my bad attempt at a joke that I ripped off-- err, ugh...I mean was "inspired by"-- Bell, Book, and Candle.
I have been studying/practicing Witchcraft [not "Wicca," per se] for nearly a decade. However, my journey to this faith was quite an interesting one, to say the least. At first they seemed like random coincidence, however, when you have more than one coincidence right after the other, you have what is known as "synchonicity", which basically means that it was meant to happen. Even Carl Jung, who was a student of Freud, believed in synchonicity!
It began with a life long interest in The Occult; a life-long "calling" if you will. I was never reared into many of the Christian trappings of guilt, even though my parents went to church on the extremely odd occasion (like, once every 10 years, or so)-- and for that I consider myself greatful. And, so, my jorney began...
While I attended Junior High School I became quite environmentally aware (I was always a hippy at heart)! And, also, quite interested in Native American religion, including my own Irish-Celtic heritage; much like many Witches that I know, I also obsorbed all of the mythology that I could get my hands ahold of throughout Jr. High, etc. Two of my favourite books-- at that early time-- were Bulfinch's Mythology and Brian Froud's Fairies.
These formative years were quite literally years of progression. Because I was always highly psychic, from a very early age (from as far back as I can recall), I saught to explain these abilities which other members in my family also seemed to posses-- I should also mention that I'm a die-hard skeptic at heart!. So, I hit the books, trying to quench my desire for knowledge, which wasn't easy in the small town that I grew-up in, as the libraries were equally as small and sorely under stocked. I wanted to know how to explain them-- their physiological basis.
It seemed shortly after my initiation into the realms of parapsychology that my family & myself began to study the Mormon faith. And, it was also during this treatise, that my whole spiritual perception was forever changed: I, being the cheaky 12 year old I happened to be, took it upon myself to seriously question what I was told and asking some very advanced things-- for any age, really! One such life-altering example occured one evening when the missionaries stopped by for their weekly lesson. And, so, because we had been taught from the beginning that we are Jesus' brothers and sisters, and that we are God's children, and having a basic working knowledge of genetics & family structure, I asked, 'Well, if we are God's children, and Jesus is our brother... Does God have a wife?', using the words and knowledge available to me at the time, for I had never really thought of (nor been exposed to) the feminine pronoun of "God" as "Goddess" as a practical Aspect of religion-- this was before my later interest in ancient religions. So, I simply used the word "wife". Their answer? 'We believe He does, but...He loves Her so much that He does not reveal Her name to us.' Strange seeing as how they taught us that His actual Name was "Jehova"-- an ancient Pagan Name of the God from the Middle East! But, they admonished me with the following, "But, we don't pray to Her!" What the...?!?! "Nuts to that," I thought! And, it was from that moment that I began to pray to the Goddess.
But, my formal introduction into the religion of Witchcraft would wait until my first year of college. It was through a friend, naturally. She was performing some research on it, herself, and when I saw the word "Wicca" (having never heard of that term, before) I simply asked her what it was. And, so began my journey into The Craft. Because, it pulled together everything I had experienced & believed & researched so much earlier in my life... It was truly a Home Coming!
I do consider myself lucky, however, because I knew that Witchcraft was nothing 'evil' or in any way associated with any 'devil' or other such nonsense. Thanks, in no small part, to Leonard Nimoy's old 70s series 'In Search Of...' (I still galdly make time to watch it whenever I catch it airing on Sci Fi). On one episode it did, in fact, detail a coven of American Witches and interviewed them so that we could walk away with a wonderful understanding of another religion, quite different from those that most knew. Incidentally, [perhaps this is synchronicity at work, again, as we will see?] the Coven of Witches was those presided over by Laurie Cabot!
But, I digress... My friend had only a passing interest in it, and soon dropped it altogether, which leads me to believe that I may have, perhaps, been lead down this Path from the very beginning-- because I firmly believe that many things happen for a reason-- call it "synchronicity"!
I found it utterly fascinating, and felt the calling of the Goddess, and that of my ancient heritage, once again, since all those long years ago. So, I began to further research it, as best I could, anyway. And, eventually found it frustrating, because I wasn't finding the answers to many of the questions I was asking-- questions which many books, at the time, seemed to avoid, with such dodgy answers as "You have to believe in spells for them to work!" without giving any rational, logical, or left-brained reason "to believe". Regardless of this fact, I would not, could not, waver in my devotion to the Goddess. Of that I was stead fast!
And so, in the time that I began to doubt my faith, I raised my voice in a silent petition to the Gods asking for Their guidance in answering the questions that I saught! (You have to realize that I come from a world in which "spells" are given over to the world of dreams and fairy tales, with no factual basis in reality.) And, They did! A book found its way to me, as an answer to that humble prayer. It described, using Quantum Mechanics, a world and Universe which makes sense to the Witch! Having, since then, read a number of books on physics, I came up with the following analogy! The more I read about it, the more the Universe seems like the film "The Matrix", if you've seen it. Incidentally, science writer (Michael Talbot), and physicist (F. David Peat), also believe in "synchronicity"! Peat defines it, as such: "Coincidences that are so unusual and so psychologically meaningful they don't seem to be the result of chance alone."
Soon after, however, my Matron Goddess, The Morrighan ["Great Queen"] came to me upon one Lughnasadh Eve. It's quite a lovely story, and I hope you enjoy it [it's actually one of my favorite stories to tell!]:
Generally-speaking, if you ask most ol'-time Witches, they'll tell you that the Gods choose us, rather than the other way around. I live in a small town (a farming community) surrounded on all sides (for miles!) by farms, fields & farmers! And, in the field in front of me, off in the distance (on the Eve prior to Lughnasadh) I was treated to a spectacular fireworks display! I have often wondered if the farmers new that this was the Eve of a Sabbat, or that it was at least a Harvest Feastival!?!?!? So, soon after the last whisp of light faded into the warm embrace of the night, I went back inside, and retired to bed. That night, one of The Morrighan's triplicities (whom is also frequently honoured on Lughnasadh) came to me in a dream. She came to me in the guise of the Macha ['Plain' or 'Field']! And, because I'm sure The Goddess knows how stubborned and left-brained I can sometimes be, She came to me on the Eve after Lughnasadh; this time as The Morrighan, dressed in Her dark robes & vestments. That was enough for me to take the hint! I have worshipped Her ever since! And, since, I have heard music in the call of the crow- fealt Her black wings of protection & love! After all, we worship the old Gods because we love Them."
Furthermore, my 'Pagan name,' if you will, came via similar means, as well. Albeit, a number of years there after. It is merely a spiritually adopted surname: Wade MacMorrighan [Ir., "Wade Son of The Morrighan"*]. It came to me, one quiet night, during a light state of trance and meditation. And, being as stubborn, as I often am, I could not accept it at face value. So, I had to validate it, rather than seem somewhat foolish in adopting a senseless soiritual name. And, it so happens that it was correct! As with all things, I neither chose this name, nor the Goddess whom I serve!
* Similar to other such Irish-Gaelic names, although this patronymic happens also to be Scottish-Gaelic, as Manannan mac Lir [Ir., Manannan Son of the Sea"], Aengus Mac Og [Aengus the Son of Youth"] or Mac Grinene [Ir., "The Son of the Sun"], etc.
Oh, and, incidentally, because of my belief in synchronicity, I am in the process of writing a few books, too! For about 3 months straight, I'd talk to several fellow pagans, or dear friends of mine (this was about 3 years ago), and talk about this-or-that, and each one would say to me, "You should write a book!" So, I am! I'm actually co-authoring two with a well known Pagan author-friend of mine, and have permission to use the local history museum, and the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, England, to perform some further research! I can't wait!
Although, speaking of "research" my current interests have been leading me towards stone age Archaeology and religion, which have recently been ciphered [eg. stone age art and motifs, such as spirals, lozenges, etc.] due to neurological lab work, etc. Two fascinating books on the subject are: The Mind in the Cave, by David Lewis-Williams and Inside the Neolithic Mind, by David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce.
Furthermore, despite the fact that this research has been going on since the late 1980s-- and yielding identical resaults-- it has only been taken seriously relatively recently, by scholars; they basically treated theories and interpretrations as inconsiquential because they were not facts, senso stricto, which seems like poor meathodology to me, on one level. Bummer!
Other than that, the only other bit of information I have to add is this: I'm a Consecrated Priest of the Irish Earth-Goddess, The Morrighan (don't take my word for it, look it up if you don't believe me-- please!). And, unlike some other posers that are skulking about, She chose me to serve Her, rather than so many Buffy Bunnies (and Fluff Bunnies) invoking Her to their pedantic ends, or what they think She is based upon spurious, "fixed," late 19th. century pseudo-scholarship.
But, I really am a nice guy, honest! I just tend to get upset by all of the posers that plague modern Pagan Witchcraft these days. Especially the anti-Fluffy Fundamentalists (despite the fact that I'm as ati-Fluffy as all get-out, but not to such an extreme!) which are just as bad as the Fluffy Bunnies in many respects (they like to tell everyone how wrong they are, or claim one's research is crap, regardless of the shifting winds of academia or meathodology), or enact out-and-out character assassination for no other reeason than their own selfish Egos. Another personal quibble I only very generally admit to having is that such individuals refuse to, for example, question what they are "taught," taking it for granted as some "holy writ"! "Initiation" is a prime example of this: Far too many so-caleld "Pagans" (and un-Initiated, too boot!) are under the impression that it denotes a membership into a secret club, to learn said "secrets". In other words, this is the ONLY acceptible definition of "Initiation". Well, this is only an erroniously simplistic definition as far as I'm concerned. And, for this reason, I have differentiated what I term "Ritual Initiation" from "Authentic Initiation"-- an "Authentic Initiation" being that which cannot be bestowed upon by anyone else, but can only, ultimately, come from within; The Charge of the Goddess even speaks of this! In fact, the author of The Charge, Doreen Valiente, also questioned the Initiatory-mandate that "only a Witch can make a Witch"!-- she's my hero (another hero of mine is UCLA Archaeologist, Marija Gimbutas, because she dared to interprate)!
Albeit I do not consider myself "Wiccan"-- despite the fact that this was the method through which I came to The Craft-- structurally-speaking (it even applies to the 8 Sabbats that I personally celebrate-- hey, I'd be mad to turn down a chance to party! LOL) I follow "Wiccan" proceedures to an extent, while following at the heart of my practice what may best be described as Gaelic Traditionalism (i.e., Reconstructionism).
Thanks for letting me ramble, a bit!
Take Care,
Wade