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I don't think you're hostile at all. BTW, I'm intending to get to your email, but I've been both busy and under the weather recently. I've apparently finally come down with whatever kind of head/sinus crud has been making its way around here lately. Thanks for the clarification. It does make...

I don't think this alone can give a person something truly solid to work with. The nature of visionary/dream work is very personal, and prone to fantasy. In CR, we refer to this kind of information (from any dream or vision source) as UPG, or "unsubstantiated personal gnosis." We do think of it...

Well, I *have* seen the terms "Rainbow-chasing Smurf worshipper" and "Crystal Weenie from Atlantis" used. I've been guilty of using them myself, in fact. But I usually only apply them to the willfully ignorant. Most of the time, I ignore such people and just get on with my own stuff.

While it's true that some NeoPagan paths aren't really theist in essence, there are those that do, by their nature, have a sense of deity and of the existence of actual spiritual entities. The "wheel of the year" in its 8fold manifestation isn't universal, though. Many of the culturally-based...

For those interested in the Western "improve your sex life and stir up your internal energy" variety of Tantra, I came across this notice on one of my email lists today: Carla Tarantola, tantra instructor, will be hosting a new Internet radio show called 'Tantra Today' beginning Thursday...

Crowley was easily as much showman as magician, but yes, he was a deeply flawed man. I think he believed his own propaganda about being the world's wickedest man, or at least wanted to. The maxim as usually used by Thelemites is "Do what thou wilt is the whole of the law. Love is the law...

By some groups, particularly among Dianic groups (usually consisting of women only) menstrual blood is considered to have great power, and to connect a woman to the energies of the Dark Mother or to the Crone aspect of Goddess. It is often seen as sacred because it is given without wounding...

I'd agree that for most folks it's easier to start with a standard deck like the Rider/Waite. There are some decent books out for beginners. My two favorites, which teach you not just rote meanings for cards, but how to derive your own meanings and create your own layouts are: Mary K...

I'm generally a believer in synchronicity as the best explanation for most magic that manifests in the physical realm. I don't see it as being all that different from prayer, either, except that many kinds of magic aren't addressed to a deity -- instead they're put out as personal power to...

I've never felt it necessary for folks to agree with me, or to be equally thrilled with all the same things I am. I find it much better if people can simply work to come to mutual understandings and walk away with both parties feeling more informed about the world and other people around them...

I'm biologically female, emotionally androgynous.

Re: Poets, mystics and engineers Ehhhh... could be, doc ;) Poets and mystics are certainly drawn to symbolism. Many are also drawn to sensuality as a wellspring for their creative voices and for their inspiration. But there are poets and mystics who also embrace asceticism as well...

A word from Herman Hesse, in his novel Demian: This is a voice with soul, and with wisdom.

Re: Why write in symbols . . . Many things are written in symbols, from poetry to novels to the sacred texts of pretty much ever religion I can think of. Very few of them are supplied with an interpretive key. Some meanings appear self-evident, while others are more hidden and multivalent...

I'm a firm believer in not only reincarnation as human, but in the transmigration of souls from form to form. I don't see it as being in any way negative or discouraging. In fact, my belief is that we take these forms in order to experience existence from a myriad of viewpoints and perspectives...

So am I to understand that unless we believe we are experiencing a Jungian archetype of the collective unconscious built into our ancestry, or having a powerful experience with a specific land spirit, we are not having "real" deity experiences? I beg to differ. I believe that deity exists...

Over the years, I've found that most people find Tarot the easiest system to introduce them to concepts of divination. I think it has a lot to do with the pictoral images on the Major Arcana, and those decks that have pictoral rather than numerical images on the Minors as well. The pictures...

Sure, any way you like. Let's call the column "Singer of Tales" -- it connects a lot of things for me. I can talk about them here and there in the column as time goes by. I'll get something for the first one to you very soon.

So it would seem. Can't say that I see my spiritual practices as "posturing," as Mat calls it, though.

I don't know what culture you're referring to, but it certainly isn't one I live in. People who want plain coffee order black coffee all the time, though usually they order coffee with cream or with milk or with creamer, to specify which they want. There are definite differences in taste and...