Post No. 540 - A comment on a sacrilege

I'd like to comment on an issue that has come to my attention because of the Wild Hunt post here, which was updated in the post here, about a pagan who has (allegedly, at this stage) admitted to child abuse. The posts included a link to Brendan Myers' post "Whatever happened to the pagan community statement on religious sexual abuse?". I was appalled to read that some people wanted to have non-consensual (even undiscussed beforehand!) sexual elements to initiations. It is bad enough that there is unnecessary rigmarole to initiations anyway, but to include such abuse (and one woman I knew many years ago told me of one such event, but she chose not to take any action on it, and I haven't heard of any others, although these posts make me think there no doubt have been) in an event that is supposed to be sacred, is not only violence, an abuse of power and illegal, it   is   sacrilege.

All acts of love and pleasure are sacred to me, saith the Goddess. If there is no consent (and children cannot give a fair dinkum consent!), there is no pleasure on the part of the victim.

Brendan Myers' post includes links to good comments about ethical issues, and the comments suggest adding acknowledging the emotions of the victim, and a need to avoid a sex-negative perspective. I'm going to have a read of the full version of the proposed statement and comments, which is here, and possibly post on this again.

PS - this is also an excellent post relating to this.


[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux? Morinehtar? Would-be drýicgan ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.  

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...  See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour - and see also here, and be flexible.

I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity. 

• One size does NOT fit all. 
• Don't be mediocre - seek to excel.  
• Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
• Our entire life experience, with all the many wondrous and varied people, places and events in it, is too small a sample for statistical reliability about Life.
• May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
• Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
• A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
• Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
• Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal. 
• Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
• Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
• "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
• Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
• The means shape the end.  
• BPLF restraint of uncooperatives is NOT an opportunity for revenge or getting even - even unconsciously. 
• As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
• My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films. 
• All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ... 

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)

Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)

We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us. F.W. BOREHAM

Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968

Tags: abuse of power, sex, violence,

First published: Laugadagr, 5th April, 2014

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Sunday, 14^th April, 2014 (added postscript) 

Post No. 120 - Tiw's Day: Juliet, gender stereotypes and some thoughts about the novel "The Betrayal"

Let me begin this post by saying that I consider the person we know as Jesus Christ [1] to be a real historical person. I also consider it a very real chance that he did perform miracles - or what seemed like miracles. However, I consider what is preached by many neo-Christians to have as little to do with Christ's message as ... well, very little. So ... I was intrigued to come across an archaeological view of Christ's life and what was factually erroneous in the reports on his life (i.e., the Gospels), and some explanations of what was being done in terms of what was happening at those times. [2] The view was written by the archaeologists Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, and formed the basis of their book "The Betrayal", which I read about in an interview on the Gear's website.

I first came across the Gears when I started reading their First North American series of novels, which covers early North American cultures, combining archaeological research with knowledge of shamanic practice. I haven't read all that series, and am looking forward to finishing it (now that I've rediscovered them - I lost the name of their series [and the authors] for a few years ... but then, I did have other matters to attend to).

In terms of their book. "The Betrayal", the interview was fascinating, and I am hoping to track down a copy of the book and add it to the list of books I am reviewing .... (almost finished the next review now :) )

Now, on other matters: while driving home and planning this brief post, I was listening to the BBC's "World Update" on ABC's News Radio, when I heard a story that enough people write letters to Juliet of Verona (i.e., the Juliet in Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet", that someone (I think "The Juliet Club") employs up to fifteen secretaries to open, read and reply to the letters.

How sad! Most of these people are lonely, have had bad experiences in love, or have self esteem issues. We do some ... strange things when we get hooked on searching for intimacy - no, we can do things that make us look sad, mad, or bad. I've seen people behave in incredibly unethical ways to try and "win" over someone else - which, ultimately, is self defeating. I also think the focus of society these last few centuries on romantic love, with its corresponding view that there is something "wrong" with you if you don't find romantic love, is unhealthy, unjustified and just plain WRONG. It's bad enough with the idiotic rules put on love (I'm in favour of polyamory for a whole range of reasons) and the generally sex-negative views found in too much of society as it is ... (This previous post may also have some relevant thoughts ... )

A friend of mine (hello Venerable Rune Master From The Bush [3]) occasionally laments the loss of the words bachelor and spinster and being reasonably acceptable, albeit maybe somewhat eccentric, terms for people who, for whatever reason, don't wind up in an intimate romantic relationship.

After listening to that radio story, I'm with him. May the Goddess help all who feel they have lost in (romantic) love find a worthwhile way to pass their lives. Such things do exist - I'm blessed by a wonderful loving relationship now, but have spent most of my life single, and that let me explore my spirituality/psychism and personal growth in ways I could never have done otherwise (largely because of the commitment required for some of that work, but also because you sometimes best find your personal demons by being alone).

Of course, what has helped me is being - or rather, becoming - somewhat inured to society's expectations on gender expression and, well, pretty much anything. Nevertheless, I find the idiotic sorts of remarks made about President Obama's nomination for the US Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, idiotic and abhorrent. Amongst all this, the woman who said Kagan doesn't sit like "all other women" because she (Kagan) doesn't sit with crossed legs has never met any dykes. What an incredibly un-informed, SEXIST thing to say!

And, as a final point, I thought I'd just add that I think I've written previously the best way yo prevent you from radiating out negativity is closing your aura: another key aspect of this is simply to have the intention not to leak or project energy. A lot of people think about magical intent in the sense of having the intention to DO something (e.g., shileding your aura),but it can also be viewed as having the intent NOT to do something (e.g., not project or leak, or not break you word, or not break the law, or not forget to make your partner a cuppa before you leave for work). Bit arguable, given the notion that if I say "don't think of a pink elephant" the first thing most people do is think of pink elephant, but I personally find it useful from time to time (particularly the concept of not breaking my word - which, if I want to phrase in a more "constructive" way, I would term "adhering to my personal code of honour/ethics/behaviour).

Anyway, time to get ready for the day: may you be blest in your day, wherever you are.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:

1. I feel like I should be writing "Jesus the Christ": somewhere, I think I've read (maybe that should be some wheres) that "Christ" means "enlightened", so we should refer to "Jesus the Christ", meaning "Jesus the Enlightened".
2. For instance, there are errors in the terms used for Pontius Pilate and errors in the story around the release of Barabbas.
3. This Bush is, for overseas readers, an Australian term for "wild countryside", NOT Dubbya

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: about me, daily life, emotions, lifestyles, life lessons, love, romance, intimacy, relationships, media, socialisation, O’Neal Gear, archaeology, polyamory, sex, Shakespeare, Obama, indigenous,

First published: Wednesday 9th June, 2010 (I thought about the post overnight, which is why it didn't get posted on Tiw's Day [or Tysdagr, to use the Old Norse]. I had planned a fifth point (originally third in the sequence :) ) in response to the BBC programme, but can't recall what it was)

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)