The Pagan Mom Blog

*I purchased this book at a used bookstore and did not receive anything in return of this review*

I got this book called Pagan Homeschooling. I have been considering homeschooling for a little while now. Mostly with the concerns of the snow days and the onslaught of the change in children in 4th grade. My eldest has issues with some of the girls who have turned catty. Nothing physical, my eldest just thinks they are being idiots and these girls are being….well girls. Anywho it has been on my mind for awhile. And I have certain things that hold me back from doing so. More on that in a bit though, want to get to this book.

The title is almost misleading because it isn’t JUST about pagan homeschooling but homeschooling in general. They start off with a checklist of reasons why you may or may not want to homeschool. Only 1 of my reasons were listed. The book also covers resources that are both pagan in nature and those that are secular. The book is written for the pagan parent who does not wish to inundate their child with Christian influence, so the resources are devoid of those influences. That was reassuring because it seemed like every homeschool site I found online was about Christian homeschooling. The book touches on various stages of childhood; kindergarten, tweens, and puberty. Even better is the issue of children with special needs and how to handle that. The book covers using boxed curricula, unschooling,eclectic styles, what supplies you need, etc etc etc. As a bonus the book does offer insight on how to bring in paganism into your classroom IF YOU SO CHOOSE TO. The author makes it very clear that it is a personal decision to bring in religious teachings and that one doesn’t need to feel obligated in doing so in order to homeschool. She offers some pagan exercises to use with your children to help you get started.

So I have to be honest. I haven’t read it all the way through. I did a skimming type read because i have another book review that I am doing that must be posted very soon. After we get through tax time I will be really sitting down with the kids and talking to them about how they feel about it. Especially the older two who have been in public school for almost 6 years. My reasons for doing so are so that I can have them in a year round curriculum, use every chance I can for a teaching experience (ex: grocery store trip), be able to teach them about various religions now, make sure that too many snow days don’t mess them up, and their personal safety is a huge issue for me. After my experiences as a child and seeing more and more school shootings being reported on the news….I do fear for them. Now what I fear most is: I won’t be able to educate them in the manner they need, I won’t be able to work from home, I will get burned out being around my kids all day, and they will miss out on alot of opportunities they get from school. One thing is no more Saturday classes at University North Carolina because they are only offered to the gifted children. To be in gifted program you have to be in the public system. Same goes for Molly’s opportunity to go to Wake Forest this summer for a week, that is only offered to gifted children. Those things I don’t want to take from her because they are amazing opportunities. So I still feel like I am on the fence. I don’t want to mess up my kids, ya know?

Ok so the book info is:

Pagan Homeschooling: A Guide to Adding Spirituality to Your Child’s Education

by: Kristin Madden

published by: Spilled Candy Books

**As of this morning I will be discussing it with my girls this morning. I was very upset to hear of yet another school shooting. I am also extremely disgusted by our city’s refusal to consider year round schooling. Their viewpoint is that since we are a tourist town we must have kids off in summer to be available to work. With the many that are jobless I find it interesting we put off the work onto our students! After talking with my girls we will make the decision and then I will work with my boss on how to remedy the work situation. I am certain we can arrive at some sort of arrangement. He has been wonderful in the past about working with me and I have made sure to keep up with deadlines**

Wednesday already? Jeesh this week is just flying by!

So if you are following me on Twitter I am sure you have seen countless tweets about the upcoming Beltane Brouhaha. Some of us have decided to have a tweetup and chose the Brouhaha as our destination spot. This is an event open to anyone who wants to attend! So I am very happy to announce that I got the email that the registration is now open…..yay!

The event is fairly affordable. $12 early registration fee ($15 at gate), $5 for kids 5-12 yo, $40 for a cabin holding 2-4 persons, $15 for a single dorm space, and $12 for meal tickets. For me and the girls to go it came out to $98. Not really bad for a weekend event.  I have attended some other functions that were much more than that for just one person! Now last year was the first time I ever went so I am not really a big expert but I will pass on a few things I learned.

I personally recommend you get the dorm space or cabin. Dorm space is basically they will shack you up in one of the larger cabins with people that you may or may not know. Basically you pay for a bed. The cabin is good for families or if you know some people and want to share a cabin with. I already know a couple people from twitter are going to share a cabin. The best thing about cabins are they are right there in the middle of everything. There is tent camping space available if you are looking for something more affordable. The people with Church of Wicca can direct you to who you need to talk to at the park for tent camping info. Now the downside to tent camping is that you will have to leave the cabin area by dusk when they close the gate, that is if you plan on driving into the site area. Now if you don’t mind walking in the dark to your tent then you don’t have to worry about when the gate closes. I just hope that you can find your way back to the tent site lol.

Food. I do recommend you bring some snacks and maybe a cooler to keep at your cabin. Bear in mind there are animals in the woods. Last year we had a mouse that literally opened our screen door and came right in and found my stash of pretzels. Lesson learned! Open flame is not permitted on campground except at one designated spot just outside the messhall. So if you want to cook at your cabin, bring your campstove. As for meals I recommend that you do purchase the meal tickets. You are not going to get anything glamorous to eat but it’s not horrible either. Last year we had hot dogs, hamburgers, spaghetti, and my all time favorite….pudding from a huge ass can. You know, one of those ones you find at Sam’s or Costco. They do sell snacks and drinks throughout the day at the messhall.

So what to expect? Vendor row is one. Last year I think they had about 10 businesses with tents set up selling their wares. If you have a business you will want to get in on this event. It’s a great way to meet your clientele! And if you love to shop witchy stuff you will find plenty of stuff to ooh and ahh over. In addition to shopping there are classes for kids which tend to be craft oriented. My daughter had a blast last year making a wand and coloring her own divination cards. There are classes for the adults pertaining to various things. Some were Wicca 101, others were more deeper into theology and then others were craft oriented.  Last year I took a class to sew my own ritual robe. I was the first person who had ever failed her class. I think I felt worse about that for her than about me failing it lol. Also there will be plenty of ritual. Last year we had a ritual the first night, an initiation ritual the next night (I didn’t attend that), and then a maypole dance just before leaving on the final day. In the evening people gathered into a drum circle around the fire pit and just hung out and had a good time. That was the best part, we just had so much fun socializing! I know for alot of solitaries in places that they don’t know alot of other pagans, events like this can be a huge blessing.

So that is my awesome wisdom to share. If you have question, feel free to ask in comments or email me. If you are attending, let me know here in the comments! If you want to find someone to share a cabin space with, leave it in the comments and maybe someone else will see it and respond.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!

Did you catch Simpsons last night? Do you watch Simpsons? So if you missed it the episode was called “Rednecks and Broomsticks”. And it featured rednecks and Wiccans. If you watch the show often you know that they poke fun on just about everything. They have been offensive to some in the past and last night was apparently no different. The basis of the show is that Homer comes across some rednecks w/moonshine. And the rednecks possess every stereotype imaginable. If they didn’t possess it, they addressed it. Anywho Homer gets to enjoying some moonshine and somehow it ends up in the water supply. I kinda forget how, I was totally tweeting while watching. Sorry! Anyhow while out in the boonies Lisa goes for a walk, gets lost, and comes across 3 teens whom are Wiccan. In the course of the show they address every stereotype about Wiccans.

1. They are teenage girls. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard or seen on some message board that a requirement for wicca is that you are under 18 and female. Step in to a ritual and you will find people of various ages and the ones under 18 are there with their parents. The local grove usually has about half of the attendees as male.

2. They were honoring Lilith. Now, I found this one fascinating that they would pick Lilith. I would think Hecate, Morrigan, Cerridwen, or even Brigid would be chosen because I find alot of non-pagans have heard of these goddesses. Instead they chose Lilith and several fundies I have had rounds with have accused me of “cavorting with Lilith whom is a known demon”. Yes, some Christians view Lilith as a demon! Interesting pick you Simpsons people! Now for some of you that may not know about Lilith there is no clear cut explanation. It has been said, and supposedly is in the Torah (and I have yet to read a Torah so I can’t back it up), that Lilith was Adam’s first wife. Supposedly when they went to procreate, Adam got upset that Lilith wanted to be on top. She was too headstrong and cast off to the side and Eve was created. Since then, some Christians have taught that Lilith was a demon trying to possess Adam or something to that effect. Now this doesn’t mean Wiccans don’t honor Lilith as a dark goddess. She is certainly not a demon to us, just the darker side of life (which does not equate to necessarily evil). I personally don’t honor Lilith or have any sort of relationship with her so I am not well versed in Lilith. Oh and where was the God? While Wicca may be seen as a goddess tradition, many honor both….not just one.

3. There is a witch hunt. YEP YEP a witch hunt. In our modern days you just don’t hear about witch hunts in the developed countries. At least not like what was depicted in the toon. Pitchforks, an angry mob, and a dunking chair. When explaining how the dunking chair worked, one could see just how stupid it sounded. Many people these days (with maybe the exception of citizens in Salem, Massachusetts) pretty much brush off witch hunts as old lore. But reality it’s a big part of history. Not so much that we witches should feel persecuted (on the contrary we are far from persecuted) but that human beings being treated in such a harsh manner. And it shouldn’t be forgetten lest we make the same mistake again!

4. Mass hysteria blames the Wiccans. What leads to the witch hunt is that Lisa makes some comment about people being blinded by their closemindedness. Then suddenly large amounts of people go blind. And whom is blamed? The Wiccans of course! Again not something too common place but it has happened in the past. It turns out that the moonshine that made it’s way into the water supply caused massive blindness. It was the cataclyst of the entire episode. Sort of a “see, they aren’t evil and we are so wrong about Wiccans”. Of course the angry mob wanted to avenge something so they had to find something else to be angry about. Another stereotype about the masses.

The Simpsons have never been anything to take absolutely serious. I am not an avid fan or anything but I have watched enough to know that they push the boundaries on everything. As a pagan I would find it hypocritical to be upset about this one episode and not every single episode ever done. Take a look at the next door neighbor, Ned Flanders. A Christian man whom they make fun of just about every show. I mean he was in this one claiming Buddhism leads to witchcraft. Is it ok for us to take offense only at what affects us directly? Or should we be taking offense at everything that affects us indirectly? I may not be Christian but it is a religion. And if we can’t laugh at religion of any kind, including our (or my) own then I should be offended by it all.

It really depends on how you view things. I am not going to knock someone for taking offense, all I am going to ask is are you defending every other group and/or religion that has been targeted by Simpsons? If you are, than I have mad respect for you. If you aren’t, I am going to point out the hypocrisy of it.

Circle Sanctuary has a wonderful program going on for our Pagan troops, Operation Circle Care. This is a year round operation but I am just now hearing about it due to Yule coming up. Much like any of the the other military care packages, Circle Sanctuary is looking for items to put into care packages to send to our bretheren overseas. Things like pagan music cd’s, small altar cloths, herbs, incense, pentacles, ankhs, and so on. Circle Sanctuary is also in dire need of cash donations to help fund the shipping costs of these packages. In addition they have an amazing pagan prayer card program for our armed bretheren. These cards are free and you can obtain them for your loved ones whom are overseas. And if you do have someone overseas, you can have their name added to the list of soldiers who receive these wonderful packages!

If you can help at all, please do! This is a wonderful program. I personally can’t wait to go shopping and pick up a few items. If I can ever get around to finding a 2nd job, I will be sending them some money as well.

I don’t know if you have heard of this blog but 2 Witches Blog is pretty cool. For any newbie they have a wealth of info on witchcraft, paganism, and Wicca. For parents they have lots of info on pagan parenting. And  they even include some links to activities for kids and info on raising kids withing paganism. I plan on returning often to read up on their info and get some activities for my own so they can learn more about my celebrations and why.

Also right now they are doing an awesome giveaway featuring a witches calendar for 2010. I highly recommend you head on over and check them out!

So, like many other people, I am just irritated at the overwhelming amount of Christmas stuff being shoved in my face. It actually started 3 weeks before Halloween. Not so much commercials but stuff in the stores. I would look for a Halloween section and see a 6′x6′ area for it next to two complete aisles of Christmas stuff. Since Nov 1 my tv has been threatened with it’s life.

So in my effort to enjoy an upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I decided that I would unfollow and boycott anyone touting Christmas stuff on Twitter. Now I understand that some of them target international people as well….I just have the option of not seeing it in my stream. This has ticked off a few and that is ok. They have a right to post their ads and I have the right to get rid of it from eyesight.

So I wanted to take this a step further. I decided to boycott any products or stores touting Christmas sales. I apparently didn’t think this through. It started with Glade. Well that’s not too bad, I don’t buy their stuff anyway. But then came Target and Kohl’s. Now Walmart is on the list (oh the irony since I applied for a job there!). QVC joined today but they won’t miss me either. I am starting to see that I am going to run out of options to shop for, not that I need much anyway since I shop all year long.

It just bothers me that people get so caught up in the commercialism. It’s not like I hear anybody talking about what they are going to make for Christmas dinner or planning a caroling event in their neighborhood. It’s all about what am I going to get Junior that will make him think I love him. Christmas is so much more than just presents. Obviously if your religious it has a spiritual resonance. But for the non-religious it’s about being with family and having fun. I have always made our Yule/Christmas celebrations a month long event with crafts and good deeds. We keep presents to a minimum. I try to make memories for my kids. I grew up in a home with materialistic people. None of my memories were about being with them or getting presents…..all of my memories  are about spending time with the family members who made it special. The meals and the time we spent engaging with each other (which did not include my immediate family as they are lacking in the ability to engage with each other).

I think if more people spent time planning what they were going to do to enjoy the holiday instead of what they were going to buy, I could handle all the Christmas hub bub. Until then I am going to continue whining while I plan out how to stake out the best spot at our Holiday Parade on the 21st. I need the best spot so we can see it all AND get a hold of hot cocoa quickly.

I am writing this because I think so many people are caught up in the emotional aspect of the victims, that they aren’t looking at the flip side.

Let me state clearly that HIS ACTIONS ARE NOT INEXCUSABLE!

At 7pm last night I sat with candles lit and gathered every bit of positive loving energy I could and sent it forth. It was my personal goal to send that love to military families who have family at Fort Hood, those at Fort Hood, and most importantly…..to Hasan and his family.

Upon watching the news this morning we learned so much more. We went from 3 shooters to 1. When I saw the name, I groaned. I knew what was coming. The witch hunts. My first thought was “of all people, it just had to be a Muslim”.  Upon looking at websites with personal commentary and floating around on Yahoo Answers I was right. So horribly right. It isn’t just moments of horrifying violence that causes me to lose hope for humanity….it’s watching people blame and point fingers and go on radical rants about ridding the world of religion because of one event. Or in their argument, one event too many. Not once are these people considering the flip side. When you ask them about it, they huffily respond “Are you even caring about the victims?”. Of course we are, we all are. It’s a natural response to come to the victims and give them a hug and tell them it will be all ok. We take the time to commend the hero’s who step up when the odds are against them and put a stop to the menace. But we always seem to brush aside other underlying factors.

If you want to rid the world of violence, we have GOT to stop being so hateful to each other. If Hasan’s claims are true and he was consistently berated for his religion, then it’s of no surprise that it broke him down. He was not in great mental health. It was reported he was undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse, no one is in great mental health coming out of an addiction. This man also endured listening to his patients stories about war. Especially about war in a place that is known for being primarily Muslim. And as the Muslim Chaplin said this morning on GMA….he had no one he could seek counseling from. He was expected to not “whine” about his problems and attend to the problems of the soldiers going out and coming back. Combine all of this and you have a ticking timebomb.

If soldiers were berating him for his religion, why do we condone that to be ok. Because it’s not done with guns? If I was Muslim talking to a patient who just got back from Iraq and listened to this man berate me about my religious beleifs….I would be terrified. And it’s still the age old question, why are grown people still purposely pushing each other’s buttons? We tell our children not to do such things and then do it ourselves? You want to rid the world of war, we have got to start respecting each other. And it has to start here in our home, the USA. The same place where Christians loudly announce that half the country is going to rot in hell and that “god hates fags”. The same place where radical atheists propose to rid the entire nation of religious people and not allow religion into our country at all. The same place where Muslims now have to take extra safety precautions because people ASSUME that this is related to religion and not the mental instability of a man. This is when I have no hope for humanity. Because we as adults say we want to teach our children better, but don’t live up to those same standards for ourselves. And the children are not stupid….they see what we do. And they copy it. And they grow up doing it over and over. Then they tell their children to be better human beings. And their children see that they don’t live up to those standards. Again and again and again this will happen. Because we are too selfish to actually grow up and do what is right for all of us.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, I forgive you. Someone has to show you forgiveness, kindness and love. I am looking at all sides of this story. You will have to pay for your crimes but I think deep down inside you just need someone to say that we know Islam is not as bad as it is made to sound. You need someone to listen to YOU after you spend hours listening to horrifying war stories. You need forgiveness and love…and I give it freely.

If you haven’t heard there has been a shooting at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. At the time of this post there were about 3 shooters, 9 passed on, and 20-3o injured. Fort Hood is the place all soldiers go before heading to Iraq and when they return. It is speculated at this time it could be due to post war stress.

I am asking that all of us take a moment tonight and light as many candles in our homes that we can for these soldiers and their families. They need all the love we can offer them. Please do this tonight 11-05 at 7pm YOUR time (if your overseas, you can do it when your most comfortable). Add prayers, spells, send the positive energy out into the world, or simply meditate on the flame on how much these people need our love right now.

Please feel free to post about this, tweet about this, email about this. Get the word out! Our fellow man needs us!

This post is dedicated to my pagan readers. Of course my non-pagan readers are welcome to read and comment, it could be easily skewed to apply to anyone.

One of my twitter pals, RedBeanSidhe, has a blog over at Pumpkin Queen and her Pumpkin Patch. She wrote this post that gave me a moment of clarity…an epiphany if you will. To be brutally honest I have been feeling a bit disconnected lately. Something I am sure all of us go through. My monotonous routine has been wearing me thin. I get up, do a load of laundry, check email, get girls out the door, check social networks, take lil man to school, go to work, sit on a computer all day with twitter, work, and the 50 billion links I click through twitter. And when I am done work I go home, cook, check email, check social networks, blog, write articles, check email one more time, go to bed. In between all of that I might tweet or twitpic while I am around town on a lunch break or something. And yesterday I had this thought that I can’t beleive I actually thought. My Book of Shadows (BOS) has been sitting ignored. I haven’t written anything in it in months. I haven’t even looked at it. So what did I think? Why, I should transfer that to the computer! I mean I am on it all day already, so why not? Right? And I am knocking those pagans that love putting their BOS online, I just actually enjoy handwriting mine. RedBeanSidhe, bless her heart, she pushed an issue in my face that I have been purposely ignoring for at least a month now. I am too plugged in. I mean internet is wonderful, blogging is wonderful, twitter is wonderful….but wonderful things should be held in moderation. Is that not what all pagans seek? Balance? And am I balancing right now? No. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO, I am not. And that is why I feel like crud and mush and major dog poo (although I almost blamed it on swine flu). The last few days I have avoided the computer even though I did get on to tweet about V in the evenings. It is time for me to rethink things and get back to some good habits.

RedBeanSidhe makes some pretty hefty suggestions. Even down to no stovetop cooking. Now, I will be honest….I probably won’t stop doing that lol. But her idea is in the right place, get back to basics. Get back to simplicity. And it couldn’t come at a better time, we are in the New Year! Change is supposed to come, we should be embracing it and preparing for it. So here is what I am going to do *takes a deep breath*

1. On weekends I can only post a blog in the morning, BUT the blog must already be written. Lots of pre-writing I must do if I want to have one post a day.

2. On weekends, NO COMPUTER. Nope. No email. No twitter. No twitpic’ing. No games. The only exception of course is to make sure that a blog post is published in the morning.

3. Weather permitting we take a walk outside in nature at least 3 times a week. Weather permitting meaning no rain. It being too cold is not an excuse. We can bundle up.

4. In the evening, candle lights. Not only will we be energy conscious but it will encourage us to get creative with our time. Of course this brings me to…..

5. No more than one hour of tv time with at least two hours of no tv in between. Yes, I am a bad mom. I let my kids watch too much tv and this to me is cutting back.

6. Write in my BOS at least one hour every other night. Encourage my daughters to start their own diary, journal, or BOS.

This will all begin….right now.

And that is all I can think of for now. I must give thanks to RedBeanSidhe for her post. She sent me her link letting me know she thought I would be interested, little did she know how much I needed to read it!

And now for all of you….write your own blog post if your up for the challenge of getting back to basics. For my non-pagan readers, you can post about perhaps how to become more unplugged. Let’s get a movement started! If you do write a blog post, please come back here and link in the comments. I want to be sure I see what your doing and others can see what your doing as well.

I found a new local shop that I am so in love with. It is called Gaea and they sell all sorts of metaphysical items. I had a great time looking around and ended up buying a couple things. They aren’t inexpensive but it’s nice to have a local place to go when I don’t have time to wait on Amazon to ship me something. I even got into a great discussion with the owner who gave me cards for some local pagans in town.

I was telling hubby about the shop and as usual our discussion went onto other topics in regards to paganism. I don’t know how we got onto this particular topic but we did lol. What I had said was that Christianity wasn’t nature based and that some Christians prove that point by saying “You shouldn’t worship the Creation but the Creator”. He took offense to this, something that I had not meant. His response was “that sounds like Pagan Prejudice”. Now there is no doubt that some pagans are prejudiced against Christians. This usually arises from some of the crap they have dealt with in  coming to their particular path and dealing with the prostelyzing. Regardless of your spiritual path, all of us are capable of being prejudiced of other paths outside our own. But in this case I have to say, no.

His viewpoint is that Christianity should be nature based because the Creator gave us Creation. I certainly appreciated hearing that. Christians as a whole have a somewhat unspoken reputation for not caring too much about the Earth. This of course is changing and will continue to change and I mean no offense to my Christian readers whom are ecological conscious of their home. Hell, some of you all are more ecological than I am. But, Christianity isn’t nature based because they do not honor the elements and see power in the earth and moon (and even sun). That is where I think his confusion comes in. He doesn’t beleive in honoring the elements, that it goes against God. I can respect that, but he  proved my point.

The most interesting part of the discussion is when he said ” I have never heard a Christian say ‘worship the Creator not the Creation’”. Well, why would he? He isn’t worshipping the Creation. When you’re in discussion with a Christian and they know you are Christian, they don’t exactly feel the need to drive that point home. He doesn’t seem to understand that what some of what we pagans hear, he will never hear. It’s a moot point. And I have to say I was equally frustrated. He just couldn’t seem to beleive that anyone had ever told me that before. Even after he saw some of the things that Ms. Kimberly Daniels put in her article about witches (click here to see my video on that). We have worked past this now. He is still in disbeleif but he seems to understand my standpoint.

So I am interested in hearing some comments about a similar situation. Have you heard something from a different religion and someone else of that religion alleged that it was “made up prejudice” just to be angry with that religion?