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    October 27

    A Personal Wheel of the Year

    There are LOTS of books out there that cover the so called wheel of the year, which is almost always some wiccan derivative.  It's a formula of times and events that you are supposed to hold holy.  Some even explain the myth and history of the holidays, but precious few books actually look at something very important: how to connect with the Holy Days.

    People had celebrations on given days and at given times because it was significant in their lives.  You celebrated the first planting because that meant you had your first opportunity after winter to sow the seeds that will comes that year's harvest.  You celebrated the harvest because it meant you'd eat during the cold winter months. Then there is all the personal mythology associated with these events, which also carried a potent and personal meaning.

    But books can't give you that.  Its something you have to establish fro yourself.  And NOTHING says that what you come up with has to follow specific Wheel (unless of course you're claiming to be part of a specific religion with set holy days, but that's another rant for another time).  Instead of picking up a book and observing the days it tells you, put the book down and start to REALLY think about what makes a given day special and worthy of note.  Come up with your own mythology and related reasons.  Make your own wheel of the year for your personal path and watch how much more significant the celebration your practice become.

    Holy Tides and Sacred Days

    I finished reading The Charmed Life by Patrica Telesco some time ago.  And am only now getting around to writing about it.
     
    Over all I REALLY liked the book.  It has oodles of exercises to help you explore who you are and get a strong sense of self, which makes a lot of things easier, not just walking your spiritual path.
     
    The book is one with a wiccanesque bent, but I found much of it very applicable for the non-wiccan pagan.  I certainly DO recommend this book with one caveat.....DO NOT READ THE LAST CHAPTER.
     
    I almost burned the book because of it.  Now it takes a LOT for me to want to do damage to a book, so let me explain what promoted the reaction.  The last chapter is about celebrating holy days.  And she has the audacity to say that if a given day is inconvenient, that's okay because pretty much every day on the calendar is a holy day somewhere.  Which is fine....except that I have a real problem with people celebrating religious events and traditions which aren't part of their path and which they do not understand.
     
    Part of walking one's path is having Holy Tides that are meaningful to that PATH.  Yes sometimes those days fall on a Tuesday and you have to work instead of having the day off to do a long, drawn out ritual.  You know what?  WE have more free time now then the people of days gone by, when you worked form dawn to dusk in the fields 7 days a week.
     
    You know what else?  I'VE missed days.  Ive had plans go haywire.  And I've had to make do.  It's really not that hard.
     
    So what all this rambling is about is that choosing a day to celebrate on for convenience and then trying to shoe horn someone else's holiday into your working is just plain unacceptable to me.  It's LAZY and disrespectful.
     
    Meh.