H is for Humor-Pagan Blog Project

What a wonderful place the world could be if we would all just take ourselves a little less seriously. Many people are so rigid in their beliefs of what is right and wrong and how things should go that they don’t take the time to truly know and enjoy deity.

I know some witches, even solitaries, who are so uptight over spellcasting and ritual, than it doesn’t seem they even enjoy getting ready for the rituals.

Personally, I have found that most of the energies I work with appreciate a sense of humor; they seem to be okay with it if you are not constantly bowing and scraping every time you so much as think of them.

Some of my most effective rituals have had a lot of things go wrong: candles falling over, cats jumping onto the altar, the toilet starting to run even though no one was near it (yes, the element of water was making its presence known), forgetting the words, items that I remembered placing on the altar suddenly not being there.

After the first couple of times, I learned that stressing about these things accomplished nothing other than ruining ritual for me and leaving me feeling very unsettled and empty, instead of the joy that I usually found in ritual. Eventually I realized that these little mishaps were the deities’ way of telling me to lighten up.

The deities know that we are not perfect, and we never will be. They are okay with that, they made us that way!! As long as we do our best, and truly honor them in our hearts and minds, they don’t mind if we laugh at what goes wrong, or what just seems ridiculous.

Let’s not forget, there is a lot of energy in laughter, so why not use that energy in our workings?? Ritual should be serious, but never too serious. It really is funny when the cat jumps on the altar and offers the mouse he just caught to Deity by dropping it in the juice I was planning to drink!

Blessed Be!

F for Fictional Characters-Pagan Blog Project

Fictional characters are something that I believe many people underestimate. These characters pack a lot of punch and not just in the fictional worlds that they inhabit.

Who can deny the power behind the idea of any given superhero? The idea of someone standing up for what’s right, for the powerless, for truth, justice and the American way? Or the power behind that epitome of evil-the wicked witch? Be she from a fairy tale or The Wizard Of Oz, the idea of the wicked witch scares people the world over, just as the idea of superheroes gives them something to cheer.

Just think for a moment of all the energy that has been invested into these characters: the creation of them, the stories, the character development, and of course, the reaction of the fans. There is a ton of energy invested into many fictional characters. The box office grosses of the recent spate of superhero movies gives you some of idea of the energy they create.

With this kind of energy invested in them it is no wonder that many witches use fictional characters in some spells. Of course, one must be careful which characters one works with, just as with gods and goddesses. There is also the matter of greatly differing energies: the character of an alien bartender who appeared in one scene in one 'Star Wars' movie will have a lot less energy behind it than, say, Han Solo. 

I call upon fictional characters when I have a particular mundane need. Personally, I don’t use these characters in what I think of as more ‘serious’ magickal workings. I would never call on a fictional character for an esbat, sabbat, moon ritual, or any magickal working that will take time to manifest.  I don't even really use them in spells, per se; I channel their energy to get me through certain tasks.

If I need to clean my apartment, (not my favorite thing), and just can’t get motivated, I’ll call on the energy of Piper Halliwell from ‘Charmed’. Let’s face it, that girl likes to clean!!

Likewise, if I have to spend time being sociable when all I really want to do is go home and curl up with a bowl of popcorn and the TV or a good book I will channel the energy of the persona of Marilyn Monroe. The character of Marilyn was very distinct and most definitely not the true nature of the woman who personified her. This specific energy, with a couple of tweaks of my own energy, (mainly toning down the blatant sexuality) can get me through any social situation.

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, gets me through my workouts no matter how tired I am.

Dating myself badly now, and admitting a guilty pleasure, if I need to truly "doll myself up" there is always Alexis Carrington from 'Dynasty'.  Not an energy I would want to hold on to, but definitely great for the self-pampering, self-glamourizing needed for a special night out.  

I find that calling on these, and the energies of other fictional characters when appropriate, gives me very real and amazingly positive results. These energies can get me started, keep me motivated, adjust my attitude, whatever the situation calls for.

And now, as always (it seems), my apartment needs cleaning. “Piper! A little help please!!”