by: Rick Johnson 
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com
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Concerning Today Host Kathi Gifford's attack on Paganism, here is a commment by American Gothic webcomic.
NEWS OF THE STRANGE
It is no secret that the Hard-Gards of the Long Island Line hate me. Mainly they do so because I actually answer questions which steals from them their false sense of power. If they can tell you "the BOS is a secret" and you reply "Anyone with a library card can get a copy", it makes them look like total asses!
I have had a lot of Hard-Gard students contact me asking "I want to know about (insert a totally common question here) but my High Priestess tells me that it is a secret." Almost always the question is something like "My HPS tells me that there is only one Gardnerian BOS but I see a lot of variations among the covens, what gives? Is my HPS stupid or telling lies to me?"
So I answer the question and suggest that they do further research to see if what I am saying is true. They always reply "You told me the truth but my HPS lied!"
Ok, then why the f*** are you with them and not studying under me?"
Ok, some years ago I created a booklet called Wiccan Trivial Pursuit which was some 75 pages of questions and answers based on the popular board game but in book form and dealing with common questions about Paganism and Wicca. Anyone with a library card can answer every question easily. I sold the booklet through E-bay, through the mail, at festivals, you get the idea. There are some couple dozen legal copies out there that I sold to the public.
NOW I find that a number of Hard-Gard Covens out there have taken my booklet, made copies without giving me credit or payment and are passing these copies around pretending that they are "a Secret Gardnerian Training system" and to be "possessed by Third Degree Gardnerians only".
First of all, I'd like to get paid for all these copies that are being secretly passed around.
Also if my name is missing from the book, ask the possessor "What is the difference between erasing Rick Johnson's name from the book he wrote and erasing Doreen Valiente's name from her poetry and pretending you wrote it?"
But Hard-Gards of the Long Island Line have never been noted for the integrity of their teachings and actions.
The final word here is this... If the hard-Gards hate me so much, then the very fact that they are using my writings in their 'secret' classes proves that the Horned God has a really perverse sense of humor!
Elevation Announcements:
To contact the Coven contact-person for information on interviews and joining the coven, e-mail or Rick at DesertHenge@yahoo.com. But be prepared to wait as we checkthat e-mail rarely.
Well, it appears that the person mentioned on the 5 Dec 2000 list has finally read the item in question.
Her story is as follows:
Elevation Announcement:
Zephyra (Z) of Maine has been elevated to the ultimate and sublime Third Degree and is now a Third Degree Gardnerian by my hand on 30 August, 2003.
She is now granted complete authority to be autonomous in all her endeavors subject to the Will of the Gods and needs of the Gardnerian Tradition and Craft (as she, in her independence sees it).
May the blessings of the Horned God and of the Gracious Goddess be upon her and all that she does.
Rick Johnson fka Rik Johnson
Third Degree HP & Magus of the Gardnerian Tradition of Witchcraft (Wica)
*****
Just so that everyone knows and there are no questions.
I don't do many of these and Z has definatly earned hers.
21 October, 2001 - Here is a MAJOR advance for Witches. Despite pressure from president bush who has publically stated that Wicca isn't a real religion and the USAF should drop these listings, the United States Air Force has created specalty codes for Pagans. So for those of us who serve in Uniform, here are the codes for Pagans in the Air Force.
What this means to those of you in civilian life, NOW we can legally have our dog tags changed and have legal recognition for our faith in a manner that never existed before.
December 5, 2000
IMPORTANT
Remember the latest news where I reported that someone had notified me that they had an e-mail address similar enough to me to fool the unobservant and that this person had implied that they were using it to get confidental and Oathbound information
under "my" name?
Well, the situation has escalated.
I don't know who is doing this but it appears that two weeks ago someone sent an e-mail to the ex-husband of a student/acting HPS informing him of some matter that his ex did while they were married.
Considering that the incident occurred some dozen years ago and the people concerned have been divorced for about 4 years, there is NO motive for this other than to cause me trouble. (they used their own e-mail address but signed my name)
The result of this is that the student/HPS is now in trouble with her ex, both are angry with me and no one believes that I am innocent. Despite Craft Law that requires people to be open and seek all sides of the story, the student/HPS has
judged me guilty with no evidence at all. Thus we are no longer friends and she refuses to pay for my camcorder that she borrowed and broke.
People, I have stated this often enough... There is NO security in E-mail. Anything you write can be accessed by anyone legally. Any email account can be hacked by anyone with enough determination. And you NEVER know who actually wrote those letters you received!!!!!
So!!!! Unless you can completly and absolutly verify that any e-mail comes from the sender, DO NOT accept the contents as true And with so many Witches hiding under fake e-names, this problem will simply escalate.
Plus, it appears that the actual guilty partty is Wiccan, so it also shows just how ethical the Craft community is with some seeking to destroy innocents and others willing to jump into the trap.
Update on this above listed 19 June, 2005
October 11, 2000 *IMPORTANT*
This morning I received an e-mail from a friend who stated that a Gardnerian Discussion List (similar to my own) had contacted her for a referance.
Why?
The List Owner had been contacted by 'me' asking for entry and using her as a reference as a Gardnerian.
My reply was "It ain't me babe!" Someone is, again, pretending to be me to cause me trouble.
It first happened when my wife was cheating on me with some married asshole who worked for aol. Somehow (?!) someone hacked my aol account and sent e-letters under my name to screw up my rep. And after I cancelled my account, the letters continued to go out.
Earlier this year I received a letter that informed me that someone was using an e-mail address similar to mine (mine is RikJohnson@juno.com, the fake one is rik.johnson@juno.com) for the sole purpose of trolling for confidential information.
Now someone is attempting to enter Gardnerian and closed e-mail lists under my name.
I CANNOT stress this enough!!!!!!!
THERE IS *NO* SECURITY IN E-MAIL!!!!!
Anyone can create an e-address and pretend to be anyone they wish and cause irrepairable harm. ANYTHING you write via e-mail is public domain and can be hacked and taken and re-printed anywhere. ANYONE can read your e-mail no matter how private it is or how secure you believe your ISP to be.
Fortunatly the list owner did take the time to check the referance and fortunatly, the referance did check with me to ensure that I was actually making the initial request.
But consider the following scenerio:
There is a well-known Gardnerian called eraninmpls@***.com. He is well known under this name and accepted without question as a Valid Gardnerian.
Now, suppose you got an e-letter from this erannmpls@***.com talking about various Gardnerian matters. Since you know this person from his reputation and writings, it would be natural for you to respond to him.
Check the address closly people! There is a BIG difference between eraninmpls@***.com and erannmpls@**.com. or even erininmpls@***.com or eraninmpls.@***.com or any other variation that is easily overlooked by most of the human population.
The bottom line is that it is OUR own responsibility to be certain that the people with whom we are talking IS the person we believe them to be.
And if we don't do this, then who is to blame when we are conned by a fraud into passing over classified material?
August, 2000 (updated later in the month)
One of the joys and agonies of e-mail lists is that when you sign up for one, you are swamped with e-mailings on a daily basis.
Many of these messages are useless like when you subscribe, your mail box, as well as the mailbox of every other subscriber will will be filled with "Welcome!" messages which on the surface sound really pleasant but when you get 157 e-mails a day from each list and many of them are these, you kinda wish that they had been sent privatly if only to avoid filling up your mailbox.
And returning from a 2 week vacation is a nightmare.
Over the years, I have been on a number of e-lists that range from the Traditional to the Eclectic, Wiccan to new-age and even a number of humor/daily joke-lists and in most of the cases I have un-subscribed for one main reason. If you are on a good e-list, you tend to spend 4 hours a day reading and answering mail. And some of us have or would like to have a life away from the keyboard. (I think that one of the most intelligent statements I ever heard was from one person who was closing down his e-list because he had met someone special and wanted to spend time with his new family. Think about this if you would please)
Yes, you will learn a lot from these lists and meet a lot of really wonderful people and have a lot of fun. And that is the purpose of being a subscriber. To meet, to share and to learn.
Unfortunatly, there are problems. One that I have is communication. Sometimes my dyslexia gets in the way and I think faster than I can type, especially on a topic about which I am particularly passinate, and then I use the wrong term or word and a misunderstanding occurs.
Another common problem are those who feel that their own personal views are or must be held by the majority.
And we can even live with the list-moms who try to control the lists by quoting rules and etiquette and proceedure even when it isn't their job.
But one thing that we shouldn't have to endure is ego and deceit. These are a far cry from simple understanding.
I recently un-subscribed from another e-list. Why? Three main reasons. One was that unless I checked my e-mail 3x a day, my mailbox simply got filled up and I didn't have the time or energy to read through these 157 messages a day. Well, some days there were only 40, others there were 200 but when the electrical storm fried the phone lines and my modem for 3 days, I suddenly understood just how many messages I got in a day.
Now, the decision to join or un-join an e-list are always personal. Most e-lists go through a set pattern where people join slowly, recommend the list to others, the list grows, people un-sub for whatever reason and the list fades away and dies.
But the one thing that is guaranteed to destroy any e-list is ego.
Unfortunatly, egos and agendas strike the best of us and about the time I un-subscribed from one e-list, I mentioned someone on my list to a former student who informed me that SHE had originally Initiated those people and that there were 'problems' that I won't discuss here.
Well, as I said, for many reasons I unsubscribed but decided that the list was worth recommending to others.
Regardless, I am sitting back and collecting the threats and considering the source.
What's the moral?
11 June, 2000 ***IMPORTANT****
They lied!!!!!
When UPS attempted to deliver the package to the hotel on the First and on the Fifth
of June, the Enterprise Hotel in London refused the delivery.
United Parcel Service gave me three differing and conflicting answers to
my queries as to why my daughter was STILL without her credit card as of tonight.
SO, UPS lied to me at every turn and had no intention of fixing any of their
mistakes at all, ever!!!!
Now I have to figure out how to feed my kid 10,000 miles away and somehow get
her to RAF Lakenheath where I know someone who will, at least, feed her. And I have to
figure out how to get money over to her also. Western Union charges about 20% to wire
money AND you have to be there to receive the message even before they send the
money. So that is impossible.
Now, what I am stating is that BOTH the Enterprise Hotel in London and
United Parcel Service consistantly screwed up and LIED to me about it to the
extent that it is now impossible to fix the problem at all. And Cerridwen's vacation is
ruined because of all this.
Do as you see fit. I refuse to accept this harm.
By the time you read this, it will be Old News but whatever!
Last week I sent my daughter, Cerridwen, to Europe with a school trip.
So far there have been few problems, which is to be expected. Somewhere during
the layove in Houston and her arrival in Shannan, her wallet vanished
pickpocket? along with her cash, credit card, bank card, and all of her ID. I was
woken up by a frantically crying child and had to fight the urge to jump on a plane
American Express and a Passport is in my emergency kit but instead I hardened
myself and spent the rest of the night cancelling her credit card, arrainging for a
replacement one to be sent to her London hotel and making plans with a Witch at the
American Air Base, RAF Lakenheath, to help her get her Military ID replaced.
In my case, I will be visiting Ruidoso, New Mexico later this month to build a fire station
for the local indians. It's what is called a "quality of life" project that the Military does
here and there.
And all I ask is the chance to meet with the local Witches.
When that happens, most people are intelligent enough to reply, "What the **** did you mean by that!" and you re-read what you wrote from their viewpoint and realize that you didn't write what you meant and you explaim and all is well. Considering that at least three-quarters of human communication is visual (and doesn't come across in writing) you can understand what problems can occur. Thus people create these little emoticons like
But the main thing is to calm down think before we react.
Some of these are actually good people who have little experience with others so, of course, they feel that way. Even I was one of those once. But when you talk to others, you see that Witchcraft, be it the religion as a whole or a specific Tradition has such an incredible diversity that there is no one typical Witch. Gardner let the cat out of the bag when he went public and for better or for worse it has had a lot of litters, few of whom resemble their parents.
Another reason was that I was having problems making myself undestood when I made a point. As I said, I'm dyslexic and so was going through a phase where I would say the wrong thing or say the right thing in the wrong way. And when that happens, I can either try to explain what I meant or apologise and shut up. So by un-subbing, I remove the temptation to continue to speak.
And finally, there were and always will be some people on any list who simply cannot get along. I admit that whenever I saw ***'s name on a message, I would delete it unread simply to avoid getting angry. Of course, when I saw ****'s name, I would read it a number of times because of the imtelligence of the writing.
And there appeared to be people on the list who I felt would see my name and immediatly look for something to bitch about. They would take one word or sentence out of context and I simply got tired of being accused of making statements that were not true.
This happens to the best and the worst.
I have seen one particular Gardnerian actually insult the founders of the Tradition, accuse them of all sorts of things and even attack the HPS' of Gerald Gardner on more than one occasion, usually on an e-list, once by direct mail. At the very least,this shows a lack of respect. at worst, it indicates that this person pretends to know more about the Tradition than the people who created it.
I have also seen people create fake e-names to make a point and simply hide behind those identities so that they can cause trouble with immunity. That's why I always use RikJohnson as my e-mail name. At least I am willing to stand behind my words and not hide behind "LordPixieMoondrip@***com" like so many others.
And I have seen people re-invent their Lineage from stating that they come from an "800 year Fam-Trad" (don't laugh, I actually know three people who claim that to people who were Initiated by **** and either left or were removed from the group and so invent another Initiator or even talk someone into re-initiating them so they can erase their prior life from history. (hey! I have people in my Craft Lineage I don't like either but just because my great grandfather was a Barbary Coast pirate who moved to Arizona to avoid the law doesn't mean that I am going to change my name and pretend to be someone else. The same should apply to Lineage. Re-do it if you must but don't lie about your past)
Gosh, don't tell me that the Horned God doesn't have a sense of humor. One of my greatest detractors is actually downline from me. I laughed so hard I had to change my pants.
Then in the first 24 hours since I unsubbed, I received three direct threats. Plus one accusation of being someone other than RikJohnson@juno.com and a couple of demands that I turn my BOS over to someone who has no rights to it (note that the person who made that demand copyrights it's members BOS which, according to Law, means that they turn 2 copies of these
As one who is more intelligent than I once said, "Those who can, do, those who cannot, bitch!" Of course, this was followed with the comments that "A man is known by his enemies" and "You know that you are doing something right when people who do nothing but bitch attack you."
People are like fruit, even the best can go bad when they associate with rotten apples or allow egos to blind them from the Path of the Gods.
As you know from prior listings, I sent my 17 yr old daughter, Cerridwen, to
Ireland and England this month.
As you may also know, somewhere in either the Houston or Newark Airports, her
wallet was stolen along with her Credit Card, Bank Card, Mlitary Dependents ID, School ID, State ID
and all of her cash.
I immediatly cancelled her bank card and credit card and made arraingements for a
replacement credit card to be issued and sent to her hotel in London. Again, no problem
with Citibank. But from there it fell apart.
I called overseas to the Enterprise Hotel in London to make arraingements
for the hotel to accept delivery of the package and hold it for Cerridwen. And the Staff
of the assured me that there would be no problem.
First they told me that there was some problems with Customs and it was the fault
of Citibank. Citibank simply turned the package over to UPS and left it up to them to
handle the necessary paperwork.
Then UPS told me that they only attempted one delivery and it had been
refused at the hotel. They also promised me that because of the situation of a teenage girl
being in London without any money, they would GUARANTEE delivery of the package
to her on Saturday.
THEN when I called to find out why it still hadn't been delivered, I was told that it
was in a warehouse in London and they would "try" to deliver it on Monday. Now,
remember, Cerridwen is broke, expiring hotel reservations and starting to get hungry and
it is only Saturday. UPS expected this teen aged girl to go hungry for the entire
weekend and possibly even sleep on the streets bacause they refused to deliver a package
that they promised to deliver that day.
When I talked to a supervisor, she 'apologised' for the mistake and the lies her
people told me but couldn't do anything to solve the problem. (sarcasm on)I'm certain
that my hungry daughter would be happy to know that UPS apologised for her going
hungry in a foreign country(sarcasm off). Further, the supervisor told me to call overseas
to talk to the London UPS department.
So I did. UPS in London is closed on the weekends.
I don't know about you people but I will NEVER again deal with either of these
companies and will write letters of complaint about this to: Citibank, and EF Tours (copy
to the Enterprise Hotel and UPS) requesting that these companies NEVER again do
business with either of these businesses because of this incompetence and deceit.
If anyone out there wishes to join me in this, please feel free to do so.
UPS phone number is 1 (800) 742-5877
The Enterprise hotel is 011 44 207 373 4502
Citibank is 1 (800) 950-5114
EF Tours is 1 (800) 665-5364
The original plan was for me to go broke financing this trip but, unexpectedly,
people pitched in. Ashleen O'Gaea insisted on helping towards the trip and paid her
deposit. Even Cerridwen's mother bought her some clothes true, she used my credit
card for part but... divorce doesn't end a marriage, it simply changes it
And I got her a credit card with $1500 just in case.
Then I sent letters to people over there for her to meet with other Witches and
Pagans, many of which agreed to meet with this 17 year old pagan-in-training.
And I created for her a travel e-mail address Cerridwen@www.com so we
could keep in touch.
And, of course, the trip changed it's schedule at the last moment, thus preventing
the visit to Janet Farrar and Barbara a Gardnerian witch in Dublin along with the
loss of Newgrange from the schedule.
But for the most part, on that one e-mail I got, she is having fun and will have the
last two weeks in June free to see England.
As a member of the 162 TFTG Civil Engineering Squadron, I am often sent to
strange and exotic places to build things for people. Some make me wonder why
like that bar I built in Honduras that caused Hollywood to make a movie about us
to a hospital in Belize, a school on an indian reservation in Panama, a dorm on a leper
colony in Panama, an office for the Red Cross in Saudi Arabia and so on.
I like the job as it gives me a chance to travel and also when the job is done, I can
step back, look at kids in a foreign country entering the school I built and think, "I
actually made a difference in the world" which is something we all so rarely can say.
SO, if anyone is in or near Ruidoso and wants to meet or visit, please let me know.
PO Box 40451
Tucosn, Az
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com
icq #73425624
(520) 622-2653
Hurry, time is running out and I still have to hire a house-sitter for the time I am
gone.
To contact me or to request topics to be covered, send to RikJohnson@juno.com
by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
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