Created for Sacred Literature Class...Spring 2003 Considering your dharma, you should not vacillate (Bhagavad Gita 2.31). Woe betide those who pray but are heedless in their prayer; who make a show of piety and forbid almsgiving (The Koran 707.7). Speak for justice, even if it affects your own kinsmen (The Koran 6.152). There is no goal to be achieved outside the mind (Tibetan Book of the Dead, 235) Creating a personal creed is a task I think few people ever undertake, and it seems many faithful followers of religions are content to take what has been handed down to them at face value, without bothering to consider what they have been given. Unlike them, my religion is based on elements adapted for ease in use, and I found the need to write down my own creed and beliefs. This assignment was a timely one then, as I was in the process of documenting my own creed, and reading the material over the course of this semester gave me a better understanding of how my beliefs fit in the scheme of things, as well as new source material from which to draw and adapt. I will include the six elements my creed already contained first, so it is easier to gain a clearer view of the foundation being laid. Because they have been adapted from other sources, there have already been extensive explanations for most of them. I did add brief ones of my own after each point though, so their relevance to my beliefs are more obvious. The first is to be careful what you do. There are always repercussions to thought and actions, whether you see them immediately or not. The second is, to be careful whom you trust. History is full of stories of people who trusted people they shouldn’t, and because of it, suffered innumerable horrors. The third is simply not to use power to hurt other people or yourself. Similarly, number four is what you send out, comes back to you. Three and four then would fall into the sphere of, “do unto others as you’d have done to you,” but are divided for clarity. Number fives states, that to use the “power,” you must feel it in your heart and know it in your mind. Early in life, I saw evidence of an innate ability in humans to have power over their surroundings by will (called magick by some), but you must have desire in your heart, and the knowledge in your mind, for your will to perform correctly. The last of the six I brought to this assignment is not to evangelize. Everyone can, and will, find the path that is right for them. I don’t believe it is practical to believe that one religion can be the “way” for every person on this planet, and if one is meant to find a certain faith, belief, or doctrine, they will find it, without my interfering. With the groundwork now laid, we proceed to the choices of elements gleaned from the newer sources. There are five, but because they come from such diverse areas, it may require more explanation for their integration to be fully understood. The first of the new elements tells us that our dharma, our destiny, is ours to fulfill, and that we should not have qualms about fulfilling it. We each have our place in the world, our reason for being, and should not allow our thoughts or actions to stray from the path set for us. I thought this was important because we so often question what we know we should do as individuals, because we are concerned with how others might view us, or how it may not be considered the “right” thing to do. In the case of Arjuna, in the Bhagavad Gita, this dilemma was stronger than any we might ever come up against, a matter of allowing his family to wage war on one another, but we all have the wars that wage within us when we stop to consider how to proceed in crucial matters. The second of the newer tenets was included to serve as a reminder. So often human beings pray to the divine for gifts, and even for the fulfillment of needs and wishes, but we forget to take care of those who may have larger needs than our own. Many times it is the wealthiest of people who pray the most, and yet they fail to look out for their fellow man. Even those of us who are not affluent are guilty of this “sin” though, and this portion reminds me that I have already been given a great deal, and that offerings of time, love, money, and service are the least I can do, for those who do not have as much as I have. It reminds me not to play the holier than thou role, because we are all subject to forgetting our brothers and sisters on the Earth, and to pray without giving offerings is false. The third of the newer creed additions is perhaps one of the hardest to remember, and one of the hardest to maintain. It is easier to follow your own path and to remember to look out for other people, than it is to speak out against injustice when it means potentially going against your own family and friends. In a strange way, this one hit me as being very close to my own heart, because I was reminded of the struggle those of us in the pagan community face every day. We fight for equal treatment under the law, a right we are supposedly granted already, but frequently find we must remind others we too possess. Because the community is so loosely bound, and our beliefs are so vast, it is hard to fight against the injustices we face as a result of ignorance and prejudice. I am what is referred to, as still “in the broom closet,” to my family, with the exception of my daughter and other half, so every time I vote on an issue to make sure justice is preserved for pagans, it flies in the face of what my family would consider correct. Every time I support a fellow pagan on issues of discrimination I am seeing that justice is upheld, but I cannot share the information with some of my closest family members. I have been doing this for about ten years now, and it never becomes easier, but the addition of this line in my creed reminds me I am doing what is right. The last addition to my creed signifies that when we come full circle, and whenever we perform an action, however minute, it is directly linked to the mind. As meditation is a vital part of my own religious practice, the relevance to my spirituality was easily identified. Within the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the portion I chose is spoken of in relation to meditation. Secondly, as I reached the segment of text I chose for my creed, the significance was increased for me, because one of my chief forms of deity since I was very young has been Athena. She is a goal-oriented Goddess, and unlike many deities who act first and think later, she relies on her wisdom to bring about desired affects. Her realm is the mind, and nothing can be truly accomplished, unless it has been thought through, with consequences considered. She appreciates this, and it is always part of her way, so that I felt compelled to place it last, where it would stay fixed as a point not to be forgotten as I enter ritual. This creed seems rather simplistic written down, and it is hard to fully express to someone not familiar with your beliefs on a personal level, what significance they play in your life. Perhaps by keeping them simple though, they are naturally more malleable and can be given deeper meaning through individual interpretation, made more suitable through various stages of life. Being simple has given the full texts lasting power, and I think this will prove to be a key factor in my own life, now that these portions are part of my creed.

Book of Shadows