Back We Go
1 - Many Christians practice magic in every Mass they attend. "Drawing Down" Jesus into the "Body of Christ". Calling his blood their salvation? Feasting on his body. Are we talking erotic or simply morbid? Pagan rituals, as with Christian ones, are filled with symbolism. Pagan offerings though, unlike the Christian one, do not go near representing body and blood, rather earth and water in the form of bread and wine/juice. These gifts we offer to the Gods as tribute of our faith in Them and Theirs in us. Our Magic is usually done within the circle as a Christian practices within their church. Those that claim otherwise are not true Pagans of any tradition. What we see here is Mr. Morey dealing with those of his own faith that use magic to get ahead (commonly known as Christian Witches). True Pagan, as with true Christians, can accomplish most anything, with faith behind them and trust in the Gods. The drug, alcohol, sex and such offenders are statistically 89% Christian, not Pagan. In fact, had Mr. Morey done ANY research at all he would have known that those things are against our faith as they harm the body.
II - I would ask what pantheon his relative follows – Most psychic healers are Christian (78%), looking for a quick buck. To get rich quick. If her husband is sick he is supposed to be. To change this by magical means would altar his karma and ultimately harm the healer as well. She probably tried this now she is sick too. The law of return will win out every time. Her magic is not supposed to make her rich, but rather to better the world around her through dedication and ritual to the Gods. In this way we all get rich, in faith, love and peace.
Mr. Morey seems to forget that we are - in the end, human. With the same trials and tests of our faith as any Christian. If he says he is NEVER bothered by outside influence, he is lying. Or the most boring of the Gods' creatures on the planet. Or perhaps he is not human, an alien perhaps? Or is he claiming to be a God?
III - We see magic in everything we do. For instance, making a suggestion to someone and influencing their actions thereafter is a form of magic - mind over matter. The Christian mass is full of magic. Prayer is magic - a request made to attain change. We call it Ritual for Change - an intention made to the Gods. "Drawing Down" their Jesus into the bread and wine to blood and body is a magical invocation. A Christian reading their bible is drawing the "power/magic" of the words into their being. We do this as well when we meditate. Someone tell me how magic is not good when there is magic all around showing the beauty of the earth, moon and stars.
A - To say, "There are no moral absolutes" is to give an absolute. YES, but not a moral one. What one person considers "moral", another may not. For instance the abortion issue. Many of those having one are Christian, they are making a moral decision based on personal choice, not a preconceived absolute. There are no moral absolutes.
B - The dear Mr. Morey forgot the first part of the statement - "An it harm none, do what thou wilt" that is the whole of the law. For only one tradition does this Rede apply, that of the Wiccan Pagan. For those that follow the Rede in it entirety (everyone), makes everything else Mr. Morey said ridiculous.
C - First, no Pagan ever says there is no evil, we simply do not believe in satan. We know there is evil, just read the paper. However, show me a true Pagan that calls the Christian religion as a whole evil. Individuals are evil regardless of faith, according to their personal wants. THAT is how Pagans believe. Satan is a Christian being, not a Pagan one.
D & E - Pagan do not ever tell a Christian they cannot do and believe as they wish, merely that they respect our rights to do the same. It is only when the Christian begins to harass and lie about our faith, that we tend to get a tad testy.
F - Mr. Morey states that we say it is wrong to judge and condemn others. Is he not doing the same through this letter of lies? Is there not a Christian dictate of "Judge not lest you be judged?" Or "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?" I would say, if he sees us as condemning and judging Christians, we do so because we are condemned and judged by them before ever getting a chance to speak. Only the Gods have the right to judge.
IV - What Mr. Morey failed to mention, perhaps because his paper lacks any real research, is that Pagans of every tradition believe there is "magic" in everything around us. Magic is reality - in the trees, grass, people, flowers, rivers, lakes, mountains and fields. THAT IS REALITY !!!
G - As a Christian precedes action with prayer, so the Pagan precedes action with ritual. We live and work and we ritual for the best results in each and every action. Like a Christian prays to be thin, Pagans ritual for the same goals and diet to aide the request. The same with getting rich and working to aide that request.
My suggestion to Mr. Morey is that he perhaps talk to someone other than a child playing with a new toy. Much of this letter sounds like a young Christian playing with magic. They call themselves Christian Witches, and like Messianic Jew's, are a contradiction in term.
H - Modern Witchcraft, or Wicca, as many Christians are want to lump them under the same name, are but one of many traditions in Paganism. There are the Celtic, Druidic, Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Babylonian and Polynesian traditions as well, among others. All of these pre-date Christianity by several thousand years. An example of this is Stonehenge. Used by a people called "The One," they were polytheistic worshippers that saw the Gods in everything. Used the stars to tell the future and did ritual for change. There are also MANY cave drawings depicting a multi God society dating back to just after the Ice Age ended.
However, Wicca is relatively new. Conceived by Gerald Gardner in the 1930's, it was the tradition that sparked many others to come out of the closet and practice in the open. But then the Baptist, Lutheran and others are also very new Christian traditions, the Catholic tradition being the oldest at 1540 years old. A baby really in the history of the world. While Paganism is the oldest faith on the planet.
I - His brother-in-law would have done better to stay put as Mr. Morey did. The average wait for a parking space is 15 minutes. Mr. Morey merely followed the laws of averages, listened to his God in staying put rather than wandering. His brother-in-law did not listen to the Gods and chose to do what he thought best. Mr. Morey is just a better listener, not necessarily more blessed than anyone else within the Gods presence.
J - This question has already been answered. Mr. Morey obviously has a problem considering the things around him as magical gifts of even his own God. A God perported to love the beauty in all things. The "magic" of creation.
K - I did an actual survey of 3 local mental wards and found that 87% of those there called themselves, Christians. Many went so far as to say that they were "Christian Witches", that would make them Christian's playing with ritual, not Pagan. They were people looking for a quick fix, never looking past the surface of the magic to the necessary belief below. Preconceived ideas from the cradle would have inhibited their hearts to the guidance of the Gods we name. Beliefs from the heart. A soul divided accomplishes nothing. Listen to the Gods calling and be They calling you to Paganism, Christianity, or another faith, always be true to Their judgment and guidance.
L - Again, Mr. Morey has not spoken to many Pagans of any tradition. Why would we fear what we call? He seems to confuse us with the Christian's Satanists. We do not believe in satan, we do not believe in demons or any real personification of evil. We believe that individuals are evil according to their own wants and greed. We call on our Gods in ritual, and so have nothing to fear. Our Circles are akin to a church, our charms (Pentacle/Pentagram) are as the cross to a Christian. Our Guardians are the way we mark our sacred space, the boundary between our ritual and the real world. Like the walls of the Christian church. I would love to know at this point, what Mr. Morey is so afraid of.
M - We don't use the Pentacle and Pentagram for magic and ritual. Like the cross, it is just a symbol of our faith. And as we do not believe in much less summon demons, protection is unnecessary. Perhaps Mr. Morey is again drawing eroneous conclusions and confusing Paganism with the Christian Satanist. The Pentacle and Pentagram are five pointed stars with each point standing for something. These are: earth, air, fire, water and Spirit.
N & O - Mr. Morey seems more and more a paranoid schizophrenic as we go on. And again, he is confusing Paganism and Satanism. We have no need to sacrifice anything as the Gods do not require death for our love of Them. However, the Christian's satan believers do on occasion use blood. They are, however, strictly a Christian thing, not a Pagan one.
As for sex magic - this is used by couples desiring to have a child or done during the Great Rite, to show the physical union of the God and Goddess in marriage. As a result, any logical person could see that sodomy and animals would have nothing to do with it as couple desiring to have children would be looking to have human children, not kittens. The Great Rite is never anything other than a beautiful expression of the love the God and Goddess have for each other and us. No violence or blood there either.
P - If the Christians believe magic is for losers, no wonder they spend their time killing the trees and polluting the air. Most see only what they can possess, forgetting that these things are gifts from the Gods. They see the money involved, not the beauty and magic of an object.
As for Crowley, his background was more Satanic than Pagan in nature. He mixed and matched what he liked of each faith he looked at and promoted himself rather than his faith.
Mr. Morey is lying through his teeth about any coven sending demons after him, either that or his rather active imagination took over his good sense throughout his letter.
Q - Again, Mr. Morey's fanciful imagination has no basis in fact. Paganism is a faith based on love and peace. We ask only that our faith be given the same respect that Mr. Morey expects for his.
As for revealing secrets - it is done all the time. If he would have pulled out anyone of the thousands of books on the market, that fact would have been made clear to him. NEWS FLASH - the authors are ALIVE!!!! Imagine that ??? Those that are dead, reached that circumstance under natural causes, old age for instance.
R - Pagans do NOT believe in the need for forgiveness, as sin is not a concept we adhere to. There is comfort and love among covens and a perfect trust. With the Solitary, their love is found within themselves. Our salvation is found through our worship of the Gods. We love Them and honor Them. They are always there with us.
S - The devil is a figment of the Christian mind. A concept conceived during the Dark Ages to scare the ordinary person into conversion to the Jesus faith. As for the bible, Christians do not seem to be able to remember that that book was written by men, many years after the death of their Jesus. The Jews claim very little actual truth in the OT, rather they are parables to live by. The NT is claimed as the words of Jesus by those who never knew him. In fact lived several hundred years after his death.
The bible is full of magic itself - what are miracles and answered prayers but an individuals magical relationship with their God? Prophesy in the bible is a form of magic to exact change in the world around you. Christians claim the bible tell the future - prophesy. Mr. Morey seems to be speaking a good deal out of both side of his mouth with no real knowledge of his subject.
Our worship is both beautiful and empowering. It is a wonderful thing to be Pagan. But then, if your heart is called to be Christian, than that would be a wonderful thing as well. The tenets of your faith are supposed to be love, through tolerance and peace, we will see love. However, we must take the first step.
Okay, let's get real, shall we? Christianity IS Paganism in a different form. They perform magic and practice Paganism (perhaps unwittingly), through prayer, group prayer (often in circles), songs, candles, icons, crossing themselves, having MULTIPLE GODS (hmmmm 3 they claim, plus thousands of saints they pray to. A saint for everything, no less. Simply a new form for old Gods), invocations at mass, offerings (though theirs are rather morbid - I mean, who wants to offer blood and body, much less have to actually eat it), miracles, even their holidays are Pagan.
Yet we see so many, like Mr. Morey, denying we are alike. Or perhaps they are afraid that we are alike. More than they wish to admit perhaps as they have spent their lives hating and would then have to admit they were wrong to hate and kill their brothers and sisters regardless of what the name of our faith is.
Unlike Mr. Morey who does not list his e-mail. I would invite you to e-mail me and sign my guest book with any comments you may have about this letter as well as any other portion of these pages you feel the need to comment on.
I have had an overwhelming interest by my Christian visitors for their chance to speak and be heard here on my page. Some responses have been quite interesting and very tolerant and educational. I invite you now to read the input from one particular Christian, whom I've had the great pleasure to be in communication with: Hitman's Input . There will be others posted here, by both Pagan and Christian. I invite now, anyone who wishes to be heard, please e-mail me with your words. I will see them posted accordingly.
© 1997 silverphoenix@cybergal.com
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