religion
How religion plays into corporate culture and office politics.
Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
Once upon a time there was a girl who was different from a lot of people she knew. Now we all know that is how the stories usually go. Mine is a bit different. Since an early age, I never really fit into any type of box. Not just my appearance, but the way I thought about things. Religion being one of those things. Now I know what you are going to say, 'Another person trying to convert people'. Yeah, that's not me. I just wanted to share my experience on how I became a Wiccan who practices witchcraft. Before you ask, yes there is a difference. Wicca is a religion. Mostly it is one motto, "Harm none, Do what ye will". Kind of like the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take. Wiccans believe in using the energy of the elements: Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Spirit. The five points of the Pentacle. Yes Pentacle. Pentagrams are upside down and used mostly by Satanist to scare people. I never could understand the ardent faith that some people have with organized religions. I have read all of the Bible, though it has been sometime since I did, and I have researched other religions too. None of those religions ever made me feel faith. That is until I was introduced into Wicca. All my life weird stuff has happened. From seeing or hearing ghost to thinking something was going to happen and it actually happen. I have written before about dreams and experiences I have had. Some of it happened even before I could give it a name. Now I am a practicing Wicca for the past 27 years. At times, I have questioned my faith. I think there is always a time in which your faith comes into question. How much do you believe? How much faith in the powers that be do you have? During one of these times, I found Wicca. I'm a Gen X child. So naturally my generation wanted to explore new ideas. A friend of mine began reading about Wicca and the craft. Partially because we were inspired by the movie The Craft. I know it sounds ridiculous but, hear me out. It was a bit of an eye-opening experience. I started dabbling a bit with my abilities. One of the things I was always good at is my gut feeling about people. I call it my traffic light. People I feel I can trust are green. People to stay away from are red. People who fall in between are yellow. Those are the people you really have to be around more to get a better feeling for. Yes, I am right 9/10 times. There are only a few times when I can say I was wrong. Mostly with the yellow people. A gut feeling is more of your internal alarm system. Hence the reason how I found Wicca. No other religions could explain the way I was feeling, the things I was experiencing. Then a friend of mine told me about reading a book about Wicca. She lent it to me, and I began to explore. Everything I was going through began to click into place. The way I was thinking and what I was thinking all started making sense. Now Witchcraft is another thing that I began to experiment with. Using simple spells along with my will (intent) behind it. I began to notice that I was making things happen. There was never a question or doubt in my mind about either Wicca or Witchcraft. The only doubt that ever plagued me at the time was whether I was doing the right thing. Yes, I did dabble in the darker side of the Craft as well. To experience both sides leaves one with a respect for the Craft that you hadn't before. To really know the highs and lows of the Craft is to test both sides. That is where true faith lies. To know you can help or hinder anything in your life. That changes a person. Your level of respect changes your perception of the Religion and the Craft.
By MaryBeth Calahorrano3 years ago in Journal
The Halcyon Effect
A moment of clarity, though this one transcends what you’ve come to expect of them. Colour more vivid. The light is different. Above all, a sense of change prevails over the perspective. It is as if the lens has focused in. Now, this sensory phenomenon (For sensory it is, though it also seems to transcend any of the senses) may occur in a relatively mundane period of life, it is normally associated, at least in my experience, with periods of life that touch are soul, and periods, whether we know it or not at the time, which will form our future self. The beginning of a new relationship usually. It is as if an obscuring film that takes the lustre out of the everyday is lifted, revealing the world in its true splendour.
By Harry Hunter Baxter3 years ago in Journal
Breath into Her
They tell me to breath life into her, but that's what I'm afraid of. They say "Maybe you're not healing from the past, because you're trying to be who you once were, and that person is gone. There is a new, strong being, trying to be born. Breath life into her, and let her come forth."
By Josie Del Valle4 years ago in Journal
What Makes Us Believe In God
I thought to share this story because people often ask me to tell them my story of how I came to believe and about religious conversion because I converted to Islam as a teenager. I thought that I would share how I came to believe in God in this article and another time tell the story about how I came to convert to Islam.
By Aisha Mohammad4 years ago in Journal
A New Voice
Sometimes a voice wants to find itself without looking in the mirror. I was like that once. I felt like my voice had been stolen from me– a few times, in fact– because I refused to look at it in the mirror or acknowledge its semi-tragic existence. Around me there were other voices and I shopped around a bit. Peering through the handprint-plastered windows, I tried to adopt the voices I saw around me because I refused to look at how broken mine was.
By Bianca Wargo4 years ago in Journal
Best Books for Youth Ministry: Lessons for Christian Youth
Youth in today’s time has been misguided and misinformed about their own self and on the ways to seek for peace and solace. The search for the solutions has been going on for decades and while there has been no consistent answer for solace, books keep being the ultimate escape into a world of our own, of our thoughts for many a times. Hence, the best books for youth ministry designed and authored by lessons for Christian youth includes ways of discussion, topics derivative of the needful discretion needed to find answers to one’s questions about life and beyond how to incorporate healthy ways of communication with the masses and being accepting of other’s thought processes and needs and wants.
By Lessons for Christian Youth4 years ago in Journal
Prep Day
There is a tradition among my circle for Fridays. On Fridays, we are supposed to prepare our homes (and ourselves) for Shabbat. What this looks like for most people is scrubbing the house, getting rid of the daily clutter, making sure everyone in the house has done what they are supposed to do, and prepping food.
By Anna Kringle4 years ago in Journal
