Demons in our Mist

Sabrina over on One Witch's Wonderland did a poll on if Pagan's believe in demons. Her results are that most Pagans do believe in some form of Demon.

Several years ago I met a woman that was constantly saying she saw demons during rituals. She'd step in front of people to "protect" the person if she saw a demon ready to attack.

Unfortunately this story isn't unique. Lots of other people have met this type of person. They are obsessed with demons and trying to protect the ones they love.

I think those who say they constantly see demons are honestly misguided. Maybe they are afraid of spirits and believe all spirits are inherently evil. This is not accurate.

What are Demons

Please remember this is just my opinion, and I'm certainly no authority and am not trying to change anyone's views.

To me Demons are spirits who have lost their way. There is a natural cycle for a spirit. They live their life, die, and are reborn again. This cycle repeats until hopefully they achieve spiritual enlightenment. But what happens if the spirit is unable to achieve spiritual enlightenment?  For whatever reason, I believe there are some spirits who are not able to achieve any kind of spiritual enlightenment due to their own faults. So in their own misguided way they become Demons with their own agenda.

I don't believe there is a horde of demons led by an ultimate evil bent on the destruction of man kind. I don't believe there is a demon lurking around every street corner.

I do believe there are many spirits, and not all of them are ready to accept a spiritual existence.

What about you? Do you believe in Demons and what are your view on them? 

PBP: Death

I've been pretty uninspired by the letter D. So I guess I'll just fall back on a simple topic and see what becomes of it.

Most people fear Death and I suppose I have a healthy dose of wanting to live just like everyone else. But I don't feel that we should avoid death at all costs. I have respect for those who know they are dying and don't put their whole family in major debt just to live. I wouldn't want my final expenses to run into the many thousands just to die anyway. I understand the want to live, but honestly is it worth spending thousands of dollars for 1-5 more years of life?

Then there's the thought that nature has her own time table. I'm not saying we should never take medicine or cure illnesses and disease. But at some point you have to realize death is inevitable. Isn't prolonging the inevitable a fools goal? It is to me.

What about you? If you were diagnosed with a terminal illness with no hope of a cure, would you strive to seek any treatment to delay death no matter the costs or would you enjoy the time you had left?

The Pagan Afterlife

This is my first post for the Pagan Blog Project.  For the letter A I'd like to talk about the Pagan Afterlife. I've already discussed my Thoughts on the Afterlife. But this isn't a repeat of why I believe in reincarnation or what the meaning of life is. I'd like to delve into how we picture the afterlife to look. Is it a meadow where we can run around picking daisies to our hearts content? Is it a vortex where we meet our lost loved ones? Is it a bridge with rainbows? How do you foresee the afterlife to look, feel, taste, smell? Is it just like life? Are we always happy or can we be sad there too?

Ultimately we all must answer these questions ourselves. And I don't believe there are wrong answers because I believe our perception is what dictates our reality in the afterlife.

My perception of the afterlife is just a group of friends sitting around a table talking about what is important to us. Helping one another and working a little witchy magick when needed. Perhaps in the afterlife instead of helping one another we'll be looking down on our descendants and helping them. Whatever the afterlife is, I hope it won't be a boring meadow. I really hate daisies.

Mortality

Death is no more than passing from one room into another.
Helen Keller

This week I can't help but to think of my own mortality. My mother came close to leaving this world on Thanksgiving, and it's really brought home that I'm not a kid or young adult anymore. We can leave this world at any time. Our actions or inactions will decide our fate. 

Death to me is just a transition to a new place. I neither aim for it, nor wish to avoid it at all costs. It simply is. That said, I don't believe on putting the peddle to the metal and speeding toward it. Yet, isn't that what my mother has done by living an unhealthy lifestyle for 60 years? She's ate what she wants, however much she wants her entire life. And that has led to two heart attacks on her 60th birthday. She is healing btw, but we still do not know how much damage to her heart was done.

I certainly don't want to spend my 60th birthday in the hospital fighting for my life. Yet, what am I willing to do to avoid it? Well I need to go back on the diet I started last year. And somehow work in an exercise routine. It would help tremendously if I had my own space! That way I could control what kind of foods are in the household and how the food is prepared. Here there is a table with way too much temptation and loading foods with fat is just how it's "suppose" to be. It's hearty food and delicious. It's just way too tempting to pile a lot of food on our plates and gorge oneself.

And then we come to our activity, or lack thereof. I am self conscious of exercising with people present. I've tried before and I'm just too shy. I always feel like people are judging me. That's why I liked when I joined Curves last year because IF there were people there, it was all women with "real" bodies. Not stick thin or beefed up with muscle's like some other gyms. Most of the time though I could time my visits where the area was mine alone. I went in, sweat my bottom off, and left with none there to witness. Maybe I can check into joining a YMCA or something. I thought about it before but I didn't have transportation. 


I know one thing, if this week hasn't taught me anything else, it's that I don't want to be my mother.



 

31. How do You Wish To Be Buried?

~Magickal Graphics~ Happy Halloween and I hope everyone has a blessed Samhain! I thought I'd talk today about how you wish to be buried once you reach your final end. I know death isn't often a topic people wish to discuss. I know I don't want to dwell on it. But all must come to an end, and that end is smoother sailing for our relatives if there is a plan made. I admit, I don't have a will. And I'm not sure my husband has any idea what I really want. But now that I'm publishing it here, its certainly going to be available for all to read just in case.

I use to say I didn't want to be cremated. I mean witch equals big burning fire! Hello? Didn't my ancestor get similar treatment? OK well bad example, she was hung. But somehow burning my body had less appeal. But then I thought about it some more.

Cremation has a long history. Historians believe it started approximately 3000 B.C in Europe.**Source It was only with the early Christians that we begin to see burials become popular.

So here is how I want my burial to go. When I die, I do want to be cremated. But I do not want an elaborate urn or a big funeral. I want those people who mattered most to me to scatter my ashes to the 4 winds and 4 elements. Keeping only a small vial of ashes for each person to carry with them as the 5th Spirit element. I'll leave my family to decide exactly where to scatter my ashes. But I would like them to visit a different state for each direction.

• In the North, Somewhere in Ohio. My ashes should be mixed with Earth and left in the corn fields my husband all too often teases me for loving so much.
•  East can be somewhere on the East Coast. My ashes should be mixed with sea water. Because in life I may not be able to visit the sea, but in spirit I will visit often.
•  West, well I won't make them go to the coast, but as far west as they'd like to go. Just reach a high point, and let air carry me away.
•  South, my old Kentucky Home. Build a fire somewhere in the woods with my ashes. Roast some marshmallows, and hear me laugh and dance around the fire.

And I have a poem I'd like them to read aloud.

Do Not Stand at my Grave

Do not stand at my brave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am the thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on a ripened grain,

I am the gentle Autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning rush,

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

This is apart of 31 days of Samhain

 

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