PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

I do not claim to have invented the following concepts. As the saying goes, I stand on the shoulders of giants. But at least I'm bright enough to recognize when a teaching makes sense; and I feel privileged to pass these on to others. 

In my essay We Are All Spell Casters (May 2013 Witches&Pagans Newsletter), I presented the thesis that everyone who engages in intercessory prayer - be they churchgoers, coven members, healing circles, meditators or obsessive-compulsives - all share the same goal: to persuade Nature (or the God of Nature) to do what they want. 

The following is an article I wrote in May for the Arizona Yoga Community newsletter, discussing disagreements between the many different yogic lineages and seeking an area of Common Ground - which happens, coincidentally, to be the title of this blog. It occurs to me that the viewpoint I express here applies equally well to the recent bickering between the Pagan/Heathen communities. I know that hard liners will not agree with me at all, but this is the way I feel about it. And since this is my blog, after all, I'm going to lay it on you! - Ted Czukor, Theo the Green 

Sometime in the mid 1990's I was sitting in Carol Mitchell's Phoenix living room, complaining about the "un-yogic" way certain teachers presented their classes. I had been trained pretty narrowly by representatives of specific lineages. I thought I knew what was Yoga and what wasn't. 

There are some things I would never do today, though unfortunately I did do them the first time they were presented to me, when my limited life experience failed to guide me in making better choices. Since there is no changing what I did in the past - in this reality, at least - I take comfort in thinking that maybe I made better choices in alternate realities! 

When we're in the middle of an uncomfortable experience, we know there are several ways in which it could potentially turn out. We hope for the best outcome, but we are aware that "the womb of time" holds a range of possibilities. 

Great Lord and Lady heed our plea:

Relieved of sorrow we would be.

The more bizarre situations I witness in life, the more attracted I am to the philosophy that reality is a malleable jelly, existing only in the mind of the beholder. One writer in particular calls life a tale told by an idiot - full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. 

Here's a bit of magick for you. Do you have a deck of playing cards? Pick a card - any card - and hold it up in front of your eyes. Turn it edge-wise, till all you can see of it is a straight line. Look hard at that edge. Focus on it. Pay attention. 

Here’s a funny thing:  I had been a fan of initiations for most of my life - but never until my 60’s did I realize that every stage of my life was an initiation! 

I used to think that initiations were elaborately staged rituals like fraternity hazings, designed to teach certain lessons. They were very different from real life, since the neophyte was never actually in danger. They seemed to threaten deadly penalties, but if the initiate lost heart and gave up he was safely whisked out of the ritual space and deposited outside. He would never again be invited to join that organization, but at no point had his life or limbs actually been in danger.      

After years of trying various paths through the forest of life, I finally found the Triple Goddess - Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Her Hindu guises go by such names as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali, though there are many others. Celtic Pagans have our own names - Danu, Cerridwen, Brigid, Hecate, The Morrigan - as do all of the other religions; but it is not necessary for any of those names to agree with yours. The Goddess will assume the aspect you love best. 

I have always liked the metaphor that we are picking our way through a beautiful but dense forest, with as many areas of impenetrable gloom as blinding patches of sunlight. We never know what we might encounter around the next tree or boulder, and we proceed cautiously in case we need to back away and try another direction. We can't quite remember how we got here, or even where we are supposed to be going; but life is incapable of standing still, so we keep moving ahead.