Incense Magick: Art & Ritual of Incense

Incense fanatic Carl Neal walks you through the joys, wonders, and science of making and using natural incense. From making your first basic cone to creation and use of elaborate incense rituals, Incense Magick is your guide to the sometimes secretive world of incense and incense making. Every article explores different facets of incense, incense making, ingredients, rituals, tools, or techniques.

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Pagans: Dotting the "I" in Diversity?

 

Like many of you, I celebrated the Supreme Court decision that has effectively legalized same-sex marriage throughout the USA.  While the Pagan Community is a wide-ranging and diverse group of people (and we have generally embraced members of the LGBT Community in contrast to many other groups who have stood in opposition), it is worth remembering that there are socially conservative Pagans who might not have celebrated quite as much.  However, the majority of our Community seems to be on the more liberal/progressive side of things.

 

I was thinking about this recently when I saw a bumper sticker.  I imagine most of you have seen the “tolerance” bumper stickers where each letter on the sticker is formed from a different religious symbol.  If you look closely at the classic tolerance sticker, you will see a tiny pentacle acting as the dot over the letter “i”.  I have always liked that placement.  We are a very tiny minority religion in the USA, so I think it’s awesome that we are remembered on the bumper sticker.  I also think it is appropriate that we occupy this placement.  Dotting an “i” is symbolic of finishing a task, including the small details.

 

I recently saw a similar bumper sticker that said “diversity” and was likewise made up of various religious symbols.  Upon close inspection I saw that, once again, there was a pentagram dotting one of the “i”s.  Now that, as a community, we continue discussing Pagans of Color and Pagans with physical limitations and the challenges they face in our Community, as well as discussing non-Celtic Pagan paths in a more open atmosphere, perhaps we truly are “dotting the i”.  It is my hope that we will continue to push our own boundaries and comfort zones and explore the diversity of humanity, that we will embrace those who are often excluded.  Let’s face it, many in our Community have come here because we are willing to accept those who may not be embraced by the larger community.  This type of diversity will only make us stronger as a community and will continue to lead us down new, unpredictable paths of spirituality.  I hope that we continue to embrace diversity and never hide in shame or fear from difficult topics of discussion.

 

Congratulations to the LGBT Community for such a huge victory.  You fought a long time, and there are still more fights to go, but every success in the LGBT Community teaches valuable lessons for the future leaders of the Pagan Community.  Pagans are decades behind the LGBT Community, but the lessons learned will help us to continue to embrace our diverse roots in the coming decades.  That is, as long as we remain committed to explore the diversity of spirituality that can be found among our ranks.

 

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  Carl Neal has walked a Pagan path for 30 years. He is a self-avowed incense fanatic and has published 2 books through Llewellyn Worldwide on the topic. For many years (and even occasionally these days) he was a vendor of altar tools and supplies which led him to write The Magick Toolbox for Red Wheel/Weiser  

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