Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Path of the Christian Witch : Review and thoughts about the topic: Book One

This was a very interesting book. One that I actually wish I would have purchased a hard copy of instead of the kindle version. If I get some extra money I might still do that.  I have found so many aspects of this book to ring close to my thoughts and feelings. So many things I want to discuss with you all. So many things that I have thought for ever and so many more things that I have been brought to my awareness and things that I will forever think of differently. I will have to read this book again and take more notes just to make sure I take in the full lessons that this book can teach if you are willing to listen.
With this being said I wish the book was a little more organized. Sometimes I am not sure if she is a third year or a first year or has not even started that part of her life yet. But you can figure out most of this before the end of her stories it would just be nice to know up front. There are alot of extra stories so you do kinda have to stay focused sometimes to make it through the story to see why it is being told. I would much rather focus on the straight info and the learning parts of some of her stories. But that being said she also really explains in detail her stories so you can visually be there with her. Her thoughts about church and about being a Christian witch are also well put. I did have a problem with her infuses on the Wiccan Rede's most important aspect "An ye harm none do what ye will" she said how important it is to her and how she lives and breaths by it but yet she eats meat...She takes life...
I have learned alot from this book and I am glad that this is the first book I purchased and read to start my year off. It has opened my eyes to some of the ideas I have left in my past and now wish to dive into with open arms and an open heart and with new understanding. Thank You Adelina St. Clair for helping me with untangling some of the issues I have been stuck on for a while and showing me there is a way.
There is also a really nice simple grounding medication that I really like. She discuses other rituals as well as giving 10 for daily life at the end of her book.

Thoughts 
Is it possible to be Christian and Wiccan at the same time? I have been pondering this idea for many years and have never come up with a totally conclusive answer. But this book has helped me bring some of my thoughts to a head. It has taught me many new things about Christianity and some things about "being a witch" which is what she talks bout in the book. She never uses the word Wiccan so I will use it in my own thoughts.
At an early age I had always felt that church was a politically charged, hypocritical place and have never really been interested in actually sitting through many sermons. I feel alot of preachers, priest, ministers, etc, have there own agenda and I don't always feel it is taken straight from their teachings from Christ. But I don't just mean straight from the words in the bible... The bible I feel is man made. It was written by men and though it does have some meaning to me its not the only thing I look to.

I think this book has put exactly how I feel out in words. I am glad to know I am not the only one who feels this way.

From: The path of the Christian Witch

"I had made a clear distinction in my mind between the church as a political institution and the teachings of Christ. Often the two did not match, and I felt no obligation to follow the dictates of a church that did not follow Christ's teachings of love and humility"

"make a split in my head between the political institution and the spiritual heritage that is Christianity. It strengthened my resolve to discard whatever bigotry was diffused by the church and to focus on the core of what it meant to be Christian."

" Politics and social propaganda obscure the spiritual core of Christianity. There are so many denominations and so many beliefs, rules and dictates that divide us as Christians. These rules have very little to do, as far as I am concerned, with the Christian faith itself. Jesus himself rebuked those who followed the law blindly, without consideration for what was right and loving." 

I feel that god is love, compassion, understanding, the teacher of all things, and the ever knowing. But I don't always get that from a church. I have never went into a church and had a peaceful feeling that that is were I am meant to be.  I don't mean that I don't belong in church at all I just mean I haven't found that specific church that gives me peace in my heart yet. But with the run ins with Christian "attitude" that  I have had I don't believe I have been looking for that church either. I do believe many people, and myself, are put off by the over powering since of entitlement Christians seem to carry around with them and the attitudes that they are somehow better than everyone else just because they go to church on Sundays... With of without a church god is always there as long as your heart and mind are open to him.

From: The path of the Christian Witch

" The kingdom of God is inside you, and it is outside of you. Split the wood I am there. Turn the Stone, and you will find me. ~ The Gospel of Thomas~ Part of the Nag Hammadi Library

With that being said about why I don't attend church I will say I pray every day. I speak to my lord  whenever I need him, when ever I want to give thanks, when ever the I need patients, whenever I need strength. I speak with him often.

More Excerpts that spoke to me from The Path of the Christian Witch

"I started to look at my parents through adult eyes. They were wonderful, generous, loving people. But they were human. They were the sum total of their own life experiences- experiences that differed largely form my own."

  • This except caught me because sometimes we all argue with our parents, friends, significant others, etc. Sometimes we don't take this simple concept into perspective. I try to. I know I don't always. And I know most people are a product of there environment and that means you must take this concept into perspective and learn from it. But this being said I don't believe you have to be a product of your environment either. 
  • Example #1: I grew up eating meat and being taught that that was just a part of life... I am a vegan now... 
  • Example #2: John grew up in a very strict Christian church going house hold that also ate meat and had some other issues. But that hasn't stopped him from having his own opinion about church, the bible, God, and spirituality in general and the fact that he doesn't go to church anymore or even really believe everything that was force fed to him while he was in church. As well he is a vegan too. His child hood was very ruff and he didn't let that stop him from becoming an awesome, understanding, loving, caring, responsible, dependable, trusting Man.
  • I feel like some people use there environment growing up as an excuse for the way they act. But in all truth they can change that if they really want to. But most people stick with what they know even if it is self harming. Such as anger, drugs, unhealthy life styles, etc.

But I do think it reins in true for alot of people.

"I wanted to feel connected to the universe and worship the sanctity of nature. I wanted to feel the rhythms of the earth and walk the world in pure awareness."

  • This to I churn for. The universe, nature, and god are all of one and with out them we are nothing. I feel we should respect all of nature. God made this place for us and we should respect all of his creation. 

"an elderly Jesuit once told us that studying was the greatest act of loving kindness one could ever practice. You never know when something you've read or a skill you've learned may help someone else in their time of trouble."

  • I totally agree with the above statement.

" The more we interact with nature, the more we realize that we are not separate from it. We are an integral part of it. We are not a ruler caste put on Earth to control and dominate. Our planet lives according to its own cycles and rhythms"

  • Again Totally agree... alot of the time I here people make comments that we are the dominant species and its our right to do this or that... But behind those words I hear no respect for nature, no being a part of it... Only trying to dominate over it. I wonder how long the planet will sustain with such arrogance and disregard.

"Jesus taught us about love and simplicity, about listening within and not following authority blindly."

  • Again I feel many people do follow authority blindly or are forced by that same authority to follow it. Just because it is a law or being enforced doesn't make it right. It doesn't mean you should do it... 
  • Example #1... BSL Laws... Breed Specific legislative- These laws are going into effect all over our country and they are disgusting. In some towns and citys all Pit Bulls (or other breeds that are listed on the bill, Normally PitBulls, German Shepards, Rotts, Pinchers, etc. But mostly pits.)   are being euthanized just because of their breed. And any dog that looks like a Pit bull even if the dog is or is not will also be euthanized. 
  • Plus just because the majority does it... doesn't make it right either and that its trend across our nation..

"Christian Witchcraft is first and foremost a state of mind. It is the acknowledgment that I alone am responsible for my spirituality. It is a way of reclaiming my faith and incorporating it into everything I do."

Although for one reason or another I have always been interested in Wicca but at the same time have never ritualized. But I probably have brought some of the beliefs into my Christian beliefs. I do agree with the above statement. I myself am reclaiming my faith and learning through life what spirituality means to me.

"In Italy, the cross did not stop when you touched your right shoulder. You then brought your hand from your heart to your lips and sent away a kiss, to be lifted on the air all the way to the Lord"

  • Although I am not Catholic and was not raised Catholic I have always Crossed myself. I don't know why. I have always done it in privacy and the only person who knows I do it is my husband. I have just always been drawn to it and feel better after I have done it in respect for god. For the last couple of years after my Amen I have also blown a kiss. So When I read this it spoke to my heart and I have since changed to crossing and blowing a kiss and I feel it in my heart and it feels good.
What frustrates me about the book as well as Author..

" During the class, our teacher, who was a vegetarian, mentioned something in passing that really stuck with me. He talked about the food we eat and how that retains the energy of its experiences. This includes the people who have manipulated it, processed it, and prepared it, as well as the actual ingredients we use. It dawned on me how important our food was in sustaining us and that we were ingesting energy."

She speaks of using Reiki to bless the food. Then she goes on to say a little later that:

" This is particularly important for the meat we eat, as it retains a bit of the trauma of its death"

  • "A bit" If it is going to retain trauma it is going to retain alot of it!!!! Does she not know what these animals go through to be put on her plate? How their lives are nothing but misery and there deaths horrific? Just to satisfy to selfish urge. 

This is the blessing prayer she says over her meat....
" May your sacrifice be honored through my actions"

  • Honored how by her sticking the meat in her mouth and chewing it??? Then swallowing it and going back for another piece of  the beings chard flesh??? 

Further back in her book she speaks of the Wiccan Rede which I have always liked and held close.

"An you harm none, do what you will"


"We breath life into this law with our every thought and action. We are the well-being of all that is.


Really and you still eat meat because you are not harming any one? anything? any being? the environment?

"Our Ten Commandments warn us about concrete things we may do to harm others. They all fall well within the Wiccan Rede. It even extends further in the sense that it does not limit itself to loving your brother and sisters. "Harm  none" also includes yourself, your environment, all aspects of nature, the Web of Life that connects us all. It is simple and non- Negotiable."


(In this paragraph she was also talking about how many rules /laws there are in Christianity and how that one little phase from the Wiccan Rede covers it all. I am just saying this to inform you on the rest of this paragraph.)

  • Exactly NON-NEGOTIABLE... 
  • Clear through the book she speaks of how Christianity is so hypocritical... But then right before the end of the book she states one of the biggest hypocrisies that I think the Christian society has... Eating Meat... and on top of that she follows the Wiccan Rede as well so Hypocritic on both sides...

"And ye harm none do what ye will"
"Thou Shalt  not kill"
  •  With these two simple easy to follow statements it condemns it in both religions. How Christians and or Wiccans are killing and eating animals and ok with it I will never know...
This is the short Wiccan Rede. There is more to it But
 this is the specific part that has been discussed here.

This is the rest of the paragraph form the selection above





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