Flying with the Broom Friday

"Memes" are nice inspiration to write a blog entry, when the day arrives, when you don't know what to write about.

There's the Daily Meme, if you would like to know other "memes" around the internet.

Meme is not just "an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog" - it's a cultural building block, like genes are genetic building blocks, and "an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog" is just one form of memes. Memes are fascinating things :-)

One of the Friday memes is "Fruits of the Spirit Friday"

"Fruits of the Spirit" are "the nine visible attributes of a true Christian life";

“But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
-- Galatians 5:22-23

According to this, the majority of Xians are not Xians at all... I know what they say about not being perfect,  but in my mind this is not a question of being perfect. It really doesn't take that much to actually live up to these "requirements". If I, a Pagan, could do it, why not you, a Xian?


I am slightly offended by the idea that because of this quote from the Xian scriptures the Xians have claimed monopoly, the sole ownership of these qualities - as if no-one but a Xian can be loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, faithful, gentle and controlled... I know there are Xians who truly believe it to be so... doesn't sound loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, faithful or gentle to me.

I am a witch, and I am not quite sure I agree with who ever wrote the letter to Galatians. I wish there was a "holy scripture" of witches... it would make keeping this blog and the purpose of this blog so easy... (The purpose is to be one point of spiritual Pagan witches' internet community and network.)

The classical attributes of a witch are "flying on brooms, intercourse with the Devil, and meeting of demons and other witches at sabbaths"... Sounds "bad", huh?

But what is bad in this is that these words are used by people who don't understand what they see, and who believe they need to call other people and their traditions bad names to protect themselves from "foreign" influences.

* "flying on brooms" is to trust in oneself, trust in the miraculous world which is more than can be empirically proven and trust in Goddess - and believing in magic - trust and belief - faith;
* "intercourse with the Devil" is loving the Goddess and being faithful to Her, misunderstood by elitist, ignorant and arrogant fundamentalists, and
* "meeting of demons and other witches" - community - having healthy, social life; not isolating oneself and remembering that we are One -
* "at sabbaths" - attuning to the seasons and Circle of Life - enjoying and celebrating life.
All good things.

Of course, there are Scott Cunningham's 13 Goals of a Witch, which can also be used.

• 1. Know yourself.
• 2. Know your Craft (Wicca).
• 3. Learn.
• 4. Apply knowledge with wisdom.
• 5. Achieve balance.
• 6. Keep your words in good order.
• 7. Keep your thoughts in good order.
• 8. Celebrate life.
• 9. Attune with the cycles of the Earth.
• 10. Breathe and eat correctly.
• 11. Exercise the body.
• 12. Meditate.
• 13. Honor the Goddess and God.

I think it would be best to make your own list of the qualities you consider essential for a good life as a witch, and use them as "fruits".

Robin is very good with this kind of things, so I am going to adopt this meme and make it mine :-)

The purpose of this meme is to make me aware of what it is to live in Goddess and for Goddess, and how can I honor Goddess through my daily behavior, attitudes, qualities and deeds.
As you noticed, I said "according to this most Xians are not Xians at all" - how can I live so that the same cannot be said of me.
I am doing this for ME, not for anyone else. I am not doing this to show the world how "good" I am, but to show my traveling companions that you are not alone... I am just one of them, with bad qualities, struggle, good intentions, aspirations to become a better person... and perhaps, you - my companions - could show me that I indeed am one of you, just another human being, with the same kind of thoughts and doubts, reactions and conclusions - sometimes right, sometimes wrong...

Tips for writing these blog memes

* Trust in Goddess to help you with it. Ask for guidance and LISTEN to Her answer.
* Don't wait for Friday to start thinking about this. Decide already the previous Friday what the next Friday's quality will be, and keep your eyes and mind open all week through.
* Don't limit yourself to the prompt questions in this blog entry. They are there just to help you, if you find it hard to write. So be open for Goddess' suggestions during the week. ;-)
* Write the ideas, quotes and anecdotes down as you encounter them.
* Limit yourself to one quality a week.
* You don't need to do this on Friday, you know ;-) Write the blog entry when you can.
* This is not a competition. There are no limits in how much - or little - you write, how well you write, there are no rights or wrongs here - it's YOUR blog and YOU write what YOU want, think, feel...

Prompts

Which quality am I focusing on this Friday?

How do I define this quality? How do other people define this quality?

Robin's prompts are based on her experience of Bible study journaling and the idea of using the meme as a base to the journal, so she asks "how does the Bible define this fruit". We don't have a holy scripture, but as the Bible is said to be "God's word mediated through inspired people", I am going to try to find some insightful quotes instead. Goddess speaks through everything, so if you find a quote inspiring, insightful, well said, take it as Goddess' Word. (Even if it happens to come forth in another spiritual tradition's holy scripture ;-))

How does this quality show in the everyday life? How does it affects others in my surroundings?
How does the LACK of this quality show in the everyday life? How does it affects others in my surroundings?

How do I know someone possesses this quality? Do I possess this quality?

Is this quality common or generally missing among people in my life; my family, friends, relatives, acquaintances?
Is there someone who is an especially "fine example" of a person possessing this quality?
What brought these people into my life?

Is there someone "famous" who expresses this quality or lack of this quality?
Is there someone who used to "have it" but haven't anymore - or didn't "have it" but has it now - and what changed it?

How can this quality be reached/developed?
How could I show more of this quality in I?

Is there a quality I find hard to reach or express?
Do I get misunderstood/misinterpreted? How? What could I do to change it?

Is there something that makes it harder to express or possess the quality?
What could be done to encounter that?