1) Writing
The Pagans invented letters, writing, literature, fiction, fact books, even ink and printing press. Hard to top :-D
2) Surgery
Saves lives, and have been saving and improving lives since Pagans invented it a couple of thousand years ago. Pagans also invented the rest of medicine, or most of it. Thank a Pagan every time you go and see a doctor or take medicine.
3) Astronomy
and navigation, sailing, ship building, aviation, space travels, moon walk... all thanks to Pagans.
4) Democracy
The Greek had it, the Vikings had it... also freedom of religion, freedom of speech and practically all civil and human rights. Lovely things :-)
5) Tolerance
Multiculturalism, diversity, tolerance, openmindedness, curiosity, will and ability to learn... the Romans especially were amazing with their ability to adapt and adopt... Really, if you go to meet other cultures with the idea of that they are stupid, primitive and lesser wilds, you won't learn anything from them.
6) Drums
Frankly, Pagans "invented" all music, but drums are my favorite.
7) Visual art
Cave paintings might not be advanced, but they do engage you, even today... And the Greek sculptures... or Scythian sculptures. Or Indian sculptures, or Chinese or... well... most Pagan sculptures are amazing :-)
I fully appreciate the beauty of nature, but mankind has beautified the world.
8) Pantheon
or Newgrange, the seven wonders of antique world, Great Wall of China; or a lot of other Pagan buildings. Frankly, we have to thank Pagans for the fact that we have houses to begin with.
9) Animal husbandry
Thank Pagans when you pet your cat ;-)
10) Zero
and the principles of mathematics. But zero is... divinely beautiful in its perfection.
Also, Pagans invented the wheel, cooking, metallurgy and all the other crafts, agriculture, irrigation, laws and hundreds of other things. Heron inventor would be a reason in himself.
Also, mead. Claude Lévi-Strauss thought the invention of mead as a marker of the passage "from nature to culture".
If you appreciate ANY of these things in your life, thank a Pagan. ;-)
I am having problems with negative thoughts.
Why do some people think its okay to claim they appreciate honesty more than anything, but when you are honest they find it okay to punish you for it, by bullying, mocking, harassing and persecuting you?
Why do they think it's okay to spread unbased gossip about others?
Why do they think it's okay to claim your conclusions based on a couple of words and a lot of misunderstanding is the truth about other people?
Why is it supposed to be bad that you publish something negative someone said in public group in the same public group? And that is supposed to be MY offense against you, who said it in the first place? Why are you fully innocent to what you say yourself? I don't get it. I really don't get it.
Some people get a good reputation for something stupid, and then they are untouchable. You may not criticise them, you may not tell them they are wrong or did something bad, you may not point out the inconsistency of their words and actions, if you do, you get flogged, and your reputation for ever more is ruined, not because you are a damned besserwisser and "negative", no, because you are a "bad person", attacking a "good person".
If A does this and B does the same thing, the consequences should be the same, don't you agree? But they aren't. The consequences are totally depending on if you like A and B. Whether they have shown ability to think intelligently or not, whether they are honest and reliable or not, whether they have shown prejudices or not, whether they have violated all your ethical rules or not, all that is totally indifferent, the only thing that matters if whether these people are your friends or not.
No, not even that... whether you consider these people to be your friends or not.
How do you know someone is lying? They claim to appreciate honesty more than anything else. They say they hate liars. If you ask doctor House, he's say the person is a human being and alive. Most people lie, every third minute they say something untrue. Either it's a real lie, or white lie, or something they are not aware is a lie, but if you are a human being, you lie. I lie, you lie, everybody lies.
Another thing that is true for every human being is that everyone is a prejudicous and hypocritical. Everyone. If you are a living human being, you have prejudices of several things, some of them negative, some of them false. If you are a living human being, you are a hypocrite. You don't live as you preach, and you do preach. The biggest hypocrisy of it all is when you claim you are not hypocritical, that you hate hypocritical people, and when you justify your bullying, mocking and harassing another human being with "he's being a hypocritical, prejudicous liar". So are you. So am I. Everyone is.
Except perhaps those who never say a word, who never visit internet debate groups, who live by the "I'm full of it and I know nothing" motto.
But, as said, you don't see those in the internet (laughing out loud)
It would be better to be an honest a-hole and admit that you cannot be sure of that every word that comes from your mouth IS truthful, that you cannot be sure of that your assessment of each situation, your understanding of what others are saying or what they mean with their words, your estimation of your environment and your fellow beings, is intrinsically flawed and based on your beliefs, prejudices and experiences in your life, and anyone over 10 years has plenty of experience and misunderstood "learning" to tackle. This is called "a filter" and it gives its taste to every piece of input and output. That you do allow your prejudices, beliefs, what other people say about these people and all kinds of irrelevant things decide your opinion on this person AND what he/she says.
And how is it supposed to be something to brag about that you don't have the slightest understanding of privacy? Why is it supposed to be a justifiable reason to pick locks and hack other people's accounts and send spies to closed groups, that you think they MIGHT be saying something negative about you? I don't like you, so is it a surprise to you to know that I state I don't like you? Is it necessary information to you so that you and/or your friends could violate the rules of privacy? No. The only thing you have achieved by mocking the members of a private group for not saying anything interesting in their group is to reveal that YOU are an a-hole.
People believe it's okay to break an agreement, violate trust and tell what they found out in a confidential discussion to others, whether it is their friends, or enemies of their enemies...
People believe you can - and should - break any ethical rules for the sake of "friendship".
People think others have to EARN respect and forgiveness... but respect you give to others is the measurement of the respect you have for yourself, and you need to forgive to be free and able to carry on with your life, take back the power you gave to the person who "offended" you.
In the end, all this is irrelevant. The only person I'm hurting is me. The people who did all that to me don't give a dime about me, or the others they keep hurting.
It's just that I don't understand... but - I'm full of it and know nothing, and I'm pretty sure I have done a lot of things other people don't understand.
"Cigarette butts are the most common litter in the world. Even many decent people throw their butts thoughtlessly on the ground. Cigarette butts, however, contain thousands of chemicals of which several are toxic and carcinogenic. For example heavy metal cadmium is not degradable, but instead it accumulates in the food chain and comes back to people."
I also invite all crafters to create a pocket bin to be given to all smokers you see on the streets. It can be made of any metal or plastic case small enough to fit your pocket. In Sweden the plastic snuff boxes are perfect for this purpose. Decorate the box so that the smoker will accept it and use it.
Frankly, I am not that fundamentalist about wearing fur and leather.
I think it's not ok to have fur farms - growing animals just for fur - but sheep and rabbit fur - animals that are eaten - is 100% okay.
Also, food animal leather, like pig skin, kidskin, cowhide and such, is fully acceptable. If you eat the animal, you can use the skin/fur too.
Providing, naturally, that the animals weren't grown on a factory farm, but cared for during their life, and killed humanely and quickly...
I am aware that that is almost impossible in today's society, but I also consider us having a choice and therefore responsibility.
In a discussion about the "Rapture Day", a Christian woman asked "why doesn't the world laugh at any other RIDICULOUS religion?"
What does she know about "the world laughing" at other religions? Nothing. I am not Christian, and that has been used to ridicule my faith, my God, my opinions and my persona by Christians, Atheists and other people. So, dear Christian woman, "the world" laughs at everyone different from themselves. You don't need to be bitter about your faith being ridiculed. Just avoid those people and places where they dwell, and keep your faith. YOU know your God is not fake, invented, fantasy figure, or anything else people not knowing better claim, and that should be enough.
Also, the fact that you don't seem to be able to notice, see or understand that yours is not the only ridiculous religion being laughed at, is one of the reasons to why people mock people like you. You take yourself way too seriously and elevate yourself above other people.
Also, very few people representing other religions walk about bothering other people by telling them they are wrong, and because of that will burn in hell... Your God, your beliefs, YOU burn in hell.
But it's good that you acknowledge Christianity being a ridiculous religion.
"Why doesn't the world curse by saying "Budah dam*, etc..."??"
"God" is not the name of your God only, you know. You don't have the exclusive right to the word.
Also, Buddha was not a god. He was just an enlightened human being, who had a lot of good and interesting things to say about the world and people and how to live your life. It reminds very much of what a certain Jewish man is said to have taught some 400-600 years later.
"dam*" refers to damnation. It is in the Anglish society very much associated with Christianity. I don't recollect the concept of damnation existing in Anglo-saxon paganity... The expression itself is sort of a prayer: the one saying it is actually begging God to damn whatever "it" is - "May God damn it!"
"A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, 'curse' may refer to a wish that harm or hurt will be inflicted by any supernatural powers, such as God. "
- Wikipedia: Curse
So "the world" doesn't curse by saying "Budah dam*" because "the world" has been raised in a Christian society.
"Research looking at swearing in 1986, 1997, and 2006 in America found that the same top-ten words of a set of over 70 different swear words were used. The most-used swear words were fuck, shit, hell, damn, goddamn, bitch, boner, and sucks. These eight made up roughly 80% of all profanities. Two words, fuck and shit, accounted for one-third to one-half of them. The phrase "Oh my God " accounts for 24% of American women's swearing. "
"Oh my God" naturally are the first words of a prayer where God is asked to give the person courage to stand the situation or a prayer of thanking. Again, people who have not been raised in a Christian society (which is what the WHOLE Western world is, even when you might disagree.) don't swear by using that expression.
"THE TRUE GOD is known to be the TRUE GOD even by the heathen who deny Him. "
FYI, I am a Heathen and I don't deny the TRUE God, but I deny the divinity of any woman-born human, like Jesus, Buddha or Confucius.
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A Usonian guy doesn't think being impregnated during a rape is a big deal. While denying the women a possibility to plan ahead and prepare for such occasion by signing a specific insurance that garantees the abortion of such pregnancy, the guy simply tells women to "plan ahead". How, that he doesn't mention.
"My best friend was the child of a 16 year old's rape. She knew her attacker. You never knew pain and torture until you looked into her eyes after her mother beat the hell out of her for reminding her of her attacker. She wished almost every single day that her mother had aborted her since she never knew a mothers love. ALL because of a rape. My friend killed herself at 16. The same age as her mom when her mom was RAPED."
- Min, Care2
In my mind being forced to first carry a piece of your rapist INSIDE you for 9 months, then suffer the childbirth to then be forced to LIVE and provide for that piece of your rapist for the rest of your life IS a "risk to the life and wellbeing of the woman".
I remember the women raped during the Bosnian war, raped and forced to have the child... A lot of them did kill themselves. Some killed the child.
Also, I happen to believe in "soul". I don't know when the spirit enters the body, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't do so before the body looks like one. In some cultures the person is said to be born at the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg, but in some cultures it is believed that the soul might not enter the body before the child is a couple of years old.
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Slut-march? No, thank you. I am not a slut and I refuse to call myself so. What you call me is your choice, but if you call me a slut, I will consider you an idiot.
""a Toronto police officer's comments that women should avoid dressing like "sluts " in order to maintain their safety from sexual assault ."
No. I actually expect men to be able to control their lusts however women are dressed - or not dressed - and I know a lot of men who would not sexually assault a woman, to know that it is possible for men not to assault a woman. Frankly, if a man thinks a woman is a whore because of how she dresses AND thinks he can have his way with a "whore" without needing to ask her permission, he is an idiot who should be locked in for his own best.
To those people who think a woman is a whore because she dresses like one
- this person is not a police officer, even though he is dressed like one.
I know it can be hard to know the difference,
considering that the uniform has even the word "police" written on it,
and has US flag on it too.
Sure, don't take my word on it, but I strongly advice you not to take his word on it either...
Whores, as everyone knows, are people who provide sexual services as their profession - that means that ANYTHING sexual you do with a whore, you are expected to pay to her/him, and just as little as you can walk into a restaurant kitchen and help yourself, you can walk to a whore and "help yourself".
It is interesting that people who like to express the opinion on that "if a woman dresses like a ---, she should expect nothing but to be treated like one ", don't get how stupid that opinion is... and frankly, I haven't seen many others get it either. Next time, idiot, when you see a woman dressed like a ---, you should pay her for watching her. Or just shut up. What is it to you how your fellow human beings dress? And haven't you ever seen naked people? Buy a Playboy or something and help yourself, so you don't need to get so upset. Or watch some MTV.
Besides, how the heck can you believe it's ok to treat a whore like that? That it's ok to rape a whore? They are human beings too, and just as valuable as everyone else, and you need to treat them as well as you treat every other human being, you yourself, your children and parents, your heros and idols included.
Now - I don't think Carrie from Sex and the City is a fashion icon.
There is nothing sexy, classy, stylish, fashionable or worthy to be copied in this outfit.
The same goes with Christina Aquilera and Lil'Kim in the "Can't Hold Us Down" video.
That's just ridiculous. But I assume this is the style this police officer meant with "dressing like a slut".
The thing is that if I was a man, I wouldn't want a piece of meat every other man has already either seen or seen AND fingered.
Why do I assume these girls might be fingered by another guy? Because they ARE sluts? No.
I don't think they are sluts. Let me tell you a story.
A Swedish young woman was in a bar in Greece and someone put his hand into her panties... Now, I am not condoning that in any way, the guy doing this is a creep and sexually assaulted the Swedish girl, and nothing she did or worse excuses, justifies or explains his behavior. But -
if she was dressed even remotely like this, he didn't have any difficulties to assault her. This woman is SERVING her private parts for anyone to see... of course a creep who doesn't understand any better gets ideas.
Even though this woman can probably get away with it without being assaulted because she's Usonian in USA, and a Swedish girl would get away with it too, IN SWEDEN, in the Mediterranean countries the culture is VERY different.
I don't think ANY Greek girl would wear something this short, especially NOT with string panties - or no panties at all... You really can't tell - and NOT in a night club. Look at how the local girls dress and adjust your style to that. For your own safety.
I suppose some people think that just because one SHOULN'T be sexually assaulted even when wearing only a C-string and tassels, just because it's WRONG, then it WON'T happen either...
I don't get that kind of thinking. We KNOW the world doesn't always work as it should, but I suppose we have come so far in Scandinavia with the women's liberation, young Swedish girl doesn't understand the rest of the world hasn't caught up with us...
What I am saying is that to some degree I agree with the Toronto police officer. I believe a lot of women could have saved themselves from certain sexual assaults - like being fingered in a Greek nightclub - if they had been wearing something different. Always wear a pair of jeans when in a nightclub in the countries around the Mediterranean. Have your pretty minidress on top of those, but wear jeans for your own safety. Even if the creep gets caught and punished - which happens very seldom - it doesn't remove the experience. If wearing a pair of jeans can save you from it, heaven's sake, wear a pair, and don't be stubborn for the sake of principles!
(I am aware of the fact that wearing a pair of jeans won't protect you from being sexually harassed, assaulted, even raped, but it is one thing to be pinched through jeans and totally other to have someone's hand in your panties.)
Also, I am not recommending "modest clothes" to the whole world. If you like them, sure, but I happen to like high heels, corsets, generous cleavage and wide skirts above and below the knees. I have no problems with shorts, not even hotpants, or showing a lot of skin. Wear what ever you like. But if you dress like those four ladies in above pictures, don't be surprised when people tell you you look ridiculous, because they are telling you the truth.
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"This is a place for the creatures who lurk in the night, with a candle with them. This candle is Christ. This is a place for Christians who live among the darkness. The Darkly Inclined, people of the Gothic Society. This is a sanctuary like no other, one where we can be ourselves and not be ashamed. God made Goths for a reason. Why not be proud of his very excellent idea."
What? Uh... facepalm.
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I was watching this interesting documentary Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory where "Willie" was making "handmade chocolate"... The chocolate was roasted by machine, ground by machine, conched by a machine, tempered by machine, poured into moulds by machine and wrapped by machine. So... handmade? Regretsy would have a ball with his "handmade" chocolate :-D
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I read about people who had turned down a great role... and everyone thinks "poor sod!"... but I was also watching the ESC, and RedOne wrote a song to a Russian boy band... and I thought, that it's not the ROLE that made the actor, but the ACTOR that made the role. Like with Nigella Lawson and Annabel Langbein. They both have a very similar style of presenting the food they make, but when Nigella makes everything sound sensual, Annabel just irritates me.
I think it's great that the world is getting more and more aware of that:
a) if it's made by someone, it can be made at home, by you, in some form or another
all the beauty products are just chemistry and cooking, putting ingredients together in a certain order and doing things to them, and that is automatically, almost magically turned into something else.
b) keep it simple.
There is a lot of stuff, chemicals, in the "stuff" you smear on your skin, body, hair, teeth, and it's not good. If you wouldn't eat it, why would you want to smear it in your face?
(well, that reasoning doesn't always work, as I happily "smear" cat on my face, but I wouldn't eat it :-D I mean, I love to sniff cats :-) They smell so wonderful, and are so soft and when they purr... cat radio. my favorite channel .-) Makes me happy. But I wouldn't eat a cat. Also, I wouldn't eat soap either, how ever pure ingredients it's made of. But I brush my teeth with soap.)
When you make your own cosmetics at home, you know exactly what's in there and how fresh it is. Some of the products on the shop shelves have been standing there for weeks, months, even years. Brrr....
Today is April Fools' Day. It's 30 days to Beltane, the feast of feasts and song and dance and merrymaking and lovemaking...
I am going to post a similar countdown to Beltane as I posted to Ostara, and the same goes as for Ostara countdown; if you leave comments, I'll link to your blog, or if you leave links to an interesting page, I'll link to that.
I appreciate comments, it would be enough to just say ":-)" or "thanks for posting this", if you find it hard to express your thoughts. Just give me a little word to remind me I'm not alone. :-)
I was reminded of the difficulty of reading heavy posts, so I will be sharing the information into three: in this will be information relevant to household, living and general holiday information, myths and lore;
in Need More Fiber will be all crafts, daily ornament and such and
in Goddess Food will be all the recipes and menu suggestions, and Goddess information.
You might wonder about my choice of separator line? Christian?
No. This one is fully Pagan.
First, it's a sign of fish made with waxing and waning crescent of the moon, just like the zodiac sign of Fishes is. In that sign the two moon crescents represent two fishes and are back to back, tied together with a line.
The legend tells that Aphrodite tied her son Eros to herself so that he wouldn't get lost, when they were threatened by Typhon, transformed into fishes and swam to safety.
This fish sign is the Mandorla, almond shape, the shape of the vulva.
Fish is also the symbol of April 1st. Poisson d'avril, the April Fish, is what April Fool is called in France. The March-April issue of Marie Claire Idées is usually full of fishes made in different art and craft methods, and in France they give chocolate fishes to each other on this day.
Sounds like a much better tradition than the practical jokes version.
This fish is a sign for Beltane.
Kitsune - Japanese trickster spirit
"Tibetan thangka. This dakini is of high status, considered to be a Female Buddha. Her dancing power is iconic, repeated in almost all dakini images. Like Kali, she wears a garland of severed heads. In her right hand she holds a knife used for cutting away illusions, including the illusion of separate ego identity. With the dorje handle of the blade, using the butt, she shatters all mirrors of subjectivity. In her left arm she cradles a magic staff adorned with banners. In her left hand she holds a skull-cup filled with blood—hence the term, blood-drinking dakini. The five-skull crown signifies the Tantric principle of transmutation of the poisons of the five emotions (variously named): anger, jealousy, greed, hatred, and obtusity or denial. The dakini drinks these emotions ecstatically, for to her they are taste delicious and converts them into wisdom nectars."
Colombine-Arlecchina - the female trickster from Commedia dell'arte
It looks to me like the symbolical meaning of The Fool has been changed quite a bit during the years we have practiced tarot...
Nevertheless, the tarot Fool is an interesting card.
If you plan to take the Fool's Journey, you start it with a day of doing, saying and thinking the exact opposite...
When you are afraid of doing something, you should do just that.
When your inner voice tells you you are worthless, tell it it's wrong, you are very valuable and worthy, as there is not one other being on the whole universe like you.
When you notice you are looking down, look up.
If you "always" go right, go left this time.
You are The Fool. You have the right to look the people in their eyes and see them, really SEE them.
You have the right to do foolish and silly things, dare and try, experience and live the life like a child, as if you were seeing everything the first time.
If the stars were visible only once in every 100 years, everyone would gather out to watch the amazing show. Act as if they were visible for only tonight. If it's cloudy, you can repeat the experiment tomorrow, or day after that. It doesn't matter, because they ARE up there, every night. But you might not be around, so don't push until tomorrow what you can do today.
Except if it's boring. If you are not around tomorrow, no-one will care whether your dishes are done and your shoes in perfect order.
Nevertheless, these older Fools remind me of the Wild Man or Woodwose or the full-body Green Man, Jack-in-the-Green
and funnily enough... we are back where we started. You see, Green Man is usually accompanied by Sheela-na-gig... They are not especially connected, just themes used back at the time the first churches were being built, but they do accompany each other quite often.
