Life on this planet: Wiccan Myths and My Scorpio Mars

March 1st last Thursday was the anniversary of the start of the infamous witch hunts in 1692 which ultimately led to the murder of the witches in Salem. There is a reason why I titled this blog "....and My Scorpio Mars". When the Scorpio Mars in my chart kicks in, it is when I state strong opinions even if it means stepping on some toes, and I am about to step on some Christian toes.

Several sections of the Church may have taken significant strides in areas of sexual orientation, racism, other faiths, even the treatment of Jews, etc..... but when it comes to witches they are still in the dark ages. The Catholics may have apologised for their treatment of the Jews, as shallow and half hearted as it was, but at least it was 100% better than what those of the Wiccan faith could ever expect from them. The same superstitions that led to the murder of witches all those centuries ago are still held by the church today, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Evangelical, in other words, pretty well all of the Church.

Ironically the popular caricature of "wizards" stems from the Christian observation of Jews. The long beards typical of wizards stems from the Jewish practice, especially of Rabbis, of growing beards in accordance with their religious laws. The black robes and caps are in reference to the dark robe-like attire of Jewish Rabbis. The stars and moons on the robe stems from the Jewish calendar and Jewish holidays. The calendar is based on the lunar cycles, the Jewish holidays determined by phases of the Moon. The stars are in reference to the Jewish links between the holidays and the Zodiac. Each month is governed by an Astral sign, basically a sign of the Zodiac, and the holidays are in synch with the Zodiac. For example, the first month on the Jewish calendar, the month of Nissan around the start of the Northern Spring (March/April) is given the Astral sign of Aries the Ram. Passover falls during Nissan and is centred around the lamb. No coincidence here!!!! The Church had often accused Jews of engaging in witchcraft and was one reason why it has been open season on Jews by the Church.

While the persecution of Jews stems from the charge of deicide - the murder of the Christian God, Jesus Christ, Christian persecution of witches stems from a direct passage in the Bible, found in the Old Testament, "Suffer not a witch to live" or variation thereof. This effectively justified the murder of witches, mostly through the dark ages, but also continuing into the so called "enlightenment" ages, and even into modern times.

The Bible today is an English translation from the original Hebrew and Greek texts, and not always an accurate translation at that. Indeed many of the cherished doctrines of Christianity stems from mis-translations of the Bible, the distortion and failure to discern context. The Bible was first translated into English during the 17th century, at the height of open season against witches. This affected the insertion of the word "witch" in certain parts of the Bible which in reality does NOT describe genuine witches.

In fact the word "witch" is often translated from the Hebrew word which means "poisoner", meaning, a person engaging in the administration of poisons and using them to murder their enemies. This is the basis of another Wiccan myth, the common caricature of old witches adding such things as the eyes of newts and the wings of bats into a cauldron of boiling water. Witches does not engage in such practices, in fact, we deal with various herbs and spices used for healing, which evolved into modern day cooking. Indeed many witches has a "kitchen witch" figurine in their kitchen, in fact I have one in my kitchen, celebrating our links to cooking up healthy dishes with healing properties.

The Greek word (in the New Testament) translated as "witch" is the Greek word "pharma". It is where we get the term "pharmacy" which are stores that sells drugs. Dealing with drugs was akin to dealing with poisons. So technically, if the Bible is to be believed, then your local GP would be described as a "witch" for he deals with drugs, he gives you scripts for the purchase of certain drugs from Pharmacies as a means of dealing with sickness and disease. Wow hospitals are full of "witches", the docs and nurses who gives drugs to patients!!! Real witches often seeks out herbal alternatives to these man made drugs from Pharmacies.

Now the Christian mythologies and superstitions regarding witches and others of the Pagan faith. I won't deal with all of them as it will take the next 20 blogs, but will spare you by dealing with just one - the myth that witches are Satan worshippers who actually worships Satan. There is one nit picky problem with such a superstition. It is somewhat difficult to worship someone whom you don't believe in!!!!

Wiccans.... and Paganism in general.... does not believe in a specific opposite adversary to God that is the devil or Satan. Indeed the word Satan is not found anywhere in Pagan thought. Satan is a specifically Judeo-Christian word, later adopted by Islam a religion that stems from Christianity. Indeed all of Islamic sharia law are found in the Christian Bible, some terms are altered eg Allah instead of Yalyeh or Jesus, the actual laws however are identical. Ever noticed the similarities between Catholic Nuns and women in Islamic dress??

And no, Satan is NOT the "horned god" of some Pagan modalities. In fact there are absolutely no Biblical record of Satan ever having horns. In fact if anything, Satan in the Bible is portrayed as an ANGEL, and well, angels does not have horns. The word "Satan" simply means "Adversary", so is nothing more than an angel whom for some reason decided to become an adversary of God. To my knowledge, no one has ever grown horns nor a tail for that matter just be being someone's adversary!!

To be sure there are references to "underworld" gods in Paganism. The over riding difference however is, Paganism deals with many gods and goddesses, and none are either 100% good nor 100% evil. In other words, there is no duality in Paganism, indeed in any other faiths. And even the idea of "worship" in Paganism is different. While Christian "worship" involves 100% submission to a Deity at the expense of self, Pagan "worship" is more to do with an equal working together with our many deities, indeed no different to dealing with our friends and families.

Of course I can't speak for all Pagans, for it is indeed a many splendoured faith, with so many different modalities and ways of doing things. There are no organised groups in Paganism in the same sense as there is the Church. We have no Pope nor any other "holy man" who rules over large sections of the faith, and no major organised groups beyond perhaps local groups in specific areas tied to specific local customs.

Nevertheless at least the majority of witches and Pagans in general does not engage in "worship" in the same sense of Christians. And we certainly DO NOT worship "Satan" since we don't even believe that such an entity exists!!!! Rather difficult to "worship" someone whom we don't believe in!!!!!!

And no we don't turn people into toads even if there are certain people whom we would like to turn into toads!!!! Certain politicians comes to mind without naming anyone in particular!!!!!

Finally..... "witch" is a gender neutral term. Both males and females of certain crafts are correctly described as "witches". The term "warlock" to describe a male witch is a Christian term dating back to the middle ages meant to further demonize witches. There are no "warlocks" in Paganism.

OK rant over...... at least for the time being..... no apologies for my Scorpio Mars!!!!

Now I got that out of my system....... here on a slightly happier note......

This time next week I will be at the Airport waiting for a flight to Melbourne, the first leg of my very long journey to the distant lands of Mexico. You know you live in the most isolated city on Earth when you travel the world, even to the east coast. So this may be my last blog until my trip, though I will try to get another blog in before I go, which means, it will be earlier. At the very least I will give the link to my FaceBook page covering this trip, where photos and stories of my trip will be uploaded regularly throughout my trip.

Finalizing plans for my Mexico trip during this final week, even if not all will be necessarily planned, but as per my Virgoan intent, I like to plan as much ahead as possible. Mexicans however are not Virgos!! The Mexican way is not to book ahead on most things, at least not as far ahead as we westerners!!! Of course there are notable exceptions, such as the flights within Mexico. But as far as buses and ferries goes, for the most part they prefer for us to just turn up at the station on the day, with most travel sites assuring us that these services are rarely booked out, and even if one service is by some extreme unlikely instance is booked out, the following service is often only a short time away. Even the tours you can book only just one day ahead.

And in a lot of cases I won't even go on tours to these ancient Mayan sites, pyramids, etc. There are often bus services to at least the larger and more popular of these sites, so I will just go on my lonesome giving me much more time to explore at my leisure. The tours are often rushed and too structured for my liking, and the "free time" given by many tours are scant and often not long enough to enable me to explore the whole site. For example, Chichen Itza is much bigger than one can explore during the scant two hours we were typically given as "free time" to explore. In fact I needed to go on TWO tours of Chichen Itza to enable me to see the whole area at my leisure, and even then I struggled to keep within the two hours - given that even if you are just five minutes late, the tour bus leaves without you potentially leaving you stranded!!! I didn't know back then that one could simply catch a bus to these sites, but now with the benefit of hindsight, there are indeed buses to the more popular of these sites. Some I will still need to go on a tour just in order to get there, but then these are typically smaller sites anyway which doesn't need a lot of time to explore.

My main focus in these last few days has been on the Mayan Goddess called Ix Chel. Many of the Mayan sites are in honour of this Goddess. Indeed this time I am visiting the ancient ruins of Palenque, often referred to as a special sanctuary of the Goddess referring to Ix Chel. This time I am spending only one day in Cancun, and I will be spending that day on at least one of the two islands off the coast, both sacred to the Goddess Ix Chel. I won't have time to visit both islands, in fact one of them involves a two-hour trip to the south by bus to get to the ferry terminal and a further hour on the ferry making it a three hour trip each way. As with most things in Mexico, one does not book ahead on the ferries, you just turn up on the day. Ferries to the islands runs every 30 minutes to an hour into the night, so plenty of time for me to explore the island and work with the Goddess energies of the island.

Ix Chel

Indeed it turns out I do have a special connection with Ix Chel...... I may go into it another time..... but it does involve one of my past lives as a Mayan on the Yucatan. Indeed I am actually going back to my "homelands", it was why I was so drawn to the area, and why I was so drawn for a return trip. I usually like to visit as many countries as possible, but in this instance I was drawn to go back to Mexico, specifically to the Mayan Yucatan area, rather than visit another country, albeit to visit sites on the Yucatan that I did not visit last time, mostly on the western side. Last time I was mostly on the eastern side, the vicinity of Cancun. This time most of my time will be spent at Palenque and Merida, both on the western side.

Last but not least, the imminent changes in my job stemming from the retirement of my colleague due to leave us at Easter time, when I will be on my way back from Mexico. Most fortunately this weekend is a holiday weekend, so only four more work days to go..... four more in my old role. My return from Mexico will be something of a baptism of fire, as I will be thrust into my new role!!!!

Now looking forward to a nice day off work tomorrow........

Tempting...... hehe.....