The Pasque Flower

Delicate, beautiful

One strain is pink. A blessing to
man to aid in sleep, to Ease pain

One is blue ... mans bane
as it's deadly poison ... cyanide

I wonder who was the first
bold medicine woman
to take the plunge and
try the blue pasque flower
and paid for the simple knowledge
I just gave you, with her life


Most Real knowledge and
understanding
cost something to someone,
to bring it to you
*
Very seldom do we consider how
bold our fore mothers had to be
to gain such information
and not just ages ago Either
*
The last generation before us is
owed much thanks for their
boldness and the paths they
paved for us

So what am I getting at here..? :)
A Challenge to you .. about
Our Right to Be Pagan
*
Because to Many,
we are still blue Pasque flowers
Dangerous and deadly..
not a blessing
*
We have the chance to prove for all time
We are a benefit, not a bane to
mankind as was once commonly
believed
*
Ok .. you say.. uh huh.. yeah right..

HOW ? :)


Here's my short version
of a potentially LONG list
of how we can help others
Respect our Right to be what we are....
Even if they don't agree

I know I espouse caution on many things
Like on my page of IN or OUT ?
*
But these things we CAN do .. NOW..
and perhaps if we do such ... enough
caution will not be needed
Ever Again !
*
:For Openers:

Get organized..
Start a Group .. Network.. get to
know each other..
even if its just one on one
if that's all that's available to you.
But share what you know
Work out some guidelines
for yourselves on how to
make a place to stand .. for us all
(I have a couple groups of my own ..
see the front page for Yahoo groups
and belong to many more......)
*
We work so hard
to gain our understanding
then.. tend to keep it to ourselves,
even from each other....why ?
*
Where it makes sense,
( IE your not gonna
get bashed in the head for it..)
Speak up.. !
*
Tell people your Pagan and Proud of it..
yes I know we do not sermonize ..
nor should we
but that does NOT mean
we don't talk about it
if the discussion or action
is about faith..

I know people
who wont even cop to it
on their hospital admission cards...

LIke the intake personal care
what you put there..?

I mean,come on what kind of Priest
do you want ,if things go south on you.. ?
*
I'm not talking about trying to convert
anybody ..If one is meant
to find the path..
they will find it.. period
*
But, we can at least admit to being
Pagan in the places and spaces
it makes sense to say it.. like on the hospital
card,Your Dog tags.. your info card in
your wallet,take
your pick, just like anyone else
does for their faiths
*
Like me for example:
I get a chance to speak all the time..
When people see my
ministers Card in my wallet
when I open it to show ID for credit
cards and checks at the store
*
Almost to a man
if they notice at all ... they ask
Oh? Your a minister..? What Faith?
*
And I tell em ... you bet
with a large variety of results
when I do
*
If often means standing there
a few minutes and explaining
to them that .. yes you can be
Pagan and an ordained
minister... :)
*
I have been challenged
Very vehemently on this one,
but they do come away with a
changed point of view or
at the very least,
a challenged one
and they ASKED me for
the information...
*
Did I set them up? No..
sheer accident on my part,
or the Mothers hand :)
*
But when I discovered this
happening
over and over

I didn't bury the card
in my wallet Either
*
If that card does nothing else.. ever...
it will have served good purpose
to my mind
*
As it gives me a chance
to educate one more person once
in a while, that we are real people,
of faith and devotion
*
Let others see we are ordinary people..
the same person we were 5 seconds
before we said it..
Not some dangerous OR odd person
as we are often envisioned,
but a devout person of faith

Because news people,
they still don't know us...!
*
I can't count the number of people
who ask "what the heck's a Pagan?"
Just because it's on my Profiles
on Yahoo/AOL/MSN ... and hail me
just to ask me.. !
*
They literally do NOT know
what a Pagan is..
that makes me go mmmmm ?
*
They have managed to
not learn anything about us?
( which to me just means
we have work to do )
*
Or if they do ...
What they know is from someone
playing dungeons and dragons,
with our religion !
*
When you find someone
"playing" at being Pagan
and giving us all a bad name
correct them if you can..
*
I know this ones hard but
give it a shot people it's OUR
reputation that builds or falls by these
so called Pagans.. Who, by their very
loud natures ,
get attention called to themselves
the wrong kind !
*
We all know that there are
such persons who
through ignorance,which is curable..
or stupidity, whose cure is debatable..
who do this..who claim to be Pagan
when they have clue ONE!
*
And in the case of some of them
Nor do they intend to get a clue
*
They call themselves Pagan
just to shock the parental units
or other authority figures
or it's the COOL thing to be this week
*
They have no idea
what being Pagan is all about
or the real Pagans they hurt
with their foolishness
*
Even among the Pagan,
who are supposed to
be the real deal
who dont bother to
to study what it's all about
*
And instead, play themselves off as
the high and mighty so and so...
and are getting off on a power trip..
that's got nothing to do with the faith
*
Or the ones who are blatantly sexual in
public or with their coven members,
just because they think they can,
claiming right of faith to excuse
their otherwise socially unacceptable
behavior, completely forgetting
the quest of the spirit,
which is what its supposed
to be about
*
Im not talking moral judgments here
I don't care whose zooming who.. :)
I am talking the ones
who claim Pagan as their faith,
just so they can play these games !
*
And we and the world
are the audience they play to
Shun them and have done
with it. Or pay the price
of being associated, the choice
is yours.
*

We are an independent bunch
which is our strength..
but it's also our weakness
We are not organized..
We have no plan
for gaining our rights !
*
I for one do NOT plan to lay down
and do things
the common way..
just to gain acceptance
*
But we must take a stand
and let the world know
we are the pink flower of blessing
not the poison of the blue bane
*
Its up to you to think
of how you can help do this.. :)
Im doing my bit.. what's yours?

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