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Pastor Gives Powerful Speech At State Capitol

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Con-sort in the Sea with the Other Gods

Brief Breakdown of Paradiso 1:

1-3 A statement of Paradiso's guiding intellectual theme: the coexistence of unity and difference, the One and the Many

4-12 The poet, where he has gone and the difficulties of recounting what he has seen

13-36 Apostrophe to Apollo

37 The "story" begins: setting of time of year and place, the vernal equinox and the Earthly Paradise; Beatrice looks at the sun; Dante's experience is like that of Glaucus; the coinage "trasumanar"; St. Paul's raptus; more light and the pilgrim's first expressed desire to know ("disio" in verse 83), a key plot driver of Paradiso; Beatrice solves the first doubt and generates a second: "ma ora ammiro / com' io trascenda questi corpi levi" (But now I wonder how my body rises past these lighter bodies [Par. 1.98-99])

103-end Beatrice's reply does not stoop to answer only the specific question, but goes back to first principles: the order of the universe, how all created being (the Many) returns to its Maker (the One)

The Commedia gets harder as you keep reading. Dante is quite explicit about the challenge that he poses to the reader in Paradiso: at the beginning of Paradiso 2, he tells the reader to turn back to shore, lest we get lost as we follow him onto the watery deep.

One of the difficulties of reading the Commedia is that as we go forward the textuality becomes more seamless, less divisible into nice narrative blocks. If you look at the Appendix on canto beginnings and endings in The Undivine Comedy, you will get an idea of how much harder it is to mark formal transitions in the second and especially the third cantica. In general, "plot" gets harder and harder to pinpoint. At the same time, we should make an effort to look for moments of "plot" in order to orient ourselves in what Dante himself will call, in the next canto, the "pelago" (ocean) of his text.

I offer a brief breakdown of Paradiso 1 into narrative units in order to aid navigation through the seamless pelago of text - the watery deep of poetry.

The first terzina of the Paradiso foregrounds "the paradox of più e meno", as in the title of Chapter 8 of The Undivine Comedy: "Problems in Paradise: The Mimesis of Time and the Paradox of più e meno". The paradox that Dante tackles is how "more" ("più") and "less" ("meno") - in other words, the reality of multiplicity, difference, the Many - can coexist with the One. I use "difference" as Dante uses it ("In astratto significa il 'differire' tra due o più elementi" [Fernando Salsano, Enciclopedia Dantesca, s.v. "differenza"]), and much as St. Thomas uses distinctio: "any type of non-identity between objects and things. Often called diversity or difference" (T. Gilby, Glossary, Summa Theologia, Blackfriars edition, 1967, vol. 8, p. 164). In other words, as is apparent from the discussion of time and difference in Chapter 8 of The Undivine Comedy, my usage is essentially Aristotelian.

In the opening three lines of the last cantica Dante offers two contrasting metaphysical realities. Verses 1 and 2 highlight the all-encompassing and borderless unity of the One who moves all and whose light penetrates the "universo" (a word whose etymology stresses oneness)[1]. His glory penetrates the universe, in other words it penetrates everywhere, and yet it shines "in one part more and in another less" (3):

La gloria di colui che tutto move
per l'universo penetra, e risplende
in una parte più e meno altrove. (Par. 1.1-3)

The glory of the One who moves all things
permeates the universe and glows
in one part more and in another less.

The prosaic third verse of the opening tercet, easily passed over when compared to the simple magnificence of its predecessors, is nonetheless crucial. Verse 3 introduces us to the irreducible reality of difference. The universe receives God's light not equally, but differently, some parts receiving more and some parts receiving less: "in una parte più e meno altrove" (3). The first tercet is essentially a miniaturized creation discourse, the first of many that stud the first cantica, providing some of its most glorious poetry.

The theme of how the One and the Many - oneness and difference - coexist is the great theme of the Paradiso. This coexistence constitutes a paradox. It is the very paradox captured by Christian symbolism in the Trinity, which is both one and three. Dante's meditation on this paradox will be our guiding thread through the arduous philosophical and theological problems that lie ahead, and through the difficulties of representation that beset the poet of the third realm.

* * *

At the beginning of Paradiso 1 we encounter the basic textual building blocks of Paradiso: moments of "plot" (what happened) are interspersed with the poet's claims that he cannot recount what he saw - the "ineffability topos" - and with prayers and invocations for divine help in his arduous task. The textual building blocks are thus basically:

1. sections of "plot", what happened to the pilgrim; the moments are increasingly difficult to locate in the pelago of words

2. plot also includes the long explanatory discourses that are offered by Beatrice and other souls whom the travelers meet

3. various tropes that interrupt the narrative's forward push and insist on the difficulty of the task: the ineffability topos (e.g. the poet telling us that there are no words for what he saw); prayers and invocations for assistance in recounting what he saw

These narrative elements are immediately present. The second terzina introduces plot by telling us that the narrator reached the highest heaven: "Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prende / fu' io" (I was within the heaven that receives more of His light [ Par. 1.4-5]). The same terzina also introduces the impossibility of recounting what he saw ("e vidi cose che ridire / né sa né può"):

Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prende
fu' io, e vidi cose che ridire
né sa né può chi di là sù discende . . . (Par. 1.4-6)

I was within the heaven that receives
more of His light; and I saw things that he
who from that height descends, forgets or cannot speak . . .

The third terzina potently reminds us that the journey that we have been tracing in the Commedia is the journey of desire, and that it is the nearness of the goal that results in the failure of memory:

perché appressando sé al suo disire,
nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,
che dietro la memoria non può ire. (Par. 1.7-9)

for nearing its desired end,
our intellect sinks into an abyss
so deep that memory fails to follow it.

In the above terzina Dante also introduces us to another key trope of the Paradiso: the coniugatio of will and intellect. Let us consider the following question: Who or what approaches "its desire" in the phrase "appressando sé al suo disire"? Our intellect - "nostro intelletto" - is the answer. Our intellect, as it comes closer to its desire, plunges in so deeply that memory fails to follow. The intellect desires. And the desires of the intellect drive the plot of the Paradiso.

Prayers for help in this arduous poetic undertaking do not take long to follow. In Paradiso 1.15 we encounter the first of many prayers, in this instance to Apollo, to whom the poet turns for literal "in-spiration": Dante uses the verb spirare here as he did in Purgatorio 24, where he defines himself as one who takes note when love breathes into him: "quando / Amor mi spira" ( Purg. 24.52-53).

The invocation to Apollo introduces as well the first of many Ovidian analogies in the Paradiso, the canticle where the great Latin poet of change and transformation comes into his own. Here Dante refers gruesomely - reminding us of the linkage between vision and violence that I discussed with respect to the Ovidian dream of Purgatorio 9 - to Apollo's "unsheathing" of Marsyas from his body, in a kind of terrible ec-stasis:

Entra nel petto mio, e spira tue
sì come quando Marsia traesti
de la vagina de le membra sue. (Par. 1.19-21)

Enter into my breast; within me breathe
the very power you made manifest
when you drew Marsyas out from his limbs' sheath.

The story-line as we left it in Purgatorio 33 is resumed in Paradiso 1.37, where a lengthy astronomical periphrasis alerts us to the fact that, when Beatrice looks up at the sun in verse 46 of Paradiso 1, it is mid-day in Purgatory. In other words, when we begin the first canto of Paradiso, the pilgrim is "physically" still in Purgatory. This failure to execute a complete transition is markedly different from the transition between Inferno and Purgatorio.

The avoidance of a complete transition between Purgatorio 33 and Paradiso 1 reminds us that this universe is predicated on a binary between salvation and damnation, and that Purgatory is already the realm of the saved. In a fundamental way, then, Purgatory and Paradise are linked experiences, while Hell is utterly disjoined from them.

The avoidance of a complete transtition between Purgatorio 33 and Paradiso 1 also simulates, textually, the "thickness" and thus the seamlessness of reality - of being - that Dante more and more strives to conjure.

Let us return to plot. Beatrice looks up at the sun in verse 46. The pilgrim imitates his guide in verse 54 and looks up at the sun as well, which results in his seeing a doubling of light. He then looks back at Beatrice in verses 65-66.

This spiraling dialectic between Beatrice and everything else in Paradise will be fundamental to how things "happen" in Paradiso: vision is triggered by the dynamic whereby Dante first follows Beatrice in looking upward, then looks back at her, then looks upward again, and so on.

What happens now as a result of looking at Beatrice - "Nel suo aspetto tal dentro mi fei" (In watching her, within me I was changed [67]) - is that Dante experiences a transformation that takes him literally "beyond the human": "trasumanar" ( Par. 1.70). This extraordinary coinage, "tras" + "umanar" (a verb made from "umano"), signifies "to go beyond the human" and is typical of how Dante-author works in Paradiso.

Here, where Dante is trying to describe the indescribable, he does not simply give up. Rather, his inventiveness knows no bounds. In Paradiso therefore there will be many coinages. Dante will make new language.

And Dante will use Ovid. Here the "essemplo" - example, analogy - given by Dante to help us understand what it is to experience trasumanar is that of the fisherman Glaucus. In Ovid's account in the Metamorphoses, Glaucus plunges into the sea upon eating the metamorphic herb that transforms him into a sea-god:

Nel suo aspetto tal dentro mi fei,
qual si fé Glauco nel gustar de l'erba
che 'l fé consorto in mar de li altri dèi. (Par. 1.67-69)

In watching her, within me I was changed
as Glaucus changed, tasting the herb that made
him a companion of the other sea gods.

This is the point at which Dante "leaves" Purgatory and "goes to" Paradise. You see what I mean about how you need to pay close attention to finding the "plot" in Paradiso.

Does he go in the body or not in the body? St. Paul, Dante's biblical model for raptus (again, see Purgatorio 9), states the question in this way:

Scio hominem in Christo ante annos quatuordecim, sive in corpore nescio, sive extra corpus nescio, Deus scit, raptum huiusmodi usque ad tertium caelum (2 Cor. 12:2)

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.

Dante echoes St. Paul:

S'i' era sol di me quel che creasti
novellamente, amor che 'l ciel governi,
tu 'l sai, che col tuo lume mi levasti. (Par. 1.73-75)

Whether I only was the part of me
that You created last, You - governing
the heavens - know: it was Your light that raised me.

Dante makes evident throughout the Commedia that he took his extraordinary journey in the most extraordinary way - in the flesh. In the above verses he is is not recanting, but simply expressing his radical claim in the veiled and Pauline manner adopted by his biblical predecessor: "Dante is deliberately following his avowed and greatest model, St. Paul, whose ambiguity regarding the corporeality of his raptus did not prevent the early Church fathers from viewing it as a real event" ( The Undivine Comedy, p. 148; Chapter 7 of The Undivine Comedy discusses this issue in great detail).

Dante does not understand what has occurred, and Beatrice explains: "Tu non se' in terra, sì come tu credi" (You are not on the earth as you believe [ Par. 1.91]). We notice the charmingly simple nature of her reply, as if speaking to a child, for whom very short and simple words are required. Her explanation only provokes more curiosity: how is it possible that he has risen above these light bodies, the spheres of air and fire ( Par. 1.97-99)?

Frequently, the narrative rhythm of the Paradiso will involve the following dynamic. The pilgrim poses a question that could be answered locally and succinctly. Instead it is taken as an opportunity for the poet, in the voice of the pilgrim's interlocutor, to take a deep breath, take a long step back, and deal with the explanation not at the local level but starting from first principles.

This dynamic now comes into play, as Beatrice takes Dante's question as an opportunity to explain the order of the universe, how all created beings return to their individual "ports" in the "great sea of being": "lo gran mar de l'essere" ( Par. 1.113). According to this cosmic order, Dante's rising is not remarkable; rather, it would be remarkable if he were not to rise, now that he is free of all impediment ( Par. 1.139-40).

In The Undivine Comedy I discuss the surpassing difficulty of expressing unity and oneness and simultaneity through language, a medium that is differential and time-bound and linear. Already in this first canto of Paradiso we see some of Dante's strategies. These strategies are, in that he is a writer, by necessity ultimately linguistic. They depend on a poetic virtuosity that he pushes to remarkable limits.

Dante has at his command singular resources of metaphoric language: only metaphor is able to placate the tension between the one and the many. The great ontological metaphor of the "gran mar de l'essere" in which the più and the meno of creation is all embraced, each at its own proper port, is an example of the kind of metaphoric language that Dante will use to express the oneness of creation.

The metaphor of the universe as a "great sea of being" - "gran mar de l'essere" - was anticipated, textually, by the Ovidian example of Glaucus, who became "consorto in mar de li altri dèi": consort in the sea of the other gods ( Par. 1.69). For Dante, the word "corsorte" has its full etymological sense of one who shares a destiny ("con" = with + "sorte" = destiny, from Latin "sors"), thus becoming like the being with whom a destiny is shared.

The sea does for Glaucus what the great sea of being does for the various differentiated forms of being that find their various ports in the all-embracing oneness of the metaphorical sea/universe. The sea is the unifying medium that absorbs Glaucus and renders him similar to the other gods, their "con-sort" in the waters of being, alike to them in his sorte, no longer different. Hence to become "consort in the sea of the other gods" is to become divine. What has been described is a process of going beyond the human ("trasumanar") and becoming godlike.

[1] Universe = "the whole world, cosmos," from Old French univers (12c.), from Latin universum "the universe," noun use of neuter of adj. universus "all together," literally "turned into one," from unus "one" + versus, past participle of vertere "to turn".

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Con-sort in the Sea with the Other Gods Brief Breakdown of Paradiso 1: 1-3 A statement of Paradiso's guiding intellectual theme: the coexistence of unity and difference, the One and the Many 4-12 The poet, where he has gone and the difficulties of recounting what he has seen 13-36 Apostrophe to Apollo 37 The "story" begins: setting of time of year and place, the vernal equinox and the Earthly Paradise; Beatrice looks at the sun; Dante's experience is like that of Glaucus; the coinage "trasumanar"; St.

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This section of Discover Dante introduces Paradiso. We begin with an overview of Dante's idea of Paradise and the cosmos, before working through the text. In the case of the final cantica, the cantos are divided into the different Heavens of Paradise, and major themes are discussed as we move through the text.

Paradise, according to Dante, is the heavenly abode of God, the angels and the blessed. As presented in the Paradiso, Dante's idea of Paradise is tied to his understanding of the cosmos. Throughout the study of the Paradiso you will find it useful to consult the diagram of Paradise at the start of your edition of the text, as well as the diagrams found here.

As you'll see from these diagrams, Dante's understanding of paradise is constructed around his idea of the cosmos as having the earth at its centre and, around the earth, ten heavens. The terrestrial globe, for Dante, is constituted by earth and water, and is surrounded by a sphere of air, which in turn is surrounded by a sphere of fire. Above this sphere of fire are the ten heavens: the Heavens of the Moon, of Mercury, of Venus, of the Sun, of Mars, of Jupiter, of Saturn, of the Fixed stars, the Primum Mobile and of the the Empyrean. The idea adopted by Dante of a cosmos with the Earth at its centre surrounded by the heavens is generally referred to as the Ptolemaic understanding of the universe (after Ptolemy, an Alexandrian polymath of the second century A.D.). This was broadly shared by all mediaeval thinkers, though different thinkers have different opinions regarding the exact relationship between God, the different heavens and earth.

Together, the earth and the spheres of air and fire make up the 'sublunar world'. This is the only part of the cosmos which is subject to change and corruption, as the four elements, earth, water, air, fire, can change into or mix with each other. The celestial world, on the other hand, is not subject to change and corruption as it is made of a fifth element-ether-which cannot change or mix with any other element. The whole cosmos, according to Dante, ultimately depends on God who, as the ground of all being, exists beyond space and time in the Empyrean. The Empyrean is an immaterial heaven, made up only of the love and metaphysical light which God is. It is in the Empyrean that the angels and the blessed also dwell. As we shall see, however, throughout his journey Dante also meets different groups of souls in the different heavens. Dante's understanding of the Empyrean is one of the most important parts of his idea of paradise.

© Vittorio Montemaggi, Matthew Treherne, Abi Rowson
This resource is a collaboration between the Leeds Centre for Dante Studies at the University of Leeds, and the Devers Program in Dante Studies at the University of Notre Dame

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This section of Discover Dante introduces Paradiso. We begin with an overview of Dante's idea of Paradise and the cosmos, before working through the text. In the case of the final cantica, the cantos are divided into the different Heavens of Paradise, and major themes are discussed as we move through the text.

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Pagan Baptism & Naming Ceremony // Complete How to // Ausa Vatni

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Origins of Dianic Wicca

Born of the feminist movement and founded by hereditary witch Zsuzsanna Budapest, Dianic Wicca embraces the Goddess but spends little time on her male counterpart. Most Dianic Wiccan covens are female-only, but a few have welcomed men into their groups, with the intention of adding some much-needed polarity. In some areas, the phrase Dianic Wiccan came to mean lesbian witch, but that is not always the case, as Dianic covens welcome women of any sexual orientation.

Budapest says specifically,

"We always recognize, when we say "Goddess," that She is the Life-giver, the Life-sustainer. She is Mother Nature... There are only two kinds of people in the world: mothers and their children. Mothers can give life to each other as well as to men, who are not able to do the same for themselves. This constitutes a dependency upon the Female Life Force for life renewed, and was accepted naturally in ancient times by our ancient forebearers as a sacred gift of the Goddess. In patriarchal times this sacred gift was turned against women, and used to force them to give up roles of independence and power."

Cursing & Hexing

While many Wiccan paths follow a belief system that limits hexing, cursing or negative magic, some Dianic Wiccans make an exception to that rule. Budapest, a noted feminist Wiccan writer, has argued that hexing or binding those who do harm to women is acceptable. In particular, she has called for the hexing and binding of men who perpetrate sexual violence against women and children.

Honoring the Goddess

Dianic covens celebrate the eight Sabbats, and use similar altar tools to other Wiccan traditions. However, among the Dianic community there is not a lot of continuity in ritual or practice - they simply self-identify as Dianic to indicate that they follow a Goddess-based, feminine-focused spiritual path.

The core belief of Dianic Wicca, as founded by Z Budapest, states that the tradition "is a holistic religious system based on a Goddess-centered cosmology and the primacy of She Who is All and Whole unto Herself."

Recent Controversies:

Dianic Wicca - and specifically, Z Budapest herself - has been at the center of a few controversies lately. At the 2011 PantheaCon, transgender women were specifically excluded from a women's ritual hosted by a Dianic group. Budapest's statements afterwards regarding the incident led to accusations of transphobia against her and the Dianic tradition, when she said,

"These individuals selfishly never think about the following: if women allow men to be incorporated into Dianic Mysteries, What will women own on their own? Nothing! Again! Transies who attack us only care about themselves. We women need our own culture, our own resourcing, our own traditions. You can tell these are men, They don't care if women loose the Only tradition reclaimed after much research and practice, the Dianic Tradition. Men simply want in. its their will. How dare us women not let them in and give away the ONLY spiritual home we have!"

On her group's website, Budapest states that membership is open to cisgendered women ("Open to women born-women") only.

Following the PantheaCon controversy, a number of offshoot groups of the Dianic tradition distanced themselves from Budapest and her coven. One group, the Amazon Priestess Tribe, publicly retired from the lineage with a press release that read,

"We cannot support a policy of universal exclusion based upon gender at our Goddess-centered rites, nor can we condone disregard or insensitivity in communications regarding the topic of gender inclusion and Goddess-centered practice. We feel it inappropriate to remain members of a lineage where our views and practices diverge significantly from those of the primary lineage holder."

In the wake of the issues with transphobia within the Dianic community, a few groups have continued to call themselves Dianic, but have amended their names to reflect inclusivity of transgender women. In particular, the McFarland Dianic tradition, named for founder Morgan McFarland, was one of the first Dianic groups to allow members who were not assigned female at birth. McFarland Dianic circles say they specifically do not exclude trans individuals of either gender, although only female members can be elevated to the level of priesthood, and the admission of male members is on a case-by-case basis, and left to the discretion of the circle's high priestess.

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Born of the feminist movement and founded by hereditary witch Zsuzsanna Budapest, Dianic Wicca embraces the Goddess but spends little time on her male counterpart. Most Dianic Wiccan covens are female-only, but a few have welcomed men into their groups, with the intention of adding some much-needed polarity.

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Pagan traditions and expressions vary widely and can involve communal outdoor rituals, solitary meditation or contemplation, or the use of symbols, talismans, or altars. Pagan magick is a spiritual practice aimed at creating change in an individual and in the world through prayer and physical actions.

Pagan traditions have a strong focus on ritual, and practitioners may draw from multiple sources or follow a single contemporary Pagan tradition. The largest of the latter is Wicca, a form of religious witchcraft that includes dozens of lineages, paths, and styles. Other traditions include Druidry, non-Wiccan forms of religious witchcraft, Heathenry and Ásatrú (Northern European Paganisms), feminist Goddess worship, and a variety of reconstructionisms-including Greek, Egyptian, Celtic, Roman, Canaanite-as well as other historical religions. Some practitioners of Afro-Caribbean religions also may consider themselves to be Pagan, while others do not.

Pagan rituals commonly focus on honoring a deity or deities; observing natural cycles, such as seasonal changes or the waxing and waning of the moon; or celebrating rites of passage, such as birth, transitioning into adulthood, marriage, and death. Although the form of ritual varies by tradition, Pagan rituals tend to engage the participants physically. Rituals often include drumming, chanting, and dancing. Some Pagans offer food or drink to their gods or ancestors; these offerings may be shared by the participants as part of a feast, or sometimes disposed of ritually. Representations of earth, air, fire, and water may also be employed for cleansing and consecration; for instance, participants might anoint themselves with salt water (earth and water) and burn incense (air and fire) as part of ritual preparation.

Pagans generally do not proselytize and, while classes and retreats may introduce people to the path, the initiative to practice is with each individual. Some Pagans also participate in other religious communities such as churches or synagogues. From the 1970s through the early 1990s, the source of growth in Paganism was through small groups-variously called groves, nests, covens, or circles. After the mid-1990s, the availability of the internet and communications technology increased access to religious material for geographically isolated Pagans, who slowly grew into a majority in the movement.

Although some Pagans still practice regularly in either small private or large public groups, many are "solitaries," meaning they practice alone and may only gather with a group for special occasions. Sociologist Helen Berger reports that as many as 79% of American Pagans today may identify as solitary. Most do not celebrate within a specific temple or building, though there are a few Pagan temple buildings in the United States. On the whole, Pagans prefer to worship out of doors, or else in private homes and rented halls.

Building an altar-a place for divinity, and a sacred workplace for performing rituals-is one of the first ways many Pagans begin spiritual practice. Pagans often have altars in their homes, sometimes tucked in a corner of the bedroom. Pagans with yards, or those who live in rural settings, may build altars outdoors. The altar may contain natural objects, photographs of the beloved dead, ritual tools, and objects of beauty or personal power. At the altar, one might leave an offering for a deity, enter into meditation, create an herbal charm, or undertake a personal cleansing or healing ritual. Gazing at an altar is a reminder of one's spiritual life, and meditating there can lead to spiritual insight.

Pagans might perform a wide variety of spiritual exercises on a daily basis, though probably no two Pagans practice their faith exactly the same way. Pagan personal practice can be as simple as lighting a candle at the dark of the moon and meditating on the flame, or pouring a fresh cup of water for one's ancestors and saying a prayer. Spoken intention is thought to be very powerful: Pagans often believe that verbalizing their desires is the first step toward bringing change into their lives. Respect for this principle leads many Pagans to choose their words carefully, lest a habit of self-deprecation or pessimism interfere with achieving life goals.

One important form of daily practice for many Pagans is "grounding" meditation, which connects the individual with the energy of the Earth and helps to maintain physical and emotional balance. Another is the practice of divination, which may take the simple form of asking about the day ahead, or inquiring about a specific question. Some Pagans consult astrology, while others use Tarot cards, runes, or pendulums to access sources of spiritual knowledge. Others look to movements in the natural world-interactions with animals, plants, wind, and water-to gain intuitions about patterns in the local environment. The sense of connection gained through these practices helps Pagans live out their belief that divinity is present in the world around them.

Some Pagans choose to wear sacred jewelry. Pagan symbols include the pentacle, an interlaced five-pointed star that is often worn by Wiccans. The star is pointed up to align with an upright human body, with one point up for the head and outward- and downward-facing points for the arms and legs. The pentacle is a symbol of life and the union of the elements (earth, air, water, and fire) with spirit, though it has often been misrepresented as a symbol of evil in popular horror films. Not all Pagans use the pentacle as a religious symbol, however. Pagans who follow a Northern European path may wear Mjölnir, Thor's hammer, a traditional religious pendant worn by those resisting Christian conversion in medieval Scandinavia. Images of natural objects, such as trees, or abstract Goddess figures are also popular among Pagans. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs added the pentacle as an approved religious symbol for veterans' headstones, a decision that delighted Wiccans. Druids and Heathens are in the process of petitioning to have their symbols of choice approved.

Many Pagans practice magick (often spelled with a 'k' to differentiate it from stage magic and the fanciful magic of fantasy novels). In Paganism, magick is a spiritual practice aimed at creating change in the individual and in the world. Magick functions somewhat like prayer in other traditions, but it tends to have more of a physical component than prayer usually does in the West. When Pagans do magick, they begin by stating a clear intention and then raise energy to support that intention. This might be done, for instance, through chanting and dancing, breath exercises, or concentration. The energy is then released, either out into the world or sometimes into an object that will serve as a focus for the intention. The latter could be a candle, a piece of jewelry, or an altar object. Pagans often feel that magick cannot be successful without a practical component. Successful job magick, for instance, involves filling out job applications, not just setting intention and raising energy.

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Pagan traditions and expressions vary widely and can involve communal outdoor rituals, solitary meditation or contemplation, or the use of symbols, talismans, or altars. Pagan magick is a spiritual practice aimed at creating change in an individual and in the world through prayer and physical actions.

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Pagans may be trained in particular traditions or they may follow their own inspiration. Paganism is not dogmatic. Pagans pursue their own vision of the Divine as a direct and personal experience.

The Pagan Federation recognizes the rich diversity of traditions that form the body of modern Paganism. In a brief introductory booklet, it is not possible to describe each and every one. Rather than attempt this, the pages in this section - links are on the left hand side of this page contain an introduction to six examples of major Pagan traditions.

This is not an exhaustive list, but these six traditions provide a good overview of modern Pagan practice. A suggested reading list is also available.

Some authors see the emergence of Paganism in the twentieth century as a revival of an older Pagan religion and describe all the above traditions as Neo-Pagan.

This term is also used to describe all those who are recognisably Pagan, but who do not adhere to any of the above traditions per se.
A definition of a Pagan: A follower of a polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshipping religion. A definition of Paganism: A polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshipping religion. What Paganism Is
Paganism is the ancestral religion of the whole of humanity. This ancient religious outlook remains active throughout much of the world today, both in complex civilisations such as Japan and India, and in less complex tribal societies world-wide. It was the outlook of the European religions of classical antiquity - Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome - as well as of their "barbarian" neighbours on the northern fringes, and its European form is re-emerging into explicit awareness in the modern West as the articulation of urgent contemporary religious priorities.

The Pagan outlook can be seen as threefold. Its adherents venerate Nature and worship many deities, both goddesses and gods.
Nature - Veneration
The spirit of place is recognised in Pagan religion, whether as a personified natural feature such as a mountain, lake or spring, or as a fully articulated guardian divinity such as, for example, Athena, the goddess of Athens. The cycle of the natural year, with the different emphasis brought by its different seasons, is seen by most Pagans as a model of spiritual growth and renewal, and as a sequence marked by festivals which offer access to different divinities according to their affinity with different times of year. Many Pagans see the Earth itself as sacred: in ancient Greece the Earth was always offered the first libation of wine, although She had no priesthood and no temple.
Polytheism: Pluralism and Diversity
The many deities of Paganism are a recognition of the diversity of Nature. Some Pagans see the goddesses and gods as a community of individuals much like the diverse human community in this world. Others, such as followers of Isis and Osiris from ancient times onwards, and Wiccan-based Pagans in the modern world, see all the goddesses as one Great Goddess, and all the gods as one Great God, whose harmonious interaction is the secret of the universe. Yet others think there is a supreme divine principle, that "both wants and does not want to be called Zeus", as Heraclitus wrote in the fifth century BC. Or which the Great Goddess Mother of All Things, as Isis, was to the first century CE novelist Apuleius and the Great Goddess is to many Western Pagans nowadays. Yet others, such as the Emperor Julian, the great restorer of Paganism in Christian antiquity, and many Hindu mystics nowadays, believe in an abstract Supreme Principle, the origin and source of all things. But even these last Pagans recognise that other spiritual beings, although perhaps one in essence with a greater being, are themselves divine, and are not false or partial divinities. Pagans who worship the One are described as henotheists, believers in a supreme divine principle, rather than monotheists, believers in one true deity beside which all other deities are false.
The Goddess
Pagan religions all recognise the feminine face of divinity. A religion without goddesses can hardly be classified as Pagan. Some Pagan paths, such as the cult of Odin or of Mithras, offer exclusive allegiance to one male god. But they do not deny the reality of other gods and goddesses, as monotheists do. (The word 'cult' has always meant the specialised veneration of one particular deity or pantheon, and has only recently been extended to mean the worship of a deified or semi-divine human leader.) By contrast, non-Pagan religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, often but not always, abhor the very idea of female divinity. The (then) Anglican Bishop of London even said a few years ago that religions with goddesses were 'degenerate'!
Other Characteristics
The many divinities of Pagan religion often include ancestral deities. The Anglo-Saxon royal houses of England traced their ancestry back to a god, usually Woden, and the Celtic kings of Cumbria traced their descent from the god Beli and the goddess Anna. Local and national heroes and heroines may be deified, as was Julius Caesar, and in all Pagan societies the deities of the household are venerated. These may include revered ancestors and, for a while, the newly dead, who may of may not choose to leave the world of the living for good. They may include local spirits of place, either as personified individuals such as the spirit of a spring or the house's guardian toad or snake, or as group spirits such as Elves in England, the Little People in Ireland, Kobolds in Germany, Barstuccae in Lithuania, Lares and Penates in ancient Rome, and so on. A household shrine focuses the cult of these deities, and there is usually an annual ritual to honour them. The spirit of the hearth is often venerated, sometimes with a daily offering of food and drink, sometimes with an annual ritual of extinguishing and relighting the fire. Through ancestral and domestic ritual a spirit of continuity is preserved, and by the transmission of characteristics and purposes from the past, the future is assured of meaning.

So, not all Pagan religion is public religion; much is domestic. And not all Pagan deities are humanoid super-persons; many are elemental or collective. We are looking at a religion which pervades the whole of everyday life.

One consequence of the veneration of Nature, the outlook which sees Nature as a manifestation of divinity rather than as a neutral or inanimate object, is that divination and magic are accepted parts of life. Augury, divination by interpreting the flight of birds, was widespread in the ancient world and is in modern Pagan societies, as is extispicy, divination by reading the entrails of the sacrificed animal, itself a larger scale version of divination by reading the tea-leaves left in a teacup. As well as reading the signs already given by deities, diviners may also actively ask the universe to send a sign, e.g., by casting stones to read the geomantic patterns into which they fall, by casting runes or the yarrow stalks of the I Ching. Pagans usually believe that the divine world will answer a genuine request for information. Trance seership and mediumship are also used to communicate with the Otherworld.

Magic, the deliberate production of results in this world by Otherworld means, is generally accepted as a feasible activity in Pagan societies, since the two worlds are thought to be in constant communication. In ancient Rome a new bride would ceremonially anoint the doorposts of her new home with wolf's fat to keep famine from the household, and her new-born child would be given a consecrated amulet to wear as a protection against harmful spirits. The Norse warriors of the Viking age would cast the magical 'war fetter' upon their enemies to paralyse them, and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts record spells to bring healing and fertility. Specialist magical technologists such as horse-whisperers and healers are common throughout Pagan societies, but often the practice of magic for unfair personal gain or for harm to another is forbidden, exactly as physical extortion and assault are forbidden everywhere.
Modern Paganism
With its respect for plurality, the refusal to judge other ways of life as wrong simply because they are different from one's own, with its veneration of a natural (and supernatural) world from which Westerners in the age of technology have become increasingly isolated, and with its respect for women and the feminine principle as embodied in the many goddesses of the various pantheons, Paganism has much to offer people of European background today. Hence it is being taken up by them in large numbers. When they realise that it is in fact their ancestral heritage, its attraction grows.

Democracy, for example, was pioneered by the ancient Athenians and much later reinvented by the Pagan colonisers of Iceland, home of Europe's oldest parliament. Our modern love of the arts was fostered in Pagan antiquity, with its pageants and its temples, but had no place in iconoclastic Christianity and Islam. The development of science as we know it began in the desire of the Greeks and Babylonians to understand the hidden patterns of Nature, and the cultivation of humane urbanity, the ideal of the well-rounded, cultured personality, was imported by Renaissance thinkers from the writings of Cicero. In the Pagan cities of the Mediterranean lands the countryside was never far from people's awareness, with parks, gardens and even zoos, all re-introduced into modern Europe, not by the religions of the Book, and not by utilitarian atheists, but by the Classically-inspired planners of the Enlightenment.

In the present day, the Pagan tradition manifests both as communities reclaiming their ancient sites and ceremonies (especially in Eastern Europe), to put humankind back in harmony with the Earth, and as individuals pursuing a personal spiritual path alone or in a small group (especially in Western Europe and the European-settled countries abroad), under the tutelage of one of the Pagan divinities. To most modern Pagans in the West, the whole of life is to be affirmed joyfully and without shame, as long as other people are not harmed by one's own tastes. Modern Pagans tend to be relaxed and at ease with themselves and others, and women in particular have a dignity which is not always found outside Pagan circles.

Modern Pagans, not tied down either by the customs of an established religion or by the dogmas of a revealed one, are often creative, playful and individualistic, affirming the importance of the individual psyche as it interfaces with a greater power. There is a respect for all of life and usually a desire to participate with rather than to dominate other beings. What playwright Eugene O'Neil called "the creative Pagan acceptance of life" is at the forefront of the modern movement. This is bringing something new to religious life and to social behaviour, a way of pluralism without fragmentation, of creativity without anarchy, of wisdom without dogma. Here is an age-old current surfacing in a new form suited to the needs of the present day.
Kind thanks to Prudence Jones for the wording of this page

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Pagans may be trained in particular traditions or they may follow their own inspiration. Paganism is not dogmatic. Pagans pursue their own vision of the Divine as a direct and personal experience. The Pagan Federation recognizes the rich diversity of traditions that form the body of modern Paganism.

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-Being engolfed by the ensemble
-Being dragged down and 'drowned' by other ensemble members
-Levels and contortions of the body
-Hand touch
-Follow and leader
-Juxtaposing songs

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georgia miller's accent being iconic for 3 minutes straight [ ginny and georgia season 2 ]

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Heaven’s Gate cult members record farewell messages: 20/20 ‘The Cult Next Door’ Preview

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To me death is not a fearfull thing, its living thats treacherous'
'If we can't live and be, then lets die and be'
'We've had as much of this world were going to get, lets just be done with it, lets be done with the agony of it'
'All were doing is taking a drink to go to sleep, thats what death is, sleep, whatever, im tired of it all'
'Fail to follow my advice, you'll be sorry'
'Don't be afraid to die'
'Those who have left have committed the betrayal of the century'
'if we cant live in peace, then lets die in peace'
'We've been so betrayed, so terribly betrayed'
'We are not commiting suicide, its a revolutionary act'
'I'm going to lay down my burdens, lay down my burdens down by the river side'
'We are born before our time'
'It's all over, what a legacy'
'Please get us the medication, its simple theres no convulsion, please just get it before its too late'
'I've died'
'There's nothing to worry about, everybody keep calm and try and keep your children calm'
'All the children help the little children and reasure them'
'There not crying from pain, it's just a little bitter taste, its not pain'
'Everybody was so happy when they made that step to other side. its the only way to step'
'The choice is not ours now, its out of our hands'
'You've never felt so good, is how that feels'
'Its hard its hard, only at first is it hard. Your looking at death, living is much more difficult'
'I just want to say something to everyone standing around crying, theres nothing to cry about. This is something we can all rejoice about. We should be happy about this. They say we cry when we are coming into this world, well when we are leaving, we are leaving peaceful, I think we should be happy about this'
' I wish you would not cry and just say father'
'Whoever wants to go with their child, can go with their child, they have a right to. I want to see you go though'
'No more no more no more'
'Just relax, you will have no problem'
'While your sitting there, show your love to one another'
'Lay down your life with dignity, dont lay down your life with tears and agony'
'Stop this hysterics, we must die with some dignity'
'Keep your emotions down, it will not hurt if you'll be quiet'
'Death is a million times preferalble than 10 more days of this life'
'If we do it, then they do it'
'Some people assure these chldren of the relaxation of stepping over to the next plane'

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7 Disturbing Interviews With Cult Leaders

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Heaven's Gate Cult Initiation Tape Part 1

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President John F. Kennedy's "Peace Speech"

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Jonestown: The Survivors Speak | Jonestown: Paradise Lost | Retold

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10 Most Disturbing Cults That Are Still Active

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How to Speak with a Southern Accent | American English

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script idea, mothers make the death plan

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script idea, mothers make the death plan