Well rub my butt and call me Carnac!

[trystinn]

March 10th the Wind & Tide will be hosting a tarot reader named Brighid Rowan from 1-5 pm. I've read her pamphlet (a joy onto itself, I assure you) and it mentions she's an initiate of the Chalice Well Tradition. Oddly enough, there's a group by that name from the Berkshires where I studied with the Dianics and I'm wondering if its the same group. The store "Woman of Wands" was owned by their "British Tradition" trained Witch Queen.
But back to our gal -

From her pamphlet:
"I am a High Priestess in the Chalice Well Tradition...My life is dedicated to the Goddess and to serving the community. I am currently studying Shakti Wicca. Shakti Wicca is a tradition of Wicca that draws most of its spiritual inspiration from the Hindu tradition. Bhakti, or loving devotion, is the main form of worship. I will be offering teaching in this tradition in the future."

Now, my first snarky reaction to the last part there is "lucky us", but more interestingly, to the first part "serving the community" my perplexed reaction is "if that's so, where've you been?" I've never seen or heard about this woman on the Island, and as far as I'm aware, I've got the only PNO around. There's a group down south that does incredibly eclectic pagan sabbats that I no longer attend, so possibly she's involved with them. Will ask around soonest.

Justine - Shakti Wicca, any comments? Also, interested in doing a henna session here?

Comments

[chyara.livejournal.com]

i love henna...lol reminds me of the time i was doing my feet and screwed up then said fuck it and covered my whole feet. my parents gave me strange looks until it wore off. Did i mention, i wore my burkenstocks all the time..lol

The big 'test' is whether or not she will 'charge' for her teaching...lol

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

Well fry me up and serve me for breakfast!

[morgandria.livejournal.com]

*blinkita blinkita blinkita* Well, isn't she just special?

There's a local fellow around here teaching Wicca, even though he himself is not an initiate of anything, and he is charging $200 a sabbat. Breaks my brain.

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

I am in the wrong business.

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

Shakti Wicca?

Shakti Wicca?

Shakti Wicca

I need a drink.

[owlsamantha.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, am I too snarky for this? Because my first thought is "what on earth does anything Hindu have do to with anything Wicca?!" I'm not even BTW and that hurts my American Eclecltic little brain...

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Seconded, on all counts!

[dbmyrrha.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Chalice Well is one of those Umbrella Orgs that ordains whomever wants it. I may be wrong, though. I'm thinking...whatever.

[dbmyrrha.livejournal.com]

BTW, are you offering to let people rub your butt? That's mighty forward of you, young lady!!! LOL.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Sure, you come visit you can rub :)

Though the dogs would probably be more receptive. How do you feel about cats and rabbits?

LMAO

[mysticknyght.livejournal.com]

i'll call you whatever you want if i get to rub your butt :-P

and WTF is "shakti wicca?" (rhetorical question) :-)

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Dunno :) I'll find out Friday.

A friend joined the yahoogroup to get some infomation. So far she reports the information on Hinduism is really bad and wicca is non-existent.

I'm wondering if she's just a deluded, but well-meaning newbie.

[mysticknyght.livejournal.com]

well, let's hope that she's well-meaning and not a con artist...

[winterlion.livejournal.com]

Shakti Wicca kind of reminds me of Weasel Wicca.

We had this loser around who practiced "Weasel Wicca". Which is to say, he tried to do stuff that would gain stuff for him (umm... like drugs and sex. He really was a loser) and my ever-so-helpful friends would find ways for him to fund random parties for "religous" reasons. He was a thief, a lier, a whiner and annoying - so no one thought twice about this. (he would NEVER be invited to a real celebration - noone trusted him with anything. Actually none of the group even wanted him around but he just kept coming by)

flip side, out of all the "mainstream" religions, the closest ones to Wicca are Hinduism and Shinto... from what I've studied. And of the two I'm far more familiar with the latter.... which isn't saying anything.

[dragonhearth.livejournal.com]

I think Chalice Well is a group in TX that works with the Military, helping them get ordained, I've heard of them, they aren't BTW to my knowledge. I have some military acquaintances who wanted to get ordained through Chalice Well because it was easier than finding a coven to study with and do it that way. (Assuming that is the organization I am thinking of.) Since I was in a car accident, my brain's a little rattled these days, keep doing things like transposing numbers hundreds for thousands and other stupid things like forgetting the date... *sigh*

[magicalmehendi.livejournal.com]

http://shaktiwicca.tripod.com/index.html

I dun get it. what's the purpose of the mix? why wicca if bhakti is the purpose?

Henna...yes, just let me know dates that would be good for you. March isn't good for me...too much travelling. April has some openings, May has some, then summer comes.
just check the calendar page of my webstite. It knows where I'll be more often than I do.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

OMG They have a website???

Took a look around, its as annoyingly vague and shallow in spiritual depth as others of its kind.

the following is my opinions ONLY and very personal

[magicalmehendi.livejournal.com]

eesh I used to joke about me blending Wicca and Hinduism and calling it Hicca.......but in the end it's not, IMO, blendable. It's compatible and one doesn't exclude the other really (no ONE TRUE WAY bs) but....the main reason is....
it seems and feels to me, extremely disrespectful to both religions and all involved. I remember having a discussion w/ my HPs about this topic too. We discussed how well...this won't be worded right but...
if centuries of worship to Hindu gods has laid the deep rutted pathways to those gods (meaning specific ways of worship, specific words/language, etc) then driving up a new path w/ new methods/language/etc......... what does that really work?
this shakti wicca seems like feminist hinduism w/ a pent. but tradition is tradition for a reason, no matter what the tradition. there is more behind "doing it this way, or that way" then a freakin whim, or the fact you don't want to learn why, or you don't want to delve deeper into THAT or deeper into YOURSELF.

http://shaktiwicca.tripod.com/id21.html
these parts of the 'purpose' annoy me......

Ok...so if the ritual structure of Wicca is what suits you then why would you now wish to apply apples to oranges?


cough*bullshit*cough
subservient role of women....this is like the easiest feminist way to turn off someone's thinking and just pigeonhole cultures. Subservience, imo, for women is pretty subjective. I'm in no way saying it doesn't happen, but I don't believe it's in any way the stereotypical massive cultural amounts. Loud feminine power that you wear on your sleeve and the world knows about....or quiet, behind the scenes real power where the manipulation of your world happens by your own cause.
I know this may not make sense to people...sorry.
and as for "traditional Hinduism"....see above...why traditional if you are gonna make it something else.


Wonder what Hindus think of this. I really wonder what Pandit/priests/guru/swami thinks of this. Spend a lifetime learning (how many lifetimes actually?) something that is beyond measure......OR.......why bother to learn anything when you can mash bits and bobs together and learn from this white Canadian scholar who's got some learnin from an Alexandrian HPs (doesn't happen to say what trad the Shakti HPs is does it?).

I find it sad. And while I shouldn't be so judgemental this just really hits close to home for me. The extremely painful 'journey' I have been on for the last 5? years has been a mindfuck about this topic. How do I keep my oaths, my sanity, my beliefs in this box while this other box is over here in the corner shaking and screaming "open open open open me". Can I just combine the two religions and make one mashed up lovely thing that is just my own. Well the old school Wiccan living in my head is screaming "wtf...eclectic...combine...pick and choose...fall upon your own sword...bunnydom...you know the answer....you know the answer....you know the answer" and later she says "you must admit it to yourself"...
but that admission is the hardest thing I can do. so I don't.
to be continued...

Re: the following is my opinions ONLY and very personal

[magicalmehendi.livejournal.com]

and continuing on...

to admit that I am one thing but not the other now....just seems so wrong. how can it be wrong tho. If I mix it all up I become what I feel shouldn't be done. So I don't. Could I ever...wiccan ritual done with hindu deities? quarter calls??? wiccan 'ingredients' for hindu puja?
I can't, I couldn't and I can't see a time when I will. But what I have learned thru all this is, I cannot say anything is for sure.
So you can be both? Can you be both? Personal choice of course. Can you be mashed up? I suppose that's personal choice too. But should you.
My Hindu friends say I am Hindu. And I don't have to justify anything to them, about myself.
Everyone is born Hindu....some saying I read somewhere. Reminiscent of 'everyone is pagan' attitude I know some have. good attitudes.
My Wiccan friends still say I'm Wiccan, and for the most part they think that. But I don't spend face time with them, and I will admit it now...I have not considered myself Wiccan for a few years and I've stopped worshiping at the wheel's turns. Only 2 of my coven siblings know this. Being 220 miles away from HPs/HP (who don't call/write/contact me...I'm supposed to contact them)...and having left the ATC long before I actually left it......
I've been alone w/ my wandering for a long time now. Stranger in a strange land because I no longer belong to one or the other. If you know me personally then you probably have already heard me say that I don't fit in anywhere.
Well after a few years of that very thing continuing to cause pain, I am neither an apple or an orange, it was time to make the admittance.
My clouds have parted, and it's felt good to just stop worrying about things. I have my oaths, I have to live with them in a way that lets me sleep instead of worry at night....and...

I am Hindu