Gwydion

Just be careful. Sometimes you do get what you wish for. Unfortunately, many times the object is more desirable while we are wanting it. The man you seek may not seem as fantastic when he is sitting around in his underwear watching crime dramas and spilling potato chips on the floor. You don't want to end up with buyer's remorse. Back in college I had a criminology professor who had been married for a very long time. She said that the secret was not finding the perfect man, but finding one whose imperfections you were willing to tolerate . It is good advice, and it has worked for me, even when faced with dirty plates from a midnight snack and empty coke cans left on the counter.

Thank you . Mastering Witchcraft is an excellent book and one of the first "do it yourself" books on Witchcraft. Many Wiccan Witches find it too "dark" because it presents magic (which the author refers to as "Witch power") as a neutral force that can be used for good or ill. The book is morally ambiguous and expects one to be mature enough to make their own decisions. I am not evil, but I don't want to be ignorant of the darker aspects of magic either. To quote the wise sage Schoolhouse Rocky, "Knowledge is power!" In recent years the book has become popular again among Traditional or non-Wiccan Witches such as myself.

Hi PaganPeaceMaker! Yes, in Wales they are called the Plant Don (Children of Don) or the Tylwyth Teg (the Fair Folk or Tribe), but they are essentially the same family of Celtic gods . Hope your Beltane was a great one!

Hi RevRattlesnake! Yes, I liked The Wicker Tree on its own merits. I think too many people tried to compare it to the original The Wicker Man which is a horror classic.. Really, in my opinion,The Wicker Tree was infinitely better than Nicholas Cage's remake of The Wicker Man.

Hello Everyone, I just wanted to wish a Happy Nos Galan Gaeaf or Beltane to all of the Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans out there! It's a good time to dust off your dvd of The Wicker Man (original version, of course) .

BTW, speaking of different terms, in Traditional Witchcraft we have a notebook or journal similar to a personal Book of Shadows, but it is usually called a grimoire (after the ceremonial magick texts) .

I believe as Stormbringer mentioned that to some "warlock" would not be negative or offensive, myself included. I have also heard of these alternative origins for the word. Of course, I am a Traditional Witch and not a Wiccan. I prefer the Welsh term "gwyddon" which can be tranlsated as witch (male), wizard, scientist, or philosopher, but warlock wouldn't offend me unless it was meant by the person using the term to be disparaging.

I would like to note that mystical experiences are definitely subject to personal interpretations, and I agree with LeopardBoy regarding examining these revelations in light of what we already know about these cultures and their deities. An Artemis who denounces hunting (or a Gwydion who despises the magical arts) would certainly raise legitimate questions. I also acknowldege that my personal interpretations are not the only possible interpretations. In my previous example of the goddesss Cerridwen, maybe she wasn't showing me a cup of imortality, but was indicating I was about to win a free lifetime supply of Kool-aid from Walmart . I have had a few mystical experiences which I value, but they are not the norm. I don't think it elevates one Pagan over another because one has had them and another hasn't. Also, when someone sets themselves to speak for the gods, I often question how much of what they say comes from the gods and how much of what they say reflects their own opinions .

Hi Rev , Cerridwen came to me when I had been very ill with pneumonia and was seriously wondering if I might die. I saw her and she was presenting me with a jeweled cup. I seemed to know that she was presenting me a cup of immortality, and she was reassuring me that there was another life after this one in place where everyone was young and there was no sickness or death. Brighid seemed to be revealing another aspect of herself as the prototype of the Banshee (as well as indicating a relationship between herself and the Morrigu, an Irish goddess of war.) I had been having difficulty forming a connection to her up until then. Lleu's "fairy" harping I took to be a signal that the gates between here and the Otherworld had been flung wide open that night, and it certainly set the tone for my ritual in honor of Nos Galan Gaeaf (Samhain/Halloween). I have had other mystcal experiences, but these three are probably the best examples.

Hi Rev. Rattlesnake, I am not a "Wiccan" Witch, but I have had visions of different gods and goddesses. One of the most vivid was of the goddess Cerridwen, dressed in green silk with her hair in golden mesh. I also had a vision of Brighid one autumn night where she was a giant and was juggling human heads (this is certainly not a typical attribute of hers). As far as physical manifestations, I have felt the precense of the gods as almost a tangible energy. My skin tingled and my hair stood up. Sometimes it was so intense that I felt as if I were vibrating. The candles flickered and breezes passed by. Once, during a Nos Galan Gaeaf (Samhain) ritual, I invoked the god Lleu (Lugh) and I heard (audibly, not just in my mind) harping as clear as day. But I have not yet encountered the gods in a physical form that I could touch.

For me it was about age 15. Unfortunately I don't think my personality or behavior has changed much since then .

I believe there are extraterrestrials. I also believe there may be New Age starseeds (extraterrestrial souls incarnate in human bodies) walking around here on Earth. But I do not believe the specific gods I honor were / are extraterrestrials. As a Pagan, my spirituality is very much tied to this planet in particular. As I have posted elsewhere, my gods are my ancestors, and I am not an extraterrestrial or descended from one, no matter how much the History Channel advocates the ancient alien hypothesis . I know this because to me my gods are not frozen in time, but still alive and interacting with me on a personal level. I think there are multiple dimensions or realities, but the primary non-Earth dimension with which I interact (Annwvyn, the Celtic Otherworld) is a dimension of gods and magick, not aliens and UFO's. I do believe there may be dimensions with a different paradigm where magick and the gods are not the norm, but aliens and UFO's are. Then there are places (like Earth) where dimensions overlap, and there is room for both magick and science, Witches and aliens. I believe the Universe is infinite, and all possible worlds may exist, but I believe we have the free will to determine where we journey. I do not believe in the New Age version of successive reincarnations on multiple planets for myself, but I believe it may be a possibility for others on a different path. I will say that I think the Reptilian aliens get a bad rap, mainly I think because people wish to identify them with demons due to their kinship with serpents and the Bible having identified the serpent of Eden with Satan (according to some interpretations). Dragons were honored among the ancient Celts, and the Red Dragon is a primary symbol of Welsh identity, the way the eagle is to America. The whole thing almost smacks of a type of New Age racism with Lyran / Pleiadean humanoid aliens cast as the good or angelic type and the Orion Reptilians as demonic or inferior. Anyway, yes I believe in extraterrestrials, but of course I also believe in faeries too .

In contrast with Raincloud who is a Wiccan Witch ( ), I have become a hard polytheist meaning that I believe that the gods are separate and discrete individuals with different personalities(as with humans) rather than aspects or manifestations of one Divine Source. I do believe that there is an impersonal Divine Energy that connects us all (life force, mana, prana, qi), but to me it is not a Deity or Supreme Being anymore than electricity is. So I guess among us there is a continuum between soft and hard polytheists. I do not feel the need to convert others to my way of thinking (and I don't beileve that Raincloud would either). To me it seems just a matter of personal belief and how one most comfortably interacts with the gods.

I do not worship any deities, but I honor the ancient Celtic gods, especially those of Wales. I believe there is a Divine Source but I do not believe it is a personal deity to be honored. My family, as with many old Welsh families, can trace their descent from the Welsh god Beli and the goddess Don. Beli was a father figure, a sort of divine king, who has attributes of both a thunder god (like Jupiter) and a sun god (like Apollo). Don was a mother figure, and a water goddess, especially a goddess of rivers. I take my Witch name from Gwydion (son of the goddess Don) who was a wizard god and most likely a god of trees and forests. My personal god is Lleu, a god of many skills (equated with Mercury) who is usually personified as a handsome youth. His mother is the goddess Arianrod (daughter of Beli, and sister of Gwydion) who is thought to be a star or sky goddess. Beli's son Lludd was a legendary king and may be a god of battle (like Mars), who lost his arm and had it replaced with one made of silver. Lludd also has a son Affalach who was King of the Isle of Avalon. Another of Lludd's sons was Gwynn, who is considered the King of the Faeries in Welsh folklore. Other gods in the family of Beli and Don are Govannan, the smith god and Amaethon, most likely a god of farming. There are other deities besides the Children of Beli and Don. Llyr is an ancient sea god (like Neptune). Llyr's son Manawyddan later took over his role and became the god of the sea. Another of Llyr's son's, Bran, was a giant who made war on Ireland after the Irish king mistreated Bran's sister. Bran's sister, Bronwen, was one of the most beautiful of all women. Rhiannon (not related to Llyr, but later married Manawyddan) was a great queen and a horse goddess. Rhiannon had a semi-divine son with the mortal prince of Dyfed, this son was named Pryderi. The god Arawn was a the king of the Underworld. Stories of these gods can be found in the Welsh book The Mabinogion. There are other gods I have not mentioned or whose stories are lost. Also, I have described these deities in simple terms to be concise, there is much more to them than the single lines I have used to describe them.Since many Welsh families consider themselves descended from these gods, we do not worship them but honor them as ancestors .

I have a bachelor's degree in psychology, and by profession I am a counselor at a mental health facility. I generally adopt the same demeanor when presenting myself as clergy and people tend to be respectful. (People respond well to calm and confident.) When you are respectful to others they tend to show respect to you. If you take your role as a minister seriously, most will take you seriously. (As we all know, a title in and of itself does not always command respect.) I would have to say that I have have had mostly positive experiences . Most accept me in the role of minister, more people have a problem with the actual path I follow.

And merry Gwyl Y Canhwyllau, Imbolc, and Candlemas too !

Very good, Blackowt !

The Celts tended to believe in an afterlife in Annwvyn (the "not"-world or Otherworld) and reincarnation was not a common occurence. When it did happen, it appears that reincarnations recurred in the same tribe or bloodline. I do have a memory of a previous incarnation where I was a wizard or Druid living in a small cottage near the sea (in Britain, after Christianity came but before it was dominant). Nothing specific just a few glimpses. Looking at miscellaneous objects and bottles on shelves. Being visited by friendly villagers bringing a basket of food, sometimes asking for a little supernatural guidance. One memory is of being summoned to an old stone fort by finely dressed riders on horseback. Anyway, I sometimes wonder if I am my own ancestor. Perhaps a great, great, great, etc, uncle since I do not remember having any children of my own. I think I was gay in that lifetime too. I do vaguely remember having a younger male companion living with me to whom I was very close. Anyway, whether these were actual memories or meditation inspired daydreams I will not argue, but they seemed real to me .