the Hearthwitch

I love it when people randomly start talking to me. I'm never lonely- but I find it interesting and fun, especially now that I'm a little older. It's always cool to hear what the universe has to say, when it prompts others to chat with me, in random places. I don't generally seek to start conversations, but don't mind it when others do.

This has been a really good thread so far, and I really liked what you said. Thanks, RevTom!

I'd like to interject something here, and it may not sit well with everyone. Some things are hardwired...wrong. If a dog is mad, or vicious, you put it down, to prevent harm. That's harsh, because a mad dog, it's not the dog's fault, right? But the illness will spread (if the dog has rabies), the damage will be done. So, you shoot it. Few people will argue that choice, when faced with that decision. Some people, likewise, are hardwired wrong. I would argue that, for example, the mis-named "sexual predators" are, by and large, hardwired wrong. Child molesters aren't perpetrating a sexual act, so much as an act of violence. Ditto for your rapists, particularly rapist/murderers. The predators themselves often say that this is the only enjoyment that they can experience...so. Hardwired wrong. Pacifism will not work with them. I would also argue that people who intentionally bully children, beat them, abuse people weaker than themselves (such as the elderly, women, etc.), these people are sometimes hardwired incorrectly, too. And while I can sympathize with rough childhoods, having been abused themselves, etc.? I have also seen people who were...well, not right. Some aren't created by bad circumstances, either. Who had what I can only call true evil, in them. Sociopaths exist, and according to some, there may be as many among the rest of us as 1 in 26. Do we shoot 'em? Well, no. But we don't have to be their punching bags, or their broken toys, either. There are exceptions to pacifism. And the recidivism? For some people, that's just the next chapter in the game, for them.

Yep. Definitely.

Having terminal stomach cancer, among other painful illnesses, is also a very negative thing. Having worked in end-care, in the past, death doesn't begin to look like the worst thing that can happen to a person. Just sayin'. Yet another reason for some of us to entirely avoid the path of Abraham...there's more trees, over here!

I concur, RevTom. I have a certain predisposition towards protecting my own, as well. And I do think less, of men who hit women and children. *Shrugs* Never claimed to be perfect!

Hey, wait just a minute! Brother Kaman, does this mean you're the Lightbringer? (*Giggle*)

Wait...I thought that was Fenrir? Or was it maybe an angry dragon....? So confused....

Guess I prefer to stir the cauldron in other ways, LOL! I'm allergic to proselytizing, in most of its forms.

I believe it does- but can't prove it empirically! (Which is fine.)

Then it boils down to belief- which was pretty much what I saw comin' on this thread anyway.

Yes! That!

I think that's totally OK, too- you don't have to believe anything, or you can believe everything. I think most of us are in-between, one way or another. I'll admit, my bias usually tends to be against anyone who declares that they have all of the answers, or the only "right" way of doing any given thing, very much including spiritual doings and religion. Or those who demand cash, to get those answers. Especially those! And it's OK to call crazy, well, crazy.

Maybe not all- we all know that there are reasonable exceptions to any rule- but many of them, yes. My take on it is that yes, it does sound crazy, it feels crazy, but it happens. Perhaps that puts my character (and sanity) in question. But I don't automatically disregard it, when someone tells me that they've been spoken to by a god, a goddess, a ghost, what-have-you. Why should I? I don't think that deities are unapproachable, and I think that they approach their chosen people, too, at times, without regard for how those people may react.

How does Therapeutic Touch differ from, say, Hoodoo laying on of hands? Or other (Christian) faith-based laying on of hands?

That's the crux of the problem right there, isn't it? It's subjective. I can tell you that what I have seen, felt, and heard. You can choose to believe me or not to...it in no way diminishes the experience, for me. People say that they have heard the Voice of God, or other voices, other gods (lowercase, as a nod to the other discussion). I believe them. It's happened to me, too. But sadly, it doesn't ever seem to happen in a laboratory. Funny, dat.

Wow. Just checked 'em out. The basis for their disdain of divination is, well, unscientific as hell. Just because someone tried to fake some people out does not necessarily mean that others aren't perfectly capable of genuinely being able to perform solid readings. That's like saying that because I'm not fond of performing readings with cards (I don't), all forms of divination (such as pendulum work, which I do like to do) are a fraud. Derp. Not sure you can count quackwatch as a good source for solid points of argument! LOL

I would be willing to go with the capitalized God as the Biblical one, for the purposes of this discussion. No skin off of my nose! (But I will still occasionally refer to Gods in other threads with a capital G, even if I'm not entirely sure that it's the correct moniker for 'em.)

Very, very thin. Especially as of late, LOL!

Neat! We have Tiger Swallowtails, and Zebra- but nothing blue, like that! The Owl is lovely, too. Thanks for sharing these, that's so cool!

That's OK. It happens!

*Hee hee* Being a baby creature of the 70's-80's, when I think of Mother Nature, I don't think of some longhaired lady....I think of the Mother in "Year Without A Santa Claus", from 1974 (which played on the TV every winter that I was growing up, during the holiday season). She was ready to kick BOTH of her Sons' butts. She appeared to want nothing more than to attend to her garden. Was this the first pseudo-explanation of El Nino and La Nina, or was it insight into the weirdness that would come in the later years? I can soooo relate, to all of the above. But I concur, about the dumbing down of our people, in general. Contact me, Jonathan H.B. Lobl. I want to know who you are. BTW- who says Jack Frost is a minor weather deity??? Ever live with the bastard?! Or at his mercy? He's not minor, if you live at his whim. Just sayin'.

What kind are they? Is the brown a Mourning Cloak? (We have very, very different butterflies here, so not familiar with these lovelies!)

Thank you! That's nice of you to say that.