Theresa M RavenHawk

Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Wiccan Rede: Do what you will, so long as you harm none (on purpose)

My path has been very shamanic.

I have spent my entire life seeking true enlightenment, and I believe there is always higher levels to any truth. I do not stop at at a great truth and rest upon my laurels. I have chosen many traditional methods of achieving that end, including using natural "substances." That did not work very well for me at all.. I have been in recovery now for twenty-one years and then some.

1. I will not give up my Goddess. I know the Lady is real, because I have interacted with Her on many occasions and She has answered my prayers often.
2. I will not give up my Jesus. I know, too, He is real because I have seen His face formed in the tree branches on certain occasions of my life. He knew too much about Heaven and beyond that was entirely accurate to not be real. His words prove that there is much truth to His stories.
3. The Bible has much in it that is questionable. Writers are subject to lapses in objectivity, flights of fancy, bias, and political slants. Some writers are simply not good people. Some things are not supported by geological excavations, like the great flood. Some things simply do not make sense in a literal way, such as Genesis.
4. Do not believe everything you read. Also, do not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
5. Men have blind spots, whether they acknowledge them or not. The Bible was written entirely by men and is subject to their blind spots when it comes to the devil.

I love the Lord and Lady of Light and Love. I believe, just as the Lord has many names, so too does the Lady. Many myths, stories and accounts over the centuries, and even the past milleniums talk of the Lady. Their love for us is unconditional. That means we have the right to be wrong or make errors in dogma, beliefs, and names for the Lord and Lady. We can make mistakes, and even really really screw up and still be loved by Them. We don't have to be righteous, pious or perfect to be loved.

I John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

I prefer to call the afterworld Heaven. I do not believe in reincarnation, but I do believe in shared ancestral memories. I attempt to be objective, and whether people call the afterlife the Summerland, Sto-vo-kor, the Happy Hunting Grounds, or something else is simply a matter of semantics. It is not all that important.

All faiths have truth, including Wicca. God is a mother and a father; the trinity is a family. "Wica" means to yield in Olde English. Being open minded is God's way. The Spirit is the same in Native American culture as in Christianity. God talks to all people in their own language. Who do you think taught the Anasazi to build the dwellings in Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, and others? Please don't be prejudiced. Great Spirit is Love.

I believe God/dess has helped build all the great societies in the world today. Our leaders no longer kill their subjects (with certain rare exceptions). Christianity made murder wrong. Wicca is trying to outlaw violence in any form, and if you think about it, Jesus was a pacifist. He never struck anyone. Not even Peter, whom He referred to as "Satan." I also like shamanism. Jesus followed a classic shamanic path to enlightenment. In my humble opinion, the only thing really worth listening to in the Bible is what Jesus said, and anything that promotes human rights and respect for the Earth.

I believe God/dess has many names. God/dess has been there for people since the dawn of time. I believe God/dess will answer to any name you give him or her. That's why it seems like there are so many different gods. God/dess has communicated with people in various ways. I respect people that talk to their ancestors. I believe firmly in life after death, and that the dead can hear the thoughts of the living. I believe they can even communicate with the living if God/dess allows it.

I swear I heard God/dess tell me "We miss you up in Heaven." It was the most beautiful, gender-neutral voice I've ever heard. It might have been a hallucination, but I doubt it. To me, this is proof that God/dess can talk to people, if S/he wants to.

Love is an angel. I believe that White Buffalo Calf Woman is Goddess.

I love the ancient, Earthy, tribal feel of Paganism.... I love the reverence for nature and respect for natural cycles. Circles are very popular in many ancient and modern belief systems, and they represent the natural cycles. Some call them mandalas, and mandalas are known to be a very spiritual thing. I have always heard people make offhand remarks about Mother Nature -- and it wasn't long till I wondered who She was. She represents those cycles of nature. The cycles of birth, life, death and rebirth. She represents transformation too, as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.

I love Mother Nature, as fickle and deadly as she can and is supposed to be. The Goddess is very real to me. The moon represents her because it constantly cycles. I've always loved the moonlight, and could definitely sense something magickal about it. It casts everything in a great silver light and softens the edges of darkness. Sometimes it is even visible in a fully sunlit sky. To Her, nature is not evil -- including sex. It was such a relief to be set free from puritanical views of sex as an evil thing. Sex is no more evil then nature. Pagans tend to view the natural world as sacred, and same thing with sex. Sex is a sacred, not sinful thing. Without love it is not sacred at all. In nature, we find herbs and crystals and other things that help us or lighten our spirits with their beauty.

I walked for many years solely as a pagan, and there were many good times along that road. It was along that road I learned how to drum and raise positive spiritual energy through drumming. There is something ancient, Earthy, and tribal about drumming.

Many tribal peoples talk about getting in touch with the ancestors. They talk of being guided by the ancestors. Many tribal peoples believe in trances and entering into the Silence. The ancestors must be there. It is quite common in many religious circles and belief systems that there is a life after death, and even some Christians believe that those who have passed on look down from Heaven. I believe the "dead" can hear us when we think about them. Furthermore, I believe that we become beings of light when we die, and that angels are beings of light. If we don't become angels, then we become like them anyway.... The angels guide us and help us much of the time.

Paganism opened many windows into mythology and other stories of many other cultures. It is a rich and colorful tapestry. There is so much truth in so many stories of other cultures. I love stories. It allowed me to throw out things I simply couldn't swallow in "scripture," which to me, is simply another myth that is held in higher reverence then other myths.

I love divination too. I am not a believer in fate, so I don't believe that foretelling the future, per say, is a good idea because the future is a mutable thing. I am a firm believer in free will. However, I believe that the tools of divination can open a connection to the Spirit, and especially the Goddess. It is okay to ask questions and try to see what is going on in the world and try to get answers in paganism.... As a matter of fact a direct relationship to the divine is encouraged in paganism. I love answers. I want to know so very much about the world and the people in it as well as the "other world."

The Goddess is the divine feminine and as such, She embodies all women and all things feminine. Many pagans are polytheistic, and I suspect that just as many are not. There has always only been one Goddess to me, yet She is real and She exists as certainly as Nature exists. I believe She has gone by many names over the ages, much like God goes by many names.

The idea that creation is a co-creation appeals to me so much more then the idea that this was all a male's idea. Life seems so much fairer, with Her in the picture.

What I most love about Paganism is the freedom of it -- even if it is an ideal. God and Goddess both love freedom, otherwise we would not have free will. It puts us in touch with our roots, our present and our future all at once. It reminds us that we are all human, flesh, bones, spirits and all, and that is okay. It is okay to be human.

Every faithful person is subject to persecution whether it is real or imagined. It does not matter their faith. Religion is a delicate matter and it is often an issue of life or death to many people. Christo-Pagans tend not to be accepted by either the Pagan or Christian camps. However, you will find in either camp, that nobody is accepted by all the other members of that camp either. One thing is certain, neither Christo-Pagans or any other truly Pagan faith is really devil worship.

I am an ordained high priestess. I refer to myself as a bard, as I sing, write poetry and occasionally song lyrics, and play the tamborine and drum. I'm rather fond of shamanism, or more specifically Celtic Shamanism or druidry. I follow Martin Luther King Jr.'s example. I use my spirituality to promote human rights for kids and adults alike. I believe that God's will is for a more civil world without so much oppression. Racism is not only practiced by white people (in other countries, it's different). White people are people of color, too. Me personally, I consider myself to be red, white, and blue. I have red lips, blue eyes and "white" skin. I am very colorful. So, in my opinion, referring only to non-caucasian people as people of color is not very politically correct. I think that people need to keep in mind that caucasians have tribes too. Certain tribes are more warlike and more responsible, in ancient history, for wars between races. I'm not Anglo-Saxon, and it isn't my tribe who is trying to make every country a piece of the UK. I'm not Spanish, whatever tribe they are, and it wasn't my tribe that conquered the modern day U.S.. I'm predominantly Celtic American, to be p.c. about it, and about one quarter Frank.

I believe dogma has done more harm then good. Some people hate the "perfect" vengeful creature that the Bible has made God out to be. In my experience, God/dess is very forgiving except of sexual predators. I believe that God/dess particularly hates those who prey on children. Hate is a natural emotion. Many people believe hate and love to be opposites, yet they can coexist. To me, therefore, they can't be opposites. This would explain the vengeance that Goddesses like Kali and Hecate show. There are some things that God/dess finds intolerable.

Lucky Coins 

I love creating coins of "fortune" more or less...

Pennies: "Karma pennies". Usually 2 @ a time (for ). You put two pennies in your left hand (left hand for receiving ofc) and pull all the karma in the air for the place you wanna leave em. Then transfer to the right hand (giving hand) add your personal karma and pitch em.....

Nobody will ever suspect

Nickels: "Wooden nickel" or "Nickelback" nickels. Gives them a balance dose of karma.

Dimes: "Mercury dime" ALWAYS. Think of Freddie. Mercury adds charm to speech and flexibility. Mercury is spontaneous

Quarters: "Lucky quarters" give the recipient all the luck.

Half Dollar: "Half & half" coins. Used when things tend to be a 49-48/52-51 balance of curse/blessings. Be creative with it!