A Witch's Blog

As humans many of us believe we are the pinnacle of our existence. Even if we believe in reincarnation, most of us believe as humans we are closing in on the end of our physical earthly journey and that eventually we will be mentally and spiritually ready to move on to the next realm of existence. But what if we are not the end?

Our capacity to learn as humans can only take us so far. Sure we can bask in knowledge, learn to understand perfect love, appreciate the concept of harm none, attain wisdom through our learned truth… hell, we could probably go through rush hour traffic a week without swearing at anyone. We could learn to appreciate our fellow men and women, learn to tolerate those we disagree with or who live with those who chose a lifestyle that appears repulsive and morally inept. We could learn to be self-less, assisting everyone we can, offer our lives up to servitude of mankind and deity, convincing ourselves we’d be willing to step in front of a bus to save any living thing. We can mount countless expeditions into the wilderness, learn all there is to learn about human and alien history on planet Earth, reach out into the stars, visit other planets and other worlds and learn to handle the vast diversity of cultures we couldn’t even possibly imagine exist. We could even learn to cope with the cold hard truth that everything we know is but a fraction of understanding. We can roughly imagine ourselves without the luxuries we are currently afforded, going without food for a week or even burning at the stake for the simple sake of our beliefs.

Many of us have lived thousands of lives and learned countless lessons spanning the entire cosmos, hoping from world to world, species to species, trying hard to find that which we seek—the ultimate understanding that will take us to the next level. In our understanding we are the learned ones, the ones who will experience all there is, all that was, and all that ever will be. We see ourselves as no different than the Doctor on the BBC program Doctor Who, traveling the universe, regenerating our form when necessary, constantly on the quest to learn who we are, why are we here, where are we going, and how are we going to get there. Obviously there isn’t enough we can learn in one life so we keep on regenerating and regenerating and traveling from world to world, galaxy to galaxy, life-form to life-form trying to figure out the pieces to the puzzle… all the while being stared at, followed around and talked to by one of the most ancient races of beings whose very countenance displays that which we seek.

Perfect love of all things, without regard to outward appearance, smell, sound or aura. Perfect trust in the universe around them, a complete understanding of how the universe works and the role they play without complaint, malice or hate. Perfect acceptance, no longer annoyed or tolerating simply accepting everyone and everything for who and what they are without drawing any lines, not setback by disabilities or poor living conditions. Perfect humility, knowing they don’t know everything and curious about all things unknown. Perfect accountability, know what they need, figuring out how they need to get it and knowing the difference between a want and a need. Perfect attitude, knowing how to act in every situation and adapting to deal with things they cannot control, being mutually responsible for their community and always willing to work together to achieve common goals or objectives. Perfect harmlessness, knowing without doubt what it means to harm none and living in a manner that calculates each motive and outcome. And last but not least, perfect teaching, constantly attempting to teach others the lessons they have learned and pass on the wisdom they have gained.

If you begin to understand this is all there is, was and ever will be and there is nothing more you can learn in this existence, don’t be surprised if your next step in your spiritual growth will be to reincarnate not as a human, but rather as a cat.

It's not Global Warming. It's not Global Laming. It's not an immanent meteor. It's not Iraq. It's not the Middle East. It's not Radical Muslims, Radical Christians, Left-of-Left Wing Liberals, or the Dawn of New Age thinking. It's not Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, John McCain, Vladamir Putin, George W. Bush, or Osama Bin Laden.

"And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, an upon them which worshiped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became as blood. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done."

"And they ask you to hasten on the chastisement, and most surely hell encompasses the unbelievers; on the day when the chastisement shall cover them from above them, and from beneath their feet; and He shall say: Taste what you did. O My servants who believe! surely My earth is vast, therefore Me alone should you serve. Every soul must taste of death, then to Us you shall be brought back. And those who believe and do good, We will certainly give them abode in the nigh places in gardes beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein; how good the reward of the workers: those who are patient, and on their Lord do they rely."

We have a fundamental flaw in our society, not just in America but world wide. Nearly 2/3 of the world believe one of the two quotes above are immanent and are beyond anyone's ability to stop. What's worse is so many people believe in this it has tarnished our Global Society to it's very core.

But this thought is not new. Self-proclaimed prophets have been predicting the End of Days for thousands of years. (Never mind that both Biblical and Jewish scholars, both past and present, have not even considered the idea that Old Testament prophecies of an impending disaster before the Jehovah returned had already come to pass by the time Jesus was born. They focus on words like "The End of Days" and so on, but don't realize that perhaps "The End of Days" was the end of their current calendar system and the start of 1000 years of Roman rule.) The funny thing is, no matter how popular it is or how deep it penetrates human society, we will still find a way to live on even if it seems difficult at times.

We humans are amazing creatures who use our talents and our imaginations to help build technology that helps all of us, whether we know it or not. If, for example, the Earth's axis were to move 120º south after the Galactic Alignment of 2012 and chaos reigned upon the Earth as our Great Mother realigned herself with the new physical forces and stresses that would erupt, haven't we seen enough movies for some of us to have common sense enough to take charge of the situation and help everyone work together to progress out of the devastation and eventually return to a similar techno-culture we have today? Haven't we educated ourselves to the point we could survive such a strange and natural holocaust without super-divine intervention?

The real scary part though isn't the potential natural disasters, it's the world political system collapse into war and anarchy that really sends shivers down my spine. We have to understand that 2/3 of the world, yes that's two-thirds of the world actually believe there will be an actual battle in which the world will be bathed in fire, sinners will be eradicated, the good people will be saved and Jesus or Allah will appear to show us the way to everlasting peace. Not only do they believe this, they believe it will be soon, and some even believe they have a personal role to play in kicking off the apocalypse. How scary is it when the President of the United States, never mind Iran, Syria, Hamas or Al Qaeda, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES BELIEVES THEY ARE CONTRIBUTORS INTO THE APOCALYPSE. Additionally, I firmly believe all three current Presidential candidates feel the same way and probably part of the reason they want to be President is so they can represent the United States in welcoming the Son of God back to Earth!

But politicians, political activists and terrorists are a microcosm of society; what I'm talking about is much bigger than that. Take a look at our "I must have everything now and it's all about me" society we live in. People are in debt over their eyeballs (and believe me I have debt with the best of them), some people are more in debt than they will ever pay back in a lifetime, but as long as we're pulling the slots who cares right? We spend money we don't have, use resources we don't have, eat food that is terrible for our bodies, and it took us going into the 21st Century to truly get that? This is what I'm talking about. The idea the world is going to end soon is so rampant and widespread it's become subconscious. That's why you're able to spend hundreds of dollars on tattoos, new computers, material wealth, get in a ton of debt and sleep good at night... You are programmed that the world is going to end soon so I can get in as much debt as I want, do what I want, not get a job, not learn a skill, and eventually become dinner to whatever government or foreign agency that tracks your whereabouts and cuts off your funding. We honestly believe the world will end in our lifetime, so everything we do is okay because it just doesn't really matter.

Well today, I'm going to start doing something about it. I'm going to start living for the future and ensure each action I make is a forward moving action. I'm going to live peacefully with the knowledge that we will survive.

The responsibility has fallen to this generation on planet Earth to do something about this problem and hit it head on before we actually do blow ourselves up. Because when global society reaches a point where they are convinced there is no future, that alone will propagate the end of the world. Let's try to do whatever we can to avoid that at all cost!

First Quote: The Bible - Book of Revelation, Chapter 16, Verses 2-4, 8, 10, 12 & 17

Uh, oh. I’ve said it. I’ve gone to Bible Study and now I’m losing my religion!

A friend of mine, who is a devout Christian had told me about this men’s Bible Study group that he attends that has really changed his life. He claims they are partially responsible for the way he feels about his faith. For a long time my friend struggled with the way mainstream Christians think. Mainstreamers care more about theocracy, proving the Bible’s word, and making money off those who are actually looking to find Christ. To him, Jesus was a radical. He was disgusted at the way the Church was ran preached this was not God’s work. Many mainstream Christian denominations are run the same way as the temples and synagogues Jesus destroyed, so it didn’t make sense to him to follow any of them. When he joined this men’s Bible Study group, they helped him realize that all he had to do was live what Jesus taught, not everyone else, just what Jesus taught and he would come to know Christ.

Now my friend is a very open-minded person. He doesn’t judge other people and wants to learn about their beliefs, faiths and truths. He doesn’t necessarily subscribe to your beliefs and is not afraid to tell you so, but he does comprehend how people come to the conclusions they do. In fact, he’s a lot like most Wiccans I know. He feels that if you are a good person who constantly seeks the truth that God will manifest himself to you and you will eventually come to Christ. That’s no different than what most Wiccans believe, we just realize it may take several lifetimes for a person to understand the Universe and embrace the Goddess and God. We get a long very well because we can relate to each other and can debate or even agree on many things. I do have a Christian background and due to my self-education and formal-education I can take sides in many rolls and ask questions and provide insights that we both find fascinating. He does the same thing. I enjoy talking with like-minded people like myself, not necessarily similar in beliefs or faiths, but people who have similar cognitive thought processes who can respect me as a Wiccan and has an open enough mind to understand that not everyone believes the same thing they do… and that’s okay! So I thought finding one person like this outside my family (because to be honest, I have a very open-minded immediate family… except for my mother, bless her Christian heart). But to learn from my friend that there were more people like him out there and in my own town, I couldn’t believe it!

Based on conversations I had with my friend about his group, I expected to find about 3-4 men who discussed areas of the Bible and their significance today. And while they all admitted the study session I attended was a bit more focused on Biblical history because they were going over the late chapters of the Book of Daniel, it was still nowhere near what I expected.

First of all, I got the number completely wrong by nearly 4 times. Second, they didn’t just read from the Bible and discuss, their instructor had a structured lesson plan he created with help from online and various other sources. They discussed the known historical accounts associated with the Biblical passages and even read from some Old Testament apocryphal text that shed more light on what exactly Daniel was talking about. These men were serious about learning their scriptures and truly understanding their impact. They tried to understand what in our time would equate to what we read. They willingly listened to suggestions and questions I offered and never once did they even ask me what denomination or religion I subscribed to. After the intense Biblical study, we talked about life and how things were going and tried to find out what areas of each other’s lives did we need spiritual help with. We then ended in prayer, extending God’s hand to help all of us in whatever we felt we needed help in the most.

This experience was very similar to many of the Pagan Circles or get meet-ups I’ve attended. Each man offered brotherly love to everyone, and they extended that love to me without even knowing who I was. It’s as if just by attending their group I was a part of their lives now without question. I was a brother going through life trying to do what is right.

It was a very spiritually powerful evening and it got me thinking about setting up something like that for Wiccans in my area, but expanding it beyond just Wiccan texts, but to all spiritual texts. I have recently begun reading the Bhagvad Gita, a portion of the Hindu Upanishads, and I feel the same spiritual energy from the text as I do from Wiccan writings and the Bible. Exploring all these ancient texts would provide tremendous insight into the world and the great mysteries of the Divine. Hopefully I’ll get to do this someday because it’s obvious to me now, Bible Study is good for the soul.

My wife and I have been stuck with the dilemma of whether or not to change our jobs in order to move out of California. For those of you who don't really know, the cost of living in California is about 25-30% higher than the national average. Case in point, gas is already over $4 per gallon in the San Francisco Bay Area while the national average is under $3.30; additionally a school teacher in California starts at $54K per year and it's no where near enough to live on.

We have the ability to move if we really want. Although my wife is Active Duty military, she could get out and go into the Reserve or Guard with only about 4 months notice. As for me, all I have to do is give up my job and go. We have several places we could go and have even just resubmitted a request with the military to move. We've had to compromise where we really want to go to a few locations that'd just be better than California. I am also getting bored with my current job because it's not challenging. What I really want to do is teach at a collegiate level, and I have the ability to complete my Master's degree so I can do so, but I really want a change in jobs... plus, the future of my present employer is in question and I'd rather be on the move now than competing with everyone who will lose their jobs when the major layoffs begin.

So what do we do? In years past, it wouldn't take anything for us to just change both jobs and move. That's what would make us happy now and we couldn't care less how this would affect our future. We did this when I became an Air Force Recruiter, took a $10,000 loss on our home and moved to Utah. We've been through a lot of hardship since then as a result of that decision. But we want to be happy, so what do we do?

Well, we considered our options. My wife has been in the active military for 12 years and only has 8 years remaining until she retires. If my wife goes into the Reserve, she will not get her retirement pay until she turns 60. At roughly $2000 a month in retirement, giving up 17 years of that retirement pay means this move would cost us $408,000. Additionally, I have the ability to get my Master's degree in 59 weeks starting March 31. So in just over a year I could have the degree I need to make the career move I've been wanting to make. But neither of these options make us happy now and that's what's always been important to us.

Now comes the adult decision.

There is no way a move of our own is worth losing $408,000. Additionally, I may not have the opportunity to go to school the way I want elsewhere. There is still a possibility we could move with our second request in, but it's probably best if we just stay here for now. And at the rate my employer is moving I'll probably be done with school and moving onto a whole different field before they cut my position. So that's where we are and the adult decision we had to make.

You know, I'm really a kid at heart. I want to enjoy what I'm doing today and not worry too much about tomorrow. Sure I look at the future when I think of politics or sports, but for my personal life I try to live in the here and now. But sometimes you have to slow down look at what you are actually doing to yourself and those around you. And sometimes the best decision is to live with the status quo just a little longer.

Adult decisions may suck, but they pay off in the long run.

Blessed Be,

Kal-el