Seldom-Asked Questions, #2

This'll be the last batch of questions for this round; Monday I'll be back to writing about that other thing.  I may do this again sometime--it was fun.  Thanks for playing along.

What's your favorite star sign?

Scorpio, of course.  Although I do have a history of fantastic sex with males of the Taurus persuasion.

How do you know you are on the right path? I find a tradition I enjoy for a bit then there comes a time it holds nothing for me any more so I move on. There just does not seem to be a path that says you are here. Does such an animal exist?

That's not a question I can answer for you, I'm afraid.  From the first book I read, I have considered myself a Wiccan, but my way of defining that word has evolved as I have.  You'll notice, however, that I'm not part of an existing trad or lineage; I'm making my own.  That's kind of how I operate; I like to make things.  That came after ten years of learning what was already available, however.  Wicca may be the "jazz of religion," as Phyllis Curott puts it, but you still have to learn your instrument before you can play jazz.

The only advice I can really give you is to keep looking, but at the same time don't give up on a path before you've given it a fair shake.  Sometimes the problem lies in our resistance to what's good for us.  People have an enormous capacity for self-delusion and self-destruction.

What do you think of ferrets?

I think they're smelly.  But they are very cute. I love how they have two brains, one in the head and one in the ass, and the two operate independently of each other. 

How is [EarthDance] going? Is teaching the course what you expected it to be? Have you had to readjust your thinking in any way because of the class?

The first Fundamentals of ED class wrapped up at the beginning of this month, actually, and the corresponding Initiatory course will start in August.  It was a great experience, and I think I learned as much as or more than the students did.  It had been two years since I'd last taught, and just in that much time I had grown by leaps and bounds, both spiritually and as a teacher.

I have already begun improvements and alterations on the curriculum for the next series of classes--I was honest with the first class and told them they were my guinea pigs, but they didn't seem to mind.  Overall I was very pleased with how it went and I'm looking forward to doing it again.  I am, however, grateful for a bit of a break; I've got a lot of work to do for the Initiatory course.  The cool thing is, once I've run the whole shebang a couple of times, I won't have to keep reinventing the wheel.

I was wondering about what you do in the "real world"?

I'm a database manager, which is neither as esoteric nor as well-paid as it sounds.  It's boring, and repetitive, and I hate it; I just haven't been in a job-hunty sort of place lately.  It's very difficult to have an entire sector of your life that feels completely out of step with your real purpose.  I could rant here for hours about how offended I am by the whole capitalist wage-slave system and the idea that we have to do jobs we hate for people we don't like to buy shit we don't need, but you could get the same message from Fight Club delivered by someone way hotter than me.

How did you meet the people in your coven?

The short answer is, "they were all my students."  The longer answer is, my co-priestess was in a class that I co-taught taught back in...gods, was it 2001? 2002? (Help me out here, S1ren, if you're reading this.)  The years are running together.  She and I became fast friends almost immediately.  Everyone in that class hit it off so well that, like many classes do, we decided to try the coven thing after the class ended.  It didn't work out, but led to another permutation with the two of us and one other woman, which also didn't work out.

About that time, 2004, I was teaching another class, and the women in that class informed me that I couldn't pry them out of my living room with a crowbar; it was at that point that I knew we were in it for the long haul.  We "incorporated" at Samhain of 2005.

What do you think are your greatest strengths as a Wiccan?

My Chaotic Neutral alignment and my magnificent cleavage, which pierces armor and lays waste to nations.

[From a comment regarding my statement about Pagan authors not being bodhisattvas] What do you think a Wiccasattva would look like? How would you know you've found one?

I have no idea.  If I ever meet one I'll let you know.

Comments

[Jess]

Re the evil capitalist job system--check out twinoaks.org.

I visited in February and it was fantastic--I may very well go back, or to a place like it, to live for a while.

[s1ren]

Yup, that was 2001 that I took your class; but we knew each other online for, what, a year before that? Still loving every minute of it! :)

[amber simmons]

Was S1ren in the class where we had to, ah, tenderly ask a student to leave? She was, right? If so, it was 2002--I was big and pregnant with Zach at the time, and he was born during our class in July 2002. I think you taught my class in 2001.

[mama kelly]

"the jazz of religion" I really really like that line

Mama Kelly

[Derek]

Funny how you describe yourself in vaguely D&D terms. Points for you, and your magnificent cleavage.