Witch, Please.

Here are the things I don't care about:

I don't care what the name of your religion is.
I don't care what the names of your gods are. 
I don't care how old your religion is.
I don't care if your great-great-whatever grandmother passed down your famtrad Book of Shadows under the watchful eye of the Inquisition.
I don't care if an entire civilization worshipped your Goddess for ten thousand years.
I don't care if you made Her up based on manga or Tolkien or a dream you had.
I don't care where you place your altar.
I don't care which direction you call Earth.
I don't care how psychic you are.
I don't care if you're smarter than me.
I don't care why you eat meat, or don't.
I don't care how many shields you think you need.
I don't care how your childhood trauma made you a powerful magickian.
I don't care if you spell "magic" with a k.
I don't care if you were an Atlantean Magus in your last life.
I don't care if you're brand-spanking new.
I don't care how much you hate Christians.
I don't care how many degrees you have.
I don't care if people call you "Lady" or "Lord."
I don't care if you're King of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat.
I don't care if you can read minds or light candles with your breath.
I don't care how the world owes you a living.
I don't care if you've been studying the Craft for thirty years or thirty minutes.
I don't care what your totem animal is, especially if it's a wolf, raven, or unicorn.
I don't care if you can trace your lineage back to Gardner.
I don't care if you think I'm a moron, fraud, or basket case.
I don't care how many books you've read.
I don't care how much or how little money you have.

What do I care about?

I care that your religion has made you a kinder, more compassionate person.
I care that you can hold down a job.
I care that you're growing past whatever happened to you as a child or last year.
I care that your gods help you become stronger without coddling you.
I care that you are willing and able to adapt and change as your life does.
I care that you care about the Earth.
I care that you care about someone and something outside yourself.
I care that you practice your religion with devotion and reverence.
I care that you respect others' paths.
I care that you never stop learning.
I care that you can conduct adult relationships with respect and understanding.
I care that you get how hilarious life is.
I care that you know when to ask for help.
I care that you realize that someone will always be smarter, more powerful, and more together than you.
I care that you realize it doesn't matter, because tomorrow you'll be smarter, more powerful, and more together than you were yesterday.
I care that you have reasons for everything you do, even if those reasons are purely intuitive.
I care that you can admit when you're wrong.
I care that you know you're both a tiny speck in a vast universe and a rare, precious jewel in the darkened sky.
I care that you're making a difference.
I care that you know when to speak and when to shut the hell up.
I care that you are seeking a relationship with Deity and with Nature.
I care that you are healthy.
I care that you're contributing to your family and community.
I care that your capacity for love and joy increase with every passing year.
I care that you believe in yourself.
I care that you're doing the best you can.

Comments

[Niobe]

So very beautifully put! Thank you, Dianne, for saying (so much more articulately than I ever could) what I frequently feel when dealing with people from all sorts of backgrounds.

[Danmara]

Wonderful!!

I firmly believe that if more pagans saw things this way, the pagan community would be a much more awesome place to hang out! :D

[rebelleink]

Very cool. It amazing how much sense that all makes. There is a personal side to one's beliefs that many Pagans I know seem to flaunt. More Pagan than thou and all that.

[Ellen-Mary]

Well stated.

This ought to be on a poster. Just my opinion of course, but it would be great to have on display, in large print.

[Teece]

BOOYAH! Nicely done!

P.S. I agree with Ellen-Mary. I would totally hang this poster up.

[Sarah Peters]

Brava. I want the poster, too!

[Cat]

I loved this so much it made my "Wednesday Web Love" links list this past Wednesday. And it's inspiring a post about the "fluffiness" and why we feel the need to judge one another's spiritual choices. Thanks for the fuel for thought (and the blog fodder!)

[Emily]

Oh, yes!

Thank you for this, it's brilliant. I'm linking it on my LiveJournal, I have many friends who'll appreciate it.

I'd also buy the poster in a flash. :)

[Flaneuse in DC]

Rock on, sister. Spiritual and relgious communities of all stripes would do well to focus on the "do care" list, even as their "don't care" lists would be different.

~Flaneuse in DC

[Carol Lovekin]

A beautiful piece of writing that should be mandatory reading for each & every aspiring, wannabe glitterwitch who ever fancied her (or him) self in a crescent crown!

Blessings
Carol

[Lillith]

LOVE IT!! If only more of us felt the same way we would not still be considered a fringe group!

[Lillith]

LOVE IT!! If only more of us felt this way we'd finally move away from being a "fringe group"

[Derique]

"Witch, Please." has got to be the best initial page I have added to my bookcraft journals. It is at the same time an 'in-your-face' and gentle breeze article, that yes would make an excellent poster for anyone. kudos to the moon and I will most certainly link to this post for others to see.
peace, light & love,

derique d' corbeau

[Moonfyre]

Oh my Diane, this is what I have tried to say sooo many times but didn't have the words, the eloquence. I am a member of a non-religious Yahoo group who I would love to share this with if I may have permission, with credit and the link provided of course? If not, may I share the link? Thank you so much.

Mary M.

[Francis Drake]

Was steered here by [email protected]://egina2.blogspot.com/.

VERY nice spiritual reality check(list)! I'm a Quaker and as we Friends put it, this speaks to my (and our) condition.

Blessed Be.

[Rosaleen D. Bellchamber]

Well said!!

This may be some of the most important Wiccan/Pagan writing to come out in over a decade!

[Madrone]

This is fantastic. It nails it for Wiccan/Pagan but also surpasses all the borders for other paths. This is something anyone can relate too.

Beautiful words, thank you for bringing them light.

[Jeffry]

This is fantastic! I am printing this to read again and again. I agree with all you say, but sometimes my own BS/ego gets in the way of me behaving the way I should/want to, and this is a great reminder. I love you page, your books and think you are groovy!

[Hellena]

That was awesome. I loved it!
Its a wonderful guidline on how to treat each other. I guess if we followed it more, paganism wouldn't be like hearding cats :)

[Sherron Ostrander]

If you used just the last half, or take out some of the just a too specific references in the first half, you could sell that poster in Walmart, to everyone. And EVERYONE would buy it, because everyone thinks you mean someone else, not them. (You know, just like everyone thinks they can sing, and that they are an excellent driver!)

[Delilah Moran]

Mmmmm...

Though a number of your items under "don't care" are things I truly do care about, the overall sentiment of not getting overly serious about the whole matter has given me some fresh thoughts to digest.

Thank you.

Love.

~ Delilah Moran ~

[Ellie]

Oh my. This is amazing. This is wonderful. Thank you.

[liana]

Well put. Very true. I'm keeping this for future reference.

[Freak Angel]

Hey Dianne, I haven't read the whole book yet (I just got it last night) but I have your book, "The Circle Within" and it's everything (so far) that I've been looking for.

I'm 30 now and ever since I was 15 I've been looking for the more religious or spiritual parts of Wicca. Everything I read and every person I met always talked about magick or special techniques or some new way of raising power, etc. While I like all that stuff I'm more interested in having a relationship with Deity.

So thank you, thank you, thank you for writing the book. You rock!!

[Cat Vincent]

Very good post. Although...
Regarding these two criteria:

1. I care that you can hold down a job.
2. I care that you are healthy.

I would note that sometimes good & spiritually true people cannot do these - often (for example) because not being healthy can make one unable to hold down a job, through no fault of your own.

Personally I'd swap them for;
1. I care that your word is good. (I consider that a *far* higher criterion for a good person than employment prospects.)
2. I care that you are as healthy as you can be.

Just my tuppence worth!

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000215164032]

beautiful indeed

[Jill]

Can I hug you? That was amazing.

[Beka]

This is brilliant. I read it to my friend, and we had a good giggle over "I don't care if you're king of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat". Firefly geeks unite!

But part of the reason I've never gotten involved in the pagan community is that I've always felt, when I run into it, that I'm Not Pagan Enough, because I don't currently have a place to set up a permanent altar (cats and a dog put a severe limitation on that), because I don't yet have a patron god/dess, because I don't follow any Grand Tradition, because I'm not More Magickal Than Thee.

[Owen Gwalchmai]

Very nice! I enjoyed reading this very much as it echoes my own thoughts - Well said!

[Isa]

"I don't care if you're King of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat."

love. <3