No Hate

I'm a female witch, who is married to a MtF transperson. Essentially making us a lesbian pagan couple. We have made these choices, we came out, we knew the possibilities, we knew how much harder it could make our lives. I don't really know which closet I stepped out of first. In school, everyone knew i was bisexual and that I practiced witchcraft. I didn't run around shouting it out down the halls, but I didn't deny it either. Why should I lie to fit in?  In my family it was a different story. No one knew. I liked keeping it that way because for some reason, the two things that defined a major part of me, were "not right" in others eyes.
When I was 16 I moved half way across the country to live with my aunt. There, I could be myself. My little sister was pushed out of the closet at this time and some of the family was less than thrilled. I blew up. I told my sister, I supported her. I told the family if they had something to say they could say it to me because i was gay too. Not much was said about it after that. Me and two of my sisters are out of the closet.
I bring all this up, because despite the fact that we are older, more mature, better capable of handling whatever hate may come our way because of who we are, we still have that hate coming at us. Not everyone accepts Izzy. I have stood up for her at every turn, and lost family and friends because of it. Sadly, some of her family isn't accepting either. One family member in particular is very vocal about their disgust. Have they educated themselves about any of this? No. Will they listen to what we have to say? No. They are just a hateful toxic person who is part of this worlds problem. In high school, I was "baptized" by a group of girls who called me a devil worshipper and thought I was going to curse them. No matter what I said, they didn't hear it, and neither did the teacher.
It saddens me that such people exist. I know that they do, and I know that in my life I am sure to run into many more of them. I just wish that people could educate themselves more. Humans fear the unknown, they hate what they do not understand. When I say "education is the solution to the worlds problems" I really believe that. If everyone educated themselves about others beliefs, If religions learned of others beliefs, if different cultures learned about each other, Life would be better. Education can end the fear that causes so much hatred, violence, ignorance, and chaos.
I am a gay witch. For some people, reading that sentence will bring up anger and fear. Before you open you're mouth though, learn something about what it is to be gay, or pagan, or anything that isn't what you are. Maybe you'll learn, you're fear is ridiculous.

Top 25 Faith Blogs

Circle of Moms is holding a contest for the top 25 faith blogs, those top 25 will then be in a newsletter that gets sent to TONS of people. I follow a blog called Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom, and right now she happens to be in first place. Unfortunately, this has many others in an uproar. Why you ask? Because they think pagan faiths are not FAITH. Our beliefs are the "wrong faith" therefore it can not be a faith at all and should not be allowed in the competition.
As you may have guessed, most of this is being said by those of christian faith. Which is truly sad as I have met so many wonderful, loving, accepting and down right amazing christians. Its simply awful that christian blogs are being made to look like they are all run by holier-than-thou women of the past. These women seem to forget they are the voice of a community, and what they write can be seen as the voice of many.
The point of me mentioning this is that many people seem to think paganism is a "minority" and that we can be kicked around by the bigger religions. Not so! Since all of this came to light, CPSM has sky-rocketed in votes to the number one spot, while many of the blogs now holding a spot in the top 25 are pagan as well as other "minority" religions such judaism and muslim. Our community has shown a tidal wave of support and commitment. We want to show that minority religions are faith too, and that just because a religion says they are the one true religion, does not make it so and does not silence the others.
Let me be clear in saying this isn't to bash christianity and if you have a problem with christians, don't voice it here. There really are many more good christians out there than crazy ones. Also, not all of the christian blogs are bashing the other religions. The blog in the number 2 spot is not only a very interesting and well thought out blog, but it also has stayed out of the bashing, relying instead on her blog to get her votes. Which obviously it has!
I hope that anyone reading this will go take a look at these blogs and vote for the ones deserving of a top spot. You don't have to sign up for anything, just click the thumb next to the blog to give it your vote. You can vote every 24 hours and you can vote for multiple blogs in a day.
~Lynx

Gods and Kids

The other day it started raining and my son, vincent, frantically said ''mommy our chalk drawings!'' the first thing that came to mind to say was
''its ok honey, the gods just wanted to give you a clean slate so we could draw more pictures''
but i stopped. I thought to myself, should i say this? Then i wondered, why did i have to think about it? Im not ashamed of my religion, im not spoon feeding them my beliefs, im being honest and open and educating them about all beliefs.
Now i think perhaps it was still that knee-jerk reaction im sure many pagans have when it comes to talking about their beliefs. We tend to be cautious. But i want my children to know what i believe. If they have any questions, i want them to know they can come to me and get an answer and not a sermon or an avoided topic.
I said it. We went outside and drew with chalk again yesterday. The world didn't end, my son didn't question existence, we had fun. And the next time it rains, mommy will be better prepared ;)