He asked interesting questions, some I've heard from other students, others I'd never heard before. I was in a mood to write so I took the time to answer his questions pretty completely. I'm proud of the end result so I reproduce our correspondence here. This actually took the form of one email from him, and three in return from me, but I consolidate them here into one long pieces for your reading enjoyment.

Jimmy's text is in green italics. Mine is in plain purple text. I do have Jimmy's permission to post this.

I recommend reading the whole discourse, but here are some topical jump points if you want to just see parts of the text.

Who is attracted to Wicca?
Wicca and organ donation
Wicca and destiny
Gender and Wiccan practices
Sex and Wicca
Religion as a crutch
Comparative religions
Why is Jimmy asking?

I have a student who lives geographically distant from me and I will be blind carbon copying her on my responses as you asked some excellent questions and I am taking some considerable time and energy in replying to them. I think she will also benefit from the answers. I will also be blind copying a Sister Priestess who may even chose to respond with some additional / different answers that you would find useful and interesting. I keep their identities secret and private per our initiatory agreements and common sense. If they choose to write to you, it will be at their own discretion.

In the meantime I want them to be able to read what I write.

The first of your questions was:

Why do you think that so many people have been recently attracted to Wicca/paganism and why do you think it attracts uhm adolescent and late teens women that seem to have uhm a lowered self esteem? (I'll explain my own personal findings in a little bit)

I do agree with you about this... many folks with lowered self-esteem or adolescent personalities seek religion of all kinds, not just Wicca. The most active and self-righteous church ladies in their Sunday hats are often of the low self-esteem crowd too. Most folks seek out religion to 'fit- in' and have a community. Like attracts like, so when you get a few bad apples, more come your way. Being an alternative spiritual path, Wicca gets a higher ratio of blatant weirdoes and "I didn't fit in anywhere else's so maybe I'll fit here types".

Wicca is a path of tolerance between individual differences and magick offers sugar-pill fix-its for all your life troubles so who wouldn't want to give it a shot if they were unhappy and poorly adjusted?

The trouble is that most folks don't really understand Wicca. To me, it is one of the most difficult of possible paths, stressing personal responsibility for every aspect of one's own life and reality. It requires constant study, observation, self-examination, and courage to confront our darker selves. Initiations change us. The rigors and disciplines of maintaining our bodies and ritual practices are not easy to stick to. Magick is no sugar-pill, but rather a tool and technology that comes with a tremendous responsibility to use it wisely to improve ourselves, and our own lives.

I don't think that the various Llewellyn authors have done us any favors making Wicca accessible to the masses. It was a good thing that there was a certain amount of elitism in the teacher / initiator relationship to carefully selected students. I follow this mold myself and have few, select students who have show substantial individual development and commitment before I teach them a darn thing.

I have by deliberate choice, separated myself from the pagan / Wiccan masses because I do not enjoy those less developed personalities very much. My practice is serious and more eclectic than most embracing ceremonial magick, shamanism, Buddhist and Hindu principles as well as Wicca.

I will add that under the current aeonic astrology, we really ARE in the "Age of Aquarius". Many things, including religion and government are drifting in the direction of individual expression, decentralized controls, and concern for all humankind instead of just our immediate selves and families. Wicca fits this mold better than the patriarchal monotheistic religions so the Wiccan ranks are growing, along with the Hindus, Buddhists, and many other non-Bible oriented religions.

Does the Wiccan religion believe in Tissue or organ donation?

Since Wicca has no central authority I couldn't say what the Wiccan Religion does or does not believe. I don't mean to duck or dodge, but I can't speak for other Witches outside my own teachers, traditions, and self.

One of the cornerstones of a Witch's practice is healing. If organ Donation were viewed in that light, then certainly a Witch would be inclined to do whatever they could towards healing other folks. In general we don't place much value on our bodies after death - spirit goes where it will and this is but a shell, but there are always exceptions. Some family and closely related spiritual traditions (check into Voudoun!) have strong issues with the power in body parts and might not take kindly to having them re-used.

Myself... well there are things I would donate and things I wouldn't. I try to take a responsible healer's perspective. It matters to me how much Relative good / harm is done in the course of the donation. For instance, heart donation is absolutely out of the question for me. Heart transplants do not produce enough additional longevity and quality of life to be worth the pain and money spent on them. Kidney transplants are another thing entirely; they seem to really benefit people in the long run and are routinely successful. So the issue is more complex than just 'do I believe in organ donation'.

I wanted to add one more comment about the "Do Witches believe in organ transplant" question. It was such an interesting point that I spent some time talking to my Beloved about it. He is an eclectic pagan with training in many different paths from Buddhism to Wicca and mostly practices what I would think of as a Shamanic path. He is a very interesting human being.

His response to the question you posed was... "I'm going out with what I came in with." He / we have an understanding of our incarnation which can be simply framed as follows.

We believe in reincarnation. We believe that there are other states of being possible by choice and intent than being here on earth as humans. Between lifetimes / incarnations we get an opportunity to review and choose our lessons, service, or experiences. So we enter a human incarnation here with a 'contract': certain parents, time period, genetic predispositions etc.

For Jonathan his body is part of his contract, as are all our bodies. How he (and everyone else) takes care of their body while they are here is a matter of free will / choice. It isn't part of the natural order of things to give up body parts or have someone else's implanted in you. If you failed to care for your body, incarnated with genetics pre-disposed to failure, or met with some terrible 'accident' that would require a transplant to save you, then you will and should die of it.

I think the point that it isn't the natural order of things is borne out in the fact that bodies will do everything possible to reject new organs. They universally and consistently say - that isn't part of me and doesn't belong here. In general Wiccans and Pagans pay close attention to the natural order of things and try to be in harmony with them. I'd have to say at this point after talking and thinking about it, I would personally be opposed to donating organs on the basis of my spiritual beliefs.

Does the Wiccan religion believe in a destiny-- or creating your own destiny or in the fruits of your labors are directly proportional to the seeds that you sew?

On the question of directly proportional labor...

Everything you do comes back to you three times - this is one of the two golden rules of Wiccan ethical behavior. You can behave however you chose, but you are responsible for your behavior and must understand that there are consequences to every actions. What is more you can't always know all of the consequences of your actions.

The second 'rule' is usually called the Wiccan Rede - "An ye harm none, do as ye will" The trouble with taking this at face value is the question, what is harm?

It may be that a curse is so richly deserved and desperately needed to do justice or set a situation right that I would be happy to risk the 'karma' associated with doing such a spell. A Witch is an elder, a wise person of their community. It is partly their responsibility to step in when need be to right a wrong, resolve a difference, heal a hurt. A Witch who will do no harm, cannot cure Cancer because you have to kill the cancer cell in order to heal the person! I might do more harm by not laying the curse in the long run... it is a difficult question that any Witch would consider carefully before acting.

Destiny is another question. Again I can't speak for 'what Wiccan's believe' - but I can tell you a little about my own experience and knowledge, how I would teach about it to my students.

I am a student of astrology and tarot, two common studies of Witches. I believe that the future can be predicted... but it is also changeable based on our actions and choices. My natal astrology chart, for instance, maps the river of my life, the bends, the rapids, the sand bars; it may even determine the size of my boat and whether I have a paddle or a steam engine... but no matter what I start out with, I get to steer my course. The ride can be smooth or rough depending upon my choices. Knowledge of the river map / astrology, can help me navigate more smoothly, be more productive, happier, etc.

Any given Tarot reading is accurate for that moment in time. Once you read the cards and begin to act upon the knowledge, the outcome can change. Another reading somewhere down the line is usually in order.

One of my individual talents is seeing the future in dreams / visions. I have past lives as a Shaman / Seer and some of that ability comes forward to this lifetime. Sometimes I I see future events way ahead of time, I mean years ahead. They ALWAYS come true when I see them. Whatever choices have to be made to reach that point in the timeline of occurrences have already been made so then I can see what happens. So yes, I believe that things are pre-determined, but by how much lead time and what factors? This I do not know.

I often can sense a moment of decision, a Y in the road where the choice being made will change the future events significantly. Not all choices are significant, but sometimes it is hard to say which ones are. It can be very small things. Sometimes I have a sense of being in two timelines at once during a moment of critical decision or action. I was recently nearly in a car accident where my fast reflexes saved us. But both my Beloved and I saw both futures occurring and diverging, one where we drove away on up the highway, and the other where we died in a terrible accident. It was very surreal but a common experience for both of us.

My Beloved and I have been seeing each other in visions since we were in our teens. We have been together before, in other lifetimes and will be again. We looked for each other in this lifetime, but had to learn certain things and go through some life initiations before we could be together. Then when the time was right, it all came together in a blinding flash with a little help from the Gods.

I am not a fatalist. I do believe we make some choices prior to incarnating here in these bodies at this time and place. We make choices about what lessons we want to work on, what experiences we want to have, what service we are here to do, and then we pick the birth / life situations that will best help us. But not everything can be known and we can and do make many choices along the way. We _decide_ how to feel about things, how to react to them, what is most important to us to do or be all in the course of living life's adventure.

Listen to "Conversations With God" - it very accurately reflects my understanding of our life choices and 'destiny'. Yes, we make our own destinies in many ways, at various stages along the process of incarnation and living.

These are stream of consciousness not in some normalized order.

No problem. I am enjoying thinking about and answering them. Passes the time while I wait for the computer to log on or the pot on the stove to boil.

Now, on to your gender and sex questions...

Why aren't there more men in the Wiccan religion? Why do you think that it appeals to women-- and indeed women that are not the typical skirt wearing femmey types (I'm not trying to be necessarily stereotypical but I know several in fact quite a few lesbian and bisexual women that find Wicca to be theirs).

There are actually quite a few men who are involved in Paganism and Wicca. I think the ultra feminist bent women are just louder and more public and so are more evident. Again, I don't object to stereotypes as a jumping off point for discussion, as long as I'm not assumed to fit into them personally.

I wanted to be a Rabbi when I was pre-adolescent. My Great-Grandfather was a Hasidic Rabbi, so why not me? I was born to be clergy and serve my community. I have a deep sense of the spiritual. Then I learned that the Orthodox and Conservative synagogues did not allow women to be Rabbi's, only Rabbi's wives. Very disappointing. (The Reformed Jewery IS now allowing women Rabbi's - one of my girl cousins is studying now! Yeah! But it is still a one male god kind of system know what I mean?)

Look at the choices of spiritual path that are available in the world today. Patriarchal Judaism, Patriarchal Catholicism, Patriarchal Christianity, Patriarchal Islam... oh and the Latter Day Saints for whom I have great affection and respect on many other counts - gender wise women are wives who have babies and that is it that is all. They can not hold the Priesthood.

I am a female gender person. If there is ONLY one God, and that God is MALE gender, where do I fit in? Am I not divine? Am I less? A mere rib?

I Say NOT. I am prettier and brighter than 99% of the population, male or female. I rarely meet a man who can match my brain or skill. How can he be in the image of God, but not me?

I am making a point with arrogant but truthful words - this has been the experience of my life and I am sure it is of other women as well. We find ourselves dis-empowered and discriminated against in the mundane world. Why would we then volunteer to be second-class citizens in our spiritual life as well? Many do, but now many of us don't have to anymore and choose otherwise.

Unless you study the deepest mysteries of these Patriarchal religions, you find no feminine power anywhere! And even if you apprehend that the Holy Ghost is God's Wife and the Son/Sun's Mother, it certainly isn't spoken of aloud. Men write all the holy books. Feminine authored gospels are only recognized by a small sect of Gnostics (like me!)

Now the Hindu's and Buddhists have a lot more tolerance and variety in their deities and practices. In many ways they value and empower their women spiritually more than the Western religions. But these paths are very culturally linked and difficult for Westerners of either gender to truly embrace. It requires a pretty major uphill battle to learn and live that way outside of China, Japan and India!

So a Western religion for white folks - Wicca typically draws from Celtic, German, and other northern European cultural backgrounds - that not only RECOGNIZES the spiritual validity and power of female people, but actually has a Goddess as the central figure would be practically irresistible don't you think?

What's more is Wicca is LUNAR centered instead of Solar centered. Women are biochemically / naturally all about moon cycles, blood, childbirth, and the natural phases of life. Men just don't go through these shifts the same way. They are boys, then men, then old men. Women are maidens, then mothers, then crones. I don't invalidate or devalue the male experience, I love my men and wonder at their power and capacity, so different than my own; but Wicca's central mysteries are about what it is to cycle, for the tide to rise and fall, to bleed and not die, to experience and value the different phases of our lives as natural and appropriate. It embraces and glorifies weaving, needle working, crafting, cooking, herbal healing, gathering of natural things for use... all things that have fallen naturally to women in their gender role through all time. Wicca makes what women do every day important and magickal. It makes what we naturally are divine and powerful.

I've studied and practiced in both all female and mixed gender groups. They both have their advantages, but most of the real power and transformative experience I have had in Wiccan group practice have been in all female groups.

On the other hand I do extensive sex magick work with my male partner, which is equally effective and amazing... but in that process I am also valued, divine female, seen and treated as Goddess to his God.

The men who are in Wicca typically recognize and value the divine in Women; a strong or smart woman does not threaten them. They are willing to be taught and led by a Priestess. They sing the praises of the feminine divine easily and with joy. This is a rare, but wonderful man.

For most men it is easy to either ignore spirituality, or participate in the Patriarchal religions that pat them on the back. Why seek elsewhere? Women of substance and thought are driven to look elsewhere and often find Wicca.

I think I am looping now... was that helpful?

Is there a tie between Wicca and sexuality?

YES YES YES

Almost all of procreation is sexual... plant, animal and human. Procreation is THE magick. Make another one of you but different. Another individual who will have their own will and purpose in life.

Wow!

Creation is what God/dess does. When we create new life (or a 'magickal child') through sex, we ARE God/dess. We do what God/dess does.

Sex is a sacred and highly charged act. It is the single best way to raise focused energy that can be used with intent to effect a magickal change in our reality. Orgasm is the very best time to put magick into effect because you have all the ingredients available... energy, focus, and you are in a different space away from the mundane and in touch with the divine. So it is indispensable in the practice of magick, which is a tool in the Wiccan's toy box.

I could write a LOT more about sex and sex magick, but I think I answered the question you asked so I'll stop here.

Would the Wiccan religion be considered a crutch-- or can it be stated that (like in some religions) that Wicca will provide for you when you are in need-- do not worry and things will work out-eventually-- what I'm getting to is back to a similar former question....is Wicca an all provider or do you reap a reward for hard work and living right? and if you are ill should you sit back and not do anything-- will Wicca help you or does Wicca help those who help themselves?

Some very wise folks consider any religion to be a crutch. For the most part, I agree with them. By focusing on the afterlife many religions become appealing. No matter how bad things are here and now, they will be good in the after-life; suffer now, be rewarded later. But nobody ever has to keep those promises do they?

And then there is the 'you are too ignorant to think for yourself so we'll interpret this holy book for you' or 'you are too impure to talk to God on your own, so you can just go through us priests/bishops/holy men'. So again I am relieved of individual responsibility. I can retire into my role as a victim, sheep, and innocent bystander.

My understanding of Wicca thankfully does not tolerate this version of reality.

Another common ploy in religion is to say that God can forgive everything you do wrong. All punishment and reward comes later, not now. Wicca doesn't work that way. Effect from cause comes now and later. It is a natural cycle. Drop a pebble in a pond and there are immediate ripples moving out. When the ripples hit the edge, they come back towards the center colliding with each other and forming more complex patterns.

Wicca is a path of ethics, a guideline for righteous living according to a path of spiritual belief - attunement to natural cycles, respect for Mother Earth and individual expression and belief, acceptance and understanding of personal responsibility for the state of your own reality. It can provide a course of discipline and training, a toolbox to use to understand, mold and improve your own reality.

As Above, So Below

You can want and need a new job, light lots of candles and raise energy for it, but if you don't also believe in yourself, and send out some resumes, you sure won't get that job.

Don't worry because you have the power to choose and change your life. Do worry because you have the power and responsibility to make your reality anything you want it to be. If your life isn't good, if bad things happen to you all the time, what choices are you making that cause things to be that way?

If you live right and honorably, if you understand and abide by the natural laws, if you chose a good and happy life by adhering to this path, then so it will be. It isn't about reward and punishment; it is about cause and effect. You must have the courage to explore, know and embrace your own darker self, accept responsibility for your life because all your thoughts and deeds combine to form your reality.

God/dess is the all provider. You are God/dess. You are the all provider of your reality. If you are in tune with natural cycles and energies of the earth and your own body, if you can achieve a state of quiet and harmony, thereby you can hear the Goddess and make good use of the information. Your intuition and inspiration will serve you well.

Wicca can provide a community where coven or group members will render aid and assistance to another initiate in distress, either with plain common sense help (food, housing, advice, money) or with magick / energy. BUT, it is part of most traditions that the person in need must ASK for the help, They must admit their need, request the assistance, and cooperate in helping themselves. I never do magick work for anyone who hasn't asked and provided some of the materials / input and participated in the process.

Sorry some of these may be cynical or even redundant but I am actually trying to learn something and I am a devils advocate by nature.

No problem. The questions are intelligent and honestly asked.

Can you explain to me the difference between Wicca and other religions as it pertains to everyday living-- I mean Jesus for Christianity...Bhudda for that..Vishnu and other things for Hindu-- yes they are different-- but in essence I can find that besides that and the way to pray- they are all semantic differences. In fact I think that all gods are one god. It's just that westerners think that some white guy with straight hair (clinically impossible for where he was born) is the WAY and other people think that some lady with many arms and large breasts is the way. I actually think that god is just an energy force-- and that the form of god is a construct of the human mind- and it just makes sense for certain people to listen to one person or another <-- yes I know that I pissed off 9/10ths of the world with that statement-- but I thought you should know some of my ideology before you decided that I was a piss-ant.

It is useful to think of the deity as an external entity, to speak of her that way; but initiates of the mystery UNDERSTAND that we _are_ the Goddess and she is us, and that she is bigger than one of us individuals and encompasses us all. We are interrelated to everything, each other, the plants, animals, everything.

Wicca is different and the same as other religions. All religions speak of external deity, and seek to know and understand our relationship with that deity / energy force / natural power. Wicca differs in that it claims and encompass oneness with the Goddess and individual power here and now where other religions continue to reinforce the separation and hierarchy.

Ok, I guess you need an explanation. First, I am a tissue banker. I do not remove organs but I do remove the tissues from cadaveric remains-for transplant(skin bones eyes, veins etc)...that's where that came from.

That is an interesting and unusual line of work Jimmy. I commend you for doing something that you believe helps and serves others. It is important to do something with your time and energy that is karmicly positive for you as an individual.

Then, as far as the other questions, I am interested-- and this spawns from the fact that I do a fair amount of chatting on the internet. IN chatting, I have found several people that say that they are Wiccan...which I have a tendency to test because I think that many people who are younger want to appear to be different in the guise for attention-- I have nothing against Wicca or religion per se...but I want to talk to someone that is sincere and it is a test of their sincerity if they bring that up directly- then tell me that they like women and men or whatever... So, no I am not using you as a reference point to test these people-- I am actually interested form the point of view that I don't know much about it.

I will again remind you that Wicca is not a centralized authority based religion. My belief, experience, and practice may or may not be identical to other Wiccans. While we have a common vocabulary, our apprehension of the mysteries and deeper subtleties may differ substantially. A young person will have the understanding and practice of any spiritual path commensurate with their maturity, life experience, and the teachers and materials available to them. A strong courageous serious student of Wicca will eventually arrive where I am now, but many never will.

I think this is really true of any religion. The more serious the student in any religion, the more devoted they are, the more I have in common with them no matter what sect they are practicing in.

I'm a zealot, a hard-liner, a 35-year-old woman of substantial talent and experience who has been on this spiritual path since I was quite young. My understanding, practice, and teaching will reflect all of that. Any other serious religious person who can set aside their own 'rightness' and judgment, will find themselves in concert and common with me or another seriously accomplished Wiccan.

Last points (I know this has been long winded). I spoke to someone yesterday on the net (direct precipitation of the cynicisms expressed in the interrogatives). She professed to be Wiccan and that she was named Destiny and she hated her name because she didn't believe in one- and that Wiccans don't believe in destiny-- while I might agree (insofar as I know Wicca) that you don't believe in a preconceived destiny-- to think that you are just going to sit and things will eventually be whatever-because you are too lethargic to go out and make your destiny-- or rather something to look forward to- is a rather bleak and almost abhorrent concept to me.

My point of debate with her was to say that she could go and do anything she wanted to do- and that her self esteem was directly proportional to how far she went on her own ticket-- certainly if I give 1 million bucks to a person they will go places-- but under normal means, you are what you make and self image means something. In fact I think that this was a clinical case of something or other-- for arguments sake, it brought up some interesting things.

What I would like to happen through this email is that I find some answers and learn something. And, if what you say steadfastly agrees with me then I will probably tell her that and then ask you if you wouldn't mind counseling her on some issues that she has (because you are very much more learned than i am in this). If on the other hand, what you say concurs with her need to stay sheltered and have excuses and feel sorry for herself and that she will die an old maid because she's not smart enough, good looking enough or rich enough to get out of her Ghetto then I will pleasantly dismiss her and say "have as good a life as you can possibly have"-- and in the future be a little less likely to engage a person on that level.

I hope that you have gotten what you seek from this correspondence. I commend your curiosity, sincerity, and chutzpa for writing to me and asking me these questions directly.

However, I am not particularly interested in counseling a young woman you interacted with on the Internet. My time and energy available are very limited. I answered your intelligent questions as an honest seeker because you found me and sought me out. This young woman and I have no direct connection and I hope that she finds her teachers directly and appropriately. Your challenging her to articulate her views and beliefs is probably doing more good than you know.

Sincerely, thank you for your time and patience in this matter. And while my writing may be a little convoluted and even seem a little too pointed (and typing very poor) I have no preconceived notions about your responses. In advance, thanks again.

Jamison Roseberry

You are most welcome. Let me know if you have any response / reaction to the things I have written.

~ Lillith Avalon