I was born in England and have 2 brothers and 4 sisters, all of them still in England. For as long as I can remember I have felt there was something unusual about my family, at least some of us.
My aunt lived on a farm quite a few miles away from us, and we would go to visit her for our summer vacation. Her house was miles away from the closest village, had no electricity or running water, no bathroom, what an adventure it was for us as children. We cooked on a wood stove, had oil lamps for light, and an outhouse to go to when we needed to. No TV or radio, just our own immaginations, and books, lots and lots of books to read. Some of them were very old hand written journals handed down from generation to generation, which we were not allowed to touch without my aunt being there. Not many of them held our interests then, they seemed to be just recipe books full of herbs and stuff we had never heard of.
A few years ago my aunt passed away, and out of all her family she chose me to recieve those books. Now I am much older I appreciate them so much more, and gained a lot more respect for her and those who went befor her.
All of them had a great respect and reverence for nature, and the things that Mother Nature provided for their use. Although I dont like creepy crawly things, I too share their love of our world. Too many of the plants and animals we have now will not be around for our grandchildren to see, and while it may be possible to replecate them in the future, it's not possible now. This to me is wrong, we are destroying that which we need to live and remain healthy, just so some people can make a profit and live in luxury. In our remembered lives we have seen too many species driven into extinction, now this may not seem to have much to do with religion you might say, but think for a moment.
What better way to show our love for the world then respecting and protecting that which the God and Godess has given to us. We must care for them and about them, or this world we have now , we will not have for those future generations. Just as our ancestors were misunderstood, and yes killed for their beliefs, so too are we misunderstood. The Pagan beliefs have been around a lot longer than Christianity, but it is the "accepted" religion and not ours. Again I am not talking about the New Age Religions but about the age old beliefs that pre-dated the birth of Christ.
In England we were tought that the Pagan beliefs were held so strong that the only way the Christians could get the pagans to accept one God, was for them to replace our holy days with Christian ones. This may or may not be true, none of us in this life were there to know for sure. Knowing how stubborn I am I have no doubt myself that this was the case, but others do have doubts.
I am not trying to convert anyone to my way of belief in this page, merely trying to give my view , and maybe get you thinking for yourselves a little.
And so I will end this page with a blessing handed down in one of the journals;
May You Allways Have Food On Your Table,
A Fire In The Hearth,
Money In Your Pockets,
And Love In Your Hearts For All
So Mote It Be An It Harm None.
Blessed Be To All
