Pagan/Earth Spiritualist DUers check in.

I know there's a number of us in these parts and I was just curious to see how other people practice (I'm always curious about that :)).

I'm a solitary Wiccan by choice, mainly because I've done the coven thing in the past and I find that the older I get the less patience I have for other people's drama. I still occasionally go to open circles.

Actually I'm one of the few people I know who isn't eclectic. I consider myself a Hellenist and pretty much exclusively work with the Greek pantheon, though lately I have been reading up on ancient Egyptian beliefs because I've always held a fascination with the culture (heck I figure the Greeks did, why not? :)).

Always have been interested in the Norse theology though. Don't actively worship though. Would like to find a not-overly dramatic, more mainstreamish type of Pagan worship.

I'm a solitary practioner as well--althought I'm really out of practice for various reasons

I'm Celtic centered

I am looking to get involved with the SF Gay Men's Coven

I'm looking at more First Nation/Native American mythos because I do feel drawn towards them

I have no Native American blood, as far as I know--I'm pretty much white bread Northern European in heritage

I'm black and AFAIK I don't have any Greek heritage. But ever since I was a kid I was always really drawn to the mythology and ancient culture.

I've looked into Yoruban spirituality but it just doesn't "do" anything for me. It annoys me when I run into people who assume I'm into Vodoun or something when I say I'm Pagan. Or even worse people who say I should look into "my own spiritual heritage" in a derisive sort of tone. Thankfully I don't run into that nearly the way I used to.

People should be able to explore any path that they feel drawn to, I think. Just as long as they're respectful (but that goes without saying).

I had a buddy years back who wrote incredible formal verse.
His college prof told him that he should write jazz poetry because he was black. ARRRGGGGHHH!

It took him a year to get his original voice back. I hate that shit.
My mother was a jazz drummer in her youth, and she got a serious raft of shit about it. White girls shouldn't play jazz, girls shouldn't play the drums.

Faith speaks to the spirit in a unique way for every person. What you reach out to, speaks to your individual hopes and needs, not your genotype.

Solitary at the moment, was initiated in 1974. Have officiated as Priest in mx groups, and a few festivals.

I am one of the eclectic, though I have a serious soft spot for the Mabinogion.

by nature.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Not very active in worshipping, I don't go in for a lot of theater. I don't mind visiting a kindred or even an eclectic public circle, but it's not something I'd usually do myself.

I prefer to remain solitary.

I do follow the Norse gods, though - which is strongly influenced by my interest in my Scandinavian heritage.

I had one of those 'EXPERIENCES'. You know, the one where you disappear (not physically, obviously), and there's only the Earth sitting there? It's had a large effect on my life since then, to say the least.

I put away all my candles, all my books, and all my incense. Okay, I still burn some incense from time to time because I like the smell. But props and ritual became more of a hindrance than a help for me. Now, I just spend some time outside, and I feel more a part of the Earth than I ever used to.

And you know what? She's not feeling very well right now. I'm sure we all know that. But how do you cure a cancer from the inside looking out? Quite a puzzle...

In any case, I used to attend some open circles at Circle Sanctuary, but haven't gotten out there in a long while -- more from my own lack of initiative and planning than anything wrong with Circle (which is a very nice place, or it was the last time I was there).

The one issue I have with more sectarian pagans is them not really internalizing what it all means. In reality. Physical reality. There really is little difference between your relationship to the planet, and your body's cells' relationship to you. We're all bozos on this bus, so to speak.

I now expect that my personal beliefs could actually be proven by science at some point. I guess I've become kind of a Deep Ecology Pagan. NOTE: I just made that term up.

Disclaimer: I don't honestly know how 'sentient' our biosphere is. That issue is one of the articles of faith I still struggle with. I wonder if the cells in my foot have the same questions about me?

:)

Utterly fascinating book that explores a lot of what you're talking about. Some of it admittedly went over my head because I've never been any good with quantum physics (I'm more of an earth science person, I think because there's less math involved :)). But it's one of those books I keep going back to and every time I read it I get more out of it.

I understand what you mean about not really internalizing the meaning behind a lot of the practices. One of the reasons I stopped doing the group thing was because a lot of it felt shallow, like people were going through the motions without really "getting it". I feel more fulfilled going it alone...but then I'm really not alone, am I? It might sound weird but I feel more connected to "Mom" when I'm by myself. Less distraction.

I tend to put it on a different 'level' than I see the Earth (and more importantly it's biosphere).

That's another place I sometimes differ from my fellow pagans: I'm pretty sure that who I'm calling 'Mom' only exists on Earth. I think other biospheres have other 'beings'.

Are they all ultimately related? All life in the Universe? All I can answer for myself right now is: I don't know. :shrug: Science and religion sort of blend for me, so I don't have any problem admitting 'I Don't Know'. :)

Maybe figuring that sort of thing out is one of the human species 'jobs' we've evolved to do for Earth. Ever hear that Dead song that goes, "You wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world"?

Lotta truth in that, I think.

In other words: a hick from the sticks. The grass, the birds and the cats for whom I work are my sources of inspiation. I have studied religions ant their alternatives till i am blue in the face.none of it fits my oun inner knowing. The cats who let me live with them tell me more about life than all of the books, rituals etc..so finally I am just a heathen.

come from indigenous terms equivalent to the modern word 'hick'.
I try to remember that on days when I feel like the Lady's chosen.

My cat is the one that brings me down to size.

In fact I call him my spiritual advisor. :D

reminder that days like that exsisted. I am in post election shock, so a reminder of gentler times was comforting.

runs rampant through me...it's hard to lose myself when everything is so damned weird.

no formal training. i go to the earth and its plants and animals for my answers. don't trust too much from the homo sapien species, though :=)

I understand what you are saying. I feel the same way most of the time.

I was raised Pagan. My parents were and are Pagan, but nobody called it that. When I was a teen I joined a very high Episcopal Church and that was fine for a while but I quickly grew impatient with the lack of parity for women and GLBT people. The Episcopal Church has made strides in the right direction but it is frustrating to me that the issue is an issue at all.

I am happy to recognize that I am Pagan. I believe that the Deity is both Mother and Father. Together they are the One.

I've been reading and gathering items for a Wiccan altar but already I can tell that formal ritual is not going to be as important to me as the connection with the earth and seasons that I have felt and honored all my life.

I have a great respect for anybody's spiritual path, as long as they don't require me to follow theirs or impose their beliefs on me and others in such a way as to erode rights.

:) I'm still seeking and learning, but Paganism seems to fit what I believe the most. I loved the Greeks first, Egyptians second, and now, I'm just reading up on everybody. :)

I'm a solitary Wiccan by choice, mainly because I've done the coven thing in the past and I find that the older I get the less patience I have for other people's drama. I still occasionally go to open circles.

Haha! I already have no patience for drama, and really don't like/need to be around people to have a meaningful worship/fellowship experience. One more reason to not join a coven, if I was Wiccan. :D

It's one of my favorite things to do. :hi:

Being solitary has its benefits, so does working with a group. Working by myself is great because I can have as much/as little structure as I want or need and I can tailor the work to my own needs. But there is a kind of energy present in group rituals that is different and also good to experience. That's why I still go to open circles for things like the sabbats. But I just don't have it in me to work with a group on a more formal, on-going basis...the politics, the egos (especially my old high priestess...but that's a whole other thread, LOL!). Just, no dude. If I need human contact or advice I go to my old mentor, who is more like a father to me. And he does sort of look like Yoda only he's not green. :)

:bounce:

hehe

But imagine Yoda taller, not green and less wrinked and there is a startling resemblance...no joke, LOL.

But to mix my dork metaphors, he acts like a total Klingon. He even wants to hold a Klingon adoption ceremony for me! (I have a Klingon name I can't even pronounce)

Ah, Pagans. :)

I look more like Yoda every day- especially the hair in the ears....

The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

I post on another message board. have been a member there for a couple of years. There is an outspoken member from the left coast, in her 20s, who actively practices the Wiccan faith (please forgive me if I write out of context--I am not Pagan). She's a High Priestess and also does not believe in turning the other cheek.

Enough back story: Several months ago I called her on what I thought was immature bullshit. She gets very angry and snippy when people call her on her stuff or don't agree with what some consider to be extreme views. She got pissed, disappeared for a while, then came back and acted chummier toward me than ever in the 2+ years I had been posting. Shortly after that (about a month or so later), things began to go really wrong in my life: I got fired from my job (that was a biggie), I adopted a dog from the pound and had to give it back because a neighbor complained so vehemently, due to miscommunication, my Thanksgiving was a total flop and upset me terribly, and a couple of other things...

Are these all coincidence or is it possible that my online acquaintance has cast bad spells on me? If it is possible, what can I do about it? She claimss to have upset the lives of other people who pissed her off in the past.

To me in my self-admitted ignorance, it seems like a misuse of power. I would think if you possess it, it should be used for good. Also, as someone who has carried around a lot of resentments and anger over the years until very recently, I would think it a very heavy burden to go through life wishing everyone who pisses you off ill will.

I would appreciate any insight.

For me, the jury is still somewhat out on that question. As I mentioned above, I like to stay close to science to keep myself grounded. That being said, I'm personally aware of phenomena that our current science cannot explain, so I leave the door open.

Is Magic more like psychology or more like a Russian psychic moving things with their mind? Luckily, in this case it doesn't matter, so we don't need to know the answer to that question. You suspect you are under attack, and even if your conscious mind rejects the possibility, something in your subconscious mind seems to have fewer doubts about it (the Shadow knows!).

Traditionally, one of the ways of defending against a 'magical attack' is to make yourself what's known as a "witch's bottle". Think of this as alternative psychotherapy if you wish, or believe it wholeheartedly -- it doesn't matter. The part of your mind that suspects that magic 'works' will be satisfied by the endeavor. And if magic does in fact exist, this wil still work fine.

- Get a small bottle with a metal lid. I prefer olive jars, since they are smaller and easier to fill up (more on that later).
- Fill it up loosely with sharp, nasty things like old razor blades, rusty nails, pins, wood screws, etc.. Think of 'mean' stuff to put in there.
- Here's the fun part: Fill the remainder of the jar up with your urine. That's right. Piss in it. The operating principle here is that you are creating a 'decoy' that the spells will target instead of yourself. The urine will 'trick' the magic into thinking the bottle is you (hey, some suspension of disbelief here is necessary...just pretend, okay).
- Then at night, go bury it in your backyard, or somewhere near your house. Say whatever oaths you find appropriate, but something 'witchy' is good. If your imagination fails, a simple 'So mote it be' is always efficient.

Now, go back inside, and assure yourself that it worked. Yes it did. No doubt at all. You are now protected from magical attacks, with the interesting side effect that any attacks directed against you will bounce back against the caster. Or so they say. :)

ps. Wiccan ethics generally believe that any ill-will or action directed against another will reflect back three times as strong on the sender/caster. If your acquaintance is in fact casting 'evil spells', she will end up experiencing the consequences. Or so they say. :)

The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

htuttle did a great job of explaining, and offering a solution for you. I will not claim expertise, but will speak from my own perspective and experience.

As a Pagan minister, I provide service, guidance, and teaching for the people in my church and community. I am a Pagan, but not a Wiccan or witch. I do not "do magic", but some members of my Pagan church do.

To my mind, ritual magic (some spell the word with a "k" on the end to distinguish it from stage-magic) is like "prayer with props". That may sound flippant, but if you think about it, they are the same. In both cases, words, offerings, and actions are directed to cause a desired outcome; that outcome may be pleasure/pain, happiness/sadness, safety/danger or injury, healing/illness to someone else, or a supernatural/otherworldly benefit.

Magic may be directed toward another person, back to the "generator", or outward to the universe. I believe that magic only "works" when the recipient of the magical action believes in it. Voudoun was a powerful force, for those people who believed that the spells would kill (or cure) them. Take away the belief, and the magic lost its power.

Some people try to use magic to cause weather changes or suspend the physical laws of the universe; while many people have claimed in retrospect to have done it, I have never seen someone make a spell and change the weather or suspend gravity. Until I see it, I am skeptical.

Personally, I don't believe that any type of magic works on me. If you believe that it works on you, or if you are afraid it will, THEN IT WILL.

The Pagan Preacher
i don't turn the other cheek.

but feel drawn to pagan spirituality, especially of the Celtic variety. I'm learning about it.

It left me feeling very empty and confused.
Earth/nature centered beliefs corrected that.
This is something I really need to work on and spend some time with. Discussing it helps.

I feel it too. The whole world is sickening and dying from the rotten dominator culture. The fundamentalist forms of patriarchal religion are a desperate rear-guard to keep the dominator model in power. I feel their day is drawing to a close and the world needs healing, reintegration with nature and the earth. The Goddess is bringing us the remedy for our long, painful patriarchal hangover. She is a blessed relief and comfort for me too as a recovering Muslim. I feel the same as you do that discussing it helps. It helps to reach out of our isolation and connect with others who are experiencing this planetary/personal transformation. Jaya Ma!

Ritual? Food? Singing? I'm there!

how are you???

:hi:

I've found that Buddhism and Paganism are not mutually exclusive. I am still exploring both spiritualities.

I am a Primal Pagan; minister to a small Pagan church deep in the Bible Belt. Jesuit educated (turned down a seminary appointment, left the Catholic Church.)

Celtic by culture; I know and venerate my ancestors. I feel their presence within me, and think that we have "genetic immortality" by passing part of ourselves to our children.

I do not use ritual for myself, but perform ceremonial rituals for those who need them (marrying, burying, rites of passage.)

I don't need a circle, because all is sacred.

The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

Also not eclectic...strictly Gaelic Traditional, (specifically "classical" or pre-Celtic Christianity) Are we confused yet? Honoring our ancestors; sacred space is everywhere; most of what we do, especially the mundane things should be thought of as something like a prayer; NOT druidism, etc. Based as much as possible on historical information known about the ancient Gaels. :)

Gotta love the Greeks!

I posted a thread requesting it....DU Pagan room request

Goddess path, "low church" ;-) -- my circle meets when we can and it's immensely sustaining. I have a sense that the Buddha's philosophy is deeply true, and that the Goddess as I imagine Her is in the world of manifestations -- but that's okay, because so am I and (for the past 15 years or more) Hers is the religious metaphor that has enriched my life.

My husband's a Jewish Buddhist -- one of the things we share is a deep interest in religious studies, and a recognition that we don't have to be in lockstep. It has always made for very interesting conversations, and now we are in such different places than we were when we met 25 years ago.

When we were raising our kids (mine from a previous marriage) we finally joined the Unitarian Society, which worked very well for us. The kids are grown and we're no longer active with the UUs, but all the women in my circle are...

Like all DUers, I'm a firm believer in the separation of church and state!

Hekate
Merry meet and merry part

I like to think The Great Spirit has a spiritual clown nose handy for all occasions!
Gaian, buddhist, heathen, happy to be alive be nice to women kinda guy here.
Life is GOOD, there IS a silver lining(looking hard right now...).

Bruce

Merry Meet, lovely people. This is my first post ever in the DU forums, though I've been a DU fan for years, lurking.

Quite a journey... not many people have built bridges from Islam to Wicca, though I met one wonderful young woman of Bangladesh origin who is in Reclaiming. She told me and my wife how happy she was to see other Muslims and South Asians joining with the Reclaiming community (my wife is Indian, I'm Sicilian). We met in New York last August when the Pagan Cluster gathered to protest the RNC.

Maybe the Pagans, Muslims, and other marginal groups in the USA will soon find they're in the same boat together as Bush's Fundamentalist Christian theocracy clamps down on our religious freedom and plurality. American Muslims voted 96% for Kerry and a measly 1% for Bush in 2004. Bush is on record as saying he doesn't think Wicca is a real religion, and shouldn't be allowed in the military. Maybe, just maybe, Muslims and Wiccans could make common cause and build bridges. I'll be there to help connect, as I have contacts in both communities.

The depredations on humanity wreaked in the name of fundamentalism have poisoned the well of institutionalized religion. Forced me to deeply re-evaluate how I can continue to have any religion at all. My adherence to Islam has weakened so much it's only inertia that keeps me with it at all. I'm as sickened by the bad attitudes of hardcore Muslims as I am by hardcore Christian fundies. They're very much the same mentality.

I got with the Pagan community because for years I've been communing with the Goddess in my heart. When the hatred and violence of the fundies oppresses me so sorely I can't fucking stand it any more, the Goddess sends me beautiful healing, consolation, love, and inner peace. I thank and praise Her for keeping me sane in this insane world, for keeping me human in this inhuman world, for keeping me peaceful in this violent world, for keeping me loving in this world of hatred.

My music, art, dance, prayer, magick, and feminist political action are all for the Goddess. Formerly solitary, I'm now reaching out to the people of the Goddess communities, hoping to make connections. Blessed be.

Agnostic Pagan that is! :)

Good to meet everyone.

There are so many influences in my personal spirituality. I identify heavily with "earth spiritualist." There is nothing more humbling to me than to sit with my Mother. I feel like the Appalachians are my bones and the Atlantic is my blood. I can sit and meditate upon a tiny crawling insect and be that creature, feel the life the little being lives. I am nothing and everything, begin, end and continue with my Mother. Whatever strength I have comes from Her and She holds and comforts me in my sorrows.

I think that's pretty close to an Earth spiritualism. Shamanic practioners each practice uniquely, as compelled to do by Spirit. My practice reveres, among others, Mother Earth and Father Sky. I am in constant connection with the world around me, and its manifestations a part of the Mother. And, some of my favorite fellow practitoners are also Wiccans. Can I play with you guys?

IMHO, Shamanists are natural bedfellows with the Pagan community. I feel a strong affinity to the Shamanist worldview myself. I buy my copies of Shaman's Drum magazine at a Pagan/Wiccan store where I drum in a regular drum circle. I would like to be the first to welcome you in.

One of the attractions that drew me to the Pagan community is their high level of tolerance for diversity, at least as good as the UUs. That is so valuable in the situation nowadays where fundies are working overtime to intimidate and control everyone.

Mircea Eliade thought that yoga developed from the prehistoric shamanism of India. A carving from the Indus Valley civilization of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro shows a shamanlike figure sitting and meditating in a yoga pose, wearing the antlers on his head, surrounded by wild animals. This one image brings together Shamanism, Yoga, Shiva of Hinduism (who had the epithet Pashupati, 'Lord of the Beasts'), and Cernunnos, the Horned One of the Celts.

Sufism, too, incorporated shamanic techniques from the Turks, who had been shamanists in Central Asia, Mongolia, and Siberia before they went for Islam. Shamanic pratice underlies Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia too. The Shamanic Bön tradition of Tibet lent Tibetan Buddhism its remarkable character. So Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism, to take a few examples, all have borrowed vital practices from the shamans. Perhaps it is this shamanic connection that has allowed them to be continually infused with fresh spiritual energy and kept them alive and growing.

I think if you trace all religions back far enough, they all originated in the experiences of shamanic practitioners. The invention of religion itself must have occurred when the principle of individually unique shamanic practice was lost and groups began perpetuating some shamanic insights they had picked up secondhand or thirdhand.

I would like to recommend an amazing book, Dawn Behind the Dawn: A Search for the Earthly Paradise, by Geoffrey Ashe. He shows how all human civilization and religion were derived from the area around the Altai Mountains and Lake Baikal in Paleolithic times. There was a thriving Goddess community there 25,000 years ago. This is also an area where shamanism thrives to this day among Siberian peoples like the Buryat, the heirs of this ancient shamanism. Lake Baikal is their most sacred place. In this study, the Goddess people and the Shamanists find a common origin. So Crowdance, you definitely have come to the right place. Welcome!

Shaman/Spirit based rather than diety based and unfortunatly rather incomplete due to not enough granddies and grannies left on that side of the family that still practiced after they came over and became assimilated into modern life.
Interestingly enough, everything I have learned from them was pretty pragmatic and very open to incorperating outside influences and science into the core belief. Lots of what I have learned was not what most neo-pagans prefer to acknowledge - it's a very gritty, very basic cycle of the way nature and spirit works together.
I find it's interesting to see how the beliefs and rituals/practices in the various Family Traditions have survived the onslaught of Cristianity a couple centuries back - and what changes they have had to make to adapt and still be true to the basic sense of truth within them.

I practice pretty much solitary nowdays. And I'll probably lurk more than post.

Haele

I am also a daughter of the Great Mother - a tree hugging, southern-born
liberal pagan. Merry meet to all my brothers and sisters of the earth!

I am solitary, in the closet officially, but my family has known for years that I am not Christian (I've told them in roundabout ways, and usually point it out in appropriate conversations.) I don't usually do any rituals, but will light a candle to focus myself when I feel called to ask the Goddess and her consort for special attention.



Sheila )O(

It makes me realize that many of the concepts that you speak about have been incorporated in my church, the Church of Religious Science. The founder, Ernest Holmes (a new thought practitioner), explored many of the Pagan/Shamman traditions (excuse the spelling - I'm still studying). And, in my congregation, one can practice traditions outside of our basic tenets. In that sense, my congregation is like a UU congregation, everyone gets to define their own spirituality. I personally believe that the Great Spirit is an energy within all of us and anyone on the Earth. And, of course, we all have male and female qualities in us, if one chooses to define like that.

We just had a lecture in our church how much of our beliefs came from East Indian traditions.

Thanks for the ideas - much to explore.

--Goddess of Quantum Indeterminacy

I practice a mesh of Wiccan/Native American traditions. (They are very similar in many ways!) I am a solitary as far as Wiccan goes, but I participate in Sweat Lodge ceremonies at Solstice and the Equinox, and other special occasions. (We had a *very* powerful Sweat on New Years Eve Y2K... it was unbelieveable!)

For the Wiccans on your gift list, from the great progressive gift catalog northernsun.com

And on sale for only $10!

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for more progressive shopping ideas, stop by the non-denominational Economic Activism/Progressive Living Forum

I know, I know, y'all don't fly, this ain't Bewiched! But I thought it was fun. Cheers!

:hi:


I was initiated Wiccan in 1990, worked with a coven then that still exists in looser, geographically scattered form as an umbrella federation. More of a fellowship than a regular working group. Day-to-day, I'm solitary and very eclectic. Neo-Gardnerian, Reclaiming, also interested in Afro-Catholic religion (Mom and her folks are from South America, some relatives very involved with it), Western Esoteric tradition, reconstructionism and some Christian mysticism. Wicca's my base to wander out from, though.

I believe, in a very terrible way, the fundies are right about us being in a state of cultural war. And I know what side I'm on! And I know that as often as I am tempted, I can't use the same destructive weapons they do. Unlike them, I am aware of the damage I cause to the Web of Life. My Goddess will not lift me bodily up to heaven to leave behind a mess for the "sinners" to deal with. My Goddess will never "reassure" me that any nasty crap I pull in this world doesn't matter.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

My parents never baptised me or took me to church or anything when I as a kid, so I came across the Bible as kind of a very interesting story-book when I was about seven or eight--around the same time that I got interested in Greek mythology. I was aware (who wouldn't be?) of the idea of Christianity as being the kind of culturally dominant religion around me, and most of the kids on my block were Catholic (I'm mostly Irish, German, and English, so my family is part Catholic and Protestant). And I was aware also of Judaism, but because I kind of started from reading, I guess I just took it all in as "different vibes for different tribes." But I was also fascinated with *all* kinds of folklore and different ways of finding things, and I guess it dawned on me that all folkways held pieces of universal truths, but as to what the "one big, universal truth" was, I couldn't presume to guess, except to say that although I didn't know the nature of God or the Gods was, what I could believe in was the Earth, and our ancient, fascinating universe, and the fascinating story of humankind's journey from the caves to the stars. I guess I'm a solitary practioner of my paganism, because I never found someone whose views were quite similar, but I am drawn to Tibetan Buddhism, and am partial to the idea of reincarnation, as I've had moments of--recognition, I guess. Feeling I've been here, done that before.

And a funny baby pagan story (the wise-ass part). When I was eleven, I didn't want to go to school, and the forecast was something like 30% chance of snow. I wondered if doing a "snow dance" (like a Native American rain dance, only for snow) would increase the odds, so I enlisted some neighborhood kids (aged eight and nine--which made me the older, responsible one) and explained what we were doing. We would make a sacrifice (we settled on breadcrumbs, because birds would eat them, if nothing else) and poured out some water (to suggest precipitation) and then we danced around and chanted to Poseidon. I wasn't sure if he was the "go-to" guy for snow--but Philly is at sea level, and in mythology, he would raise storms, so I figured he was at least the most capable of filling the bill. We got flurries--a small coating. Better than nothing. I considered it a small success.

The funny part is, the next time I knocked on the door to play with one of the girls I "snow-danced" with, her dad said she was grounded "because of what she *did*" and he said it really angrily, and with an odd look at me. It was specifically, apparently, me she couldn't play with. I caught on that she was grounded for witchcraft. My mom was kind of amused when I told her what we did. She asked me what I made of it, and I said I thought it might've snowed anyway, but what we did didn't hurt. She agreed on both counts. My mom was and is very cool. I still look back and smile a little. I got somebody grounded for witchcraft.

..in NC ;)