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Questionnaire response 6

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 6 months ago

1. Name (optional): Ann Marshall

 

2. Age: 36

 

3. Nationality: English

 

4. Gender: female

 

5. How would you explain your path to someone else with no knowledge of it?

 

If I want to be accurate: Pagan (ie non-monotheist), non-Wiccan (not Gardnerian or Alexandrian) witch (practitioner of natural magic [i.e. the stuff you do with what you have to hand, less emphasis on special tools]), with Asatru & Celtic tendencies (I generally work with deities and entities from the Nordic and Celtic pantheons), and a bit of a chaote (practitioner of chaos magick, which is IMHO as near to experimental magic as you can get - but not the same as eclecticism). I regard all earth as sacred, even if it's under thick concrete. However, if I just want to answer the question quickly, "Pagan".

 

6. How is your path expressed in practice?

 

It's an integral part of my life. I keep an eye on the moon phases and changing seasons, usually celebrating Yule, the calender New Year, Imbolc (first signs of spring), Beltaine (hawthorn in blossom), Midsummer, Lammas, and Samhain. I know a lot of Pagans celebrate the equinoxes, but I don't feel much affinity with those times of year. Occasional use of magic. I recycle where possible, vote green when poss, try to avoid damaging the environment where realistically poss and I treat other people as I'd hope to be treated.

 

7. How do you know if your practice is successful?

 

Most of the time I don't. Certainty about that isn't important to me.

 

8. Why have you chosen the particular path you are following?

 

I didn't, it chose me. I wasn't dragged off and brainwashed LOL. What I mean is that getting from where I was (raised in a Christian household) to where I am now was a very gradual process.

 

9. What is your experience of otherworld beings? Could you give some examples.

 

My experience is that they exist, that their priorities and perception of time etc aren't always the same as mine. I tend to feel the presence of gods, wights, and elementals, rather than see them. Except during pathworkings (guided visualisation), when I see and hear them very clearly.

 

10. How do you see your relationship with them?

 

A relationship of two equals who are very different. Sometimes an uneasy alliance, sometimes a recognition that we both need the same thing so we might as well work together.

 

11. How does your path relate to other areas of your life?

 

It permeates them. It's sometimes difficult to tell what I do as part of my path and what I do because I'd have those values anyway, regardless of my path. Things like recycling - maybe I'd do that just out of wanting ro reduce waste, even if I didn't do it out of respect for the earth's resources.

 

12. How do you see the relationship of life and death?

 

I don't think that much about it, to be honest. IMHO they're both necessary parts of existence, and neither is completely bad or completely good.

 

13. How do you see time?

 

A bit like an old piece of elastic - linear, although parts can seem to run in loops, not always the same (subjective) length, and maybe a bit tangled or frayed in places.

 

14. How do you handle ideas of good and evil?

 

I don't. What may be beneficial in the short term can be harmful in the long term and vice versa. I think some people are so busy looking for evil to root out that they forget about getting rid of the many small things which make life miserable.

 

15. How do you view different spaces and objects in your practice or experience?

 

Nice extras for a confidence boost, but not always essential to what I do. Use makes things special, not the things themselves. Having said that, I wouldn't feel comfortable attempting a ritual in the place of worship of a very different religion (to my own, that is).

 

16. How do you feel about other religions?

 

Don't mess with me and I won't mess with you - mess with me, even in the name of religion, and you'll regret it. I've got better things to do with my time and energy than argue about whose perception of deity (or lack of it) is more real or powerful.

 

17. How do you feel about science?

 

It's a good servant but a bad master. Science is just another set of tools for working out how the world around us works - it's not something flawless, nor a panacea, nor the only source of harm.

 

18. How do you feel modern Paganisms relate to ancient paganisms?

 

Not certain, and not that bothered either. My path works for me and I don't feel the need to invent a long line of ancestors or traditions just to make my path more valid to me.

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