132 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
132 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
Ceridwen #64 @5803
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Wed Dec 12 10:07:50 1990
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Copyright (C) 1990 By Heidi-Tanya L. Agin (a.k.a ceridwen)
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Non-Commercial Republication is hereby Granted. Commercial useage only thru
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special arrangement with the author. Elecrtronic redistribution granted for
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all Electronic Free Public Access Boards within the United States of America.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Spring, 1990
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A WICCAN'S VIEWPOINT CONCERNING EVIL, SIN, AND 'REDEMPTION'
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It has come to my attention that there are many Judeo-Christian
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worshipers that are concerned with the Wiccan viewpoint surrounding
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sin and redemption. Sin is defined as as act which defies divine
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law or is an infringement of divine doctrine. The Christian religion
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bases its entire existence on this concept of sin, specifically the
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Original Sin of the Genesis Adam and Eve. In order to show the Wiccan
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outlook on sin, allow me to reprint here, a synopsis of the eight
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primary principles which define Christianity (from Monica Sjoo and
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Barbara Mor's "The Great Cosmic Mother"):
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1. The Creator is separate from creation and does
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not therefore participate in a continuous evolutionary
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process.
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2. The Creator is pure spirit mechanically dichotomized
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from a creation of impure matter.
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* 3. Human beings have committed a primal sin or crime
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of disobedience to the will of God.
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* 4. God has condemned the entire human race to continuous
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suffering and punishment on an evil Earth.
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* 5. To be born is to be born in sin (i.e. from a mother
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who represents the 'original sin' and inherently
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evil of flesh).
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* 6. To survive a world of sin, the male must dominate
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nature, while woman, as the embodiment of that
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sin and nature as it's 'vessel' must undergo
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domination.
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* 7. The only way to be saved from life on earth and life
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after death (in hell) is through submission to Jesus
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Christ, defined at the ONLY time in the history of
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the universe that spirit has entered flesh--i.e.
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incarnated.
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8. These principles exist because the world is divided
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mechanically into good and evil eternally at war,
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eternally irreconcilable. Humans must choose one or
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other and never transcend or resolve that dichotomy
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through a holistic awareness or consciousness (as for-
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bidden in the Garden of Eden of the Biblical Genesis)
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(* dealing specifically with the concept of 'sin')
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In Mary Daly's "Beyond God the Father, Gyn/Ecology" and "Pure
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Lust" she points out that 'sin' derives from a Latin word meaning
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'to be'. That is, 'to sin' is 'to be'. In modern English it has its
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origins in the Old English word 'synn', with the root 'es', again
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meaning 'to be'. 'Es' , being the root of 'being' is a basic Indo-
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European root. (An interesting sideline is that the Hebrew word
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'sin' means 'the moon'. Perhaps because at one time, 'to be' was
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to know the Goddess, whose symbol has often been the moon?)
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In other words, the original meaning of sin, was to risk being.
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To risk living life, by living outside of the doctrine and dogma of
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organized, beauracratic religious frameworks. By looking inward AND
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outward, but OTHERWARD than the traditional. "The Christian dream has
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already been written, from beginning to end. It says that only one
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life was worth living, and its already been lived, and it was his ...
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While promising to save human souls Chrisianity exists by 'saving
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humans from' experiencing our souls ... The Christian Church lives
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upon sin ... Christ depends on sin for his existence." (Sjoo) Essentially,
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without the concept of original sin, without the myth of the Fall of
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Adam and Eve, there is no need for the sacrifice of the Son, or for
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His existence at all.
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In Wicca, there is no Holy Book, no written doctrine, no divine
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law. The only two 'laws' that are traditionally Wiccan, and are
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considered to be those ideals by which we try to live, are :
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1. An it harm none, do what thou wilt.
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2. What thou wilt do, will come back three times.
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What this means, pure and simple, is that there are no 'sins', such as
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sexual do's and don'ts, profanity, etc., AS LONG AS YOU STRIVE FOR
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AND AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE, ATTEMPT TO BRING HARM ON NO ONE!!!
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And we are promised our punishment and rewards in this life, not in
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some future, posthumous time. Number two teaches us that (similar
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perhaps to the 'golden rule'), what we send out, will return to us
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but in threefold nature. If we lie, cheat, steal, etc. then woe and
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evil in like form will be visited on us, in this lifetime, but in
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a threefold multiple. The same is for our attempts at patience, love,
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kindness, etc. The Goddess of the Wiccan is a truly all-loving, all-
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forgiving, all-understanding Deity that recognizes human imperfection
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and human frailty and strengths. She punishes and rewards as She
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judges appropriate. And as with the Christian Jehovah, it is not for
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us to question Her judgement. We do know right and wrong for She
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has given us that knowledge. Our choice in life will determine our
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life.
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As for 'evil' Wiccans do not dichotomize the Universal Truth
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into 'good' and 'evil'. "In the pagan cosmic view, the supreme
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creative polarity is that of the Goddess and God principles, for
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without polarity, from divinity downwards, there can be no
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manifestation. 'As above, so below.'" (Stewart and Janet Farrar, in
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"The Witches' God") The Farrars go on to explain that Dualism, (the good
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and evil theory) is the subsitution that patriarchy replaced Polarity
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with. Instead of the COMPLEMENTARY relationship of the Goddess and
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God, it substituted God and the Devil, Good and Evil. Wiccans,
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instead, have the masculine and feminine principles. Not mutually
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exclusive 'items' but complementary aspects; each "contains the
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seed of the other, just as in the Chinese Yin-Yang symbol (the
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perfect expression of the polarity concept) the dark Yin contains
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a bright Yang spot, and the bright Yang a dark Yin spot. Otherwise
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they could not relate to each other." Students of Jungian theory
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will see this concept on the human level as the anima that is at
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the heart of man, and the animus that is at the heart of woman.
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The Goddess/anima whispering softly to the man, while the God speaks
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loudly to him. And the God/animus whispering softly to the woman,
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while the Goddess speaks loudly to her. "Both the whisper and the
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loud voice must be listened to" in order for us to be complete.
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Therefore, Wiccans need no salvation, and the only 'sacrifice'
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that is seen in modern Wicca, is the ritual re-enactment (play) of
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the God's annual self-sacrifice for the 'fertility' or well-being,
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of Humanity.
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