All the single ladies

Back from vacation and digging out from under the emails, tweets, newspapers, websites. Back to blogging soon. But ... it's Friday! Get up and get that cube farm shaking.

Comments

[johnnykap]

Antonia, I am well pleased to see that you have returned from your vacation. I am curious as to what you, an admitted atheist, would find enjoyable about the rituals involved with Easter. After all, you don't believe that the invisible entities at the heart of the ceremonies even exist. How does one attain enjoyment, given that fact?

[neko]

I imagine the same way that I enjoy Christmas, but am a Wiccan/Pagan so don't actually believe in it. Family togetherness, good food and things that you have (for whatever reason) done every year since childhood and therefor gain comfort from the motions if not the belief behind it.

[Antonia]

Family, Johnny. Family.

Sixty people getting together, lamb turning on a spit, painted eggs, traditional foods plus non-traditional goodies, singing a special song my long gone grandmother taught me ...

It's all very pagan anyway.

[johnnykap]

Neko, as a Wiccan, you do worship a god. Yet you state that you don't believe in "Christmas" (I will take that to mean you don't believe in god, jesus and the 3rd guy who gets very little credit, the holy spirit.) Antonia and I are compelled to lump you in with the rest of the believers. Aren't we, Antonia?

[Antonia]

I am with Neko here, JK.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Neko-san

Shouldn't you be the familiar of a "Wicca", rather than a "Wicca" yourself, given your moniker?
And, Esteemed and Beautiful Moderator, you saying "I am with Neko here" takes on a new meaning in that context.

And I hope you both pronounce it correctly. And don't forget that under the onrushing changes I bore on about on this blog, "Wicca" will be treated far harsher than Christianity or Judaism.

[johnnykap]

"I am with Neko here, JK."

I understand that we are at loggerheads wrt politics and music and pretty much everything else. But why, given the synergy that we have established vis a vis invisible entities, would you side with Neko? I'm sensing other issues at play here. The facts are clear: you agree with me. Why would you posit a viewpoint that you disagree with, simply because the viewpoint that you do agree with happens to be mine? The world is divided into two camps, Antonia: those that believe in invisible entities and those that don't. We share a common bond here. That makes us better (collectively) than Neko.*

*altho I am still better than you

[neko]

JK, I was just trying to say that I can enjoy (and I think a lot of people are in this with me) Christian things that my Family does despite my not believing in their faith. You don't have to believe to enjoy and just because I have a faith of my own doesn't give me some strange power to enjoy the rituals of different religions that Atheists lack.

I must tell you that your assertion that I "worship a god" isn't quite true, but I'm not going to quibble over the point. :)

[neko]

Oh my, how did all of this happen?

Um... ok... Antonia, I hope you had a lovely vacay and the family thing was fun and all of that. I'm not sure if I'm reading the tones of all of these comments correctly, but it seems to me that some people find it a put down that you celebrate family stuff that may be religious and yet are an atheist yourself. So, I sincerely hope that you had a good time with your family regardless of wether they were painting eggs or collecting fruit to use in praise of Steve the Fruitbat.

Secondly, Stygian... I haven't the foggiest notion what you're talking about. Clarification would be lovely re: onrushing changes and being treated harsher. Although perhaps I should clarify myself... I am not a member of an organized religion. I am an Ecclectic Solitary Wiccan/Pagan. Perhaps that changes things; maybe when the onrushing changes come and change things, it's the more organized Wiccans who will be the first with their backs to the wall.

Thirdly... JK, "That makes us better (collectively) than Neko.*altho I am still better than you".
Seriously? Does your self worth honestly come from reading comments on someone's blog and defining a level of comparative worth for others based on what you can suss out of our personal beliefs? I sincerely hope you don't operate like that IRL.
Yes, I have beliefs. I believe in The Big Bang, I believe in Evolution and I believe in my little invisible powers that may or may not be real. That does not make you better than me, that makes us different and really, as long as neither of us get violent in regards to our differences, all this should equate to is potential for an interesting conversation where each of us has an opportunity to learn.

Aaaaaaaand, I'm done. This was quite long. Sorry, Moderators.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Neko-san

“Clarification would be lovely”

Here goes:

Some orthographic conventions have changed since Anglo-Saxon times ...

Old English dic “ditch”; stycce “stitch”; waeccan “watch”; wraecca “wretch”; wicca “?” People should pronounce wicca properly, and maybe update the spelling.

as in

“her syndan wiccan and waelcyrian” - here be witches and valkyries (the latter in a bad sense) from Wulfstan’s famous sermon.
I remember we had an exchange discussing your moniker: “cat” in Japanese. Therefore you should be the familiar of a “wicca”, rather than an actual “wicca” yourself. And if the E&BM is “with you” that would make her the actual “wicca”. (Hey Johnnie Cope, there’s an image for you).

And as for the onrushing changes, I’ve mentioned them often enough on this blog. Suffice it to say that Christians and Jews, as “People of the Book” would enjoy some sort of status as “dhimmis”, but people of other religions (mainly Hindus, Buddhists, etc.) would have no rights at all. And Wiccan/Pagan, no matter how eclectic, solitary or organised, would come in for the same treatment. “Backs to the wall” indeed.

[neko]

Domo arigato, Stygian Sensei!

As it happens, we do refer to the cat as our "small furry overlord", so I suppose I am someone's Familiar at that.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Doo itasimasite, Neko-san!

So your cat's maybe like Begemot in Master and Margarita

http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/03karakters/behemoth.html,

or Balor in the Peabody Heritage? (not on line, alas)