Wordl and books

A lot of people convert to a new religion or spirituality and go way overboard for the first few years.  They go psycho with it.  I'm certainly not saying everyone does this, just that I've noticed this trend.  I think I have done a good job not doing this.  I am exploring my spirituality and Paganism slowly, and letting everything sink in before I move on to the next topic I am studying/contemplating.  This blog isn't one I write in on a regular basis, and at least for now it probably won't be.  I'm studying what I need to learn with though and contemplation, rolling each idea over in my brain, pulling it apart, putting it back together, and standing back and seeing the creation of though, idea, value, spirituality.

I've only had a few blog entries so far, but I decided to do a Wordl anyway for Pagan Spoonie.  A Wordl drawing puts the words you use most in big letters.  The bigger the word the more you use it in your blog (or webpage), and the smaller the word, the less you use it.  I thought it was interesting, anyway.

Recently I've been reading a book called The Witch in Every Woman: Reawakening the Magical Nature of the Feminine to Heal, Protect, Create, and Empower by Laurie Cabot with Jean Mills.  I am halfway done now.  I'd like to discuss my impressions of the book so far.

First of all, I don't like it that Cabot calls being a Witch (she capitalizes it) a religion.  Wicca is a religion, witchcraft is, well, a Craft.  You can be a witch and not be a Goddess worshiper or even a Pagan.  There are all sorts of witches.  To narrow down Witch to mean a Goddess worshiper who practices witchcraft is annoying.  In the beginning she interchanges the words "Wiccan" and "Witch," but then says Witch for the rest of the book.

I like the way Cabot goes into explanations of where words come from.  For instance, "witch" is derived from the Anglo-Saon root wicce (fem) or wicca (masc.).  These words meant "wise one," "seer," and someone who used magic to access information.  She goes on to say that the Saxon root wych meant "to bend, turn, or shape."  The Indo-European root wic and weik meant the same thing.  Germanic root words wit and witan means "to know," or "to see."

She also talks about how the definition of the word "virgin."  A virgin didn't use to mean a woman who has never had sex.  Instead, "virgin," a word derived from Latin, meant "young girl."  The Celtic root of the Latin work virgin, is werg, means "young girl," "wife," and "woman," and according to Cabot also referred to a woman's strength, force and skill.

I agree with Cabot that forcing women to remain sexually inactive to avoid being branded a "slut," while men are congratulated by the notches on their belt, is wrong.  Very wrong.  She points out that young girls often have sex for the wrong reason.  Women should be able to have consensual (and hopefully safer) sex with anyone they want, without fearing what people will think of her.  While I agree with her on that, I disagree with her on some of the things she says about sex.  She seems to be saying (and I could be taking this wrong) that a woman's sexual enjoyment is divine and far more important than her partner's.  I'm not disagreeing that a woman's sexual enjoyment is divine.  It's just that I personally think in a committed relationship the enjoyment of your partner is also very important.  It's different in a one night stand, but I don't think that's what she is talking about.  I'm not saying that a woman's sexual enjoyment isn't important-it is!  I am saying that her partner's enjoyment is also important.  Also, what if the woman is in a lesbian relationship?  Are both partners divine and supposed to find their sexual enjoyment more far more important than their partner's?

I think a lot of the folklore and mythology she put a lot of her own spin on, while I got the impression she might have made up one or two of them.  Does that make it wrong?  Well, not necessarily, if you can still learn from them.  However, since I am still a beginner I would appreciate it if she also told more about the myths that we know and then put her own spin on it.

I can't really say I've learned that much from this book so far.  While I am a feminist, I don't think woman are that much superior to men.  Well, I do think women are superior (sorry guys), but I don't think they are as superior as Cabot seems to claim.

I just received in the mail yesterday Witchcraft on a Shoestring: Practicing the Craft Without Breaking Your Budget by Deborah Blake and I am waiting on Energy Essentials for Witches and Spellcasters Mya Om to arrive in the mail. I'm yet to do any spell work, though I have done a ritual or two. Like I said, I'm getting my feet wet slowly. I've been practicing every day to feel energy and I really hope Energy Essentials helps with explaining energy better than the books and stuff online I've read so far. It got great reviews on Amazon.com, so I'm optimistic. I just can't wait until it gets here!