A question that has been on my mind of late is how to explain my religion to people. It doesn't come up much, but every so often it does, in a context where I can't go off on a half-hour long digression. I could just say I'm pagan, which is not *in*accurate, really - about as accurate as saying I'm a non-Christian Catholic (substitute the Book of the Law for the Bible).
At my therapy appt. I mentioned that I have a ritual to ground myself, and he asked what it was, and I found myself very haphazardly trying to explain the Star Ruby in ten sentences or less. (I'm pretty sure I failed miserably.)
I will admit to a small streak of not-quite-evangelism - I want to tell people about Thelema, since I think it's nifty (obviously) and so few people know anything (accurate) about it. I really *really* hope I never cross the line into trying to convert people (if anyone ever sees me doing, this, *please* knock me silly).
I've explained Thelema to a bunch of students of a Wiccan priestess friend of mine, which is easier because a) I have a half hour or so to ramble and b) they have a pagan framework to stick it into. Thelema is very different from most other pagan religions, though - it's not really an earth-based religion (though my personal beliefs incorporate some earth-based stuff), and the basic ethical system is at the same time very similar and radically different.
And I can't just hand people a copy of the Book of the Law and tell them to read it, either (even if that didn't smack of evangelism) because it really requires at least some basic background and knowledge of Egyptology to be anything but gibberish. Poetic gibberish, perhaps, but still gibberish. It's one of those books where the more you learn, the more it means.
'Tis a puzzle. Actually, I wonder if I should use the non-Christian Catholic line on people. The more I think about it, the more accurate it is. The ecclesiastical arm of the OTO is the Gnostic Catholic Church, after all. The Gnostic Mass is still a little too Christian-flavored for my taste, but it's a deliberate parody anyway.
Today's mosquito bite count: 20
sigh.
At my therapy appt. I mentioned that I have a ritual to ground myself, and he asked what it was, and I found myself very haphazardly trying to explain the Star Ruby in ten sentences or less. (I'm pretty sure I failed miserably.)
I will admit to a small streak of not-quite-evangelism - I want to tell people about Thelema, since I think it's nifty (obviously) and so few people know anything (accurate) about it. I really *really* hope I never cross the line into trying to convert people (if anyone ever sees me doing, this, *please* knock me silly).
I've explained Thelema to a bunch of students of a Wiccan priestess friend of mine, which is easier because a) I have a half hour or so to ramble and b) they have a pagan framework to stick it into. Thelema is very different from most other pagan religions, though - it's not really an earth-based religion (though my personal beliefs incorporate some earth-based stuff), and the basic ethical system is at the same time very similar and radically different.
And I can't just hand people a copy of the Book of the Law and tell them to read it, either (even if that didn't smack of evangelism) because it really requires at least some basic background and knowledge of Egyptology to be anything but gibberish. Poetic gibberish, perhaps, but still gibberish. It's one of those books where the more you learn, the more it means.
'Tis a puzzle. Actually, I wonder if I should use the non-Christian Catholic line on people. The more I think about it, the more accurate it is. The ecclesiastical arm of the OTO is the Gnostic Catholic Church, after all. The Gnostic Mass is still a little too Christian-flavored for my taste, but it's a deliberate parody anyway.
Today's mosquito bite count: 20
sigh.
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jnanacandra- Heather Keith Freeman
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