Oh -- MERRY SUMMER SOLSTICE! May the long time Sun smile upon you this
green & golden season.  May you flowers be bug free & beautiful and
you garden veggies ripen well & be sweet. May all you summer plans go
off without a hitch & may you air conditioners


I did write some master's work about authentic love & encounter. Re-edited it
into a book, haven't found a publisher for it though :~(( -- one of these days
it will find its home.  Most of the Pagans I know, me included, like to spend
time in the the forest & ocean and enjoy nature.  Sometimes, though, it's
Praise the Goddess & pass the Petition" time, because there are
Those Who Don't
Get It -- still. There are songs & circle dancing, and fun to be had, inside,
outside and in-between. And, truthfully, the Serious Pagans get teased by those
of us who are serious Pagans, but don't wear it on our ritual robe sleeves (if
we are wearing anything, that is.) The ones I don't have patience for are the
Pagans (or, any other "spiritual types") who think they can buy
their religion
at the local New Age shop along with a "how to" book and some sacred sage. 
Lezlie
>
>>yup, yup :)
>>what she (Barb) said!
>>
>>Back a few years ago I went to a winter solstice gathering with a local
>>"pagan/wiccan" group, and found firsthand that there are
those who are
>>serious about it and normal in their seriousness, those who were not so
>>serious (but still believers - or not), and those who were so serious they
>>put the wings on the dingbat so to speak. Ppl are infinitely varied.. makes
>>for interest, but gosh some of them can just *ruin* a good thing!
>>
>>you've got your environmentalists who seem to think human beings have no
>>role in the natural world other than as a disease and we all ought to go
>>kill ourselves immediately, as well as those wanting just a little more
>>consideration about how we dispose of our trash.
>>You've got your politicians who figure the best government is one that
>>brutally controls everything down to bowel movements (if they could) and
>>those who think mobs of raping pillaging hordes is preferable to any
>>government at all. And those who figure a little neighborhood council on
>>trash control is a pretty good idea when you consider the alternative of
>>having it pile up in the streets.
>>
>>ahhh, give me the happy middle!
>>
>>ppl are funny beasts...
>>
>>> See, it's not YOU we're dissing.
>>> We're dissing the humorless, death to opposition!, brain death to anyone
>>> who thinks other! types -- of which every group has some.
>>>
>>> They give the real movement a bad name -- as you can see....
>>>
>>> =HUGS=
>>> (and pax)
>>>
>>> -B
>>>
>>> On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 13:56:53 -0700
 writes:
>>> > Thanks! :~)) I happen to *be* one of those radical feminist types,
>>> > and the stuff people say about those of us who are doens't seem to
>>> > resemble much about me or anyone I know.  Hey, some of the BEST all
>>> > around, hands down no kidding GREAT PARTIES were those thrown by
>>> > radical-lesbian-feminist Witches.  (OH -- HEERRRREEE COME the
>>> > Leaping LESBIANS!!!) No sense of humor?? Geeze guys, what tree have
>>> > you been under for the last half century? Man, just because we want
>>> > you to decide to be human beings instead of jerks... Ok -- enough
>>> > politica. Lezlie
>>> >
>>> > >Oh WELL DONE! :))
>>> > >really!
>>> > >
>>> > >> Lezlie's Short Treatise n Feminism
>>> > >>
>>> > >> There was a time when the problem of women was that women
>>> > insisted upon
>>> > >not
>>> > >> Doing What Was Expected, or conversely, What Was
Expected.  Who
>>> > expected
>>> > >this,
>>> > >> you might ask? A non-gendered overarching Eminence called
>>> > Tradition -- or,
>>> > >> sometimes, Society. Women were alternately
praised and condemned
>>> > for their
>>> > >> conformity or non-conformity for several
centuries.  Tradition
>>> > and
>>> > >Expectations
>>> > >> changed over the centuries; it is to be
mentioned, for both men
>>> > and women.
>>> > >One
>>> > >> day, in the early 1960s, someone (it was a
woman) noticed that
>>> > the
>>> > >Traditions
>>> > >> and Expectations of women (and, men) were
changing once again and
>>> > there
>>> > >were
>>> > >> those who hated it and those who praised it.
Unfortunately, there
>>> > were
>>> > >also
>>> > >> those who misrepresented the following decades
of upheaval to
>>> > include a
>>> > >Great
>>> > >> Deal of Nonsense and Unrelated Matter. What was
this feminism?
>>> > Primarily,
>>> > >it
>>> > >> was a civil rights movement that built upon the
decades before
>>> > the World
>>> > >Wars
>>> > >> when it was called "suffrage".  A lot
of material was generated
>>> > in
>>> > >literature
>>> > >> and scholarly works called "feminist
theory" that critiqued a Lot
>>> > of
>>> > >Stuff.
>>> > >> Some of it was very technical (as in
psychoanalysis); some legal,
>>> > (as in
>>> > >the
>>> > >> modernization of the divorce and property
ownership laws); some
>>> > had to do
>>> > >with
>>> > >> more slippery topics like media representations
and reviews of
>>> > cultural
>>> > >> expectations. Some was silly, some valuable, and
some will have
>>> > to be
>>> > >revisited
>>> > >> in a later age.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> In the relationship area, thing became Quite Confusing.
>>> > Particularly for
>>> > >actual
>>> > >> men and women. Particularly if said men and
women were engaging
>>> > in
>>> > >> relationships. This has not yet been resolved, except in
>>> > individual cases.
>>> > >This
>>> > >> will take some time to sort our, and will cause some hurt
>>> > feelings,
>>> > >> misunderstanding and scared people along the
way. One hopes that,
>>> > in the
>>> > >> process, Good Things will also come from this:
an end to domestic
>>> > violence
>>> > >> (toward both genders), some thought about
allowing personal
>>> > choice and
>>> > >freedom
>>> > >> as to how to order one's relationships (marriage
or no, gay or
>>> > straight,
>>> > >other
>>> > >> cultural definitions, etc.),  and maybe the
giving up of some
>>> > Long Held
>>> > >> Traditional Illusions Concerning Love. Could
authentic encounter
>>> > and love
>>> > >that
>>> > >> is free of illusion enter into this picture?
maybe.... just
>>> > maybe. Given
>>> > >time,
>>> > >> patience and a willingness to contemplate and
act. Maybe we will
>>> > also gain
>>> > >some
>>> > >> understanding of exacly what equality is, and that is the
>>> > $600,000
>>> > >question.
>>> > >> Hugs -- hang in there. Lezlie
>>> > >>
>>> > >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>> =====
>>> If it's not one thing it's your mother. --anon
>>> =====
>>> We must make peace with our karma... and apparently that does
not involve
>>> hitting it with heavy objects. --Barb Jernigan
>>>
>>
>

--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha