Witchvox Article

Author: Lady Julie of Ravensgrove Coven
Posted: March 22nd. 2009
Times Viewed: 2,460

Can you be Pagan and still have blind faith? Do you have to have tangible proof of the Goddess's and the God's existence? Do you actually have to see the gifts bestowed upon us by deities to believe in them?

Growing up in the Christian churches, the one thing that I have carried with me in my Wiccan path is the idea of blind faith. You sometimes just have to believe and just leave it at that. Not to say that you cannot have questions, it would be silly not to. If I do not understand an aspect of the path or a topic I am learning, I have no qualms about asking a question to try to understand it better. If we do not question, we cannot find answers, therefore we cannot grow. I do not want my high priestess to tell me, as the ministers of my early youth did, "Because the Goddess/God said so." That is not what I consider faith.

Then again, I do not feel the need to question every single thing and need that tangible, �I have to touch it to believe it� proof. Do I need to see a physical manifestation of the Goddess or God? No. Would it make my belief in them stronger if I did? I do not think so.

I feel them with me everyday. I see their existence in the sun and the moon, in the flowers and the trees. I see them in the faces of my coven family during ritual. I see them every time I look into my granddaughter's eyes. I feel them every day when I get out of bed to start my day, and I feel them every night as I ready myself for sleep.

My High Priestess is a gifted psychic and medium. I have seen the reactions of people after she has done reading for them. I have seen the looks on the faces of some when she describes a spirit that she sees. I cannot see what she sees; yet I still believe her. And there are times that what she sees may not make sense to the client, or even her at that moment, yet I still believe in her and her gifts. I am not going to run and throw everything I have learned from her away because something did not come through to her clearly and I felt it should. What kind of student would I be then? And most often, in time, what she had seen becomes clearer to all involved and they begin to understand.

It would be a very hard life to live, I feel, if we did not just sometimes believe, to feel that we had to have everything explained and proven in detail. It would be exhausting to question every aspect of your life, religion, belief, etc. How sad it would be to never be happy with just knowing that sometimes, things just are; that there is no rhyme or reason to the universe around us, to know that life is everywhere without having to see its DNA. I love the fact that I look around my life in wonder and see the gifts that have been bestowed upon me, knowing that I am a child of the Goddess and God.

I know the concept of �blind faith� carries a tremendous amount of Christian connotations to it, especially for those of us who grew up in the Christian churches. I cannot tell you how many times I was told that it were "God's will" or "Give faith unto the Lord" in times of trouble. I know my mother has "put things in God's hands" when money was tight or there was some other crisis in her life.

I believe that you have to help yourself to achieve your goals. Every time I cast a spell, no matter what the need, I know that I have to take actions myself to obtain that goal. I do not have the mindset that I am going to get what I want or need just because I have faith.

I know many Pagans who grew up in the Christian churches moved on from them because of the �just believe� attitude and the inability to feel free to question what they were being taught, the scorn that they received from the members of the congregations if they spoke out and questioned the Bible. I remember the fear I felt as a child when I was told that if I did not believe I would burn in Hell. The fire and brimstone fear, as I call it.

Yet now, in my Pagan life, there are times that I cannot see, or hear, or touch something, but I still believe it is there. I know that the Goddess and God are with me daily, because I feel their presence, yet I do not question their existence because they are not in a physical form.

I believe that there are spirits around me all the time, yet I am not one of the lucky ones who can actually see them. I believe that there is life in the grass, flowers and trees, yet I cannot physically hear them breathe.

I believe that there are people who have lived many lives, yet I was not there to witness those lives that they lived before. I believe that my High Priestess can see people and places here and now as well as the past, yet I cannot see them with her.

Blind faith, to me it is a comforting thought. To know that there is something out there that you believe in, that you cannot explain. Something you cannot see, but it is out there regardless. You do not have to be Christian to have blind faith. I believe that in any religion you have to have to have the ability to say, �I cannot explain it, I cannot see it, but I know it is real.

If you do not, then you might as well stay in bed and not look forward to a new day, not raise you face to the warmth of the sun, or breathe deep the fragrance of the flower. You might as well not look into the night sky and smile when you look at the Goddess in her moon form.

Can a Pagan still have blind faith?

I certainly hope so. I do.

Brightest Blessings,

Lady Jasmyne Dragonskye
Ravensgrove Coven
Indianapolis, IN area

Copyright ��12082008

Copyright: Lady Jasmyne Dragonskye
Copyright 12082008

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