I discuss having to deal with Christian psuedo-intellectual apologists in my previous article, but those people who accost us are often not technically apologists. Apologetics are about defending one’s position. They are about attacking yours. A popular apologetics website, CARM, advises their would-be missionaries into the dark realms of Neo-Paganism to stick to asking questions:

I find that asking questions is one of the best things you can do when talking to anybody in any different theological system. I ask questions and listened intently to the answers and then ask more questions. Invariably I begin to discover inconsistencies in their answers and I politely ask more questions around those inconsistencies. It does not take long for the person to start seeing that their belief system has serious problems. Remember, anything that is not based upon the Christian faith is false and will have errors which you can discover through asking questions.

I like the CARM site. It’s probably one of the best Christian apologetics sites out there, actually. I think it’s worth the effort to examine what they have and, once you realize that’s probably the best there is, it’s pretty easy to be well prepared for any comers.

All of the information they have about Neo-Paganism is under the heading of “Wicca.” They don’t really distinguish between types of Neo-Paganism. I think Wiccans account for about 80% of Neo-Paganism anyway, so it’s probably safe for them to keep it simple. Just keep in mind that to them, Neo-Pagan and Wiccan are the same thing, so all this information applies to their approach to any Neo-Pagan.

So, the CARM method is to start off questioning you to put you on the defensive. The missionary is not there to defend Christianity, at least not at first. He’s there to attack your beliefs though what are basically softened up court-room cross examination techniques. In other words, they are forcing you to be the apologist. CARM provides a convenient list of questions to get the missionary started:

1. Do the gods and goddesses of Wicca actually exist?
2. If they actually exist, how do you know they exist?
3. If your tradition contradicts the tradition of another Wiccan, can they both be objectively true?
4. How do you feel about believing in the religious system where you cater your religion to your desires?
5. if you cater/construct your religion according to our desires, then isn’t it nothing more than your own invention?
6. Is Wicca able to be shown to be false or is it all non-verifiable ideas?
7. If your spells and incantations produce results, how do you know that the power behind the results is good or not?
8. How do you know that there is something more sinister behind Wicca?
9. Why do you think that rituals dealing with candles, knives, and such are able to affect nature?

Yes, this approach is somewhat obnoxious and, as I suggested before, somewhat intellectually dishonest. But it can be used to our personal advantage. It would be worth while to consider these questions in your own spiritual practice and think about how you would answer these questions and similar ones in a polite and respectful manner. The primary benefit to you out of all this interaction with Christians is that the Christian acts as a sounding board for your own philosophical development. In other words, it will help your personal growth to allow them to be the interrogator they so badly seem to want to be. In a way, that’s exactly what the Christian is hoping for. They just make the additional assumption that, once shown you are in error, you should become Christian instead of just a slightly more sophisticated Pagan.

Here is how I might answer these questions if they were asked of me:

1. Do the gods and goddesses of Wicca [i.e. your Neo-Pagan Path] actually exist?

“Of course they do!”

2. If they actually exist, how do you know they exist?

“They told me.” Yes, I am being a little cheeky, but this line of questioning amuses me. They sound like Atheists here.

3. If your tradition contradicts the tradition of another Wiccan, can they both be objectively true?

“No. But so what? No religion is objectively true. They all deal with the subjective.” This answer is unfortunate in that it takes the focus off of you.. The Christian would have to jump from questioning you to Christian-Defense-Mode, which does you no good. Hopefully, they will have better sense than to ask this stupid question in the first place. Another answer might be: “None of the traditions hold an exclusive claim on Truth, so none of them objectively contradict each other as far as I know.” One problem with that is that you might end up defending religious paths you don’t even subscribe to. It might get complicated.

4. How do you feel about believing in the religious system where you cater your religion to your desires?

5. if you cater/construct your religion according to our desires, then isn’t it nothing more than your own invention?

I take these together, because they revolve around the same point. This brings up a lot of conflicting issues for me that I have not yet entirely resolved for myself. I think they actually have a good point here and one in which I often join them in making. I think there is a potential pitfall in Neo-Paganism in that, if you custom tailor your beliefs to exactly where you are now, spiritually, there is no real room for growth. You have nothing to give you direction on where to go next.

But, at least a partial response to the question they pose is this: “Everyone is on their own spiritual journey. We all follow the spiritual path of our own choosing. Some prefer taking a train, where everyone is along the same track. Some prefer going by car where the driving is up to you. Yes, you can get lost that way, and you might get sidetracked on occasion, but the trip is a lot more fulfilling.”

Another response, although seemingly in direct conflict to what I just said, is this: “We don’t construct our religion, we discover it. We don’t choose our gods. They choose us. Really nobody has a choice in what they believe. You can’t wake up one morning and chose to believe the Sun will rise in the West. You would have to be given a good reason to believe or stop believing, something. And then, when you have that good reason, you can’t help but to change your belief. So, it’s not something you can control.”

6. Is Wicca able to be shown to be false or is it all non-verifiable ideas?

This strange question is premised on this: that Christianity is falsifiable. You have a few choices here. One is that you can explain what would have to be demonstrated to you in order to abandon Wicca or whatever path you have chosen. I would do this if asked, I think, but my answer is long, complicated, and way too specific to me to go into here. Another option is to patiently explain that you follow a religion, not a science. Science is about falsifiable claims, not religion. Religion is about faith. Of course, that would lead to a confrontation about their bizarre belief that Christianity is falsifiable, putting them on the defensive. I’d avoid that if I could, because you don’t get any personal benefit out of their defending their beliefs.

7. If your spells and incantations produce results, how do you know that the power behind the results is good or not?

8. How do you know that there is something more sinister behind Wicca?

Again, these two questions are basically asking the same thing. My answer is: “Well, that’s where ‘faith’ comes into it, I suppose.” Of course, the question might easily be turned around: “How does a Christian know that the power they pray to is good or not?” All the bizarre demonic conspiracy theories they come up with to explain why all other world religions are false and “of the Devil” can just as easily be applied to theirs. They really don’t like that, though. Whenever I bring this up, the person I am “dialogueing” with blows a gasket. I’d avoid that argument unless you want to see them explode. Also, you lose the practical benefit of this interaction I’ve been talking about, though you do get the cruel satisfaction of watching them fluster.

9. Why do you think that rituals dealing with candles, knives, and such are able to affect nature?

“The same reason anyone else expects their prayers to be answered. It’s all part of having faith in a religion.” They might not understand that ritual is really a form of prayer. It’s “prayer with props.” That might take a little bit of explanation.

In spite of all this advice I give about appologetics, I don’t care for apologetics in general. While apologetics have their place, I suppose, they often turn logic on its head in a mockery of true philosophy. Where logic starts with a premise and progresses to a conclusion, apologetics start with a conclusion and builds up the arguments in reverse, often ignoring or concealing the premise altogether. When I defend my faith, I don’t think it’s really apologetics. I am not merely defending my own conclusions, I am exploring them and testing them along with my “attacker.” If my conclusions cannot withstand my scrutiny, with the assistance of a Christian sounding board, they must be revised or replaced.

If you are a Christian who is interested in saving my soul, I always welcome your questions. Try your best to poke holes in my philosophy. It’s what I live for. I have learned and grown a lot from those kinds of interactions, and mostly when an inconsistency or error has been shown to me. I love being shown I’m wrong more than just about anything. And this invitation is not just for Christians. Anyone who wants to show me the error of my ways is invited to join in.

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He who would travel happily must travel light.

- Antoine de Saint Exupéry

I’ve come to call my daily meditative ritual “grove tending,” and is a practice I would like to share with you. The practice is something of a combination of light gardening, walking meditation, journaling, and ritual. It is a quiet and peaceful means to connect to nature and the spirits around us, and to exercise our responsibility for our surroundings.

Druidic spirituality belongs in the outdoors as much as possible. Much of my early practice in druidry (well, early early practice. I’m still in my early practice.) was simply the kind of Zen practice I had pursued for years, only moved outside instead of facing a wall. It’s amazing what a difference that small change made. “Grove Tending” integrates that meditative discipline into what I consider a more complete druidic daily ritual.

As druids, we have many kinds of groves. We have the inner, spiritual groves we call upon in our meditative rituals, we have the formal circles of trees that we might hold larger rituals in; we have our small, private gardens. My concept of “grove” is very encompassing. It is any collection of plants, in some proximity to each other, with which we have a spiritual relationship.

We draw spiritual strength from the plants of our grove, and in return, we have a duty to nurture and protect those plants that give so much to us. This kind of grove can be the trees on the side of the road, the landscaping of a nearby commercial property, the vegetation of a public park, or a combination of all of those. It might spread across various artificial boundaries such as roads and fences. It might not be discernible as a grove by anyone but yourself, but it is a small parcel of the natural world you have chosen to build a bond with.

I am fortunate to have a yard that is almost an ideal grove. We have about a half an acre with a number of oak trees, a magnolia tree, a plum tree, and a wide variety of other shrubs and bushes. If I were not so fortunate, I would make a “grove” of whatever public park or bit of nature I could. If you do have a yard, or access to one, look at planting a wide variety of plants and bushes. In an urban environment, consider doing a bit of guerrilla gardening, building your grove and beautifying the blighted landscape. If your grove has to be indoors, try to have a variety of indoor plants. Variety is important.

To prepare for the grove tending, have all the tools you might need on hand with you as you walk. You don’t want to interrupt your walk by fetching this and that. I bought a light tool apron for $0.98 which holds my pruning sheers, journal, gloves, and other items. I might also carry a watering pitcher.

You start by slowly walking a circuit around the grove, clockwise. This is creating a sacred space, just as casting a circle in ritual. It may be very large, and not maybe not very “circular,” but that doesn’t matter so much. This “circle” takes whatever shape the grove has. Mine, for instance, is vaguely ‘L’ shaped. But, by completing the circle, the grove is sanctified and the bond between us and the land strengthened.

When I say to walk slowly, I mean slowly — barely a shuffle. This is a walking meditation where you open yourself to the pulse of life around you. In Zen, it is called kinhen and has similar meditative qualities to the usual sitting practice. Go barefoot if the weather permits. Be aware. Feel the wind, the earth, note the sway of the trees, the call of the birds.  Gently and smoothly place each step in rhythm  with your breathing.

Breathe deeply and slowly.  Note your own thoughts as they flow by. Visit the plants and trees as you make your round. If and when you feel there is a need a plant has, do your best to fill it. Trim and prune, water, clear away dead branches or weeds, pick up trash.

The tending activity should be gentle. It shouldn’t involve hacking, or macinery like a lawn mower. At the most active, it might involve a little sweeping or raking. I leave the machete I might take on more active wilderness adventures and stick to my small pruner, which is as much a magical ritual tool as any I have.

When I’ve completed my circle, I am at the spot I normally perform outdoor ritual. There I make an offering to the gods and spirits and sit in quiet meditation for a bit. If so inclined, I might sit with a tree and journal a while.

It seems simple. It is, but simple is good. We need to keep things as simple as we can. We need to slow down. We need to develop our relationships with the land and spirits, and this exercise does all that in one small, elegant package.

I’ve formed yet another set of forums. Yes, yet another thing to take time away from my blogging, unfortunately. This one is for those interested in “warrior” spirituality, and the closely related subject of pagan event security. It is found at www.paganstronghold.com. I invite anyone interested in emergency preparedness, martial arts, and security from a pagan point of view to come join us there.

There are actually a few pagan warrior groups out there, but they are all local in scale and are devoted to specific pagan faiths. This forum is intended to be common ground for all of them, and is not associated with any specific pagan religion, faith, or organization. My introduction to the forum reads:

We are modern pagans of various faiths who follow a “warrior path” of spirituality. We find it spiritually fulfilling to serve our communities by preparing ourselves, mentally and physically, to put ourselves in harm’s way should the need arise. This forum offers support to those who want to serve the Pagan community as protectors and where such people can coordinate with each other and with Pagan event organizers.

Modern paganism has reached a point of critical mass at which we have caught the attention of the mass media and the general population. Among many other issues this creates for us is a more evident need for security at our events — a task we still have good reason not to trust to third parties such as off-duty police who may not be sympathetic to our ways. Our public events and large gatherings are attracting more and more unwelcome attention and a wider variety of people in general. This means that altercations, confrontations, accidents and other minor emergencies are more and more likely.

In our member forums, you will find discussions and debates about the finer points of “warrior” pagan spirituality and philosophy, strategy, martial arts, tools and equipment, and event security coordination. If you would be interested in such discussions, or in talking to us about how members might be of assistance with your upcoming event, you are invited to join us.

Last week, I was tagged for a meme by Ali. The gist of this meme is that I tell folks what my major, ultimate, lifetime, shoot-for-the-moon, spiritual goals are.

Ali writes about her spiritual goals. As I consider this a “spiritual” site, it makes sense for me to do the same. But, I am reminded of Zen’s “goal of goallessness,” so part of me thinks that all goals are fundamentally un-spiritual. Being goal-oriented is counter to being spiritual, to some brands of spirituality. Putting that aside, since Zen really isn’t my model of spirituality anymore anyway, a spiritual goal would have to be something related in some way to my “spirituality” or “path” or “religion,” I suppose, but where does one draw the line? Especially when considering that I don’t, or try not to, make distinctions between the spiritual and the everyday, “spiritual goal” might be a bit redundant.

To the ancient Celts, there was no separate word for “religion,” as we understand it. It was just part of life, interwoven into everything. My spirituality informs how I see the world and shapes my desires and actions in pretty much every aspect. So, I intend to discuss all of my lifetime-dream goals, however spiritual or “un-spiritual” they may seem, but they are, in fact, very spiritual to me. They come right out of my Celtic-based philosophy of life.

1) Financial Security

It seems to be a popular goal. I don’t care much about being rich, but I do want financial security. That is living with no, or very manageable, debt; having sufficient assets to absorb major upsets in our lives and give some degree of flexibility; and having a dependable and steady source of income. Right now, I have a long, long way to go.

The first part, getting out of debt, is pretty self-explanatory. Debt is a chain around your neck — it’s a slavery. The second part, assets, would be to have enough liquidity to live for about three months with no income. The last part, I have fairly well covered by developing multiple useful skillsets. I am an attorney and training to be a firefighter and EMT. Attorneys may be able to make money, but nobody has every heard of a shortage of attorneys or a demand for them. Medical and emergency trained personnel are always in high demand, and would be even moreso in bad times. I’d also like to develop other useful “production” skills. I want to know how to make things. I don’t know exactly what, yet.. just.. you know… “things.”

2) Prepared for Emergencies

I want to be adequately prepared for a major catastrophe. I am talking about the “End of the World as We Know It” kind of emergency preparation. I want to have a year of food and supplies stored, and the ability to defend it. I want to be “off the grid,” having our own electricity and water generation. I want to be an expert at wilderness survival, primitive technology, agriculture, “1890’s” technology, and any other skill I can think of that would help wean us from over-dependence on technological and governmental infrastructures. I don’t have any illusions about being “totally independent,” though. I would want to develop interdependent relationships with a close-knit local community. That’s what kept people alive for thousands of years.

3) Skilled Warrior

I want to be an expert with every weapon I own, and own quite a collection: rifles, shotguns, pistols, crossbows, knives, spears, swords, and anything else that may be useful for defense of my family and is legal to own. I also want to be well proficient in unarmed combat. I have some Kung-Fu training, but I am thinking more along the lines of pragmatic combatives-style training. I don’t care about certifications there, just want to know I can kick ass if I needed to.

4) Ordained “Druid”

I want to be a Druid Priest. Basically, I want some kind of external, objective validification. I think by any functional criteria, I am a “Druid,” but, yes, I want some kind of certificate that says so, too. Call it ego. It is. But I think the drive for community recognition, “glory,” “honor,” is an important drive. It helps us reach for betterment as a people and is an adaptive trait for our survival. When I was a Buddhist, I tried to fight that drive. Now I embrace it. That is probably one of the major differences between my spiritual outlook as a Buddhist and now as a Druid. Now, what kind of certification do I want? Of course, $15 and a stamp will get me an ordination with some “churches.” But, I am thinking ADF. They have a rigor to their standards that would make such a certification mean something to me.

5) Physical Fitness

I want to be physically fit. Right now, my method, and measure, of physical fitness is found in the sport of parkour. I want to be able to walk on my hands 10′, run 2 miles in 17 minutes, scale a 10′ wall in 3 seconds, and jump from a one-story roof onto concrete without injury. As incredible as those may sound, I see them as quite do-able. I have already developed a level of skill and fitness I didn’t think possible for me a year ago. I do want to get my bodyweight down to about 210 lbs or less (about 25 lbs to go), but mainly because the other things really aren’t possible with the weight I have now.

6) A Prepared Son

I want my son to be well rounded in his education and highly capable and responsible when it is time for him to make his own way in the world. I want him to have the same outdoor skills I am working on. I want him to be as skilled as an Eagle Scout and knowledgeable as a Rhodes Scholar. He is only four right now, but he is well on his way. I think he is showing more aptitude with numbers and language than I had at his age, and a strong and noble heart.

7) Published Author

I want to write a book. More to the point, I want to have a book I write actually published, and not by some vanity press, either. I am thinking it would be some philosophical work. Maybe it would be styled as a “self-help” book, I don’t know. It seems that’s what it takes to get published: write a self-help book or romance novel, and I don’t see myself doing the latter. Who reads philosophy anymore? But self-help, especially when it has a good dose of pop-philosophy in it, seems to sell. I intend to write for my own benefit, to help me organize my thoughts and ideas. But publishing is about prestige, really, and ego-trippyness.

So, that’s the future idealized me: Fiacharrey, the (in)famous pagan writer, philosopher, outdoorsman, warrior priest. The future, beware!

Oh, right, gotta tag some folks, don’t I? Meh. I don’t feel like it right now. I might tag a few folks and edit this later.