Oh! Hey, I've read that book.
ravenwhite wrote:SpiritTalker, I have wrestled with this for a VERY long time. I have created an altar, and I am studying the elements. I see them as manifested energy, not as individual gods. I am very interested in folk magic, and I am trying to learn some simple spells and rituals to kind of get started. there is so much information. In addition to this I am still trying to reconcile casting spells, witchcraft and being a christian. I think I am pretty much there but I am very open to any informtion that would continue to support this
My prior post covered some thoughts on magic, WC & faith-of-choice.
Studies - Take it deeper & make it personal.
. You've created an altar - good - can you journal & explain its meaning in your thoughts? I'm not saying you do but thinking something like "it just felt right" shows a beginning awareness of energies but not of function or symbolism. If you're interested then press on, & if not that's OK too.
. You're studying the elements of matter - good - fire=plasma, air=vapor, water=liquids, earth=solids & ether=un-manifest energy, just so we're talking the same language...
4 are forms energy takes when manifest into a physical state, the 5th is un-manifest.
. No author I've read suggests that
forms of physical matter are gods, so good that you don't see them as such. Most pagans wouldn't think of elements as gods. There are elemental-beings comprised of their own element &, if I'm not confused myself, they have limited intelligence but not will. It's been shown by a Japanese scientist named Masaru Emoto that water has memory
https://duckduckgo.com/q=emoto+water+cr ... d&ia=about
. Included in the environmental ladder are land spirits who dwell in geographic locations & have intelligence & limited will. They're spirits - non-embodied beings - & are not what pagans refer to as gods either.
. Ref. WIkipedia Thesaurus --so how to define a god--
1. God - the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe
. the object of worship in monotheistic religions
. Supreme Being
2. God - any supernatural being worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force;
. deity, divinity, immortal
3. God - graven image that is worshipped as divine
... So on & so forth...
Spells & rituals
. There's a folk magic sub-section to tip toe through

.
. My earlier post mentioned some adaptable basic spells; if there's anything in particular, let us know & someone will have an idea or 2.
. Which rituals are you wanting? I can think of basic circle casting examples which are used at every holiday & a couple examples of solitary full moon rituals (see "getting started" post in Wicca & WC 101), and you'd have to google hand fasting (marriage), wickenning (naming) & requiem (memoral/funeral) because as a solitaire I've never used those.
I recall a comment made by Janet Farrar about the rituals in her books : "Oh I don't use those. I just write that for other people."

That's when I stopped memorizing gawd-awful long addresses to the mighty & dread lords of the watchtowers & relaxed.