SOLSTICE

Tonight is the longest night of the year, the solstice. For me this is a feast night, a night for lighting bonfires to chase away the darkness,and as a pledge for the return of the sun. it is the original great winter festival, stolen by the Christians as indeed many of our festal days were.
I bare them no ill will, their story is the same as ours, it is a story of rebirth, renewal and sacrifice,the difference to put it very simply is that we do not reverence a man being tortured to death upon a tree, we reverence the tree itself, as we do all living things.

People of my faith have been hounded down the centuries for our beliefs, not because we were evil but because our faith asked us the respect all life and to and to care for the earth which gives life to us all. The church was at odds with us because we did not seek to control with threats of hell fire, we did not keep our knowledge only for the priest class, we taught love, honour, respect and generosity of spirit. It was and is a way of life to those who believe and not a prayer of a hymn chanted of a Sunday and then forgotten for the rest of the week. The Christian church was afraid of us and so they called us witches, devil worshippers and worse.

It is certain that there are and always have been those who do evil deeds for the sake of there own gain. Every one has heard of the Borgia's and the Medici, the heads of these notorious families both became Pope, I rest my case.
Mine is a gentle faith, one which seeks to nurture all things that are good in the world, not by word but by deed. I live within my faith and try always to be true to my beliefs, often I fail, it is not an easy way to live.
I believe that all faiths have value if they make us care about each other and the world we all inhabit, But a faith which condones torture, greed and war for gain must be wrong , as surely all life is sacred.

Caring for the world we live in has became a matter of politics, this is wrong, it is a matter of common sense. If we continue to deplete the worlds resources we shall cease to exist, yet in spite of this for the sake of economics we plunder and rape our way through our beautiful home world.
This is madness, we shall have to stop when these resources run out so why not stop now while there is still time.

The great rule of my faith is this “Only take as much as you need, and always give back more than you take.” Want and need are not the same and yet we hear .I want this or that from both adults and children,. If we all took only what we need perhaps there would be fewer needy people, perhaps there would be enough to go around.
I am aware that some may call this philosophy naïve and perhaps it is, but what is the alternative in the long term.

I am unable now to light fires and celebrate in the traditional ways but tonight in our home every room will be ablaze with candles and we will go forward with hope in to a new year.
Happily at last the faith of Pagan England has been recognised by the authorises, we are once more free to practice our beliefs in our own way and in our own sacred places, we are home in our own land at last.