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Coming up on Paratruth re Born, we'll be talking to
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Deborah Blake about her book every Day Witch's Book of Deities.
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Welcome to Para Truth Truth.
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What's up everybody, and welcome to Paratruth Reborn. My name
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is Eric, and today Justin is not joining us, but
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he is here with us in spirit. Tonight we are
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stepping into the world of deities with our friend Deborah Blake. Deborah,
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Welcome to Paratruth were Born. Thank you so much, really,
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how have you here? This has been like a conversation
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that Justin and I have had over the years, just
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the idea of deities and people work with deities. It's
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very intriguing for us and I think a lot of
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our listeners. But for listeners who may be new to
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deity work, what does it actually mean to work with
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a god or goddess in modern witchcraft?
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Well, first of all, for people who are not familiar
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with modern witchcraft preaching out everybody is it is essentially
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a nature based spiritual path or religion. And one of
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the things that differentiates it from many of the other religions,
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not all of them, but many, is that in general
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it is polytheistic which means that we worship more than
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one deity. Now that's not always true. Some people may
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worship a God alone. Some people may worship a goddess,
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which is the other thing that makes it different from
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sort of the religions that many of us grew up with.
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There was no goddess. She's like in the closet, locked up,
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you know, with a key thrown away. So many of
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the people who have been drawn to witchcraft are drawn
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to it because of this idea that you could worship
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God and goddess you should, you could worship goddess alone.
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There are a lot of options from a lot of
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different cultures, you know, a lot of different cultures. But
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basically the idea is that you can pick a deity
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or sometimes the deity picks you that suits who you are.
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You aren't you aren't a signed one as it were.
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You know, I grew up Jewish. I mean I'm still Jewish.
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If you're born Jewish, you're Jewish, just ask Hitler. But
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you know, we got this patriarchal father figure God. That
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was your choice. That was the one the one option,
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little box. That was it. And while there are a
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lot of things that I love about Judaism, and I
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am very proud of my heritage. That one little box
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did not work for me. So if your little one
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box doesn't work for you, the great thing about witchcraft
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and deities is you get to look for a different box,
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so to speak. Right.
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But now, one thing that I that I've kind of
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come across is that people tend to, especially because of witchcraft,
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people tend to work with various spirits, and most of
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them are ancestral spirits, some of them are angelic, but
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when it comes to deities, they become a little weary
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of it or even a little like concern on whether
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or not they can handle it. But your book is
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often described as being inclusive and beginner friendly. So why
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was it important to make deity work feel accessible instead
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of intimidating for those people who maybe are just started.
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Well, first of all, I was once a person who
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was just starting and again, so I yes, but I
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still remember what that felt like. But part of it
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was in response to a lot, you know, because I'm
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a relatively well known author, I get a lot of
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messages and emails and things, and I actually answer every
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single one. But one of the things that came up
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fairly often was people saying, how can I be sure
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I'm doing it right? How can I be sure that
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I'm not making mistake and pissing off a deity? How
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do I know you know what offerings to make? How
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do I know which deity to do? And so this
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book basically was an answer to all those questions because
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I got tired of answering them over, but also because
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my whole thing as an author, and this is like
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nineteenth book on witchcraft, mid witchcraft, if you can believe it,
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is that idea of accessibility. I wanted to be easy
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and stress free for people. This is not supposed to be,
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you know, a slog This is not there's no test,
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there's no quiz yo. You can't flunk unless you, I
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don't know, do something really horrible. But most witches don't.
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Most witches are just like regular people trying to do
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their best in life. And so I wanted to make
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it really clear to people that there was no wrong
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way in Sorry, cat cat helping, cat helping. Yeahst Beast
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is a great deity for people who have cats. She's
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Egyptian and she's falling down on the jump right now.
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But one of the things about witchcraft is that it's
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a journey. You don't start at the beginning knowing everything
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you're gonna know. I certainly didn't. I wandered down this path.
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It wasn't quite the right path. I wandered down that path.
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So what I try and do is make it just
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a little bit easier for people to figure out what
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their path is and then walk it.
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Yeah. I feel the same way personally being a Christian.
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It's like when you first getting into the church and
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you're learning about God to reading the Bible, it's like
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you're told certain things or how to understand that the
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cool prophecy and text. But then once you start researching
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it yourself, you start thinking, oh, well, this seems different
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from what I've been taught, or this feels like this,
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you know, doesn't quite answer this question. And you just
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kind of dive in and become, you know, grow with
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the history of it and understanding of it. But that
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shifts maybe some of my personal perspectives from those that
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are maybe in the church in many cases.
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And in some of that is that you have to
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trust your own instincts. You know, if you read something
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whether it's about Christianity or about witchcraft, and your gut says,
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uh no, I don't think so. Well, then listen to
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your gut, you know, especially if your gut is telling
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you that it might be harmful, harmful, harmful to others.
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I mean, yeah, just despite all of the rumors otherwise,
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witchcraft is very benign. And there are there, you know,
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there are like a few evil witches, just like there
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are a few evil everybody's. You know, not all Christians
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walk their o' clock either, Sadly, some of them don't.
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Most witches do. Some of them get a little carried
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away with the whole idea of it. But the witches
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that I know are all really lovely people. You know.
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They look just like your next door neighbor. Some of
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them probably are next door. I'm just saying. But you know,
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we're all just human beings trying our best to make
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our way in this world and having a deity or
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deities to call on when things get difficult to believe in,
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when life is challenging. As a Christian, you know that
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this is this is important. It's you know, it is
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in a difficult world. It is nice to have something
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bigger than yourself, even if that thing that is bigger
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than you doesn't give you easy answers, which frankly, if
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you're really paying attention, it's more likely to give you challenges. Yeah,
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but that's actually too.
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Yeah, no, one hundred percent, you know, and like going
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back to their just being individuals who are bad individuals,
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you know, it's like unfortunately those people tend to quote
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unquote speak louder than those that are good. Right, and
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so you get this kind of Hollywood aspect of witchcraft
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for example, or you know, whatever it is, and whatever
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the faith you have, these people who just like Christianity
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has a bad rap up in many occasions because of
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people who just don't do it well.
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Right. Yeah, I have to say a number of my
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friends are Christians and they are lovely human beings, and
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our differences in beliefs don't get in our way. We
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are very accepting of each other. And the people who
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cannot accept that somebody believes something that's different than what
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they believe, that's their p Yeah, that's that's a you problem,
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That is the problem. You know. I think that everybody's
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entitled to their opinion, they're just not entitled to force
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it on somebody else. So when it comes to.
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The deities, when it comes to working with deities, how
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do you know when one is maybe trying to reach
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out to you personally, because obviously you can reach out
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to them, but every once in a while, maybe one
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reaches out to you.
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How do you know that's happening. Well, I mean that
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can happen in various different ways. I know. I have
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a friend who a deity came to her in a dream,
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and she could tell from the dream that it was
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not a regular dream. It was one of those if
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you've ever had a dream that is super intense and
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obviously meaningful in some way, she had a dream like that.
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I had one actually come to me recently, is asking
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for help over a particular issue that I'm dealing with.
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I was having a hypnotherapy session and the deities showed
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up in the hypnotherapy session. Because you're relaxed and open
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go so that you know the same with dreaming, relaxed
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and open. So that is one way if you are,
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you know, open to getting messages and paying attention, if
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a deity decides to choose you or decides that you
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know you need them at this particular juncture in your life,
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that's the best way. There are also signs. You know,
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numerous deities have various you know, creatures or other things
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that are associated with them. For instance, Hecate crows and ravens.
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So if you start seeing something over and over again,
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say you start seeing crows all lot, then maybe you
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want to look at well, which deities are associated with crows.
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There are a few. If it's ravens, it might be
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Odin because Odin was really associated with So you know,
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you want to again be paying attention because you the
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gods aren't subtle, you know, deities tend to you know,
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they don't necessarily set a bush on fire, hopefully not
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during like fire season, but usually if they are reaching
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out to you, they will let you know, and you
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just have to be paying attention to be open minded.
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Well, now your book covers Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Celtic and
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Norse patheons. How did you decide on which pantheons to
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lu and was there reason why you didn't include you know,
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certain ones that we are in the book.
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Yes, yes, and yes us. So one of the things
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that happens when you are an author is you do
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not make decisions alone. I have an editor at Llewellen
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and we talked about this in the beginning, because I
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had thought about including some wider you know, it's so
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difficult because you want to be inclusive, but you don't
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want to step on people's toes, and it's a really
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funny balance. Well not funny, but it's a tricky balance.
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And so she and I talked about what was the
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best approach, and what she thought, Lusia Gallum, my fabulous editor,
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was that the best thing to do would be to
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take the pantheons that you mentioned, which modern witchcraft has
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been you using since the beginning of modern witchcraft. Those
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are the most commonly used, and they have been in
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such common usage that they're sort of readily accepted as
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part of a witchcraft practice. And I am not an
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expert on some other things, like, for instance, the the
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African deities, who are actually not exactly they're not exactly deities.
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There's land spirits, sea spirits. There are people who come
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from that culture who are writing wonderful books about that culture.
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And if people are interested in interacting with those deities,
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they can get their information from people who know much
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more than I do and who are much more qualified
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to talk about it than I am. So I basically
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stuck with these major pantheons that we've been using for years,
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and a few sort of miscellaneous, really really ancient deities
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because I didn't feel like I was qualified to talk about, say,
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Native American deities or African deities or whatever. What I
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did include, and this was something that I really really
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wanted to do with this book, was some of these deities,
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especially in the Greek pantheon and some in the Egyptian
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pantheon the Celtic pantheon, can be perceived as either male
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deities or female deities, or sometimes both or sometimes neither,
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and that's something that really wasn't addressed in most of
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the other books. I have a lot of research books,
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a lot of books because I've been doing this for
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a long time, and people really didn't talk about that,
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and that was a place where I wanted to be inclusive.
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Witchcraft attracts a lot of people who are other, whatever
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that other is, who don't fit into neat little slots
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in our society. Whiches mostly don't fit into neat little slots.
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But I wanted That's why we called it The Everyday,
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which is book of Deities instead of gods and goddesses
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because I wanted it to be something where if somebody
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was by, they could read this book and find a
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deity that perhaps they felt like they could connect to,
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because that was addressed in the book.
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Yep, for sure.
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Now for someone who maybe feels drawn to multiple pantheons,
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is it okay to work across traditions or hy okay? Okay, yeah, no.
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I consider myself to be what's called an eclectic witch,
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which means you pull from all sorts of places, and
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I do even in a ritual. I have a coven
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that I've been leading since two thousand and four, if
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you could believe it. It's covens don't usually hang out together
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that long, and people have common people have gone, but
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our core group is still together. And even on say
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the spring equinox, we might invoke a deity from you know,
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a goddess from one pantheon and a god from another pantheon,
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because I just choose who feels appropriate for the ritual
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that I'm doing. So yeah, that is absolutely fine. Some
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people find one pantheon that they're comfortable with and stick
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with it, and that is also fine. One of the
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things that I included in the book, which is actually
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my favorite part of the book is the parts it
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didn't write, which seems a little strange, but it's the
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part that interests me the most because I know the
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inside of my brain. I happen to have some friends
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who followed particular pantheons. I have a friend who is
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a you know, follows Norse deities exclusively. They actually considered
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themselves to be a heathen witch as opposed to just
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a witch witch. And I have another friend who is
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a druid and he follows the Celtic once he's a
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druid witch. So I asked these friends if they would
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rate a sort of a brief essay on what their
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practice looked like, because it's very different from what my
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practice looked like. And you know, having known these folks
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for a while, I've always found their approach to be
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fascinating and I thought I would share that with my readers,
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and people seem to appreciate that. So, yes, you can
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either do one pantheon, multiple pantheons, one deity, multiple deities.
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There are no real rules, which is probably like this.
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Well, now that brings another question to mine, though, So
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you or anyone who wants to open multiple deities, and
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so you do that, and that's fine, but is there
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ever a chance or or a time in which the
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deities themselves don't want to work together and they're like, oh, well,
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you know.
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I've never had that happen. I suppose it's possible, but
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you know, I sort of envisioned them all hanging out
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in sort of a big clubhouse in the sky. I
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don't know.
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Uh.
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Here's the tricky thing about deities, and it's it's complicated,
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hard to explain, hard to understand, and yet if you
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think about it, it sort of makes sense, which is
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that there's more than one way to look at deity.
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There is the all encompassing power that is so much
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greater than we are that we really can't comprehend it
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as puny little human beings. Deity as a whole is
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it's like trying to comprehend the universe. You just really can't.
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And so each culture has come up with ways to
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connect with deity, and so we have deities that have
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names and things that are associated with them, Like there's Thor,
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who is associated with Thunder. He also is very protective
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of mankind, and he is part of this whole big
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thing and you can look at him or any of
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the other deities as individuals, but they are also at
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the exact same time this big, huge thing. And I
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think that while each individual deity is very real and
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very connectable with they are also way more immense than
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you know. Our stories about the gods, you know, are
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written by humans, and they're therefore smaller than the deities themselves,
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especially if you're in the Marvel universe. But you know,
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I think that if you think about deity at the
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same time as individual beings but also this fragment of
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a big, huge thing, I think they come to us
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in ways that we can connect with them, that we
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can understand, that we can communicate with, that we can
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get comfort from. But I think mythology aside, they don't
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fight with each other. They are bigger than that. And
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that's just my opinion, you know. I mean, there are
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there are people who have different views. They're allowed to.
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Not everybody agrees with me. I know that's shocking.
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Well, now, one thing that I obviously is very I
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would say important, but it's something that kind of stands
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out in any nearly any great system, and it's the
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idea of having a place to to worship, to conjure
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to do your spells, and so in this case we're
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talking about authors. So how important is it to have
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an author when you're working with deities? And does it
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really have to be as extravagant as we're seeing on
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social media because.
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Oh heck no, no. I mean I my group when
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we practice outside, because you know, I'm in upstate New York,
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and like most seasons of the years, it's either you know, snowing, pouring,
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mosquito wing or something. But when we're as say, we
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actually have a stone circle and there's a big flat
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stone that is the altar. It's a stone, you know,
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and no, no babies who have been sacrifized down. I
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saw a frog on it once that was as close
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as we got any hopped up. He is fun, but
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00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:35.599
you know, we use it will set up a few
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00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:39.640
things that we feel are appropriate, like you know, some
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flowers as an offering, or things that relate to the season.
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If it's one of the harvest festivals, we may put
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fresh corn or whatever. An altar can be as complicated
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00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.720
or as simple as you want. I have an alter
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that's set up in my living room that usually change
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00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:04.799
out for the seasons and it'll have you know, really
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00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:09.279
simple deity statues. Sometimes I mean they're just clay blobs,
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one of which has like horns, yeah, which are made
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out of sticks, really fancy. And then you can put
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you know, candles if you want to put candles, or
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stones if you want to put stones. If you are
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dealing with a particular deity and you want to make
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a deeper connection, you could put offerings to that deity.
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And that's one of the things that I did in
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this book. I did all the research on which are
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the appropriate offerings so you don't have to question. Yeah,
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that is one of those things that whenever I would
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start working with a new deity, I would have to
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go looking to find out, well, okay, what does this
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deity like to have on their altar? I tell you
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that you're welcome. I with this deity that can came
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00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:06.880
to me recently through this hypnotherapy session, I was told specifically,
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you need to change your altar. You need to make
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an altar to me. And so I took ninety percent
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of what I normally have on my altar off and
355
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I've been slowly adding things that seemed appropriate to that deity.
356
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But it's not a ton of stuff. For one thing,
357
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:29.319
you do not have to spend a zillion dollars. People
358
00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.480
have to buy gas and food, and the gods understand that.
359
00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.319
You know, right now, that's like ninety nine percent of
360
00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:39.160
all the money we have is gas and food. So
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00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.799
you can use things from nature. It's a nature based religion.
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If you want to bring in a stone, if you're
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worshiping a deity that is a water deity, bring a shell,
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00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:56.440
put a bowl of water. It can be as simple
365
00:25:56.519 --> 00:26:00.799
as a bowl of water. And you don't have to
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00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:05.440
worry too much about getting it right. Do it from
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00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:09.599
the heart. You know, all fresh flowers are always a
368
00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:14.960
good offering. Most deities like that. Some form of food,
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00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:17.960
and you know, if you have a cat that's going
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to leap up on your altar. If you put fresh food, well,
371
00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:24.880
you could put something dried. Herbs are always good. Stones
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00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:27.960
are good. You know. I happen to be a crystal junkie.
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I have a lot of crystals, and so I usually
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have various crystals that feel appropriate for the deity. But
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00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:40.880
it does not have to be complicated. Usually on a
376
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:44.880
full moon, I walk outside, stand underneath the moon and
377
00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:49.279
say hi, that's as complicated as that gets. So it's
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all what feels right to you and what works with
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00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:58.839
your life. Some people are not, as we call it,
380
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:02.160
out of the broom close. If you are sharing your
381
00:27:02.279 --> 00:27:05.640
space with somebody who is either not comfortable with your
382
00:27:05.640 --> 00:27:10.400
witchcraft or doesn't know you're a witch, you can take
383
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.319
some really simple things like take a shell to represent water,
384
00:27:14.599 --> 00:27:18.440
and a rock to represent earth, and a candle to
385
00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:23.279
represent fire, and a stick of incense to represent air
386
00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:26.960
and put them all together and they don't necessarily have
387
00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:31.680
to look like an altar. So it really is very personal,
388
00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:35.839
personal and very individual. And you know this is something
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00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:38.480
that people who read my books call you really tired
390
00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:41.640
of me saying there is no wrong way. There is
391
00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:44.039
no one right way. As long as you are not
392
00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:48.240
hurting yourself or anybody else, it's fine, right.
393
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:51.039
Well, I like, I mean, obviously you did the research
394
00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:53.799
and you share all that in your book of what
395
00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:58.839
deities tend to like for offerings, But how does one
396
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:03.359
discern or how have you discerned when adity doesn't like something,
397
00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:05.960
even if they just don't like I know, you had
398
00:28:05.960 --> 00:28:08.720
one example where you know, DDI came forward and said,
399
00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:11.599
you need to make an altitimus to me. But not
400
00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:13.680
everyone gets that kind of message. So how do you
401
00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:17.200
discern when something maybe isn't the right option.
402
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:22.240
Well, for one thing, again, you have to listen to
403
00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:24.920
your heart. You have to listen to your gut. And
404
00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:28.559
you know, I believe that is true across all religions,
405
00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:32.880
all spiritual paths, that you need to be paying attention
406
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:39.160
to that little inner voice that gets lost in this
407
00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:41.799
world that we live in. You know, we all have
408
00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:45.079
our phones all the time and we're watching TV, and
409
00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:48.480
you know, there's just so much going on. We have jobs,
410
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:51.920
we have you know, people depending on us, and it
411
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:56.160
can be hard to find that space. If you feel
412
00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:01.480
like your magical work isn't working and you're not sure why,
413
00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:05.319
you can stand in front of your altar and sort
414
00:29:05.319 --> 00:29:09.400
of look at things and just sort of feel like,
415
00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:13.799
does this feel right? Does this not feel right? Everybody
416
00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:16.599
has those answers inside them. You don't have to have,
417
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:20.319
you know, thirty years of experience as a witch. All
418
00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:24.319
you have to do is listen. Again, I mostly haven't
419
00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:29.640
found that there's an issue with that. But if you
420
00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:33.079
feel like something is wrong, probably something's wrong.
421
00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:36.559
All right? I think for right now that is a
422
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:39.319
good place to stop. We're gonna do a midwork mid
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00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.319
break here to hear from our sponsors, and we'll be
424
00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:43.000
right back.
425
00:29:44.279 --> 00:29:48.200
A quick thank you to our supporting sponsor. Now Dakians Studios.
426
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428
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430
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434
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I love handmade pottery, by the way, absolutely yeah. I
435
00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:39.640
spent twenty three years running an artist's cooperative shop featuring
436
00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:43.400
fifty local artists. There are a number of potters and
437
00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:48.599
I own a ridiculous amount of pottery because handmade pottery
438
00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:52.359
is the best thing in the world. It feels completely different, yo,
439
00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:53.039
for sure.
440
00:30:53.079 --> 00:30:55.799
I've got a couple pieces from noa Dakian and you
441
00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:57.599
know it's one of those that I use at least
442
00:30:57.640 --> 00:30:59.559
two or three times a week for coffee.
443
00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:02.960
You know, all my favorite mugs are handmade mugs. I
444
00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:05.759
actually have, you know a few little things on my
445
00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:09.720
altar that are handmaid pottery. You know, I'm a big
446
00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:13.160
fan of handmaid anything. But yes, pottery is definitely one
447
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:16.720
of my weaknesses.
448
00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:21.960
So now, when it comes to UH, when it comes
449
00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:24.960
to de theise, obviously we're talking about deities, but when
450
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:31.119
it comes to UH communicating with the deity and wanting
451
00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:34.119
to you know, I guess I'm sorry.
452
00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:36.400
I'm struggling with the question, how do.
453
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:42.519
You know when you're having a spiritual connection with the
454
00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:48.160
deity and certain spells are coming true versus you're just
455
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:50.440
seeing what you want to see and it's all made
456
00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:51.119
up in your mind.
457
00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:59.480
You there's no easy answer to that, because it all
458
00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:04.640
comes down to faith, and faith is difficult. Faith is
459
00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:08.799
I mean, I struggle with faith just the same way
460
00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:14.519
everybody else does. When things are going horribly wrong and
461
00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:18.559
maybe you're doing spells and nothing is happening, or you're
462
00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:23.559
not getting the results you hope for. One of the
463
00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:28.079
things that I remind people is that you can ask
464
00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:32.559
the deities for anything you want. Sometimes the answer is
465
00:32:32.680 --> 00:32:37.039
no you, and that doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong.
466
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:43.559
It's sort of like but my best analogy is if
467
00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:47.480
you're a little kid and you say to your parents, Okay,
468
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:52.279
I want to have ice cream before dinner, and they say, no,
469
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:56.319
you need to eat your dinner first. Sometimes when you're
470
00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:00.559
doing spells and you're asking deity for something, they don't
471
00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:03.559
give it to you because it's either not the right time,
472
00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:07.119
it's not the right answer for you. You may think
473
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:10.240
it is the right answer for you, but they know
474
00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:17.759
better because well, deity, it's not necessarily It doesn't mean
475
00:33:17.799 --> 00:33:20.720
they're not listening, and it doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong.
476
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:27.480
It just may mean that whatever it is you're hoping
477
00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:32.160
to get wouldn't do you any favors. And I have
478
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:35.400
had a few times when I have had my wishes
479
00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:40.839
granted as part of a lesson because in fact I
480
00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.920
was asking for the wrong things, and if I persisted
481
00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:47.640
in asking for them, the gods would just go all
482
00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:50.640
right if you insist. But you know, let's see what
483
00:33:50.680 --> 00:33:54.519
you're gonna learn from this, And sometimes those are pretty
484
00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:59.519
tough lessons. So, you know, how do you tell the
485
00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:05.240
difference between whether you're getting something granted or whether it's
486
00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:10.880
just happening. Sometimes it's really obvious, you know. Sometimes it's
487
00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:14.239
just like whoa. I mean, it's hardly ever a winning
488
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:18.360
lottery ticket. Sadly, if that worked, we'd have a lot
489
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:23.360
more you know, wealthy witches at big yep. But sometimes
490
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:28.599
it's really obvious, like say you do a prosperity spell
491
00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:32.960
and you're thinking, oh, we have my car is dying.
492
00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:36.159
I need to get money. But instead of getting money,
493
00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:39.760
somebody who knows says, you know, I need a new car.
494
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:42.079
I'm going to get rid of my old one pretty cheap.
495
00:34:42.119 --> 00:34:45.719
Do you want it? That's this That is an answer,
496
00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:49.199
that's a yes. It's just not the yes you thought
497
00:34:49.239 --> 00:34:50.840
you were going to get. You thought you were going
498
00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:52.760
to get the lottery ticket that let you buy a
499
00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:56.000
new car. No, you've got an opportunity, You've got this gift.
500
00:34:56.760 --> 00:35:00.760
So sometimes you have to be open mind enough to
501
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:05.440
be aware if the answer you were looking for is
502
00:35:05.639 --> 00:35:08.840
not exactly coming to you in the form you expected,
503
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:14.280
and it sometimes you're just asking the wrong question.
504
00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:19.599
I think, you know, it's like humanity has a very
505
00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:23.880
finite understanding of what they're interested in, what they want
506
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:26.360
and how they want to receive it, and uh, you
507
00:35:26.360 --> 00:35:29.400
know my own personal experience as well, it's like you
508
00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:32.760
keep or you end up like getting an answer to
509
00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:36.639
something and it creates a ripple effect. And those ripples
510
00:35:36.840 --> 00:35:41.079
aren't always good ripples. They ripple into something undesirable hotmably
511
00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:43.440
and it's like you keep asking and asking asking, find51200:35:43.480 --> 00:35:45.679
me you're offered it, are you're giving it? And it's like,51300:35:46.000 --> 00:35:48.119
wait a minute, this isn't quite what I thought it51400:35:48.159 --> 00:35:52.679
would be, you know, and like it's it's definitely one51500:35:52.719 --> 00:35:54.519
of those things are like for me come from a51600:35:54.519 --> 00:35:57.760
spiritual background and a Christian background, It's like there are51700:35:57.800 --> 00:36:01.519
moments where I ask for things that you know that51800:36:02.000 --> 00:36:04.280
I don't get them the way that I expect them,51900:36:04.559 --> 00:36:07.599
And there are opportunities I've missed and I think back, like, well,52000:36:07.840 --> 00:36:09.519
was that really something I should regret? Or is that52100:36:09.599 --> 00:36:12.000
something I should be thankful for missing that?52200:36:12.119 --> 00:36:14.320
You know. It's like and the thing is, we don't know,52300:36:15.000 --> 00:36:17.599
you know, we don't have all the answers. We're never52400:36:17.639 --> 00:36:22.440
gonna have all the answers because we're just human and52500:36:22.840 --> 00:36:27.280
life is confusing and messy. And you know, anybody who52600:36:27.320 --> 00:36:30.960
tells you they have all the answers is either delusional52700:36:31.119 --> 00:36:34.880
or lying or both. Most of us are wandering around52800:36:34.960 --> 00:36:38.920
in circles pretty confused most of the time. You know,52900:36:39.320 --> 00:36:42.360
people think, oh, you know, you're a witch, You're a53000:36:42.440 --> 00:36:45.119
high priestess. You've written all these books. You must be53100:36:45.239 --> 00:36:47.679
so wise. I know all the answers, and I'm like, No,53200:36:48.159 --> 00:36:51.559
all that's taught me is how much I don't know? Right.53300:36:51.559 --> 00:36:55.840
That's the wiser you get, the more you realize you53400:36:55.960 --> 00:37:01.280
know as much as much, and then you just sort53500:37:01.280 --> 00:37:04.039
of make your peace with that. Yeah.53600:37:04.360 --> 00:37:09.079
So, I mean, you've written nineteen books. That's a lot53700:37:09.119 --> 00:37:12.480
of books, nonfiction books. I've also written a whole bunch53800:37:12.519 --> 00:37:17.599
of fiction. Oh okay, right, A guzy woman, a busy woman.53900:37:17.840 --> 00:37:22.079
That's good, that's very good. But you've written nineteen books54000:37:22.119 --> 00:37:26.519
on modern witchcraft. How has your own practice changed over54100:37:26.559 --> 00:37:29.719
the years as you've written those books and done your research?54200:37:30.559 --> 00:37:33.000
You know a lot. And that is one of the54300:37:33.039 --> 00:37:38.119
things that I addressed in this book is that your54400:37:38.320 --> 00:37:44.320
connections with deities is going to change over You know,54500:37:44.400 --> 00:37:49.800
if you continue to practice witchcraft, as you change and grow,54600:37:50.480 --> 00:37:55.159
you're going to have different connections. You may be you know,54700:37:55.320 --> 00:38:01.400
worshiping one deity for ten years and then and things54800:38:01.440 --> 00:38:03.719
shift and change in your life and you need to54900:38:03.760 --> 00:38:07.679
look elsewhere. And they're okay, they don't get I've never55000:38:07.719 --> 00:38:11.559
known one to go but you promised. Uh no, They're like,55100:38:11.639 --> 00:38:16.159
oh good, yeah, you're annoying. They could go go get55200:38:16.199 --> 00:38:22.239
know bother. Hecita for a while. But witchcraft practice is55300:38:22.559 --> 00:38:27.119
very much a practice of growth and change if you're55400:38:27.159 --> 00:38:31.039
doing it more or less right, because as human beings55500:38:31.519 --> 00:38:36.480
we are not static. It is for me, witchcraft is55600:38:36.559 --> 00:38:43.280
all about trying to become the best person you can be,55700:38:43.400 --> 00:38:46.599
the best witch, you can be, the best human being55800:38:46.719 --> 00:38:51.800
you can be. And that is an ongoing process. You know,55900:38:51.840 --> 00:38:56.480
you make mistakes, you make course corrections, you figure out56000:38:57.000 --> 00:39:00.360
that you know you this seemed like the right path56100:39:00.400 --> 00:39:03.840
for you, and then you went, oh, well no, I56200:39:03.840 --> 00:39:10.519
don't like that anymore. And as you change your deity56300:39:10.559 --> 00:39:12.639
worship is going to change. One of the things that56400:39:13.320 --> 00:39:16.599
personally has happened with me, and again this may not56500:39:16.639 --> 00:39:21.079
apply to anybody else but me, is that my practice56600:39:21.119 --> 00:39:25.559
has become much simpler. It's you know, I used to56700:39:25.760 --> 00:39:28.400
when I first started out, I did all the bells56800:39:28.440 --> 00:39:30.920
and whistles. You know, when I did a ritual, there56900:39:31.119 --> 00:39:35.760
was you know, all sorts of things that were involved.57000:39:36.039 --> 00:39:38.679
You know, I'd call the quarters and you know, do57100:39:38.760 --> 00:39:41.679
all of this. You know, I'd have ten different supplies57200:39:41.760 --> 00:39:45.719
and all of these kind of things. And I'm tired,57300:39:45.800 --> 00:39:49.719
and I'm busy, and life is complicated, and I am57400:39:50.320 --> 00:39:52.960
much more likely to just light a candle at my57500:39:53.079 --> 00:39:57.199
altar and talk, you know, just say Okay, you know57600:39:57.719 --> 00:39:59.679
you can see what's going on. This is you know,57700:39:59.760 --> 00:40:03.159
I'm I'm asking for help with this, and here's a flower.57800:40:03.320 --> 00:40:08.679
Thank you. So I do think that one of the57900:40:08.719 --> 00:40:15.760
things that I have seen newbie witches tend to do58000:40:15.920 --> 00:40:18.639
all the bells and whistles. And that's not a bad58100:40:18.679 --> 00:40:23.039
thing because those bells and whistles, all the you know,58200:40:23.119 --> 00:40:27.000
the herbs and the stones and all the rest of58300:40:27.039 --> 00:40:30.760
it help us to focus on our goals. Yeah, that's58400:40:30.840 --> 00:40:34.159
what they're basically there for. They're symbols that remind us58500:40:34.199 --> 00:40:37.159
of what we're working on. And when you first start out,58600:40:37.239 --> 00:40:40.599
you really need those because most of us don't focus58700:40:40.639 --> 00:40:43.760
all that well. And so it's like, Okay, this stone58800:40:43.840 --> 00:40:47.000
is for prosperity, and this herb is for prosperity, and58900:40:47.039 --> 00:40:49.639
so you keep saying prosperity and the guess in your59000:40:49.679 --> 00:40:54.599
brain that goes out into the universe and it's all good, right,59100:40:54.800 --> 00:40:57.360
there is a reason. Also, it's fun and it's pretty.59200:40:58.760 --> 00:41:03.880
As you go further along in your practice, it's not59300:41:03.920 --> 00:41:08.239
that you don't use those things you tend to in general.59400:41:08.280 --> 00:41:11.199
And again I'm mostly talking about myself, because everybody's different.59500:41:12.320 --> 00:41:15.639
I pull that stuff out for the big important things.59600:41:16.159 --> 00:41:19.159
If there is something, if I'm in crisis, or if59700:41:19.239 --> 00:41:22.519
I really need help, or if I'm practicing with my59800:41:22.639 --> 00:41:26.880
friends and we're doing something for a holiday, we may59900:41:27.239 --> 00:41:32.400
or may not, you know, do all the things. But60000:41:32.679 --> 00:41:36.679
for you know, the everyday stuff, my practice looks like60100:41:37.159 --> 00:41:40.719
me waking up in the morning and greeting the day60200:41:40.360 --> 00:41:43.440
and saying hello to the gods, you know, and asking60300:41:43.480 --> 00:41:45.559
them to help me through my day, and at the60400:41:45.679 --> 00:41:51.239
end of the day saying thank you, practicing gratitude and saying, okay,60500:41:51.280 --> 00:41:53.719
these are the things that went right, these are the60600:41:53.760 --> 00:41:56.199
things that went wrong, but thanks for giving me the60700:41:56.199 --> 00:41:58.400
strength and energy to cope with it. And you know,60800:41:58.480 --> 00:42:02.519
not bury anybodies in my back yard. Very much appreciated60900:42:03.119 --> 00:42:06.840
and in between that, there may be moments where I61000:42:07.000 --> 00:42:11.079
light a candle or you know, put at an offering.61100:42:12.119 --> 00:42:14.920
I have sort of a strange thing going on right now.61200:42:15.480 --> 00:42:17.760
I have a big garden, and in my garden there61300:42:17.840 --> 00:42:21.280
is a garden pond that was built by this great61400:42:21.400 --> 00:42:24.440
stone mason, and there's at the top of the pond61500:42:24.480 --> 00:42:28.400
there's sort of a little waterfall, and it's built of stone.61600:42:28.960 --> 00:42:33.400
And I have garter snakes, which are perfectly harmless, and61700:42:33.559 --> 00:42:35.760
they like the stone and they go in there. And61800:42:35.880 --> 00:42:41.679
this year I have the big mama of all garter snakes.61900:42:41.679 --> 00:42:43.519
I have never in my life seen a garter snake62000:42:43.599 --> 00:42:49.800
this big. She'd probably this big round and this long62100:42:50.679 --> 00:42:54.960
for a garter snake. That's like cute. And I sort62200:42:54.960 --> 00:42:59.559
of get this sense that maybe she's more than just62300:42:59.599 --> 00:43:03.320
a snake. Nope, I don't know. But I go out62400:43:03.360 --> 00:43:06.639
there and I always look for her, and if I62500:43:06.719 --> 00:43:10.719
see her, I greet her politely, just in case, and62600:43:10.800 --> 00:43:13.599
I say, you know, good morning, And I mean, I62700:43:13.599 --> 00:43:16.000
don't really have treats to give her. I'm not sure62800:43:16.039 --> 00:43:18.880
what you'd give. I mean, they eat earthworms. I could62900:43:19.159 --> 00:43:21.760
dig up an earthworm. I have frogs in the pond,63000:43:21.840 --> 00:43:24.239
and I'm pretty sure she occasionally helps herself to one63100:43:24.239 --> 00:43:28.480
of those I try not to think about it, but63200:43:29.639 --> 00:43:32.400
it's one of those things where, again, this is part63300:43:32.400 --> 00:43:35.320
of my spiritual practice. I'm looking for things in the63400:43:35.480 --> 00:43:40.079
environment that are different and unusual.63500:43:40.719 --> 00:43:45.960
Maybe she's just a snake. Maybe she's symbolic of something.63600:43:46.519 --> 00:43:52.440
Snakes are symbols of health and regeneration and renewal because63700:43:52.440 --> 00:43:55.119
of the way they shed their skins. And in fact,63800:43:55.159 --> 00:43:57.559
I was looking for something to put on my new63900:43:57.599 --> 00:44:01.719
altar and one of the smaller snakes shed.64000:44:01.480 --> 00:44:04.920
Its entire skin. You don't usually find the whole thing.64100:44:05.000 --> 00:44:06.760
You could see where the eyes were, all the way64200:44:06.800 --> 00:44:09.440
to its tail, and it's sitting on my altar now64300:44:09.480 --> 00:44:13.559
because I'm working on healing, and it seemed appropriate.64400:44:13.800 --> 00:44:16.280
Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, I think a lot64500:44:16.320 --> 00:44:21.239
of people get this misconception that when it comes to64600:44:21.320 --> 00:44:25.199
talking with deits, you have to make it very elaborate,64700:44:25.239 --> 00:44:27.559
you have to go into deep prayer. You know, even64800:44:27.559 --> 00:44:28.639
with the Christian faith. You know, if a lot of64900:44:28.639 --> 00:44:30.199
people think, oh, you got to be underneaes, you gotta65000:44:30.199 --> 00:44:31.559
be praying, got to be in quiet place, and it's65100:44:31.559 --> 00:44:35.800
like sometimes it's just sitting in silence and meditating to65200:44:35.920 --> 00:44:38.719
sitting with God, you know, and being there.65300:44:39.639 --> 00:44:42.119
I think that is, in fact the most important thing.65400:44:42.159 --> 00:44:48.280
People miss. That idea that yes, all you need to65500:44:48.320 --> 00:44:53.400
do is be present and open and quiet. Hard to do,65600:44:53.800 --> 00:44:56.920
I mean, that's not it sounds simple, it's not simple,65700:44:58.559 --> 00:45:02.000
but that is the best way to connect with dity.65800:45:02.119 --> 00:45:06.360
And sometimes you feel them, sometimes you don't feel them.65900:45:06.360 --> 00:45:07.559
That doesn't mean they're not there.66000:45:09.000 --> 00:45:14.079
Well, now, speaking of misconceptions, are there any particular misconceptions66100:45:14.559 --> 00:45:15.960
when it comes to deity work.66200:45:18.679 --> 00:45:22.079
Well, I mean there's some of the obvious stuff from66300:45:22.239 --> 00:45:24.360
you know, all the bad movies and all the bad66400:45:24.400 --> 00:45:29.719
TV shows. There are no blood sacrifices. I promise you66500:45:29.719 --> 00:45:32.320
you know, all the years I've been doing this, I66600:45:32.360 --> 00:45:37.159
have never seen a blood sacrifice. Occasionally, somebody may spill66700:45:37.199 --> 00:45:41.119
some pomegranate juice which looks sort of like a blood sacrifice,66800:45:41.159 --> 00:45:45.760
but that's as close as we get. And there's also66900:45:45.880 --> 00:45:50.679
I think this misconception that and again it's part of67000:45:50.679 --> 00:45:59.039
the misconception about witchcraft, that you're selling your soul somehow. No, no,67100:45:59.199 --> 00:46:02.400
that's a Christian concept. We just don't actually believe in67200:46:02.440 --> 00:46:05.599
the devil. That's not our thing. That's somebody else's thing67300:46:05.719 --> 00:46:09.599
and you can have it you no, thank you. But67400:46:10.519 --> 00:46:20.239
I think the biggest misconception is that they're judging us sternly.67500:46:20.519 --> 00:46:23.920
And this I think comes in part from this whole67600:46:24.760 --> 00:46:29.639
Judeo Christian stern father figure. You will if you do67700:46:29.719 --> 00:46:33.800
it wrong, they will smote you. You know, I've never67800:46:33.880 --> 00:46:36.800
met anybody who's been smotd Have you met anybody has67900:46:36.800 --> 00:46:40.360
been smoted? I mean I met people who stubbed their68000:46:40.360 --> 00:46:45.920
toes a lot. Well, maybe they better shoes. But I68100:46:46.039 --> 00:46:50.360
think the gods are kind. I think the gods. Now68200:46:50.480 --> 00:46:52.519
that doesn't mean they're gonna let you get away, but68300:46:52.920 --> 00:46:58.280
bull crap. You know that they're going to forgive you68400:46:58.360 --> 00:47:03.599
for being unkind to other people. You know. I think68500:47:03.679 --> 00:47:08.480
that if you are putting negativity out into the world68600:47:09.320 --> 00:47:12.639
and you ask the deities to do nice things for you,68700:47:13.760 --> 00:47:17.159
they're gonna judge you on fat But they are going68800:47:17.199 --> 00:47:22.639
to judge you like you're a horrible human being. They're68900:47:22.920 --> 00:47:26.280
they're again, it's sort of like a parent. You know,69000:47:26.679 --> 00:47:31.199
if you pull your sister's hair, or break a vase69100:47:31.519 --> 00:47:36.239
or lie or whatever it is, you they don't stop69200:47:36.360 --> 00:47:40.639
loving you. They may not give you your treat, but69300:47:41.039 --> 00:47:44.440
they don't stop loving you. And I do believe that69400:47:44.880 --> 00:47:49.679
the gods are love and at its essence, this is69500:47:50.000 --> 00:47:53.440
this is where people have gone so astray with Christianity.69600:47:54.000 --> 00:47:58.280
Christianity is all about love. Jesus is all about love.69700:47:58.760 --> 00:48:03.760
And anybody who doesn't understand that doesn't understand Christianity. And69800:48:03.800 --> 00:48:06.199
I'm a Jewish witch and I get that so.69900:48:07.800 --> 00:48:10.559
Right, one hundred percent. You know, it's you're right. It's70000:48:10.559 --> 00:48:12.760
it's this idea of punishment that I think sticks to70100:48:12.760 --> 00:48:15.920
people because it's in a sense fair mongering, and not70200:48:16.039 --> 00:48:20.119
just amongsh a Christian faith, but amongst any than any person.70300:48:21.000 --> 00:48:23.280
But there is this idea of discipline and it, like70400:48:23.360 --> 00:48:26.320
you said, the mother fodder figure, there's also the idea70500:48:26.360 --> 00:48:28.800
of karma and what you put out you get back,70600:48:28.960 --> 00:48:29.119
you know.70700:48:29.199 --> 00:48:32.880
And yeah, absolutely, if you're out there being a complete70800:48:33.000 --> 00:48:36.960
jerk and expect goodness and return, chances are that's not happened,70900:48:38.039 --> 00:48:40.239
you know, So definitely agree with you.71000:48:40.320 --> 00:48:45.599
Like, there is discipline in the spiritual realm when it71100:48:45.639 --> 00:48:49.960
comes to working with spirits and deities and gods or God,71200:48:50.280 --> 00:48:55.760
but it's never as horrible as what people come up71300:48:55.800 --> 00:48:58.599
with you know, it's not like, oh, you're yes, we're71400:48:58.599 --> 00:49:00.679
not talking about Old Testament punishm' here right.71500:49:01.639 --> 00:49:06.280
Well, you know, I've I've known people who've had bad71600:49:06.360 --> 00:49:10.360
things happen to them and and they think I must71700:49:10.360 --> 00:49:14.400
have done something wrong. The deities are punishing me, and71800:49:14.960 --> 00:49:19.199
it's just life. Bad things happen in life, unfortunately, and71900:49:20.079 --> 00:49:22.599
it's very sad that it doesn't matter how good a72000:49:22.679 --> 00:49:25.760
human being you are, and you know how much you72100:49:25.880 --> 00:49:30.079
do for others, sometimes bad things happen to good people.72200:49:30.840 --> 00:49:34.400
And that doesn't mean that you have offended a deity, right,72300:49:34.480 --> 00:49:37.840
It just means that you are a human being living72400:49:37.880 --> 00:49:41.400
a life. And if you look at the world right now,72500:49:41.440 --> 00:49:45.199
there are bad things happening all over the place. And72600:49:45.280 --> 00:49:48.840
you cannot tell me that everybody at a building fall72700:49:48.920 --> 00:49:53.280
on them in an earthquake was a horrible human being72800:49:53.360 --> 00:49:56.239
that the gods did not prove up. No, they were72900:49:56.239 --> 00:49:58.079
in the wrong place at the wrong time and the73000:49:58.119 --> 00:50:00.880
earth shook right, and that's all there is it.73100:50:01.239 --> 00:50:03.920
You know, I've heard so many times I've been I'm73200:50:04.400 --> 00:50:06.320
on the center of this where, you know, I say,73300:50:06.360 --> 00:50:07.960
why would God do this? Why do you do this73400:50:08.000 --> 00:50:09.880
to me? Why do this happen? Why did that happen?73500:50:10.000 --> 00:50:10.079
Not?73600:50:10.159 --> 00:50:14.000
It's like in wisdom you learn like, well, that's not God,73700:50:14.119 --> 00:50:17.360
that's you know, just life. The earth has its things,73800:50:17.440 --> 00:50:21.079
you know. Yeah, it breaks youna means fires, just tragedy,73900:50:21.199 --> 00:50:21.880
bad people.74000:50:21.920 --> 00:50:25.159
And illness and you know, all of that kind of stuff.74100:50:25.800 --> 00:50:30.960
It's unfortunately part of being human being and being human74200:50:31.039 --> 00:50:36.159
beings hard. It's just you know, it's just tough, and74300:50:36.320 --> 00:50:39.760
a lot of bad things do happen. But that doesn't74400:50:39.840 --> 00:50:42.800
mean that you've offended a deity. It just means that74500:50:43.000 --> 00:50:47.880
you're human being living real life, and in real life,74600:50:49.119 --> 00:50:52.679
lots of bad things happen. I think the important thing74700:50:53.039 --> 00:50:56.119
is to be paying attention to the good things. You know,74800:50:56.719 --> 00:50:59.559
the gods do send you good things. Sometimes they're little.74900:51:00.000 --> 00:51:02.719
Sometimes it's a bird singing outside your window on a75000:51:02.840 --> 00:51:06.440
really bad day. I've been dealing with chronic illness for75100:51:07.599 --> 00:51:11.760
forty some years, and one of the things that it75200:51:11.920 --> 00:51:14.679
taught me is that you need to pay attention to75300:51:14.800 --> 00:51:17.840
the little gifts, whether it's a cat that sits on75400:51:17.920 --> 00:51:20.800
your lap and purs when you're feeling bad, or a75500:51:20.920 --> 00:51:25.480
particularly yummy meal. Somebody gives you ice cream, ice cream75600:51:25.599 --> 00:51:30.440
is good. I think that one of the things that75700:51:31.840 --> 00:51:35.440
deities want us to do is pay attention to the75800:51:35.599 --> 00:51:39.360
good stuff and not just the bad stuff. As human beings,75900:51:39.440 --> 00:51:43.199
we have this tendency to sort of focus on, you know,76000:51:43.679 --> 00:51:48.000
the obvious. I didn't get what I wanted, you know,76100:51:48.360 --> 00:51:51.079
or something horrible happened to me, or happened to somebody76200:51:51.119 --> 00:51:54.519
that I loved. But then you have to look outside76300:51:54.559 --> 00:51:59.039
and see the sunset and it's beautiful. Or maybe the76400:51:59.159 --> 00:52:01.280
bad thing turned out out to be not quite as76500:52:01.320 --> 00:52:03.679
bad as you thought it was going to be. Right,76600:52:04.079 --> 00:52:08.159
maybe more expensive, but not quite as bad. So yeah,76700:52:08.320 --> 00:52:12.079
I mean, I think unfortunately, the deities aren't there to76800:52:12.159 --> 00:52:16.079
make our lives easy, right They're they're there to guide76900:52:16.159 --> 00:52:19.880
us if we're willing to let them. They're there to77000:52:19.960 --> 00:52:24.239
be comfort in the difficult times, and sometimes they do77100:52:24.400 --> 00:52:27.760
give us gifts, you know. Sometimes, you know, if we77200:52:28.760 --> 00:52:31.079
are asking for the right thing in the right way77300:52:31.880 --> 00:52:35.559
or doing our part of it, they will do it.77400:52:35.719 --> 00:52:38.559
And one of the things that I always say when77500:52:38.599 --> 00:52:41.320
people do spell work is you can't just do a77600:52:41.480 --> 00:52:45.119
spell and then sit down and wait for things to happen.77700:52:45.519 --> 00:52:49.880
Say you do a spell to ask for the perfect job. Well,77800:52:49.920 --> 00:52:52.039
then you have to go out and look for a job. Yeah,77900:52:52.199 --> 00:52:54.960
you can't. You can't. Just the Goddess helps those who78000:52:55.039 --> 00:52:59.239
help themselves. So you know, some of it is still78100:52:59.320 --> 00:53:02.599
down to you and how you act. The fact, most78200:53:02.639 --> 00:53:04.119
of it, most of it's down to that.78300:53:04.599 --> 00:53:07.119
Right now, we are getting kind of close to the78400:53:07.199 --> 00:53:08.400
end of the show here, but I do want to78500:53:08.400 --> 00:53:11.079
ask you this question because we before the show, before78600:53:11.119 --> 00:53:13.320
we started recording, we were chatting a little bit about78700:53:13.400 --> 00:53:20.239
our cats and witchcraft. For whatever reason, historically speaking, at least,78800:53:20.840 --> 00:53:23.679
cats tend to be associated to wiz draft.78900:53:24.079 --> 00:53:26.000
Well, they are mysterious beings.79000:53:26.159 --> 00:53:29.920
They are quite mysterious. It's yes, I agree with you there.79100:53:31.639 --> 00:53:35.039
So my question though, is what do your cats think79200:53:35.880 --> 00:53:40.920
of your magical work and do you view them as familiars, supervisors,79300:53:41.400 --> 00:53:43.800
chaos agents or maybe at love?79400:53:44.440 --> 00:53:48.199
Okay, Well, I actually I in all the I've had79500:53:48.320 --> 00:53:51.039
a lot of cats over my life. I am a79600:53:51.719 --> 00:53:54.400
official crazy cat lady. I have five now, I've had79700:53:54.960 --> 00:53:57.679
five most of the time. That seems to be my number.79800:53:57.800 --> 00:54:00.679
I don't know why. I always think three would be79900:54:00.800 --> 00:54:05.320
nice and reasonable and then five habits. But I had80000:54:05.519 --> 00:54:08.239
one cat in particular who I named magic. You have80100:54:08.320 --> 00:54:10.840
to be really careful what you didn't cats who was80200:54:11.000 --> 00:54:16.440
in fact my familiar and she was infamous for when80300:54:16.480 --> 00:54:19.000
my group would meet in my living room around our80400:54:19.039 --> 00:54:22.880
little round altar table, she would come in when we started,80500:54:23.519 --> 00:54:27.480
walk in a circle, greet everyone, sit either under the80600:54:27.559 --> 00:54:31.159
table or on the couch behind us, and we'd be like, Okay,80700:54:31.719 --> 00:54:34.320
I guess we're starting the ritual now, And when it80800:54:34.400 --> 00:54:37.400
was time to be done, she would get up, walk80900:54:37.519 --> 00:54:39.480
around the table, and walk out of the room.81000:54:40.719 --> 00:54:40.920
Yeah.81100:54:41.000 --> 00:54:45.039
I mean, she truly was magic. Most of my cats81200:54:45.119 --> 00:54:50.039
are not familiars. I have one or two who if81300:54:50.079 --> 00:54:53.480
I'm doing magical work inside at my altar, they might81400:54:53.599 --> 00:54:55.760
come in, you know, me ow at my feet. That81500:54:55.920 --> 00:54:59.800
usually means they're sensing the energy. Maybe they're helping maybe81600:54:59.840 --> 00:55:03.559
the or not the chaos agents. Definitely, I have to81700:55:03.639 --> 00:55:07.760
be really careful. One cat in particular that I don't81800:55:08.199 --> 00:55:10.400
you know, I have an altered that's like up here81900:55:10.599 --> 00:55:16.239
for a reason. But yeah, I cannot just leave things out.82000:55:17.119 --> 00:55:20.760
I do think, you know, well, witches can have familiars82100:55:20.800 --> 00:55:26.400
who are any kind of animal, birds, dogs, It doesn't matter,82200:55:27.199 --> 00:55:31.840
I think because of the cat's nature you know, there82300:55:32.000 --> 00:55:36.920
is something about them that transcends what we can understand.82400:55:37.519 --> 00:55:40.920
You know, they see things we don't see, and you know,82500:55:41.679 --> 00:55:47.719
they are kind of bossy sometimes mine definitely bossomy. And82600:55:47.840 --> 00:55:49.840
I think that's one of the reasons why they've been82700:55:49.880 --> 00:55:53.239
associated with witches for so many years, is that they82800:55:53.320 --> 00:55:59.840
are the essence of mystery. Why did they knock that82900:56:00.079 --> 00:56:00.480
thing off?83000:56:00.719 --> 00:56:05.199
I don't know, it's mystery, sure, I agree, and I83100:56:05.400 --> 00:56:07.159
see that a lot with my cat Binks. You know,83200:56:07.280 --> 00:56:09.440
he tends to you if they do the whole look83300:56:09.480 --> 00:56:11.519
in the corner type thing, but he will like look83400:56:11.559 --> 00:56:13.400
up the stairs and his tail will fluff up, or83500:56:13.440 --> 00:56:15.440
he'll hear something in the back bedroom and his tail83600:56:15.480 --> 00:56:17.519
and he looks over there. You know, it's like it's83700:56:17.639 --> 00:56:20.000
clear that he's seeing something I can't see, you know,83800:56:20.079 --> 00:56:22.119
And it's like my whole life, it's all eying like83900:56:22.119 --> 00:56:22.679
there's nothing there.84000:56:22.719 --> 00:56:25.719
There's nothing there, dude, there's nothing there. But since having84100:56:25.800 --> 00:56:28.880
the cats myself, oh, you know, it's like you're like, yeah,84200:56:28.920 --> 00:56:31.519
there's something there. I just don't know what it is. Yeah,84300:56:31.719 --> 00:56:33.119
whatever it is, just get it out of here, bud,84400:56:33.199 --> 00:56:33.960
get it right.84500:56:34.079 --> 00:56:34.280
Yeah.84600:56:34.360 --> 00:56:36.519
And you know, if it's if it's an Ichy spirit,84700:56:36.599 --> 00:56:38.840
could you just escort it off the premise?84800:56:39.039 --> 00:56:39.920
Right right?84900:56:40.000 --> 00:56:41.679
And I do you see that? You know, my cat85000:56:41.760 --> 00:56:42.360
thinks he's black.85100:56:42.400 --> 00:56:44.000
He's a black cat, and so I see him as85200:56:44.039 --> 00:56:47.000
a protector, as type of a protector spirit in this house.85300:56:47.079 --> 00:56:49.440
You know, there's I've noticed that when he heard his85400:56:49.559 --> 00:56:53.400
brother Salem when he was alive. This house that I85500:56:53.440 --> 00:56:55.039
live in, I grew up in. Are you sure you're85600:56:55.079 --> 00:56:57.639
not a witch? You had a cat named Salem? Are85700:56:57.719 --> 00:56:58.960
you sure you're not away?85800:57:00.079 --> 00:57:04.400
I'm pretty sure. But you know, my my mom grew85900:57:04.480 --> 00:57:06.039
up here, I grew up here. The house has been86000:57:06.079 --> 00:57:09.920
haunted for roughly sixty years, and it wasn't always a86100:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.079
healthy haunting. But since having them come into the house,86200:57:14.199 --> 00:57:16.079
I've noticed a lot of things clear out and the86300:57:16.239 --> 00:57:17.719
energy ship significantly.86400:57:19.639 --> 00:57:24.119
Yeah, they do have very impressive energy, and you know,86500:57:24.400 --> 00:57:28.840
I think it's you know, they've done research that shows that,86600:57:29.360 --> 00:57:33.519
you know, when they perr, it actually affects the human body. Yeah. Well,86700:57:33.559 --> 00:57:37.760
you know, they have this connection to human beings that86800:57:38.199 --> 00:57:40.239
we don't really know where it came from, except that86900:57:40.360 --> 00:57:42.880
we know they came in from the wild on purpose87000:57:43.239 --> 00:57:45.960
because they decided we were a good source of food,87100:57:46.119 --> 00:57:50.000
cozy blike ease and everything else. They chose us, We87200:57:50.119 --> 00:57:55.519
didn't choose them. And in fact, cats are genetically speaking87300:57:57.079 --> 00:58:02.199
very close to their wild ancestors. They've just decided that87400:58:02.400 --> 00:58:05.079
they will tolerate us as long as we do the87500:58:05.159 --> 00:58:08.519
appropriate things like be them, you know, exactly at four87600:58:08.599 --> 00:58:14.400
o'clock or else U. But yeah, I think that they87700:58:14.519 --> 00:58:19.239
do have this connection with the spirit world that we87800:58:19.400 --> 00:58:22.559
can't really explain. And more some cats more than others,87900:58:22.760 --> 00:58:26.639
just like some people more than others. But yeah, they're88000:58:27.320 --> 00:58:30.239
they're pretty cool. And I have three of my five88100:58:30.400 --> 00:58:34.760
are black, two two short haired, and one big fluffy,88200:58:35.079 --> 00:58:41.800
long haired. Yeah, and yeah, there they're they're they're definitely88300:58:41.840 --> 00:58:42.920
more magic than I am.88400:58:45.119 --> 00:58:47.440
Well, now we are here at the end of the show.88500:58:47.599 --> 00:58:49.440
So before I let you go, I want you to88600:58:49.480 --> 00:58:52.039
give give you the opportunity to tell everyone where they88700:58:52.039 --> 00:58:54.159
can find you, where they can find your work. I'm88800:58:54.159 --> 00:58:56.079
going to hand them my open to you. It's all yours.88900:58:56.719 --> 00:59:01.159
Okay, Well, I'm everywhere. The best place to find me89000:59:01.400 --> 00:59:04.719
is if you go to my website, which is Deborah89100:59:04.880 --> 00:59:11.000
blakeauthor dot com. Very imaginative. Yes, and that's Deborah, Deborah89200:59:11.039 --> 00:59:15.800
The Long Biblical Way, Deborah blakeauthor dot com. And there89300:59:15.840 --> 00:59:18.679
are links to all the other places where I am like,89400:59:18.920 --> 00:59:21.840
you know, Instagram, at Facebook and TikTok, although I still89500:59:21.880 --> 00:59:26.239
don't really understand TikTok. And also I have a Patreon89600:59:26.360 --> 00:59:28.559
and a Natsy where you can get signed books, you89700:59:28.639 --> 00:59:31.880
know that kind of thing. But yeah, if you if89800:59:31.960 --> 00:59:35.079
you go to my website, you can also see all89900:59:35.239 --> 00:59:37.559
the books. I have a page for every single book.90000:59:37.599 --> 00:59:40.119
So if you're like, well, what is this book really about?90100:59:40.360 --> 00:59:43.599
And there's links and all that kind of thing. And90200:59:43.920 --> 00:59:47.119
if you have questions, because sometimes people have questions after90300:59:47.239 --> 00:59:50.199
these things, you can, you know, go to my website90400:59:50.239 --> 00:59:52.800
and contact me through that. You can, you know, track90500:59:52.920 --> 00:59:56.679
me down on Instagram, Deborah Blake Author and send me90600:59:56.719 --> 01:00:00.079
a message. And you know, if it's a legitimate questes90701:00:00.360 --> 01:00:03.239
and not some silly nonsense, h I will answer.90801:00:04.280 --> 01:00:07.239
Awesome. Well, Deborah, thank you so much for joining me90901:00:07.599 --> 01:00:09.960
on Parachees. It's been a pleasure.91001:00:10.599 --> 01:00:11.519
Thank you for having me.91101:00:12.440 --> 01:00:14.599
I'm gonna let you go here for a moment while91201:00:14.599 --> 01:00:17.719
I close out. Uh, it's been a great composition. I91301:00:17.800 --> 01:00:23.960
appreciate you, all right, everybody. That was Deborah Blake, author91401:00:24.039 --> 01:00:26.719
of every Day, which is a book of deities.91501:00:27.079 --> 01:00:29.239
So until next time, where you'll find us, same channel,91601:00:29.360 --> 01:00:32.000
same time. My name is Eric Peace
