QOTW: spring holidays I will be celebrating/St. Patrick & Wicca

[Guest guest]

Hey - I was raised Baptist, spent some time as Anglican, and have

studied at a Roman Catholic University - I'm also a former Wiccan,

now Hindu (Hare Krishna), so I'll give a bit of what I know of St.

Patrick's legend, and a few other points for thought:

 

What your Mom is referring to are all the " snakes " St. Patrick drove

out of Ireland. Legend says that he drove the snakes into the waters

around Ireland and they drowned. The snake is/was a powerful Celtic

Pagan symbol, and it is believed that the legend's reference to

snakes is actually the driving out of Pagan beliefs/practices - some

go so far to say " witches & druids " ...but if " snake " is symbolic, the

reference to use of " water " and " drowning " no doubt is as well -

perhaps a reference to baptism or the washing away of sin?

 

When I was Wiccan, I'd heard that rumor also, but to date have found

no historic documentation to support actual drownings of people by

St. Patrick himself. Not all early missionaries were so vicious in

the treatment of witches as was documented by Kramer and Sprenger, or

as was demonstrated by Constantine and the like.

 

Where alot of the conversion violence referenced in Pagan belief

comes from, has more to do with the overtaking of lands - they would

take over the lands and abolish the culture so as to protect thier

own interests, and that included the indigenous religion. Conquest

is never complete without full assimilation. Study history on that.

You'll find that the RC Church was driving the conquests of lands,

which is where most of the graphic stuff Wiccans/Pagans reference

comes from. I'm not saying it didn't happen - just research what

you're told. Sensationalism often occurs in these circles, and not

every early Christian should be demonized - there were as in ALL

religions, good and bad people - still are...

 

There's alot of overlap in ancient religion, as I found when I

studied at a private Catholic university - The Babylonians were

famous for their enslavement of the Hebrews (pre-Judeo Christian) and

consequently, it is believed that the Christian Leviathan was

originally the Babylonian Tiamet. The Hebrews endoctrinated the

Babylonian beliefs into their religious culture and changed names to

protect their own. Also, read up on the predate of those times - the

Sumerian Inanna - the Goddess of Heaven who upon her descent to the

Underworld was killed and crucified on a tree for three days before

being risen. You'll find tons of storyline in there that predate and

preface Christianity's Old and New Testament storys.

 

Here's an interesting link on St. Patrick, (I prefer links that cite

references for information, but this one was good other than missing

those):

http://www.themysticcastle.com/Articles/PageofThePast/stpatrick.htm

 

I'd say about the only thing to be up in arms about over St. Patrick

is that he didn't leave well enough alone, and did his part (gently,

and lovingly - sounds like - look at all he incorporated on their

behalf) to convert people away from their own indigenous beliefs.

 

Hope that helps -

 

Debra

 

 

, " alexislake "

<alexislake wrote:

>

> I will be celebrating Ostara (Pagan/Wiccan), Spring Equinox, too.

I

> also will be celebrating the typical lutheran holidays like easter

> (even though that has pagan origins, too), mother's day, St.

Patrick's

> day (I'm part irish - St. Patrick didn't lead wiccans to their

drowning

> deaths, did he? My mother said she heard that he might of - and if

> that's true, I won't be celebrating the holiday even though I'm

part

> irish), etc. I also celebrate earth day and the spring festival

day. I

> did go to an India cultural awareness day event and find some of

their

> holidays fascinating. I used to be catholic but find the lutheran

> religon to be much more tolerating of my wiccan beliefs.

>