Got a question.

[Nikepallas]

I'm new to this and am slowly being introduce to a friend's pagan/wiccan religion but I was wondering how many different versions are their?

How are they different?

[toddaa]

1. A cloudless night

Look up and count the stars. We are all many, but if you quiet your mind and let go of the self, you will find that we are all one.

[Nikepallas]

2. I see what you mean.

So if she does things and teaches me in a different way it all comes to the enlighten whole.

[toddaa]

3. Different ways and the Way

The way that can be spoken is not the True Way.
The name that can be named is not the True Name.
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.

More mystical Taoist stuff.

Because we cannot put into words how to describe the Tao to one another, we must seek it in our own way. Meditation is the best way as the rational mind is a distraction and must be quieted. We all pursue this quieting in our own way. What works for me cannot possibly work for you as you are not me. But when we reach that point, we disappear and become one with the Tao. That's when we are no longer different.

Chuang Tzu details in the chapter Careless Wandering the difference between big and small. His point is that the giant bird cannot possibly grasp the detail that the smallest cicada can see, nor can the cicada grasp the enormous vastness that the giant bird can see. What he is teaching is that our knowledge is finite in an infinite world and that knowledge comes in many ways. Neither of us can with any certainty claim rightness or wrongness. As long as we stick as close to nature as possible and don't force our will upon it or each other, we will be fine.

[Nikepallas]

4. Thank you again. May I show you some of the things I am learning?

My friend often says: "Balance is the way of all. We must find our place in that balance and accept our role.

She has been teaching me that. Balance makes the perfect whole. Male needs female as female needs male. Each are only a part of a perfect whole. Just as goodness needs evil and evil needs goodness. God must have his Goddess and Goddess her god. Too much goodness is far more dangerous any evil that balances it's counterpart of good.


Should I worry about what my friend's lessons?

[toddaa]

5. Yin/Yang

Your friend is teaching you the duality of the Yin/Yang. The important point of balance is that male constantly changes to female and back. It's a cycle and they depend on each other. What's more, even in male there is a little bit of female. What you will find is that the balance is in the center.

[Nikepallas]

6. I never new yin/yang encompassed so much.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me. Perhaps we could talk more on the subject and others from time to time.

[toddaa]

7. If you're really curious

Go to the bookstore and seek out Richard Wilhelm's I Ching. There are many translations of the I Ching on the shelves, but no one has topped Wilhelm's for its completeness. Actually, Wilhelm translated it into German and then Cary Baynes translated it into English. Despite the double translation, it contains all ten wings of Confucian and pre-Confucian commentary to help you understand how the hexagrams work. It's a daunting work that even I find difficult to penetrate sometimes, but it is always rewarding.

[Nikepallas]

8. I shall do that. It will be extra info I need for my "lessons"

My friend has explained a lot but soo many more questions pop into my head and I was always of the belief that one should not rely on just one source...

[robbedvoter]

14. Love your friend's lessons! Balance is my supreme value as well.

[meti57b]

10. that sounds much like Zen

[toddaa]

11. Zen sans Buddhism

Without Mahayana, Zen is nothing more than really simple Taoism.

[meti57b]

12. yes, the Zen without the belief system attached to it ... the original Zen

[Behind the Aegis]

9. as todd said...as many, as there are stars

There are multiple paths, and the one thing that really attracted me was that you can "tailor make" your spiritual path! I have learned and continue to learn about multiple paths. Some are easier than others to understand and implement. You have to find what feels right with you.

BTW, I love your name! Athena is the main goddess I chose as a patron. Your name combines two of her other names!

[Cerridwen]

13. Hi, here's a link to an online site which gives an index

of Pagan/Heathen information. It lists many of the traditions and provides links to information about many of them. Also resources and info about books and such.

http://www.witchvox.com/xbasics.html

The site itself is also a good source of what's going on within the Neo-Pagan community.

:hi: