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What does the word Pagan mean? Well, here’s a scholarly definition. Hmm…
- Origin of the term:
There is general agreement that the word “Pagan” comes from the Latin word “pagans.” Unfortunately, there is no consensus on the precise meaning of the word in the fifth century CE and earlier. There are three main interpretations. None has won general acceptance:
- Interpretation One:
Most modern sources by persons who consider themselves Neopagans or Pagans interpret the word to have meant “rustic,” “hick,” or “country bumpkin” — a pejorative term. The implication was that Christians used the term to ridicule country folk who tenaciously held on to what the Christians considered old-fashioned, outmoded Pagan beliefs. Those in the country were much slower in adopting the new religion of Christianity than were the urban dwellers. Many rural dwellers still followed the Greek state religion, Roman state religion, Mithraism, various mystery religions, etc., long after those in urban areas had converted.
- Interpretation Two:
Some believe that in the early Roman Empire, “paganus” came to mean “civilian” as opposed to “military.” Christians at the time often called themselves “miles Christi” (Soldiers of Christ). The non-Christians became “pagani” — non-soldiers or civilians. No denigration would be implied.
- Interpretation Three:
C. Mohrmann suggests that the general meaning was any “outsider,” — a neutral term — and that the other meanings, “civilian” and “hick,” were merely specialized uses of the term.
By the fifth century CE, its meaning evolved to include all non-Christians. Eventually, it became an evil term that implied the possibility of Satan worship. The latter two meanings are still in widespread use today.
- Other Info:
There is no generally accepted, single, current definition for the word “Pagan.” The word is among the terms that the newsgroup alt.usage.english, calls “skunk words.” They have varied meanings to different people.
The field of religion is rife with such words. consider: Christian, cult, hell, heaven, occult, Paganism, pluralism, salvation, Witch, Witchcraft, Unitarian Universalist, Voodoo, etc. Each has at least two meanings. They often cause misunderstandings wherever they are used. Unfortunately, most people do not know this, and naturally assume that the meaning that they have been taught is universally accepted. A reader must often look at the context in which the word is used in order to guess at the intent of the writer.
Many Wiccans, Neopagans, and others regularly use the terms “Pagan” and “Paganism” to describe themselves. Everyone should be free to continue whatever definitions that they wish. However, the possibility of major confusion exists — particularly if one is talking to a general audience. When addressing non-Wiccans or non-Neopagans, it is important that the term:
- Be carefully defined in advance, or that
- Its meaning is clearly understandable from the content of the text.
Otherwise, the speaker or writer will be discussing one group of people, while the listeners or readers will assume that other groups are being referred to.
But wait, there’s more. Not satisfied with what the dictionary had to say about love, I took a trip to wikipedia to see what they had to say about it. Wow! That was a lot of information… Here’s their simplest explanation:
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. Love is also a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection; and “the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”. Love may also be described as actions towards others (or oneself) based on compassion, or as actions towards others based on affection.
In English, love refers to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from pleasure (“I loved that meal”) to interpersonal attraction (“I love my partner”). “Love” may refer specifically to the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love, to the sexual love of eros, to the emotional closeness of familial love, or the platonic love that defines friendship, to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love. This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.
Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.
Love may be understood as part of the survival instinct, a function to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species. People with developmental disorders may have a limited or minimal capability of experiencing love.
I also like this definition of love . I think it might even be true:
Psychologist Erich Fromm maintained in his book “The art of loving” that love is not merely a feeling but is also actions, and that in fact, the “feeling” of love is superficial in comparison to ones commitment to love via a series of loving actions over time.
In this sense, Fromm held that love is ultimately not a feeling at all, but rather is a commitment to, and adherence to, loving actions towards another, ones self, or many others, over a sustained duration. Fromm also described Love as a conscious choice that in its early stages might originate as an involuntary feeling, but which then later no longer depends on those feelings, but rather depends only on conscious commitment.
Here’s the dictionary definition of love. It’s a long list. How interesting that in tennis love means nothing, zero, zilch. How did that come about, I wonder…
- A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
- A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
- Sexual passion or desire.
- A person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.
- (Used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?
- A love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.
- Sexual intercourse; copulation.
- (Initial capital letter ) a personification of sexual affection, as Eros or Cupid.
- Affectionate concern for the well-being of others: the love of one’s neighbor.
- Strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything: her love of books.
- The object or thing so liked: The theater was her great love.
- The benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God.
- Chiefly Tennis . a score of zero; nothing.
- A word formerly used in communications to represent the letter L.
- To have love or affection for: All her pupils love her.
- To have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).
- To have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in: to love music.
- To need or require; benefit greatly from: Plants love sunlight.
- To embrace and kiss (someone), as a lover.
- To have sexual intercourse with.
This is the mega list of stuff I want to finish or do before I die, including practical stuff to make life easier while I do these million things:
Note: These are in no particular order. I just wrote them down as I thought of them, and while I am tempted to organize this list, I have so far managed to resist alphabetizing or categorizing it. Also, some of this stuff will make sense only to me, because… long story.
- Finish the drawings for the 100 things art project.
- Post all the stories, essays, and poetry that I’ve written.
- Upload all my finished art to my Redbubble shop.
- Update all the Cafe Press products.
- Update and finish up all my Cafe Press shops.
- Upload all my favorite patterns and designs to Spoonflower.
- Purchase samples of each of my Spoonflower fabrics and make mojo bags out of them.
- Transfer all the posts from the shirleytwofeathers blogger blog to here on Hey It’s Me.
- Transfer all the Mandala Madness on blogger to the Mandala Madness here on shirleytwofeathers.com.
- Get all the Gypsy Magic stuff off blogger and on to my little Magick and Mystery sites.
- Update the Pagan Calendar for 2021.
- Get all the Reiki class stuff posted on Twofeathers Reiki.
- Get all the dog training class info posted on Teach Your Dog To Behave.
- So… basically… update the whole website with all the old blogger stuff and my collected information.
- Get all the Middle of the Night Art pictures scanned.
- Get all the art class pictures scanned.
- Hook up my scanner.
- Hook up my other PC so I can get the scanner up and running.
- Dig the scanner out of the pile of clutter in my office.
- Dig the PC out of the pile of clutter in my office.
- Declutter the office area.
- Organize the office area so that it’s easy to use.
- Declutter the kitchen.
- Make a cat tower out of the oatmeal boxes I have been saving.
- Declutter the cat room.
- Fix the big tub plumbing issues.
- Get the toilet useable in the other bathroom.
- De-mouse the magick room.
- Make an outside Medicine Wheel.
- Paint Kwan Yin.
- Clean the bird cage.
- Reclaim my bedroom.
- Take the houseplants out of the big tub in the master bathroom.
- Plant shrubs around the Magick Tree.
- Plant ground cover under the Magick Tree.
- Organize the magick room closet.
- Organize the stuff in the magick room dresser.
- Hang the bison skull.
- Declutter the bedroom.
- Level and finish Kwan Yin’s base.
- Put a trellis behind Kwan Yin.
- Enlarge the tire area that encloses the Kwan Yin space.
- Fill the tires with soil and plants.
- Finish out the Kwan Yin tire wall with whatever is needed.
- Make a spot to connect with the Strength Tree.
- Plant bulbs, bushes, and ground cover in Kwan Yin’s area.
- Get planters for Kwan Yin.
- Paint the hangar thingy next to Kwan Yin and hang a candle holder on it.
- So, basically… finish the Kwan Yin area and make it really nice.
- Plant a good ground cover in the Medicine Wheel area.
- Finish the first two layers of the big tire wall.
- Decide what to do with the desk in the old trailer.
- Pull the cabinets out of the old trailer.
- Get all the stuff I want to keep out of the old shed and turn the rest over to the scrappers.
- Clean up the area around the old trailer.
- Do something cool with the cymbals from the old drum set.
- Add the second two layers to the big tire wall.
- Finish the tire wall and make it look not terrible.
- Clean up the pile of bottles and trash in the driveway.
- Rearrange the living room.
- Repaint the living room.
- Replace the living room carpet.
- Replace the hallway carpet.
- Fix the front door so that it doesn’t leak during a rain storm.
- Paint the hallway.
- Organize the books in the bookshelves in the hallway.
- Declutter the closet.
- Finish the Gospel Missionary Message site.
- Get all the old reel to reel tapes transferred to CD’s.
- Repaint the kitchen.
- Redo the kitchen floor.
- Organize the storage unit.
- Wash the fucking windows for crying out loud!!
- Get the roof repaired.
- Fix the fucking siding!
- Enlarge the fenced part of the yard.
- Get a new gate.
- Replace the front stairs.
- I need a better bed at some point.
- Finish the Book of Demons.
- Add my kids to the property title.
- Add my daughter to my bank account.
- Put all my sims stuff on it’s own external hard drive.
- Move all the old prosperity projects to the Prosperity Project here on shirleytwofeathers.com.
- Finish the Jim Morrison Doors Divination cards.
- Finish that silly game I made up so that we can play it again.
- Paint the front door.
- Do a major mouse eradication event.
- Thoroughly clean the old van, inside and out.
- Put signs up on the gates.
- Get some good locks for both gates.
- Get my car painted where the paint has chipped off.
- Finish the fun faces art project.
- Knit the scarves I started working on last year and have them done before Christmas.
- Clean out the old dog runs and turn it into a cool space for picnics and outdoor art.
- Get the old woodstove moved into the picnic/art space.
- Clean up the back yard of the old trailer.
- Clean out the other shed and turn it over to the scrappers.
- Get the old trailer scrapped and gone.
- Fix the fence around the old trailer area.
- Turn the old trailer area into a nice place for family picnics, camping, outdoor art, and other fun stuff.
- Make a list of all my passwords and put it in a safe place just in case my daughter needs them.
- Comb my hair – this pretty much needs to be done every day. LOL.
- Organize my DVD collection and get rid of all the ones I don’t want.
- Inventory all the cool stuff in my magick room so that when I am gone it will make sense to whoever has to go through it all.
- Clean the heat ducts – no matter what time of year it is, winter is coming.
- Clean the furnace filters – this pretty much needs to be done before, during, and after winter.
- Finish the floor in the little bathroom.
- Repaint the little bathroom.
- Replace the wax ring on the toilet in the little bathroom.
- Fix the faucets in the little bathroom so that water comes out of them properly.
- Basically… make that little bathroom look really nice.
- Do something cool with the old Ecuador stuff so it can be enjoyed instead of just being in a box.
- Organize a more permanent art space for drawing and painting with acrylics and inks.
- Clean out the medicine cabinet because the next time I am sick I don’t want to be rooting around in the middle of the night feeling like shit warmed over and not being able to find anything I’m looking for.
- Clean out the refrigerator, because… gross!!
- Pull the old drum set out of the shed, clean up the drums and figure out where to put them.
- Declutter the art room …. again!
- Gather up all my important papers and put them someplace safe and easy to get to just in case.
- Organize all my miscellaneous paperwork – which means throw away every piece of paper that is redundant or unnecessary and put the rest into accessible neatly labeled folders.
- It would be really nice to have my furniture recovered or replaced so it doesn’t look like crap.
- Clean the litter box… basically this needs to be done like… every day!
- Totally clean out my email which is seriously ridiculous with thousands of saved and/or unread emails.
Another note: For now, this is the list. If I ever actually manage to get anything on it done, I will come back and mark it as completed. Alternatively, the list will probably grow as time goes by.
If an image has posted without permission please leave a comment and I will happily remove it, replace it, give credit, link love ~ whatever you prefer.
I think it's time to go shopping... maybe even buy some really cool stuff at my online shops!!
