I want to share something with you guys. No matter how furious some religious persons have been when communicating with me per this site no one has ever been directly slanderous or unkind in their inquiry of why I am seemingly so anti- church. First of all I am not against the concepts of church as it is needed for many to gain strength and encouragement. The horrific things that some within the organization have done to others is enough to turn any trusting soul away however. The same has been true for a few witches within my own family. Some have been very dark, oppressive, and have also put trouble upon people that was without warrant.The word bi___es truly applies here, not witches. I have no part of either twisted agenda.

Getting back to the church. My wife is Catholic. Imagine, ancientflaxman with a Catholic wife????? She does attend at times and when she gets discouraged about what she sees I encourage her to attend as it makes her more of a complete woman. Whatever it takes to be complete is where I am at. I think that she views the Blessed Mother as a link to the Great Mother. That may be true however I don't know about it and I tend to back away from things that I don't know for sure. Allow me to express my opinion here and it is my opinion alone as no one else has to agree.

I remember the old and most beautiful hymns of the church while growing up. Herzlich lieb hab ich dich o herr, Oh Gott du frommer Gott, and wer nur den lieben Gott l�sst walten, to name a few. I have a few pagan friends that will cry when they hear these beautiful melodies and ancient words. Most churches have forgotten the old and beautiful hymns, liturgies, and chants and replaced them with light little fluffy ditties that just seem to make one feel good for a minute.

Now getting to my preference. I have many witch friends. I have some friends from the pre-vatican 2 Latin Catholic Mass, rich gorgeous services carved out of the annals of antiquity. I also have some Pentecostal friends that are tongue talking shouting joyous people. They don't embrace my Great Mother nor anything witchy but I do embrace their freedom and the fact that they have been persecuted by others which makes me very much akin to their plight. Some people call it an emotional display. I call it guts!! The messages in tongues with interpretation as well as the prophetic utterances are without a doubt incredible and inspiring when authentic. I know when they are from the Source!!Those people will stand in what they believe!! Who can fight that??? They used to sing Leaning on the everlasting arms, I will enter His gates, Just over in the glory land, I'll fly away, and many other incredible songs.

Allow me to proceed please. Look on Youtube and type in Taize Zagreb Gloria, or Taize Zagreb Kyrie. Look at the faces of these kids who do a pilgrimage to Croatia and find a real meaning in their lives. I understand that 100,000 kids a year visit there. Look, I am not an avid fan of religion but look at the sincerity and intent on the faces of these kids. No, I am not against the church but it has some cleaning up to do. I do my pagan rituals but I also sing those songs of faith from even hundreds of years ago. I play them on my old pump organ upstairs, badly I might add, LOL. I embrace it all and I know that there are many ways to go home. When I get a little rough on the church just understand that I get just as rough on myself when I am out of line and I got just as rough on my kids when they were out of line because I love them. dave