Merry Met! Here are some PowerPoint presentations I made as a member of the 89th Medical Group's "Spiritual Wellness Committee" to raise awareness among military members of the ancient traditions of Paganism. As a former LtCol in the USAF, I felt I had to come out of the broom closet to counter the raging excesses of the unconstitutional christianization of the U.S. military I experienced from 2000 onward. Many loyal military members do not appreciate the assumption that they are supporting and defending a mythical "Christian foundation of America" (see this list of quotes I assembled), or the Fundamentalist Protestant worldwide evangelical agenda rather than the CONSTITUTION of the United States of America. This is but one of the 77 or so reasons why I quit the military after 19 years of honorable active duty and resigned my commission as one of the most senior anesthesiologists in the Air Force (in fact, in the entire military, given that the retention rate for my specialty approximates 0.0%). For the other 76, look for my two books on the subject (hopefully to be published sometime in 2006). Blessed Be!
Everyone should go see "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", in theaters now. Pagans should remind their Christian friends of the many, many gods and goddesses who died and were reborn long before Jesus and Aslan (including, but not limited to, Osiris, Dionysos, Tammuz, Persephone... see the following website on our ur-desire for resurrected deities: Dying and Resurrected Gods: Archetypal Manifestations of Psychological Need). I especially loved the coronation scene, where some astute pagan at Disney managed to sneak into this allegedly Christian script an explicit Calling of the Quarters! That's right, I'll have to buy the DVD to get the exact wording, but Lucy was crowned by Aslan "To the Eastern sea", Susan "To the Southern Earth", Edmund "To the Western Woods", and Peter "To the Northern Air"...Water, Earth, Fire (Wood = Wands = Fire, as in the Tarot), Air. I loved it. I reread the coronation scene in the book: no mention of the quarters whatsoever. I googled for references to this wonderful addition...no one else seems to have noticed...yet!
Coming Soon: Pagan Summer Sabbats (Litha, Lammas, Mabon)
Starting in November, 2004, after many months of effort, I finally persuaded the 89th Medical Group chaplain to open up the prayers and reflections at the top of the Officially Unofficial e-mail Daily Bulletin to non-Christian faiths/beliefs. Here are a few of my offerings: