Constance

The last time I lived in a noisy part of town, I made a deal with the Sylphs -- they are good at keeping things quiet. I left them some yummy Sylph-delighting offerings, and asked them to help keep things down. It worked remarkably well.

When shopping around for cards, be careful when a deck is labeled Tarocco, because some of the lower denomination pip cards may be omitted from the deck. (Which is great if you want to use the deck to play forms of Tarocco that don't require those cards, but can put a crimp on things if you want to use them for divination! ;) )

Oooh found another current article on the same topic here: http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/01/04/43768/pope-sanctions-first-ever-formal-exorcism-training-course.html But this one says that the Pope hasn't instructed bishops to have exorcists in each diocese. Back-peddaling already?

Wow, Benedict is really doing a disservice to the Catholic faith. At least John Paul II tempered his conservatism with common sense. Thanks for the links, Marshy! My googling skills must have been brokedened!

Any luck finding any more articles or information about this? I've searched hither an yon on the intar-web and I haven't been able to find a thing. The Catholic Church has been acting more conservative ever since Pope Benedict XVI has taken over. But this would be a real surprise, as the Catholic Church usually shies away from public mention of their older rituals like exorcism. A blanket call for exorcism would be especially surprising.

Thank you! :D

Various Gods and Goddesses play a part in the religious aspects of my life. I communicate with them in various ways, from praying, to ritual work (not often needed) to meditation. They communicate with my via startling revelation and knocking my on my arse when I need it. (I'm kind of vague and they need to get my attention.) I don't often request the assistance of God forms while working magic, but I have done so in the past, and would again if I felt I needed to.

Congrats Scott! Adorable kiddos! My favorite present came a few days before Christmas -- my partner proposed to me on the 19th -- so I got him and his whole family (and a very pretty ring). :) As for actual Christmas presents -- a Skull shaker (one of those little percussion eggs, but it's shaped like a Skull) -- totally unexpected and so cute, it was the hit of Christmas morning!

Ooooh, vampiric embrace for a priest is the best (you can't grab that tallent till around level 40, though.) All the shadow damage you do heals your entire party! Wheee! I've got an alliance leveling guide that is to die for, but none for horde. I have some horde characters, but very few. My highest level hordie is a mid-20s pally. I usually stick to PVE or RP servers. I started out on Earthen Ring, which is RP, but not a whole lot of people RP any more. :( We should hook up and play together sometime -- I'll make a character on Whisperwind!

KW gave the link of all links, so there's not much to add. Most of my day-to-day magic is heavily influenced by Hoodoo because it's so danged practical and fun to do.

Theist through and through, here. I've bounced around throughout my life from theist to agnostic, to atheist and back again. I feel that when it comes to "patron" type relationships with dieties or ancestors, two things need to happen. The first, is that you desire such a relationship, and the second is that a particular diety or ancestor takes notice of you. A lot of times, this "patron" relationship doesn't have a lot to do with day-to-day magic and only comes into play during those times in your life when you need spiritual or religious guidance. I practiced magic and walked a religious path for aproixmately ten years before I even felt an inkling of connection with a specific god/goddess form, so if you happen to be interested in "finding" a patron/patroness (more often they find you), be patient because it can take a while!

Woot! Grats to him on 60! 1-60 took quite a while for me on my first toon, at least 5-6 months (I was big into exploring, so I didn't work really hard on leveling fast.) 60-70 was fast for me -- did it in just a few weeks. My main was my rogue, but I leveled up a priest -- and oh goodness, I LOVE healing! So she's my favorite. I play my Dranai hunter and my Human mage most because they are the next two I want to get to 70. I've never been able to play a warlock well -- something about organizing both the dots and the creature/pet -- I'm just *terrible* at it! Do you have fun playing a warlock? What kind of server is Whisperwind? Regular, PVP, Rp?

I always like Dione Fortune's rule about figuring out if you were being magically attacked. Her first guideline is to ask yourself "Have I angered any magic workers lately?" It might sound like a silly thing to wonder, but it's a really practical approach. If you don't go around stepping on toes, you dont' have a whole bunch to fear from conscious magical attack. As for unconscious attacks, those are more common, but less focused and general protection mesasures usually do away with them before you notice what's happening. When it comes to conscious magical attack, I look for uncanny negative coincidences. As a personal example from several years ago, I once experienced the air conditioning going out in my car, my partner's car, our apartment, and my office all within the course of a week. Combine those uncanny coincidences with night terrors/old-hag-type experiences and you can be fairly sure something is not quite right in the world. Early on my magical path, I used to jump at shadows a lot (I was high strung). But trust me, you know when there's a concerted magical attack happening against you. You experience an oppressive feeling unlike anything you've felt before. Also, divination plays an essential role in determining what's going on. I always go to an objective reader to confirm or deny my suspicions. This person shouldn't be informed of any of the details of what has been happening to you, so that you don't sway them prior to the reading. Those are my 2 cents -- which seem to have grown into half a dollar! ;P

Durotan 70 Human Priest -- pretty much my main -- named Elendra Durotan 67 Human Rogue Durotan 38 Dranai Hunter Dath Ramar 20s human Mage (currently leveling like mad) Earthen Ring 38 Night Elf Hunter Earthen Ring 35 Human Warrior And various other lowbies. (Can you tell I've been playing almost since launch?) I'll go crawl back into my geek cave now...

In many African diaspora religions, there is the beleif in one supreme creator/creatrix God, who is pretty much unknowable and not easily contacted. And then there are the various Loas/Orishas who are a piece of the devine creative force, but one that is small enough and specific enough for humans to conceive of and understand. The interesting thing about the Loas in some of the belief systems (Vodoun being one of them) is that ancestor spirits can rise to the level of the Loa through specific ritual process (kind of like Sainthood in the Catholic church, but the end result being a God/dess form rather than a Saint). It looks like, in those beleif systems, the primary idea is that there is a bit of that unknowable creative force in everything/everyone, which can be tapped into after death in order to create a Loa. This is closely tied to the Vodoun idea of the four separate parts of an individual: 1. The physical body 2. The ti-bonanj (little angel) 3. The gwo-bonanj (big angel) 4. The met-tet (master of the head) The gwo-bonanj/big angel is the part of the devine creator that can eventually become a Loa in its own right. So, looking at it through the culteral frame work of the beleif system, it would be a "both and" situation wherein some Orisha were there from the beginning, but others were created from ancestor spirits. Personally, I like the idea that there is a spark of the devine within us all and that through conscientious work for our descendants while we are in the spirit would, we could be elevated to godhood. Maybe that's just my ego shining through -- or my love for interfereing in my family members' lives! ;)