Rev. Terry Riley
Keeping the Faith in the Biblebelt
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Wicca Accredited!
http://wiccanseminary.edu/about-us/
You know what really pissed me off back in 1993. Whenever I was interviewed by the media, they always described me as a "Self Proclaimed or Self Described Witch or Wiccan." However when they interviewed a Christian Minster they described him as "Reverend So & So." I asked the producer of the Jane Whitney Show, even-though I was an ordained Priest, why they didn't credit me as Reverend? She said, it was because I didn't have a degree or certification in theology by a Church with an accredited Seminary. In other words, even though Wicca was an established Religion, recognized by the Federal Government, and had Tax-exempt status, to the World, unless it has a system of training and study for its Clergy that is accredited, you are considered a Layman. A member of Laity; but not Clergy.
So what's so special about being accredited one might ask? Well if you go to any collage, for example, if it has accreditation that means the school has been certified by a State or Federal Board of Education or Association and there are enough Schools accumulated to vote on the accepted curriculum. That means the school has passed a set of standards set down by the State or Federal Government. Now this makes the school's degrees a lot more valuable because they have been approved by this Country's Highest Educational Associations and Boards.
Granted this is all legal stuff that really doesn't have one thing to do with Spirituality. We all know if you go through the training with a Coven or High Priest/Priestess in the Craft, and are initiated 3rd Degree you are pretty much qualified as far as The Wicca are concerned. However, if we are ever to be on the same Equality and attain the same respect as the other major Religions of the world, then we have to play by the rules.
This is why I'm so proud to be apart of The Aquarian Tabernacle Church. The Founder, Pete (Pathfinder) Davis, back in 1979, had the vision to start the ATC along the path to achieve, for Wicca, the same level of Dignity, Respect, and Equality as all the other major Faiths of the world. The Aquarian Tabernacle Church has one of the first State recognized Wiccan Seminaries in the U.S. "Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary" Check out the website listed at the first of this blog.
You know what really pissed me off back in 1993. Whenever I was interviewed by the media, they always described me as a "Self Proclaimed or Self Described Witch or Wiccan." However when they interviewed a Christian Minster they described him as "Reverend So & So." I asked the producer of the Jane Whitney Show, even-though I was an ordained Priest, why they didn't credit me as Reverend? She said, it was because I didn't have a degree or certification in theology by a Church with an accredited Seminary. In other words, even though Wicca was an established Religion, recognized by the Federal Government, and had Tax-exempt status, to the World, unless it has a system of training and study for its Clergy that is accredited, you are considered a Layman. A member of Laity; but not Clergy.
So what's so special about being accredited one might ask? Well if you go to any collage, for example, if it has accreditation that means the school has been certified by a State or Federal Board of Education or Association and there are enough Schools accumulated to vote on the accepted curriculum. That means the school has passed a set of standards set down by the State or Federal Government. Now this makes the school's degrees a lot more valuable because they have been approved by this Country's Highest Educational Associations and Boards.
Granted this is all legal stuff that really doesn't have one thing to do with Spirituality. We all know if you go through the training with a Coven or High Priest/Priestess in the Craft, and are initiated 3rd Degree you are pretty much qualified as far as The Wicca are concerned. However, if we are ever to be on the same Equality and attain the same respect as the other major Religions of the world, then we have to play by the rules.
This is why I'm so proud to be apart of The Aquarian Tabernacle Church. The Founder, Pete (Pathfinder) Davis, back in 1979, had the vision to start the ATC along the path to achieve, for Wicca, the same level of Dignity, Respect, and Equality as all the other major Faiths of the world. The Aquarian Tabernacle Church has one of the first State recognized Wiccan Seminaries in the U.S. "Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary" Check out the website listed at the first of this blog.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Magic, the Art of Manufacturing Coincidence
When I came off sabbatical in Jan. 2011, I knew there was a lot of work to do within the SDCW - ATC. By the end of that year I could see the potential of what could be. I have been called an abstract thinker, a dreamer and more than often a out and out "Nut." However I have always believed the saying, "a man without a vision shall perish." So in Dec. of 2011 I began seeing a vision. I could see our Church with a Building, a Dining Hall, setting on our property just the other side of the Circle. On Full Moon that month I told everyone in Circle, "Look over there in the west, see those stakes I've driven in the ground, I don't know how; but we are going to have a 20 x 25 Dining Hall built right there!" There was 30 people in that circle and they all agreed and actually began to see the vision!
In Aug. that year my next door neighbor brought the old house and lot next door to us. He came to me and said he didn't have the money to tear the house down and offered it to me to tear down for the lumber and contents. I agreed and it took us till Feb. 2012 to complete that job. We acquired about $8000 in lumber. In March 2012 we began setting the foundation on our property for our Dining Hall. By Aug. we had the roof up and part of the walls almost completed before we ran out of materials. Then "Lo" and behold Home Depot in Jonesboro accepted us as their local Charity and started donating $5000 a month in materials to the Church. This got us the outside wall materials for the Dining Hall. Plus it helped us establish our Community Out Reach Program. In Dec. generous donations from members of the congregation allowed us to get sheet rock and paint for the inside of the building. And on Dec. 22 we had our yule celebration in the new Dining Hall and everyone was so excited and amazed at how far we had come since last year.
Now I've said all this to get to my point: "Magic is the Art of Manufacturing Coincidence" The power of the master mind principle is "when the people are of one mind and one accord; NOTHING shall be with held from them." All magic begins in the mind with a thought, a vision, with the will and desire to make it manifest. This is "The Spell of Making" So Mote it Be!
In Aug. that year my next door neighbor brought the old house and lot next door to us. He came to me and said he didn't have the money to tear the house down and offered it to me to tear down for the lumber and contents. I agreed and it took us till Feb. 2012 to complete that job. We acquired about $8000 in lumber. In March 2012 we began setting the foundation on our property for our Dining Hall. By Aug. we had the roof up and part of the walls almost completed before we ran out of materials. Then "Lo" and behold Home Depot in Jonesboro accepted us as their local Charity and started donating $5000 a month in materials to the Church. This got us the outside wall materials for the Dining Hall. Plus it helped us establish our Community Out Reach Program. In Dec. generous donations from members of the congregation allowed us to get sheet rock and paint for the inside of the building. And on Dec. 22 we had our yule celebration in the new Dining Hall and everyone was so excited and amazed at how far we had come since last year.
Now I've said all this to get to my point: "Magic is the Art of Manufacturing Coincidence" The power of the master mind principle is "when the people are of one mind and one accord; NOTHING shall be with held from them." All magic begins in the mind with a thought, a vision, with the will and desire to make it manifest. This is "The Spell of Making" So Mote it Be!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Initiations and The Mysteries
"Within the Kingdom of thine own body, shalt thou eat the bread of thine own initiation" (Alex Sanders)
Initiation has always been an important part of the Mystery Religions. But what are the Mysteries that all Wiccans/Pagans talk about? According to the Gnostic writings they are, "Teachings on the metaphysical order and inner dimensions of the reality-truth-continuum. They are methods of mystical prayer and prophetic meditations that allow the initiate to awaken the psychic and spiritual senses of his/her soul." Initiation is suppose to awaken us to a higher understanding and higher levels of consciousness. Within that processed we are Changed. We should be able to see, with unbiased thought patterns, beyond the illusions of this world. However, there are consequences if that Change is not acknowledged within our lives. The Gnostics say, "The greatest betrayal of truth and light is revealed in one's own experience. This blasphemy can only be performed by an initiate. It's one thing if I live as an ordinary person in the world and have no other conscious experience than the world. Then I act in complete ignorance, not making a conscious choice. It is another thing if I have received initiation and had some experience of truth by the Gods and then consciously choose to follow in the way of the world and live in the way of an ordinary person. For once having knowledge through experience, I cannot forget or deny WHAT I know! If I betray that spiritual knowledge it will haunt and torment, both in this life and the next."
I feel that this is one of the reasons we need Wiccan/Pagan Churches. In the old days people got their initiations from covens. Today there are a vast number of solitary practitioners who do not want to be restricted to following one tradition. The eclectic Pagan Church offers Rites of Passages and initiations geared more to the individual's choice of his/her spiritual path.
The Southern Delta Church of Wicca - ATC is a Hierarchical Church. The process for making decisions within the Church are oligarchic. We do not promote one tradition above another. We see all traditions as being equal and valid. The purpose for adopting a Hierarchy system was not for individual power; but so that the Church's identity, as a whole, would have power. An example of this is in the following legal quote:
Initiation has always been an important part of the Mystery Religions. But what are the Mysteries that all Wiccans/Pagans talk about? According to the Gnostic writings they are, "Teachings on the metaphysical order and inner dimensions of the reality-truth-continuum. They are methods of mystical prayer and prophetic meditations that allow the initiate to awaken the psychic and spiritual senses of his/her soul." Initiation is suppose to awaken us to a higher understanding and higher levels of consciousness. Within that processed we are Changed. We should be able to see, with unbiased thought patterns, beyond the illusions of this world. However, there are consequences if that Change is not acknowledged within our lives. The Gnostics say, "The greatest betrayal of truth and light is revealed in one's own experience. This blasphemy can only be performed by an initiate. It's one thing if I live as an ordinary person in the world and have no other conscious experience than the world. Then I act in complete ignorance, not making a conscious choice. It is another thing if I have received initiation and had some experience of truth by the Gods and then consciously choose to follow in the way of the world and live in the way of an ordinary person. For once having knowledge through experience, I cannot forget or deny WHAT I know! If I betray that spiritual knowledge it will haunt and torment, both in this life and the next."
I feel that this is one of the reasons we need Wiccan/Pagan Churches. In the old days people got their initiations from covens. Today there are a vast number of solitary practitioners who do not want to be restricted to following one tradition. The eclectic Pagan Church offers Rites of Passages and initiations geared more to the individual's choice of his/her spiritual path.
The Southern Delta Church of Wicca - ATC is a Hierarchical Church. The process for making decisions within the Church are oligarchic. We do not promote one tradition above another. We see all traditions as being equal and valid. The purpose for adopting a Hierarchy system was not for individual power; but so that the Church's identity, as a whole, would have power. An example of this is in the following legal quote:
"In the case of a hierarchical church, however, the court adopted a rule of deference by the civil court to the determinations of a church court: Whenever the questions of discipline or of faith, or ecclesiastical rule, custom or law have been decided by the highest of these church judicatories to which the matter has been carried, the legal tribunals must accept such decisions as final, and as binding on them, in their application to the case before them."
Bright Blessings to all.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Wicca is Liberating!
After watching the elections and contemplating their terminology on whether one is conservative, moderate or liberal on beliefs, I came to a conclusion about my self. Not about political position; but overall in pertaining to my Faith. I've all ways believed that traditional Wiccan values and tenets are a central point of the religion. Our religion is very much steeped in tradition, Mythology, and pagan lore, and I practice basic traditional structure. However I also believe that a tradition that doesn't evolve and grow will eventually die out. It becomes to exclusive and intolerant.
For years there have been fractions within the Church trying to get me to set our traditions down into writings for strict adherence guidelines. I have resisted these suggestions; because it seems to me that if Wicca was to have a future in this modern era it needed to be more acceptable to the true Seeker and I have always believed that all traditions are valid. Plus to me it is a spiritual path that is uniquely individualized to each person. This became clear to me at our Mayday Festival 2000, in Memphis, when I was talking to Rev. Pete Pathfinder of the ATC. We had just completed our Main Ritual, in which he attended, and he said to me, "Terry, you completely lost me on the Chant you were doing." "The progression of the elements was completely reversed from the way we do it in Washington." I said, "Really. Well that's the way the chant was taught to me by the Pagans in New York when I visited with them in 1993." Pete smiled at me, leaned forward and with a little bit of a mischievous voice said, "And that's the beauty of this religion, we're both correct."
Therefore I sat our training system up with a basic outline; but it is more geared towards to each individual, based on their perspective of where they are at, spiritually, and where they perceive themselves going. Our job as Clergy is to help facilitate them upon their journey. Our Ordains from the ATC tell us, when we make decisions concerning the operation s of our Church, there is a 3 part priority of questions to be considered. 1. How is this going to affect the religion of Wicca. 2. Does if interfere with individual rights. 3. Does it follow Tradition. This means to me, that sometimes what's best for the Faith overrides Tradition.
So I guess if I had to classify myself on my viewpoint and my beliefs, as it pertains to Wicca and it's future I am a "Progressive Liberal"
For years there have been fractions within the Church trying to get me to set our traditions down into writings for strict adherence guidelines. I have resisted these suggestions; because it seems to me that if Wicca was to have a future in this modern era it needed to be more acceptable to the true Seeker and I have always believed that all traditions are valid. Plus to me it is a spiritual path that is uniquely individualized to each person. This became clear to me at our Mayday Festival 2000, in Memphis, when I was talking to Rev. Pete Pathfinder of the ATC. We had just completed our Main Ritual, in which he attended, and he said to me, "Terry, you completely lost me on the Chant you were doing." "The progression of the elements was completely reversed from the way we do it in Washington." I said, "Really. Well that's the way the chant was taught to me by the Pagans in New York when I visited with them in 1993." Pete smiled at me, leaned forward and with a little bit of a mischievous voice said, "And that's the beauty of this religion, we're both correct."
Therefore I sat our training system up with a basic outline; but it is more geared towards to each individual, based on their perspective of where they are at, spiritually, and where they perceive themselves going. Our job as Clergy is to help facilitate them upon their journey. Our Ordains from the ATC tell us, when we make decisions concerning the operation s of our Church, there is a 3 part priority of questions to be considered. 1. How is this going to affect the religion of Wicca. 2. Does if interfere with individual rights. 3. Does it follow Tradition. This means to me, that sometimes what's best for the Faith overrides Tradition.
So I guess if I had to classify myself on my viewpoint and my beliefs, as it pertains to Wicca and it's future I am a "Progressive Liberal"
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