Sunday, January 24, 2010

Support your Friendly Local Pagan Elders

Welcome to Geriatrics for Pagans! We’re glad you could make it! This is an actual first group, brand new. We don’t have to tell you to check out the other groups of the same name on other networks. If you are over 60, this group is for you. Some may be under 60, and still want to be in the group. That’s ok too, You may learn something from us old geezers and farts. This group is for Pagan elders. What is it like to be a Pagan elder? “We have all this wisdom, but we never get laid.” That’s Stephen. That’s all he thinks about. And I tell him two things: 1. do what is necessary to make a woman attracted to you. 2. Use the Secret in this, that is, stop complaining about how you never get laid, and start acting and thinking as though you always get laid. You young Pagans believe that once you turn 55 or 60 you no longer have a sex drive. Well, in this case, you are wrong. Especially where Stephen is concerned. “You may venerate us as great sages of wisdom, but don’t make us into eunuchs. One of the things we geriatric Pagans need is veneration and respect, understanding, but realize we are human, not gods and goddesses, with very human needs. Another geriatric Pagan, Isaac Bonewits is concerned about how the Pagan community treats its elders. Stephen gets the distinct impression that the Pagan community just wants us dead, so it can venerate us as honored ancestors and doesn’t have to support us or listen to our wisdom. Stephen is sure that if you reach the age of 60, they want you to die. It’s a bit like the movie Logan’s Run where when you reach the age of 25 you have to participate in the deadly carnival. Isaac and Stephen may be right on a certain level, but I find that I get a lot of respect. Of course, I wish that respect translated into bucks. Stephen says “Don’t we all?”

Pagans by and large have this reluctance to financially support or contribute to the financial wellbeing of other Pagans. Stephen sometimes feels like he is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Pagan community. ”I don’t get no respect.” He really respects Dangerfield for devising that routine.

It wasn’t always this way. At one time, ten or twenty years ago, to be considered a Pagan elder was a status of honor and respect. It seems to Stephen that this is no longer the case. Robert Larson, Stephen’s, Isaac’s and my dear friend, former Arch Druid of the Berkeley Grove, and one of the founding fathers of the RDNA at Carleton College, died alone and unattended in the Emergency Dept. at Highland Hospital in Oakland. This was unconscionable. There are other instances as well. Robert Larson is not an isolated instance. For all I know, Judy Foster (Calypso) died alone as well. She was a leading light in the formation of NROOGD. Is it Stephen’s and my fate to wind up alone and unattended in an emergency dept..in Sacramento? Can the Pagan community rise above this? Can the Pagan community own up to these crimes against their elders, sages and crones? Mind you Stephen is dictating all of this. We have always been an ornery independent sort. Getting Pagans to agree on and get together on anything is like herding cats. Which we here get a lot of practice in, since we have a full coven of cate, or putties as Stephen calls them. Stephen hopes that the Pagan community will wise up and take responsibility for its elders so Isaac doesn’t end up dying alone like Robert Larson did. Stephen fully realizes that he himself is biased in this regard, but he doesn’t care.

For the past 2 hours, we have been watching George Clooney’s Hope for Haiti Now concert, and I have been struck with the strong desire to order the download of the concert, but all my attempts to find the download have come to naught. But it’s a great concert. If you can figure out where on the Itunes site they’re offering downloads of the concert and I want one. If you can figure out how to order email me at the email addy that’s listed on this group’s site. Folks, if you possibly can, dig deep and donate to the Hope for Haiti Now charities. Haiti is the Caribbean center of Vodoun, and has a lot of Pagans who live there. The earthquake in Haiti utterly devastated that country, which was, if not the poorest country in the world, close to it. It’s important that we show our humanity and help these people in their plight because Stephen and I live in California, and we know about these earthquakes. One hundred sixty four people died in the Loma Prieta quake. The Loma Prieta quake was 7.1. The Haitian quake has been variously evaluated from 6.5 to 7.3 So far the Haitian death count is over 100,000. How many animals have died we don’t know.

If anyone would know, it’s Betty White, who just won the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as an actor for over 6 decades and protecting animals; all animals, worldwide, not just the cute ones. Another person you could check out is Bob Barker, who also has spent his leisure time protecting animals. A third actor who has always been concerned with animal welfare is Brigitte Bardot. You remember her. She was big in the French cinema of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. She also did American films.

It’s very rare to find Pagans, elder or otherwise, anywhere except the Internet. We are basically invisible in the media. When Stephen was living down in San Jose he would appear from time to time on KKUP, a public radio station in Cupertino. My third ex-hubby and I joined him a few times. But since he’s been here in Sacramento, he’s been almost a total recluse. So if any of you have any ideas about elders getting more respect and support, please post here.

I find that I get respect from other Pagans. But it’s respect I earned, not asked for. You earn respect in three ways: 1. By being humble enough to learn 2. By doing things that earn respect such as founding 2 covens, and being in on the founding of a third, in which I still belong. 3. Giving respect to others.

We would like to hear from other sages, crones, elders in the Pagan community. We want to hear whether you are encountering disrespect from other Pagans. Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, are they dissing you? Kitty Crowe, how about you? Robin Goodfellow, Gaia Wildwood, how about you? Are you getting the respect you have earned, or are they treating you like a fossil who should be put out to pasture? Please excuse the mixed metaphor. These are just a few of the crones and sages I know in the Bay Area. I know there are many others whose names I don’t know throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. I didn’t name you, but I want to hear from all of you. We elders should organize ourselves. If we continue to get no respect, we should organize and fight. Stephen feels that it is cowardly and despicable the way the younger Pagans treat us. Stephen feels that it is mostly a matter of gender, what female elders get respect while male elders for the most part do not, but acknowledges that may be female elders who are having trouble getting their respect. I feel that it is a matter of perception. While Stephen does not perceive that he gets any respect, I see that I do.

If you know anyone who wants a fairly cheap housing situation with two congenial Pagan magickal housemates in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Sacramento, contact me at tezra.reitan@gmail.com or Stephen at abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or Stephen at his phone number 916-455-2267. Also, we desperately need donations to keep Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick afloat. You can send donations of any size to either Stephen’s Paypal account at abbottsinn@gmail.com or abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or my Paypal account at tezra.reitan@gmail.com. If it’s for at least $32, you’ll get either a reading or a class from our vast collections of divination decks/methods/tools or for the class, pick a topic from our vast repertoire in the field of magick. For $60, you can actually have both a reading and a class. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet, or my mic, but with Stephen you can have sound and video on Yahoo IM, Windows Msgr or Skype. With me for a short while, it’ll be just phone or typing on Yahoo IM or Windows Msgr. Thank you for using and disseminating Stephen’s Zodiac referral number 1-800-280-8496. Stephen1580. It helps ever so much when you use it instead of the regular number because you don’t pay any more, but he makes three times as much. We’re both on SSI, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger drastically cut both of our checks, and Keen isn’t coming up with the paying calls. I haven’t made one cent since signing on with Keen. My clients all demand free five minute readings, and refuse to go over that five minutes for a paid reading. In fact, it’s cost me money to bid so altogether, Keen has been pretty much of a total loss for me. If you need money, kids, mow lawns or babysit, don’t join a psychic reading service, because it’ll just suck in what little money you do have.

Do check out the PaganRadioNetwork.net It’s free, although they certainly do accept donations. Doesn’t everyone? Seems like everyone has his hat out nowadays, and we’re sorry to be part of that, but the situation is dirt. We almost lost our power yesterday. In these times of smaller SSI checks, a bankrupt state, and practically non-existent paying KEEN calls, the prices just seem to be rising all the time for less and less service or quality.

AT&T is offering a “free” cell phone deal. Don’t fall for it. It is a scam. You have to open up a new account for a friend or family member. This will end up costing you more than the phone is worth. So beware of any “deals” AT&T offers you.

In order to keep his computer alive, or perhaps get a new computer, Stephen needs a new battery and Windows 7, because Vista is just too unreliable. Vista is the worst operating system since 98. But first Stephen has to pay off his rent, and so do I. Don’t buy a Dell or do business with Wells Fargo. They’re both ripoffs.

If you’re ever in Sacramento, look up Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. Together they own Gallery 14 at 14th St. and 60th Avenue. We’re promoting them big time. Walter Rhoads has a very interesting and different approach to art. He compares himself to the late great Jackson Pollock but there are two main differences: Rhoads is still drawing breath with a healthy 98.6 degrees temperature (except when he’s sick, in which case it’s somewhat higher) and I think Jackson Pollock was gay, and Rhoads is, like us, hopelessly hetero.

We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Sorry about my negativity up there, but I’ve been very depressed by this economy lately, and wishing I were with Doc in the Summerland.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky my BFF (BoyFriend Forever)
Little (Big)Boy
Oreo (the Mouser)
Bailee Beasley Beastly
Frikki & Frakki
Dr. Livingston I. Presume aka Prince Henry the Navigator

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