This is but a simple opportunity to share my experiences with the never ending awe of magick.

When I was first introduced to the concept of choosing a magickal name, I was empowered. I thought long and hard about my first name and finally decided upon Silverfox. This name seemed appropriate as my wisdom is well beyond my years, as those who know me and have met me can attest to. At a tender age of 15, I could easily rival the maturity and worldly knowledge of those three times my age.

I was reading about fakery in Biblical-era artifacts in museums, and one museum director said that Christians and Jews have a deep need for physical artifacts that re-enforce their faith . . . and I want to ask, "Why?"

Why would anyone need a piece of the "True Cross of Jesus" to strengthen their belief in Him? According to what they tried to teach me, the Holy Ghost is supposed to come to His followers and fill them. Why would they need a bit of wood to strengthen that? What could be more powerful than being filled by the Spirit of God?

Hmm...look at the entire planet. Go ahead, I'll give you a minute or two.

Done yet? Ok, if you are, you may have noticed a few things. If memory serves me correctly, last time I checked, Naturalism was the thing on this planet. Of course I get updated as often as the ecological status of Antartica, so I may be a few thousand years behind the times.

What happened? A few wars, an Inquisition or two, about a million young people betraying the traditions of their elders, and poof, the belief in this planet going the way of parachute pants.

Why? Now thats up to interpretation. Maybe the whole "I'll cut your hands off if you don't worship." and the "Hey, look, when we die there isn't an abyss of lost dreams, there's some crazy place full of mutant trees and Romanesque buildings where all your ancestors play Backgammon." finally weeded out all the scared little sissies into faiths other than their grandparents'.

Maybe they just outnumbered them and took all the resources, like some plague of upper-middle class neighboorhoods. That Social-Darwinism thing might have happened and the people who knew how to abuse the natural order the best got to live while all the people who knew how it worked died out. (Meh, they'll get there vengence when those people turn the planet into Venus 2. Haha, hey look, acid rain...in a flashflood...roflmao)

Maybe they just gave up. I could see that.
"Hey Earmere, do we really need to fight these Roman guys?"
"You talking about the guys with the big swords, Gogai?"
"Yeah, them, the phalanx guys."
"Meh, nah, that'll teach Maradin to break up with me."
"Haha, yeah, but what about my wife Hesa?"
"Beats me, guess you can go and try asking nicely or something."

But I digress, about time too cause this could be considered a boring tangent by now. WE are not those piss-ant sissies of long ago. (Except you spoiled brats who are just in this to get attention from your parents, and you know who you are.) WE are people who have lived in the nightmare they created.

I read that the President, in a Memorial Day speech, said that we owe a debt we cannot pay.

Yes, we can, but it is a debt we must pay "forward," not "back."

We owe a debt to the people who fought and died in the Revolutionary War; and we pay that debt "forward" by defending the freedoms that war was fought to gain for each of us.

We owe a debt to the people who fought and died in the War Between the States; and we pay that debt "forward" by our work to keep our country whole and strong.

We owe a debt to the people who fought and died in World War I, and II, and we pay that debt "forward" when we oppose tyranny and genocide any- where in the world.

The simplest definition of a Crone is a woman who is menopausal or post-
menopausal. A Croning is a Rite of Passage honoring that time in a woman's
life. That's it . . . a Rite of Passage . . . no more, or less, than
any other Rite of Passage in a person's life. Becoming a Crone does not
mean we immediately acquire wisdom.

The PhoenixPhyre Phamily has treated the PhoenixCrones with respect and
courtly manners for many years, and we appreciate such treatment. But
we must always remember that such treatment is given to us out of love;
it is not something we can demand of others. We owe our Phamily the same
courteous behavior they show to us. "Just because we are Crones" gives us
no right to be rude to others.