By Rev. Theresa Commean
It was with a great deal of trepidation that I entered into the studies of Wicca. I graduated from a Baptist college with a degree in Youth Pastoring and have worked in various churches for the past twenty years. When I met my husband, he was a pagan. I had quite a few pre-conceived notions about paganism and the practice of Wicca. I was taught all through my years in churches that messing around with any kind of “magic” or “divination” was an evil practice. I attended my first Florida Pagan Gathering with my Uncle who is a Guardian in the pagan group and my husband who is a lugall within the community. I truly believed that I was entering into an evil place and was scared to death. I found only accepting warm, kind and truly wonderful people. They accepted me for who I was and did not treat me with any kind of disrespect and through the years, I had always wanted to understand more and one of the lady priestesses told me about your seminary.
My greatest regret in life was two-fold. I always wanted to be ordained and could not because the Baptist church and later the Lutheran church would only “commission” and not ordain women. When I received my card from you declaring me a reverend, I cried! Secondly, I am really sorry that I did not take this course sooner!!! I learned so much about the concepts of Wicca and I now have a new found respect for the belief. I do not know if I will ever do any of the rituals I have learned personally, but the journaling exercise was a huge benefit to me. Also the concept of “Harm None” has become my new mantra. I try to think before I open my mouth to say something ugly or mean against another person, because I don’t want it visited back upon me. I always will now light a candle and not feel weird when I say my prayers. I also participate in rituals with my husband and have a true understanding of the altar, the alchemy, the tools and all the parts of the ritual including calling the quarters. All of this came through my taking this course.
Rev. Theresa
**********************
Ordination with the Free Online Ordination button.
The ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials. I've been ordained with Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.
Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar
No comments:
Post a Comment