Join New Orleans Lamplight Circle
You'll get invited to our Meetups as soon as they're scheduled!
About New Orleans Lamplight Circle
Never underestimate the importance of community. Welcome to Lamplight Circle, our local New Orleans community of Pagans!
"For I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the virgin... I am the barren one,
and many are her sons... I am the silence that is incomprehensible. I am the utterance
of my name"- Thunder, Perfect Mind; Nag Hammadi
"Yet to know oneself, at the deepest level, is simultaneously to
know God; this is the secret of gnosis" - Elaine Pagel, The Gnostic Gospels
"{W}e do not believe in the Goddess - we connect with Her, through
the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, through trees, animals, through other human
beings, through ourselves. She is here. She is within us all. She is the full circle... emotions
... change." - Starhawk, The Spiral Dance
There are two characteristics that, I believe, truly define a Pagan. The
first is a great love and appreciation for all things in nature, both plant and
animal. The second is a deep spiritual hunger.
Pagans have always been spiritual seekers, external definitely, but internal especially.
We are the bearers of "lamp lights" because we seek truth within ourselves, to illuminate the truth
of the world we live in. Each of us holds our own personal torch, and we work to keep it lit. We
constantly strive to improve ourselves and the world around us. We yearn for a deep and
lasting connection with the divine, and most have us have found it. Our relationships with
deity affect us to the core. We walk with the Goddess in all her forms, and we find Her in the
world and in ourselves. We are vessels for the feminine divine (as popular culture now calls it).
But she was known to mankind long before the advent of Hollywood.
Today, neo-Pagans, Druids, Asatrus, Wiccans, and spiritual seekers wish to re-unite themselves with her again, whether it be by spending more time in nature, worshipping her at an alter, or pushing away the mundane world in meditation to hear the Goddess within. All things in nature seek an equilibrium, and she is the one who restores balance. By whatever name you give her energy, we all seek her out.
"One of the greatest mysteries of magic is that there are no mysteries. Instead,
they are being constantly revealed around us. The study of a simple rose blossom, blade of grass,
veined leaf or the whistle of the wind through leafy trees will reveal... the true nature of magic"
- Scott Cunningham, Earth Power
"Modern people in industrialized countries rarely know the names of the plants
around them, much less the particular skill and handling of specific plants and their uses. Often
our closest contact with a plant comes with our arms deep in the prickly needles and our faces in
the thick fragrance as we try to make the Christmas tree stand up in its base. But our senses,
fine-tuned from ancient times to the delicate perception of the green world and its life, long for
these sights, smells, and textures. For women and men trying to rediscover a spiritual practice
that honors Mother Nature, reconnecting with our instinctive, ancestral knowledge of plants is
a basic practice." - Starhawk, The Twelve Wild Swans
"In our increasingly mechanized age, many people are finding themselves isolated
from the planet that sustains and supports our very lives. Forgotten is the very real dependency
we have on the Earth. Many are severing their ...natural...connections with the Earth. As a result,
a time of great turmoil exists today on an individual and global level." - Scott Cunningham,
Earth Power
As I said before, Pagans can be characterized by our love and appreciation
of nature. We see the simple beauties that often go unnoticed by others. When a flock of birds fly against the wind, or the sun breaks through a mountain of clouds, we notice and adore. This
reverence is what pushes us to care for our environment. To not be a cause for change in this
increasingly wasteful and filthy world is to say goodbye to everything we cherish. Such disrespect
for the planet that sustains us would be like spitting in the face of the mother that gave birth to us.
Every Pagan is conscious of his or her impact on the environment, and all of us seek to change the
current trend of waste and misuse.
For our love of planet, for our sense of community, for our longing to educate ourselves and others,
we strive to:
Rebuild the Pagan community of New Orleans and surrounding areas by networking with other
Pagan groups and individuals.
Educate ourselves on the various cultures and spiritualities of our world. We can learn much
about ourselves by learning about others.
Promote tolerance by educating others on what it means to be Pagan and doing volunteer
works in our communities.
Clean up our local environment through volunteering with local environmental organizations
and sponsoring events that inspire others to care for their environment.
If these words resonate with you, you are quite welcome here!
Recently updated pages
| Page title | Most recent update | Last edited by |
|---|---|---|
| Karma-Mantra | September 19, 2009 7:36 PM | anonymous |
| Lamplight Circle's Borrowing Library | March 11, 2009 6:30 PM | anonymous |
| FAQ: A Game of 21 Questions | December 6, 2008 5:23 PM | anonymous |
| PAGAN VIDEOS AND BOOK EXERPTS... | July 15, 2008 6:35 PM | anonymous |
| Pagan links... | May 20, 2009 2:05 AM | anonymous |
| About this Meetup Group | July 23, 2008 1:00 PM | anonymous |
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