For centuries, Witches have been persecuted--tortured, burned, hanged, and generally treated rudely. "The Patriarchy" has pressed us, suppressed us and repressed us. We have been the subject of discrimination, misrepresentation, and misinterpretation. They lie about us at Halloween and ignore us the rest of the time, if not engaged in some of the unsavory activities mentioned above. Our Gods are blasphemed, our religious services raided, and our beliefs mocked.

Yep. It's all true. And would you do me a favor?

Stop whining about it!

Do you have any idea how much time and energy is wasted in bemoaning our history? Can you imagine (if you'll take time off from complaining about all this) what we could accomplish if you put that energy to work on something positive?

No, I did not just grow fluffy bunny ears. Yes, I am perfectly aware that we must handle discrimination when it arises. No, I don't think we should spend 90% of our time worrying about it.

In case you have forgotten, Wicca is a religion, and religions have purposes beyond making political statements. If we are spending all our time complaining about past, present, and possible future mistreatment of Witches, what is left for worship of and service to the Gods?

Radical idea, isn't it--practicing a religion by doing religious stuff. Believe it or not, there's a few of us out here who have been doing just that--to the best of our ability.

All those things that happened in the past were horrible. They should not be forgotten, but, dear Goddess on a little pink penny farthing bicycle, we don't need to base all our religious practices on that horror. Why not base them on the God and Goddess, on our reverence for nature, on our attempts to attune to the Universe of which we are a part?

Wicca is an initiatory path, a path on which I thought we were all striving to grow, to become better, to advance in our spirituality. It is a path on which we strive to become one with the Lord and Lady, and all Their glorious creation. It is a path based on love--of Them, of each other, of our Selves.

What kind of energy are we creating when all (or the majority) of our "work" is based on remembrance of past grievances, or even present ones? Ours should not be a religion of anger, or hate, or fear, and that's what we're dealing with when we concentrate on the past. We can acknowledge and honor the victims of the Burning Times without making them the core of our work. We can do our best to fight present discrimination with magic, money, and physical effort, without it being the sole focus of every Moon or every Sabbat.

The God and Goddess should be the focus of those--Nature should be, healing should be, our joy should be, not resentment, anger, fear, and desire for revenge.

So, please! Stop whining and get to work.