Pagan Warriors

Today we take a moment of silence for those who have given their lives for us here in America. Soldiers are memorialized today. From the first American war to now.

I'm asking each of you to take a few moments at Sundown to light a candle for our fallen brothers and sisters. If you are having a cookout or a party, please ask your guests to take a simple moment of silence. 60 seconds. That's all I ask. Also take a moment to phone your or email your veteran today. Don't forget. Thank them for their service.

If you know a loved one whose here and their wife/husband are deployed, call them or email them. Tell them you are keeping the family in your heart. Celebrate with them if you can, be a listening ear if they need.

I thank the Goddess that a friend of mine is still home, though will deploy again soon. I also thank the Goddess that another is home to stay.

I pray to Scathach to keep her warriors safe today and all days. I pray to Cerridwen to bring them home soon.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.

I found these codes on line for glittered graphics. :) Use these as you will!
( graphics )

Ok! So apparently you all can still send boxes to the addresses and names I sent.

Bro-in-law said that if the soldier isn't there when the box arrives, the people on the base just parce it out to those on base. So SOMEBODY gets to enjoy the contents of the box.

So go ahead and send stuff if you want. No pork, no 10 packs of bibles, no porn (unless you get inventive like we did). No homemade products unless there are preservatives in them because they seem to go bad on the planes over.

Otherwise, small games, candy, etc are all great!

Sorry for not updating, its been crazy with the end of my law school career/finals. Mainly been commenting when something grabs my attention more than posting.

Got news of a "secret" type nature that the boys MAY be coming home at the end of May. *ahem* So any boxes shipped may not be enjoyed before they leave. (just got this news two days ago, so I'm not THAT far behind in passing it on I guess!)

Will see if there are others at the base that may be staying. Hard to get the bro-in-law to reply to anything that isn't of a technical nature. We're pretty sure something has happened thats bugging him. So will update you on that as soon as we can get an answer out of him. PROMISE!

*bowing lots in an apologetic nature*

Please check it out! I'm going to be getting a package together to send to the 3 soldiers after this week. I'm going to be baking cookies, gathering magazines like Sport Illustrated, etc., sending some goodies that won't melt in transit.

My husband had a great idea. Some of the handheld electronic games (poker, yahtzee, etc) at Walmart are not very expensive and small to send. The guys would enjoy them. I'm also going to be enclosing a letter to them. That way they get a sense of who we are etc. Hopefully it'll start a penpal system. :)

Anyhow, please visit the post. In the comments are the names of the guys and also a little bit of what we are not allowed to send. :)

Blessed Be and happy Beltaine!

One altar is for the Armed Services. I'm collecting items to represent the branches of the Armed Services. Navy, Air Force, Marines, Army, National Guard, Coast Guard. Let me know if I forgot a branch. I *think* I hit them all. So I'm collecting stuff like uniform patches which I think I can hunt down at a surplus location. I can also get some tags made with pentagram on them I'm pretty sure.

Now, What I'm looking for from the group is this: I'm putting a book of names on it. One the front of the book will be a prayer for the soldiers. If you have a soldier or group of soldiers that you would like their names to go in the book and be placed on the altar for blessings, let me know. It'll take a little while to get the altar really nice, but when I do I will post pictures. I' also going to take this altar with me to the Stand on Mother's Day Monday (see www.standingwoment.org for more details) and I will also place it in a special area at Atlanta's Pagan Pride.

The other altar I am working on building is one for the civil servants, ie: police and fireman, etc. Again I'm looking for uniform patches, etc. I can get those. I'm also putting a book of names there as well. So again, what I need from the community is names of those you wish to be blessed, protections, etc. Prayers will also go into this book. Again, it will be set up at our stand and also at Pagan Pride. I'll take photos of this one as well. I set up a photobucket account (I don't have anything there yet). I'll post the pictures as soon as I have the altars ready.

Thank you all for your help.

Blessings!

Lotta stuff going on in life now, so just now making my comment a post. But here is the gist of it with an update:
My brother-in-law, Ben Dobbins, is currently in Iraq. He is an agnostic leaning toward vague Pagan beliefs (its not a big part of his life so he doesn't work much on it - just knows he doesn't believe in the "organized" religions and isn't exactly atheist either due to personal experiences of the paranormal nature).
He is in the Special Forces division of the Army and currently on an assignment that he says is dangerous. We are unable to know where he is or what he is doing, so worries are high. We haven't told him mom yet. She worries enough already. When he isn't on assignment we send him things all the time to his base. He's a radio/IT guy so he has a lot of access to the Internet when on base, so we hear from him regularly during that time.
Any good thoughts and vibes for his safety would be appreciated.

UPDATE: He just contacted my mother-in-law tonight to say he is back on base. Good thing cuz we just sent him a big package. He and his fellows like candy (such as Laffy Taffy, starburst, etc.). It goes quick when we send it to him. So do single packs of chips. So we send him some every few weeks or so plus some magazines. Dirty mags are out due to Iraq mailing laws. The family is a bit of a prankster family so we bought a Penthouse, cut out the naughty bits, and put black tape w/ the word "Censored" written in white out on it.  He laughed a lot. Especially when his fellow army people got angry at him about it. I'm told a Bacon air freshener would be funny too since Pork is illegal there.
So there you have it. Many good thoughts to all those in the military at the moment that aren't of the "majority" opinion religion wise.

Hi there.
I wanted to say thank you to chimerawinds for setting up this community and taking charge of all the moderation.

About me:
My name's Arlen. I'm a Scotsman married to a wonderful American woman and about to move over there to settle down.
I consider myself Heathen rather than Pagan. (I believe a few things which go against what is 'Written' by the Pagan Federation.)
My beliefs could be best described as Nature based with Celtic and Norse leanings.
I enjoy working with my hands and have strong feelings about my role as a man and as a protector of my family.
I consider part of that role being a strong and capable warrior and I fence with broadswords and practice martial arts to make sure of this.

I served with the Royal Highland Fusiliers Army Cadets as a teenager. It was a wonderful experience and did a lot to mold the man I am today.

A friend of my wife serves with the U.S. Coast Guard and he has just switched from his station in Bahrain to a station in Iraq..
While he's a Christian and not a Pagan, he is a great guy and he has all of my respect and admiration.

Once I am settled with my wife I am seriously considering taking a career position (as opposed to a volunteer position) with the Idaho Air National Guard.
We don't want to have to be parted again too soon after finally getting settled down together, so it wouldn't be for another year or so.
However, for all the risk of getting deployed and all the hard work, I feel it would be worthwhile to give something back to the country which gave me my wife and to be a full-time warrior.



My best wishes and respect to all the men and women currently serving.

I've included some artwork which always inspires me to work hard an to be the best man that I can be.

( Here be pictures. )

I don't know why I'm not getting any kind of email that folk want to join the community. It is showing that you have friended the community as well but have not joined it. I just changed the settings so if you have previously joined paganwarriors but did not have posting access, try joinng again. It should work this time. I'll keep an eye on things.

Welcome new members! When you get a chance, please tell us of the folks in your life that you would like us to send cards, etc to. I know one in particular is in Iraq right now. :)

Welcome again and bright blessings!

I know several folks in the military and I am a strong supporter of Pagans, Wiccans, Heathens, etc having the same rights as others who serve and give of themselves to make our lives and our country a better place to live. This community is really to give back and say that we're thinking of them. We hope they are safe, will be with family again soon, and the God and Goddess are with them.

See our profile for rules and please help us care for our Pagan Warriors.

Welcome and blessed be!