Pagan Coffee Talk
We will discuss topics related to the Pagan community. All views are from a traditionalist's point of view. The conversations are unscripted (no preparations have been made ahead of time). A special thanks to Darkest Era for the use of their songs: Intro- The Morrigan, Exit - Poem to the Gael. Check them out at http://darkestera.net/.
Pagan Coffee Talk
Six Principles That Will Transform Your Life
The tenets of witchcraft provide more than spiritual guidance—they offer a powerful framework for navigating life's complexities. In this thought-provoking episode, we explore the six principles documented by Sybil Leek that have become foundational across many pagan traditions: balance, harmony, trust, humility, tolerance, and knowledge.
What makes these tenets truly powerful is their interconnectedness. When facing challenges, examining which tenet feels weakest can identify the root cause of difficulties. Try this simple exercise: spend five minutes viewing your problem through each tenet and watch how quickly solutions emerge.
Ready to transform your approach to everyday challenges while deepening your spiritual practice? Listen now and discover how these principles can change your life.
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Welcome to Pagan Coffee Talk. If you enjoy our content, please consider donating and following our socials. Alright, so let's talk the tenets of witchcraft okay these were laid out years and years, and I don't even know how long ago, by sybil leek, right um, in one of her books. Uh, let's see if I can find what book that was Not offhand, all right, but these are six tenets that are commonly found throughout most of paganism, right In one form or another. Right Apparently. They vary a little bit here and there.
Speaker 2:Different traditions do different things Right, so again it does not surprise me that different traditions that put the little tent on certain Right no of course not.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's what we do. Yeah, right, yeah. So let's take a look at the six tents. All right, right, we have balance Right. What does balance mean to you as far as witchcraft goes?
Speaker 2:As far as witchcraft goes. This is this Again. This is the idea of living your life in balance not overworking, not underworking, not overeating, not under eating. The whole entire thing of the middle of the road is the best and healthiest place to be. Okay, yeah, over drinking is bad, we all know this, but moderate drinking is okay, right. So again, this is still back into that.
Speaker 1:Okay, again, when we're talking about balance, we're talking everything of your life well, I was gonna say, does that, does that simply apply to mundane life, or does this go into spiritual life as well? And if it does, well again.
Speaker 2:I mean you're that that part of your life is just like any other part of your life? You need to give certain time to worship.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Just like you, you got to go to work to make money to that, which means you're going to have to, at some point, get into your car and go to the grocery store. Well, again, same thing with religion. At some point or another, you're going to have to sit down, you're going to need to pray, you're going to need to do your meditations. Again, back to balance.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. So using all of that to cultivate a healthy life Right All the way around, spiritually, mundane, physical, Right, I mean, this has been part of.
Speaker 2:This goes all the way back to greek philosophy, of course. Yeah, you know about not overdoing, and try to in all aspects of your life right. You know, the thought of doing anything to any extremes is bad okay, okay, next in line we have harmony well what?
Speaker 1:what does this mean?
Speaker 2:because this, this is kind of a vague term for a lot of people if you're not at peace with yourself, okay, all right, this harmony is your harmony. Not you necessarily getting along with other people, but if you're not living a harmonious life, if you're not balanced, if you're not doing these things, you're not going to be in a harmonious place.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this is more like an inward, this is like an introspection To me.
Speaker 2:This has always been more of an introspection. It is how you perceive what's going on. Gotcha, all right, the terminals and stuff that causes us problems, that cause us to not be harmonious when we do stuff against our own values, okay.
Speaker 3:Are you with me?
Speaker 2:Yep Causing guilt and blah, blah, blah that takes us out of harmony with ourselves. That takes us out of harmony with ourselves and with everybody else around us, because if you're not in harmony with yourself, how in the world can you be in harmony with anyone else? Right?
Speaker 3:Are you with what I'm saying there?
Speaker 2:So again, it's the whole entire concept of if you're going to love someone, you got to learn how to love yourself first, right?
Speaker 1:Thank you, rupaul. Right, thank you, rupaul. Are there any signs? So someone may not know that they're out of harmony with themselves. What are some signs that this may be taking place? Stress?
Speaker 2:Stress, okay, you being stressed a lot, maybe even being depressed, because these things are taking you out of harmony. So it's going to put you in a depressive state. It could put you in an anxious state of what the world's going on okay, and this could potentially lead to blaming others for certain things right.
Speaker 2:Instead of seeing what you are doing, they're not what other people are doing, right, okay. So, and again, this causes disharmony because, again, if you're depressed and you're upset because I know, when I'm in pain I'm a little bit grouchier than normal, right? So you know, it's just like being sleepy and hungry, I mean.
Speaker 1:Right, all right so, and all of that, of course, can affect your balance as well.
Speaker 2:Balance as well, all right, you're going to notice that theme through this.
Speaker 1:What no? Say it as a song.
Speaker 2:No, never how one build on another. I'm not right.
Speaker 1:Good figure, what a novel idea. Trust Right Now we hear a lot.
Speaker 2:Perfect love, perfect trust. But you got to trust yourself first. You got to trust what you're doing. You got to trust what in the world you believe in right. This goes beyond trusting others others, right, you got to be able to again. You got to be able to trust yourself before trusting anyone else, right? So if you're not a trustworthy person, I don't expect other trustworthy people to be around you.
Speaker 1:How can you? You know. But now, that being said, trust is a hard one because if you've had past experiences that have broken trust, for whatever reason, we're talking about a difference of trusting oneself versus trusting other people, right but sometimes, sometimes, dealing with other people can break your trust in yourself. If you have enough negative interactions, it's going to affect you mentally. Well, again we're back to that.
Speaker 2:You got to bring in your balance. You got to bring yourself back balance. You got to bring yourself back into harmony Right To then get back to where in the world you can start to trust yourself again. But again this is a hard one. It is a hard one and I understand how in the world other people may make us affect, but again, there's a difference between trusting others and trusting yourself.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, absolutely All right. We talk a lot about you know, within our inner circles and stuff. We we talk a lot about trust your gut, trust your instincts, and how hard that is for some people to do, to do. I mean, we all started at some point where we doubted ourselves, right. Same thing when you, when you start anything new tarot cards, a new job, whatever, whatever you kind of doubt yourself a little bit and you're like, eh.
Speaker 2:But if you go in and you have actual trust, if you're going in and you trust yourself that you know what in the world you know, all right, I'm sorry If you're an experienced manager, I don't see where managing one place versus another place really doesn't change. No, you see what I'm saying Once you trust yourself on doing them and doing them with confidence and with balance and all that, it's a whole lot easier.
Speaker 1:I was going to say it does take having that level of confidence to do what you need to do to trust yourself, right?
Speaker 2:I mean, I trust myself every day to get up and stand in front of a kitchen stove and cook for myself, right, then, I'm not going to poison myself, I'm not going to hurt myself.
Speaker 3:I'm not. I mean, are you?
Speaker 1:with me so again.
Speaker 2:We have to have that trust in ourselves.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, and I go into a lot of different facilities as a, as a travel technician I go into a lot of different facilities as a, as a travel technician, I go into a lot of different facilities and I know that every facility is going to do things a little bit differently, right? But I know I know my job, right, and my job doesn't change that much ultimately between facilities. No, so I'm very confident in what I do and very confident in what I do. I'm very confident in what I know, right, so you trust yourself to do these.
Speaker 1:I trust myself to be able to go into a brand new facility, because you trust yourself, other people trust you absolutely, I have seen that happen, firsthand I I have I work with a guy right now and he's been doing it for a year and he you know I'll say something to him about part of the job and he'll be like you know what. I'm not going to argue with you about that, because you know what you're doing Right.
Speaker 2:So again, I'm like, no argue with me about it. Yeah, but again, if you trust yourself, other people will trust you too. Absolutely yeah. So what's next?
Speaker 1:All right will trust you too, absolutely, yeah. So what's next? All right, ooh, this is a good one Humility.
Speaker 2:You know, as we just sat here and talked about being confident in yourself and your abilities, there is a difference between being confident and being cocky.
Speaker 1:Yes, all right this is overconfidence.
Speaker 2:This is by doing this, it causes you to not be a trustworthy person. Right, all right, which brings you out of balance. Then starts you not being able to be harmonious with yourself. Right, which throws you out of balance. Go for you, right. I mean, because we all know, as soon as they walk in the door and they are, you know, yes, I have my pilot's license and oh God, yeah, and I just got to, I don't care.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Of course. I mean, we all know those people who they know everything.
Speaker 2:Right, nobody can stand the Harper Valley PTA people, right, all right, and we have them in spades in this world.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah all right this is not what this is. Humility is the complete opposite of that right. It's knowing you have flaws. It's knowing you make mistakes. It's knowing that you don't know everything it's me sitting here.
Speaker 2:While I'm sitting here going, I trust myself to cook and not be able to kill myself. But I am not no five-star damn shelf either.
Speaker 1:Right so, but it also, it also as a teacher right as an instructor to your students. It also means your students are going to try to put you on a pedestal and you can't. You have to be at that point where, no, don't do that. I'm no different from you. I put my pants on one leg at a time, just like you do.
Speaker 2:Right, the only difference between me and my students is the experience I have, and they will eventually catch up. Right the experience and the level of knowledge.
Speaker 1:That's it. But that does not put me on a pedestal. It does not put you on a pedestal. Just because you have a degree, a master's degree or whatever, does not make you no, it doesn't make you any better than anybody else, and it doesn't make you wise about all subjects, no, so we know what we're talking about here when I believe about humility. I hope we do. I don't want to be that person, person.
Speaker 2:Well, I hate to be this way. Doing this keeps you, the majority of the time, from allowing your mouth to write a check your ass cannot cover. See, exactly All right. I mean, I know a lot of people sounded great in the job interview the whole nine yards they could do no wrong the whole nine yards, they could do no wrong. The whole nine yards they get in and everything they do just falls apart, Right.
Speaker 1:They don't know the material, they don't know the job, they don't know they don't really have the skills to do those jobs, or you know they just make so many damn mistakes that it's obvious you don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Right and again. As soon as this starts to happen, what are you going to do? You're not in harmony with yourself, you're not trusting yourself. All right, all the other tenants start to fall apart because you didn't go back, because you need to go back and start at the beginning. Where did I mess up?
Speaker 1:Right, and again the little slogan that you said before. How many times growing up, when we were younger, did we do this? Oh yeah, and we learned the hard way. Yeah, if you can't cash that check, keep your mouth shut, don't even try it. Sometimes it takes a while to learn that lesson.
Speaker 2:Just saying you know, a little bit of humility goes a long way. It really does.
Speaker 1:It really does All right. What we got next? Tolerance, oh God.
Speaker 2:We need a lot of tolerance Okay. Tolerance is not acceptance. Acceptance no, let's get that clear. Tolerance is not accepted. No, it is not. There are a lot of people in this world I cannot tolerate, but yet I will sit here, at least listen to what they have to say right now don't get me wrong, I may be banging my head up against the wall the whole entire time.
Speaker 1:Well, and by the same token, I don't like for me personally. I don't expect anybody else to accept my religion, to accept my beliefs or anything else about me. I do expect them to tolerate me. Right, because I tolerate them if my rights are infringed.
Speaker 2:your rights are are infringed Absolutely. If yours are, mine are. So again.
Speaker 1:So there is a difference, but now with tolerance.
Speaker 2:Tolerance gives you the ability to turn the page.
Speaker 2:It gives you the ability to turn off that station. It gives you the ability to walk away from that person speaking that you don't like what in the world they say, absolutely All right. It doesn't mean that you get to sit there and throw a freaking hissy fit just because you don't like it. That's what I was trying to put into words. Thank you, all right, and it is. We see the same behavior a lot in society right now, where everything, no matter if I don't like what in the world you say either, it's this phobia, you know, this hate speech, this, whatever Right, that's not tolerance. No, all right. Shutting down speech is not tolerance. No, it's not.
Speaker 1:Tolerance is. I don't agree with you, but you have the right to say this Right. Tolerance also comes down to. We may not agree with each other, but we really should sit down and talk, talk Calmly, rationally, rationally, logically, have a discussion about our differences.
Speaker 2:You know, learning tolerance is a very again, just learning how to like I don't know stand, yeah, that takes some tolerance to yes so again, this isn't something we're not just, this is also physical things that we're talking about. That too, absolutely. And if we don't stretch, if we don't push those boundaries. We're talking about that too Absolutely, and if we don't stretch, if we don't push those boundaries, we're not going to learn, no, and it's.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like a muscle the more you use it, the better it becomes Right, the stronger it is, yes, and the more you can put up with.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean, that's just the way it goes, you know. You never know where that next great idea is going to come from. And yes, it could come from someone you don't like.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, sorry, yeah, sorry, not sorry. Knowledge this is the last one on the list, oh.
Speaker 2:Lord, learning and learning and relearning, and then learning what you've already learned again Right.
Speaker 1:Because without knowledge we can't grow, we can't continue to, you can't do nothing Right.
Speaker 2:So it's one of the greatest powers we were given to be able to think, to know, to be able to bring concepts from somewhere else and make them manifest here right, and you know it's the whole thing of knowledge comes from making mistakes and it's learning from those mistakes it comes from experience yes comes from actual doing yeah, well, I was going to say it's not just mistakes, but it's everything else.
Speaker 1:It's your interactions with people, it's your interactions with animals, it's um again it's all of this again.
Speaker 2:Anybody that's done the following if you've ever sat there and watched a youtube video on cooking, about a recipe or something, then you go to do it right again. Person doing videos is probably a professional cook. You're not, so it's not going to come out quite right and we know from experience.
Speaker 1:They'll say oh, it takes 30 minutes.
Speaker 3:No, plan on an hour to an hour and a half because it's that's knowledge, that stuff.
Speaker 2:You kind of sit back and you're kind of like, okay, this is what I actually know, this is real knowledge, this is what I actually know, this is real knowledge, this is what I can use, right? So again, this is one of the most important of all of this stuff If you don't sit down, if you don't learn, if you don't have the tolerance to hear other people's ideas, if you can't trust yourself, if you can't have a little bit of humility, all this stuff starts to fall apart, right, and you just become this.
Speaker 1:Well and see, you said that knowledge was probably the most important out of all of them. I kind of see it as it's a delicate chain here. You're right. And if any of these are out of place, You're not going to be a happy person. No, the others start falling apart. They, they break away from each other, and and so I don't know that you can put a definite importance on any one more than the other because, but again, they're all a chain.
Speaker 2:But again, everything starts with knowledge. Without the knowledge to do any of this stuff. Okay, I can see that, all right.
Speaker 1:So again, it's one of the first steps we have to learn to be there, so you think this should probably be the first of the tenets.
Speaker 2:Well, it sort of makes sense that it's at the bottom of the list Because it's the foundation. It's the foundation, Okay that makes sense, All right because, again, if you're still not hitting these other ones before you're getting the knowledge, you're really not going to get too far anyway. Well because, you're not going to be able to deal with the stress. You're not going to be able to deal with the preponderance of information and all this other stuff. If you don't know how in the world. Okay, I need to take a break, right?
Speaker 2:so because again trying to learn too much too fast can be just as much of a detriment. Again about balance, balance and harmony, balance and harmony and trust, and amazing how in the world all these connect, I know, and because it all connects, it kind makes you.
Speaker 1:Once you start realizing the connection between all of them, it really makes you analyze your life and see what changes you can make.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to sit here and tell you all this. If you're sitting there and you don't like your job, you're in a bad relationship with someone. Something's not going quite right in a bad relationship with someone. Something's not going quite right. Take five minutes and sit down and go over these tenants and look at the problem through those and see what happens, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's a wonderful guideline for your life Right.
Speaker 2:And remember you have to do these internally. They're for you. We cannot insist that other people do these. No, Are you with me? So we can't put these tenets on other people. You can only put them on yourselves.
Speaker 1:Right, I mean we can put this out there, and it's out there.
Speaker 2:It's out there.
Speaker 1:You can find these all over the internet, but it's up to you, the individual, to integrate these into your life, into your practice, into your, into your life into your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you got to practice these again. Like I said, if somebody would take like five minutes, sit down and go through these tenants and go, hey, here's the problem I have. Let's look, we're in the world. Which tenant am I failing at that's causing this problem? Absolutely. Which tenant am I failing at that's causing this problem Absolutely? Yeah, is all we got to do.
Speaker 1:And again, we're fixing our own problems. We've been given the knowledge We've been given tools to do this and the tools?
Speaker 2:absolutely yes, all right, we have the ability to do this stuff. Here's another tool for y'all to use. Do that? Take a moment, look at a problem, go through these tenants and go where in the world am I messing up right and see what happens. I think people will be more surprised about anything else that how fast they'll be able to fix their problem. I think so too. I really do. It makes such good sense when you're sitting there kind of like going through this and reading it and all this and you're like okay, but until you're actually starting to apply it when you apply this, I'm just gonna say it it's a game changer yeah it really is, you know, I mean talk about, you know, influencing your friends and making friends and influencing people.
Speaker 2:This is the best way, I think, to do it.
Speaker 1:I think so, yeah, all right, but because, again, if you trust yourself, if you have the confidence, if you are doing the balance, if you are in balance with yourself and in harmony with yourself, and you have the knowledge to do all of this.
Speaker 2:You will find other people less annoying.
Speaker 1:You will find other things not quite as Well, that, and you will become that person that people will flock to.
Speaker 2:Yes, you do this, you become that person that people will flock to. Yes, you do this. You become that person everybody wants to be around.
Speaker 1:You will just have this aura about you that people want to be around.
Speaker 2:Right, it happens, it does.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's as simple as that. Now, if you're not a people person, rethink. No, not really, Just to let you know if you're not a people person you it?
Speaker 2:No, not really. Just to let you know if you're not a people person, you're going to become one Right.
Speaker 1:So be prepared. Use the tenets to prepare yourself. You'll be fine. You'll be fine Again. Tolerance.
Speaker 2:Why was coffee not on that list?
Speaker 1:I don't know. We should get some Thanks for listening. Join us next week for another episode. Pagan Coffee Talk is brought to you by Life Temple and Seminary. Please visit us at lifetempelseminaryorg for more information, as well as links to our social media.
Speaker 3:Facebook, Discord, Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, and so it is the end of our day, so walk with me till morning breaks. And so it is the end of our day. So walk with me till morning breaks.
