We closed this location in early 2011 to continue the wonderful expansion and growth of our other stores and websites.

Please visit us at Extremely Sharp. We still have all of your favorite swords, knives, throwing stars, blowguns, medieval weapons, martial arts equipment, and camping, survival and military gear.

When we first opened this location in 2006, we started The Sacred paths with your help to create a local community. It is safe to say that all our expectations for this adventure were not only met, but surpassed in every imaginable way. Thank you very much for your support over the years, and we can’t wait to continue helping you through Extremely Sharp Swords and Knives.

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Art show and huge sale at The Cool Store on Saturday, December 5th. Come one, come all!

This is a free event, and open to the whole family. This is the store’s second art show. Come see artwork, handmade jewelry, and much more from local artists. Come early and enjoy some free refreshments.

For more information, please call the store at (256)593-1311.

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As it’s been a while since either Loki or myself has updated (sorry about that, by the way), I’d like to remind everyone of the events that occur on Wednesdays at The Cool Store/The Sacred Paths.

On the first Wednesday of every month, we currently have the God Class. Each month, we will discuss a different God.

On the second Wednesday of every month is the meet-up. Lately, Loki has been doing mini-workshops for us. The last one was on poppets.

On the third Wednesday of every month is the paranormal night. Local paranormal groups come and discuss the methods used in ghost hunting.

On the forth Wednesday of every month is the drum circles. These are highly recommended for anyone who just wants to come and have a good time. Don’t worry if you don’t have a drum of your own. There are always plenty to go around!

And since I don’t believe I’ve ever really explained much about my personal beliefs to anyone, here’s a cross-post from my personal journal, Lotus Touch, concerning Modern Kemeticism:

Modern Kemeticism, as defined by Het en Neferma’atu, is a modern reformation of the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Followers of Modern Kemeticism often call themselves Modern Kemetic or simply Kemetic. These Modern Kemetics worship the Neteru, the Gods of ancient Egypt. The most notable difference between Modern Kemeticism and many other Kemetic faiths within Kemeticism on a whole is that Modern Kemeticism is both polytheistic and kathenotheistic in its beliefs.

I myself am Modern Kemetic, and a priest of Het en Neferma’atu. I have worshiped the Neteru for over ten years, and have served as Their priest for over five of those years. It has not been an easy journey, but it is one I am happy to have made.

As a Modern Kemetic, I tend to have a more…unique view on the concept of things, especially compared to my brethren of faiths similar to my own. Whereas many other Kemetic faiths claim to be monolatrous or henotheistic, Modern Kemeticism is best described as kathenotheistic polytheism.

All Gods from all cultures are known to exist, each in Their own right as Their own individual entity, unless He or She says otherwise. Some Gods hint that They are indeed the same as another, just with a different name and face, but until a strait answer is given, I’ll be leaving it as They are all separate. This is the principle behind what is known as “hard” or “strict” polytheism.

However, just because I know all the Gods to exist, it doesn’t mean that I worship Them all. Now, do I believe someone else can worship any of these other Gods with equal truth as those whom I worship? Most definitely. But this is where the kathenotheism comes in to play.

While I respect Gods of other cultures, and have built relationships with some of Them, I do not worship Them. My worship is exclusively of the Neteru, the Kemetic Gods. Even there, though, the while thanks is given to all of the Neteru on a whole, worship is of one individual Neter, or God, at a time.

There are some Neteru who receive a greater amount of personal attention to worship than others. Anpu, known to the Greeks as Anubis, is the primary focus of all of my worship. He is my personal God, and our relationship is closely akin to that of parent and child. Djehuty, or Thoth as the Greeks called Him, is a Neter whom I hold a great deal of respect and love for, and I see Him as my teacher.

Within my personal beliefs, I follow the Heliopolitan view of Kemeticism, in which the Psedjet, consisting of Ra and His descendants, are foremost supreme among the Neteru. The way this effects my methods of worship often depends most on the observance of festival days, in which the Neter to whom the festival is devoted is considered supreme during the rituals of that festival. On a day-by-day basis, Anpu is the supreme Neter within my life, and I worship Him as such.

Of course, other Neteru are shown worship throughout the day within my daily life as well. Each morning, I greet the new day and the rebirth of the sun with a heartfelt song to Ra. I feel the wind blow through my hair or brush against my skin and I know Shu is there. I taste water in the air or feel the rain on my skin, and I know Tefnut is there. I pause when I have the chance to feel the pure vastness of the earth and know that Geb is with me. I look up at the sky, day or night, and know that Nut smiles upon me.

Each day, I am aware of the Neteru around me, as well as many other Gods. While I may not sit before a shrine or altar every day, while I may not look as though I am in prayer at any given time, I live my life for my Gods. I know that I do not have to be on my knees before Them to be heard. I know that I do not have to burn candles and incense to attract Their attention, though these are favorable offerings to pretty much any of Them. But as each breath that I take is an offering to Them, each action I make, each minute I sacrifice standing in the candy aisle trying to determine which chocolate one of Them would like…

It brings me closer to Them. And that’s all that I seek as a Modern Kemetic, is to live each day closer to Them.

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You know what really scares me? Not the right-winged uber conservative Christians followers. Not the late night television evangelist, crunching biblical numbers, and bellowing all fire and brimstone that “You are all going to HELL!” Not the intolerant attitudes I face everyday when I arrive at work and the proverbial “Jesus loves you” nonsense stated in every matter of dire need…No friends, none of this scares me as much as the matter I’m about to place before you.

What scares me the most? My fellow pagans scare me.

The death and aging of every elder pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan who paved the way for us to be at the point we are now scare me. Is religious freedom perfect? Hell no. Are we perfect? Certainly not. What bothers me is there are no more Scott Cunninghams or there will be no more Raymond Bucklands. There are no more Aleister Crowleys or Doreen Valientes.

We are too damn busy fighting each other on myspace and blogging over which person stole our “Esbat graphic” to even notice that what we should be doing is taking care of each other, not fighting over such petty differences.

A news story surfaced about some scientists in Switzerland splicing atoms underground at the speed of light. By the time you read this we will probably all still be here, but what scared me about it most was the fact that the human animal in an attempt to tame nature, is now taking it to a dangerous level. Man has always attempted to know the unknown in order to control a tiny portion of a life that at times can feel as if it doesn’t belong to us.

We are not Gods and Goddess. If ignorance is bliss friends, then I want to be the most idiotic person on the planet when it comes to knowing that if one fraction of a decimal was off, we’d all be sucked into an abyss of black matter…but I digress… I posted said story on my myspace blog…partly because I’m a nerd, but also to see how others viewed the news.

My blog was in no way persuasive by nature and was meant for informational purposes only. There was another myspace community member who disagreed with my blogs contents and was intent on telling everyone how stupid we all were. This person was within every right to express an opposite opinion. What this person had NO right to do was respond the way they did. This person called everyone who disagreed
with them idiots. This person alluded that everyone should know how physics worked and anyone who didn’t needed to go back to school because we were all “wasting our minds”.

I politely responded how that was unfair. I went on to state that just because people aren’t educated in a certain area of life does by no means makes them idiots. If I asked this person about what Section 67 of South Carolina Workers’
Compensation law had to say and she couldn’t answer, does that make this person an idiot? Of coarse not! To which I was answered by this person that everyone who was idiots could get the f- off of their page.

My only response: Gladly. I later found out that this person is a HP and an author of a few pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan books. This person boosts himself or herself to be a reiki master, expert tarot reader and self-proclaimed spiritual leader. What is wrong with this picture?

Maybe it’s just me, but they don’t make pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan leaders like they used to. Have we
all become so absorbed with ourselves, our religious paths and the affection of others that we’ve forgotten the core basics that make us all human? I remember opening my first metaphysical book and the rush I felt of knowledge and excitement about the journey I was about to partake. I remember the lessons I learned about tolerance, respect and serenity.

Then I thought…ok, maybe it’s just myspace. Would Scott Cunningham have turned out to be a complete phony and arrogant a** is given a technological voice?

It’s so disheartening to think that the new leaders in our tiny community don’t appreciate us and aren’t capable of diplomatically stating their opinions when faced with adversity. I’m just a huge advocate for religious freedom but when approached in the street I don’t flash a huge pentacle and cram it down someone throat as I once read on a new age authors blog the other day.

I’m sorry, but when you place yourself on a public medium, such as myspace, you unleash a floodgate that is just as potent as a spell…and maybe the craft has no place online. It has become no more than a popularity contest, and frankly I’m going a-wall from the team. There is no more passion, eagerness to teach, togetherness and unity in the community anymore…it’s more like “I’m a witch, not a Wiccan” and if you want my help please send $19.95 for the first ten minutes….blah, blah, blah.

Now I am very aware, we all have to work hard for the money, but think about this. You go to a spiritual leader asking for guidance. No matter the religion. Imagine being one of many churchgoers leaving Sunday Mass and you ask Father O’ Malley for advice on a problem you’ve been having? He listens intently, answers and then pulls out a credit card machine and asks you “debit or credit?” How unimportant and obsolete would that make one feel?

Maybe that’s religious doctrine Pagans should take away from Christians…willing spiritual guidance from those who claim and make themselves leaders. Remember the stories about Marie Laveau and how she would make frequent visits to the prisoners in jail taking solace and a warm meal.

And it’s not only happening on a literally or internet level, it’s happening more and more in our local new age stores, and “study groups”. I was invited by
a local new age storeowner to attend a circle meeting she holds at her home the last Sunday of every month. No it is not a coven, but an opportunity for like minds to come together and discuss the craft. The storeowner decided that we were going to cast circle that night to see how we all would mesh.

Everything went pretty much routine until we were attempting to raise energy and libation to the Goddess Kali. I stood there in the circle, serious, with my eyes closed attempting to focus and I started hearing giggling. With a look of broken concentration and complete shock I opened my eyes, look over and there were girls talking, chatting, and some were even making fun of the other women in the circle. I swear to you, it was enough to throw someone right off of their religion. Is there nothing sacred anymore?

Maybe it’s supercritical but I have to ask “Why are you here if this isn’t an important matter to you?”

Now I’m not saying all my pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan experiences with others have been bad and there are a few good leaders and authors left. Most of them are totally anti-social and it begs the question, why? Take pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan author D.J. Conway for example. She has no affiliation a coven (as her website says) and for the most part prefers to be a solitary practitioner who “leads a rather quite life”. What about Ms. Elizabeth Pepper? Same story with her as you can read in The Witches Almanac. They may be or
have been anti-social but I bet you their books and words will stand the test of time. Their stories will not fade and future pagans will one day look to them, just as we looked to Scott Cunningham for guidance through our journeys.

Very un-like the pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan fluff that is turned out today and massed produced for the in-experienced “Wiccan” neophyte to exploit. Give a man a little knowledge, right? I mean, maybe our pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan forefathers and mothers had it right…Maybe hiding out in a remote island and building a grass-roots religion like Mr. Gardner did is what we should be doing? Maybe magic is better kept in the shadows and not on the cyber pages of myspace.

It would seem that our so-called pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan leaders today are more concerned about blogging about their next big event, copyrighting witchy graphics and racking up friends than finding enlightenment and being there for their followers. Has paganism evolved or am I just a left behind “old school pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan” shaking my judgmental stick screaming, “Damn you pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan whippersnappers”! I’m sure some may think so after this article, but this is one pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan who has had enough.

Disagreeing with what I am saying here is ok. I don’t think my opinion to be the correct one, but take a moment, go to your local new age store or new age section of your local bookstore…Open two or three of the best pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan sellers, scan them over and think about it.

Think about how it’s all becoming the same, how we are all stuck in the proverbial mud of the same ole and please friends, compare it to what Mr. Crowley or Alex Sanders were doing in their hay days. Our forefathers and mothers may have been controversial and we may not agree with everything they had to say, but darn it they explored and endured. And if it weren’t for them we wouldn’t be even half way out of our “broom closets” as we are today.

Then… think about the ways we choose to re-pay the debts we owe them. Then decide how you feel about this article.

—

Source: http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ussc&c=words&id=12837
Author: Heather S. Douglas (ladyheather_01@yahoo.com)
Used with permission from author.

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I do not know if Rob will make it to the next Craft Class.

I thought I would petition interested people in suggesting a topic workshop in case I have to present the class.  I’ll leave it up to you guys.

If Rob is able to make it we’ll let him continue on his schedule.

Make some suggestions for topics.

Loki

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