I am a teacher. That is all I am.
If you are to get any worth whatsoever out of what you learn here, you must go into this by first dismissing any sense or expectation that I am a spiritual leader in any way, shape or form. I am not seeking disciples. I do not want you to follow me. There will be no solicitations for donations to my church. All I ask of you is that you read this text with an open mind and try to set aside your ingrained prejudices as you progress. Together, we’ll figure it out. Well, YOU will figure it out. I’m just pointing you in the right direction.
You will notice that I use the term “God” throughout this text. In my own day-to-day life I use the term “Goddess”, but that is not the word that the majority of people use to relate to The Divine. I also use the phrase “The Universe” to refer to God, as well as the term “Great Father” at times. These words are interchangeable and mean nothing unto themselves. They are convenient words that we hang on ideas. You could call God “Bob” for all I care. But for the sake of argument, and in the hope of proceeding without any unnecessary arguments over semantics, I’m going to use the word “God” to refer to this thing that some might think of as a Diving Being, a Supreme Being, or a really cool old grandfather figure who lives in the clouds and drinks Ambrosia. And let’s not get into any pointless wrangling about Zeus, Yahweh, the Horned God, The Goddess or any of the thousands of other flavors that humans enjoy dipping our religious concepts into. If you would feel more comfortable, imagine that “God” is spelled “god” and let’s get on with it.
Satan is off the table, though. Sorry. In my book you’re just doubling down on the Christian concept of “God” and worshiping the flip side of the coin. But it’s really just one idea split into two easily digestible tablets. I won’t have it.
So. Where to next? It seems logical to address the most obvious. The question that usually comes along within hours of someone coming across my teachings is this;
“Just who do you think you are?”
For the record, I am Claire Mulkieran. My mother might have properly been called a witch. And my grandmother. And my great-grandmother. This means nothing, and gives my words no extra weight. But that is who I am. I am Claire Mulkieran. Daughter of Ciara Mulkieran. Granddaughter of Máire Mulkieran. In my family we keep our mothers’ names. We are not bound.
This directly relates to the actual intent of that question. Who am I to think of myself as a teacher? What gives me the right to teach others? Well, that remains to be seen. Read on and determine for yourself. If my words hold weight for you, then I am obviously qualified to speak of these things. If not, it doesn’t matter. You will move on to something else. Thank you for stopping by.
I will warn you that I am often rightly accused of being acerbic and sarcastic. This is for your protection. If I was your warmest and dearest friend you would not listen. And as I am fond of saying, “they keep me away from sharp objects, so I’ve had to sharpen my wit”. The reality is that I am doing little more than giving you a recipe. We’re not writing romance novels here.
The teachings which follow have been a long time coming. I’ve taught students for years, and resisted writing anything down. Human beings have a tendency to take any wisdom that’s been written down and codify it into a set of unyielding beliefs with which we can subjugate our enemies. It would stand to logic that if we don’t write them down we avoid that problem. However, when one keeps accumulating students, it gets harder and harder to afford them individual attention. So… we write.
In the pages that follow, you are invited to assimilate whatever makes sense to you, and encouraged to discard the rest. Somewhere in your heart you know what is real and what is not. That’s what we’re trying to reach. Don’t ever accept anything from anyone that does not feel right to you. The first chapter will explain why.
And with that, I suppose we should be on our way.
NEXT: Religion Is Fantasy →
