Why?

Well, why not? I've been blogging for years, why shouldn't I make a cyber-sanctuary to rest and recuperate? I've earned a bit of peace, which I certainly don't find elsewhere in my online rambling.
You see, I tend to visit three radically different sorts of blogs. First, there are Catholic blogs, since I love and respect the beauty, art, and pageantry of the church. To be perfectly honest, I'm steering clear of most of them at the moment, since they seem more concerned with raising Torquemada's ghost than smelling the incense and hearing the bells.
Then there are the atheist blogs. I like them because they're willing to point out the bullshit and call it by name. Unfortunately, they often descend into a strident, adolescent tantrum tone that sounds like a mirror image of the Inquisition.
Finally, we have the Wiccan and Neo-Pagan blogs. I like them because they show the impossibility of putting God/Goddess/Plural of both into a box. The problem is that they sometimes get a bit too airy-faerie and artsy-fartsy.
Matthew Arnold said "in us clash contending forces" and I'm living proof of that. Athens and the Vatican, Stonehenge and Down House, Chartres and a quiet glade. They're all part of me and all contribute to my very eclectic muddle of beliefs. Perhaps that's why I need this blog, as a way of making them all line up in a semi-coherent system. Won't be easy, but it just might be a hell of a lot of fun.
So sit down, pour some tea and listen to me ramble. There's a caveat, though. If you want me to fully subscribe to one part of the mix and ditch the rest, don't let the door hit you on the way out. That's the sort of crap that's driven me to this hermitage and I want none of it.