A Spell for Hemorrhoids

Carl MacColman writes, in The Interfaith Hazelnut, Part Five:

One thing is for sure: I'm pretty much over the idea of writing any more pagan-specific books. For me, the thought of writing a book of magical spells is about as exciting as the thought of getting a root canal while suffering from hemorrhoids.

Can I get an "amen"?

I knew that Carl had a LiveJournal, but I hadn't known what it was. A friend forwarded a link to the LJ, although it was to another entry, about Paganism's Best Kept Secret. I scanned a little lower on the page, and found out that MacColman is being drawn away from a pagan path, and returning to Catholicism, specifically in its mystic forms. I've always appreciated Carl's writing and his perspective, and I found myself nodding along quite a bit with what he was saying.

This was right on the heels of reading this quote about Pantheacon from Watching Rats Abandon Ship (although I first saw it at the Wildhunt.org blog):

For those that don't know, Pantheacon is a pagan convention in its second decade of life (though it shows). This is the third time that I've been and I always have a good time. That being said, I do find my pagan coreligionists (when I'm not a Buddhist) a bit odd or scary in a geeky sort of way. When a professional geek finds you odd or scary, it is not a good sign...Lots of aging boomers in tiedye and bad hair.

I laughed and laughed. Pantheacon must be a lot like Starwood, although Starwood adds in a thick dollop of pasty-faced Goths vying with a generous slice of BDSM exhibitionists for the title of Most Overwrought Amateur Dramatics.

I'm beginning to think that maybe there should be a place for recovering Pagans to share, vent, and discuss how & why they've left Paganism, and the sorts of questions of identity that seem to occur.