Merry meet everyone.
This post may upset some people but I know a good few that will agree with me too.
Did you here the joy and happiness in the words I just greeted you with? Or did you hear and feel the words as if it was just another “Hi, nice to meet you”?
Myself, as well as others are getting annoyed by the mass use of our traditional greetings and leaving them to lose their meanings. Just because others use them does not mean that everyone should start using them.
Some people use them because that’s just how it is… isn’t it? No, it is not!
We cannot meet and greet everyone with happiness and joy on facebook, twitter or any other social network when in fact we are not actually meeting them. If you meet a fellow witch in person, whether the setting is formal or informal, and you are actually happy to meet them, by all means extend your hand and greet them with a ‘Merry meet’, because that is what to be merry means, to be filled with happiness and joy, or to have had too much mead.
As far as merry meet goes, I hardly ever use it, if at all, why? Because it doesn’t mean anything to me, it never really has and I’m not going to use something without meaning, I would much rather use a “Hi, nice to meet you.”
Bright Blessings is used by many as a farewell greeting. I will admit I use it but for a personal reason of my own, but why do you use it? Why do most Pagans use it?
Once again, is it because, well, everyone else does it? Isn’t that the traditional way to meet and greet each other? In modern times I believe the traditional way to say farewell is “good bye” or “nice to meet you”. I didn’t get a memo to say these traditions had fallen to the wayside.
So why do I use it?
In the fourteen hundreds when the Black Death (the plague) hounded ‘modern’ civilization, if someone was to sneeze the people nearby would say “bless you” (and then probably run as far away from that person as they could) because it meant that the poor person who just sneezed could very well have the plague.
The people who said “bless you” actually meant it then, in our modern times it has simply become a polite nicety, and let’s face it, for most people in this world it is the only time someone ‘blesses’ another person.
This is also why some Pagans use Bright Blessings, because it is a polite nicety.
I use this term only if I truly mean it. I personally feel that I would like to wish more blessings on other people than the average human being usually does.
If I really wish for someone or a few people to receive blessings in their life or lives I will say it and if I really feel like it I say “the brightest of blessings” or use a way to explain just how much I wish for them to receive their blessings and in what areas of their life or lives.
The fine print: I am always happy to send a blessing someone’s way, however I also believe that if that person actually wants it, they will be open to receive it. If they are not open to receive it, then it’s not my responsibility.
So what do I normally use if I don’t use “Bright Blessings”? Good Bye is a nice start or kind regards but mostly I use thank you. I believe in being grateful to someone, whether I like them or not, I can learn a lesson from them.
I might even not use a greeting at all… oh the horror!
Why should I say something when I don’t mean it or when I don’t want to say anything at all?
Blessed Be
Amen Sister! What? If you are using Blessed Be as a greeting you might as well throw in an amen sister or two.
Blessed Be is a term that is used in Magickal workings, whether it as a rite being performed or a spell that has been cast. It is a way of blessing what has just been done.
If you want to put it in a box and label it, then you can say it the Pagan form of saying amen.
Abbreviations
I know we live in the technology age where abbreviations are the everyday norm but it really bothers me when people abbreviate the greetings.
BB – Bright Blessings and MM – Merry Meet.
I do not like them and for me they loose their meaning completely and it represents a lack of creativity and laziness, call me old fashioned. If you want to use shortened terms then say ‘Hi’ or ‘bye’.
Do you know your roots?
This is a little something extra. If you are Wiccan and want to learn more about the roots of our traditions and beliefs, then read these.
If you can find the essay written by Doreen Valiente on how she searched for proof of “Old Dorothy”, I suggest you read it, it is wonderful read and I couldn’t put it down.
)O(
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