Date: Mon 21 Mar 88 00:08:02 From: Ammond Shadowcraft (on 1:128/23) Here is my bio. Ammond

Date: Mon 21 Mar 88 00:08:02    From: Ammond Shadowcraft (on 1:128/23)

    Here is my bio. Ammond Shadowcraft, born in Memphis, Tennessee, under 
another name, in another time, approx. 6 Oct 1955. My birth certificate has no 
time of birth listed so I'm outta' luck as to where my moon was. B^) Probably 
in the sky somewhere... 

    I never knew my father. I know only his first name. My mother and I lived 
on welfare and perhaps social security till I was 11. At that time she chose 
to check outta' normal reality and I was shipped of to a foster home. The 
family I lived with for a year and a half were devout Church of Christ 
believers. Before my mother died I was tripping around between Episcopal and 
Lutheran Churches. In the foster home, in a Church of Christ congregation I 
was baptized (dunked, not dripped). I gave my life to God and perhaps Jesus 
too. What do you know at 12 anyway?   

    I was eventually adopted by second cousins in Tucker, Ga., right outside 
of Atlanta. My new mother was a spiritist, dabbling in reincarnation, magic, 
and a little voodoo that trickled through her black house servants. 

    I began going to a Methodist Church in Tucker, mainly as a social thing. 
We had a series of presentations, from sources outside of the Methodist 
Church, of various different beliefs and churches. I decided that I'd do one 
on reincarnation. My best friend was a devout Christian and during the lesson 
convinced me that reincarnation was a no-no as far as the Bible is concerned. 
That night I became a Christian again.  

    Eventually through my best friend I got involved with a Charismatic house 
church in Atlanta and various staunch Southern Baptist churches in the area. 
Further I got involved with Bill Bright's Campus Crusade for Christ and the 
not so dedicated Young Life organization. I went to various conferences and 
witnessed to many people. 

    Dummy me joined the Navy in 1973, the year I graduated from H.S. I had no 
where else to go. I was pretty much a staunch witness for my previous Lord 
through '73-'75.  

    Three major familial catastrophes changed my outlook on life. In '75, my 
75 year old great aunt was raped and beaten in her own home in Atlanta. The 
guilty party was caught but the damage could not be undone.  

    In 1977 my mother by adoption was shot and killed by a pimp on Peachtree 
St. in Atlanta.  

    In 1979 my wife of 18 months divorced me. I guess I was a real son-of-a-
bitch. I still had my nocompromise way of relating to life. Annette couldn't 
handle the hardnose so she left. I don't blame her one bit. 

    Needless to say life got my attention through life in general. As you can 
tell I tend to be a cynic. Got good reason too. 

    Through all this I dropped my Christian beliefs to find something that 
worked, something that explained why bad things happen, something that 
explained why I had questions that I wasn't supposed to ask. I generally asked 
my questions and was told that I shouldn't be asking those questions, 
especially of God. I stopped being a Christian and started searching, thinking 
thoughts of my own and finding answers to questions that I had asked. My 
answers to my questions. 

    I wanted to check out Astral projection again. AP had scared the sh$t out 
of me many years back and I gave up on it thinking that demons were chasing me 
through the astral plane. Through a process taking about 10 years, I faced my 
fears, my shadow. I thought I'd certainly die from the effort to not 
relinquish control to these chattering demons, swirling about my head as I was 
physically paralyzed, frozen in half sleep, totally at the chattering demons 
mercy. 

    For some reason (synchronicity?) I began with the Seth Material, which 
took me through many heavy hours of de-programming. I began having OOBE's 
again without the fear. I guess this is because I understood it a little 
better. 

    Through this I remembered that my mother by adoption was involved in 
witchcraft but wouldn't tell me anything about what she was involved with. I 
think it was more voodooish than Wicca.  

    From there I read Drawing Down the Moon. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was 
very interested in what I was reading about. You mean witches are real?? You 
mean there are people that think like I do?? They are neo-Pagans?? YEAH! 

    I looked around and came into contact with a very beautiful Wiccan couple 
in Denver who gave me various ideas and encouragement. Eventually I found an 
open eclectic group in Colorado Springs.  

    In 1987, in a waterfall outside of Manitou Springs I was initiated in the 
Religion and Craft by washing away all my previous Christian baptisms. It was 
a very beautiful, outdoors, nude, in a semi-public setting, type of 
initiation. This was October 6th, my birthday, a full moon and a partial 
eclipse. Nice touch Ammond. B^) 

    Today I see myself as a mixture of Taoist, Zen, agnostic, somewhat 
atheists, neo-Pagan, sometimes Discordian Witch. A Free Thinker is what I 
really like to call myself. 

    Today I'm involved with the Tax Protest Movement, which I think is 
somewhat suicidal. I'm involved with doing my own court actions, legal 
research and in general causing whatever problems I can for the bureaucracy.  
Just two weeks ago I had Federal Judge Carrigan in Denver threaten to throw me 
in jail for my religious association with the Church of World Peace. I came to 
the realization then that the system was sick. I knew that before but didn't 
have to confront it directly. 

    Today, magically speaking, I'm trying to find a magical system that works 
for me. The old synchronicity is working and I've come into contact with 
people who can help me. I think I might try to develop a system that bridges 
Wicca and ceremonial magic. Spectrum wise I'm gray. 

    I work for a major computer company and love computers. On the personal 
side I'm looking for a witchey woman to keep me in balance and somewhat 
distracted from my usual fare of life.  

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 * Origin: SMARTNet - WOC'n faster HST (They made me say it!) (Opus 1:128/23)