Attitude Of The Religion To The Witchcraft In America Essay

Attitude Of The Religion To The Witchcraft In America - Essay Example Their research strategy was multi-staged with the intended goal to find out who the members of Ravenwood are, what they believe and what they did as witches, and what this all meant to them being members of this group on a larger scale. Wicca has one important difference with most mainstream religions, it has a, â€Å"†¦woman-centered, goddess-worshipping, nature-affirming, participative, this-worldly-orientated religion.† (69) This is often the polar opposite of religions that picture God as the all-powerful Male and mankind as his representative on earth with the ability to use nature as he pleases. Their research bore this alternative attitude out among the witches of Ravenwood. While we see the typical God as separate from creation and man certainly quite separate from God, Wicca is the opposite. The set of images in Wicca are not the male, assertive, dominating ones, but rather the female, regenerative, creative ones of the goddess. Also, another important difference is how the goddess is represented in multiple personas. Whereas God is just God, the goddess can be seen, â€Å"†¦through many mythic threads through a range of guises as maid, mother, crone, as creator, nurturer, destroyer, as the daughter, wife,†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (72) and so on. Here instead of God being separate from nature, the goddess is a part of nature. She is found, â€Å"†¦ in the paths of the stars and the changes of the moon, in rabbit-tracks in the snow, in the ceaseless run and turn of the tides. The goddess is in the world, in nature, rather than separate from the world.† (73) Furthermore, instead of their only being a few selected ones, such as the priest, who can commune directly with God, in Wicca every initiate, every member is a priest or priestess who can commune directly with the goddess. There is no need for an intermediary here. The authors feel that the view of Witchcraft in the overall aspect of the sociology of Religion has too narrow a view placed upon it by researchers. Wicca creates a

Breast Cancer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Breast Cancer - Research Paper Example Morphologically breast cancer is divided into two basic types depending on the anatomic site affected by the tumor cells; Ductal and lobular carcinoma. As the name indicates, the ductal type originates form the ducts or lactiferous tubes of the breast while the lobular carcinoma originates from the stroma or lobules of the breast responsible for lactation. On the basis of penetration through the limiting basement membrane, the breast cancers are divided into two basic subtypes; Invasive and non-invasive. The non-invasive types are classified into two types which include ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) on the basis that tumor cells have not invaded the adjacent tissues (Chen 2010; McPherson et al 2000). The causes or risk factors of breast cancer can be divided into two major categories which are modifiable and non-modifiable. Non-modifiable risk factors are age, geographical variations, family history, menstrual history, associated familial syndromes and genetics. The increase in the age of a woman is also a risk factor for breast cancer. Women who fall between the age group of 40-50 are at the highest risk of getting this malignancy. Moreover, if family history shows positive cases especially in first degree relatives like mother, daughter or sister, then it also increases the chances to develop breast cancer. Breast cancer has been associated with genes which include BRCA1 and BRCA2 which have been linked to the causation of familial breast cancer. These are genes located on chromosome 17 which undergo autosomal dominant mutations and are responsible for 5% to 10% inherited cases of breast cancer. The sporadic breast cancer is considered to be caused by mutations in several tumo r suppressor and oncogenes like p53, c-myc, c-myb and bcl-2. Moreover, the over expression of HER2/neu also has a very strong relation to breast cancer. The age of menarche and menopause also plays an important role in the incidence of breast