Almost December Already!!!

I don't know about y'all, but I am about through with turkey for another 51 weeks. I'm so over it, in fact, that I turned my nose up at chicken yesterday. Fowl is foul...errrr...fowl. Bring on the beef or ham or SOMETHING other than what used to wear feathers.

I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by! December starts this weekend, which means that Yule is right around the corner. Another one of those holidays that syncs well with Mainstreamers, Yule comes along just close enough to Christmas that a girl like me can take that extra day off and not be looked at sideways.  Well, not much, anyway.

While discussing our holiday gift exchange at the office yesterday, the girls and I were trying to decide when to do this. They were really gunning for the 21st, but I told them I was off that day in conjunction with the Christmas holiday (everyone else took a four or five day weekend over Thanksgiving while I came in and worked Friday, and am taking my long weekend at that time). Then I mentioned Yule. And one of my girls knowingly nodded and told the others, "It's a Catholic thing." All I could do was grin...and tell them I was going to have another killer bonfire that night, since it is, after all, the longest night of the year. :)

On another note, Mercury retrograde ended on Sunday, thank goodness, so now, maybe, things that have taken a back burner will start to move forward. The full moon is tomorrow, and I am hoping that for the first time in several months, that she won't be hiding behind the clouds. I have some things I need to take care of by the light of said moon, and would really like to NOT have to turn on a yard light, LOL...

So with all these changes coming toward the latter part of the week, I wish you all a relaxing next few days and hope that your weekend will be full of wonderful things!

Blessed be, y’all!

UPDATED: I got a day behind…the full moon is actually TONIGHT, so I have a LOT to do that I thought I was doing tomorrow night. *face palm*

Thanksgiving - I Think It’s Universal...

While I write this blog, I think of the two of my three sons that don’t live under my roof.

I think about the military men and women that are overseas and not with their families, yet fighting for the freedom so many of us take for granted.

I think about my dad, who is 70-some (I’m NOT telling his REAL age, because I got my vanity from somewhere) years young and is celebrating this holiday somewhere on the opposite coast; maybe at home, maybe somewhere in Washington state, maybe somewhere in Lake Tahoe, or hopefully, with kin in the Sacramento area.

I don’t think Thanksgiving is necessarily a Christian holiday. I don’t consider it a Pagan holiday. I think it is a non-denominational holiday that allows ALL of us, no matter what our spiritual walk in life, to give thanks for the many blessings that have been bestowed to us during this past year.

Whilst boring, here are mine:

I am thankful for -

• My husband, who is my best friend and my biggest fan;
• My immediate family, who let me walk my path without giving me a lot of grief;
• My Pagan/Voodoo/Wiccan friends (both old and new), who have accepted me for who I am, in spite of the hybrid path that I follow;
• My day-job people - some friends, some acquaintances - they accept me for who I am (even though I remain in the broom closet) and are just mean enough to me to keep me in line, yet loving enough to me to let my true light shine through;
• My pets, who love me unconditionally, no matter what kind of mood I am in when I come through that front door;
• My haters/judgers because they keep me in line so that I can show that following a religion that is not labeled, “Christian” can still prove that one knows how to walk that walk whilst talking that talk;
• My day job - while not always fun, it does keep the lights on and food on the table;
• My ability to photograph and write - it’s going to take me places, people…just you wait;
• The men and women of the United States armed forces…I don’t care which branch you represent, I respect and thank you for fighting for the freedom I have to be who I am.

That said, I wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving, and I’ll catch up with you once I’m done cooking tomorrow’s feast. :)

Blessed Be, Y’all!

So It Is What It Is….

This is how it’s SUPPOSED to be...

Oftentimes I am blessed with the gift of gab. It’s unusual for me to be found stumbling around for the right words. This week, however, was different. I am completely unused to not being able to say what I am feeling, thinking, or trying to articulate. It was a most unusual situation for me.

I was speaking with one of my best friends, who, by the way, is the son of a Pentecostal preacher. We were working on a project together and went to his office to get the files from his computer matched to the hard copies I needed to edit. He had an evangelist playing over his computer speakers, which struck me as odd, given it’s usually country music or 80’s big hair bands that he listens to. But, ok. The gospel song ended and I asked him if that was church he was listening to, and he stated that yes, it was Jimmy Swaggart’s show that he was listening to. Besides being surprised that he was listening (my friend is not exactly what you would expect when visualizing the son of a preacher), I was surprised that Mr. Swaggart was even still alive. Bless his heart, the guy’s got to be a hundred or more…but no, after some research, I see he is only 77.

At any rate, I made the joke about how I would burst into flames if he didn’t at least turn the volume down. (He is one of the few people at my workplace that know about my path.)

So after kidding around about this, a discussion ensued. It was civil, and downright friendly, but this is where I found that I was at a loss for words. I had said that God comes to people in many ways, not just those outlined in the Christian church, and when I was asked, “how?” my mind went blank and I was not able to convey what it was I was trying to say.

In the interim between then and now, a gap had somehow found a way between the two of us, which breaks my heart more than I care to admit, but it is what it is.

Now that I’ve had some time to think about how I want to come across without sounding like a complete heathen (inside joke, as it were) or totally preachy, I give you the following:

God comes to Buddhists by way of Buddha. God comes to Muslims by way of Allah. God comes to Jewish folks by way of God, but they have a different way of expressing their faith. God comes to Vooduans by way of the Lwa or Loah, to Pagans by way of the hierarchy of their choice. Is anyone 100% right or wrong? No, I don’t think that we are.

God comes to those of us with an eclectic path by way of the trees, the birds, the butterflies, and even the bugs we don’t necessarily love because they aren’t pretty. God comes to many people in his/her own way.

From “Everyday Witch A to Z” If you look at the core beliefs of most religions – including Paganism – most of them start to sound kind of familiar. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not that different from, “An it harm none, do as ye will.” The threefold law of return is much the same as the Buddhist idea of karma. Most religions have rules (commandments) that forbid lying, just as the Witch’s Rede of Chivalry bids us to be true to our word.”

Further in this book I found a passage that I really, honestly wish everyone could get on board with, but we have our Fundamentalist friends that will demonize us for not walking the same path as they do. So, like a lot of minorities, we, too, experience a lot of judgment and hatred. But the following is something I read in the aforementioned book, and I can’t rephrase it better than the original, so here it is, and thank you, Nancy, for putting it better than I ever could have hoped to.

And to my bestie (?) that wonders how God can come to people outside of Christ? This is for you, babe:

“I believe that god comes to all of us in the form that we can best understand and be most comfortable with, so that we can all worship in a fulfilling and meaningful way.”

Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but this is a concept that I can get behind.

Does everyone else besides me believe that those that worshipped before Christianity came on the scene went to hell? I don’t think so. Or at least, I hope to hell not.

Do I think that faith should be ruled by fear? Absolutely not. To my loved ones that do follow that path? Thank you for worrying about my immortal soul, but honestly? Ruling by fear is no way to run a religion.

Don’t point a finger at me, stating that I (or those of my faith) represent the devil. We don’t believe in Satan, or in hell. We believe in a unity that transcends most mainstream religions, which is why, I think, we are misunderstood.

Given the fact that this situation came up between one of my besties (?) and me? I don’t know how much further I can take this line of thinking before becoming entirely too emotionally involved.

I have always prided myself on writing on a neutral ground, and this particular subject has gotten my emotions into a turmoil the likes of which I can hardly describe.  While I love my bestie, I have to wonder if he knows me as well as he thinks he does.

I miss him, already, but I won’t twist his arm to see things the way I do, unlike some faiths that will threaten the eternal flames of hell if they don’t get on board. That just isn’t who I am. 

But you know how you are, and for whatever reason, I will love you for who you are, because sometimes people are placed in our lives for reasons that we might not always understand.

And while I don’t claim to know why you were placed in my path? It won’t change how I love you, and will always be there for you, friends or not…

Samhain! My Favorite Sabbat...

Merry meet and Happy Samhain! Or, for those of you of the non-Pagan persuasion, Happy Halloween!

Yes, I’m a day early, but I know I’ll be wrapped up in tomorrow’s festivities and probably won’t find the time to hop online and post a blog.

And let me apologize right off the bat for not having my own original Samhain work uploaded for this particular blog’s picture. I have been so busy dealing with life on a daily basis, and trying to get over this junk I can’t shake, that I haven’t had time to stake out my usual haunts to get good images. I probably should have taken advantage of last week’s beautiful weather, but of course, I didn’t. (Is anyone else’s slogan, “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow”?)

As Samhain is my favorite sabbat, I wanted to do a little something special by way of a big bonfire, but the weather here in NC has been less than cooperative, so the fire pit was not built in time. That’s okay, though. There will still be plenty of Mead, a fire in the urn, and thanks given to those who went before us.

I had originally taken the day off on November first, but given it’s not going to be the throw-down I was hoping for (many of us are getting over the creeping crud, so staying out late in the cold, no matter how much Mead is available, just doesn’t sound like a good idea), I may stumble into work a little late on Thursday, unless, of course, the scary movies are worth staying up for. ;)

That said, I have no formal ritual ready, but plan on a meditative early evening by the fire.

Since my last post I utilized a spell that I found online that I thought might be beneficial to me. You know how they are always saying, “Physician, heal thyself”? I figured I would try the whole “Witch, heal thyself” concept to see if I could. And damned if I didn’t.

It was a breaking a bond and recovering lost things-type of spell, and while it wasn’t a difficult one, it was a super-scary one for me, because while I knew that some bonds needed breaking, I was chicken and held off for the better part of a month after I came across said spell. You know how sometimes you just don’t think you can let go, even if you know that doing so will make you feel better, but at the same time you are afraid to, because you fear the pain associated with severing ties?  This was one of those. And, yes, it hurt. Thank you for asking. But, no, it didn’t hurt like I thought that it would, so I am glad, in retrospect, that I did it.

It wasn’t a quickie five minute deal, either. It took the better part of an hour, not counting the bath prior to starting the work, itself. It did culminate in burying the remaining bits of wax, ash, and sage bits at a crossroads, which, in this case, was where my driveway intersects the road. I topped the burial off with a mum on the verge of blooming, because I knew the neighbors would wonder why I was digging a hole there and not planting anything. I figured the mum would be perfect, as it will continue to bloom and grow in the cooler time ahead, and seeing the flowers would make me happy, and I was right.

If you are interested, said spell can be found here:  The Book of Shadows and should you choose to use it, let me know how it works out for you.

Until next time,

Blessed be!

Outed, But Not...

The other day, while I was at work, it came to my attention that an acquaintance was in the hospital receiving psychiatric care. Now, this person had been a very close friend of mine once upon a time, but she burned me, and badly. I won't go into details, because they are irrelevant, and I am a huge proponent of forgiveness, but I will say this: When a person is in my inner circle and abuses mutual trust to the point where it causes harm? Yes, I will forgive, and may even go so far as to forget, but the chances of getting back into my circle are slim to none. I am simply not into setting myself up for further beat downs.

That said, this individual had been talking to a mutual friend that I work with, and frantically tried to get me up there to visit her. She clung to my friend and frantically, tearfully told her that she was afraid for my soul and that she needed to see me; that I was going to burn in hell and that she needed to pray with me. Apparently, this was repeated several times. Needless to say, I did not go visit.

The girls at work wanted to know what she was talking about, and honestly? I wasn't sure, initially.

Then it hit me. Some years back we had a conversation about a club this person belonged to. Among the mainstream members was one line Wiccan who was out of the broom closet. Apparently the other members gave her hell and were very judgmental.

I explained to my then-friend that Wiccans are people, too; no better or worse than anyone else and explained to her what I knew at that time about Wicca.

She asked me how I knew all of this, and I explained to her that while I had been looking for the right spiritual path for myself back in the late 90's, I had a friend who was a Witch and he loaned me some of his books, which I read from cover to cover. We went on to discuss our beliefs, and while I told her that I was still holding onto to my core Christian beliefs, I considered myself to be something of an eclectic hybrid. Apparently she didn't hear much of anything that I told her, but the word, "eclectic" was the only thing that stuck with her.

Fast forward just over a year ago...

Then-friend and I had our falling out, and she had pretty much done everything she could to throw me under the bus. I ended up having lunch with someone who I'd met through then-friend. She'd initially introduced us through Facebook given our family situations were similar. We'd made the date prior to the big blowup, and for whatever reason, she still wanted to have lunch with me when nobody else in that group would give me the time of day, anymore.

My lunch date, Patty, and I had a great time and before we parted ways for the day, she told me I was surprisingly nice for a devil worshipping heathen, or something along those lines.

So, back to the present. Patty and I are still good friends (she is an empath) and is one of the three people at work that know about my broom.

I explained how then-friend would think what she did, based on that one, long ago, conversation. This is when the witch jokes started.

And I mean they went on all day and into the next. Seriously. In fact, one of the managers came to me later the first afternoon and told me he had a list of people he needed me to cast spells on. I KNOW my eyes got as big as dinner plates.

The best (or worst, depending how one looks at it) part was that every “joke” had more than a shred of truth to it, and some of the comments really hit the nail on the head.

“She can do the witch hat-thing right now because Halloween is coming and nobody would be any the wiser.” Check.

“She has a hidden stash of witch-stuff in her studio that only comes out when nobody’s looking.” Partial check. I do have a meditation room that DOES have my witch-stuff in it that nobody sees. I only have a small altar in my studio, and it’s Voodoo in nature, and more decorative than anything. :) (One of my best girls is a Mambo.)

Then they started talking about strange occurences that have gone down after certain things have left my lips. (And these happened long before I stepped back onto this path; before I knew about “The Secret” or “The Law of Attraction,” or “The Power of Positive Thinking.") A supervisor had made me so angry one day, many years ago, that I had muttered that I wished he would simply drop off the face of my earth. I didn’t mean anything by it (I simply wanted him out of my face that day), but within a few hours he was in the cardiac unit of the hospital. OMG, I felt just awful. And something similar happened after a manager ticked me off, and I had simply said I wished that I didn’t have to work with him anymore, and boom…HE went to one of the larger hospitals with heart problems, as well. Again, I didn’t mean anything by it, but lessons learned? Be careful what you put out there, because you never really know what kind of power your words can actually have. At the time, people would joke about it, but they were a little leery of me. And people don't forget. Even though this happened a really long time ago? They still brought it up the other day.

On the day that this happened, I raced home and called my Mambo friend and told her about it. She told me not to worry about a thing, because a) nobody is really going to take the word of a mentally unstable person over mine; and b) I might take this as an opportunity to really share the positive aspects of the whole Wiccan concept.

So, being the Google queen that everyone knows I am, I went to work the following day armed with facts I am already familiar with, but nobody was any the wiser, given I look up and research anything that interests me. I started sharing facts, and do you know what? They actually LISTENED. I explained the Law of Threes and compared it to the Golden Rule, sowing and reaping, and Karma. They got it. I explained, based on that, that Witches generally live by that rule and that if they are powerful enough to send out something dark to harm a person, then they are more than powerful enough to simply protect themselves without harming anyone. I also told them that Witches don’t believe in the devil. THAT raised some eyebrows. Again, they actually listened.

I’m realistic. I know they still believe Witches are going to hell, but I also think that I broadened their minds, and even though it wasn’t by much, I truly believe that every little bit helps.

Blessed be...

A Mainstream Take on Halloween...

I’d been sidelined last week by a nasty little viral infection and had spent the bulk of my time in bed. I got up long enough to go to see my doctor a couple days in, and while I was checking out, my husband picked up a flyer and started to chuckle. My husband leans more toward the Pagan persuasion than anything else, as he abhors organized religion. The title of this tri-fold piece of literature (read: misinformed garbage) is titled “Halloween” and when I read the first paragraph I knew I had to slip it into my handbag and take it with me for a good laugh. Especially since the first paragraph reads, “Millions of Christians will allow and even encourage their children to pay respect to the devil on October 31.” Do WHAT? Oh, my Goddess, I thought to myself.

So we got home, and I opened this pamphlet and began reading in earnest. To paraphrase, this “essay” (or pure fiction) states that churches will fully sanction this event with parties that are decorated with traditional Halloween-related images. It goes on to talk about how Halloween came to be from the Roman festival of Druids. Roman Druids?  Now, while ancient history (or any history, for that matter) has never been my strong suit, I went out and re-googled the origin of Halloween just to make sure I was correct. Samhain, apparently, originated with the Celts, and I’m fairly sure that the Celts weren’t hanging out in ancient Rome. From what I’ve read, the Romans only became involved around 43 AD, when they occupied much of the Celtic territories. So right off the bat I guess I knew I was in for an interesting read.

After a couple more columns of what seems to be ancient history, the pamphlet goes on to explain how Christianity offered up All Saints Day as a suitable substitution for the night the Druids celebrated their God of the Dead. Then it goes on to explain how witches celebrate Sabbaths, which made me giggle, as I’ve always known them as “sabbats,” but what do I know? It goes on to explain that Halloween is the most important Sabbath, when we all gather to work our arts; that is to put into effect one of the basic tenets in witchcraft, and from this text, I quote, “One of the basic tenets in witchcraft is to force or control others in their behavior to come under control of the one practicing witchcraft.” C’mon. Really? Obviously this Einstein has never bothered to read the Wiccan Reed, or do any other type of research, unless it comes from his/her Bible, and even still, scripture is taken out of context, and bent to the will of the author.

The final two paragraphs read as follows: 

”The reply may be, ‘But we only do this at Halloween in fun.’ One is never to handle the things of Satan ‘in fun’ as he takes you seriously and since you are in forbidden territory you can get hurt.

“Halloween is a Satanic celebration of Satanic origin and has no place in the life or the church of the Christian."

It was upon reading those final two paragraphs that I almost spit orange juice out of my nose. I didn’t know whether to laugh, or simply feel sorry for such narrow-minded foolery. Even before I entered the world of Pagans and witchcraft, my Catholic-trained mind knew that the devil/Satan was a conjuration of the Christians to scare the ancient Pagans into believing in their faith. I mean, it makes sense. All my religious upbringing ever did for me was scare the *ahem* bejesus out of me. Samhain was around LONG before their concept of the scary ol’ devil was. I mean, let’s be real, here. They had such a hard time getting Pagans to jump on their bandwagon that they even had to borrow off of our holidays. Anyone looked up the origins of Christmas and Easter lately? You should. It’s almost funny.

Have these holier than thou “experts” ever bothered to pick up a book that wasn’t a Bible and do ANY research on their own? Probably not. These poor sheep have all been brainwashed since birth. I can safely assume that, as I, too, was brainwashed to think that any religion that isn’t Christian is wrong, and that anyone following such a religion is going straight to hell when they die. As I mentioned in another article, I live smack dab in the middle of the Southeastern Bible Belt, which is why I haven’t come out of the broom closet, if you will. It floors me that these mainstreamers, whose book does state, in their New Testament, Matthew, Chapter 7, verse 1: Judge not lest ye be judged.  Apparently it only applies to us heathens, and not to them, huh?

On the very last page of the flyer is the offending church’s name and address. I guess it would be wrong to egg them on October 31, huh? Trick or treat, Baby!

That Mabon Story I Mentioned...

So I mentioned our Mabon celebration in my first post.

The hubs and I picked up this really cool urn-style fire pit at Lowes the day of the Autumn Equinox so that we would have someplace warm to sit when we did our ritual.

We placed the urn between our out building and raised deck, thinking this would keep our little group out of sight of prying neighbor eyes.

Our Portable Pit :)

Let me take a moment to introduce you to my neighbors. On the out building side we have an older couple who are very conservative. On the other side we have some rowdy renters who LOVE to party, and party loudly. And a lot. You know the type...three a.m. and they're still carrying on most weekend nights.

So on the evening of the 22nd, I’d invited some of my more spiritual friends over for a Mabon ritual, you know…outdoors, with tea lights marking the circle, the portable fire pit in the middle, a portable altar and goodies facing the north quarter, etc.

We cracked a bottle (ok, two) of mead, had beans simmering on the stove and cornbread about to go into the oven for later, sat around on the deck until it started to get dark, and noticed that the loud neighbors were starting to have their people arrive.

I started lighting the tea candles, which consistently blew out given the breeze that evening, but did manage to keep the altar candles burning. We then got started.

Apparently, we weren’t quiet enough to not draw any attention to ourselves, because the loud neighbors stopped all of their own party preparations to stand on their deck and stare to see what they could see. At one point, they all became a little slack-jawed, which was funny, because I had never heard them so quiet before. That in itself was totally worth the price of admission.

After we finished and all ate supper, my friends hit the road to get back to their homes at a decent hour. At this point, the party next door was going full swing. And loudly, at that. I figured that we were in for another evening of screaming, hooting, 808 thumping, etc. until 2 or 3 in the morning. I was actually surprised to hear nothing after midnight.

Perhaps we scared them a little? Perhaps they were simply ready to retire at a decent hour? I don’t know. What I DO know, however, is that I actually slept like the dead that night, which is unusual for nights they party.

Things stayed quiet for a couple of weeks, and then, last night cranked back up again, and apparently went on till well after three. I have had the crud for the better part of the week and ended up taking some nighttime cold and flu medicine, and went down for the count sometime after one o’clock this morning. The hubs fell asleep on the couch and woke up around three. He went out on the back deck to smoke, while the party was still in full swing, but when they heard him out back, he said the volume did decrease across the fence.

Would it be wrong to fashion a pentacle out of a wire coat hanger or two, hang it on the outside of the privacy fence facing their yard, and maybe use some red dyed Karo syrup strategically to get their attention? I’m thinking probably so. I never claimed to not have a sense of humor. 

I whipped up a batch of hot foot powder a few weeks back for another situation I was dealing with, and thought if I could just get over there when nobody is home, I could sprinkle some around their doors. Of course, the hubs is discouraging me from even attempting that, because given my luck, someone would pull into the driveway and catch me red-handed. They’re renting, so it’s not like it would take an act of congress for them to leave. ;)

Your thoughts?

Brightest Blessings!