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44 DOW: Day 4 - Picture of Nature (Water Element)

Posted by Tala Monday, January 30, 2012 1 comments

I know I keep lagging behind on the 44 DOW, but there has been, as usual, so much crap going on you wouldn't believe it.  House-hunting right now?  Ugh.  But something good will come our way.  I'm sure of it.

Anywho, getting on with it, the topic for day 4 is to post a picture of something in Nature.  The focus is to have the focus as being on the element of Water (anyone feel like giving me a resounding "Duuuuuuuh" yet? XD)

Water is my most favorite element.  I may be an air/earth sign (I'm on a cusp) but I'm a hardcore water baby.  I love rivers, lakes, and the ocean.  Especially the ocean.

I'm a total mountain girl, born and raised.  I've lived without them for the better part of 10 years, not even getting to see them or visit them; always stuck with the flat of the land against the globe of the sky.  But I gotta tell ya, someday I'd like to live in a place where I have both the mountains AND the sea at my fingertips.  For now, though?  I'm as contented as a fat, spoiled housecat to be back home in my beloved Colorado.

It's been over 10 years since I've laid my eyes on any oceans.  I'm hoping that a trip to Florida to visit more of my family isn't out of the question for sometime in the near future or out to the opposite end of the country to visit a dear friend of mine that I haven't gotten to see in almost a decade.  She won't go anywhere near the ocean, though.

I've longed to stand on an ocean beach, my toes digging into the silky sand, and just get to watch the full moon over the waters like in that picture up there.  I won't go in the water at night except for, perhaps, to wade. As much as my soul rests equally with the sea as it does with the mountains, I have enough respect for the ocean and her creatures to not risk night-time swimming.  Especially if I can't see what might be in the water with me.

Lakes, for me, are a blessed oasis.  They're not the ocean, but they're their own brand of sea-like solitude.  A lake nestled against a backdrop of mountains and as many spring-time wildflowers as you could ever hope to see interspersed with the green of lush grasses is one of my ideas of paradise.

This picture is of one of my favorite lakes in the whole world.  This is Williams Creek Reservoir.  I've been here a few times, but my favorite occurrence was when my brother took me out here.  I was about 13 and we came and spent a few hours by the lake with his big Rottweiler, Kelly.  And it was just as gorgeous as what I'd described earlier.  We could see the mountains off in the background, the lake was perfectly beautiful, and there were wildflowers EVERYWHERE. 

So there ya go.  ^_^  (I know: Not exactly the most brilliant of closings to a blog post, but bear with me -- I'm sick and my brain isn't exactly firing on all cylinders right now.)

44 Days of Witchery Day 3: Witchy Tools - Athame

Posted by Tala Thursday, January 26, 2012 1 comments

I haven't yet gotten into the swing of things to make sure that I make these posts every day, but at least I haven't given up on it or totally flaked out, which I see to be a good thing.  Ergo, I'm not beating myself up overly much.

Today's topic is, as the title suggests, about the athame.  Unless someone is an uber beginner, just about every Pagan knows what an athame is and, typically, what purpose it serves.  But, just in case I've got someone (perchance) reading that doesn't know I'll give the abbreviated skinny.

An athame is a ritual knife used in ritual (I know; that was a little redundant).  One of the things the athame symbolizes in ritual is the masculine energies.  For instance, in fertility rituals, the athame's blade gets dipped into a chalice of wine (the chalice representing the feminine energies, of course) to symbolize the unity of the masculine and the feminine to bring forth life. Another use that the athame can have in ritual is during the casting of circle.  I've also seen athames used to draw invoking and evoking pentagrams in the air as a solute to the gods.

Traditionally it's a double-edged blade with a black wooden handle and is not meant for any sort of physical cutting (though some that I know of occasionally use the blade of their athame to let a little of their own blood if the spell calls for it; that just boils down to personal choice). The knife typically used for any sort of cutting (which typically ranges only to herbs) is called a boline, which traditionally carries a crescent-shaped single-edged blade like a small harvesting sickle.

Nowadays, many have opted to acquire athames that stray away from tradition.  My first athame was a small boot knife-styled blade, double-edged, and made from either silver or stainless steel (I can't remember which). Due to the fact that I had some bad memories tied to that athame, I chose to sell it to someone who could find better use from it.

As for what I'm hoping to get for my next athame?  I dunno, honestly.  I'm just going to wait until the right one presents itself to me.  I like daggers that look like miniature swords.  I like the idea of having an athame with a wooden handle, double-edged blade, and overall, I'd just like it to be something simplistic.  I don't need anything gaudy or overly ornate.

I'd love it if I could find an athame with the Triple Moon symbol on the handle.  I've seen a few of those.  The Triple Moon symbol or the Goddess symbol on the handle would be perfect for me  ^_^

Yay for new followers!! :-D

Posted by Tala Wednesday, January 25, 2012 0 comments

I've got 5 followers!  :-D   That seriously makes my day!   Hi, everyone!  Thanks for following my blog!  Y'all are seriously awesome  >^.^<   Mi gusta!

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44 Days of Witchery Day 2: A Myth or Story From Folklore

Posted by Tala Tuesday, January 24, 2012 0 comments

I don't know if this would be a shocking thing for a Pagan to say, but I don't really know that many myths.  I mean, I have studied about a few different Pantheons ranging from the Egyptians to the Greeks and now to the Celts.  But maybe I don't necessarily look at those stories as being myths.  Even if they're like "The Iliad" where it could basically be bits of legend coupled with truth of actual events, I still see them as having at least some truth to them.  And if they don't, they're still wonderful, exciting stories.

I mean, come on, hearing about Zeus giving birth to Athena from his head?  That sounds pretty fantastical but also, to me, kinda funny.  If I recall correctly, Zeus felt threatened by what Athena was meant to do, so as soon as she was birthed from her mother, Zeus ate her.  But soon after consuming his daughter, he got such a headache that he called upon Hephaestus, the Olympian gods' smithcraft, to split open Zeus' head and out popped Athena -- fully-formed into adulthood and already clothed for battle.  One story in particular that I got a kick out of was how one of the gods played a prank on Zeus and basically made it to where Zeus copulated with a goat, which he doesn't realize until later.  Of course, the prank had rather disastrous results. The prank was spawned because Ol' Thunderbutt is a bit of a hardass anyway -- but the prankster, having already known that, should have realized that the humorless king of the Olympians would not have found it funny and, instead, would have sought vengeance for his humiliation.  If I'm not mistaken, that was how the Oneroi came to be, but don't quote me.  I just remember that it was an Oneroi who was involved.

However, before I really ever started to learn of these stories of the gods, there is one story from folklore that I have always rather cherished even as it is a really sad story.  As it stands, I saw the movie first and, currently, I am FINALLY able to read the book (LOVING it, btw; Since last night and much of my time today I have already read over 200 pages out of the 900 that are listed).

Some stories portray Morgan Le Fay as an evil woman, a sorceress probably about the same ilk as Lilith is portrayed.  But historians of men are rarely kind to strong women, especially when those chauvinists have the power of the early Christian cloth to make their false words into something for all fearful people to be obeyed and accepted blindly as truth.

The book and movie that I am speaking of, of course, would be "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  And, naturally, I love the decidedly Pagan theme of the book.  I appreciated the amount of research that Marion did in creating this story and I was thrilled to see how many Pagans she consulted so as to have as correct a perspective on the Pagan rites back in those days. People like Isaac Bonewits, Morning-Glory Zell, and even Starhawk's book "The Spiral Dance" were mentioned.  Perhaps it's silly that seeing them mentioned should make me so giddy, but knowing how much she researched Paganism for this book made me appreciate it even more.  It's almost like reading a truly Pagan novel.

Anyway, getting back to the point.  Stories like this are what I like to hear in regards to Morgaine Le Fay.  Even the few things I was able to find about her on the internet seem to reflect that she was actually a kind woman seeking to do the work of the Goddess, not some evil sorceress out to bring about the downfall of King Arthur and Camelot or Merlin.

I think my favorite part of the book and the movie is when it talks about how she was raised.  I particularly appreciated this part of the movie as it shows Morgaine growing up in training to be a priestess, learning magick, herb lore (I especially loved that brief glimpse of the kitchen area that showed all the herbs being hung for drying), and, of course, passing the test to part the mists.

As much as I love this story, it's also quite saddening to see how wrong all their lives went.  As much as I love this story, to me it shows an example of what happens when one manipulates others as Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, had done.  Oh, I know it was to try to ensure a good future for Avalon and Britain, but I think all her meddling (like how Igraine came to be with Uther, causing Morgaine to unwittingly lie with her little brother for the Great Rite of Beltane, etc) caused a great deal of harm even despite her best intentions.  As it is said,  "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Still, through it all, I can see how Viviane tried her best, loved the Goddess and loved her family.  Both she and Morgaine were the biggest reasons that I love this story.  Their lives aren't easy, but they learn and try to make the best out of their situations.

That's what I take from it anyway.


Like many Pagans in my acquaintance, I was raised in a Christian household. "The Wizard of Oz", "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", and "Bewitched" were perfectly acceptable, but "Harry Potter" was of the devil. I went to a Bible college after high school that turned out to be a less-than-pleasant experience. Those nearly-two years were what made me decide that I'd had enough of so-called "Christians" that act nothing like the Christ. I'd seen people start at that school behaving very kindly for the most part but then turn into horrid, judgmental jerks as time went on. There was this one dude named Sam who seemed to think that it was so holy to tell my roommate (I'll just refer to her as R) that a friend of hers who had committed suicide had gone to hell. Yes, asshat, Comfort one another with those words. I'd wanted to punch him because his torrid insistence very greatly upset R and it's not even a belief I've ever been able to subscribe to.
There was this other gal who had started out one of my most favorite people there (I'll refer to her as J). She used to be so nice to me and she was a very happy, bouncy, and hyper person. I used to love being around her. But as time went on, hers was the change that was the most horrible. She became someone who was so uptight, stick up her ass, judgmental, and haughty. At one point during the second year I was having to deal with a very bad sickness. It was like the cold that wouldn't go away. I'd feel the cold coming on, I'd get full-blown sick for a couple weeks, finally get better and be fine for about a week and then it would start all over again. It was an absolutely MISERABLE few months. Well, one afternoon a bunch of us had congregated at my former roommate's apartment for a study group. I looked at R and told her that I could feel this sickness coming back on me.
Well, despite the fact that it was a private conversation, J apparently overheard me and butted her oh-so-holy nose in to tell me in a very snotty, hoity-toity voice, "Well, quit calling it on yourself!"
-_- Gee. Thanks, bitch. I was SO comforted and that was UBER helpful.
Even now, all these years later, that shit still burns quite honestly. J is one of the main reasons why I don't label myself a Christian anymore. Even as a Pagan, I look at God the same as I did when I was a Christian, I still believe in Christ, but it's like that bumper sticker: "I'm fine with God; it's His fan-club I can't stand."
Hell, Gandhi couldn't have put it any better when he said "I like your Christ, I just don't like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Aaaaaaanywho, getting past the bitter stuff, a few months after I left the school I was in a store not far from where I lived and I stumbled across a book. It was a spell book specifically for helping someone in regards to sleeping and dreams. I remember feeling a curious surprise as I paged through the book. None of the magick that I saw in there had anything to do with trying to cause someone else harm, killing cats for Halloween, or eating children. Nothing in there about hexes or curses. Oh, I wasn't dumb enough to think that stuff like that didn't happen, but this was a stark contrast to what I'd always been brought up to believe about witchcraft.
That piqued my interest for sure.
At first I had no idea what to start reading to learn more, but I eventually was introduced to Silver Ravenwolf's books. And, while I know that her books tend to be very controversial, she was still a good start for me. She cleared up a lot of the questions and misgivings I initially had and enabled me to get my foot in the door to learn more progressively. However, my very most favorite Pagan author is Ellen Dugan. Her book Elements of Witchcraft: Natural Magick for Teens was the first book of hers that I ever read and, even though I wasn't a teenager when I first read it, I found it to be a delightful book for any beginner to read no matter what the age range.
There are several authors I enjoy reading, though (as previously mentioned), I'm not exactly practiced yet. Practice-wise, I'm still a newbie. Between my own lack of self-discipline to keep at trying to practice along with life situations that have prevented it from being a possibility? Yeah. I've still got a long way to go.
Druid has been trying to help me progress. He's got a copy of The Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland (or Uncle Bucky as we jokingly refer to him as) and I've got the first book in the WitchSchool.com series that I've been wanting to go through (and I very much enjoy listening to the "Pagans Tonight!" radio show that's put on by the WitchSchool crew). But, like I said, life has not exactly seen us in situations where we really could work on it more.

 

One thing I'm very much wanting to focus on is also raising our children in Paganism. I grew up in Christianity and that was about as easy as going to church every Sunday, reading the Bible and the occasional devotional, etc. Really, there wasn't much to it and, of course, the materials for Christian parenting abound. Pagan Parenting, on the other hand, is not as prevalent. There aren't very many books geared toward Pagan children or, even, Pagan Parenting.
So, bearing that in mind, I have been badly wanting to find a family-oriented coven to be a part of. I'd tried that at the last place I'd lived and…..it didn't go so well. They seemed like really nice, welcoming people. We got to enjoy two Sabbats with them (Beltane and Midsummer) and then after that we basically got shunned because, as they so put it, "We have two coven members who work at DHS and they could be fired if they were found to be socializing with DHS clients outside of work," the aforementioned DHS clients being us of course. I'd written about that on my Pagan Mommy blog and the people who commented as well as Druid all thought that that was a bunch of hooey. But what could we do? *shrug* As much as it hurt back then, I'm over it at this point and hoping that we can find a coven to belong to here.
One of the big disappointments about that coven not working out was because the kids and done so well at the rituals! I was thrilled enough for myself to be able to take part, but my biggest happiness and pride came from watching my children participate. Aspen, my oldest, got to have a big part of the Midsummer ritual (he got to represent the element of Earth and be the Gnome for the ritual) and he did so good with it, I almost cried! I wanted to be part of that not only for my own learning but also for the kids. That coven placed a big emphasis on including children in ritual that I really thought that it would have been a good fit for us. But considering the way that life went down several months later, I suppose it was for the best that we ultimately were not welcomed into the group. Our abrupt departure would have been quite disruptive to the balance and they didn't need that.
So I am hoping to be able to find a coven here that we can join. I think it would not only be a huge help for me in becoming more practiced but also to help me to learn how to raise my children in the Craft. They really enjoyed the Sabbat rituals and I think it was beneficial to them to get to be around other children being raised in Paganism as well.
In the meantime, Druid and I will have to just figure it out by ourselves. I know he knows more about Pagan Parenting than I do, but having other people to be around would just be incredibly helpful.

 

Well, I suppose that wraps up this first entry for the 44 Days of Witchery challenge. I'm really hoping to do better at keeping up with it than I did at my last attempt of it.


Ok, ok. I kind of horked this idea from one of my LiveJournal friends. Lenni had written about how she takes a ritual bath every night before she goes to bed and how she uses it as a time for communing with the gods, cleansing away all the crap from the day, etc. I'm not gonna lie: I'm not a shower-every-day kind of girl. But the idea of taking a nice, soothing bath every night before bed? Love!
However, I seriously need to start trying to find a way to manage my time better. I very much lack good time management skills, which really sucks. I might not be as much of a Busy Pagan if I were to set up a good time management plan and stick to it. Seriously, people, I need better organizational skills.
Even Druid, bless his heart, has tried getting me to stick to a schedule for doing things and……well, I kinda bombed at it. >.< Ugh. I get so stuck on something I'm doing or I allow myself too much laziness and it all goes to hades.
Buuuuuuut, getting back to the topic at hand: I know I would have many benefits from setting the time aside every night to have a bath. I think it would go a long way to helping deal with stress and improving my health, I think it would give me a lot of much-needed time with God and Goddess. I'd even love to learn how to make some herbal washes like what Rowan Pendragon was describing in the Newsletter she issued for the PBP for this week. I've wanted to get a coffee brewer for the express purpose of brewing herbal infusions and other things of the like, but that's something else that's going to have to wait.
Really, though, I could use my electric kettle for such things and let the herbs steep in a loose-leaf tea ball (need to buy one of those, though).
Tala


I'm not gonna lie: I don't have any voluntary experience with Astral Projection and I've only been able to read a bit about it. This isn't going to be a blog post about what I know about it, because, really, this is one of those areas where book knowledge isn't going to take me nearly as far as actually experiencing it would.
Several years before I ever even heard of Paganism, Wicca or anything else of the like, I still had a hefty interest in the paranormal. An old friend of mine, with whom I spent much of my juvenile years, had a very open mind and was blessed to be with a family that seemed to encourage it of her. It was because of this friend that I even heard of Astral Projection and it was also because of her that I first got my glimpse that things like Tarot cards are not as great an evil as I'd been brought up to believe.
She had this book that talked about it and I was quite fascinated with the idea of having an Out of Body Experience (OBE). We even made an attempt of it and, being the ornery teenagers that we were, we got a kick out of the idea of showing up to her younger cousin in ghost-like forms like what the book had described.
However, the techniques listed in the book for trying to achieve Astral Projection did not work. Seriously, there just was not much chance that we'd have been able to quiet our minds down enough like what the book described. Come on. We were teenagers and we had not been raised with any sort of meditational discipline. Hell, even at nearly 30 years of age I still haven't quite whipped myself into shape where that's concerned.
If I ever am able to Astral Project voluntarily, there is a lot that I would love to do. Now, I don't exactly know what all is possible when one does that. I've heard that one can travel back in time, speak with your loved ones that have passed on, see your Akashic Records, etc. I would love to do all of that. I would love to meet my spirit guides on the Astral Plane, and I would love to experience an Astral Shift.
I'm a Therian (Grey Timberwolf) and it's a very dear part of my personal spirituality. And one of the types of shifts I would love to experience would be Astral Shifting – where I basically shift my Astral body into a wolf. I've talked to a few different Therians who have experienced that and I think it'd be a pretty awesome thing to experience, especially to see what lessons I could learn.
I've mentioned before that I've never experienced Astral Projection on a voluntary basis, but I know I've experienced it on an involuntary one, but I usually don't even realize that that's what's happening until I'm jolted awake by that feeling of falling. I typically have a very difficult time remembering my dreams, so I couldn't even begin to tell you anything I saw or experienced during those occasions. I used to try to keep a dream journal and I know I need to get back into the habit of it – but it's hard to when you can't even remember what you dreamed. I know that there's the typical advice of "Keep your dream journal by your bed so you can record your dreams down as soon as you wake up" and all, but when I wake up, it's usually time to spring out of bed, get the kids ready for school, and begin my day. By the time I'd have the available time to write down any dreams, they are usually long gone from my memory. It can be very frustrating.
But I will try to start doing better to remember my dreams. Perhaps if I can start practicing that again and setting my mind before I go to sleep to remember my dreams, perhaps I will be able to recall an involuntary Astral travel experience.
How cool would that be? Especially if I can set my mind before such an occurrence to request to meet my spirit guide(s). That could be awesome.
Tala


(I know these are a little late, but I'm getting caught up anyway ^_^)

I love having an altar whenever I can.  I prefer to have a permanent altar setup, but having 3 young children that just LOVE to get into everything makes it…..difficult.  They like to get into my stuff, mess with my electronics, and though it hadn’t happened for quite a while, they managed to grab ahold of my favorite purple journal (which I hadn’t even really gotten to use yet) and scribble on several of the pages and rip out just as many. They went digging through my backpack for that one.  Ooooooh, that pissed me off!  Seriously, it made me cry.  I was THAT mad.

Soooo, yeah.  Permanent altars are kind of out of the picture right now. *sigh*

My altars aren’t fancy and I like them that way.  ‘Course, since I moved, I ended up having to leave behind what wasn’t quite as sentimental and could be replaced.  I don’t have any fancy god or goddess statues or symbols.  Those are usually symbolized by a horse that my older brother gave me for Christmas many years ago.  And my goddess symbol is a faery that one of my best friends gave me for my birthday several years back.  I would love to have a statuette of my matron goddess, Brighid someday, but that’s going to have to wait.  And that’s alright.  I hope to have a statuette of her for when I’m able to set up a shrine to Her.
I had a small boot knife-style athame at one point, but it carried some bitter ties to the past that I did not want or need, so I sold it.  I am hoping to replace it soon.  Not quite sure with what kind of athame, but I’ll know it when I see it.

I have a small cauldron that I absolutely adore.  It too was a gift from a good friend.  And I saw a large rusty cast iron cauldron sitting outside my grandmother’s house that I’m REALLY tempted to ask if they’re going to do anything with.  ‘Cause if I could do away with the rust on it? It’d be a thing of beauty!  :-D  It’s the kind of cauldron that would be perfect sitting in or near a fireplace.
Currently, I have no chalice or even a place to set up an altar even if I did have all my tools and representations.  When my family is once again in a place of our own, I will have to start replenishing my collection again.  Pretty much everything is going to have to be replaced.
I have several daydreams about my perfect altar.  If I were to try to have a permanent altar at this point, I’d want it to be something that I could have up on a wall, like some hanging decorative shelves or something.  I’m not really sure if I’d want it in a centralized location like the living room or if I’d want it cloistered off in my bedroom.

I think it’d even be cool to have a kitchen altar.

I know I’d want my shrine to Brighid in a centralized location where I could pass it often and be reminded of Her presence in my life.  I’m not quite sure what all I’d want on it, but I know I’d want to have things that are representative of Her or are sacred to Her.  There’s this painting of her by Jessica Galbreth that I would LOOOOOOOOOVE to have on that shrine. 



That is my absolute most favorite picture of Her and I plan on someday buying the print of it.  There’s even a little statuette rendering of this that I have been absolutely salivating over.  There’s also another statuette that I once saw in this metaphysical shop I used to love to frequent that showed Brighid in her Triple Goddess form and that’s the one that I would love to have as my goddess representation on my main altar.  I’ll have to save up for it, though.  When I last saw it, it was $179.  But oh, it’s so worth every penny!

Before this year is over, I hope to have my altar things replenished again.  I would SO love to go scouring the thrift stores, garage/yard sales, and flea markets (ESPECIALLY the Mile High Flea Market; I’ve never been there, but it’s always been one of Colorado’s highlights) as well as the local metaphysical shops.

Lastly, as for altar surfaces, I’ve never needed a fancy altar table (not that I’d object to having one).  My last altar was a two-level end table that, even as beat up as it was, I absolutely loved it.  I like just having something simple and workable.  I like multi-surfaced altar tables (as in more surfaces to it than just the main working space).  I saw a picture that one of my good friends had posted of her altar and it was placed on this multi-surfaced entertainment center that one could get from Wal-Mart at the time.  I recognized it because I used to have an entertainment center that looked just like it.  It was a simple plastic easily-assembled surface.  While I know that it’s preferable to have one’s table made from wood, I also know that there’s no sin in practicality and I personally don’t think that having a surface like that for my altar would hinder anything.

I would even love to have an outdoor altar if I could manage it.  My grandmother has this tree stump in her yard with this big board laid over it that makes a table that I’ve badly wanted to use as an outdoor altar.  But seeing as that stump/table is in full view of heavily-used areas of the house, I don’t think that would work or be very appreciated (my family here is very Christian and, while I think that they know of my being Pagan, it’s sort of like the Pink Elephant; it’s not brought up and I try not to flaunt it).  However, it would be so awesome if I had something like that outside whenever Druid and I manage to get into our own place.  ^_^ But even if that’s not the case, I’m sure I can work out something where we could have a place to set up an outdoor altar for when we want to do rituals outside.

Tala

44 Days of Witchery list

Posted by Tala Saturday, January 21, 2012 0 comments

  1. What’s your witchy background? 
  2. A myth or story from folklore. 
  3. Witchy tools: athame.
  4. Picture of nature (water element).
  5. A favourite Goddess. 
  6. A favourite God. 
  7. Air element.
  8. A photo of a magical place outdoors. 
  9. A favourite mythological animal.
  10. Your sun sign.
  11. Witchy tools: oils.
  12. Picture of nature (air element).
  13. What are some of the witchy books that influenced you?
  14. A favourite pagan holiday that you celebrate. 
  15. Thoughts on the afterlife?
  16. Favourite witchy website(s).
  17. Picture of nature (fire element).
  18. Have you had any paranormal experiences?
  19. Fire element.
  20. A picture of a tarot or oracle card, and its meaning. 
  21. A favourite scent.
  22. Current moon phase.
  23. A favourite candle.
  24. Your moon sign.
  25. How do your close ones feel about your witchy path? Do they know? Why or why not? 
  26. A witchy podcast.
  27. Picture of nature (earth element).
  28. A picture of a witchy I-Want-It-Now!
  29. Water element.
  30. Witchy tools: wand.
  31. A favourite pagan/witchy movie.
  32. A pagan/witchy artwork. 
  33. Faerie of your choice.
  34. Rune of your choice.
  35. Something that I think people who don’t know much about paganism/witchcraft should know. 
  36. Flower of your choice, and its magical properties.
  37. A famous pagan/witch!
  38. Witchy tools: cauldron.
  39. Something that inspires you.
  40. Your altar, if you have one!
  41. A spell you’ve done.
  42. A favourite nature spirit.
  43. A magical recipe.
  44. Witch’s choice!

Challenges

Posted by Tala 0 comments

On my last blog I had started the "44 Days of Witchery Challenge" as posted by The Domestic Pagan, but I never really got to finish it.  So, in addition to the Pagan Blog Project, I'm going to make another attempt at the 44 Days of Witchery again.

I'm also going to be doing posts for the first 3 topics for the Pagan Blog Project.  It's too late to submit them for the blog roll, but at least I'll have them done.  ^_^

Merry Meet

Posted by Tala Friday, January 20, 2012 0 comments

Don't let the line under the blog title fool you:  While I may feel spiritually starved, it's not because I don't place my spirituality as an important priority within my life.  I try to integrate my spirituality very firmly in my life even if I hardly ever seem to have the time, energy, etc. to do what I want to in order to further my growth beyond what it is.  And?  I'm not going to lie: I feel kinda stunted.  For someone who's been a Pagan for the better part of 10 years, I haven't progressed very much beyond book learning.  Which is sad.  Really sad.  For me, anyway.  I know I'm not the only Pagan to be in this particular place.

I have quite a bit of book knowledge as well as knowledge that, basically, are my own conclusions based off what I've learned.  But, as anyone knows, you can be book-learned to the Nth degree but that doesn't make one practiced.

I can read books galore as to how to perform a heart surgery but does that make me qualified to do so?  Nuh uh.

This isn't my first Pagan blog here on Blogger.  I used to have The Journey of a Pagan Mommy blog.  But my life has changed a lot in the months since I last wrote in it (and I just deleted that blog today) and it felt to me that I needed a new start.  I felt as though trying to go back to that blog would be like keeping a tie to the life that I just left behind and I have no interest in maintaining that tie.

Also the fact that my former blog had encouraged a narrow focus on only one aspect of my life, I wanted to embrace a format that I could feel comfortable in writing about EVERYTHING.

Have you ever been on a message board where there where the Topic Police that would squelch you in a split second if they felt that you talked about anything that was even an iota Off Topic?

I kinda felt that way personally with my last blog, and I know that's stupid.  The only one restricting me was me.  But still.  I wanted a fresh start and to start with something where I could feel more open to write about everything going on.  My college classes, parenting my children and trying to raise them in Paganism, my personal daily struggles to incorporate Paganism into my life and to try to progress beyond the Beginner level of practice.

Where my life was at with my last blog, I felt like I was beating my head against a brick wall.  I had even found a family-oriented coven in the area that I had BADLY wanted to join and, for whatever reason, they seemed welcoming at first and then they turned around and shunned me and my family.  They had claimed that because I was involved with the local DHS (as in I was a client) and they had people that worked at DHS that could get fired if it was found that they were socializing with clients outside of work that they could be fired.

The people who commented on that post as well as my boyfriend, Druid, were quite confused at that and some even called bullshit.  Hell.  After a while I did too.  But, whatever.  Beyond memories, it is long past being irrelevant.

Now I have been able to leave just about everything bad from my old life behind.  Oh don't get me wrong, things aren't sunshine and rainbows.  There are still some things that I'm currently having to deal with that are EXTREMELY stressful.  But being that I've gotten to come to a better place and I feel like I can start healing, I have better faith that we'll make it through this crap somehow and we're going to be ok.

I'll just REALLY feel better when it all is completely behind me.

And in the spirit of starting anew, I'm signing this blog up for the Pagan Blog Project 2012.  I've already missed the first 2 weeks, but I can still do the entries for them even if they can't be counted and submit an entry for Week 3.

I want to do something to try to bring my spirituality to a more centralized focus.  That is my problem.  I'm a flibbertigibbet Gemini/Taurus who has time management problems as well as self-discipline issues.  And I know that, without those tools, I'm not going to be a very effective Witch.