Mercury Retrograde

*cries*

Like I wasn’t already having motivation issues – in terms of communication, now this… ugghhh!!

I will get my ass in gear soon, I swear, but it’s been a bit crazy. Between working like 7 days a week, and having to go out of town on a family emergency, it’s not left me much time to have coherent thoughts of my own. Which of course makes it hard to write anything, or do anything that requires a bit of calm or focus.

I tend to celebrate on the actual astronomical dates rather than “generally accepted”, which this go around makes for an interesting combination, as it turns out Mercury is going into Retrograde starting today as well. So anyways, hope everyone has been having/had a wonderful holiday – whatever you celebrate around this time.

Hopefully soon, I will get back to our regularly scheduled program!! XD

P.S…

If you live in the USA – GO VOTE!!!!!!

 

 

 

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Pagan Pride 2012

Action, Action:  Despite my usual issues with PPD, I almost always go, as I do feel that it is important to support my local Pagan community. Thought we were going to get rained out, but it dried up just long enough for us to take a run out to the Fair Grounds for the Central NC Pagan Pride festival.

There wasn’t really any workshops that I was interested in this year, but hubby and the kids tagged along and we picked up some nice Elderberry Syrup from Swanfire Farms, and got some info on Starrlight Mead. Which while they weren’t allowed to sell at PPD, are just a bit down the way in Pittsboro. So definitely going to have to take a little road trip and pick some up! There was a nice bit of drumming going on when we got there though, so thought I’d share a pic and music to keep the mood going.

Post a Pic:

One Tribe

Musical Musings: Not from this year, or even a PPD, but this is the group that was leading the drumming. Well worth a listen!!

Blue Moon…

In Your Own Words:

So… lazy Pagan that I am, I really didn’t have any plans for last night.  Not only did I not get off work until about 10p, but I knew that I was going to have to get back up at about 3:45a to start my next shift, so really sleep was all I was really thinking of doing. However it seems that the universe had other plans for me.

I’ve been feeling “called” to make a specific necklace for the last couple months, and I was finally able to order the materials that I needed the other day, and it was just my luck that they came in yesterday afternoon. As most people know I’m not a very crafty sort of person, I mean I’m good with ideas, but generally suck on the execution – but this has been bugging at me for a while, so I felt that it was something that I needed to really get done.

Action, Action:

When I got off work, I sat down on my bed and was just going to look at the materials, sort them out, do a bit of organizing. Which is why I was still there 3 hours later, fingers and various other body parts cramping in pain from non-stop working. Did get it done though, and it turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself).

While I normally associate ravens with Odinn, for whatever reason I was specifically nudged in the direction of his wolves in the making of this, and it is for Him that it was made. I’m not entirely sure what that means, especially considering that I didn’t really get much of an indication that he was particularly interested in me, when we had our little chat earlier in the year. It’s true though, that he is often on my mind, though that’s probably because we have a lot of crows in our area – which while obviously not the same as a raven, yet still seem to always remind me of him none the less. Guess we’ll just have to see where it all leads…

Post a Pic:

Not the best picture in the world, since I am still more or less camera-less, but as I was despairing of even being able to post a pic, I remembered that I do have a webcam (crappy quality… but beggars can’t be choosers).  It was made with black obsidian, two different shades of labradorite, brass beads and a pewter and brass wolf pendent. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some better pics up one day.

(P) Pagan Pride

This post is primarily based on an experience that occurred in 2008, though in all fairness it’s pretty common at almost any PPD, that I’ve been to in recent memory. As we are fast approaching PPD season, seemed like a good time to bring it up.

So…my family and I go to our local Pagan Pride Day almost every year, and though some years it’s better than others, I am often left wondering if my standards and/or expectations of other Pagans are a bit too high.

I realize too, that there are a whole group of people who categorize themselves as Pagans, who are simply “wannabes”. These are the ones who are doing this too piss off their parents, or because they saw “The Craft” once and thought it looked cool, or any number of other less than “noble” reasons.  What gets me though, is it seems to be these particular people who often show up in droves to the PPD events. Maybe they think that since it is a gathering of other Pagans, that it is ok to let loose,  not that they really have any sort of understanding of Paganism, outside of stereotypes anyways. However, I still have to question…why? Why break out the fairy wings and renaissance wear – the Harry Potter gear, and extreme Goth wear?

In this case I don’t mean people who may normally dress that way on a regular basis, but the ones – and you can tell the difference – who are dressed up like PPD is one giant Halloween party. I also understand completely the concept of ritual wear, though again (and maybe this is just a personal quirk, but I know others that feel the same way) ritual wear is generally reserved for ritual purposes only. Wearing ritual gear out into the mundane world allows it to absorb those energies, which generally leaves them kind of icky (‘cuz you know people have all sorts of crazy energetic baggage – and especially when you are around a large group of people, you never know what you are going to pick up). Then you then have to go through the effort of cleansing them, and it’s usually just better to keep them away from that sort of thing.

So we shout Pagan Pride and expect others to take us seriously, and yet if this is the public “face” that we are putting on… can we really expect for anyone to take us seriously and give us the respect we deserve? I can understand that we don’t necessarily want to exclude anyone, but part of bringing Paganism to the mainstream (or at least raising tolerance levels) is letting people know that “hey… we are just like you”. That we should be able to dress however we want (be one Pagan or otherwise) is an issue as well, but until we live in that world, it’s still seems that one should be dressing some what appropriately (not particularly fond of that word, but it will have to do). At the very least, we should not be going out of our way to dress/act in a way that perpetuates the negative stereotypes we are trying so very hard to break away from.

There are many people who have chosen a Paganism because they are seriously seeking a religion or a spiritual path that they have not been able to find elsewhere. As one of those people, I find that I resent the “intrusion” of these “wannabes”. I am sick of wading through endless amounts of fluff, to find one small shred of valid truth. Just once, I’d like to go to a Pagan gathering and come away feeling like I learned something valuable, not like I’ve been violated. If I wanted to go to the a carnival or Ren Faire, then that is where I would go. As I said in the beginning, maybe my standards are too high – but if we are ever to be taken seriously, then maybe it is time that others raised their standards as well.

(O) Being Open-Minded

Don’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out!

A friend used to be rather fond of the above quote, and as we used to find ourselves frequently in discussion with those who were often accusing us of being “close-minded“, it really became a mantra of sorts. A rallying cry for fighting the good fight. It’s a variation of one that many often attribute to Richard Dawkins, however a closer look shows that the original author is unknown.

It’s one thing to accept that almost anything is possible, but it’s quite another to blindly believe every single thing that you read, or hear someone say. While there is a lot of UPG, and “doing your own thing” when it comes to many Pagan paths, there are still many things which can be verified, or that have historical facts/evidence associated with them. It’s also good to remember that “traditions” are not called such just for the fun of it.  Most importantly, we need to keep in mind that it is not “close-minded” to challenge those who attempt to claim otherwise, in fact it really comes down to a matter of common sense.

If someone asks you why you believe in something, or why you hold a certain view point to be true – you should be able to rationally discuss (even if you don’t give out personal details) at least some of the reasons which led you to feel the way you do. If you can’t, then maybe you need to take a bit of time and really think about it. This isn’t just important as a means to satisfy someone else’s curiosity, but a serious means of gaining a deeper understanding of your own beliefs and practices.

If someone points you to sources or information that contradict something that you thought you knew – don’t dismiss it out of hand. No one likes to be wrong, but a large part of life is growing and learning new things – take the opportunity that is being given to find out if you might have missed something. At the very least you’ll come out with stronger convictions, because you are able to support your own beliefs, but on that slight possibility that you are wrong, here is your chance to learn something new.  In either case you come out better for it in the end.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t believe in whatever you want to believe in, but using critical thinking skills in these situations goes a long way to ensuring that one’s practices, and beliefs are built on a solid foundation, rather than something a bit more tenuous.

Amazon.com Hates Me

Eureka!:

Not entirely what these sort of posts are supposed to be about, but I didn’t really have any true “A-HA” moments this month, and I didn’t want to start a new one without hitting all the Pagan Insights Project prompts at least once. Between my dad being up visiting and work, it’s been a bit of a crazy month, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to focus on much else for the last couple weeks. However this is at least somewhat related to my current path, so figured it could count – just this once.

What I have discovered this month is that Amazon.com does not want me to own a copy of Rudiments of Runelore by Stephen Pollington. Twice now I’ve ordered it (the first time actually back in April), and it was showing “in stock” both times. However in both cases it’s taken them so long to ship it, that it went out of stock while waiting.  The first time I threw a big fit, and they actually credited my account for the difference it was going to cost me to buy from someone else. However while I was deciding where else to get it from, Amazon showed that they had it back in stock, so I ordered it again. Then waited… and waited… and waited… and again still hadn’t shipped. Finally got a message yesterday saying that it had been canceled again because it had gone out of stock.

SO WHY THE FUCK DOES AMAZON KEEP NOTING IT AS “IN STOCK”, IF THEY ARE NOT GOING TO ACTUALLY CARRY IT!!!!! (or ship it in a timely manner – and yes, I am just a bit cranky over the whole thing XD)

It really wouldn’t be such an issue, but when they list it, the price is WAY less than what everyone else has it for, and as someone who doesn’t have a whole lot of $$, clearly I don’t want to pay a crapton of money for the book if I don’t have to. I feel like they are just playing some sort of cruel joke on me, and at this point I think I’m rather done playing along. Not cool Amazon.com… not cool at all!!

 

A Beautiful Moon & Some Music To Match

I meant to do this more around the time I actually took the pic, but got a bit sidetracked with some other things, but better late than never.

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Supermoon – well almost as it was taken on the night before the full moon. I’m glad I got the shot when I did though, because (as is rather par for the course around Sabbat time here) it was overcast and raining for the next couple of days.

Musical Musings:

Fittingly, if we are looking at a beautiful moon, then music about the moon would be the most appropriate choice as well. I stumbled across this song not too long ago, and really liked it, and would encourage everyone to check out Omnia. They are a Pagan folk band that has been around for quite a while actually. Some of it’s a bit hit or miss though, I was excited to see that they had a song about Lughnasadh, however that particular one gave me an almost insta-migrane (which is very unfortunate, since it’s one of my favorite Sabbats). Overall though, they do have some nice music, so still worth giving a listen.