Books'n'Things

Just wanted to pop in with a bit of an update...

So those are the books I got with the gift cards I got for Christmas, hence we've been calling it "Bookmas". I can't take the credit for coming up with that term though...

Anyway, I've started reading the Ancient Legends book first, and then I think I'll move on to Meeting the Other Crowd, because I think the two may tie in well together, and then I'll finish up the trifecta with Irish Witchcraft. So far it's been a really interesting read - she claims that may of the Irish folklore and superstitions actually have Iranian and Persian backgrounds:

                      All other countries have been repeatedly overwhelmed by alien tribes and peoples and races, but the Irish have remained unchanged, and in place of adopting readily the usages of invaders they have shewn such remarkable powers of fascination that the invaders themselves became Hibernicis ipsis Hiberniores. The Danes held the east coast of Ireland for three hundred years, yet there is no trace of Thor or Odin or the Frost Giants, or of the Great World-serpent in Irish legend; but if we go back in the history of the world to the beginning of things, we come upon the true ancient source of Irish legend, and find that the original materials have been but very slightly altered, while amongst other nations the ground-work has been overlaid with a dense palimpsest of their own devising, suggested by their particular local surroundings. - Page 7, Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland. Lady Wilde. 

I realize the book is quite old, but she's got some valid points about this. Why is there no mention of the Norse gods when the Danes held the east coast for so long?  It's an interesting thought for sure, and one that I might explore further once I'm done.

Switching gears to the IDGAF front...

We were on the local radio station CKDU again last week, talking about IDGAF - the process of joining, our journeys this far, dispelling some rumours, that kind of thing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be on the show this time because I couldn't get the night off work, but a dedicant of ours was able to make it on, and Drew got to go on this time, so that's good. It sounded like it went well, which is always great. With 4 dedicants and 5 initiated members, I think we've certainly had a great first year. I'm excited to see where the next year takes us! 

On a personal level - I've got two crested gecko gecko eggs due to hatch near the end of next week, which is always exciting, and I've also got some transitional job stuff happening at the moment. I don't want to go in to a lot of detail because the dust hasn't settled, so to speak, but it's all kind of exciting and stressful at the same time. 

OH! I almsot forgot to mention...over the weekend I was out with a friend and happened to stumble upon something I really didn't think I'd ever feel the need to have...

Yes folks, that's a drinking horn. I still have to clean it out and make it all shiny and whatnot, but it's pretty awesome just the same. I had one of those moments...when you see something laying there that catches your eye, so you go to pick it up, and then it's like the clouds part in the sky and a ray of light comes down from the heavens to shine upon you holding said item, complete with some kind of angelic chorus in the background. It totally happened to me when I picked this up for a closer look. I knew it had to be mine. It's weird though, because as interesting as I find Heathenry, I'm not overly drawn towards it at the moment, though that could change.

So I think that's all from me for now. I'm still reading and doing my thang', as always - even if I don't come on here and update all that often. Hopefully everyone is having a great start to the new year! See you 'round next time! 

A Little New Year's Catch-Up

Happy New Year everyone! I know we're just about a week in, but it's still not too late for well-wishes.

I've been lacking on the blog posts lately, but since we're having a lazy Sunday at my place I figured I'd pop in for an update.

Our holidays were a bit different than normal this year, but were still good overall, and were also surprisingly quiet. The lead-up had us pretty busy, but with Yule and Christmas so close together it sort of comes with the territory.

On the book front, I've still been slowly picking away at that Albertsson (Alec) book, To Walk A Pagan Path. I'm still throughly enjoying it, and would highly recommend it to someone looking for a book to get them back into the swing of things. I find that it's complimented IDGAF really well, and I enjoy the fact he admits his biases and then gives alternative suggestions that aren't based on his tradition. He essentially gives you ideas of how to involve your spirituality in everyday life, from brining plants in to your home to creating mini daily rituals (say a few words over your morning coffee, etc). I've stalled reading it a bit because for some strange reason, I've been on a bit of a Pokemon kick lately. (yeah, yeah, I know. But my wife got me into it, and I'm actually kind of enjoying it)

I've also got a few new books coming in, hopefully this week (Yay for bookmas!). I chose to go with a theme, which is Irish Witchcraft. I've been curious about it while reading through that Albertsson book. It's something I've been a bit interested about for a while, and although I don't have a lot of hard-fast proof that I've got some Irish heritage, I would be extremely surprised if I don't - my father has head-to-toe freckles and is very much a redhead, as was his father, and his mother's madden name apparently has Irish origins. (I've also got a lot of British background - my father's dad was born in England) So I did a quick Google search, and came up with a few titles, 3 of which are due here by Thursday (the others will have to wait for more gift cards, lol). Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Wilde, Irish Witchcraft from An Irish Witch by Lora O'Brien, and Meeting the Other Crowd by Eddie Lenihan. The first two are old, but I'm okay with that. The last one is people's accounts of encountering faeries, and I think that one is a bit dated too. Either way, I'm hoping these books will give me a bit of an idea of what makes Irish Witchcraft Irish, aside from it's adherents being Irish or living there. I'd also like to look into Slavic Paganism a little bit too, once I'm done with these books. Unless of course, I get so taken by these that I loose interest.

We did the initiation ritual for fourth founding member of IDGAF last week, and I think it went really well. It was short and sweet, and to the point, and we're all really proud of him for having gotten through whole the process. Speaking of initiations, our first "seeker" did her initiation last week as well! So it's been a pretty exciting week for us IDGAFians.

I guess that's all I've got for now. OH! I got a leather working kit from my wife for Christmas, so I'm pretty excited to really delve into that. I think I'm going to be adorning my staff with a few small bits of tooled leather once I get the hang of it. So far, I haven't done much with it, but I've got a practice piece ready and waiting. Just thought I'd mention that, because I might put up a few photos down the road.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

What's in a Face?

So this has absolutely nothing to do with the current trend of my blog, but I just needed somewhere to rant about this, and this is convenient place to do so.

 I've had two people on my Facebook friends list posting about food-related things in the past week. The first was a video from a vegetarian. She shared a video of a small child refusing to eat the octopus his mom had made for dinner because he doesn't think that we should eat things because it means they have to die. That's cool, but his mom just says "ok, we won't eat meat anymore" instead of explaining to her son about food chains and the circle of life and all that jazz. It was a cute video, and I think it was intended to get people to lean towards the feelings of mom, but it had the opposite effect on me.

Then just tonight I saw a status update that made me want to comment, but I held my tongue in favour of coming on here.

Apparently a local pub was spit-roasting a pig outside this afternoon, and someone was grossed out by that (I'm sure it was more than just one person).

Our society has become so disassociated with the food we eat it's disgusting. Especially when it comes to meat.

Maybe the fact that the animal still looked like an animal and wasn't cut up in to small convenient pieces is what did it, but how do people not know that the pork chop they've got in their fridge was just a small part of that roasting pig? Is it because it's still got its face attached? Probably.

I'm sorry people, but if you're eating a steak, or a lamb burger, or a pork chop, that meat was once a walking, breathing animal with a "cute" face. It's a fact of life. In order for us to live, something has to die, whether it be a plant or an animal, or a freaking berry. Maybe it's because I'm pagan, but I have a deep-seeded respect for the food I eat because I'm acutely aware of this. In order for my life to be sustained, something had to die for me whether it was slaughtered or forcibly removed from the ground or a plant. I am very grateful every single day for the food I eat because of this.

Also, how is roasting a turkey or whole chicken any different than seeing a pig roast? There's no face on a chicken or turkey when you pop it in the oven. Why does the presence of a face automatically make something untouchable? What about fish?

I have no answer to this, but I wholeheartedly believe that if that pig had its legs and head removed before being put on that spit, that people would have been just fine seeing it.

I Open at the Close

A little note on my spiritual progression (so far) after IDGAF...

In my last blog post I mentioned that we've been doing more regular meditations, and this past week was no exception. It seems as though the more I do them, the more I get out of them. Obviously this is what I want to happen, and I'm thrilled its happening, but I have to say I'm actually kind of surprised. I really thought it would have taken more practicing before I got anything meaningful, but it's actually been more like riding a bike - a little shaky at first, but smooth sailing after a few pedals. 

I'm not sure if you've gotten this impression from me in the things I've posted thus far or not, but on the whole I'm a really sceptical person with just about everything until I can verify it. Spiritual matters are no exception. For example, I always thought Reki was a load of hooey until I saw someone instantly cured of a day-long nose bleed (literally, it had been happening off and on all day). I'm talking, had a nose bleed and got two Reki masters to Reki their face. By the time they were done the nose bleed was gone. To my knowledge this person hasn't actually had one since. That's the kind of confirmation I need. That, or witnessing two people having the same experiences or impressions of something that neither one of them have had or seen before. As an example, say two people are doing a healing and never worked together before. They both see the exact same thing that's plaguing the "sick" person and all three people have the same experiences when getting whatever it is to "release". 

Even better that any of that would be actually experiencing or seeing something for myself. That is the tricky part, however. I'm nervous of things, especially when it involves something I've not dealt with before, or something that's "bigger than me". For me, that's pretty much everything, lol! So what I'm trying to get out of these meditations is more self-awareness. I want to know myself - what I'm good at doing, what I should work on, who my guides are and how I can work with them, and what my focus should be. I've been getting some cryptic messages in all of this, but I think it's kind of fun to decipher them. I also need to be less nervous of everything, and I'm hoping that by the time I've gotten some questions answered I won't always turn hide and run if I hear or see something out of the ordinary.

I know I've mentioned I've started to make myself a staff in my previous post, but I just have to gush about it for a minute. I love it so far and all I've done is sand it down! I'm pretty pumped to work on it and finish it, and I love that I'm so excited about it. It's like I've found something to get me through the dreary winter. I would love to have it finished tomorrow but I need to get a few things for it and money is tight at the moment. I'm not expecting it will be completely finished before the spring but I could be wrong. 

I've also started reading To Walk a Pagan Path by Alaric Albertsson. I'm only a few chapters in, and I already think it needs to be added to the IDGAF reading list. It would be really helpful for someone whose trying to create a more spiritual daily experience. He's created a seven-step system, and gives tips and such that make a lot of sense. So, two thumbs up for that book! 

I open at the close. A cryptic message intended for Harry Potter to decipher, but it's not unlike some of the messages I've been receiving lately. Just a silly little something to title my post. 

The Dying of the Light

It's officially that time of year again - when everything slows down, the chill in the air turns into an icy nip, and the fleeting daylight becomes a beacon with witch to guide our way through the blanketed darkness enshrouding our lives. Autumn is slowly winding its way towards the cold, stark beauty of winter, and as much as I hate to admit it, I kind of enjoy it.

This year at Samhain, my coven ran a pretty heavy ritual. There were about 10 of us in attendance - the 4 of us, plus 6 of our closest witchy friends. It was an awesome ritual put together by my wife, and executed by the 4 of us. I played a ghostly spectre, the guardian of the crossroads between the living and the dead. To get by me you had to prove your willingness to let go and except your fate - death. We were burying the parts of ourselves that we no longer needed - physically burying them by imbuing our personalized poppets with those things that no longer served. At Samhain, it's time to let go and start anew, which is what we did. Once we sang ourselves our last rights and burial dirge, our bodies were ready for entombment. The grave we marked with a headstone. Once we let ourselves go, we came back to a lively wake - snacks and finger foods to share amongst friends. All in all, it was a really great ritual. Although I didn't get as much out of it as I was hoping, focusing a lot of my efforts on the part I had to play, I still walked away lighter.

I tend to get a lot of ideas around this time of year, since it's a more introspective time, and I've decided to make myself a staff. On Tuesday I found the perfect fallen tree branch near the spot we use in the marsh and brought it home with me. So far I've stripped the bark off, and I just need to sand it down a bit. I'm excited about this little project - something that hasn't happened to me in a while.

I also recently cleaned up my altar a bit; it was in desperate need of a bit of a re-vamp. Here's some before and after pictures:

So as you can see it had gotten a little stagnant, in the middle in particular, and because of that it lost a bit of its focus.

Now it's all reworked to be a little more suited to my needs. I left the tiers the same, by and large, but what I've done given them a bit more of a purpose. The top is a place where I'll put whatever it is I want to charge up or cleanse during a moon phase or something. The middle layer is more worldly things that are sort of physical representations of the elements. I also have my athame on this level to signify this is the level at which we operate on. The third and bottom layer has the most going on, because it's at eye level when I'm sitting in front of it. This is where I'll put any offerings (the empty wooden bowl), or any tarot cards I pull for focus or anything like that. It's also where I put my sugar skulls and the like, so that I've still got an upper, middle, lower worlds thing going on a bit.

My coven has also recently taken to doing a weekly guided medication, which I'm loving. It's something I'd been wanting to do for a while, so I'm glad we've kind-of sort-of maybe made it a bit of a thing during our weekly meetings. I'm admittedly way rustier than I'd like to be.

So here we are, on the winding, darkening path towards winter, and Yule. I love the stillness of the winter. The fresh feeling after a snowfall, when everything is silent and crisp, the smell, and when the contrast from the colour of barren trees and the near-blinding white of the snow is high. It's cold and it's jarring, and I both love and hate it at the same time. I hate bing cold. I hate being overburdened with outer winter wear, being icy cold one minute, and too hot the next. But I also love it (the season). It brings people closer together, and makes us appreciate the daylight more, the summer more. Sometimes there's nothing more you want to do on a cold, blustery, wintery night, than to curl up with a fluffy blanket, a good book, and a warm beverage of your choice. And maybe a cat and a loved one too. Can't forget the most important parts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also wanted to take a moment to talk about Remembrance Day, especially in the wake of recent Canadian events. On November 11th our Country takes some time out to mark the ending of the war, and to reflect on those who died during wartime so that we can have the freedoms we do today. It's always been an important holiday to me, because my grandfather and my great uncle both fought in World War 2 (with the Navy). They were the lucky ones. They made it home. So many people didn't, or if they did, parts of them were missing either physically or mentally. This is what Remembrance Day means to me. Taking a moment to be thankful for the world we live in, because even with its shortcomings, it wouldn't be the way it is today without the sacrifices of so many. Taking a moment to remember that for every person that came home from the war, countless others didn't. It truly is the ultimate sacrifice. It's kind of fitting that it happens so close to Samhain, isn't it?

IDGAFian Reflections

Hi guys! I hope your weekend went well, whatever you did with it. Mine was pretty relaxed, all in all, and the weather was nice too - so much so that it really doesn't feel like the middle/end of October. I think I'm finally ready for that nip in the air and frosty nights that signal Samhain is drawing near. (Just as an aside, I wrote that part last night, and when I woke up this morning it was really cold - only 4 degrees Celsius. It only got up to 8 degrees today, and I just couldn't get warm at work no matter what I did...I'm sorry to all the locals that might be reading this, I may have jinxed us)

Now that I'm done going through the IDGAF initiatory process, I just wanted to blog about it a little.

Looking back on where I was before I started this whole process, I have to say, I've come a long way - but, I can also fairly say that I've still got a ways to go. I know what I need to work on now, which is a step in the right direction, and I have all the tools available to me. I kind of feel like I'm the Magician in the Tarot Cards at the moment - everything is laid out in front of me, now I just need to sort out how to use them and get to work.

IDGAF gave me the push I needed to get back in to the swing of things, and I'm really happy it got me reading again. All of the books I read, with the exception of the last one, I'd been wanting to read for some time and this was the perfect motivating force to get me to read. My list was pretty eclectic but that suits me perfectly. Of all the books I read, I think that The Way of Four (Lipp) gave me the most ideas to try and incorporate into my practice, but I think that my first book, The Wisdom of No Escape: And The Path of Loving Kindness (Chodron) left the most impression on me. I'm not saying that the other books weren't enjoyable or that I didn't get anything out of reading them, but those were the two that stuck with me a little more than the rest.

I'm also really glad I have a sacred space again, since before IDGAF I hadn't had an altar set up since I moved of my parent's house. It's nice to have a space to go to again, even if that sometimes means just standing in front of it and thinking about how I could tweak it here and there. I'll freely admit that I've let it build up a small layer of dust, but it's nothing an old make-up brush can't fix. I've also enjoyed being more connected to the outside space around us, and maintaining the bird feeders we put up.

I feel recharged again.

A Mini Update to Placate the Masses

So it would seem as though I've been away for a while again, and I once again, apologize for my absence. While I have great intentions of coming on here and updating, shit just happens. So while I have a spare 20 minutes, here is my attempt at an update.

Three of us are now initiated members of the IDGAF tradition, which is pretty cool. It was a long process with a few bumps along the way, but we made it! It feels awesome to be able to look back on it and say, "Yeah, I did that!". Our fourth soon-to-be fully-fledged IDGAFian will be joining our ranks a little later on in the month, which is also awesome. I am so glad she's gotten just as much out of this process as the rest of us seem to have.

I'd like to blog more about that later when I have more time than I do now, but I'm not sure when that will be.

Speaking of time and a lack there of, ever since Heather and I have gotten back from our cruise we've had stuff on the go every night but a few, which means that those few nights were spent doing laundry, going to appointments, and just generally enjoying being at home - hence the no updates.

Things have kind of been that way with me for a bit now though - on-the-go that is. That's why you haven't seen me on here much, because instead of blogging like I've needed to, I was checking my Facebook and looking at travel-related stuff, along with personal shit.

My knee has been acting up, and according to my doctor I have bursitis. I went in for an x-ray on Friday and he's got me on some strong anti-anflamitories at the moment, he also wants me to go to Physio but I haven't made an appointment for that yet. Hopefully that will all get sorted out soon, but I'm just thankful that my knee/leg isn't twice it's size any more!

I can't believe it's mid-way through October already...time keeps going way too quickly for my liking.  Speaking of which, today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, so to anyone reading this from Canada, Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for so much I would be here for a week if I listed it all, so I'll just sum it up in saying that I'm thankful for my life as it is right now, with all the people and stuff in it!

Sadly, that's all the time I have for now. I know every time I 'sign off' I say "hopefully I'll be back again for an update soon", so instead of that, I'll just say...until next time!