Circle Casting Dragon Style

Circle Casting Dragon Style

The circle is cast with the Blade, the Cup and the Censor. The
Priest starts with the Blade in the north and draws the boundary of the circle.
As he does he recites “I tread this Path for the Elements, that which comprises
all that we see.”

The HPS takes to sprinkling the boundaries with the Cup filled with salted
water. She recites “I tread this Path for Self, a reflection of the Divine.”

The HP then takes the censor and carries the smoke to the boundaries of the
circle in a deosil direction. He recites “I tread this Path for Spirit,
that which unites all things.”

The HP or HPS then state the charge of our Circle. It is as follows.

“Our Circle is a place where hearts and minds can meet and share in the
wonder and empowerment of a living and loving Goddess. We are a coven of
friends, but above all things we are Family. Our Love and our Magick binds
us together and our Circle keeps us and nurtures us. We are blessed. Blessed
Be!”

The Dragon Guardians are then invoked.

EAST
Mighty Dragon, Guardian of the realms of the East. Your tongue is a sharp
sword, cutting with the knowledge of the arcane. Your spirit flows as graceful
as a swift in flight. Purify us with truth. Blessed Be.

SOUTH
Mighty Dragon, Guardian of the realms of the South, your breath is aflame with
the fires of inspiration and passion. Your spirit is searing and fervent.
Purify us with Love. Blessed Be.

WEST
Mighty Dragon, Guardian of the realms of the West, your coils are the cleansing
healing waves that nurture the soul. Your spirit lunges, leaps and splashes
like a Talbot at play. Purify us with pulsing tides. Blessed Be.

NORTH
Mighty Dragon, Guardian of the realms of the North, your talons run like roots
into the earth, giving you infinite strength. Your spirit is substantial, hard
and pure like a clear crystal. Purify us with persistent wisdom. Blessed Be.

Each of these Dragons has a secret name that they are also invoked with. A
suggestion is that anyone using these invocations meditate to find an
appropriate name for each Guardian and use it along with or instead of the words
“Mighty Dragon”.

I find that the Circle charge sets the mood for the Circle and I change it to
suit the situation.

Who Is A Real Witch Anyway?

Who Is A Real Witch Anyway?

Author: Amergin Aradia

It seems that the debate about who is and who is not a “real Witch” is coming to a head. Is this sect real as opposed to that sect? Are those in covens real Witches as opposed to solitaries’. And on and on it goes. It’s beginning to sound like the fight between factions of the Christian religion or between organized religions as a whole. That’s probably the way they began too.

This silly useless debate is pulling our community apart as well. The truth is, are any of us real Witches. And how do you define a real Witch? By whose standards and rules?

As an illustration of my point I’ll tell you my story. I have always known that I was a Witch, even before I really knew what that was. When I was very young (grade school) I had certain abilities and interests that other kids didn’t. I practiced raising energy, practiced ESP (as it was called then) , I astral projected, and I cast spells. I was drawn to the night, the moon and stars, and I identified with all things “magical.”

I wasn’t trained by anyone because there was no one to train me. I had to figure it out for myself and that was in the 1950’s so you know there were very few references to rely on even if I knew where to look. As I grew up I did what everyone else did then, got a job and tried to live what was considered a “normal” life, as unsatisfying as that was.

I maintained my interests and practices over the years as best I could, if only peripherally. There may have been one or two occult bookstores in the area but you really had to search them out and I only managed to get to one every so often and then only to browse because I didn’t know what I was looking for. You didn’t just walk up to someone and tell him or her you were a Witch and wanted to join a coven. And people didn’t come out of the woodwork to invite you to join one, even if you knew where to look.

So I dabbled, training myself the best way I could using instinct as my guide. At the time I would have loved to have found someone to train me and I would have loved to have found a coven to join so that I wouldn’t feel so alone. But they didn’t exactly advertise. And there was no Internet in those days to bring us all together.

So unless you were lucky, you were on your own. Like it or not.

Now that we have all these books, magazines, and web sites to fill in the gaps I find that my instincts did very well by me. Everything that I taught myself way back then is now being touted as the way to do it by the “experts.” I have since collected an entire library of books hoping to find information that would help me advance my practice but with the exception of a few interesting bits that I’ve added here and there, I have been disappointed.

I have also attended classes, open groves, and ceremonies, and while the people that I met were very nice it just didn’t feel right for me. I’ve also become very disillusioned with the influx of the newest brick and mortar shops. They seem to have become havens of self-help, yoga, meditation, and coffee and music.

And while I practice yoga and meditation myself I don’t want to go to my local Craft shop to pick up a yoga mat, balance ball, or a book by Dr. Phil. I want to pick up the tools for my ceremonies and spell crafting and, unfortunately, the kind of shop I want seems to be few and far between (except on line.) It feels as though the craft as I remember it is being homogenized and made so “acceptable” in the eyes of the general public that it is becoming useless to serious practitioners. But I digress here.

So to sum up this article, does it mean that I am not a real Witch because I had no one to “lead the way” or no coven to adopt me and teach me “their right way”? Quite frankly I think that makes me an even better real Witch because I had to figure it out for myself. And because of that my understanding and beliefs don’t quite fit into any prescribed dogma. So that is why I stay a solitary practitioner and that is why I have stepped back from the community as a whole.

But then I don’t look at being a Witch as a religion, with all of its implied rules and regulations and dogma. I look at being a Witch in the same way that the old village Witches looked at it. I revere the earth and heavens and do my best to respect and tread lightly on her.

I try to live a spiritual life without bowing to or begging the acceptance of any one archetypal being. I look at the Goddess and Gods as a representation on this plane of the source of all energy and power. I cast spells for my own benefit, and mine alone, as I don’t believe I have the right to manipulate anyone else’s life. And I believe that Karma will out eventually.

I believe that being a Witch is as simple as that. It’s in your heart, it’s in your soul, and it’s who YOU know you really are. Not because someone gives you permission to be one simply because you read and adhere to someone else’s views as written down and published. Or because you attend meetings once a week, or once a month, or even once a quarter.

But because YOU know you are. And whether you are solitary or a member of a group, no matter what that group represents, you are really on your own. You must practice, practice, practice, and hold that knowing in your own heart…alone.

That’s what makes you a “real Witch.”

Finding a Good Fit

Finding a Good Fit

Author: Orius

Being part of the leadership of a Wiccan Circle is an interesting thing. Not only are you in service to the God and Goddess, you are in service to your other Circle members and most importantly to yourself. For both the Circle that I am involved with now and the one before it, we have had a listing on Witchvox. We do this for a few different reasons. One of them is that we are proud of who we are. Another is so that those seeking a group or a path are able to get in contact with us. This leads me on to the theme of this short little article.

Our group gets all kinds of people who contact us through our listing on Witchvox, and through our groups Facebook page. Some of these folks are just people looking for help on their spiritual path, some of them are just curious about Wicca or Paganism, and some are truly seeking a group to circle with, and to become a part of. It is these latter folks I would like to address.

It never ceases to amaze me when we get a first contact from people saying they would love to become a part of our family. I think “seriously, you have read a very brief description of our group, not to mention you don’t know us, you don’t know how we circle or what we are about for that matter. Yet you blindly would love to join our family and circle with us”. Not to mention the fact we don’t know you or what you are about. But it is ok because we are all good trusting Pagans and we will welcome you with open arms.

Well my friends, it just does not work that way.

Here are a few tips I would like to give, not only for folks looking for a group to circle with, but for groups interested in new people.

First of all, if you are seeking out a group and do so via an ad on Witchvox or some other similar way, don’t be surprised if it takes a few days to get a response back. Remember that the folks who are running the group or circle more than likely have a real life just like you do, and while the group that they are involved with may be a huge part of their life, it is probably not the only thing they are doing.

Secondly do not be surprised if you exchange much e-mail with a group you’re interested in before they ever invite you to meet with them. If you’re a seeker of a group and they invite you to come circle with them before ever meeting you in person, in my opinion that should throw up a red flag for you. Always meet a prospective group or member before circling with them.

Thirdly, and this should go without saying – meet them in a public place like a coffee shop. It is just not a smart idea as a group to invite someone you do not know to meet you in your own home. By that same logic, as an individual never go to someone’s home that you do not know. My Priestess and I often will meet new people interested in our Circle at a Starbucks or at one of the Pagan Picnics that happen here locally. Do not be surprised if, much like the e-mails, a group wants to meet with you several times in person before ever inviting you to attend one of their Circles.

Ask questions when meeting new folks. This goes not only for individuals but groups as well. We always ask new people that are interested in our Circle, even if they claim to have been on a Wiccan path for years, what they know or think they know about Wicca? What books have they read on Wicca and Paganism? How did they come to be on this path? What groups if any have they been a part of before? What is their personal practice like?

If you are an individual seeking a group to Circle with ask about the group’s practice. What is expected of members? How often do they meet? Do they circle skyclad, or robed? Do they have teaching Circles outside of ritual? If you are gay or lesbian ask about the group’s feelings toward gay and lesbian people. You may think in this day and age of enlightenment that it should not make a difference what one’s sexual orientation is, but I know that there are still Circles out there that will not admit gay and lesbian people to their ranks. They prefer male-female couples that are already partners, or are willing to find a working partner. Same goes if you are transgendered or transsexed, ask about the group’s feelings and way of working.

As a seeker to a group you should never feel like the group is trying to give you a “hard sell” to join. That should send up a red flag for you too, or at least it would for me. Also if you get to the meeting stage with a group and feel things are not right, you do NOT have to join that group even thou they may ask you too. Also remember that a group may meet with you many times, invite you to attend one of their Circles and still not ask you to join their ranks. If this happens don’t be disappointed, and remember that it probably happened for a reason that is not personal. When you find the right group that is a fit for you, you and the group will know.

Of course these are only a few of the questions that you can and should ask, and there are many more dynamics to finding a group to Circle with, and to groups finding individuals, than I have covered in this brief article. Most often times personal chemistry is the final determining factor for what ever the end result of a search may be.

My point with this post was to educate, and I hope that I have a little. Remember when you do enter the Circle, be it with a group of seekers or by yourself, you enter it in perfect love and perfect trust. Make sure you can do that with those whom you choose to Circle with.

Circle Casting #2

Clean the space physically with your broom or even a vacuum. Purify by burning incense. As you purify, visualize all the negative and disturbing energies leaving your sacred space.

The altar should face the North (the direction of Earth, representing the Goddess) or East (the direction of the rising sun and represents the God). At each of the four Watchtowers, place some sort of mark or object. North is Earth (bowl of salt, a crystal, or bowl of soil). East is Air (incense, flowers or a feather). South is Fire (red or orange candle, obsidian stone). West is water (a bowl of water or shell).

Take your athame or wand to the North. Trace the outline of the circle. Visualize energy extending out to the circle boundary. Do this 3 times. Say as you trace:

“I cast this circle to protect me from outside influences. I charge this circle to draw in only loving and helping vibrations. I create sacred space.”

When you return to the North, face toward your circle’s barrier. Raise your athame or wand. Say:

“God, Goddess and Guardians of the North. Powers of the Earth. I call you to attend my circle.”

Move to the East. Raise your wand or athame. Say:

“God, Goddess, and Guardians of the East, I call you to attend my circle.”

Move to the South. Raise your wand or athame. Say:

“God, Goddess, and Guardians of the South. Power of fire, I call you to attend my circle.”

Move to the West. Raise your wand or athame and say:

“God, Goddess, and Guardians of the West. Powers of water, I call you to attend my circle.”

Return to the altar and proceed with ritual work.

My Goddess in My Life

My Goddess in My Life

Author: Frostig

My eyes wander up to the sky and back to the earth, my mind drifting as my body slows. I feel her around me. My heart quickens. A light sweat forms on my brow but still knowing she is near calms my muscles. All at once, I am ready to move or ready to relax. I know she helps guide my path in this world. I asked her to help me make decision with me, not for me.

She is Freya, the Goddess whom I love with all of me. By profession, I am a soldier and have been for 18 years, but I enjoy a softer side of life as well in writing and poetry. She is my muse; she is a lover and a warrior, a strong woman who knows what she wants and is willing to make sacrifices to meet her goals, inspiring me to do the same: to look at the world through another’s eyes, from a different point of view, to see things with a glowing halo of light.

I feel her presence in the love of my wife. The tender care she gives me. Her understated strength; I can feel it in her words. She helps me and guides me. We are a team and accomplish things as one.

I have written before here and some of you may remember that this is my third tour in Iraq. I have never asked to given anything from her, but for advice and guidance only. I ask for safe journeys and if I must fight that, I do so with honor and integrity. That if I die it is on my own terms and that I may do so with respect and honor and in the aid my friends.

In my life, I have always felt the strength in a feminine power. A mother watching over me keeping me safe, a lover holding me in her arms letting my soul rest in her tender hold. In the presence of women I feel refreshed.

When I feel the presence of my Goddess near I feel as if the world will bow to me. I ask her to guide me and help the things in my life have fall into place. I trust in her and knowing that as long as I uphold the promises I have made, not only to myself but to her as well.

The devotion I have for my Goddess feels more like a relationship than worshipping. We seem to have a give and take. Sometimes if I get too full of myself she lets me stubble a bit to remind me I need to have humility.

When I am living clean and doing the right thing, I have found that for no reason things fall into my lap and gifts both mental and physical appear in my path for me. I know at that time I need to share them, not hold them all for me. True gifts are not yours to keep they are yours to share; it is a great responsibility and not one to be taken lightly. Even if the gift is a part of you, we must learn to give our time and our knowledge to help others.

I carry with me a few things at all times. One is a copy of the Nine Noble Virtues the other is a picture with a memorial poem of a friend, killed last year by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. The virtues are a constant reminder to me of the guidelines I work to live by each day. The picture of my friend reminds me that we can be taken at anytime and to live your life by touching and enriching the lives of others.

So here I sit, the middle of Iraq again. I know I am here for a reason; something started but left undone. I have begun by strengthening the position of the Pagan Open Circle here and with the help of other friends’ state side I am working towards a higher level of religious awareness in the military. I know if I trust in her and make sound decisions our goals will be met, together.

I know she will not do everything for me, I would never ask that, if she did the goals that are met would not feel as sweet and I would feel a lacking inside of me. I need to earn my accomplishments.

I have learned that you must have honesty with yourself before you can have a trusting relationship with anyone else. Feel the honesty deep with in your soul. When I first felt it, I was scared, scared because of the raw truth I told myself. I instantly had to be with others; solitude was not what I felt I needed.

Nevertheless, it is exactly what I needed, the time to go over things in my mind to see that this is what I needed; it was the truth in my soul.

This is when I first felt her with me, I did not know who “She” was it was my first time with this emotion, this feeling, this presence. I started asking questions in the dim light of a campfire, seen flickering through the nylon of a tent. Speaking with a woman, a Goddess in her own right, her answers led me to more questions. I began reading and reading and reading.

Then a day came while reading, I saw her name and it felt good inside me when I said it, I know now it was her. She came to lift me up, to show me who I could become; the man I was meant to be. I thank her everyday for holding me safe for all these years, always there holding me but never wanting me to know she was there.

Now I’ve seen her in my heart and I feel her smile upon me.

By living a good life, acknowledging my weaknesses and my strengths, knowing my limitations, and pushing them a little further everyday, this is how I honor her. To show I am worthy of her graces, this is how I live. I thank her and every woman who has the Goddess in her — you know who you are –

You have touched my life and prepared me to be the man I am to become.

Deity of the Day for March 3rd is PSYCHE

Deity of the Day

Psyche

Personification of the Soul, Goddess of Beauty and wife of EROS.

Princess PSYCHE was the most amazingly beautiful mortal ever. She was almost as beautiful as APHRODITE with chickenpox on a bad hair day. People were known to forget their own names and swoon at her feet.

Although not usually a malicious Goddess, APHRODITE wanted the princess out of the way. Her temples were being neglected by PSYCHE fans and it just wasn’t on. So she conspired with EROS to make the princess fall in love with the ugliest man they could find. That would soon get her out of the public eye.

EROS fluttered off and got ready to launch an Arrow of Love at the innocent PSYCHE. But by chance, he pricked his finger on that very arrow and fell hopelessly in love with her himself. This caused all kinds of problems for all concerned, and eventually PSYCHE found herself cut off from mortals and Gods alike as APHRODITE’s wrath pursued her.

She contemplated suicide by drowning, but even the waves refused to take her. The only way to salvation was by passing APHRODITE’s cruel and unusual tests. Forget sorting poppy seeds from lentils before daybreak or grabbing a cup of water from a mountain monster — the ultimate challenge was this: Go down to the Underworld and steal PERSEPHONE’s beauty cream.

Her heart quailed, but Princess PSYCHE made her radiant way down the gloomy steps. Seeing the approach of loveliness, CERBERUS, the ill-tempered Hound of Hell, rolled over like a puppy. One sweetie from her maidenly hand and he was friends for life. And grim CHARON, taking one look at her youthful beauty, blushed to his boots and gave her free passage. So finally she arrived at the throne room of HADES himself.

Now HADES is very proud of his domain, and doesn’t tolerate the living turning up. It spoils the atmosphere of gloom and despair. So he would’ve killed PSYCHE there and then, but his wife PERSEPHONE saw this was no ordinary interloper and asked why she’d come.

As the story unfolded, PERSEPHONE took pity on PSYCHE and gave her a big jar of her finest beauty cream. HADES sighed and allowed her to return, making a mental note to cancel CERBERUS’s doggie chocs for the next hundred years.

PSYCHE struggled back to the land of the living with the jar of beauty cream. What did APHRODITE want with beauty cream anyway? she wondered. It must be something really potent and special. Surely a little dab on her cheek wouldn’t do any harm?

So PSYCHE opened the jar, poked her finger inside, and instantly fainted away. It was very powerful beauty cream indeed. In fact it could have transformed MEDUSA, ugliest of the GORGONS, into a chart-busting sex kitten with the three GRAEAE sisters on backing vocals.

PSYCHE was about to wither away under the influence when EROS turned up and whisked her off to Olympus. With ZEUS’s blessing, they were at last married. APHRODITE didn’t mind too much as she now had a goodly supply of face cream to play with.

Happy & Blessed Tuesday to you, my dear, dear friends!

Ok, forget the boots! This grabbed my attention because this is just what me and Razzy had just finished doing. She has a collection of shoe strings. When she wants to play, here she comes with the tip in her mouth, dragging the rest under her belly. I am going to have to take a picture of her one day and show you, she is so cute when she does this. I have been trying to teach her to keep her claws in. She was doing pretty good till today. I think I pissed her off. I just wasn’t moving fast enough for her this morning. So she gave me a smack or two on the back of my leg to wake me up. And I gave her a pop on her rump to let her know I was wake, lol!

My cat’s antics wasn’t what I wanted to write to you about today. But she so cute, I can’t help it, lol! What was on my mind is some comments I have been getting about the “About Us” page. I have been promoting this site pretty hot and heavy at different spots on the web. I ought to know that when I do that, I better put on my tough skin (more like armoured suit!). Most of the comments have been really nice. They are thanking me for showing them this site and they wish others could see what we are really like. At least, we are getting through to some. But there are others that have gotten under my skin. You know yourself, you have never heard me attack another Religion. I won’t do it. I will not do it. NEVER! I try to teach tolerance of each other’s Religions. With tolerance we can learn from each other and eventually accept each other. But when I have individuals that write to me and tell me that witches are psychotic and thank God we live in a free country or else we would be locked up. That is taking it too far and it reminds me of a time not so long ago in our history. It PISSES me to the bottom. Also there is no such thing in the universe as magic, anyone that believes in magic is living in their own little world. As long as they stay in their own little world, they are no threat to anyone. Since there is no magic in the universe, there are no such things as witches. Anyone that calls themself a witch is delusional.

Now, my brothers and sisters in the Craft do you see why I turn to you for comfort? I need your love, comfort and support. I am mad as hell. I have fought ignorance all my life and it seems ignorance has reared its ugly head again. I am still promoting this site and I really don’t want to go off on a binge. But a witch can only take so much and for those of you new to this site, please forgive me. But stop to consider if someone attacked your Religion. How would you feel? Witchcraft is a religious practice. We have been tormented throughout history by ignorant fools. Do you not realize the first person to outlaw our practices was a Catholic Pope? Why? It wasn’t because our religious practices was bad, demonic, satanic, or any of that. It was because he was money hunger, land hunger, wanted the world. The only way he could do that was to condemn innocent people to their death and the church seize their earthly goods. Yes, it was to make the Church powerful and rich. Our Religion is old as time itself. In the beginning, we were the only Religion that existed. We worshipped the Earth, Nature, and most of all our Loving Goddess, the Mother of All Creation. Our people had to go underground to worship and pass our teachings down from generation to generation. We could not write our Religion down, anyone caught with such was condemned to death. All our Religion has ever known is persecution, hatred and death. We are a strong Religion, Yes, Religion. Just because our Religion has been casted in a bad light for all these centuries does not mean we are evil. Our Religion was given this brand because people were afraid the truth would actually come out about us. Well the truth is coming out about us know. People are turning to our Religion because they are fed up with the mainstream Religions. They are finding out for theirselves what we are about. They are seeking the truth and myself and others like me are here to make sure they see the truth. We are a peaceful Religion. You will never find in the history books our Religion calling for killings in the name of Religion. We worship the Goddess and we respect all life. Life to us, no matter how small is sacred to us. We cherish every living creature. We harm no one. And for those of you that thing there is no such thing as a Witch. I am here to tell you, you are dead wrong. For I AM A WITCH! I don’t have green skin or a long, pointy nose with warts. I look like your neighbor next door. You see what make me different from you. I have found the power of magick, YES MAGICK! There is magick in this world. I am sorry for those who are too ignorant to open their eyes and behold the magick that is all around them. I am sorry that you haven’t looked inside yourself and seen the magick in you. Each of us has the magick in us, no matter what Religion you are the magick is there. You just have to look inside and see it. You see, WITCHES, have looked inside, found the magick and have learned to control it. We can wheel the magick to do our bidding. We can wheel the magick to right the wrong in the Universe. We can wheel the magick to help mankind. You see that is what our mission is, to help and better mankind. We mean no one any harm, but we will not stand by and let ourselves be harmed either. We have Laws we live by and most of us believe in the Karmic Law.

You see, there is Witches in this Universe. We live among you. We could be your neighbor but you will never know. We want to leave in peace. We want our Religion to be recognized for what it is, a Religion. We want to educate the public. To dispel all the old myths that still cast a shadow on our Religion to this day. For those of you that think there is no such thing as a Witch. I pity you. For you see, we will experience the most beautiful life anyone can imagine. The Goddess will shower us with Her Love and show us wonders beyond our beliefs. We will behold things, you will never be able to. There are many things in life, you will never know and it is ashame because all you would have to do is open your mind and heart.

In the service of my Goddess,

Lady Of The Abyss

Embracing A Religion of Love

Embracing A Religion of Love

Author: Pagasus

Most of us who have turned to Paganism have turned to it because we were unsatisfied with our previous religion, but still needed that void to be filled. The void to feel small, the void to feel that there is a higher power, the void to feel loved by that higher power. The power that is God/ Goddess. This is the explanation why I became disenchanted with Christianity, why I came to love Wicca/Paganism, and possibly some other random ramblings.

I was raised as a “Roman Catholic.” I put the quotes around that phrase because I can remember being, well as young as five, maybe even younger, and just throwing a fit! I’d be begging, pleading if I could have a baby sitter and miss church. But that’s not really where it all started. My disenchantment began some years later.

I was still in grade school and I was playing a game board at recess. My friend was nearby and talking to another kid about religion. All I remember is that the girl she was talking to said, “Well I was raised Catholic so I was raised right and you weren’t so you weren’t raised right.”

I was so shocked at this because I was being bought up Catholic too, but I felt that people who were bought up in other faiths (my Jewish/Druid best friend) were being raised right, too. I was just so angry with that girl and I don’t know why. Maybe it was because she said it to my best friend, or maybe it was for some other reason but I think a small part of my affection (What little I had for it since I hated going to church/CCD) for Catholicism died in me right there on the playground that day.

Now, I know I have had other negative experiences with Christianity (as I’m sure we all have) but none of them stick out quite as much as that one. Although I still had issues with my father about my religion and my beliefs (numerous of them of them protesting my not wanting to go to church, because God should just love me whether I prayed in “his house” or my house) .

One day I had to go to confession. We had gotten a new priest. Everyone thought he was an amazing priest! Except me. I don’t know why but for some reason I just didn’t like him. Later on I’d find out why.

I was new to Wicca and Paganism in general (still am) . I was still trying to like the religion that my parents wanted me to have and by parents I mean my father. My mom, who is a Lutheran, could have cared less if I had a religion at all. Goddess bless her for that!

Anyway, that day I was at confession with the new “wonderful” priest telling him my “sins”. And he chewed me out and was very rude to me!

Now normally at my church it went like this: Bless me father; I have “sinned”. …Blah blah blah. You tell him your sins. He says “And for your penance, say, # Our Fathers, # Hail Marys. God bless you. Go in peace.”

Not this priest, oh no! It was butt chewing. You need to be more Christ -ike. My “sins” weren’t even that bad. Things like I’ve lied to my parents (Don’t we all when were teens?) . I haven’t been the nicest to my friends (typical high school drama, ya know?) and maybe something like I ate meat on a Friday of Lent. I thought if I’m supposed to come to you and God who is all loving, for forgiveness, why is his messenger a “man of God” being so rude and not so forgiving?

This one sermon though completely changed my view of the Catholic religion and made me lose all hope and faith in my birthed religion.

The new priest was giving a sermon around the time of the Summer Solstice, I believe it was. His lecture was about the comparison between Paganism and Christianity… and not how much they are alike but rather how much better Christianity is than Paganism and why it’s better to be a Christian than a Pagan. He didn’t even get most of what he was talking about right! That was the part that really got me mad.

I remember thinking that this guy has read too much Greek “mythology.” He preached to the church body that it’s better to be a Christian than a Pagan because the Christian God loves us and reveals Himself to us in many ways. The Pagan Gods only reveal Themselves to us when They want to come down out of the sky to wreak havoc on us, or to throw lightning bolts at us.

Now honestly when was the last time one of your Gods/Goddesses came down from the sky to reveal Him/Herself to you just to throw a lightning bolt at you? Probably never.

Then he would say, “Now aren’t you glad you’re not a Pagan?” We Christians get dressed up in nice clothes to go sit in a nice beautiful protected-from-the-elements church building. The Pagans get dressed up in animal skins, put antlers on their heads and go outside and talk/pray to trees and rocks. Now aren’t you glad your’re not a Pagan?”

Okay, maybe some of us do that but when I go do something spiritual I just normally wear my everyday street clothes. Maybe that makes me less of a Pagan than the antler wearers, but I don’t care.

The priest’s statement about us dressing a bit weird for our ceremonies made me think though.

It made me think, “Okay bud, what about you? Why do you dress like you do when you go give a sermon? Why can’t you wear your street clothing? How is dressing like that have anything to do with your religion?”

Our antler animal skin wearing can actually have something to do with our religion. Maybe we’re dressed like that to help us be more like that animal since we’re nature based religions and animals are a big part of nature.

And what about the Pope? Why does he dress like that? How does that bring him closer to his religion? It probably doesn’t, that’s how.

We wear what we wear for our ritual because it helps us connect to our religion.

Then he went on to talk about how we go to Stonehenge and pray/talk to these massive rocks and other imaginary Gods. But, oh, the Christians go to church to pray to a real living God. Now aren’t we (again) glad we’re not Pagans?

I am a Pagan. I’m glad that I am a Pagan. I love my religion.

Why? After I wrote all that? Well, I am not going to go in to much detail. I’ll save that for a later article. In short, I don’t have to get dressed up, go outside, and if it’s wet, get my good dress clothes wet and dirty. I can just wear my PJ’s, stay in, and have a nice relaxing quiet ritual and commune with the Gods/Goddesses that way.

Best part about that is They will still love me whether I worship Them in my house or “Their” house. If I do choose to go outside to have a ritual, I can wear weather appropriate clothing. I love Paganism because, yes, I can wear ‘funny’ clothing if I choose… antlers and all!

The Gods/Goddesses Whom I choose to worship have revealed Themselves and helped me out many, many times. I can’t count how many times They have revealed Themselves to me, just so they could hit me with a lighting bolt. (Actually, They have never done that. Not even once. So there are no times ‘to count’. LOL!)

Maybe we should all learn to talk to our Earth and rocks and trees… and not only talk to them but also listen to what nature has to say back. Maybe if we all did commune with rocks/trees maybe we could learn something from our great mother, Mother Earth.

I am Pagan. I am glad that I am!

Blessed Be to everyone who is Christian, Muslim, Jew, and from all the other religions in the world. (And yes, even to those of us who pray and perform spells to Gods who only visit us when they want to hit us with lightning bolts.)

Blessed Be To All…. And May All Gods/Goddess Be Worshiped Equally.

My Pentacle Is Bigger Than Yours!

My Pentacle Is Bigger Than Yours!

Author: Devon, The Maid Of Epona

I’ve been a practicing solitary witch for a little more than ten years. I have just recently decided to wear my pentacle openly.

Does that mean I’m out of the broom closet? Heavens no! I like to describe myself as having one foot in and the other out of the proverbial broom closet. I believe this to be the smart way to be, living where I live. Hey! Pennsylvania isn’t California!

I’m not a militant pagan although I do have a serious warrior’s streak. But being a warrior also means picking and choosing your fights. I work in the small animal business in one job and in the horse business in the other.

When working in the horse business, keeping your mouth shut about what faith you are, especially if it is an alternative faith that is greatly misunderstood by others, is the wiser way to go.

If I were to be open to everyone about my faith, it would have a detrimental effect on my career. People in the horse business would immediately assume that I was one of those “tree hugging, wackos” and I suddenly wouldn’t get hired or be able to buy or sell horses because gossip runs rampant in stables and sometimes is taken to be truer than the Bible! I also deal with many of the Amish community and I hide my pentacle out of deference to their beliefs.

So I pick and choose when and where to display my symbol of faith openly. I have also made an agreement with myself that, when I wear my pentacle openly, and someone questions my faith, then I must answer truthfully and intelligently.

I tell them that my pentacle stands for the four elements and the element of spirit. I tell them that it is a symbol of wholeness and balance, not of negativity and hatred. And its meaning cannot be twisted by reversing its direction, at least not in my eyes!

The first day I wore my pentacle, I walked about with a heightened sense of awareness, waiting for everybody to judge me. I guess I was expecting the whole world to gasp, point their fingers and declare me a witch in that tone of voice that meant nothing good. The actual reaction of people was much more subdued and confused.

Instead, the only question I had to deal with was, “I didn’t know you’re Jewish!”

Do you know how hard it is not to roll your eyes at someone and exclaim, “What? Can’t you count”?

I took a real risk this past Christmas. My husband had given me two gifts I picked out from our favorite knife catalog; an unusual knife and a pentacle decorated with red gems that I thought was pretty. So what it wasn’t silver!

Well pictures in catalogs can be deceiving!

I thought the pentacle to be modestly sized and the knife to be around the size of a Bowie knife. Well the truth was things were reversed.

The knife was the size of a pocketknife. The pentacle was big. REALLY BIG!

Try a pentacle with some serious attitude and lots of bling to the red gems on it. There was no mistaking it when I chose to wear out. It just reeled you in. Ooooh boy!

Then I decided to wear it out and obvious to a family function. Hey! It was a Christmas gift from my hubby that I still really liked in spite of the size. I wanted to show off my sparkly!

Now, not all of my family knows my religious denomination but most are aware. My parents are a blessing from the Goddess! They approve as long as I don’t go around trying to convert everybody. My brother and sister know and are open minded enough to not make a big deal about such things. My cousins even know and are cool with it.

My uncle? Well, lets just say his religious views scare me! He attends an ultra conservative church that has several ministers, several auditorium sized rooms for worship and boasts an attendance of several thousand people.

I was told to never tell my uncle what religion I was.

He was coming to the party as well.

I probably should NOT have worn the pentacle. But I did.

I also chose to disguise it with my new fashion statement, which was to wear cowboy clothes. You see, in the western horse show world, they have this design that is called a Texas star. It’s like a sheriff’s badge. Hmmm. Guess what? That’s a pentacle!

So I immediately went out and got my western show attire decorated in “Texas Stars”. I’ve got them on my hat and even my horse’s saddle and bridle sport little “pentacles”. No, I won’t wear ten million pentacles on myself but I’ll completely festoon my poor, long suffering horse with them!

Anyway, I showed up at the party with my hunka, big, new pentacle and my “Texas Star” hat. And my uncle showed up later. He looked directly at my new pentacle and then me and my newly dyed, black hair.

And then he asked if I’d had any of the steamed shrimp he brought.

I felt like I had had the rug pulled out from under me. I tried not to laugh my relief.

The pentacle was a big hit though.

Two people asked about it and my religious persuasion. I found out that they also were open-minded and we had a lovely evening chatting about esoteric things. Those conversations would have probably never happened if I hadn’t been daring enough to chance wearing it out.

But the real point of the matter is this: A pentacle, or a cross, or a Jewish star, or whatever symbol you choose to wear is nothing but a piece of jewelry unless the belief is behind it to make it more.

Those Wiccans that chose not to wear a pentacle or any other symbol of faith, does that make them any less of a Wiccan? No.

Sometimes I wear my pentacle and sometimes I wear my favorite jade horse pendant. They are both symbols of faith in my opinion and are as important to me as the cross is to someone else.

But I am not a Wiccan because I choose to wear a pentacle. I am Wiccan because that is what language my heart sings.

And no one can change what you feel in your heart. You can only choose whether or not to speak it.

Do you wear your pentacle on your skin or in your heart?

Devon, the Maid of Epona

Hey Ya’ll, It’s Wednesday Again! Can You Believe it???

Time flies when you are having fun, lol! I hope you are having a great day. I am having a super fantastic day! I am full of energy, jazzed up and excited!!! You might wonder what the heck is she so excited about? The answer is simply……The WOTC’s Ribbon Campaign has started today! Woo Hoo! In case, you aren’t familiar with the Ribbon Campaign, I will explain a little bit about it. We have done the Ribbon Campaign for several years now. The first year we done it, our Ribbons were all over the net. I am hoping for the same results this year. All of our campaigns have had something to do with or effect the Pagan community and Witchcraft (mostly Witchcraft). The year before last was the first time the campaign deviated from The Craft. It was to unite the Pagan community once again. This was when MSN disbanded the groups. This year’s campaign is right back on target, WITCHCRAFT!!! We have accomplished alot of good with these campaigns. We have opened a lot of minds and hearts also. This year, we want to continue our number one goal. That is moving Witchcraft into its rightful place in mainstream religion. We want to sit The Craft right smack dab in the middle and keep it there. People today are disgusted and fed up with the mainstream religions. They are looking for answers and other alternatives. They want to go back to their roots. The only problem, is they don’t know how to begin to get back to their roots. We want to show them the way. Show them there is another religion to choose from now, Witchcraft.

This year there are two ribbons you can choose from. One is a “We Stand United” ribbon and the other is a “2012 WOTC’s Ribbon Campaign.” The “Stand United” ribbon shows you are sympathic toward our movement and cause. The “2012 Ribbon” will link back to us and then the person can see what our movement is about and we are about. In the past, we have had webmaster take the whole page and copy on their site. That is perfectly fine. If you are a webmaster, that is probably the best way to do it. That way they can read right on your site what is going on. But whatever you decide to do, do something. Now is our time, it is time for Witchcraft to come into its own. We have been stripped of this right for so many centuries. Now it is our time to right the wrongs that have been done to us. Now is our time!

Get psyched up, get that energy flowing, grab a ribbon and let’s get busy. We have the Goddess’ work to do. We have to put Witchcraft in the mainstream of Religion. Let us restore what has been stripped from us. Let us dispel the lies and old myths spread about us. Let us move forth spreading the truth and beauty of Witchcraft and the Goddess’ Love.

: Grab this ribbon to link back to the WOTC & let everyone know what we are fighting for.

CANDLE SPELL AGAINST PSYCHIC ATTACK

–white candle red candle black candle
Imagine a blue ball of energy inside the candles. Caress the candles as you chant:
Goddess of Three, I call upon thee,
To protect from those who wish to harm me
Keep them from using the gift from thee
Keep them from using thy gift to harm me
When you finish chanting, imagine the blue ball exploding into lines of blue.
Imagine the lines surrounding you and wrapping you in warm blue energy.
See the blue light as a shield. Know that it is unbreakable.
Think about how it is the Goddess’ Light protecting you.
Then put the candles someplace where they can burn undisturbed and let them burn themselves
out, sending all the energy into your shield. This spell is best performed during the full moon.
For longer effects you can make it a seven-day spell.

When Walking The Path, Wear Shoes

When Walking The Path, Wear Shoes

Author: Charmed Boy

I have often asked myself, “Are there others like me?” I am what I like to call a “non- magical” Pagan. I don’t do spell work or ritual. I am just a humble servant of the Goddess. I have tried to cast spells and perform rituals but it never seems to work. I have come to the realization that there are many different types of Pagans out there. There are those of use who cast circles and spells and perform rituals. There are also those like myself who are contented to just be of service.

I began my journey in my sophomore year of high school. I had always known there was something or someone watching over me, I just hadn’t figured what that was yet. I began studying various religions such as Buddhism and Quabalah, which I am still interested in after all these years.

One day I was at the library with my father when I came across the New Age section. I looked at some of the titles and when I found a book on Wicca, I picked it up and started reading.

A friend from high school was also into Wicca. We started wearing black clothing and pentacles. My high school had its various groups. The jocks, the preps, the goths. We were the Witches. Or so we thought. We would meet at a friend’s house and try and cast spells. There is a line from one of my favorite “witchy” movies Practical Magic that applies here: “You can’t practice Witchcraft while looking down your nose at it.” That is, in a sense, what we were doing. We were teenagers. We didn’t know any better.

Later, I discovered Gaia. I was reading a book about various Greek Gods and Goddesses and when I came to the part about Gaia something inside me clicked. For those who don’t know (and I am sure there aren’t very many) , Gaia is the Greek Goddess of Earth. She is the creator of everything that exists in nature. The birds and the winds and the oceans. That is why she is called “Mother Earth”. I felt like I had found what I had been looking for.

I had been hearing a gentle voice in my head comforting me when things went wrong. No, I wasn’t turning into Norman Bates! I had no desire to run a motel or dress in woman’s clothes and chase anyone around with sharp butcher knives. I knew this loving, caring voice could be none other than the Goddess speaking to me.

After High School, I moved from Illinois to Arkansas with my parents. I was bummed because I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if there were any Pagans and Wiccans. I was entering part of the “Bible Belt”. To my amazement, I came across WitchVox.com. I noticed that an event called Pagan Pride Day was going on in Little Rock. I asked my dad if we could go. My father has been supportive of my choice of religion since I first talked with him about it.

On the day we went, I popped a Loreena McKennitt cd in the car’s cd player to get us in the mood. I had never been to an event like PPD and I didn’t know what to expect. The event was being held at a place called Burns Park. We didn’t know where to go, so we stopped at the visitors’ center to ask. The man behind the desk looked up at me when I asked him where the event was and said, “Are you one of them Witch people?” I laughed and said I was. He was smiling when he asked me so I knew he meant no harm.

We followed the directions until we came to a group of tents. We parked and walked across to the entrance. At this point, I was buzzing with excitement. There was the scent of patchouli in the air. We paid the entrance fee and looked around us. There were tents arranged in a circle. We walked around and looked at all the things people were selling. One woman was doing henna tattoos. My dad bought me my first pentacle. We came to a tent where two women were selling homemade perfume and body spray. This was where the patchouli scent was coming from.

I picked up a bottle and smelled it. It smelled like mint and patchouli. One of the women saw me holding the bottle and struck up a conversation with me. Little did I know she would become one of my best friends. She told me her name was Fran and she was the High Priestess of a coven. She held rituals and celebrated the holidays from the circle she had built in the back yard of her trailer. She invited me to attend the next holiday, which was Samhain. We e-mailed each other and on Samhain I went to her house with another friend. When I got there and saw the Circle she had built I was blown away. It was beautiful. The moment I took off my shoes and stepped inside the circle I felt its power and was at peace.

My friend was not Pagan and opted to observe. I had a lot of fun that night. I tasted mead for the first time. It is very good but very strong. Fran and I kept in touch through e-mail and by phone. I was able to attend the next PPD. When I got there Fran was talking with a friend of hers. She ran a tent with friends. When I went up to her to say hello, she didn’t recognize me at first. When I told her who I was she hugged me. We spent most of the day together. She made my father feel welcome. There was entertainment and belly dancing. After it was over and everyone began packing, I was walking to the car with my father when Fran called to me. She gave me a homemade besom her friend had made. A besom is a broom used to clear any negative energy from a room. I will never forget the gift she gave me as long as I live.

The last time I saw Fran was at the last PPD I went to. She was hosting a seminar on Egyptian Gods and Goddesses and history. After that, Fran and I lost touch. One day I decided to e-mail her just to see how she was. We hadn’t spoken for a while, but not because of any hostility between us; we were just busy. I received an e-mail from her husband informing me Fran had passed away. I was heartbroken.

I miss Fran a lot. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. She was a wonderful, courageous woman who loved to laugh and enjoyed the occasional dirty joke. I thank the Goddess every day for the privilege of having known her. One thing I took away from attending the rituals at Fran’s was the realization that spells casting and ritual isn’t for me. I am content with just serving the Goddess to the best of my abilities.

What do I hope you take from this article? Be content in your own skin. So you don’t cast spells. So you don’t do ritual. You are serving the God and or Goddess by praying and making offerings. They are spiritual Parents and They love us whether we choose to perform an elaborate ritual… or just to say a prayer and make an offering.

Also, cherish the time you have with your friends. You never know when they might not be there anymore.

“Cast your eyes to the ocean. Cast your soul to the sea. When the dark night seems endless, please remember me.” — Loreena McKennitt

Dianic Wicca

*The Dianic Craft includes two distinct branches:

*1. One branch, founded in Texas by Morgan McFarland and Mark Roberts, gives primacy to the Goddess in its thealogy, but honors the Horned God as Her Beloved Consort. Covens are mixed, including both womyn and men. This branch is sometimes called ‘Old Dianic’, and there are still covens of this tradition, especially in Texas. Other covens, similar in thealogy but not directly descended from the McFarland/ Roberts line, are sprinkled around the country.

*2. The other branch, sometimes called Feminist Dianic Witchcraft, focus exclusively on the Goddess and consists of womyn-only covens and groups. These tend to be loosely structured and non-hierarchical, using consensus- decision- making and simple, creative, experimental ritual. They are politically feminist groups, usually very supportive, personal and emotionally intimate. There is a strong lesbian presence in the movement, though most covens are open to womyn of all orientations. The major network is Re-Formed Congregation of the Goddess, which publishes “Of a Like Mind” newspaper and sponsors conferences on Dianic Craft. [* Amber K]

Beliefs and practice Of Wicca

Beliefs and practice Of Wicca

Its is commonly understood that Wiccans worship two deities, the Goddess and the God sometimes known as the Horned God. Some traditions such as the Dianic Wiccans mainly worship the Goddess; the God plays either no role, or a diminished role, in Dianism. Many Gardnerian Wiccans do not claim to be duotheistic, but rather, may practice some form of polytheism, often with particular reference to the Celtic pantheons; they may also be animists, pantheists, agnostics or indeed any of the other spectacular range of possibilities.

Wiccans celebrate eight main holidays (or Sabbats): four cross-quarter days called Samhain, Beltane (or Beltaine), Imbolc (also called Imbolg, Oimelc, or Candlemas) and Lammas (or Lughnasadh), as well as the solstices, Litha and Yule, and equinoxes, Ostara (or Eostar or Eostre) and Mabon (see Wheel of the Year). They also hold Esbats, which are rituals held at the full and new moon.

Generally, the names are of ancient Germanic or Celtic holidays held around the same time, although two do not have any historical precedent. Ritual observations may include mixtures of those holidays as well as others celebrated at the same time in other cultures; there are several ways to celebrate the holidays.

Some Wiccans join groups called covens, though others work alone and are called “solitaries”. Some solitaries do, however, attend “gatherings” and other community events, but reserve their spiritual practices (Sabbats, Esbats, spell-casting, worship, magical work, etc.) for when they are alone. Some Wiccans work with a community without being part of a coven.Many beliefs hold that the ideal number of members for a coven is thirteen. When a coven grows beyond their ideal number of members, they often split into multiple covens, yet remain together as a group. A grouping of multiple covens is known as a grove.Wiccans weddings can be called “bondings”, “joinings”, or “eclipses” but are most commonly called “handfastings”.

Some Wiccans observe an ancient Celtic practice of a trial marriage for a year and a day, which some Traditions hold should be contracted on Lammas (Lughnasadh), although this is far from universal. When someone is being initiated into a coven, it is also traditional to study with the coven for a year and a day before their actual initiation into to the religion, and some Solitary Wicca choose to study for a year and a day before dedicating themselves to the religion.

A much sensationalized aspect of Wicca, particularly in Gardnerian Wicca, is that some Wiccans practice skyclad (naked). Though many Wiccans do this, many others do not. Some Wiccans wear a pure cotton robe, to symbolise bodily purity, and a cord, to symbolise interdependence and which is often used during rituals.

Others wear normal clothes or whatever they think is appropriate. Robes and even Renaissance-Faire-type clothing are not uncommon.In usual rites the Wiccans assemble inside a magic circle, which is drawn out in a ritual manner followed by a cleansing and then blessing of the space. Prayers to the God and Goddess are said, and spells are sometimes worked. Traditionally, the circle is followed by a meal. Before entering the circle, some Traditions fast for the day, and have a thorough wash.

Many Wiccans use a special set of altar tools in their rituals; these can include a broom (besom), cauldron, Chalice (goblet), wand, Book of Shadows, altar cloth, athame (personal knife), altar knife, boline, candles, and/or incense. Representations of the God/Goddess are often also used, which may be direct, representative, or abstract. The tools themselves are just that–tools, and have no innate powers of their own, though they are usually dedicated or charged with a particular purpose, and used only in that context. It is considered rude to touch another’s tools without permission.

There are different thoughts in Wicca regarding the Elements. Some hold to the earlier Greek conception of the classical elements (air, fire, water, earth), while others recognize five elements: earth, air, water, fire, and spirit (akasha). It has been claimed that the points of the frequently worn pentagram symbol, the five pointed star, symbolise five elements.

The pentacle (a pentagram (five-pointed star) inside of a circle) is most often shown with its point facing upward. Alexandrian Wicca believe that the upper point represents spirit, and the four remaining points symbolise earth, air, fire, and water. This symbolism has slowly worked itself into other traditions such as Solitary Wicca and Seax-Wica, but most Gardnarian Wicca will deny that the points of the pentagram or pentacle actually represent anything at all.

Some people believe that the top point of the pentacle was chosen to represent the spirit as it is often recognized as being more important than the four elements. When, in Satanism for example, the pentacle is usually inverted, the point representing spirit faces downward, and it is often taken that this symbolises that it is less important than physical things.

Another much less common view on the symbolism of the pentacle is that the upright pentacle is a protective charm which protects its wearer through passive energies, such as good will or pleasing emotions, and that the inverted pentacle protects its wearer using aggressive energies, such as curses or angry emotions.

In either case, these are the elements of nature that symbolize different places, emotions, objects, and natural energies and forces. For instance, crystals and stones are objects of the element earth, and seashells are objects of the water element. Each of the four cardinal elements, air, fire, water and earth, are commonly assigned a direction and a color. The following list is not true for all traditions, or branches of Wicca:

Air: east, yellow
Fire: south, red
Water: west, blue
Earth: north, green

Elemental, directional correspondences, and colors may vary between traditions. It is common in the southern hemisphere, for instance, to associate the element fire with north (the direction of the equator) and earth with south (the direction of the nearest polar area.) Some Wiccan groups also modify the religious calendar to reflect local seasonal changes; for instance, in Australia Samhain might be celebrated on April 30th, and Beltane on October 31st to reflect the southern hemisphere’s autumn and spring seasons.

So Many Questions and Ideas…

So Many Questions and Ideas…

Author: Divine Witch

I have decided to be a witch. Well, I think I have. For the past three years I have been going back and forth with the infatuation with Wicca and Witchcraft. But really it started before that. As a child, I wondered about Voodoo or Black Magic. My grandmother was afraid of it. She would tell me not to let people play in my hair because they could use the hair strand to put a curse on me. Also, she didn’t like me giving pictures out to friends for the same reason. I always thought she was a bit paranoid about the whole thing. So I grew up with that and for that reason I never really heard about good witches, the ones that practice good or white magic. Except maybe the ones in fairy tales or Disney. But we all know that stuff is a joke anyway.

Of course for Halloween, kids dressed as Witches, Wizards and things of that nature. I was a Witch quite a few times. My granny (yes the same one) even made me a witch costume from scratch one year. Then when I was about thirteen, I got invited to a Halloween party last minute and had nothing to wear. So my aunt made me into a Gypsy.

I had no idea what a Gypsy was at the time. But it was fun being dressed up in all of the jewelry and other things she put on me. I don’t remember everything I had on but I do remember it was fun, and that she went a little overboard. Damn, I wish I had a picture. So really, that’s all I got about Witches and stuff like that. I always assumed it was just fairy tale Disney stuff and that it was never really real.

Then when I became an adult I had an older boyfriend who swore his last girlfriend and well as another did Voodoo on him. He would tell me stories on what happened to him. Now I’m not saying that Voodoo is nonsense or that it doesn’t exist but sometimes he was a little dramatic also. So even though I partly believed him, I was becoming more interested about it by this time.

In 2000, I took a Tarot reading class and ended up buying two decks of cards. One I actually used and the other for was more for collection purposes. Still have them I believe. After my youngest son was born in 2001, I used the deck to do readings on myself, mostly for practice. Since I wasn’t really good about reading due to lack of experience, I didn’t really understand what I was getting. But I wrote it down to see if it would make sense later. And sometimes it did. Years went on and I would be touch and go with things; I wore an Amethyst pendant around my neck or maybe I would carry a “good luck charm” in my purse from time to time.

Then in 2007 it happened. By this time I was heavy into Native American studies and culture (still am as that is my heritage) and was looking to connect more with Natives. I ran into a lady on a Native American news/culture/events website and she told me about a retreat that is held every year in June. I received more information about it and wanted to go. So I went and found about Goddess worshiping and the moon cycles, and loads of other stuff I never really thought about. Oh, and I participated in a sweat lodge too. Wore me out but it was a nice experience. But the whole three days was an eye opener for me. It was full of women, regular women like myself that were Witches.

I went home with my head spinning and swimming with ideas and thoughts. I never knew there were publications catered to the Goddess or Witches. I never really heard of Wicca either. All I heard about was the negative stuff. So I bought Scott Cunningham books and Sage Woman magazines. Then I started purchasing candles, athames, seashells for incense burning and other things for my altar. And I really wanted to work with herbs. I even wanted to grow my own herbs for magickal purposes.

Then I would practice. Or try to. I could not concentrate. For one, I was waiting on one of my kids to get out of bed and disturb me, or the phone to ring or whatever. My brain would never shut up, that didn’t help either. So I grew frustrated and walked away from it. Well, not entirely. I would still pick up a Sage Woman magazine every so often or read about the Salem Witch Trials. But then it was hard because school kept me busy and I really couldn’t dedicate myself to it.

And now here I am again with all of this time gone by and still basically at square one. I know so much but still know so little, feeling just as lost as before. So now I do have a couple of friends that I could get insight from but one lives in Canada and the other does not practice really anymore either. So in between being uneducated and being in an area where witchcraft is taboo I am stuck. And I don’t like being stuck.

So you’re probably asking was is the point of all of this? Well, it’s really because I need some help. And maybe I felt that I needed to say this and I has helped me realized some my problems too. One of the reasons I felt I could not concentrate is I still have some stigmatizing behavior and thinking to take care of. And I also realized that I am more passionate about Witchcraft and root work. Go figure, huh?

So now I need to find someone or something to help me on that path while working with the stigma and other things as well. But how do I get over that? How long is it going to take before I feel like a real Witch? But hey, I’m getting there. As a kid I never thought it would come to this.

Slowly but surely.

Walking The Path As A Public Witch

Walking The Path As A Public Witch

Author: Medea

I am a ‘public Witch’. The phrase means different things to different people but generally it means I am one who has come ‘out of the broom closet’. That has come to mean different things to me as the years have gone by.

I never was really in the ‘broom closet’. From the time I was introduced to The Craft by way of The Tarot at age eighteen, I was very open about it. Sometimes the openness was just for ‘shock value’. Sometimes it was just to be ‘different’. More often than not my openness was just a part of my personality. Like a puppy, I gleefully and playfully was just ‘me’ all over the place.

Now, at the age of forty-seven (can I really be that old?) and High Priestess in my tradition, I am still open about it, yet in very different ways. I rarely go for ‘shock value’ anymore (there are, however, those occasions when I cannot seem to help myself) . I have been a professional Nurse for twenty plus years and have learned in some instances the less said, the better. This learned, of course, the hard way. In many, many areas of my life I am much more tolerant and not so quick to take offense. I cannot attribute this to age or wisdom, as in many ways I am very immature and like it that way. It is a by-product of the path in which I have chosen to walk. One of the many, many gifts I receive.

I no longer feel the need to flash a Pentacle ring or necklace every chance I get. Most jewelry associated with the Craft and my religion are worn in private or under my clothes, close to my heart, as they should be. Yet, if I choose to wear such things in public (or forget to take them off) I make no effort to hide them, give no explanations, and make no apologies. My car is no longer adorned with bumper stickers proclaiming me ‘Witch’ or ‘Happy Heathen’. I didn’t take them off, but simply quit feeling the need to replace them each time I had to replace a vehicle. Yet I would not refrain from putting one on my bumper if it caught my fancy.

These days when I find it necessary or appropriate to speak of the Divine in general company I am as apt to say ‘God’ as ‘Goddess’ or ‘The Gods’. I have seen that getting caught up in nomenclature or schematics lessons somehow the sacredness of what one speaks of. If I am asked what Church I go to (a common question here in the South) I tell them. I don’t use flowery or holier- than -thou phrases such as ‘Nature is my Church’.

I say I am Pagan, if need be I say I am ‘Witch’, but more than that, I say I am a person of faith. And in some eyes I see the flash of recognition and in others I see distrust and incomprehension. These things no longer bother me. I am not meant to crusade. Neither am I, or my life, meant to be perfect. I can lapse in my old ways from time to time without being ‘lost’. I can make mistakes.

These days my Pentacle hangs on the lamppost in my yard. It hangs there for protection of my home and property as well as a nod to The Craft. It matters not who sees it and who does not. My home is Pagan and I call it a Temple House. It is where our rituals are mostly held. Where our classes are held. Where I sit and work on my computer on things that are important to the Temple. It is filled with altars which range from very simple to elaborate. Like all things, they change as they should, and I understand one does not need the trappings of religion to walk one’s faith. The house is lived in. It is welcoming to The Gods and Spirits I call, to my blood family and my Temple family and to visitors who come and go. It is meant to be welcoming to visitors of all faith and I believe for the most part it is. It is a work in progress, like the Temple itself. Like all things which grow and change. Like me.

I returned to the place I was born and raised after a twenty-year hiatus. It is a rural area in the Wilds of Tennessee, deep in the Bible Belt. It is a wonderful and beautiful place and the people are wonderful and beautiful too. Yet suspicions and prejudices linger along side traditions that smack of the Old Religion. I am known as a Witch and there is no mistake I am ‘the Real Thing’. At first I was humored, seen as a local girl who went ‘Out West’ and got some very strange ideas. There is often surprise when it is learned I was first introduced to the Craft in good ol’ Nashville, Tennessee. But here in the Wilds, Nashville, too, is a long way and there are many strange ideas to be found there. Maybe not as strange as ‘Out West’, but still strange.

When the realization came that this is not a passing fad for me, and that not only did I practice what I believed but ‘preached’ what I practiced the attitudes began to change. Family members and childhood friends, some I loved dearly and had missed for a long time, began to avoid me. Their attempts to ‘save my soul’ fell on deaf ears, and I took offense to being prayed for in Churches that I would ‘find my way and be saved’. They could not convert me, could not understand when I asked ‘saved from what?’ or said ‘I’m already saved’. And so I became a lost cause and to some a threat. There is no brand of persecution as scorching as that of those we know and love. My invitations to my home were unanswered by some. It became clear there were homes in which I was no longer welcome.

The Goddess does not demand sacrifice though at times it may seem so. I eventually came to understand that in order to have the things I found important in my life there were some things that by nature had to go. There is always grief, but as all things it passes and is, if not understood, accepted.

There were those who came and went. And there are those who stayed. Rituals of one became rituals of two and then three and then as many as fifteen at any given time. Others want card readings or advice or a little magick to ‘help out a situation’. Sometimes they are open about it and do not care who knows or what is thought of their association with me. Sometimes they come on the sly. I have learned to recognize those who come for a reason, such as the Goddess may have, and those who want what I can give and firmly believe me to be going to a Christian hell. There are those who do not care what becomes of me, but care about what it is I can do. Sometimes I still grow angry, usually out of hurt from the fall of one who I may have at some point respected. Mostly I do what I feel to be right and it has become very easy.

Inevitably the question will come from somewhere: ‘How did you get into that?’ that, of course, being Paganism or Witchcraft and sometimes thinly veiled ‘in league with The Devil’. I no longer feel the need to explain how Christianity never ‘felt right’ for me, implying of course I was somehow superior to that particular belief. These days I usually shrug and say ‘Like anyone of faith, I was called to it.’ This leaves little to argue about.

In my tradition today we celebrate Lenaia at the time of Imbolc, yet like so many things, the lines are blurred and the messages are the same. This Imbolc season I find myself taking stock and reflecting on many things about my life and the Path I walk. They, this life and this path, have somewhere along the line become one and the same. Perhaps it is the knowledge of having achieved this very thing, without setting out to do so or even hoping that I could, which is causing me to reflect. Perhaps it is my age, and the realization that, though I am not so old, I have most certainly lived longer in this life than I am going to live. It could be the weathering of so many changes over the last several years, some devastating enough to make me question my faith. Having come to terms with myself I have accepted many things I thought I could not. I can do this; accept these things, because at some point I began to trust that my Gods know what they are doing.

In January of 2001, I performed a solitary ritual outside in the yard at the old house my brother and I shared, divorced siblings clinging together in the changes of life. This was many years after I had picked up my first Tarot deck and felt the power of Otherworlds and the promise of mysteries revealed in them. It was cold and the Full Winter Moon rose high in a dark and starless sky. The moon was the color of ecru and its light brightened and dimmed with my incantation and my song. I had felt and witnessed the Power of the presence of the Divine before. I had seen first hand the workings of magick. Yet this was different. It was as if I were tapped on the shoulder. I had the feeling that Someone had finally gotten my attention. She had been waiting patiently for me to notice She wanted my attention. The voice I heard on the Wind, though the night was Windless, was real even though I could not make out the words. It was as if there was one voice, no, a thousand voices, and though the words were unintelligible I knew they said ‘Follow Me’.

I did not call the God and Goddess by name then, a last holdout of my Pentecost upbringing. They were to me The Lord and Lady. Yet I knew there were names, many names, and I would come to know Them. Although I became a Priestess of Hekate, it was Diana, the Huntress Mother, who called to me that night. I now know Her feel and Her smell and I recognize Her voice. When I hear Her name mentioned I see in my mind’s eye the silver disk floating in the Winter Sky. I often thank Her for calling me.

It wasn’t long after that I held my first private Imbolc ritual, as I have ever since, as I will continue to do. The day was sunny, bright, and cold. The kind of day that often depressed me. With stick incense in hand (patchouli because that is all I had) and the instructions from Scott Cunningham’s ‘Wicca’ in my head I picked my way through the thickets behind our rental house. I found a clearing and sat down, my nose running and the frozen ground pressing against my too thin pants for the weather. I meditated in silence, one thing I was only beginning to get good at. I sat there a long while, sometimes registering the sound of small animals in the thickets. Somehow understanding the sounds of the animals were gifts. I then told the Gods the things I have told them many times since:

I am Your daughter and Your lover. I give myself to You in this life and in any others to come. Set my feet upon the path You wish for me. Teach me the things I need to know. Give me the strength to learn them. I honor You and I love You. So Mote it be.

I meant those words the day I said them. And many times after, even as I wondered how hard this life has to get. I mean them now. The Gods listened and they knew I meant them and they have granted me the very things I asked for.

I love this life. It is at times messy and ugly, often chaotic, and on occasion extremely painful. It is equally interesting, comforting, and fun. And so there is balance. And so I am very, very blessed.

I love being Pagan. It is a wonderful thing to know what one’s path is and to be allowed to walk it. The Buddhist say ‘do the dishes for the sake of doing the dishes’. The clean dishes are only a result of doing the dishes correctly and wholeheartedly. Clean dishes are not the goal, doing the task well is the goal, everything else is, well, gravy. They say the same about the journey we call life. The journey is the point, the destination only the result of taking the journey well and wholeheartedly. Take the journey for the sake of taking the journey, walk the path for the sake of walking the path. Every now and then cast your eyes to the top of the mountain for a moment, but only a moment, focus on your goal, reassess your progress, make the proper adjustments, and get back to the task at hand.

In giving true love for the sake of giving true love, I have been given the truest of love. In giving friendship for the sake of giving friendship, I have received friendship. In being faithful for the sake of being faithful, I am given faithfulness. In giving mercy and kindness and justice for the sake of giving mercy and kindness and justice, I have received mercy and kindness and justice far beyond that I ever expected. In teaching the things I know for the sake of teaching the things I know I have been taught. And such fine teachers I have.

I walk the Pagan Path and the Path of the Priestess (and yes, Witch) for many reasons but mainly because it is my journey, what is put before me to do. It is an awesome task, an honor, and a door to many fleeting moments of happiness, which add up to a joyful life when all is said and done. Sometimes this path of mine is walked on nothing but faith because all else seems to elude me. Yet that which eludes me becomes mine if it is meant to be, and though I question and rail against the way, I am committed.

Along the way I catch the most peaceful sunrises, beautiful sunsets, healing breezes, and mighty storms. I am taught humility; I am reprimanded, led gently back when astray, and kicked hard when I need it. I am loved unconditionally and I know this without a doubt. I neither fear Death nor look for it, waiting for the rewards that I think might be my due. My rewards are many, and they are now. I may at times dread the act of dying and wonder if I will be granted a merciful death or if suffering at the end of this life is part of my lesson and task. Yet I trust that I will have what is needed for me and what is in the end the best. And I will not make that journey alone.

Those who have gone before will welcome me. The Gods will guide me and the Lady Hekate will walk with me as She always has. Cunningham pointed out that there is a difference in believing in something and knowing something. Many of the things I thought I believed I have come to know. To know a thing to be true is to accept it without having to understand it. There are many things I do understand and many things I will someday understand. But knowing, that is something that is not given lightly. It cannot be earned or bought; it can only come from walking the journey and walking it with an open heart and a willing soul.

I am one of many who aid this Phoenix we call Paganism to rise. My voice is among the silent ones who roar their presence into this world in this time. Our books and our Temples were burned and like so many things, though the way could have been easier, it had to be. Our Temples stand in our hearts and in our souls, in our country homes, and our suburban yards, in our small apartments in sprawling cities. This wonderful thing we call the Internet weaves us together across many, many miles. We have new books with words from Powerful hearts. We have remnants from the past which survive and which are important yet unimportant and therefore kept in perspective. We have the new and the old in which to learn and to build from. Balance. As it should be.

I am parched with thirst, and perishing,
But drink of me, the ever-flowing spring on the right (where) there is a fair cypress.
Who are you? Where are you from?
I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but my race is of Heaven (alone)
— Orphic Lamella from Thessaly

I Am A Witch! Hear Me Roar!

I Am A Witch! Hear Me Roar!

Author: Diana Midnight

I remember when I was a little girl; I used to ask my mother why we never went to church like other families. My mother used to come up with various excuse, and I kept asking anyway.
Later in life I became friends with the little Christian girl down the street. If I wanted to spend the night on Saturdays they told me I had to go to church with them the next day. I didn’t mind, it was a new experience in my life, and I had always wanted to go. Since we were younger kids, we got to go to youth group. They talked about god and did booklets; by the end of the class they did trivia.

Being stuck watching OPB all my life, I learned a lot about all religions and they had lots of stories from the Bible. Anyway, while my friend goofed off I listened to the teacher. For some reason things didn’t feel right. It felt wrong as soon as I stepped inside the building, I couldn’t breathe and I felt judged. Despite my discomfort, I was respectful and used my manners. I helped my friend answer all the questions, even though she should of known the answers herself. At the end of class, before we were allowed to leave, the teacher asked us a very personal question. “Have you excepted Jesus Christ into you heart?”.

It was said to the whole class, but seeing as I was the new kid, I knew it was directed at me. She told us that if anyone hadn’t that we should all close our eyes and raise our hand. I slowly raised my hand. I knew that for me that this was a brave move. I was the only one. She told us to put down our hands and open our eyes. Our eyes met and she told the class (Well, just me really.) that if we wanted to accept Jesus into our heart we could stay after class and talk to her.

When my friend and I were at the door she looked at me and gave me the meanest most judgmental look I had ever seen. I was glad to get out of there; I knew that I could never be a Christian. After that experience, I was ashamed to claim any religion as my own. I felt that they were all to judgmental and that I’d rather spend my time out in nature.

I’ve always loved nature. Night or day, sunny or cloudy, wet or dry…It’s all so beautiful, so MAGICAL. I could sit in one spot for hours, just laying in the grass and listening to the animals or playing in the water and making images in the sand. In a way, I was always a Pagan, a Witch. But I never put a label on my love for nature, for the Earth.

Watching the moon and stars was just a hobby: hikes and walk in the park just something I did for fun. Gardening. That was what first got my interested in Wicca and Paganism. I could make anything grow, and the results were amazing. I wanted to learn more. I started reading books on herbs and natural medicine. I went online a lot, because I often kept library books too long and my late fees were amazing (and not in a good way.) . I often stumbled onto a few Wiccan websites talking about using herbs for magick as well as medicine. I was…intrigued. I just couldn’t help myself.

Herb lore was an important thing in natural medicine. We wouldn’t have figured out more then half of the things in modern medicine if it weren’t for fork lore. Well, after a while I started to read about the other parts of Wicca. I read everything I could find or put my hands on. The library was limited for Wicca. Judaism and Christianity books filled the shelves, and I found only three books. Sad, I know.

The web was my only unlimited source. But before you get the good you must first sift through the bad. Which is a lot of work, and takes hours upon hours to work through. If I saw sites that spelled magick as “magic”, I ignored them. I ignored websites with free love spells and that told you if you buy their services you could get back your ex or become rich. I focused on the spiritual part of the religion, and that cut out all the weirdoes and creeps. I studied and studied, never stopping, always reading and learning.

Finally, after much study, I decided to call myself a Pagan. It felt as if a great weight was lifted from my shoulders, and as if my spirit was lighter. It felt RIGHT. It was if I was always meant to be Pagan. I was 13 years old by then. 2 years had passed before I was brave enough and sure enough of myself to claim such a strong connection to the Earth and others. I kept telling myself, you’re a WITCH! My passion for my religion made my heart sing, it was the deep bass of thunder, a lions roar. It could never be contained!

Of course I had to tell my family, I was so proud of myself. My father took it well; he wasn’t surprised at all. My mother…well, she was raised Catholic. I don’t think she even took me seriously, or if she did she thought I was crazy. My little brother was (and still is) rude and told his friends that I only thought I was a Pagan and didn’t even celebrate the holidays. Little did he know, I had been celebrating them for years. As for my big brother, he thought I was an idiot. I knew he wanted me to be a Christian, and like my childhood friend, probably thought (and still thinks) I’m going to Hell.

Personally, I not worried. I’m not sure if my big brother ever found out, but his wife (now his ex) after finding out, gave me a small spell book. “The little book of spells” was cute but very cliché. I loved it, it had novelty and it showed that not all Christians thought the same about Wiccans/Pagans. It showed that I had the love and respect of my sister in law.

I’ve been a Pagan for 6 years now, and I will be forever more. I am proud of myself and what I’m apart of. I shall never be ashamed to be me. We are all Earth’s children, and all of us have a need for faith. Even if we hear our wisdom from different voices. That little Christian girl and me are still best friends, despite religious differences. She listens instead of tuning out when I mention something involving my religion. I do the same for her, and I believe no matter what we need to listen to others even if we don’t want to hear it.

I’ve been working on a Book of Shadows for a few months now. My love of poetry has really helped with that, and with all I know about herbs my book is filling fast. I’m hoping that one day I can share the Earth’s wisdom with my children and grandchildren, and hopefully they do the same.

May the Goddess bless you and light your path in your times of darkness.

Blessed Be! XOXO

Calendar of the Sun for February 18th

Calendar of the Sun
18 Solmonath

Ishtar’s Day

Color: Pottery red, terra cotta
Element: Earth
Altar: Set with a cloth of earthy red, and on it place a pitcher of milk and another of wine, bowls of wood and clay filled with grains, olives, figs, and dates, a star, and the figure of a lioness.
Offerings: Grains. Stars. Give food to those who need it.
Daily Meal: Wholegrain bread. Cooked grains. Milk and dairy products.

Ishtar Invocation

I beseech thee, Lady of Ladies,
Goddess of Goddesses,
Ishtar, queen of all cities,
Leader of all men.
Thou art the light of the world,
Thou art the light of heaven.
At thy name the earth and the heavens shake,
And the gods they tremble;
The spirits of heaven tremble at thy name
And the men hold it in awe.
Where thou glancest the dead come to life,
And the sick rise and walk;
And the mind that is distressed is healed
When it looks upon thy face.

Call and response:
For lo, I am the Keeper of the Storehouse
And I am generous to all men!
From my breasts nourishment spills
From my hands nourishment flows
From my heart nourishment streams
I am the Morning Star
I am the Evening Star
I am the Star of Heaven
And I give unto all humanity.

(After this, all should being the work of inventorying all the resources of the house, in Ishtar’s name, so that they may be used more efficiently and that it can be known what can be given to others out of generosity.)

WOTC’s Spell of the Day for Feb. 17th – Cat Dreams

Cat Dreams

This spell teaches you how to energetically shape shift into a cat in your dreams. Shape shifting allows you merge with a particular animal spirit and to bring the power and wisdom of this spirit into your own being. It means you can be as sleek, sure-footed, and cunning as a cat when you need to be. These can be very good traits which is why cats are so adaptive and prone to survival. Their ancestors have been around for thousands and thousands of years.

You will need pictures of cats and sandalwood incense. Cats come in many different colors, sizes and personality types. Become familiar with these many faces of cats, and in particular, what face most closely resembles who you are as a person. Take time to observe as many cats as you can. Watch how they interact with other cats and how they interact with humans. Merge with the cat spirit and become one with the cat Goddess, Bast.

Tonight before you go to sleep, put the pictures of cats on your altar and light the sandalwood incense. Call out to the cat Goddess Bast:

Dear Bast, Goddess of the divine feline

Please come to me tonight during dreamtime.

Blessed dreams! Blessed Be!

As you close your eyes to go to sleep, let the images of cats move through your mind’s eye. Merge with the cat spirit, and repeat to yourself as you drift to sleep:

Tonight I dream with the cat spirit. Blessed be, Bast!

It Is Finally Thursday! Yahoo, Happy Thursday, dear friends!

Good morning, my lovelies! I hope everyone has a terrific Thursday today! This is the second time, I have sat down to do this. I figured I would have peace and quiet. Boy, was I wrong! Everyone (hubby and critters) are asleep except for Razzy (wildcat). She is wound up like a tornado. Hopefully now, she is calm down and I can get something done.

I have been getting up at 3 a.m., for I don’t know how long now. I know some of you are probably wondering how I ever get anything done. I am blogging all the time. When I get up at 3, I clean or pick up the house (whatever needs to be done). Then I watch the morning news and take my medication for my back. It generally knocks me out for a few hours. Then I am blogging away. Right now, this blog is about the only thing I actually enjoy doing. I enjoy doing it because I love the Goddess and I am doing Her work. Also we are totally broke and I have no money to do anything. So I stay at home the biggest part of the time. And why sit and twiddle my thumbs, when I love this!

At one time in my life, I had my future planned out. It was going to be a beautiful future too. My husband worked at a local plant and he made good money. He had went out and surprised me with a new truck. The reason being, I had an Explorer that we had decked out. It was a sharp Explorer but my husband hated it. He had his mind made up I was going to get killed in it. So he bought me the new truck. One morning, his work truck needed the exhaust system fixed. This is when I was working at the family’s auto repair garage. I was going to take it to the garage that day and get it fixed. I never made it to the garage that day. I got a phone call from the hospital at 7 in the morning. My husband had been involved in a serious wreck and he was driving my Explorer. I didn’t care about the car but I was crazy worrying about hubby. I flew to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, I had the radio on and they announced the wreck on radio. Used my husband’s name and everything, even included he was seriously injured. I liked to have died. When I got to the hospital, he was laying on a stretcher with his head busted all to pieces. He had a huge hole in his head from the front of his head all the way to the crown. All around his head was this goop, I thought it was his brains. This stuff looked like chicken liver. I never seen anything like it. He thought he was dying. He started telling me where this was and what I needed to do. I told him to shut up, he wasn’t fixing to die. About six doctors came into exam him and I had to step out. Outside was a sheriff’s deputy and he wanted to talk to me about the wreck. He told me that my Explorer was hit so hard that the door hinges broke and my husband was throwed from it. He bounced about 150 feet down a concrete road on his head. They found hubby laying out in the middle of the road. The idiot driving the other truck was going so fast, he had hit our truck twice. So the Explorer was totalled to say the least. When the doctors called me back in, they had decided to airlift my husband to a major hospital in Nashville. This scared me to death, I felt my strong will crumble. I thought he might die. The attendants in the copter kept telling me, he was going to make it. Don’t worry. So he stayed at the hospital in Nashville for a day or two. My husband got pissed because he was in the ICU unit and we couldn’t stay with him. So I think he raised so much hell that he got threw out. So he came home and it took him 8 months to recover from the wreck. The savings I had saved up went. We had to eat and keep place to live. I also had my new truck repossessed. I tried to kill those SOB’s. We weren’t even 90 days behind in the payments but they took it anyway.

So after I regained my senses from that, my husband went back to work for about a year. I tried to start my savings again but that was a laugh. I had to catch everything up that was behind. But hubby was saving money for his retirement were we could go and travel. Well he got laid off last January. He reassured me everything would be fine. He would draw the highest amount of unemployment you could draw. Well that turned out to be true for about 6 months. We went from $489 a week to $116 a week. Talking about a culture shock, I had a bad one. I just threw my arms up in the air and asked the Universe why me? What little money I had saved up, went in a heart beat. We almost ran through all the money he had saved up too. So he decided since there wasn’t any work, he would retire. We drew his first pension check this January. But we are back at square one, trying to catch up on everything that was behind. I have lived like this the whole time I have been married to him. He has always worked construction. In construction, the money is good but the work is never steady. You get money saved up and just as you think everything is going to be fine, he is laid off. You have to start living off of what you have saved up. A never-ending vicious cycle. So we are broke again.

I am not telling you this because I want your pity. I am telling you this because I want you to understand why I am blogging all the time. Hell, I would like to live the dream I had when hubby retired. I had thought we could travel and go places and see things. He has started saving money again but we probably won’t never be back to where we were. But perhaps, we might be able to go to Nashville or Louisville for the weekend, some day. I got a laptop so I am ready to go. See you would never even miss me.

I have just put my faith in the Goddess. I keep telling Her, I would just love to go and do something before I die. Perhaps one day, I can tell you I am sitting on the beach in Florida, catching some rays! Yeah right, I am a red-head. You know what happens to red-heads in the sun. We cook!

Anyway I have to run for now and get to work. I hope you have a terrific Thursday!

Goddess Bless You,

Lady A

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