Tag: Montana

Imbolc…or As The Wheel Turns

Imbolc…or As The Wheel Turns

Author:   Morbek 

As the wheel turns…

Sorry, that was a, now obscure, reference to an old soap opera. Imbolc is tomorrow! The meaning of the word it’s self is “in the milk” or something close to that. The real meaning of Imbolc is that we are beginning to see the changes in the days and that spring will eventually be here!

The promise that we will be able to survive another year and thrive is starting to materialize. When Imbolc was Christianized, it became Candlemas, and is a celebration of light. We have just moved through the darkest part of the year and we are headed for the light.

So, beyond the textbook stuff, let’s look at what this Sabbat means to 21st century people. Since we get our milk and meat from the grocery store and no longer have to plan out how and what we will be eating for more than 24 hours, agrarian celebrations no longer resonate with a clear message or meaning for most of us.

We get up in the morning, go to work, grab lunch…. you know the routine. How or even why do we care if ewes are starting to produce milk? We don’t and it is that simple. But if you think about what the last few months have been like, dark, wet dreary, you can identify with the longing for bright blue skies and nice warm weather. Imbolc reminds us that, in a chaotic world, there are many things we can still predict. Stability is important to us.

This Sabbat is also an opportunity for us to bring ourselves, spiritually, into the light. The “Dark night of our soul” is almost over and we have a chance to reflect about the lessons we’ve learned through the tough times and integrate them into our personal wisdom and offer them to others’ through collective wisdom.

I encourage everyone to recognize that what we’ve gone through is over and we never have to visit those same dark days again. Remember the difficulties, glean the lessons learned and then let go of the pain and fear. There is no way to move forward into perfect love and perfect trust if you are clinging onto fear or emotional pain. Imbolc presents an occasion to learn and let go!

Humans are obsessed with marking time. Months, years, decades, centuries, are important mental markers. They Mayan people were so obsessed with time keeping that they wrote a calendar for the past as well as the future. I think our obsession is, in part, a need to compare our personal growth. We need mental cairn to see “from whence we came’.

So, where was I 10 years ago? Living in Pony, MT!

I was secretly wishing that the world would go to hell in a hand basket because of Y2K but I knew it wouldn’t because some pretty smart people who caused that little glitch, were still around to fix that little glitch. I was dealing w/that lovely inner ear/vertigo issue that I have called Meniers’ disease for the first time! I was scared because I had no spirituality and I was on the run from a stalker (hence, why I was in Pony (middle of no where) Montana) .

Where am I now? In Killeen, TX!

The world did go to hell in a hand basket but it had nothing to do with a computer glitch.
I still have the Meniers disease but it’s under control with medication. I have a spiritual system that works especially well for me so I am no longer afraid. And I have taken a stand against the stalker (yes…. 10 years later. He is still at it) .

Imbolc 2010 has presented me with an inner reflection opportunity. Having just attended the Army’s “Spiritual Fitness Summit” with some really smart, spiritual and powerful chaplains, I discovered what has kept most of us from being open to acceptance of other religious systems is fear.

Once I started talking while we were working in our small groups to set the U.S. Army’s definition of spirituality, everyone began to relax. I am guessing that they figured out that I wasn’t going to sacrifice anything in the middle of the room!!! Then this group of men did something I did not expect them to do…they listened to me! Balance will now be included in the definition of healthy spirituality as well as the recognition of nontraditional religions, either formal or informal!

What should be addressed here isn’t “wow, look at the good stuff I’ve done. Yay me!”

I want to look at the road that it took to get to where I am. I want to remember the lessons that I learned on that road (which was full of pot holes and always a construction zone) and i want to, somehow, help others to see that life is a good place to be when you are living in the moment!

I have always felt a call to serve others. Even when I was much younger and being self-centered, spoiled and without a clue what Personal Responsibility, Compassion and Unconditional love meant. I thought that I was too fat for the military so serving there was not going to work and I needed to be doing something that earned money. I wanted to raise children, so the convent was out! Besides….I like sex way too much to give that up for the god of Abraham! What to do? I was stuck at 20…then, along came my eldest child and, thankfully, my (still) best friend, Tara.

Yes, I know…I went back MUCH further than 10 years, stay with me here.

Because of my choice to become a mother, I learned responsibility and because of my oldest daughters’ network of friends (thanks Mark…I owe you one for this lesson) I learned personal responsibility and compassion.

Tara stood by me through all of my thoughtlessness, insults, screw-ups and selfishness. Tara was there for all times, the good and the horrible. Tara taught me that you could love the person but not their actions. She taught me that you love without conditions and you love freely without expectations of being loved back. Because of Tara, I learned unconditional love.

So, what am I doing with all of these lessons? I am making an attempt to teach them to others in a gentler manner than I learned them. I am leading, as best I can, by example. I have been smart enough to form friendships with deep connections with people who will call me on my bullsh*t so that I can do it while not giving all of myself while serving others…or so that I can do it and not be a hypocrite by doing it for my ego.

November 5th is the day my father died when i was 15. November 5th two thousand and nine is the day that I found my feet. It is the day that I honestly answered that call to serve others. THAT is another article for a later time.

Blessed Imbolc, be fearless and loving!

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Your Animal Spirit for September 29th is Wolf

Your Animal Spirit for Today
September 29, 2013

Wolf

Wolf can survive either as a loner or as part of a pack, and he howls to remind you that you have to balance the needs of others with the needs of the self. If you’re giving yourself away to your own detriment, you are living in opposition to Wolf medicine. Return to balance—and begin feeding your emotions, your mind, and your body.

A Little Humor For You – Excerpts from a Cat’s Diary

Excerpts from a Cat’s Diary

Prefers to remain anonymous

Day 752— My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I’m forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.

Day 761—-Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving in and out of their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, note must try at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair……must try doing this on their bed.

Day768—I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was given the water torture. This time however it included a burning foamy chemical called (shampoo). What sick minds could invent such a liquid? My only consolation is the piece of the thumb still stuck between my teeth.

Day 771—There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary confinement throughout the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the foul odor of the glass tubes they called ” Beer”. More importantly I over heard that my confinement was due to my Power of Allergies. Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

Day 774—I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half wit. The bird on-the-other-hand has got to be an informant he speaks with them on a regular basis. I am certain he is reporting on my every move. Due to his placement in a metal room his safety is assured. But, I can watch and I can wait. It is only a matter of time.

 

Daily OM for December 4th – Now Is the Time

Now Is the Time

Bloom Where You Are Planted

 

by Madisyn Taylor

 

The time to blossom is now, not sometime in the future when you believe the stars will be aligned for you.

 

Having a vision for our future that differs from our current circumstances can be inspiring and exciting, but it can also keep us from fully committing to our present placement. We may become aware that this is happening when we notice our thoughts about the future distracting us from our participation in the moment. We may find upon searching our hearts that we are waiting for some future time or situation in order to self-actualize. This would be like a flower planted in North Dakota putting off blooming because it would prefer to do so in Illinois.

There are no guarantees in this life, so when we hold back we do so at the risk of never fully blossoming. This present moment always offers us the ground in which we can take root and open our hearts now. What this means is that we live fully, wherever we are, not hesitating because conditions are not perfect, or we might end up moving, or we haven’t found our life partner. This can be scary, because we might feel that we are giving up our cherished dreams if we do not agree to wait for them. But this notion that we have to hold back our life force now in order to find happiness later doesn’t really make sense. What might really be happening is that we are afraid to embrace this moment, and ourselves, just exactly as we are right now. This constitutes a tendency to hold back from fully loving ourselves, as we are, where we are.

We have a habit of presenting life with a set of conditions—ifs and whens that must be fulfilled before we will say yes to the gift of our lives. Now is the time for each of us to bloom where we are planted, overriding our tendency to hold back. Now is the time to say yes, to be brave and commit fully to ourselves, because until we do no one else will. Now is the time to be vulnerable, unfolding delicately yet fully into the space in which we find ourselves.

 

Daily OM

Can You Recognize a Pagan or a Wiccan When You See One?

Can You Recognize a Pagan or a Wiccan When You See One?

Author: jajlo b

I have only been studying and practicing Wicca (and I say practicing since I’m not perfect) for the last 10 years. I’m very much eclectic, and have had to do much of it on my own. I just haven’t found a teacher that I feel is right. And in all honesty, I’m not looking for one just now. I enjoy my freedom to digest what I read in many forms and what comes to me through my dreams, and mediations.

But I often wonder… can you really tell who is Pagan or Wiccan and who is not, by some outward sign?

I mean I know a lot of people who wear t-shirts with faeries and fey on them. I have seen people with bumper stickers saying, “Give me that old time religion” and a Pentacle right next to the phrase. I have even seen t-shirts in Kansas near where the Wizard of Oz museum is with “Good Witch” on the front. (I actually have that one because I have a strange sense of humor.)

But in all honesty, how do you tell a Pagan or a Wiccan from everyone else you meet in your daily life and travels.

The reason that I ask is because of two separate occurrences that happened to my husband and me.

Okay picture if you will, walking into a truck stop about 11 p.m. one night and the cashier is busy with a line full of costumers. And she is wearing one of those fancy sterling silver pentacles. Not a pewter one, but one that you know is sterling silver and she has a small Pentacle ring on that I notice as her fingers are flying across the cash register keys.

Anyway my husband and me finally make our choices and approach the cashier. “Hi, that is a pretty necklace.”

“Thank you, I’m a High Priestess, and my daughter had me order this from such and such” is the response she gave.

Ok, not exactly the response that I was looking for or expected. I only commented on her necklace. I had to do double-check my appearance; yep my pewter Pentacle was safe inside my uniform shirt. And I don’t have any tats or rings or earrings that have Pentacles on them. So why did she just come across with that answer.

Just then I realize she is still talking about the necklace. She goes on to tell me that she was thinking about doing a consecration ritual when it comes in the mail. But she decided not open it till the night of the full moon. So she could do the whole ritual properly (I still haven’t said anything else at this point) .

She goes on to explain she got her ritual bath and set up her altar and went to her room to get the necklace (This was an outdoor ritual she adds almost in a whisper as there is another customer at the register) . But as she goes to take it out of the tissue paper that is wrapped up she gets a shot of what she can only describe as static electricity.

Just then she says she realized that the maker of the necklace had consecrated it when they created the piece. Her daughter quickly tells her to just put it on, and wear as the artist that created it had to be stronger and more skilled than her and her ritual would only ruin the piece.

I tell her that is amazing and thank you for sharing with me and I walk away with my husband, who looks at me and says, “She’s a High Priestess. You didn’t even tell her you were Wiccan. So how did she know?”

I just look at him and shrug, “Beats me”

About a month later sitting in Montana at another truck stop we are eating. I see the younger couple come in (They look to be in their mid to late 20’s; my husband and I are in our 40’s) with their two children. I’m facing the door so I can see the t-shirt the young woman is wearing” 51 percent Angel/ 49 percent Pagan {don’t push it}.

I laughed. “ I like your shirt” I say while giggling about the thought of it.

“Thanks. I’m a High Priestess, ” she says back to me. And walks past.

I look at my husband; he looks at me, and says, “ What is it about declaring High Priestess status suddenly?”

I shake my head and double-check my appearance. My pentacle is in my shirt, not visible to anyone. So what is the deal with people saying this when I just comment on something they are wearing?

Suddenly the young lady comes back over to my table and she ask me point blank.” Do you know what Paganism is?”

“Yes, I do.” I tell her then I tell her I’m a solitary Wiccan.

“Oh really!” she says with a smile and some excitement in her voice (someone that she could talk for a few minutes) “ I was a solitary but then all my friends started coming to me and asking me to help them figure out what books they should read, so I ask them if they wanted to just start a coven with me.

They all said yes, and I told them we could do this but I would have to be the High Priestess since they came to me for advice in the first place.”

“Did they all agree to that?” I ask.

“Yes they did, ” she informs me. “My husband drives truck and he is heading to take me home so that I can do a new moon ritual and an initiation this weekend. I have to run to restroom. I’ll be right back”

She walked off, and my husband looks at me and asks, “Is that the way it is done in a coven” (I’m Wiccan; my husband is Catholic)

“No, ” I tell him, “ it is not done that way”

The young lady comes back and asks me to hold out my left hand palm down. I did and she places her right hand under palm side up. She looks at me and proceeds to tell me” Your energy isn’t very strong. I think you need to study more”

“ I have a head and chest cold that is eating up a lot of my energy right now trying to heal.”

“Well I can tell when people aren’t that strong of a Witch. I was doing a tarot reading on a chat line and for a woman in Ireland and she left in the middle of her reading to talk to her High Priestess”, she says

“Why did she go talk to her High Priestess? “ I asked

“Well when she came back she told me that her High Priestess told her that if I was able to pick up on the things that I was that I was one of the strongest High Priestess she had ever heard of.”

“And the woman told me that her High Priestess was now afraid of me”

I just smile and say, ” That is wild that another High Priestess in another country would be so afraid of you.”

She smiles and says” But I know that I’m that powerful and can do that, so that makes me one of the strong elders in this life”

She says she has to go; her husband is motioning for her to come on and help with the kids.

My husband and I get up and walk up to pay for our food, and my husband ask me, ” How do people just know that you are Pagan or a Wiccan?”

“I don’t know, ” I tell him.

To this day, I often wonder. Can you really tell a Pagan or Wiccan from some other outward sign?

Or were these two women just trying to startle me because I made a comment about their religious items?

Heal Yourself, Heal The World

Heal Yourself, Heal The World

  • Lissa Rankin

The world is deeply in need of healing. Civil wars are breaking out in countries across the globe. Children are starving. Global warming is turning natural disasters into catastrophes, destroying our habitats, and killing our animal species. The global economic crisis is destroying lives and breaking apart countries. Rainforests are disappearing. Soldiers are killing civilians and bragging about it. Women around the world are oppressed, abused, silenced, and killed if they dare to step into their power.

And it’s not just the world out there that’s in need of healing. Things are tough right here in our own country. Our teachers and priests are molesting our youth. Serial killers are attacking our women. Families are disintegrating. Unemployment is skyrocketing. People are dying of cancer. And many of us feel so pressured to be perfect, to be Superhuman, to keep it all together and to live up to society’s expectations for us, that we’ve lost touch with each other, ourselves, and our capacity to be forces of healing in the world.

The world is full of visionary healers longing to save the world. And my vision is to help them. I seem to be attracting visionaries like a magnet, and my goal is to shine a light on what those visionaries are doing in order to amplify their ability to realize their healing visions.

In addition to mentoring visionaries (read more about the mentoring services I offer here), I also feature the work of healing visionaries on OwningPink.com, write about these visionaries in my books, and tweet and Facebook events they’re hosting. I dream of one day running a retreat center and integrative medicine practice where those visionaries can lead workshops and practice their healing arts. And maybe someday I’ll even have my own TV show. Just call me Dr. Oprah…

Over the past three years, I’ve talked to a LOT of healing visionaries and I’ve become fascinated with what makes us tick. So many of us share similar struggles:

We feel:

  • Lonely in our quest to heal the world
  • Frustrated with the resistance we feel from those who aren’t ready to hear our message yet
  • Challenged to pay the bills while spreading the word
  • Pressured by publishers, publicists, and TV producers to get in a box, dumb it down, and compromise our message so it’s easier to “sell”
  • Isolated from other healing visionaries who view us as competitors, rather than collaborators
  • Frustrated with trying to market what we do in ways that don’t make us feel like we’re selling out
  • Impatient that our message isn’t being shouted around the world fast enough
  • Challenged with learning how to set boundaries with those in our communities so we can fill ourselves up first in order to heal the world

Every single visionary I’ve met, even the ones who have published New York Times bestsellers, relate at least one of these struggles, and often every one of them. Yet, they feel like they’re the only visionary who has ever faced such struggles.

As healing visionaries, it’s in our blood to give until we’re depleted – emotionally, financially, spiritually, physically – and yet, if we bleed ourselves dry, we can’t possibly help others to the degree of magnitude we desire.

It’s like the oxygen masks in airplanes. We can’t truly love, heal, and care for others until we nurture ourselves.

Just to be clear, when I’m talking about health and healing, I’m talking about more than you might think. Sure, good nutrition, daily exercise, eight hours of sleep, and taking your vitamins are a wonderful foundation for living a healthy life, but I’d argue they’re the least important part of being a wholly healthy, healed woman.

Although healthy bodies will certainly support us in our globe-changing efforts, you’ll need more than that to live a vital life. I’m talking about healing any toxic relationships, any hostile work life, any thwarted creativity, any spiritual disconnection, any unmet sexual hunger, any unhealthy financial baggage, any harmful environment issues in your home, and any unhealthy thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Not until we realize that we are mirrors of our interpersonal, spiritual, professional, sexual, creative, financial, environmental, mental, and emotional health will we truly heal. Only then can step up to the plate and make big strides towards saving the world.

This kind of self-healing isn’t for the faint of heart! You really can’t do it alone. This is where your sisters come in.

When you’re arm in arm with the feminine superheroes in your life who will blow pixie dust beneath your mighty wings as you blast off to the stratosphere, you can do anything. And when each of us rises to this level of empowerment, joy, wisdom, authenticity, and self-actualization, watch out world, here we come!

Women – women being who they really are, letting their freak flags fly, showing up maskless in all their beautiful vulnerability, celebrating their perfect imperfections, and lifting each other up – will heal the world. But only if we heal ourselves first, join in community with each other, and fill ourselves first so we can be effective agents for local and global change.

This is the awesome power of women in community. When we support each other, love each other, and lift each other up, we not only heal each other, we heal our loneliness, we grow our businesses, we spread our visions, and we make a difference, even if only in our own small way. When we’re juiced up, full of mojo, overflowing with vitality, kicking fear to the curb, following our dreams, nurturing our bodies, tending our spirits, and linking arms with our sisters, we can do ANYTHING.

Can Western women save the world?

You betcha, sister. But we can’t do it alone. We need each other to heal ourselves, so we can create as only women can do, love with open hearts, unite with collective spirit, and seek peace as the world leaders we all can be.

To foster this kind of healing love and support, I’m leading a workshop for female visionaries at Feathered Pipe Ranch in Montana this summer. Part of my personal vision is to gather women together in healing community so we can all realize our professional visions. Are you one of these awesome women?

It’s time, ladies.

Time to stop hiding in the shadows and step into the light.

Time to share ourselves truly with the world and, in the process, transform it.

Time to heal ourselves, that we might have a greater ability to affect healing in the world.

The Heal Yourself, Heal The World workshop happens next summer, from July 28 – August 3, 2012 and costs just $695 (food & accommodation extra).

I know that taking a week away from your work, your family and your life is not easy… so I wanted to let you know about this opportunity as soon as possible.

 Are you on board to save the world? You can count on me to hold your hand, sister. Look left. Look right. We’re all around you, love. And together, we can all heal.

Ready to change the world,

****

Lissa Rankin, MD: Founder of OwningPink.com, Pink Medicine Revolutionary, motivational speaker, and author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax.

Can You Recognize a Pagan or a Wiccan When You See One?

Can You Recognize a Pagan or a Wiccan When You See One?

Author: jajlo b
I have only been studying and practicing Wicca (and I say practicing since I’m not perfect) for the last 10 years. I’m very much eclectic, and have had to do much of it on my own. I just haven’t found a teacher that I feel is right. And in all honesty, I’m not looking for one just now. I enjoy my freedom to digest what I read in many forms and what comes to me through my dreams, and mediations.

But I often wonder… can you really tell who is Pagan or Wiccan and who is not, by some outward sign?

I mean I know a lot of people who wear t-shirts with faeries and fey on them. I have seen people with bumper stickers saying, “Give me that old time religion” and a Pentacle right next to the phrase. I have even seen t-shirts in Kansas near where the Wizard of Oz museum is with “Good Witch” on the front. (I actually have that one because I have a strange sense of humor.)

But in all honesty, how do you tell a Pagan or a Wiccan from everyone else you meet in your daily life and travels.

The reason that I ask is because of two separate occurrences that happened to my husband and me.

Okay picture if you will, walking into a truck stop about 11 p.m. one night and the cashier is busy with a line full of costumers. And she is wearing one of those fancy sterling silver pentacles. Not a pewter one, but one that you know is sterling silver and she has a small Pentacle ring on that I notice as her fingers are flying across the cash register keys.

Anyway my husband and me finally make our choices and approach the cashier. “Hi, that is a pretty necklace.”

“Thank you, I’m a High Priestess, and my daughter had me order this from such and such” is the response she gave.

Ok, not exactly the response that I was looking for or expected. I only commented on her necklace. I had to do double-check my appearance; yep my pewter Pentacle was safe inside my uniform shirt. And I don’t have any tats or rings or earrings that have Pentacles on them. So why did she just come across with that answer.

Just then I realize she is still talking about the necklace. She goes on to tell me that she was thinking about doing a consecration ritual when it comes in the mail. But she decided not open it till the night of the full moon. So she could do the whole ritual properly (I still haven’t said anything else at this point) .

She goes on to explain she got her ritual bath and set up her altar and went to her room to get the necklace (This was an outdoor ritual she adds almost in a whisper as there is another customer at the register) . But as she goes to take it out of the tissue paper that is wrapped up she gets a shot of what she can only describe as static electricity.

Just then she says she realized that the maker of the necklace had consecrated it when they created the piece. Her daughter quickly tells her to just put it on, and wear as the artist that created it had to be stronger and more skilled than her and her ritual would only ruin the piece.

I tell her that is amazing and thank you for sharing with me and I walk away with my husband, who looks at me and says, “She’s a High Priestess. You didn’t even tell her you were Wiccan. So how did she know?”

I just look at him and shrug, “Beats me”

About a month later sitting in Montana at another truck stop we are eating. I see the younger couple come in (They look to be in their mid to late 20’s; my husband and I are in our 40’s) with their two children. I’m facing the door so I can see the t-shirt the young woman is wearing” 51 percent Angel/ 49 percent Pagan {don’t push it}.

I laughed. “ I like your shirt” I say while giggling about the thought of it.

“Thanks. I’m a High Priestess, ” she says back to me. And walks past.

I look at my husband; he looks at me, and says, “ What is it about declaring High Priestess status suddenly?”

I shake my head and double-check my appearance. My pentacle is in my shirt, not visible to anyone. So what is the deal with people saying this when I just comment on something they are wearing?

Suddenly the young lady comes back over to my table and she ask me point blank.” Do you know what Paganism is?”

“Yes, I do.” I tell her then I tell her I’m a solitary Wiccan.

“Oh really!” she says with a smile and some excitement in her voice (someone that she could talk for a few minutes) “ I was a solitary but then all my friends started coming to me and asking me to help them figure out what books they should read, so I ask them if they wanted to just start a coven with me.

They all said yes, and I told them we could do this but I would have to be the High Priestess since they came to me for advice in the first place.”

“Did they all agree to that?” I ask.

“Yes they did, ” she informs me. “My husband drives truck and he is heading to take me home so that I can do a new moon ritual and an initiation this weekend. I have to run to restroom. I’ll be right back”

She walked off, and my husband looks at me and asks, “Is that the way it is done in a coven” (I’m Wiccan; my husband is Catholic)

“No, ” I tell him, “ it is not done that way”

The young lady comes back and asks me to hold out my left hand palm down. I did and she places her right hand under palm side up. She looks at me and proceeds to tell me” Your energy isn’t very strong. I think you need to study more”

“ I have a head and chest cold that is eating up a lot of my energy right now trying to heal.”

“Well I can tell when people aren’t that strong of a Witch. I was doing a tarot reading on a chat line and for a woman in Ireland and she left in the middle of her reading to talk to her High Priestess”, she says

“Why did she go talk to her High Priestess? “ I asked

“Well when she came back she told me that her High Priestess told her that if I was able to pick up on the things that I was that I was one of the strongest High Priestess she had ever heard of.”

“And the woman told me that her High Priestess was now afraid of me”

I just smile and say, ” That is wild that another High Priestess in another country would be so afraid of you.”

She smiles and says” But I know that I’m that powerful and can do that, so that makes me one of the strong elders in this life”

She says she has to go; her husband is motioning for her to come on and help with the kids.

My husband and I get up and walk up to pay for our food, and my husband ask me, ” How do people just know that you are Pagan or a Wiccan?”

“I don’t know, ” I tell him.

To this day, I often wonder. Can you really tell a Pagan or Wiccan from some other outward sign?

Or were these two women just trying to startle me because I made a comment about their religious items?

Earth Science Pic for September 14th

West Riverside, Montana Wildfire

September 14, 2011

Birnbaum_NASF_EPOD_05 (4)

Photographer: Josh Birnbaum; International Year of the Forests Photography Fellow
Summary Author: Josh Birnbaum; Jim Foster

The photo above shows a view of a wildfire that’s scarred more than 3,000 acres near West Riverside, Montana. It began on August 21, 2011, perhaps as a result of a lightning strike, but the exact cause is yet to be determined. More than 500 fire personnel worked to extinguishing it — finally did so in the last days of August. As with most all mountain fires, its suppression was a challenge because of the rough, steep terrain and gusty winds. Since the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest areas of the U.S. have been rather wet and cool this summer, the focus of this season’s wildfires is likely to be in the tinder dry southern Great Plains. Below is a ground view of the fire in late August.

Birnbaum_NASF_EPOD_01

Photo details: Top – Camera Maker: Canon; Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II; Focal Length: 135mm; Aperture: f/8.0; Exposure Time: 0.0016 s (1/640); ISO equiv: 100; Exposure Bias: -0.67 EV; Metering Mode: Matrix; Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto); Flash Fired: No (enforced); Orientation: Normal. Fire – same except: Aperture: f/2.0; Exposure Time: 0.013 s (1/80); ISO equiv: 2000; Exposure Bias: -1.00 EV;
Color Space: sRGB.

  • West Riverside, Montana Coordinates: 46.883, -113.888

Sweetgrass Braids

Sweetgrass smells delicious, and when you burn it, you can immediately sense its sweet and earthy-yer-otherworldly personality. Rather than removing negative vibes, sweet grass summons positive ones in the form of beneficient deceased loved ones, angels, guides, animal guides, gods/goddesses, and ascended masters, all of whom are great to have around for a number of reasons, including protection, happiness, and receiving messages from beyond. You might like to cleanse the space with sage before you invite in helpers with sweetgrass. Then, as you light it and you burn it, mentally or aloud invite sweet and helpful spirits to enter your home.

Can You Recognize a Pagan or a Wiccan When You See One?

Author: jajlo b

 have only been studying and practicing Wicca (and I say practicing since I’m not perfect) for the last 10 years. I’m very much eclectic, and have had to do much of it on my own. I just haven’t found a teacher that I feel is right. And in all honesty, I’m not looking for one just now. I enjoy my freedom to digest what I read in many forms and what comes to me through my dreams, and mediations.

But I often wonder… can you really tell who is Pagan or Wiccan and who is not, by some outward sign?

I mean I know a lot of people who wear t-shirts with faeries and fey on them. I have seen people with bumper stickers saying, “Give me that old time religion” and a Pentacle right next to the phrase. I have even seen t-shirts in Kansas near where the Wizard of Oz museum is with “Good Witch” on the front. (I actually have that one because I have a strange sense of humor.)

But in all honesty, how do you tell a Pagan or a Wiccan from everyone else you meet in your daily life and travels.

The reason that I ask is because of two separate occurrences that happened to my husband and me.

Okay picture if you will, walking into a truck stop about 11 p.m. one night and the cashier is busy with a line full of costumers. And she is wearing one of those fancy sterling silver pentacles. Not a pewter one, but one that you know is sterling silver and she has a small Pentacle ring on that I notice as her fingers are flying across the cash register keys.

Anyway my husband and me finally make our choices and approach the cashier. “Hi, that is a pretty necklace.”

“Thank you, I’m a High Priestess, and my daughter had me order this from such and such” is the response she gave.

Ok, not exactly the response that I was looking for or expected. I only commented on her necklace. I had to do double-check my appearance; yep my pewter Pentacle was safe inside my uniform shirt. And I don’t have any tats or rings or earrings that have Pentacles on them. So why did she just come across with that answer.

Just then I realize she is still talking about the necklace. She goes on to tell me that she was thinking about doing a consecration ritual when it comes in the mail. But she decided not open it till the night of the full moon. So she could do the whole ritual properly (I still haven’t said anything else at this point) .

She goes on to explain she got her ritual bath and set up her altar and went to her room to get the necklace (This was an outdoor ritual she adds almost in a whisper as there is another customer at the register) . But as she goes to take it out of the tissue paper that is wrapped up she gets a shot of what she can only describe as static electricity.

Just then she says she realized that the maker of the necklace had consecrated it when they created the piece. Her daughter quickly tells her to just put it on, and wear as the artist that created it had to be stronger and more skilled than her and her ritual would only ruin the piece.

I tell her that is amazing and thank you for sharing with me and I walk away with my husband, who looks at me and says, “She’s a High Priestess. You didn’t even tell her you were Wiccan. So how did she know?”

I just look at him and shrug, “Beats me”

About a month later sitting in Montana at another truck stop we are eating. I see the younger couple come in (They look to be in their mid to late 20’s; my husband and I are in our 40’s) with their two children. I’m facing the door so I can see the t-shirt the young woman is wearing” 51 percent Angel/ 49 percent Pagan {don’t push it}.

I laughed. “ I like your shirt” I say while giggling about the thought of it.

“Thanks. I’m a High Priestess, ” she says back to me. And walks past.

I look at my husband; he looks at me, and says, “ What is it about declaring High Priestess status suddenly?”

I shake my head and double-check my appearance. My pentacle is in my shirt, not visible to anyone. So what is the deal with people saying this when I just comment on something they are wearing?

Suddenly the young lady comes back over to my table and she ask me point blank.” Do you know what Paganism is?”

“Yes, I do.” I tell her then I tell her I’m a solitary Wiccan.

“Oh really!” she says with a smile and some excitement in her voice (someone that she could talk for a few minutes) “ I was a solitary but then all my friends started coming to me and asking me to help them figure out what books they should read, so I ask them if they wanted to just start a coven with me.

They all said yes, and I told them we could do this but I would have to be the High Priestess since they came to me for advice in the first place.”

“Did they all agree to that?” I ask.

“Yes they did, ” she informs me. “My husband drives truck and he is heading to take me home so that I can do a new moon ritual and an initiation this weekend. I have to run to restroom. I’ll be right back”

She walked off, and my husband looks at me and asks, “Is that the way it is done in a coven” (I’m Wiccan; my husband is Catholic)

“No, ” I tell him, “ it is not done that way”

The young lady comes back and asks me to hold out my left hand palm down. I did and she places her right hand under palm side up. She looks at me and proceeds to tell me” Your energy isn’t very strong. I think you need to study more”

“ I have a head and chest cold that is eating up a lot of my energy right now trying to heal.”

“Well I can tell when people aren’t that strong of a Witch. I was doing a tarot reading on a chat line and for a woman in Ireland and she left in the middle of her reading to talk to her High Priestess”, she says

“Why did she go talk to her High Priestess? “ I asked

“Well when she came back she told me that her High Priestess told her that if I was able to pick up on the things that I was that I was one of the strongest High Priestess she had ever heard of.”

“And the woman told me that her High Priestess was now afraid of me”

I just smile and say, ” That is wild that another High Priestess in another country would be so afraid of you.”

She smiles and says” But I know that I’m that powerful and can do that, so that makes me one of the strong elders in this life”

She says she has to go; her husband is motioning for her to come on and help with the kids.

My husband and I get up and walk up to pay for our food, and my husband ask me, ” How do people just know that you are Pagan or a Wiccan?”

“I don’t know, ” I tell him.

To this day, I often wonder. Can you really tell a Pagan or Wiccan from some other outward sign?

Or were these two women just trying to startle me because I made a comment about their religious items?