Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I have given some thought to the things I am thankful for. I am thankful for many things, but chief among them is my family. In particular I am writing about my daughter.

My daughter is wonderful. She is a very happy child (most of the time) and very active as well. She just turned two and her vocabulary is exploding. Every day it seems she knows a new word.

My daughter makes me excited about the future. Every time I look at her I see a multitude of possibilities. I can't wait to find out what she chooses to do. Her life is like a really good book I can't put down.
Right now she like to climb. Maybe she'll become a professional rock climber. She's very photogenic. Maybe she'll be an actress or model. Both of her parents are smart. Maybe she'll go to college and become a world famous mathematician or astrophysicist. She likes blocks and trains, so maybe she'll be an engineer or architect. Or maybe she will have a smaller life, but one still full of meaning.

One thing is for certain. I can't wait.

What's New

It's been a really long time since I last posted. My daughter is waking up so here is a quick list of what's new.

I finally have rabbits, but, thanks to a mistake, I have two females instead of a male and a female.

I have mini hoop houses on my raised beds.

One of my dogs died.

I have another daughter on the way.

I just got a scholarship for school.

I think that covers the big things. I will make a more detailed post later.

Garden Bounty

Because I was busy with school and Dr. Feather was pregnant with our second child, we never got a proper garden put in this year. However, life goes on and we were blessed with some unexpected garden bounty. A bunch of squash type plants started growing out of our compost pile. I began to refer to them as our "mystery squash". Now some of our plants are producing fruit and they are not so mysterious anymore.

 

This is a pumpkin that is growing on one of our plants. We also have some acorn squash. This year we get to reap where we did not sow, which is great because we didn't do much sowing. We also have some tomato and swiss chard growing out of compost. 

I did get some things done in the garden. I planted some rosemary, a couple of tomato plants, and a bunch of lettuce. Which brings me to another things I did this year. Rabbits!

This is my new female New Zealand rabbit. I just got her and her mate a couple of days ago. In a few months they will be ready to breed and a few months after that the children will be big enough to eat. I know a lot of people won't be comfortable with that, but I'm taking responsibility for the meat I eat by producing some of it myself. If you aren't squeamish about killing your food, meat rabbits are a good investment. They eat weeds, their poop makes great fertilizer, and they say a female can produce up to 90 lbs of meat a year. Also, their skins can be tanned and either sold or handcrafted.

All in all, it is turning out to be a decent year. I'm sure next year will be even better.

Summer plans

I have become woefully behind in my blog. I have no excuses. But I do have some plans for my summer. I have decided to get rabbits. I want to get them by August so we can have rabbit fur by Yule. So I've got to hustle on my home improvements. I promise pictures when I by build the hutch.

G is for Gratitude

About a month ago I was feeling stressed out with problems at work and the added workload from nursing school. I was in one of those negativity spirals and it was starting to cause problems at home. After a serious amount of meditating to rebalance everything, I watched a movie called "The Secret". It was a very interesting movie, with much that can be applied to magickal theory. If you haven't watched it, I recommend that you do.
The thing that I really brought away from this movie, was that good thing happen when we are grateful for what we already have. The movie was written for a non magical audience and explained it in terms of the universe giving you what you thought about on a regular basis. If you are constantly worrying about things you believe are out of your control, then you get more of the same, but if you are thinking about all the great things that are happening for you, more great things happen. An example was given of a man who picked up a random stone and put in into his pocket. Every time he touched the stone, he thought about all the thing he was grateful for. Because he put the stone into his pocket every morning and took it out every night, he touched it least twice a day.
I thought that sounded like a great idea and the perfect fix for my stress problem. Instead of a plain rock, I used a piece of rose quartz for its properties of self-love and acceptance. Every time I touch it I think of the things I'm grateful for. I have been carrying this stone around in my pocket for a month now and I can definitely tell a difference. My stress level has stayed low and hasn't gone up since using this technique.
Managing stress is important for everyone, but may be more so for those involved in magic. Stress can affect spell work, and can be especially killer for those using healing magic. Plus, spirits who are attracted to stress typically aren't the most pleasant. Also, the daily expression of thanks really does attract good thing into your life. Telling the people in your life how much you appreciate them doesn't hurt either.
Remember to find the magic in the little things, even if it is just a pebble in your pocket.

F is for Facing my Fears

If you find this post confusing or disturbing, I encourage you to read my post Death and Shamanic Dismemberment for the Pagan Blog Project 2012.
Back in January, I was getting ready to enter the nursing program and was feeling very stressed out. I decided to meditate on it to calm my mind and relax my emotions. I told my guides that I would welcome whatever journey I needed to have since I find that trying to force a journey gets very poor results.
I put on a shamanic drumming CD and got comfortable. I decided to start with visualization. I read about an exercise that was supposed to help you release stress. You were supposed to visualize yourself dropping your stress into a deep well.
So I did just that. I dropped my stress down the well. As I was looking down the well, black tentacles reached out of it and pulled me down the well.
It was pitch black. I was surrounded by darkness so thick I could feel it envelope me. I wasn't alone. I could sense something else circling me in the darkness.
A voice asked me, "What do you fear?"
"The unknown", I replied.
It ripped my left arm off. "What do you fear?" It asked again.
"Not being good enough."
It ripped my other arm off. "What do you fear?"
"Not being there for me family"
Now it tore off my right leg. "What do you fear?"
"Not being able to take care of them"
It tore off the left leg. "What do you fear?"
"Losing control"
What remained of my body was destroyed. I existed without a body. The voice spoke again. "You have faced your fears. They have destroyed your body. Do you feel dead? You still exist. You can exist without your fears to define you. You don't need them."
A small light, like a seed, appeared in the darkness. It began to grow, forming bones, nerves, muscles and organs. "This is what is left of you without fear. Do you see it growing? You no longer need your fears, let them go." The light grew into a new body for me and I possessed it.
The voice spoke to me some more with private instruction that I am not allowed to share.
It was important that I share this journey, because you don't need your fears either. Letting go of fear is a daily process. It may never be complete. But it is a challenge worth taking. If you can let go of your fears, what could possibly hold you back?

E is for Energy Healing

My partner, Heather, is a chiropractor and has a Master's in Chinese medicine. Many people come to her for healing. It is amazing the things she can do to help people without invasive surgery and costly medications. But when she feels that the person needs energy work done, she refers them to me. I always do what I can, and they tell me it makes a big difference, but, aside from 3rd degree Reiki, I haven't had any formal training. I've picked up things from other practitioners, and the spirits have taught me a few techniques over the years.
This year, I made a commitment to learn new things. I started by looking at martial arts, since I've always wanted to learn. As I checked out various teachers and style offered in my area, I came across Qi Gong. Strictly speaking, Qi Gong isn't a style of martial arts, but it is closely related. Roughly translated, Qi Gong means "cultivating energy" (nqa.org). It is a self healing practice that teaches the student how to control and balance the energy within his or her own body to promote health.
I have heard of Qi Gong before and had considered studying it, but when I was doing my research I found out something I didn't know. Qi Gong mastery can be applied to energy healing. At a certain level of mastery, the student of Qi Gong can not only manipulate the Qi in their own bodies for healing, but the Qi in others as well.
That was the deciding factor for me. I registered the next day and I am now taking Qi Gong classes with a local instructor. Later this year I hope to begin taking the Qi Gong healing classes and add these new skills to my existing knowledge of energy healing.
Remember that there is magick in even the smallest acts, and even tiny alterations can create big change.

D is for Divination: an interview with JD Aricchi

For this week’s Pagan Blog Project post, I wanted to do something special. So I interviewed JD Aricchi, a friend of mine who is making his first foray into publishing with The Ethereal Oracle.

Me: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. You have a new oracle deck coming out soon. When will it be available?

JD: The official release date is 3/11/13, but pre-order specials are going on now.

Me: Tell me more about this deck. What makes it special?

JD: This is an original oracle deck created from a selection of 45 pieces from over ten years of intuitive art as spirit art pieces. The deck is based on universal concepts. The mind/body/spirit balance coupled with color. It has no real boundaries of ideology.  Additionally, the downloadable book that will accompany the deck will include detailed insights on the card meaning or representation in many typical placements or positions and purposes.

Me: You said the deck is made up of spirit art. What can you tell me about your work?

JD: My artwork is created for the purpose of guidance for the individual it is created for. Initially, there was an intended recipient that the piece was created for. However, it is the energy and what the picture conveys on various levels of consciousness that is ultimately at work. Being energy, it can have an equally substantial meaning for any other person viewing or experiencing it. It is similar to interacting with a gemstone. I use a general “map” or guideline to interpret the work which is outlined in the book and in my workshops.

Me: The creation of this art seems to be a very intuitive process.

JD: Indeed, but maybe not how some may think. Initially I wrote the name of the intended recipient on the sketch. I think of the name and close my eyes and I get a general shape to start. I then begin to sketch constantly onto the paper and eventually the negative spaces and the images appear. Many times when I begin a drawing or art piece, I see lines of light or shadow on the paper and literally just follow them.

Me: How did you choose these 45 pieces?

JD: The selection process had many components to it. One component was allowing for purpose, like divine order, to intercede. Visually, which would make for a good card image and has enough depth to apply its meaning to different situations. As opposed to some images that would only have purpose for a specific, or limited, circumstances. I feel the purpose of this deck, as well as my work in general, is to give more information than answers, to empower actively choosing the present moment, and information or guidance to assist our choices in co-creating our internal and cumulative worlds.

Me: Your work is incredible. Where can we get a copy?

JD: On my website, www.infinitecreations.net or on several metaphysical shops listed on my website.

Me: Can my readers contact you for a reading through your website?

JD: Absolutely! They can also contact me through my Facebook page, Infinite Creations by JD LLC. On the web they can order spirit drawing or art. Both include written interpretations.

Me: Thank you very much for your time. Is there anything else you would like to add?

JD: This is the first of three planned decks. This first series of the Ethereal Oracle is going to be a limited quantity. Thank you for your interest.

So there you have it. I encourage you to go online to www.infinitecreations.net and reserve your copy today.  I have already pre-ordered mine and can't wait!

D is for Death and Shamanic Dismemberment

I first wrote this post for last year's Pagan Blog Project. It has been so popular that I thought I would repost it for this year.
If you want to read about my most recent dismemberment, check out F is for Facing my Fears

Death. It is inevitable and unavoidable.

I heard a story once about a man's encounter with Death. The man was in the market one morning when he saw Death staring at him. Fearing for his life, the man bought a horse and rode out of town as fast as it would carry him. Eventually, the horse would go no farther, and the man had to continue on foot. Late that night, weary and exhausted, the man became aware of another presence on the road. It was Death. Unable to run any further, the man turned to Death and asked "Why did you look at me so strangely this morning?" Death replied, "I was confused. I knew we had an appointment here tonight and I wondered how you would make it." Then Death collected the man's life.

For believers in reincarnation, death is a natural part of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is a change that all living brings must eventually go through. It is our egos that fear death. When our bodies die, our souls live on and reincarnate in new bodies. Our egos, however, do not. They fear the loss of identity that comes with death. To conquer our fear of death we must first conquer our ego. Every tradition has some form of initiation designed to force the initiate to assert control over the ego and face his or her mortality.

Those who practice shamanism eventually experience what is called shamanic dismemberment. During this process, a spirit, or group of spirits, destroy the journeyer's "body". It is then remade. This is a type of initiatory experience that simulates death and rebirth. Shaman's will experience this multiple times over the course of their lives. By the time they grow old, a shaman's familiarity with death, partly through this experience, allows them to meet Death as an old friend instead of fearing it as an enemy.

A shaman that I studied with briefly conducted an exercise. She had everyone pair up and do a journey for their partner. Because there were an odd number of us, she partnered with one of us. The woman who journeyed for the shaman said that the spirits told her that the shaman was going to die. The shaman laughed and said, "They are always telling me that." She then went on to explain the dismemberment process and told us that was what the spirits were referring to.

It was not long after that I had my first experience of shamanic dismemberment. In my journey I met a spirit with the body of a man and the head of a jaguar at the top of a Mesoamerican pyramid. He instructed me to lie down on the altar in front of him, which I did. Then he ripped out my heart and ate it. He replaced the heart with one made of a neon blue light, but the flesh around it smothered the light. He breathed out a swarm of insects that completely devoured my body. When they fell away, I had a new body made of the same blue light. When I returned to my body I  felt a sense of empowerment, like something inside me had been cleansed. Since then I have also been eaten by wild animals and ripped apart by a horde of zombies.

Death is a part of the natural process. It is a consequence that follows the choice to be born. However you choose to deal with it, it is something that you will have to face sooner or later.

C is for Community

Part of what defines a shaman is their community. Shamans use their ability to move between the worlds and effect change for the betterment of their communities. In traditional cultures, the shaman is a respected member of the village who is sought out for his or her knowledge and power.
But what of those of us who are trying to reclaim our shamanic heritage after generations of religious suppression? My neighbors don't believe the way I do. If I explained what a soul retrieval was they would probably think I was crazy. So what constitutes my community?
I have given a lot of thought towards answering this question. The honest answer is that I am still not sure. Right now I would define my community as those I have formed relationships with. My community is my friends, family, and the plants, animals, and spirits that share the land I live on.

Parenting

I've been working a lot of overnight jobs lately. One of the things that happens in the small hours of the night is that it gives you a lot of time to think. Since I have a one year old, the thing I think the most about is how I plan to parent.
I have known that I was smarter than most of the people around me since I was young. I've always been an A student. I'm not very creative, but I can learn anything I set my mind to. My partner has a doctorate and a masters. We are both smart, and it is already evident that our daughter is intelligent and inquisitive.
We plan to home school our daughter which is going to be an interesting challenge. I want to help her live up to her full potential; something that unfortunately the public school system will not be able to give her. There are students in my college classes that have yet to master the basics of spelling and grammar. Unschooling seems to be a homeschooling method that promises to help teach life long learning skills that will continue to be of value all her life. I recently read a very good book about it on Amazon Kindle called Intuitive Unschooling.
But I realized that I don't feel that I have lived up to my own potential. I only have an associate's degree, even though I am intelligent enough to get a higher degree. Plus there are a lot of things that I have always wanted to learn, but never put forth the effort. I didn't have anyone who encouraged me to be the exceptional person I could be. My grandparents didn't do that for my parents and they didn't do it for me.
I plan to do it for my daughter. I want her to know that she is smart and she can be great at whatever she wants to do. I want to encourage her to seek out learning opportunities. I want her to develop to her fullest potential because I know she can change the world. But I don't want to be a hypocrite. I always thought people like that were ridiculous. I'm sure we've all seen the adult who tells a kid to never smoke as they light up their own cigarette. So I plan to do something about it.
I'm already in nursing school and plan to continue my education though a master's degree in nursing. I have always wanted to learn martial arts, so I registered today for my first martial arts class. There are other things  that I've always wanted to do, and skills I've wanted to learn. This year I am going to become proactive in my own personal development. I want my daughter to achieve great things, not just because I've told her she can, but because she has seen me do it. I want to be her role model, and more than that, I want to be the person I've always wanted to be.

C is for Cats

Cats can be very magickal creatures. Cats have been associated with gods in many cultures. In Egypt, they are associated with Bast, a goddess often depicted with a cat head. In Norse culture, they are associated with the goddess Freyja, whose chariot was pulled by two cats.
In Burma, a group of monks, called Kittahs, are believed to reincarnate as cats before achieving Nirvana. And in Japan, Bekoning Cats are used to bring in good fortune, health, and wealth.
I have a cat that literally showed up on my doorstep a few weeks ago. We named him Falkor, after the dragon from "The Neverending Story". He reminds me of the Japanese Bekoning Cats. Since his arrival, my partner and I have gotten a lot of good paying contract work.
Cats have the Sight and often react to things that aren't visible to the average person. Once I was mediating outdoors when I was approached by a wandering spirit of some kind. When it realized I knew where it was, it attempted to hide itself. I knew it was still there, but I couldn't pin down its location. My cats could still see it though, and I was able to track its location by observing where my cats were staring.
Cats have long been associated with magic. The most memorable is when the Christians killed thousands of them believing them to be the servants of the Devil. Ironically, this led to an explosion of the rodent population which precipitated the Bubonic Plague which wiped out a third of Europe's population. Talk about karma.
The witches I have known have all worked with cats in one form or another, either by having them as pets or owning figures of them. I have heard that The Lady of Wicca is based on Freyja, who I have already mentioned was affiliated with cats.
Cat energy can be powerful to work with, but it can also be capricious. Cats come and go as they please, but can also be jealously territorial. As with any other gods or spirits, they can be powerful allies, but care must be taken to not offend them.
Until next time, remember to look for the magickal in the little things.

The Liebster

First of all I would like to say thank you to Homelight of Spirit Stitch for giving me the Liebster Award. It means a lot that one of my readers, and a fellow blogger, would nominate my blog for an award.

For those bloggers and readers who are unfamiliar with this award, “The Liebster Award" is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The word ” Liebster” comes from German and can mean the sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, most beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.”

Here are the Rules for this Award

Thank the person who nominated you.

When you receive the award, you post 11 random facts about yourself and answer the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you.

Pass the award onto 6 other blogs (while making sure you notify the blogger that you nominated them!) You write up 11 NEW questions directed towards YOUR nominees. 

You are not allowed to nominate the blog who nominated your own blog!

You paste the award picture into your blog. (You can Google the image, there are plenty of them!)

11 Random Facts

1. My parents were Christian missionaries
2. I spent a lot of my childhood in southeast Asia
3. I have had no formal training to be a shaman outside of books and the spirits themselves
4. I like to cook
5. My specialty is breakfast
6. I have my own business, www.foxcoffee.biz
7. I am not very good at foretelling the future, but I own two Tarot decks and a set of Oracle cards
8. I love movies, but am still catching up on movies released before the late 90's
9. I have a daughter that is amazing!
10. When I was a kid I wanted to be a paleontologist
11. I have watched "The Lorax" at least 10 times this week because my daughter loves it

Questions from Homelight:
1.  What advice would you give to other bloggers?
The most important thing to do when you decide to start blogging is to keep at it. Try to always post regularly and not have long lapses between posts. I have been guilty of this myself.
2.  If you could live anywhere in the world where would that be?
I don't have any specific place in mind, but I would like to move out of the city and into the country. I would like to buy a little piece of land and start homesteading.
3.  What is your favorite season and why?
Spring. It is so nice to see everything come alive again after the cold winter. Everything looks so much more vibrant.
4.  Last book you read?
Cold Days. The latest Harry Dresden novel by Jim Butcher.
5. Early bird or night owl?
Night Owl
6. 5 things you are grateful for today?
My girlfriend
My daughter
My friends
My health
That I managed to get into nursing school
7. 3 things you can't live without?
Because I have been to Third World countries, I know first hand that a lot of what people think they can't live without, they actually can. My three things: air, water, food
8.  Favorite movie?
So many good ones to choose from, but possibly the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
9.  Vampires or Zombies?
Vampires. Not the sparkly ones though. I don't think they count. I'm currently running a Vampire: the Masquerade table top game for some of my friends.
10.  Favorite vegetable?
Again, so many good ones to choose from. Maybe broccoli. A vegetable that I was only recently introduced to, but is one that I already have come to love is parsnips.
11. Your definition of a witch?
I think I am going to pass on this one since I do not consider myself to be a witch.

My 11 Questions
1. What inspires you to blog?
2. What advice would you give to other bloggers?
3. What is your favorite book?
4. If you won a million dollars what would you do with it?
5. If you could, would you go back to school and for what?
6. What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid?
7. Have you ever traveled outside of your country of origin?
8. What is your favorite thing to make?
9. If you do magic, what kind do you use most often?
10. If you garden, what is your favorite things about it?
11. What is the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?

My Nominations
Gardening Adventures
Walk the Circle
Book of Shadows and Blessings
Confessions of a Would-be Mountain Woman
Hrafinstaad
Standing at the Centre

B is for Bees

My Pagan Blog Project post for "B" week is about bees. Bees are amazing little creatures. They live and work with thousands of other bees in hives. They are very industrious and work very hard at their assigned tasks to keep the colony alive and healthy. Every day they work their tiny miracle of turning pollen into honey. Along the way they pollinate the flowers as they collect nectar. Honey bees do most of the agricultural pollination in the world and it has been said that without them a large portion of the human population would starve.
Honey is worthy of its own post. It's healthy and is a natural preservative because of its anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. Honey can remain good for over a hundred years.
I have a bee in my magickal supplies. Bees are associated with fertility, community, and productivity. Some cultures have other associations, but those three are pretty much universal.
In preparation for writing this post, I did a journey to Bee to ask what message it had for me. It took me on a tour of what it did. We gathered nectar from flowers, transferring pollen in the process. We brought it back to the hive and communicated with others about our find. Then Bee told me something powerful. The things Bee does are for its community. For Bee, community is more than itself or its hive. Community is the flowers it pollinates, the other animals that survive by eating the plant, fruit or seeds that grow because of the pollination. It is also the things that survive off the decay of those other things.
Our society is very wrapped up in the individual. It's all about Me. Bee reminds us to let go of our egos and care for others. Even small acts, like pollinating a flower, can have enormous effects. There is magick, even in the little things, if we only look for it.

A is for Agriculture

I picked agriculture as my Pagan Blog Project "A" topic because growing my own food helps to keep me connected with the universe and the local spirits. It also fits in neatly with last month's "Z" post about finding magic and mystery in the mundane.
When I prepare my garden I speak to the spirits of the land. I whisper words of strength to the seeds as I plant them. I give thanks to the plants as I harvest them for the life that they give to me. It is a mystical experience and I hope it always will be.
A lot of people my age and younger have never grown food for themselves. I've been lucky to have grown up with a garden. My father was the son of a farmer and we always had at least a small garden. Now I have a daughter and I will pass along this tradition to her. Below is a picture of spinach growing in the raised bed she "helped" me build last year. Spinach is a winter crop and it grew until we got almost a foot of snow a couple of weeks shoo.
It doesn't matter who you are, if you trace your roots back far enough you will find a farmer. Creating a garden can not only help you connect to the land, but it can also help you connect to your ancestors.
I find that my garden also helps me to connect with my faith. Many pagan religions are earth religions. The major festivals and holidays revolve around agriculture. As an example, I will use festivals that most on the Pagan Blog Project will be familiar with. Planting is done around the three fertility festivals of Imbolc, Ostara, and Beltane. Fruits and vegetables will be ready for harvest around the three harvest festivals of Lammas, Mabon, and Samhain.
Aside from the spiritual benefits of having a garden, there are practical benefits as well. Growing your own food can be a lot cheaper than buying it in a store, and better for you too. Plus there are the additional health benefits of being outside working in your garden getting fresh air and sunlight.
Even if you don't live where you can plant a garden in the ground, you can still grow things. I've seen gardens grown on rooftops, balconies, and window sills. If you are new to gardening, start small and with something easy, like garden herbs.
I really enjoy my garden and I hope I inspire you to start your own. Remember to always find the magick in the little things.

Countdown to Nursing School

The big news is that I have been accepted into the nursing program. With that comes the frantic scramble to get all of the paperwork in order before classes start. A lot if it is done already, but there are a couple of things I still have to finish before class starts on the 23rd.
I have a mini class that begins tomorrow that is supposed to help prepare me to be the best nursing student I can be. I'm taking it mainly to bring me up to twelve credit hours so I can get the most out of my financial aid. It will probably be helpful though.
We want to get chickens this year and the city allows ownership of up to six hens (no roosters) as long as we have a coop and run that is approved by a city inspector. I want to build one from as much recycled and scavenged material as possible to see how cheaply I can build it. Also for the challenge. My original goal was to complete the coop before school starts, so we will see how it goes.
I am going to build the coop primarily out of wooden pallets. I also have a piece of roofing left over from the patch job we did on the roof a few months ago. I don't have any chicken wire yet, but I'm hoping some will show up on Craigslist. Of course I will blog about it and post pictures of my progress. I got an off brand reciprocating saw from Harbor Freight  Tools for $20 with a coupon to help dismantle the pallets faster.
My daughter is as cute and adorable as ever. My wife and I both got an avalanche of contact work, so we are set financially. Things are good, if busy.

We'll see how the next couple of weeks go. Hopefully I'll have the coop done on time.