H is for Helping Others

An important part of paganism, as I understand it, is the belief that we are part of an interconnected world. From the circle of life to karma, there are many explanations of that interconnectedness.  This is why helping others with no expectations of a return is part of my personal path. It's a paradox. Helping others without expecting a return guarantees a return.
I volunteer my time with Rochester Roots. It's a community supported agriculture group that works with the Rochester Public School system to provide education to inner city children and also sells shares of their produce at an affordable cost. If you want to learn more about them, check out their website www.rochesterroots.org
Today they had a work day. Several volunteers, including my family, descended on the garden to help clean it up and get it ready for planting. We all had a blast. And we helped our community at the same time.
When people think of paganism they think of the rituals and holy days. But I find the most meaning in everyday paganism. The littlest moments seem to hold the most magic. The rituals are important, but equally as important is carrying that spirituality and meaning into your daily life and out into the world where it can do it's work.

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?

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!

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.

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.

Zymurgy

I admit, I had to look up words that start with Z to come up with my topic. Zymurgy is the branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation. You might wonder why I chose zymurgy as my topic.
Before the rise of Christianity, many of the things we take for granted today were seen as magical. Most people just drive to the grocery store and pick up some beer or wine and don't give the wonderful process of fermentation a second thought. Through fermentation starches are transformed into alcohol. What could be more magical than the transformation of one substance into another? The process of fermentation, and those who knew how to create with it, were seen as magical.
This is the thought I leave with you. As we move into the New Year, maybe we should add "Finding the magic in the everyday" to our list of resolutions and try to look at the world with the eyes of our ancestors.