Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Okay, I'm going for it!
I've finally decided that I am definitely going to give the e-store a go. I feel that I've got a lot to offer in several areas, and I would like to let the world know about it. Guess my Leo sun is shining! I'm very excited, but scared - I want to be successful, of course, but more importantly, I want to leave a mark on the world that is of some value.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Traditional Witchcraft: One Definition
The following was written by Startella, who is a fellow member of a witch forum at which I am a moderator. This was written in response to another member's questions about how we traditional witches "believe" and I was so impressed with this that I've "stolen" it, with permission, to post here on my blog. It's a very succinct piece of writing and pretty much reflects exactly what a traditional witch is, and does - and how much our craft can differ from witch to witch. I have taken the liberty of editing it slightly to remove references to other members of the forum, but the content is pretty much unchanged. Enjoy!
"Our Craft is nothing that we ally with, it is us. Our Craft is what we do every minute of our waking moments, and some of our not so waking ones too. This includes trances, deep meditations, astral travel, lucid dreaming, etc. Most of us will add a little of our local environment and cultural background and customs, making it unique to us. That is not to say that we don’t “practice” our Craft too. We are drawn to it because it was born in us, some and most can find signs when we were children, some are able to follow through and continue – some have family to help, others are forced to follow what their parents tell them, some following without others knowing their secret, others as soon as they are of age to seek themselves find it coming out stronger and they then pursue it. Most of us here have not had family to guide them, or have a family line, and even if there is a family line, does not mean that they will be a witch.
For most of us, nature is very big. Most people think of nature as trees and animals, lakes and streams, but they don't think of every single natural thing on this planet, and the rest of our solar system, galaxy and universe as well. Nature encompasses all of these things, like a universal energy. We generally do not worship any entities, but we recognize the existence of them, commonly referred to as spirits. We believe in the equality of all beings in the Universe, seeing them all as different and separate but still equal. We revere and respect nature, however we do not worship it or its representatives.
Most of us here do not call on deities, (except those that accept deities) but many may call on spirits and their ancestors. Some of us use “deity” energies and aspects in our workings, if it is needed. Some of us may occasionally call on the elements as well; most do not have the same belief of the four elements that is taught in Wicca. When performing magic we will concentrate on our own power, or and we may call on assistance from a spirit in the spirit world and/or ancestors.
Magic, that’s a big mouth full! It’s an everyday thing. We work our magic into our day to day lives, in cooking, cleaning, little spells here and there, keeping ourselves, our family, and our homes - even work - safe and healthy. We also work spells (for lack of a better word) for doing something very specific. Some of us do it in ritual style, other times not. Some of us use tools, sometimes not. Our spells and magic depends on our backgrounds, what we are doing at the moment, all different elements come into play here, at any given moment when it comes down to it. I do not consider doing readings to be magic. I have a natural ability but that did not make it so I can just do them. I had to find what spoke to me, and from there I had to work at it, not as hard as doing something I don’t have a natural eye for, but it is work and takes time to develop. We all do things very differently, and some here don’t do readings at all, some maybe they haven’t found the system that speaks to them, or they don’t have the time now to work at it.
Love and intent - we all do things in love, like protect our loved ones, our pets, family, friends whatever. We send each other healing energies, good thoughts, etc out of love. We will protect our cars, homes, lands, bikes, boats whatever, to protect them and the ones in and on these things, to keep them safe, running good, and healthy as best we can. Intent - that’s a whole different arena. Our intent is to do what ever it takes for most of us to get the job done, usually as quickly as we can. Does it harm someone in the process, well it might, but what were the consequences to us if we didn’t? And we take full responsibility for what we do. We don’t do things without thinking about it first. Some of us, do hexes, jinxes, and we will even do curses, if the need arises. What is the intent here, well that is obvious. I kinda think of it as tough love. Sometime you just have to do it, because it will help in the long run, no matter how hard it hurts right now. And then there are the times its just the right thing to do to someone, because of what they have done to you or yours. It maybe hate, disgust, or anger as part of the intent, or because they paid me to do it. But all in all you will find that we have very strong ethics that we follow, and each one of us has our own.
Evil spirits - that’s fluffy Wiccan to me. When we die some of us believe we travel to the plane of existence called the spirit world. Our resting place. When we continue our journey we may be born into a new life, reincarnation being commonly believed in by many. However another alternative that some believe is that we meld with nature becoming one with it, becoming a land spirit, one of the reasons we always show respect for the spirits as they are the spirits of those that have passed before us. I think the vast majority of spirits will remain as themselves within the spirit world sometimes interacting, (or trying to,) with the living. Not all spirits are nice though.
We see all life, all nature, all space as sacred. Since we believe that everything is sacred it is perfectly acceptable to do magic or rituals and spells in our living rooms or bedroom as opposed to being outdoors. We do not need to cast any circles to make it sacred, we do not call upon the watchtowers or elements to guard us, if we need assistance we may ask a spirit or an ancestor with help or the use of the universal energies. At the same time this does not mean that we may not use a circle to do a working in, it all depends on what we are doing.
Some of us generally observe the sabbats as these days correspond to solstices and equinoxes, but not all relate them to a specific mythology. Some do, per their tradition, background, culture and customs. I honor the seasonal changes themselves, when I see them happen in my area, rather than on a calendar - but not the lives of any Gods or Goddesses. Some or most, not sure, observe moon phases and other natural phenomena also, with the full moon being the most significant. Others follow even older ways when the Sabbats were the full moons and the now called Sabbats were just the festivals of their culture and customs.
For most of us things kinda flow being a witch and our craft is just who we are, and we can't imagine not being. That doesn't mean that it is easy, it can be a very hard path, is a life long journey, and well rewarding. There are no hard fast rules - rather there are commonalities. Each one of us is different, our craft is as individual as we are, it is the commonalities that bring us together."
"Our Craft is nothing that we ally with, it is us. Our Craft is what we do every minute of our waking moments, and some of our not so waking ones too. This includes trances, deep meditations, astral travel, lucid dreaming, etc. Most of us will add a little of our local environment and cultural background and customs, making it unique to us. That is not to say that we don’t “practice” our Craft too. We are drawn to it because it was born in us, some and most can find signs when we were children, some are able to follow through and continue – some have family to help, others are forced to follow what their parents tell them, some following without others knowing their secret, others as soon as they are of age to seek themselves find it coming out stronger and they then pursue it. Most of us here have not had family to guide them, or have a family line, and even if there is a family line, does not mean that they will be a witch.
For most of us, nature is very big. Most people think of nature as trees and animals, lakes and streams, but they don't think of every single natural thing on this planet, and the rest of our solar system, galaxy and universe as well. Nature encompasses all of these things, like a universal energy. We generally do not worship any entities, but we recognize the existence of them, commonly referred to as spirits. We believe in the equality of all beings in the Universe, seeing them all as different and separate but still equal. We revere and respect nature, however we do not worship it or its representatives.
Most of us here do not call on deities, (except those that accept deities) but many may call on spirits and their ancestors. Some of us use “deity” energies and aspects in our workings, if it is needed. Some of us may occasionally call on the elements as well; most do not have the same belief of the four elements that is taught in Wicca. When performing magic we will concentrate on our own power, or and we may call on assistance from a spirit in the spirit world and/or ancestors.
Magic, that’s a big mouth full! It’s an everyday thing. We work our magic into our day to day lives, in cooking, cleaning, little spells here and there, keeping ourselves, our family, and our homes - even work - safe and healthy. We also work spells (for lack of a better word) for doing something very specific. Some of us do it in ritual style, other times not. Some of us use tools, sometimes not. Our spells and magic depends on our backgrounds, what we are doing at the moment, all different elements come into play here, at any given moment when it comes down to it. I do not consider doing readings to be magic. I have a natural ability but that did not make it so I can just do them. I had to find what spoke to me, and from there I had to work at it, not as hard as doing something I don’t have a natural eye for, but it is work and takes time to develop. We all do things very differently, and some here don’t do readings at all, some maybe they haven’t found the system that speaks to them, or they don’t have the time now to work at it.
Love and intent - we all do things in love, like protect our loved ones, our pets, family, friends whatever. We send each other healing energies, good thoughts, etc out of love. We will protect our cars, homes, lands, bikes, boats whatever, to protect them and the ones in and on these things, to keep them safe, running good, and healthy as best we can. Intent - that’s a whole different arena. Our intent is to do what ever it takes for most of us to get the job done, usually as quickly as we can. Does it harm someone in the process, well it might, but what were the consequences to us if we didn’t? And we take full responsibility for what we do. We don’t do things without thinking about it first. Some of us, do hexes, jinxes, and we will even do curses, if the need arises. What is the intent here, well that is obvious. I kinda think of it as tough love. Sometime you just have to do it, because it will help in the long run, no matter how hard it hurts right now. And then there are the times its just the right thing to do to someone, because of what they have done to you or yours. It maybe hate, disgust, or anger as part of the intent, or because they paid me to do it. But all in all you will find that we have very strong ethics that we follow, and each one of us has our own.
Evil spirits - that’s fluffy Wiccan to me. When we die some of us believe we travel to the plane of existence called the spirit world. Our resting place. When we continue our journey we may be born into a new life, reincarnation being commonly believed in by many. However another alternative that some believe is that we meld with nature becoming one with it, becoming a land spirit, one of the reasons we always show respect for the spirits as they are the spirits of those that have passed before us. I think the vast majority of spirits will remain as themselves within the spirit world sometimes interacting, (or trying to,) with the living. Not all spirits are nice though.
We see all life, all nature, all space as sacred. Since we believe that everything is sacred it is perfectly acceptable to do magic or rituals and spells in our living rooms or bedroom as opposed to being outdoors. We do not need to cast any circles to make it sacred, we do not call upon the watchtowers or elements to guard us, if we need assistance we may ask a spirit or an ancestor with help or the use of the universal energies. At the same time this does not mean that we may not use a circle to do a working in, it all depends on what we are doing.
Some of us generally observe the sabbats as these days correspond to solstices and equinoxes, but not all relate them to a specific mythology. Some do, per their tradition, background, culture and customs. I honor the seasonal changes themselves, when I see them happen in my area, rather than on a calendar - but not the lives of any Gods or Goddesses. Some or most, not sure, observe moon phases and other natural phenomena also, with the full moon being the most significant. Others follow even older ways when the Sabbats were the full moons and the now called Sabbats were just the festivals of their culture and customs.
For most of us things kinda flow being a witch and our craft is just who we are, and we can't imagine not being. That doesn't mean that it is easy, it can be a very hard path, is a life long journey, and well rewarding. There are no hard fast rules - rather there are commonalities. Each one of us is different, our craft is as individual as we are, it is the commonalities that bring us together."
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Just call me GiGi :-)
My grandson arrived today! I was privileged to be in the room when he took his first breath - it was amazing, to say the least. He's beautiful, and I'm very proud of my daughter. She had a rough pregnancy fraught with medical complications. We're all very relieved that the baby's finally arrived.
Stats:
Silas Nathaniel
6 lbs 9 oz
18.25 inches
8:52 am
Silas, may you have a most fulfilling and happy life, filled with lots of love and laughter.
Love, GiGi
xxx
Stats:
Silas Nathaniel
6 lbs 9 oz
18.25 inches
8:52 am
Silas, may you have a most fulfilling and happy life, filled with lots of love and laughter.
Love, GiGi
xxx
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Happy Birthday to ME!
I'm 41 today. This doesn't make me terribly sad, surprisingly. I'm nowhere near as firm and unwrinkled as I was 20 years ago, but I'm nowhere near as ignorant and confused either.
Life's good as a forty-something.
Life's good as a forty-something.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Fresh Start
I've decided to abandon my old blog. It was filled with a lot of negativity - stories about and longings for the exhole, and Katrina memories, among others. There were happy entries as well, but they weren't as numerous. I'm all for fresh starts, you know? The old blog is disabled but saved - and maybe one day I'll delete it. Who knows.
What matters is that, right now, I'm here. I'm happy. I'm (mostly) living the life I want to live.
:-)
What matters is that, right now, I'm here. I'm happy. I'm (mostly) living the life I want to live.
:-)
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