Tuesday, September 18, 2018

That Blessed To-Do List.

Blessings Darlings!

My ambitions tend to outrace my grasp - which means that my To Do list is really, really, REALLY long.  So much to do!  So little time to do it in!

Today I got several unexpected free hours, courtesy of hurricane Florence.  Because I have the To Do list - and keep it prioritized - I checked my list and decided to catch up on the dishes then do a blog post or two. Wonderful uses of some 'found time'.  Without the To Do list, I'd have had to dither about what I should do with those hours.  Instead, I could IMMEDIATELY get to work.  Thus, the To Do list existing at all increases my productivity.

But ... literally the moment I stood up to go to the kitchen ... power went out.  Our water is from a well.  No power = no dishwashing (or flushing toilets, or washing kitchen floors, etc).  Doing any research online for one of the blog posts was also out of the question.  Writing the blog posts on the computer was iffy - how long would my computer battery hold out for that?

So, back to the To Do list (which I don't keep on the computer, it's in my daily planner.)  What chore that takes no power is the highest priority?  Dusting, then straightening the living room.  AND doing them would take about as long as the dishes would.  A great substitution!  So I did those tasks, then sat down and wrote this by with pen on paper.  Again - having the To Do list made life more efficient and increased my flexibility when power being out threw me a curve ball.

Heck - back in the day, when I was having a problem with insomnia, I had an entire To Do list made up of things to accomplish if I was up between 3 and 5 in the morning.  It didn't help me sleep, but at least I didn't have the added stress of feeling that I had 'wasted' that time.  

Make your To Do list.  Use your To Do list.  Get your goals done.  Or at least more of them.

Frondly, Fern

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Omen Or No Omen.

Blessings, Darlings!

Dear Gods, I just tried 'reading' the same of a murmeration of birds as an omen.  Not that I had just asked a question or had an issue that I needed guidance on in my mind.  Hey, it looks like boobies!  That, and the cow that was nursing, must mean that everything is tits!  And tits are great!  So everything is great!

Well ... that's not quite how omens work.

While omens can come in myriad forms ... there are some constraints on what constitutes one.

One vital constraint is setting.  If you haven't just asked a question or have an issue preoccupying you - then whatever you see is probably not an omen.  Most stuff is just the world doing its thing.  Cows with calves nurse their calves.  Murmerations of birds happen when a lawn tractor moves towards where they are feeding.  Snakes - or deer or bunnies or turtles or squirrels or whatever - cross roads.  The beautiful yellow flickers now around the house are here because the thistles have gone to seed and these birds LOVE thistle seeds.  As noted in the Psychopomp blog: it's not all about you.  But if I just asked a question or was pondering an issue - that one of them showed up RIGHT THEN might be an omen/message/whatever.

Another constraint is that you understand it/can interpret it.  A message you can't understand is worthless as an omen (or a message from the Gods.)  If it's a symbol that means nothing to you, then it's extremely unlikely to be an omen.  You shouldn't have to do further research on an omen.   If it's a message from something that comes in Gaelic ... that message isn't going to be something I can use, so isn't what my psyche will have picked up as an omen.  Th FACt that I'm picking up Gaelic MIGHT be.  An omen in Hebrew I'd be able to understand, even if it coming in Hebrew is unlikely to be important.

Sometimes repetition indicates an omen.  That wouldn't be true here about the 'cow nursing', even tho' Hathor and I have somewhat of a relationship - the fields around my house feature at least 25 cows that are still nursing their calves.  Mice in my basement is just an sign that we failed to block all the ways that they have been getting in.  Deer around here tend to eat the same patch of vegetation every day at the same time until they've eaten it all.  Crows are common.  But if I have something on my mind, and while I'm out doing things I repeatedly see murders of crows on the buildings I'm entering that day ... that's a sign.

Go forth and be amazing.

Frondly, Fern

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Psychopomps, or "I've Got a Hot Date Tonight"

Blessings Darlings!

A couple of weeks back I blogged about how the air in my land base is full of bats, moths, and butterflies, normal for this time of year.  That said - all these critters are well-known to be  psychopomps, magical critters that help you travel between the worlds.  Clearly, not every moth and butterfly in your area isn't there for your personal spiritual/magical service.  99.9% of them are NOT 'all about you'.  That's true even if your astrological sun sign is Leo.  IJS.

That said - one in 1000 probably IS 'all about you'.  So today as I was sitting outside, having a cigarette and thinking about the post I was planning on creating about psychopomps - getting some serious attention from a gorgeous red spotted blue swallowtail was the equivalent of being asked out on a date to do some traveling with ker tonight.  We chatted so I know what I'm supposed to do to prepare, I left ker an offering (mashed ripe peaches, heavy with juice - I know this species.  Actually if I was giving the offering to a 'normal' member of the species, it would be even better had the fruit been a tad ... uh ... fermented.  They REALLY like that.  But in the case of psychopomps the extra 'spirit' is redundant.)

In many minds, psychopomps are associated only with leading spirits after death.  That's certainly a psychopomp role, but it is far from the only role they take.  They are there at births (often with the Ancestors riding them, as in the case of dragonflies in Japan.)  They are there at soul retrievals.  They can be sent as transportation for your spirit by another spirit that is summoning YOU (which can be a scary thing.)  And they can (as in this case) be a spirit helper to a Practitioner heading to the Otherworlds.

At any rate - I've a date tonight to go soaring off with a Psychopomp.  See you later!

Frondly, Fern