Financial Fun

Blessings Darlings!

Today being the first of the month, one of the activities of the day was paying bills.  This included the electricity bill ... the last electricity bill before they show the cost of heating out home.

Our winter heating bills are bloody scary.  I have to assume that they will be at least $400 a month for December thru' April.  All electric heat, and heat pumps, are not what I'd choose on my own.  But, it's what we have.  Damn, I wish we had a woodstove, or at least a fireplace.

All our time yesterday was spent on health insurance.  It was the last day of open enrollment at Job #2 (Job #1 doesn't offer insurance).  At the end of the number crunching, benefit comparisons, and discussions about if the tendonitis in my hands will let me continue to work both jobs ... we have our basic health plan thru' the ACA marketplace, and vision and dental care thru' Job #2.  Dental and vision feels EXTREMELY luxurious, even tho' the coverage is very limited.  By the way - none of the ACA marketplace plans have dentists in my area.  Welcome to West Virginia, where having teeth is extremely optional.

The death march to try to find tax info from the past continues.  I don't know when it will end, but we (mostly me) persevere.

At least the water and electricity will remain on for another month.  THAT is a good thing.

Frondly, Fern

Extra Meditation

Blessings Darlings!

One of the things about being sick is that, having cut out as much physical activity as I could from my life (the better to rest and heal - being unable to breathe is exhausting!), I have more time to meditate.  So my daily meditation has risen from once a day to 3 times a day.  I increased the meditation as soon as I got sick, so by the middle of this week - when I had two regularly-scheduled workings to do (Commune With Divinity and a Coven Crystal Charging) I was in a particularly good space to do them.  I may have gotten past my problems binding with the new crystal, and I got a moon cycle (at least!) worth of tasks from the Stag.

And goodness knows what the wind is blowing in and out today, and for the rest of the month of March!

Frondly, Fern

Face Palm

Blessings Darlings!

Today I saw a question in a FB group.  Here's a summary of the question, with more defining details added:

* long time witch (>10 years)
* not Wiccan, but practices in the 'Wiccan way'
* Totally no idea what to study next
* And she's studied everything in every book
* there was no internet OR books when writer started
* writer is 39 and has Wiccan husband

So, I gave her a list of ideas - Has she invoked all the Goetic spirits? How adept are you at astral projection? At OOBEs? At various types of possession/mediumship? Curing cancer or AIDS? Can you identify and use every plant in an empty lot near you, or a forested area near you? Is your area crime free because of your efforts?

Further, I asked: Have you spoken to your God/dess/es about what to study next? Used guided meditations to find out? Divination? What answers did you get from these type of searches?

Oh, I also pointed out when Cunningham alone started being published, and that I've been on the internet since she was 20.  

Why is she saying I'm not being helpful? I'm confused!

Look, if you've been a Witch for over 10 years, shouldn't you have ways to see what you should study next without asking strangers in FB rooms? Shouldn't you be mature enough to not get upset when people ask questions like mine?  And ..... really? You can't find a book with anything you aren't an expert in already?  I can find tons of books I can learn from, and I've been around this block rather more times than you have.

Sheesh. 

Frondly, Fern 

Havamal - Part 10

Blessings Darlings!

We're still going thru' general advice here.  And I'm still just generally running off at the fingers.

Never lift your eyes and look up in battle,
Lest the heroes enchant you,
who can change warriors
Suddenly into hogs,

Focus on the task at hand.  One opponent at a time.  Use your to-do list - planning 'ahead of the battle' (before you start your day) lets you identify which opponent to fight when. 

With a good woman, if you wish to enjoy
Her words and her good will,
Pledge her fairly and be faithful to it:
Enjoy the good you are given,

Don't be a douche. Put a ring on it.

Be not over wary, but wary enough,
First, of the foaming ale,
Second, of a woman wed to another,
Third, of the tricks of thieves.

Oh! Among the survivalists/preppers I hand with I see the overwary often:  Everything seen as an immediate critical threat.  No ability to relax in any circumstance.  It's more than balanced among those who don't prep at all, who are not at ALL wary of the /thievesgovernment/wars/pandemics/other threats that do exist.

Mock not the traveller met On the road,
Nor maliciously laugh at the guest:
Scoff not at guests nor to the gate chase them,
But relieve the lonely and wretched,

The sitters in the hall seldom know
The kin of the new-comer:
The best man is marred by faults,
The worst is not without worth.

Never laugh at the old when they offer counsel,
Often their words are wise:
From shrivelled skin, from scraggy things
That hand among the hides
And move amid the guts,
Clear words often come.


Don't be a douche. Listen to everyone. Evaluate, of course, but listen.

Heavy the beam above the door;
Hang a horse-shoe On it
Against ill-luck, lest it should suddenly
Crash and crush your guests.
Medicines exist against many evils:
Earth against drunkenness, heather against worms
Oak against costiveness, corn against sorcery,
Spurred rye against rupture, runes against bales
The moon against feuds, fire against sickness,
Earth makes harmless the floods.

I need to understand those more.  Earth against drunkenness - not sure about that. Fire against sickness - fire purifies in general and destroys sources of contageon.  Beltain is tomorrow as I type, when herds would be driven between two fires.  Turns out that helps kill off lice and other insects that carry disease. 






And, dang, why translate whatever the original word was to "costiveness"?  I just looked the damn thing up - it's CONSTIPATION.  I assume they mean eat green leaves to fight that, because I'd use the tannins of bark and acorns in teas to fight diarrhea (and possibly the worms they use heather against). 

Pagan Conferences

Blessings Darlings!

Let me state this, again, up front:  If Z Budapest trashed "Niggers" and "Kikes" as she does "trannies" - do you really think she'd be invited to any conferences? If she banned Jewitches, and said "Kikes are just animals in human clothes, so they can't come to my rituals. Oh, that's hurtful? They still aren't coming, but I'm sorry THE TRUTH hurts" ....

Anyway ...

I'm now going to talk about what the roles of Pagan Conferences are or should be in the US.


I'm not talking about conferences by any one particular religious group for its members or people who want to participate in that particular religion.  I'm talking about a conference open to everyone in the Pagan community who can and will pay the admission price.  Many of them will come from far away, many won't be affiliated with a local pagan group or local pagan community.  Those that come who are involved in a local group aren't at the conference to learn more about their home group even if members ARE giving classes - they can get those at home, after all.  They traveled to the conference to get stuff that is NOT available at home.


Let's look at the "about" statements of several conferences/festivals on my side of the country:


"The Sacred Space Conference is a place and time of respectful sharing and thoughtful learning among the many rich and varied traditions, beliefs, paths and organizations found in the DC/Baltimore metropolitan region, the surrounding Mid-Atlantic area, and the world.  It is our hope that through this conference we will increase understanding and religious tolerance between the many traditions within the esoteric community, as well as within the public at large."

"Between The Worlds is an interfaith esoteric conference sponsored by the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, a Wiccan non-profit religious organization. This conference is an opportunity to experience learning and rituals from a wide range of esoteric Paths."

"The Free Spirit Alliance is a spiritual networking organization serving the Pagan and Pantheist religious communities. Founded in 1985, our focus is and has been on presenting national, regional, and local events where people from all backgrounds can learn and share ideas. "


Learning and sharing, among a wide-range of folks.   Nothing less than that.  

Learning. Sharing.  Being exposed to the thoughts and rituals of many different groups.   Rituals to experience how those groups worship and work with energy.

That's what I say Pagan Conferences are for.

That said .....

*****************************************************************************

AND THERE ARE SOMETHINGS THAT PAGAN CONFERENCES ARE NOT (IMNHO)

None of those descriptions have anything about deliberately life changing rituals.  No promises of healing. No offer of spiritual breakthroughs.  


NOTHING THAT IS GOING TO SHATTER THE LIFE YOU LEFT.

I really worry for folks who seek spiritual breakthroughs at Pagan conferences, especially those who go back to being without group and community back home.  

Because 'breaking' and 'breaking through' is relatively easy.  Putting things back together in a new order - that is hard.  And is best done with the support of groups and community, not alone.  


Non-magical example:  I lived in the middle of Illinois for years.  One local therapist loved to help women separate out all their different parts.  Like ... dissociation/multiple personalities.  She honestly felt that doing this lead women to emotional breakthroughs.  But she never put them back into a cohesive whole.  Breaking the old without putting a new framework in place - simple destruction - left a trail of less functional, more broken, individuals.

Magical breakthroughs are very similar.  Looking at the coven I'm now in .... The coven was created (at the auspicious time) and we all became members.  And even that energy - no initiations, no elevations, just forming a coven and becoming members! - manifested in chaos in members lives.  Divorces and marital issues, unemployment and financial problems, internal communication issues, etc.  

Or even an encounter with the sweet, healing Goddess Bridget as Crone - where She announced She was going to work me over like she works a sword on Her forge - left me physically ill for months. Worked over, indeed!


Change SOUNDS great.  Change INVOLVES chaos.  We had each other, the group, the tradition and it's other members/HPs/HPSSs/Elders to rely on, and it was still chaotic.  


An actual spiritual breakthrough, at a conference, away from home, and you have to deal with travel after it ... and then being alone to deal with the chaos if you aren't part of a group.

And it doesn't matter if the breakthrough is 'healing'.  Healing is equally chaotic, especially if you are healing from long-standing issues.  You've build structure in your life around being broken.  Yes, you've shattered the Tower.  But you are now in mid-air, with debris around you and on every place you would land. NOW the real work starts.  And the ritual leader/healer doesn't stay in your life.  You are on your own.  Who is back home to even talk with about what is good to keep and what must be junked in your life?  Who can see magically what is going on that you might not be aware of, now brought to the surface?   


Because healing one area is going to bring up other areas that need healing, or areas you overcompensated in.  There will be fallout.  It was be ... yes ... chaos.


And if you do not have group/community back home, you will be alone.  With new chaos. 

Which is why life changing rituals, healings, etc, are to be done in your area, with people who are going to be around afterwards finishing the job - helping you clear up the chaos.

Let me summarize:

Pagan conferences are for sharing.
Pagan conferences are not for breakthroughs unless you seek a break-down.

Frondly, Fern 





 

New Cauldron.

Blessings Darlings!

It being THAT time of year again - like, winter - I did the annual refresh/re-dedication of my Healing Cauldron.  And, due to the fact that last year the cauldron ended up literally overflowing with healing requests, I swapped out the old cauldron for a bigger one.

For how I use the Healing Cauldron, look at this post from last year http://fernsfronds.blogspot.com/2011/01/healing-cauldron.html.  This year, since I refreshed the healing altar AFTER the coven's Bridget ritual (referenced last week), I have the Bridget's Candle I took home from the ritual on the altar.  Since I do daily work at that altar that candle won't last very long.  But I'll do a flame-to-flame handing down Bridget's fire to each candle in turn.  It's all great.

Frondly, Fern

Them Bones

Blessings, Darlings!

Being Green and Organic and witchy and Frugal, I like to re-purpose everything that we use at least one time.  More if possible.

Tonight's re-purposing theme, in line with Mystic Trad/Amok oral tradition, is FIRST YOU TAKE A DEAD CHICKEN.  So, the dead chicken - in this case, two backs, three drumsticks, and one thigh (all out of the freezer, bought on sale, etc) - will start off being breaded and fried.  And eaten for dinner by the family - purpose #1.

Usually I re-purpose chicken bones into soup stock.  I'm rather lazy on how I do that.  Roast the bones after removing all edible meat.  Take the container of dried veggie scraps - onions, celery, carrots - out.  Put both in big pot, add water, some salt, a few whole allspice/pepper corns/cloves, a few mashed cloves garlic, a few slices of ginger.  Bring to a boil, covered, for 5 minutes.  Put in the hay box cooker
 that I'm sure you've already built.  Leave it there 12 hours.  Strain.  Put back in pot.  Reduce by half.  Done! Purpose #2

However, I don't like what the breading left on them after being dipped and fried does to the stock, and I've been after some vertebra for a while.  So these bones are going to be re-purposed for magic. Purpose #2B

So I'll have to invest time removing tendons and ligaments from them all, and separate them all from each other.  I may simmer them to do the latter, so the house is still going to smell really good.  I'll probably have to bleach the vertebra to get all the gunk out of them, experience tells me.  Then the fun begins!

Using a saw (I'm hoping I can find a friend with a band saw, ours died years ago), I plan on making 'round' slices of leg bones, maybe for beads.  The vertebrae will certainly be used for 'beads'.  If I had ribs, I'd be making Ogham staves out of them.  Some bones will be kept for healing work - when a friend was hit by a hit and run driver, cracking vertebrae, I used some for that.  Some might get kept for artwork. 

I can't WAIT to get my share of our next steer - if no one else wants bones, I'm gonna have LOTS of fun.

All of this might also be used in a sideline online sales business, along with the runes and ogham I already make.  I love having multiple income streams!

The Healing Cauldron

Blessings, Darlings!

EARLY LAST WEEK:

Early last week, during the waning moon, I cleaned out my healing cauldron, readying it for another year of use. 

YESTERDAY:

Midday yesterday, e-mail went out from the Wiccan Trad I'm in that a member's family needed prayers/energy/magic.  So I finally found a location for the cauldron and a candle (yes, refer back to the chaos caused by moving), and did a quick working.

I went back to the computer. The news started rolling in about the mass shooting in Arizona.  Back to the cauldron, more working.

None of my other altars are up in the house, and clearly I was running late in setting up the Healing Cauldron ... and I still need to find the candle supply.  Having a dedicated Healing Cauldron, however, is always a good idea.

THE HEALING CAULDRON

For most of the folks I know, 'the healing cauldron' is a useful phrase, an abbreviation for a working.  For me, it refers to a literal cauldron, on an always-erected specific altar, one which usually (like, except during moves) gets daily attention.

The altar I use is simple.  It features a 4-inch cast iron cauldron, a candle, a candlestick if I'm not using a glass-enclosed candle, and some Bridget's Brats, blessed in years of working with Mugwort Grove, ADF. Given the affinity of us AMOKs for hot tubs, I had really wanted to use a doll house hot tub, but resisted that temptation - mostly because I already had a couple of small cauldrons.

Having this ALWAYS set up, any time a request for healing comes my way, I don't have to be distracted by setting things up.  And every morning I light a candle and send energy and prayers for those already in it.

BTW, I usually use Hanukkah candles for this. They burn about 20 minutes, so I rarely have to handle issues of untended candles left burning!

At times, usually the full moon, I make offerings as well, to keep the energy flowing well.  Grain, honey, butter, wine, oil usually.  Sometimes canned goods that will later go to the food pantry for the good of all.

In a way, it's part of my 'prepper' lifestyle.  Illness, injury, death, etc WILL happen to those around you. Being able to spiritually and magically handle those things is part of the drill.

Frondly, Fern