The Moon and the Darkness

(This is a post I wrote quite a few months ago, around March. I had just finished this book, and it had made quite an impression on me. As I had experienced the passing of a loved one, my beloved grandmother, I wanted to delve more into understanding death from a Pagan perspective. Her sudden passing was very hard on me as I had never experienced death or dying before in my life. This book helped me cope with the aftermath of her passing and my grief. It also introduced me to a Goddess I had never had a connection to before- the Queen of the Night herself, Hekate.)


A few weeks ago I finally finished reading a book that I had felt drawn to for some time.
Its quite popular in our pagan circles, so I've heard, and many have read the book and garnered much healing and self-discovery from it.

"Mysteries of the Dark Moon" by Demetra George was a very profound read for me. Now it was my time to work through my own inner understanding of darkness/death in it's many forms.

Having not explored or worked with the "dark" Goddesses before, I was not fully educated on, nor aware of, the deep-rooted connection our path of spirituality has to the crone/death/end-of-cycle aspects of life and the wheel of the year.

Perhaps it is my tendency of liking the so-called "fluffy" side of Paganism that made me unable to completely appreciate and know my true perspective on the aspect of death and ending.

Throughout my learning of Wicca and witchcraft there has been much emphasis on the "new" and "full" aspects of the cyclic patterns life takes form in.

But when you reach past the beginning stages of learning about Wicca and paganism- when one begins to transition from the neophyte to a true practitioner, then you see the need and benefit of learning from the dark moon.

The dark moon, in my very humble opinion, tends to get overlooked in the practice of Wicca and witchcraft.
Perhaps it is because so many of us fear and loathe the stereotypical labels of "devil worshipper", "black magician" and "wicked witch", that Neo-Pagans unconsciously distance themselves from these "unconventional" aspects of their practice.

Now it was my time to do the same, and work through my own inner understanding of darkness/death in it's many forms.
So in order to learn and further my spiritual progress, I decided to hold an esbat honoring the dark moon.

It was a very, very intense experience, and I have had a few of those to date. This experience, however, just blew me away. The energy was very raw, and very pure, and my mind went on a very interesting journey which I will blog about very soon, but not today.
The least I will say about the entire experience is that in my meditation I met with Hekate and became one of her initiates, and for the record, I did not expect to do that at all.

Hekate, by the way, was awesome.

A Personal Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!

Today is American Thanksgiving, as I'm sure most of my readers know, and I don't usually have many things to do on Thanksgiving but I felt a blog post was in order after my very long hiatus.
Most people today will be spending the day with family, cooking their Turkeys (or what have you), eating, talking, enjoying a nice glass of wine or a beer to celebrate the end of the harvest season and the coming winter months and just enjoying this once-a-year day off to relax at home and have a very nice meal.
Usually I would be partaking in these activities as well, but this year Thanksgiving day has been one of internal enjoyment. Not really a day for talking or joviality, but a day of, quietly, giving thanks for the small things I still have. Not that my life is terrible, but there have been many set backs and upsets in the last 16 months of my life, and now they slowly have been coming together again. I don't think my life can be mended completely after what I have been going through for the past year, but I can bring some semblance of normalcy and happiness back to my soul.
Taking moments to yourself are integral to keeping your sanity in these situations- I've learned this from experience. I should really pluralize this and say 'experiences', because they really have been that.
As I'm not having a big turkey, not socializing with family, or enjoying a glass of something nice and alcoholic,  I figured a good, long blog post was in order. So this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for my blog because I like writing and it's nice to have refuge in words. I'm thankful that I can cook relatively well; I made a nice beef stew tonight. I'm thankful for my spiritual path, which has led me towards more interesting times and a better view of myself and the world. I am thankful for my friends and their wonderful support- without them I would not be as happy as I am sitting here writing this evening. I am thankful for my health and minor weight-loss, a never ending saga right now but good nonetheless. I'm thankful for my witchyness, it has helped my more times than I can count on this year (chakra clearing and calming charms worked wonders for my blood pressure). And finally, I am thankful for me. That may sound strange, but it's the biggest part of my existence. I am who I am because of so many things, and while I'm not always happy with some of those factors, I am happy with how I deal with those situations and the ways I cope to make life better.

Happy Thanksgiving and to all a good (and stuffed!) night.

Root Work

It's been a very, very long time since I've been here on my blog. I missed the calming familiarity of typing out little articles for others to read and to help me vent some of my ideas and frustrations into the world.
So I'm back now, trying to once again blog as a way to clear my head. Active meditation through typing, and yes, I'm even trying my hand at branching out in the online world and being of service to those interested and seeking out advice. I'm a bit shy by nature, and the Craft helped me move through that and become a stronger and more outspoken person. Believe it or not, witchcraft does wonders for self-esteem! The word 'self-empowerment' (is that a word?) comes to mind.

My intent is going back to basics- back to my early roots and starting a new adventure with a familiar path. By my early roots I mean the Tarot.
Just in case you didn't know I love the Tarot, let me tell you now. I love the Tarot. I love the Tarot and everything about it. Tarot just draws me in and grabs my attention and interest like a wormhole. In fact the Tarot is what led me to my current spirituality. The Tarot is my wormhole. It's a not a very attractive-sounding analogy, but to me the Tarot does symbolize this inwards progression through my spiritual plane of activity. When I do Tarot readings for others and myself, I sense my mind drifting into another wavelength of thinking-mode. My synapses get into gear and go until they can't connect anymore dots, which is not a huge deal. My Tarot decks are like an extension of myself sometimes. My nearest and dearest have been very pleasantly surprised by my accuracy, and I have even been known to surprise myself on occasion with some of the more direct readings I've had over the years.

So in honor of getting back into Tarot, I'm giving away 3-card Readings to the writers of the first five comments on this post! I will message those who comment for their reading specs and off we go!!!

I hope you're excited :)

Back again (from a sneeze!)

It's amazing how the smallest things can make you change for the better. For me, it was a sneeze.


And yes, I do realize that I have said this before, but I'm back. Really, I am.
I'm so bored of the doldrums and tired existence I've been shuffling through for the past year now that I've once again thrown in the towel on doing nothing. For good.

But let me get back to my 'semi' interesting story.

Last night I was sitting, reading a book. Not much of an evening, but hey, my life has been that way for awhile now. Anyhow, I was reading, reading, reading, and reading....and then all of a sudden I sneezed.
It was one of those 'once-in-a-life-time-knock-your-socks-of-and-blow-off-your-nose' sneezes, which I've only had once before and let me tell you it hurt like hell with a capital H!
And then, after the pain subsided, I realized that what I felt in that single moment was the most alive I had  felt all day.
Yes, it was a very sad moment of truth. I don't know how often those epiphany-sneezes occur in a lifetime, but the one I had last night was the most pathos-inducing I possibly could have felt. I knew a change was coming. The Goddess doesn't give me subtle messages anymore. Not that I was so inclined to feel anything less than a swift kick in the astral butt! I've let my Goddess and God given spiritual gifts go by the wayside as of late, due to my depressing situation (which I cannot elaborate on right now due to very close constraints), but I see the light at the end of the tunnel, which should be a lot more witchy-looking considering my state of spiritual affairs. But that's what stagnation does to people. Turns your psyche into mush, and then the astral garbage builds up until you are standing shoulder deep in your own mess of emotions and problems- caused by no one else but yours' truly!

So what led me here now do I sense you asking? Time. I have so much time on my hands it's killing me. I never thought I would say that, but yes, I have nothing to do but wait. And it's slowly driving me insane.
Goddess-knows I've been up to my elbows in a bad situation this past year, but now I've come to the point where I must either change myself for the better, or let myself change for the worst. I'm not picking the latter option at any cost. Stagnation will lead to my destruction.
So here I am, and to whomever is reading this, here you are, too.
I don't want to be trendy and cliche, but the phrase, "Be the change" is echoing through my head and I needed to heed the call. Like I once heard a very wise woman say, "No one can do it for you, so do it yourself."
Well I'm doing it now. I'm back to bring myself to world and give whatever small nuggets of wisdom I offer up to the internet gods and to my readers. If I can make someone's day more interesting or a little bit brighter I've done my part in giving back for the day. I have more the offer, but in due time. There's a lot to catch up on right now.

Once again, I'm back, baby. And I come bearing gifts. You'll read more about those in my next blog installments. Stay tuned for an upcoming Tarot talk!

A Call to Spring

Today is Saint Patrick's Day, so I wish everyone lots of green, lots of luck whether you are Irish or not, and lots of happy smiles in the spirit of today's joviality (because green beer always puts a smile on my face).

But all joking aside, the official first day of spring is really right around the corner. This year the spring, or vernal, equinox falls on March 20th, which is this Tuesday.
For those of us that are pagan, this is the day of Ostara, a wonderful solar festival celebrating the return of life to the earth and the lengthening of daylight.

Historically on this day, Saint Patrick drove the proverbial "snakes" from Ireland. The "snakes" being the pagans of his time.

I don't quite agree with his choice of actions to cement Christianity in Ireland, but I do feel that this time period before the vernal equinox is a good time for spring cleaning of sorts.
Instead of driving out snakes, you can purge yourself of sone of the negativity or stagnant energy that can get a bit clingy during the stillness of the winter months.

With that in mind, doing a little sympathetic magic to spring clean your spirit before Ostara is a great way to own yourself to receive the fresh, dynamic energy of springtime.

Do some meditations, do a little banishing spell to whisk away the negativity- you could even clean out a few cluttered or dusty areas of your space visualizing that you are clearing out your chakras or aura.

However you choose to do it, do it with mindfulness to the moment and with a spring in your step.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

An Imitation of Life

Today I experienced one of my lousy days. I woke up with a mild migraine that turned severe and nothing helped alleviate the pain, leaving me stuck in bed partially immobilized for a few hours that seemed like forever.

In light of my suffering, I tried to make the best of it by amusing myself on my iTouch (yes, I have one, and no, I'm not a techno geek- not that there's anything wrong with that; I just wish I was one).

I have a few tarot apps downloaded of course, so I did a single card reading with the Goddess Tarot (as a side note, I really should invest in that deck one of these days).

The card I drew was the 4 of Swords.
Being in pain, the meaning of the card didn't register with me at first. Then, all of a sudden, it was like a series of mini-explosions were going off in my mind.
At that moment I realized that this card held everything I was experiencing at that point of time and even right now as I'm writing this post hours later.

The 4 of Swords just summed up my entire existence. My life right now is removed from the world at large due to extreme family circumstances. I'm separated from having normal family life, and just a normal life in general for the time being.
I cannot work, or socialize at my leisure, and despite having busy days filled with interactions I feel more alone and isolated than ever.
Not to mention that at the moment of pulling that card I was lying in bed, drained and depleted from the pain of my migraine.

So now you might be thinking about where I'm going with all this. What is the purpose of me telling you about my migraine, my pain, and my awkward life?

Well, it has to do with proving how accurate a one card reading can be. Scarily accurate if you ask me.

The simple act of pulling out one card can sometimes be more illuminating than a huge, elaborate reading that can leave one more full of questions than when they went in search of an answer.
In another way as well, one card readings can also give an idea of how connected to the cards a reader really is.
When I first began doing readings the minor arcana were the hardest for me to read. Learning and understanding that part of a tarot deck took me many years and many, many readings. To this day there are still one or two cards that l still find a bit of difficulty relating to, but no one can fully comprehend the depth of the entire tarot, at least in my humble opinion.

If I've learnt anything today, it's to not discount the value of a one card reading. A card may seem easy to understand at first, but dive deeper into the layers under the surface and you can find out more than you may have ever expected.

Facing Ostara

Happy Ostara everyone!

This Ostara marks the beginning of my third year as a Witch and Pagan. It's amazing how the Wheel of the Year has turned once again, and so soon.

My first ever Ostara was not really celebrated in the ritual sense due to just beginning to learn about Wicca and Paganism.

My second Ostara was a celebration of my official year and a day, and I went all out with bunnies and eggs and tons of decorations, which were nice, but in retrospect wholly unnecessary.

This year's Ostara had none of the bells and whistles I like. No ornaments or incense or candles. Just lots and lots of energy. The amount of energy I felt radiating from the warmth of the and unseasonably warm weather was astounding.

I just wanted to put on a pair of shorts and go gardening, which I don't even know how to do!

So things are looking up this Ostara, and I'm in love with spring once again.