Ooops, edited to say I'm replying to Nat's questions about money magic--didn't quote her cuz I forgot to check on whether the page would turn...


No, I don't tithe, although if I could, I would GLADY spend 10% of our income at the local pagan store!! :cheesy:

Yes, I have done money magic. Yes it works. YES you need to be careful and set parameters.... Early on, my money magic resulted in car accidents--you know, people rear ended us, and then we got settlements--NOT what I had in mind. :scared:

So now my main parameter when I do money magic is that it MUST be completely positive means that brings me money, and nothing painful or bad may happen to bring me this money--"bad" in my judgment, not in the universe's judgment, which is way more impersonal than mine. Sometimes the money shows up as a $20 bill in a parking lot (although the last one was counterfeit, dang), sometimes as a rebate of a utility company deposit, sometimes as an outright gift, sometimes as a contest or lottery win (small so far, no jackpots). I'm sure it will show up in other ways, too... heck, every once in a while, the grocery store sends me coupons for free stuff and that counts, too!

How I feel about it is frustrated that I haven't yet won the big money, and frustrated that I evidently still have some sort of "I don't deserve anything" mental block going on. At the same time I feel grateful, grateful, grateful for all the times that money has shown up just in time.

I try to live in the cycle of abundance, rather than in scarcity mode. I try to be like water, always flowing, always more where that came from.

But that does remind me, you cannot escape the limits of bad parameters by saying "abundance" instead of money. The first time I tried THAT, I gained twenty pounds. :shocking: :bolt:

thanks bit - your post was both informative and cute :) (the abundance comment - ha!)

I think I have a lot of ambivalence about money. I can't seem to work it out inside my own head and heart, and I feel like my intention is too muddy.

It's funny today. It wasn't funny when I had to go buy new pants back then! :readfineprint: But yeah... I do laugh about it now. :cheesy:

Are you a writer? I worked at least part of it out by journaling. I wrote about what money means to me, why I want it, why I need it, why I deserve it... oh that one was HARD hard hard!!! I wrote about cycles and abundances and scarcity and fear.... and yanno, at the bottom of it all--at least so far--is fear. I'm afraid, on a deep deep level, that I'm going to be badly punished if I have money... it's the religious brainwashing I was subjected to and I haven't yet gotten rid of all of it. *sigh* But I work on it all that I can, and it is getting better. I've released a LOT of the fear just by using the mantra "may we prosper in all things, especially financially" on a regular basis.

Uh oh, big thunder--better disconnect computers until tomorrow!

Bit - I'm sorry I missed this. I do write in a journal but not nearly enough to have clear thoughts. :) I think I'll take your recommendation with that.

I wanted to recommend a podcast episode I really enjoyed: linky

It's an interview with Cat Yronwode, the owner of quite a few websites including Lucky Mojo. If you're at all interested in Hoodoo, I think it's worth a listen. She's very insightful and knowledgeable.

Also, I just got to listen to Arwen's latest Tarotscope and it was great as usual. :)

Hi Nat! How are you this week?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a couple books to recommend. A friend lent them to me and I've been enjoying the inspiration!

Witch Crafts: 101 Projects for Creative Pagans, and The Crafty Witch: 101 Ideas for Every Occasion, both by Willow Polson. The projects range from beginner to advanced-intermediate crafter and cover a wide range of materials, from simple embroideries to constructed fabric crafts, painting pre-made wooden items to carving your own wooden items, stringing simple beads to peyote stitching an amulet bag, working copper tooling foil to making wire jewelry. Working with yarn, naturecrafts, paper and glass are also included.

What I like the best is seeing craft item after craft item with a Pagan theme. So often I look at craft books and have to stretch to see the projects as Pagan, and certainly when shopping (especially at the holidays) the "Paganest" things I can find are just nature-themed... it's just plain flat NICE to find over 200 projects which are specifically meant to support us on our paths.

I have a question for the pagan group. Do you think, as a serious life long ancestorial based pagan, that you could couple with someone who is a devout xtian? Clearly a genuine xtian.

A friend of mine is about to do this and I think she has lost her mind. I have a very tarnished view of xtians and while i have nothing against the religion, nor Jesus, I DO have things against the individuals and the groups within this religion that use it to hurt people.

Like abortion issues. She is so pro choice and her intended is so pro life. She reads cards and her intended feels its a potential evil. Prophesy is a no no. She is a solitary and her intended is very much active in hir church.

both are good people from what I can see. I know my friend is and this new person seems to be.

Not that its my business but until now, I never thought of religion being a factor in a relationship...but...

thoughts?

Hi Bit :) I'm good. The book sounds like fun. :)

softness - I think it depends on what kind of Christian the person is. If the person is a "judge not lest ye be judged" type, it could work out. I think it would be a little tough but I think people work stuff like that out often enough. I was married to a Christian and I was an Atheist at the time - it was never the issue I was afraid it would be. I haven't tried the Pagan / Christian combo.

Hey Softness,

I'm a Christian who believes that people have the right to believe in whatever they chose, or not. With the proviso that these beliefs, or non beliefs, do no harm to others. I also had been in a relationship with a non- practicing Jew, who was an atheist. I did/do not believe in prosecuting. However, her contempt for religion was such that it drove a wedge between us. I seldom discussed my pov, nor invited her to the church. She was capable of asking for what she wanted.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, first of all, it probably isn't our business what piles our friends step in, unless we are asked. Having said this, it FEELS like an unworkable situation. Believe it or not, there are Christians who support a woman's right to chose, and believe in same sex marriage, etc. Many of your friend's so called "secular" beliefs are core values, IMO, and seem so very incompatible with her new partner. I suppose one can give up that piece of herself, but ... Then again, as the old adage goes, "miracles do happen." Just an opinion.

thanks...and what I decided is I dont need to step into her pile...so I am backing away....

miracles happen...I just want her to be happy...

BTW, sorry if I seem to be an interloper, I don't mean to be such. I read this thread often, and hope that you do not mind my comment.

in my opinion, catholics are pagan christians. They took all our holidays and rewrapped them in the new religions so the villagers would follow them. I am a hybrid of sorts...

And I welcome any faith to come to the pagan thread. I dont mind sharing my spirituality and I did ask for feedback and Wax offered.

arghhh....toddler just deleted my post...*grumble*
 

Awww Lady Blue, so sorry about the deleted post!

Wax, you are of course welcome here! Everyone is.

lipstix, no, Pagans are not normally Christians. In order to be Christian one has to accept Jesus as God--the only god--and Pagans almost always either believe that Jesus is not God, or else accept him as only one of many gods.

That doesn't mean, however, that someone who is Christian cannot be a witch, because being a witch has two different definitions. One is "to be a follower of the religion, Wicca," and the other is "to work magic through natural, spiritual, or psychic means." The second kind of witch can easily also be a Christian.

softness, if your friend is strong in her path, she is likely to come in for a lot of tension in the new relationship. Of course, there is always the possibility that the charms of the new love more than make up for that... and there is also the possibility that your friend has subconsciously chosen her new love as much *for* the Christianity as for anything, and will convert. It does happen that people's paths lead them into some surprising life decisions! It might be that this is a time in her life when she needs to walk an easier path than solitary Paganism, one that offers much community support and few hassles.

I think interfaith marriages in general are tricky. People who are open-minded and willing to put some effort into understanding each other's paths and faiths are likely to have a MUCH easier time of it than those who have chosen partners who are more rigid in their interpretations.

It was difficult for me to be in an interfaith marriage even though my partner WAS open-minded, understanding, and supportive. It was also difficult for me to be relationships where we were both nominally Pagan but my partner had rigid ideas about the only right way to be Pagan, or was full of ridicule for my Paganism. I'm really grateful that even though Gryph and I don't walk the same Pagan path, we share similar enough beliefs and practices that we have no tension.

Most important of all, we share enough respect for each other that even when our practices differ significantly, we work together to find common ground. Maybe that's what it all comes down to: respect for each other.

It is however quite a bonus to be partnered with a person with whom you can share at least some of your practice.

There was actually an enjoyable podcast from new world witchery regarding interfaith relationships -

http://newworldwitchery.wordpress.co...relationships/

Anybody doing anything this year for Halloween / Samhain / Day(s) of the Dead / All Soul's Day?

I will definitely be doing something to honor friends and family who have passed over. I can't this year but I would love to do a dumb supper some year.

{{{{{{{{{{{{Nat}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Hi hon!

My plans are for Halloween and Samhain both. Our neighborhood association always has a huge Halloween party in the park, and Gryph and I are part of that.

This year our local Pagan group is having a Samhain party on the Friday before, and I'm really looking forward to it! I don't know if it will include any actual ritual but I'm okay with it either way.

One of the things I always do--obsessively, lol--is play A Soalin' by Peter Paul and Mary. This performance actually mentions Trick or Treating and relates it to the souling tradition. I don't mind the Christmas verse at the end because I sing this song for the whole entire season and sometimes--if I'm not sick of it yet, lol--all the way to Valentine's Day.



Lorraine Washburn also has a stunning version of A Soalin'. She ties it to Autumn with falling leaves.



Sting ties it to Christmas. This youtube includes pictures of the Swedish countryside and is just gorgeous.



It is impossible for me to be still listening to this song!! Doesn't matter how much I hurt, this song has me dancing. What better way to bring in Samhain?

Oh my gosh, look what I found!!! Links galore on this page, as well as the lyrics to the youtube below.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...ogId=516025050

Noticing the Natural World: Mid-October 2010
 

It's that transitioning time of year again. The fruits and vegetables are changing; squash comes into season, melons go out of season, apples and pears replace berries, sweet potatoes replace tomatoes. The leaves have started turning on the Virginia creeper along my back fence and my neighbors' trees are starting to show soft yellows and oranges. Music comes up from the depths of my soul, channeled through childhood memories and recent discoveries alike. The Gardener in me simmers down, and the Baker wakes up: tis Autumn time.

In my yard, the barren heat of the Summer drought has ended. The dandelions and plantains are green and growing, leaves tender, succulent. The violets which barely survived the summer are strengthening. Ragweed is blooming enthusiastically. Who knew it was such a mimic? The sassafrass-mimicking giant ragweed is gone now... but the "pigweed" has just shown itself to also be a ragweed and must come out as well. The beggars' ticks have gone to seed, all sticky with tiny hairs, long seeds barbed like harpoons. I pull them whenever I find them and the yard is free of them for the winter, but they'll be back again come spring, just like the poison ivy. The grass is frantically blooming and setting seed. Vines and trees all over the neighborhood have blazed forth with red berries. The Autumn Leaf Show has not truly begun yet, but it's coming... it is coming. The world beneath the surface growth is slowing down, taking a breath; tree roots are preparing for the long sleep. Earth is awake and content, just a little drowsy around the edges as sleep time comes closer.

Samhain is just around the corner. It seems to be coming unusually fast this year, but I know tis only because Summer held on through what should have been the first month of Autumn. Only two weeks now, and we will be in the U.S. Holiday Season: Samhain/Halloween, Thanksgiving, Solstice/Yule/Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day. Tis the inner Baker's dream season, time to set butter-and-flour magic into motion, time to create breads and cakes, muffins and cookies, brownies and gingerbreads. Tis time to stock the larder; grocery store sales on the staples of a Baker's kitchen are just around the corner. Time to slow roast squashes and root vegetables, time to create stews and roasts, time to cook to my heart's content.

I find myself feeling connected to generation upon generation of cooks and bakers. An image persists in my heart's eye, a cook in a huge stone kitchen, feeding a small army's worth of children and adults all through the winter, secure in the knowledge her larder is full. How many hundreds of years does this image go back, its cauldrons and kettles and bake ovens steaming? It lives in me like an archetype and I am happy to be inspired through the long Autumn and Winter months by the Cook's happiness, by her need to feed the multitude of those she cares for, by her great satisfaction in practicing the arts of Kitchen Alchemy.

The Gardener, though, has not entirely let go. Autumn is a slow time but still a growing time, and this year the Gardener in me is determined to save some of these plants and bring them inside. It means finding a way to keep cats and dogs out of the containers, finding space for them all, obtaining lights to keep them growing and happy. The bell and banana peppers, the mint, the geraniums will all winter over nicely if protected from freezing. Tis time to think about starting herbs for wintering over, as well, and choosing a place within the house for a garden area, which leads to thoughts of preparing the house for the coming Winter, sealing the windows and doors against drafts, checking the furnace over, moving the furniture to take best advantage of heat vents--and back to plants we come, for those which must go dormant will need to be in a room which has no heat vent, and those which will continue growing will need to be in warm rooms.

The Singer in my soul has taken note of the direction of my thoughts, these changes, preparations, anticipations, transitions: chants and carols come bubbling to the surface, invoking the falling Autumn leaves, the Soul Cake traditions, the remains of Pagan music hidden in holiday songs. "A Soalin'" winds through my heart and soul like a thread weaving the traditions together, half-remembered childhood folk music favorites bound into recreated Medieval custom, "God Rest Ye Merry" trailing through "Soul Cake" on bright ribbons of brass and love. Red leaves fall through the newer "Autumn Time" chant, and the Beloved Dead speak through the Souling Song. The Singer does not care if the message fits her tradition or not, for the old music is Pagan to its bones and the spirit of Autumn reaches even through others' words. She sings, and cries for the magnifence of the gift resurrecting itself down through all the generations, and sings again--and the Horned God, the Green Man hear: the songs are once again Pagan in her mouth.

Life is full and overflowing in this most beautiful and magical season of change. Bright Blessings for the deep roots of Love to us all,
Cath

Soul cake recipes:
http://www99.epinions.com/content_4439384196 Montrose Family Tradition, 5th generation, gingerbread
http://www.food.com/recipe/soul-cakes-143070 cookies (source not specified), spicy but not gingerbread

Autumn music:
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnbD3QLU5o4&feature=related"]YouTube - Peter Paul and Mary, A Soalin[/nomedia] Peter Paul and Mary, A Soalin
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI637NIdP88&feature=related"]YouTube - NEAL WOODALL A Soulin'[/nomedia] Neal Woodall, A Soulin' (A Soalin)
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4zpBjSTt0"]YouTube - A-Soalin' - Loraine Washburn a Peter Paul and Mary Cover song[/nomedia] Lorraine Washburn, A Soalin
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH2AjW1_h1s&feature=related"]YouTube - A 'Soalin'[/nomedia] (BYU?) Choral Christmas Version, A Soalin--just beautiful, medley with A Wassailing and God Rest Ye Merry
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07tu3e-otkU&feature=fvsr"]YouTube - Sting, Soul Cake.[/nomedia] Sting, Soul Cake--photos from Gotland, Sweden--utterly gorgeous and IMPOSSIBLE to sit through without dancing
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoJvo3_xm9s"]YouTube - Libana- Autumn Time[/nomedia] Libana, Autumn Time
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j35dvmdse9k"]YouTube - Halloween Music - "Souling Song - Samhain Version" - Kristen Lawrence[/nomedia] Kristen Lawrence, Souling Song, Samhain version
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=21280497&b logId=516025050 Kristen's lyrics

Bit,,, thank you for the beautiful, soulful welcoming of the season and Samhain.
I am new to BFP but feel so welcome especially reading all of your posts on this thread.

I'm looking forward to attending next weekends Samhain fest. Hopefully I will be able to go up on thursday for the sweat lodge. I will also be working on my alter this week.

For the last couple of years I got so busy with life in general, that I havent taken the time to nurture my spirit. I havent taken the time to process in the way that is healing for me. For at least the last year, things have gotten to a very stressful, unhealthy point spiritually. When I get stressed it's much easier for other energy to influence my own , and I dont like that, it's very uncomfortable. Time to redirect and meditate. Back to my journey..the one I have neglected for far too long.

Irish

A very blessed Samhain to all!
 

well I for one am eating some soup tonight if I can get any trick or treaters to come to my door.......

Checking In
 

{{{{{{{{{{{{foxyshaman}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Hey there! Hello!!

It's a funny thing, I'm all about Thanksgiving--you know, First Nations Day, when we celebrate the gifts of Native American farmers and plant breeders with that famous dinner--but even though Christmas was always THE most important holiday in the year to me, it just didn't transfer to Yule/Solstice. Most years my acknowledgment of Solstice is nothing more than that, an acknowledgment. We have chosen family here in Wichita who make a big deal out of Christmas and we'll probably do the family thing.

Spiritual energy wise, we have a friend at death's doorstep, fighting very hard to come off the medical machinery, and we're pouring so much energy into her that I can't really imagine being in any kind of good shape by Solstice (let alone by Christmas). It isn't that I expect her to recover, but the community has made a commitment to support her through this and bring her whatever healing we can to make this easier for her and for her sons.

{{{{{{{{{{{Foxy}}}}}}}}}}} Ah darlin, I always watch for your posts! And you did fall off the face of the Planet, lol... well, I've been fairly quiet here myself.

Your rituals sound so intense; I can't imagine attending one and NOT coming away fundamentally changed. I'll tell ya true, Foxy, sometimes I think I'm missing such a bet by not seeking out formal ritual.... I make my own way but sometimes it would be really nice to get that jumpstart on the path. I think if I lived near you I would have to find a way to attend at least one of your rituals!

I suppose that one reason yours seem so appealing to me is that your description of them seems to leave so much room for the spirits to express themselves, and for people to connect in their own ways. I don't exactly know what it is about attending rituals from specific traditions that bothers me so... not the different Goddesses/Beings, but I suppose the dogma that so often accompanies other people's beliefs, maybe. I find myself bridling whenever anyone of any belief starts telling me How Things Are And Must Be. I used to have more patience. *sheepish look*

Anyhow, I do seem to be making some progress on my path. I remember you and I talked a while back about my being stuck, and not being able to meditate. I finally went and found a link to one of the Silva Exercises, the Long Relax. Again, I resist doing it like I want to--they tell me How It Must Be and I get tired of it--but it got me through a bad patch when I was so knotted up in pain that I couldn't function, and it seems to have started my own energy flowing again. Not that I am meditating, lol, but it helped me to see that my path doesn't require meditating right now.

Lately, people are starting to tell me that I move a lot of energy. I hadn't realized that. I was judging by the need, yanno? And so what I have been doing seems so small because the need is so overwhelming. It spurs me to keep on reaching, keep on trying, keep on doing just a little more each time. I'm trying to build up my stamina as well as my capacity. If it weren't for my Allies, though, I'd be toast at this point! They handle most of the work, sending the energy on when I run out of steam.

The biggest change in our lives the past two months has been Lady's diabetes. After that heart-stopping discovery, I thought we had gotten it under control... but over the past month she has grown two pearly-white cataracts that almost completely cover her eyes, and two days ago she woke up truly blind. She falls on the steps now, and is VERY reluctant to go outside. I spread lavendar essential oil along the edges of all the steps in the front to be an "edge marker" so to speak, but it kinda didn't work; she ignores it and doesn't seem to understand what it means. I think she's having some trouble adjusting in practical ways.

My only comfort is that dogs seem to live completely in the present moment and to accept whatever the day brings as "just the way things are," so emotionally, she doesn't seem to be in a lot of distress...... although she is milking my attempts to comfort her for EVERYTHING they're worth. :sunglass: Still my same ol' Ladybug, after all. :stillheart:

So how are you doing lately? I remember you had some sadness about leaving a group you had been part of for years and years. Did you replace it with another group or maybe take some time for yourself? And you had started exploring a new form of healing work, too.

Gryph says hi, and sends you love!

You're always in our hearts, too, yanno!
Cath

She's awake!! Our friend is awake!!! She talked on the phone!!!

I have to take the dog out but I'll be back to answer your wonderful post, Foxy. I subscribed to your website, too.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Foxy}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Grrr! I hate it when the dog lies to me. He didn't have to go out, he was just bored. It's way too cold out to alleviate boredom that way! Sheesh, we're at the point in the weather where I don't think my hands will be all the way warm again until July... grumble, grumble, eh? *sheepish smile*

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Foxy}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} *uploads gingerbread* :cheesy:

What a lovely long post! Lots to think about.

For me, ritual (whether my own or someone else's that I'm attending) is about connecting to the Source. I usually say Goddess, but it doesn't matter to me what the name is; I crave that connection, and it's the only thing which justifies for me the time and trouble in doing ritual. Not that other people don't have pefectly good reasons for doing ritual, mind you, just that I get my other spiritual needs met in other ways; so for me it's all about connecting with Spirit/Goddess/WhateverTheHeckYouAre. *cheeky grin*

That means if someone insists on defining things, insists on setting rules, insists on set formulas, I'm going to have trouble getting through it all to make the connection. If the ritual is all about bringing Spirit in, whatever way Spirit chooses to come, then I'm good to go... but if anyone gets in the way of that I get pretty impatient and I sure won't waste my time going back again. Get to the point, says my impatience; if you cannot call down the God or Goddess at least do some serious energy sending! Whatever others may need to get from a ritual, I need to feel like I haven't wasted my energy or my time, and only feeling powerfully connected allows me to feel that way.

I suppose it might be very different for me if I weren't disabled. I've learned over the decades that all my activities have to have the kind of pay-off that makes me feel like I haven't wasted my energy or time... because yanno, I'm going to be crippled up and/or exhausted for days afterward. It has to be worth it.

You mentioned the pot luck afterward; we have the potlucks and skip the rituals, lol... there's a small group of us who get together every couple of weeks to have a potluck and discuss everything under the sun, from what kind of Pagans we are to how to get off the energy grid, and always--our perennial favorite topic--gardening.

You said, "One of the great (and not so great) parts of being raised in a culture that is not tribal with assigned roles and cosmology is that I can incorporate who or what speaks to me. ....... I used to feel like "less then" because I did not have a tribe or an elder to teach me. That took quite some time to let go of, and accept that spirit is the best teacher."

I think if I had been raised in a tribal culture and the shamanism worked, I would be perfectly happy with it. I was happy with Catholicism as long as I thought it worked. But I was thrust willy-nilly into a very nearly trackless wilderness and told to find my own way, and now I cannot bring myself to be happy with any kind of "received" spirituality. I've had the experience of living it. I cannot settle for less now. BUT like you, for years and years I thought I also was "less than" for not having a human teacher. Oh how I chafed at the idea that I had to teach myself! But in the end, the entire Universe became my teacher.

I've learned much from Gryph, too, just as I did from the one Teacher who was finally sent my way several years ago... but I learned it through observation. I saw what they did and I copied it. Neither of them ever said, "here is your lesson, here is your homework." They just did what they did--healing people, protecting them, sending energy, working with Others, shapeshifting--and I paid attention to how they did it; they told me what they believed, shared their philosophies, and I researched to learn more.

These days, if someone sets themselves up as my teacher, I get... well *sheepish smile* I get impatient. I want to see them in action before I accept them as any kind of authority in my life, yanno? And even if I can learn from them, I want it to be like it has been. Don't TELL me what to do... just do what you do, and let me watch.... can you tell I just ran into that? Made the mistake of looking for a sympathetic "that's a rough way to go" or the equivalent, and got "do this, and this, and this, and..."

I suppose I would be more patient if I had been allowed to say, "I already know these things; this and that one worked, the others didn't." But I wasn't listened to, and for me that is the death knell of any student/teacher relationship. If people cannot listen long enough to figure out that a student is not a neophyte, then they're not the teacher for me....

What a sweet thing to say, that I'm worth the breath of spirit!

Morning practice.... I don't have a specific one. I'm practicing all day long--the luxury of not having to concentrate on a job--but I think I've pared it down to the essentials: ground, send energy, again and again. Maybe that's the lesson of this part of my life? Because it is practice, and the more I do it the better I become. Maybe there will come a change in the cycle and I'll focus on something else. Right now though, the need is immense and so I keep on , ground, send, ground, send.

I am so glad you can do your own work in the drum circles now! I wondered if you might need to grieve the change. It sounds like you've come through it with flying colors!

I like your Shamans Way website! Thank you so much! The link works fine, btw. And I did subscribe. Took a look at your blog (haven't read it all yet) and so far I really like it! I would LOVE a copy of the Solstice Ritual if that works out!

Compassionate depossession--that's what I was trying to remember! Glad to hear it's going so well. Now you have me all curious about anything which stretches the boundaries of your belief. My own boundaries have been stretched again and again the past three years--I was just telling someone yesterday that a couple of my Allies had to wait for me to grow up enough to believe in them again before they could work with me. ;) I hope you will share what you've found and what you're doing (or what it's doing to you, lol); it's so fascinating! I like it that I finally came to a part of the wilderness where many paths are converging, and I like it that yours is one of them. Thanks for holding up a beacon so the rest of us can see more clearly as we walk!

Much love back to you!
Cath

Winter solstice tonight - full lunar eclipse starting in about two hours y'all. Happy Yule! :)

The last time winter solstice and a full lunar eclipse happened was during the first year of bloody mary's reign. Princess Elizabeth was locked up in the tower of London at the time, and Protestants were being burned at the stake in England by early the next year.

a beauttiful event and now im watching the sunrise and glad to be alive....feelin it in my bones today

I have had some bad insomnia the last couple of nights and my kitties have also been restless and i think this is why so its interesting to actually understand why....

hope everyone is safe and well

Updates
 

Hello everyone...

I just wanted to pop in to say hello!!

Hellllooooo...

I just wanted to post an excerpt of a handout I wrote for a workshop I did recently called "Curse Unravelling". I have been reworking it and adding to it but for now... I know many people do not believe in curses, and I certainly did not... well until I kept running into them in my healing work. Then I started to do some investigations and then I set about learning how to unravel one, or many as in some cases.

So... if anyone objects to irregular postings on odd things I am working on please feel free to say so. I won't even curse you ;)


There is a nature to curses, a pattern or life of their very own. Tonite we are learning how to safely unravel the energetic pattern of a curse. We will be exploring through journey work, in partners how to recognize a curse, chart its course and resolve it without harm to the curse originator, the curse creator, the object of the curse, or the person unraveling the curse.

How to recognize a curse, the energy around it and learning how to energetically unravel it, is important information for the Shaman. In our diagnosis and treatment our partners, we need to assess the nature of our visions and what treatment to use. Shamans must contextualize the origin of the patient's disease within his or her own family and cultural history, as well as within the context of the patient's past lives. Essentially, it is necessary to understand the kind of negativity that has taken over the patient's life (a curse, an invasion, an attack, and so forth), its origin, and its history.

Soul Retrievals are never boring and certainly no two are ever similar. Negotiation is a primary component to soul retrieval work. If & when you are performing a soul retrieval or an extraction you must have an understanding of how the deeds of the present generation will affect the next seven generations. There has been some work with ancestral wounds that requires going back to the point of the original misdeed to affect a healing. I use this approach to uncover the ancestral fear and shame that can be a cause to illness, disease or general spiritual malaise. I have experienced the effect of deeds and misdeeds on a person, indeed an entire family. The Elders tell you the energetic trace stays in the field of the family for at least seven generations.

Adam Crabtree author of “Multiple Man” has written about this phenomenon in terms of a family or “group” mind. He describes how Shamus, the spirit of one member of a Celtic family, carried the family misdeed from generation to generation. As his host died, he would join another family member (much like the Spirit of Addiction) until his or her death, and so on. The family did not remember the misdeed, but it was commonly known that the family had been cursed for centuries. When Shamus was brought out of the spirit world (family field or group mind), he told the story of the misdeed. Once told, Shamus mourned the pain and suffering caused by the misdeed, at which point the curse was lifted and the family healing began. I am reminded of the name it to claim it part of our healing work.

I believe that many families suffer from some type of ancestral malady, as do many countries. I believe that we have ultimately five levels of soul, personal, familial, community, city, country; at some level, the atrocities committed by this country in trying to exterminate the native peoples are trapped in a large spirit wound, or, if you prefer, the collective unconscious. Within this collective unconscious or national spirit wound, are hundreds, possibly thousands, of families who have been plagued with this wound as part of the family field. Assuming this to be true, it seems that finding this wound and releasing it would initiate a new way of being in the world for these families. Furthermore, instead of committing ecological suicide as a nation, we might become conscious of the consequences of our actions and reverse the deleterious direction we have set for ourselves.

When we work with curses and unraveling curses the act of calling out the spirit of these wounds could lead to a tremendous healing.

Curses… I curse the very day you were born…. or some such curse… In North America we don’t place a great deal of energy or even thought to curses or hexes. Our Ancestors did, our great grandparents probably did. What we have forgotten is that words spoken create an energetic pattern that manifests into reality… whether that reality is apparent to you or not, does not make any less valid. In other countries a curse is still very powerful, the effects of the curse is still very palpable. Why… because words are power, which in turn create a manifestation. I can’t really explain it in practical terms, but I have seen enough curses and bad wishes on each person I have worked with to come to realize that there is some validity to this.

Ah, Foxy, I love your latest post!! Thank you for sharing this with us!

I myself never believed in curses until I got spiritually self-confident enough to take another look at all the things which have been belittled as "superstition" and pay attention to what I was really seeing--without that skeptical voice chiding me in the background about people thinking I'm crazy.

That ghost story is scarily familiar--I know someone who had the same sort of thing (not exactly the same; more malicious and directed outwards, rather than at family), and I became a victim of the malice. The situation lasted for months and the effects spilled over onto everyone in my family and onto our house, as well. Once that sort of thing happens to you, it's really hard to endure plain old bad luck after that without freaking out a little and wondering if you're being attacked again, yanno?

It's popular in some circles of thought to say that there is no such thing as a curse, that a curse cannot hurt you if you don't believe in it, that people draw their own bad luck to them by expecting bad things, that if you talk about it you have created it yourself. None of that kind of thought allows for the fact that just as people naturally have varying abilities at sports or art or finances, so they also have varying psychic abilities... and just as some people are willing to use, say, their financial abilities to hurt others, some people are willing to use their psychic abilities to hurt others.

Curses, like prayers, do not depend on the belief of the receiver, but on the belief (and skill) of the sender.

I will never take curses or hexes lightly again, never write them off as "too outlandish to be true" again, never dismiss them as "a figment of (whoever's) imagination" again... I have learned to look and see what might be going on before I rush to judgment on these things.