Under the Light of the Moon

Tonight, as I sat outside enjoying a few solitary and quiet moments of 'me time' I felt the urge to write- something that has avoided me like the plague here recently. So, join me in my moments of reflection while I sit on my front steps...
I sat down on my porch, looking up as I do every night to note the stars, the phase and course of the moon and the night air surrounds me. I realize that the moon is brighter tonight than it has been in awhile- most likely due to the beautifully warm day we had, followed by this cold and clear night. Looking at the moon, and seeing the way that it illuminates the earth around me, I see. I see that how the moon grows is how I find myself each day, and the way it lights things up tonight is a reflection of my own growing sight. With each passing day I see more, and have to wonder "what if" less. I am claiming myself and my gifts.The darkness is my friend, but the light of  the moon is a gift... As I sit and see, I note that my neighbors across the street have a candle burning in one of the bedrooms. It made me wonder if perhaps someone was enjoying a quiet moment of self reflection like me... or are they perhaps casting a spell or enjoying the touch of a lover? Who knows. The beauty of the moment is seeing the flame of the candle shine through the curtains that are used to shield ones-self from the outside world. Everyone's light shines through at some point. Then I look out at the house of the neighbor next to them- her front porch always reflects the colors and symbols of whatever holiday is approaching. Even now I smile at the bright green shamrock that is lighting her front window and the green light bulb in her porch light. She is always happy whenever I see her... perhaps she truly feels the lively spirit of each holiday as each holiday comes in and again departs.

Tonight is blissfully quiet.

The coming full moon is going to be potent I think.. I hope that everyone has a magical week in the days that lead to it.

Blessings!

Where to start.....

-- I don't know why this post disappeared, but its actually from mid-February!

The last few weeks have been exceedingly busy, but immensely enjoyable. Imbolc brought forth a very enjoyable, and quite informative meditation with Brigid. However, those details are messages for others, and it would not be right to share them here. The night of the full moon was beyond amazing, even if it was upset slightly about news of a friend diagnosed with bone cancer. I spent the morning making a candle- one like no other I have ever made. It was red, dark pink, and light pink (though the light pink SHOULD have been white, but no worries!) and contains several stones.

Even as I started working on that, I could feel the house humming and singing with the energy that was building. That night, I built a fire, lit my candles and turned on the drumming music for dance. It was a potent night that left me feeling fulfilled and accomplished, as I was able to charge the candle as well as send out the healing and peace energies that my friends needed desperately that night. It, in short, was beautiful and powerful.
I spent Friday night learning, which was a nice change from teaching, and today I feel like a new person. I spent today traveling and exploring the middle of no where with a friend, spending a good majority of that time walking by a river. There was a triangle of trees there that was exceptionally powerful, and I found myself climbing one of the trees to leave an offering for whatever it is that resides there. Though much of the area felt lonely, it wasn't a sad loneliness, but one of pensive solitude. We picked up several stones while there, all of different colors, shapes and sizes, and all of which spoke in different ways for different reasons. At one of our other stops, which was at a gorge that was immensely deep and lined with a river along the bottom, we happened to see (i.e. we had the shit scared out of us by) a sage hen. Apparently seeing them out there is a rarity, which means that it was a lucky day for us! Really, it was a simple and beautiful day spent in the wide open with someone that I didn't have to worry about forcing conversation with or feeling silly around as I let some of my eccentric ways run wild! I love being outside and completely away from civilization. It gave my time to enjoy my own thoughts and to be close to the mother without having to run around after the kiddo or worry about the general population interrupting me.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend, and that you are feeling blessed!

A comment that made my night

This, for most, may seem like a random post. For those of you who know or can guess at how I feel about my numerous tattoos, this will probably make a bit more sense... =)

So, last night, I was over at a friends house having a play date night with all of our kids together enjoying pizza, brownies and mani/pedi time. I happened to be wearing a tank top, despite the chill, because it never fails that a house full of four kids under the age of 10 gets pretty damn hot quickly. On these nights, my friend and I also use our time to develop skills that are being newly discovered for them, such as telepathy as well as working on setting up a meditation time and developing that ability more fully. At some point during that time, I was laying still, grounding myself, and my friend came up to me and ran their finger over the violet tattoo on my shoulder. For my readers that have looked back through past postings, you'll see that I got that tattoo last March in memory of my grandmother who passed away unexpectedly and in the mist of pain-filled circumstance (see this entry: A Memorial). After doing that I asked the first thing that came to mind (which is usually the case as I rarely stop to think about my words when caught off guard!) which was, "Why do you like that tattoo so much?" The reply, "Because it's just so you." The idea that this tattoo, something that was filled with both love and loss, happiness and sorrow could be seen as so right for me really struck a chord in my heart, and the comment made me immeasurably happy.

Anyway, I just thought I would share this solitary moment in my life which seems to be sticking out in my mind a lot...

Happy blogging!

Donn, Dreams, "the talk", and Tea Leaves

So, apparently I wasn't as back as I was hoping, as life is just now, FINALLY, settling back into a normal routine. Three days after Christmas, my mom, Jaelynn and I drove out to Seattle for a few days, which kicked off a series of events that I couldn't have even begun to fathom. We went out there to help a couple of my friends move, as well as take them all of Jae's old nursery stuff, as they are expecting their first child in April. Now, these friends of mine, I've known the husband since high school, and I've known them as a couple for four years now. Through our relationship, they were introduced to the "pagan" path, and have since began their own practice, working with Brigid and Odin, respectfully. On the drive out, I told my mother about their beliefs, so she wouldn't be shocked when we got there and we dealt with their altar. She took that information just fine, and we continued on our way. Our second night there, which was Thursday, December 29th, 2011 (as this date proves to be important later), she finally asked me WHY they had an altar. Well, we'll just say that that singular question sparked a whole lot of talking. Really she took it all very well. I avoided the word "witch", as she plainly admitted that she couldn't be believe witchcraft was "good". I did explain that magic isn't "evil" or "bad" but it's the intent of the person that makes it go one way or the other, as the energy itself is rather benign... Regardless, to avoid completely obliterating the progress being made, I didn't come out doing the 'I'm a Witch' dance. And, to her credit, the only time she got worried was when she asked if I still accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior and I told her no. We also had a very interesting talk about demi-gods, and she was rather... perplexed... when I claimed the Christ himself could be seen as a demi-god, as he has a divine father but a human mother... Anyway, no, I'm not opening that for debate, but it was something I threw out there for her to chew on anyway. =)

So, we came home on the 31st, and on the 1st I got a random text from my priestess and soul sister asking me who DAN (pronounced Dahn) was. we talked about it for awhile, coming to the conclusion that is was a deity, as I have no one in my life by that name. She explained that she had three dreams about me and this person and we both knew it was important. The dreams started the same night that I had the talk with my mom. Twilight Zone theme music time, right? Anyway, I prefer to keep those dreams private for the time being, but I will say that those dreams lead to me doing a very powerful meditation with Donn, the Irish god of the dead. In the time that I spent with him, I learned that because I have finally been able to free myself of restraints and be true to who I truly am, that I have become ready to begin a new journey that I was unable to take on until I had reached this point. I will be meditating with him on the dark moon for the next 3 moon cycles now, and I CAN'T WAIT!

Now, as to the tea leaves part of all the title... It's really just a little funny blurb from day, so here you go!

Until a few days ago, I had never heard of a fortune telling cup. When I heard of/saw a picture, I thought it would be totally cool to have one of those someday, for the shits and giggles if nothing else. Well, today I went to a flea market with my mom and dad and BEHOLD! I found one of those cups... It's called "The Cup of Destiny". It even came with a little book. SCORE.

Anyway... these are the special highlights of the past few weeks.. I hope you all are well!!

Many Blessings!

What a week...

It has been a long couple of days. Really, really excruciating long. I think that my child was suffering from a well known children's disease called post-Christmas lameness. She was being a whiny little turd that would settle for nothing less than trying to crawl up my butt and never give me a moments peace. All I wanted was time to pack our bags for our pending Seattle trip and to clean the bathroom so my friend who is house/dog sitting has a clean pot to sit on. =) According to Jae though, that was FAR too much to ask! *sigh*

Christmas went really well... Jae, like most three year olds, made out like a bandit and I received a beautiful staff that my parents made for me. It's a lovely piece of willow about two inches shorter than I am (and I stand at 65") with a leather bound hand hold and medicine pouch. One of the most amazing parts though, is the hollowed out knot just above the hand hold that my parents put a beautiful piece of quartz crystal point into. Really, it's so amazing!

She practically sings! She hasn't told me her name yet... but we'll get there. =)

Right now, I'm watching an Australia show called Dance Academy. It's actually really cute, and I will likely veg out on the couch and watch a few more episodes until I decide I'm truly tired and will be able to sleep without tossing and turning.

Blessings to everyone and I'll write again soon.

Warning- rant on e-cards.. may offend those that like to use them!

YUP. E-cards. Ok, so I get that sometimes it's nice to send out a fun little "hey I was thinking about you" message... and in these cases, using an "e-card" is acceptable as it's much more fun than just an email. But, let me make something clear, the use of e-cards for birthdays, holidays, anniversary's and the like is just rude. I said it. RUDE. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that everyone in your address book got the same cheesy, "I hope you have a great holiday season. Love, X, X, X, and X" message in the card. I understand that it's the same thing when you MAIL a card to someone, but at least when you mail a card, that means you took the time to actually, with your own hand, write in the card, address each envelope and affix a stamp to it. They may be standard across the board, but at least you took time with each individual one instead of hitting "copy/paste" and "send"after filling in a few blanks to make sure that everyones names are on the card.

The point- e-cards suck and are a very distanced, disjointed way of wishing someone any type of happy holiday. To the person that sent that damn thing (though I highly doubt you'll ever see this blog), take me off your damn mailing list. To everyone else, sorry you had to "listen" to my feelings about these atrocious things.

Back at last

I am so sorry on my month long absence... I've been trying to squeeze in every last drop of family time possible between life, appointments and "oh craps". My hubby has officially deployed and now I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. A lot of stuff has happened that I'm aching to blog about, so you'll have to bear with me as I try to squeeze in blogs between last minute holiday prep and some traveling to help out a few friends in Seattle that are in desperate need of assistance...

So, as it's late and I've been up since 3am making trips to the airport and crying, I'm just going to write a quick outline of things coming up:
1.) Dream Walking with Stars
2.) December Full Moon Ritual/meditation
3.) Yule and the Dark Moon

Those are the big things right now, though I'm sure that I'll add more to that once I settle in for some good, lengthy typing. =)

I hope that you all are well, and I can't wait to get caught up on everyone's blogs!

Blessings to you all this beautiful season!


A parting thought...