Intermission

I joined the Pagan Blog Project late and have not posted for far too long.  My last was an I and the project has just done it’s first Q, that is four months of silence!

This is just to apologise and say that I shall be re-activating myself in September.

Bright Blessings Be With You

Pagan Blog Project ~ I is for Individual

I think the word INDIVIDUAL is the best descriptive for a pagan whatever path they follow.  You may have five, or five hundred, pagans who have all chosen the same label to ‘wear’, to help others know what they are about, but the likelyhood is that the meaning they each hold for that lable will be at least slightly different.  There is a saying I love:

Trying to organise pagans is like trying to herd cats.

This is because one thing we all have in common is that we are all individuals who are very unlikely to simply follow, we want to know why, we question, discuss, share and learn.

I am myself, I am in individual, I am a Pagan and if a more specific label is required/needed I am a witch and the dieties I speak with the most are my Lady Moon and the Horned God.  However if I spoke with others who use the same words to describe themselves I am sure we would differ on some or many things.  To me one of the glories of choosing the pagan path is that while you can choose to follow a set ritual/way of doing things you are not expected to.  If it harms none, do as you will.  Join others in an organised gathering of any size, meet with a few friends, go to a special place and share the turning of the wheel with whoever else attends, go where you can be alone or stay in your own house/garden.  All are right and none are wrong … if it is what works for you.

It was one of the best feelings ever, discovering I was not alone, that there was a reason attending my families church had been leaving me hollow and feeling wrong, realising I was simply on another path, had been on for many years and it had a name.  It was pagan and it wasn’t a set of rules to be followed but an individual journey of discovery and celebration.

Pagan Blog Project ~ H is for Hagstones

Some might be wondering what a Hagstone is, well I’m going to share my thoughts and then I’ll google it and see if “they” agree with me 😉

Hagstone Hunting 🙂

A hagstone is a stone which has a hole worn all the way through it, worn naturally by erosive action of sand and other stones, not drilled by human kind.  They help protect from negativity whether general energies or specific spell casting. 

Pagan music in the Royal Albert Hall ~ I am SO going to be there!

Damh the Bard is looking into the possibility of making this dream a reality!!!  HERE is his update.  To make this more likely please go and like the facebook page. 

Here’s my favourite song by Damh the Bard 😀

Awandering we did go ~ photo story :-)

No surprise where my son and I went for a walk this weekend, to Derwentwater, along my favourite path down to Friar’s Crag.  The sky was rather dark and dismal, it kept drizzling with intermittent rain.

Gloomy, gloomy sky but invigorating walk 🙂

G … is for Growing

Having actually finished this week’s blog post I decided to have a look at some of last weeks posts and one caught my eye immediately G is for Goofy posted by Mama Fortuna on her blog Walk Softly Witch!

I posted a response letting her know how much I loved her post and how, well here, read it for yourself 🙂

Love this … it is just soooooo true 😀  I love the goofy dressing up part but when going to a group thing, even at a pagan camp, I’ll stress out oh will I look stupid, will anyone else be in robes etc.  Of course there are invariably loads of people far more ‘dressed up’ than I then I just keep wishing I’d taken x or y.  The daftest thing is that in my day-to-day life I don’t tend to stress about fashion etc 🙂

I ended up putting it on google+, I don’t actually think her blogspot site accepted my wordpress id.  Regardless of my comment conundrums the post made me think.

I said I don’t tend to stress about fashion, and I don’t, but I do stress about what to wear.  Even on a day-to-day basis, is my top long enough to cover my stomach, is x, y or z most appropriate for the occasion/place e.g. work or meeting friends.  Now while yes there is an unspoken dress code for work I not only always meet such requirements, I’m generally stricter with myself than others would be.   Necklines, hems etc should be a certain length, well in my opinion, especially as I work in a secondary school.

But that’s not what this post it about, it’s about some personal growing I’m in the midst of doing this evening … I’ve always believed that I don’t care what others think about what I wear but I really do.  I often stress over outfits, not whether they are at all fashionable but about whether the clothes will help me fit in! Hmmm this links back to a post I did just last week, which I thought was about the past but I guess not.  That one was about Fear, how I hid my paganism for many years, mostly for fear of hurting my parents.  I guess inside me there has been some fear about being accepted where ever I’ve been, in the Pagan world or in that weird place called the ‘real’ or ‘normal’ world.

G is for Geomancy – Pagan Blog Project

What is Geomancy?  Well I didn’t really know, it sounded vaguely familiar but … nope not a clue really.  Seeing a chance to learn is why I chose Geomancy from the list of suggestions for my offering for this week’s post for the Pagan Blog Project’s.

So … “G is for Geomancy”.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives these definitions of Geomancy (noun):

1. The art of placing or arranging buildings or other sites auspiciously.
2. Divination from the configuration of a handful of earth or random dots.

Whilest Wikipedia says:

Pagan Blog – F is for …

I was originally thinking of making this F post about the goddess Freya but when I sat down to type … my mind changed.

 Today’s post is now “F is for FEAR”

Fear of “coming out” as a pagan.  For I can’t remember how many years I kept my paganism very very quiet, mostly for fear of upsetting my parents but also for fear of creating an upset in my work life.  When I say I kept it quiet I have a ring with pentacles on that I love … for a couple of years I only ever wore it when I wasn’t in the county I live and work in  … yeah I was that extreme!

E is for Equinox – Pagan Blog Project

I am lucky enough to live within driving distance of Castlerigg Stone Circle and Derwent Water, two places where I really connect with the earth and the gods and goddesses.  I visit Castlerigg for the Summer Solstice (staying overnight) and the Winter Solstice (though only for the sunrise) whenever possible.  In the summer the sun rises so early it is easy to get to work afterwards and though I am usually lucky enough not to be at work around the Winter Solstice (school holidays) if I am I go the nearest sunrise I can.

Sunrise 20th March 2009

So the solstices yeah but they start with S … what about the Equinoxes you ask 🙂

An Equinox (just in case you don’t know though I expect most readers will) happens twice a year when the hours of light and the hours of darkness are nearly equal everywhere in the world.  The next Equinox is on March 20th, which, as I live in the Northern Hemisphere, will mark the beginning of Spring and so is called the Spring or Vernal Equinox.  For those in the Southern Hemisphere it will mark the beginning of Autumn and so be the Autumn or Autumnal Equinox.  Well I virtually always go to Castlerigg for the sunrise on the Equinoxes too.  I am more likely to have to go at the weekend however that means I have more time to connect 😀

This year the Spring Equinox falls on a Tuesday, a work day for myself so I shall be getting up a ‘wee’ bit earlier than normal on the closest weekend day, Sunday 18th, and driving to Castlerigg to greet the dawn.  When I’ve done my personal ritual and the sun has either risen or it’s become so light you can just declare it daytime (a common occurrence at Castlerigg!)  I will then drive down to Derwent Water, the lake at Keswick, park up and go for a wander.  I don’t walk that far but it takes me a couple of hours … sometimes a chocolate couple!  I will take the time to really see what has changed, to listen and look for the birds, to enjoy the atmosphere.  I love to watch the changing seasons, watch the clouds ease over the hills.  It’s the Lake District after all, we usually have clouds to watch even when the sun does show his face.

Derwent Water - 27th March 2011

When I go for one of my walks at Derwent Water (if you know the area I just walk along to Friar’s Crag and back with that tiny loop at the end) I usually have a cereal bar or similar in my pocket and will scatter bits for the birds and other creatures.  I started doing this when I realised that on every visit at least one robin came out to see me.  In fact now the visit feels incomplete, painfully so, if a robin hasn’t chirped at me!  In my heart those Robins are messengers from the goddess, just because I don’t speak Robin doesn’t mean my heart doesn’t understand and it felt impolite not to give the messenger a gift, what else but food 🙂

Are you listening Willow?

I don’t always get such a lovely photograph but Winter Solstice just gone this gentleman posed for me most beautifully 😀

And of course no visit is complete unless I spend time with the tree I belong to … but that’s another post 😉

As part of the journey I am on I mark the turning of the wheel. Living in towns it can be easy to miss the changes in the world as the seasons change but I as well as taking the time to get into the countryside, my places of power, at special times, at the changes, I try to see what is happening all around me.  I am walking this path each and everyday, not just at the eight main points of the year.  I do my best to notice the changes all around, the daffodils which are a few inches above the grass in the corner of grass near work, the changing colours of the sea, the way the clouds come down and isolate us from each other.   The Equinox will soon be on us, can’t you tell!

D is for … Damh The Bard :o)

If you haven’t heard Damh play you really need to check out his website!  His music, it, well, you need to listen to it, it’s always resonated with me. I first heard him play at … you know I can’t actually remember!  It was either Oakleaf, The Mercian Gathering or PaganCon at Preston … I’m lucky enough to have heard him a few times at all three venues.

Damh is a singer, a writer and a storyteller who will entertain you as well as make you think!  His music is at the heart of  Spirit of Albion – The Movie which is a musical, ten songs of Damh’s were picked out and the film story and characters were created based on them. It looks like it is going to be awesomely amazing 😀  Me, a fan?  Just slightly, I’m no stalker though, even if I do follow Damh on Twitter, and Facebook, and get the monthly newsletter lol

Spirit of Albion, the Movie. Directed by Gary Andrews. Photographs by Lusete

My all time favourite song of his is “Green and Grey”.  You can listen to it at that link and read the lyrics, the chorus is:

I’m no devil I’m Father to the land,
I have lived here since the Earth began,
Neither black nor white,
Priest hear what I say,
I’m green and grey.

This song resonated and touched me so much that it altered the design of my first (and only, so far lol) tattoo … the planned pentacle was surrounded by flames of green which fade to grey 🙂

Another one of my favourite songs is Cauldron Born, both on the CD of the same name.  Here’s a snippet:

Lady stir your Cauldron well,
Chant your words and sing your spell,
Deep within the darkened hall,
Hear the Goddess Ceridwen call.
Come and taste of the Cauldron’s Brew,
And magic she will give to you,
You will dance in the eye of the storm,
You’re Ceridwen’s Children,
The Cauldron Born!

 

Though I’m not actually a druid (ooh another D 🙂 ) I thoroughly enjoy Damh’s monthly podcast the Druidcast, it’s full of fabulous music, interesting interviews making me think and smile every time.  In this month’s Druidcast Damh is interviewed in the regular features “A Day In The Life Of” where you can hear more about him from his own lips, including his thoughts on becoming the Pendragon of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids on the Summer Solstice of 2010.