Nourishing My Inner Masculine

I had a very interesting experience the other day and I thought I would share.
Over the past few months I have been trying to get healthier. I haven't been feeling good, I've felt extremely run down, and nauseous, I've been getting headaches on and off and just feeling generally not well. So I tried to eat healthier and get more exercise and I was starting to feel a lot better, then with the craziness of life and the most recent Thanksgiving, things just got really off track.

So feeling a little self defeated I decided to meditate on it. I don't get a chance to meditate very often (3 year olds take away a lot of quiet time) but when I do it is VERY intense. When I meditate I use it to commune with my inner self, my ancestors, or the Gods.

On this particular occasion I was trying to talk to the Goddess and ask her for strength and the willpower to continue on my quest for health. From somewhere deep inside, a tiny voice I didn't recognize, and wasn't expecting told me You have the Goddess, you need the God. You need the strength and virility of the Hunter.

I was completely blown away by this revelation. I've said this before and I'll probably say it a million times more, I came to paganism because of its balance. Dark and Light, Hard and Soft, Warmth and Cold, Masculine and Feminine. However the male half is something I've always taken for granted. I suppose because I'm a woman I've always looked for the male energy to come from some outer source, some being other than myself. Something I've always know but never really explored is the fact that we all have male and female energy within us, and sometimes regaining balance is as simple as accepting our counterparts.

In A Witch's Book of Dreams by Karri Allrich (which was fabulous) she explores this concept of male and female counterparts and refers to a woman's male counter part as her Animus. She goes on to say



~A woman’s inner masculine soul twin that reveals himself in dreams. He may appear as a strong youth, a guide, a teacher, a lover. He delineates her inherent spiritual muscle; the courage to speak up, share ideas, initiates projects, works in the world, venturing into the realm of ideas and self-expression. As the Daimon Lover, he may show up as a mysterious guide holding a lantern in the dark passage for the dreamer to see her soul path more clearly. Through maturity, growth, and balance a woman will embrace her masculine aspect and become whole. How he appears in her dreams will be a clue as to how developed he is within her.~

What a fascinating concept that is! As I contemplated this I realized it also fits with other areas of my life. I've been having these terrible nightmares that my husband is either leaving me or cheating on me. After I learn of this (in the dreams) I always feel weak and helpless. In these dreams I always identified him as my husband but it was never actually my husband. I could never see his face, it didn't sound like him, and his personality never fit. So perhaps it was simply my Animus reaching out to me showing me how neglected he was. Showing me that I NEED him to help me be strong.

Now this isn't going to be an ideal that sits well with many feminists but it is true we all need our male or female counterpart in order to survive. Even same sex couples need to seek out sperm, or an egg and a womb if they want children. No one can go it alone.

Anyways, I just thought I would share all of these thoughts with you and maybe get you to think about your own Animus, (or Anima for the men). Is he/she nourished, cared for, accepted, and celebrated. If there is some type of imbalance in your life perhaps you can look there.



A Great Cause!



 

Today in my email I got a newsletter about 2011's Operation Circle Care. It's an opportunity for those of us in the Pagan community to give back to our much overlooked Pagan Service men and women (please note I use Pagan as a blanket term) during the holiday season.

Please check out this article as it includes all of the necessary information for donating and signing up a loved one.

Happy Energy

Tonight I am full of happy energy, probably because I have had an amazing week. Tuesday I had a romantic dinner date with my husband and went to see the newest Twilight movie which was incredible. This is just a small note to the critics who had nothing but bad to say about the movie, such as it was slow or "romanticized beating woman in the bedroom" (insanely ridiculous comment). Just maybe you would have a different opinion if you had bothered to read the books, just saying. Of course your not going to like a movie near the end of a series that is based off of a book if you never read the book and are purely watching the movie just to give your opinion.

Thursday of course was Thanksgiving. We had a fantastic feast and had some much needed family time, then we took our little one to see the Muppets which totally reawakened the kid in me. It was sweet, and funny, and smart. It made me and my husband harbor a little bit of hope that maybe they would bring back the Muppets Tonight show.

Tonight of course is the New Moon, so I took the time to inscribe the candles I recently purchased while listening to Luna by Omnia, which is a beautiful song, perfect for meditating or simply relaxing. I'll try and post some pictures of the inscribed candles tomorrow. In the mean time, have a blessed New Moon, pamper your self a little and over all...

)O(  BLESSED BE!  )O(

Quick Note

You might notice that the You Won't Find This Here tab is missing, the information is still there. I've just decided to expand it into a much more informative About Me tab. Check it out for a little bit about my background and what I practice, and also for my contact info.

Blessed Be!

)O(

The Young Witches of Salem ?

Admittedly I was never a huge fan of the show, I thought it was a little cheesy, the production quality was poor, and about 90% of the cast were confusing to watch or immature. However that being said, where did it go? For two weeks now I have been waiting for episode 3 to come out, I really wanted this to be a good show, I did, and I hoped with time it would improve and get better.
With the mountains of Christian propaganda around and the limited to nil amount of entertainment and educational resources starring Pagans (sorry Sabrina, and Charmed don't count) it would be nice to see real Witches. Especially for someone who feels drawn to the practice but has been told their whole life that it's just a Satanic cult.

There's a part of me that's hoping their holding out because they're working hard on improving the quality of show, but if that's true some type of message from them would be nice, like Sorry for the wait but we're working behind the scenes to provide you with a better viewing experience. Or Due to negative feedback we're drawing back a little to recollect and figure out a better direction for this show. That shows commitment and maturity and dedication, and if they planned on canceling, even if the viewership was low, tell the viewers you do have what's going on, they deserve that much.

I'll keep looking and waiting to see what happens but I'm very disappointed in what I'm seeing so far.

Saturday Shopping

Very soon we will be adding a new addition to our little family, an adorable little kitten. Hopefully if all goes as planned we will be picking him up next weekend so yesterday we went out shopping for some much needed supplies. While we were out I just had to stop by my favorite nearby witchy shop, Some Enchanted Evening. If there is anyone reading who is in the area I highly recommend you check it out. The atmosphere is always warm and inviting, the staff is pleasant and helpful and they carry just about anything you might be looking for. The woman behind the counter yesterday was extremely warm and friendly. She helped me search the shelves for a book I was looking for, explained several products to my husband and attempted to keep my son entertained by striking up a conversation with him. Adrian doesn't take to everyone, he's very particular about who he likes and doesn't like but he warmed up to her almost immediately. I only wish I had gotten her name so I could give her a special shout out.

This is the mug that I just HAD to buy. I always have to have a spoon in my coffee, tea, or hot cocoa and I loved that this came with it's own little matching stirrer. I even saved the ribbon so I can keep them together when I'm not using them.

I saw a fabulous review of this book thanks to ABroomandTheMoon on YouTube and just had to pick it up for myself in honour of our furry little addition soon to come.

Unfortunately during the big power outage at the end of October I had to use up my moon phase candles so I bought some new ones.

The light pink will be the First Quarter Moon and is infused with Rose, Honeysuckle and Magnolia and is meant to be used to Manifest a Miracle which I thought went perfectly with the maiden phase of the moon.

The peach candle will be the Full Moon candle. It is infused with Orange Blossom, Chamomile, and Vanilla and was called Mother and well that's pretty much self-explanatory.

The brown candle will be the Last Quarter Moon. It is infused with Honey, Rosemary and Honeysuckle. It's meant to be used for Problem Solving, something we all know crones are fabulous for.

I'll be sure and post pictures after they are properly inscribed which I will be doing on the New Moon since that's a good time for meditation and reflection.

Blessed Be!

A letter to Pagans

For some reason during my dreams in the middle of the night my brain forms revelations. They may not be revelations for others, but for me it's a sense of all the cogs locking into their proper place on a subject I didn't even realize I was contemplating.

For some reason Christians (at least the ones I've encountered, obviously I can't speak for all) believe or are taught that Pagan's worship the devil. I know that's silly, you know that's silly, but for them it's the only thing that makes logical sense. You try to help them see differently but everything you say is just fruit of the same poisonous tree. You worship the devil so everything you say is wrong, or a lie, and you're simply sent to try to tempt them away from their convictions and to weaken their faith.

What most of us try to do is enlighten them to the fact that we don't even believe the devil exists. How can we worship something we don't believe in. The response I've always heard is "Satan's best trick is convincing you he doesn't exist". At this moment is where I've had my revelation. I think what's really happening is a theological language barrier. I really believe that when we tell them "I don't believe in Satan", they hear "I don't believe evil exists", and that's simply not true.

Now instead of assuming that we're outright animal sacrificing devil worshippers, we become something much more dangerous and naive. They believe we walk around with a free for all attitude and with no moral compass. We don't believe in sin so therefore we think all behavior is acceptable and since we don't answer to God we have nothing to make us feel remorse when we've hurt someone or done something wrong.
Oh how wrong they are. Of course we believe evil exists and of course we know the difference between right and wrong. We just don't think a finger can be pointed at specific being when we do something wrong, unless we're pointing that finger at ourselves. When we've hurt someone it's not because we were weak and taken over by Satan. We put the full responsibility and blame on our own shoulders. We know that it's happened not because of a weakness in faith but because of a weakness in our compassion and empathy. We believe this is something we should atone for not because someone's wagging a heavenly finger at us but because we know how it feels to be hurt and wouldn't wish it on anyone else. Sometimes this is purely unintentional but we still work and try to make it right.

Just as I can't speak for all Christians I also can't speak for all Pagans. I can't say we're all moral, upstanding, compassionate people. We're as different as the rest of the world regardless of religious affiliation. I can however speak for myself. I don't believe in Satan but I do believe in evil (some simply call it negative energy). I also believe that as in the great balance of life, there is evil inside of all of us. That snarky comment we could stop from floating to the surface of our consciousness, a sense of uncontrolled satisfaction at seeing someone we don't care for fail, and while I acknowledge and embrace it as part of my being, I put it's energy to other uses. If I don't like the way someone behaves I take that evil seed of unacceptance and allow it to blossom into wisdom by meditating on why it bothers me so much, and how I can use it to become a better person.

So I guess this is a letter to both Christians and Pagans alike. To the Christian's yes we understand the difference between right and wrong, even without your God. To the Pagan's simply try to understand that they've simply given their evil a name, and they think by denying the name they've given we deny the existence of it's force.

See, it's simply a theoligical language barrier.