I spent nearly a year working with the classical four-element structure of magical work. It’s central to the approach of OBOD and other revival druidry. During my several months focusing on each element in turn, I had some very positive and useful experiences. I connected strongly with water (if I had a totem animal, it would be the noble Duck). I struggled against air, fighting the wind. I sank deep into earth, discovering its surprising, mysterious depths. I danced with fire and my soul was set alight. I have great respect for the four-element system, not least because it’s ancient, probably dating back to Babylonian myth and at least to Greek. But I’m starting to realise that, in my own magic and religion, it doesn’t work well for me (though it’s definitely worth studying). But there are alternatives that do make sense to me.

Three Worlds

ADF doesn’t talk about four elements (for the most part). It works with a triple structure. It uses the fire, well and tree, but they’re not parallels of the four elements – they’re more like key symbols of the cosmos, symbols that have been used by Indo-European cultures to help them understand their place in the universe. They symbolize the relationship between the three worlds: the upper world, the underworld and the axis mundi, sort of on the vertical level.

Fire, Well and Tree, as per my altar. There are lots of pictures on ADFers’ blogs of other (much prettier) examples.

Three Realms

I do a lot of thinking around the concepts of land, sea and sky, which are central to Irish myth. My favourite example of its use: the ‘oldest animals’ tales, which feature creatures from each of the three realms. The eagle Leithin seeks knowledge from a stag, a blackbird, and the ancient salmon who remembers the great flood. The Three Realms show up in other Celtic cultures’ myths, too. Gwion Bach is pursued by Ceridwen through the three realms of land, sea and sky – as a hare, a salmon, a bird – before surrendering. In both tales, wisdom is found through through union with all the realms of the cosmos.

ADF tends to see the Three Realms as kingdoms of the middle world, divided on a horizontal scale. But I do better mapping them straight onto fire, well and tree — my simple brain can’t cope with a horizonal-vs-vertical approach. Fire becomes a symbol of Sky, the upper world of the gods. The well symbolises Sea, the underworld of the ancestors – at least some of the Gaels believed the land of the dead was over the sea, in the House of Donn, and wells and bodies of water were (perhaps) an entrance to the Otherworld. The tree is the Jupiter Column^[1] (or standing stone, or world tree) in the centre. At the same time, that Centre is us – reaching out from our realm of Land, down to the underworld, up to the place of the gods.

Five Provinces

There is also a ‘five directions’/'five provinces’ concept in Gaelic mythology – although this is something where I’m still working out the relevance to my own spiritual approach. Ireland is divided into five provinces: a central province that holds the Hall of Tara, surrounded by four other provinces in each of the four directions. Some writers from ADF have talked about this as the establishment of the cosmos in the middle world. You could see it as part of a creation myth – the world is not divided by the gods, but by the previous rulers of Ireland. The five directions are also associated with attributes in at one myth. This comes from more recent sources than the ‘three realms’ approach^[2], but I still find it intriguing.

I’m still working on how I understand this splitting up of the land, and how it relates to all the other ideas for me, but there’s something there. ADF has a sigil that represents all of it — the three worlds, the three realms and the ‘quartering’ of the land. I need to do some meditating on this symbol, and on the traditional ones like the triple spiral. One of these days!

ADF cosmos sigil [3]

And this is all before we’ve got onto the nine elements you can find in some Irish myths: stone (bones), earth (flesh), plants (hair), sea (blood), wind (breath), moon (mind), sun (face), cloud (brain), heaven (head)… ^[4]

And all that is before we’ve gone anywhere near Iolo Morganwyg’s nwyfre, calas and gwyar… Those are concepts with which John Michael Greer has done some fascinating work, ^[5] by the way.

Working with different elemental systems helps me get my head around the world. And just as I think I’ve got there, it spirals up into magic and mystery again. Ultimately, of course, when you go out into the land, you experience these things, beyond thought and philosophy and language and lore. But I’m a brand new beginner at magical-type work, and it helps me to see these things in frameworks which resonate well with the ways I’ve chosen to honour my gods and my land.

Wishing you happy adventures out in Land, Sea and Sky, folks.

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Here comes the ‘I’m sorry for all the references’ bit.

[1] Jupiter Columns are a really cool thing. I might write about them under J – if I feel well-researched enough by then! Miranda Green’s Gods of the Celts has a good introduction to them.

[2] Discussed at the Celtic Reconstructionism FAQ

[3] From ADF’s page Concerning Druidic Sigils and the Talismanic Art

[4] The Elements of the Dúile by Searles O’Dubhain

[5] An extract from his book Druidry: A Green Way of Wisdom is at http://www.aoda.org/articles/elements.htm

I read a definition of ecstasy as a state in “one in which man’s spirit is caught up to the most immediate union with the divine”. I agree with that.

My relationship with Ecstasy has changed over the years.

My first experience with Ecstasy was taking a cruise on the Carnival Cruise ship of the same name. I was nine. I wouldn’t say anything about the experience was too ecstatic, but sneaking into the casino onboard and playing with the slot machines was fun.

My second experience with Ecstasy was taking the drug, Ecstasy. This occurred several timed during my senior year of high school and the summer directly following. Again, I wouldn’t describe any of those experiences as ecstatic. Was I high? Sure. Did it feel good? Yup. But I didn’t feel ecstatic.

I have had three experiences that I would consider truly ecstatic experiences. They all happened while I was clean and sober.

My first real ecstatic experience happened -where else-on Phish tour. Dancing at a Phish concert is one of my “happy places”. It is a spiritual experience for me. As I focus on the music, I give myself up to something larger than myself. I forget to worry about my wants and my worries. Self seeking slips away. I am fully in the moment, fully present, and joy and gratitude fill my entire body. I am so happy. I have had many pre-ecstatic experiences at my 98 phish shows, but the truly ecstatic experiences were fundamentally different.

It occurred in Ohio last summer. I was dancing with friends in the sunken walkway between two sections of seats in the venue. It was dark, and sweaty, and people were throwing down. Bodies were everywhere, and the air was so wet and hot it felt like I was swimming. The feeling that came over me really cannot be described, Words are mere suggestions at what it was actually like. I suddenly felt that I was animal, blood and bone and spit and sex. Raw and primal and tribal. I was connected to these people around me. We were pack mates. Divinity was immanent in us and expressed through us. We were powerful and vital. My head felt like it cracked open like a raw, runny egg. I may have howled. I am sure if you had asked my name I wouldn’t have been able to answer.

The second time this happened was also at a Phish show, just a couple of months later. I was dancing, with friends, and this time the energy vibrated much higher. Where last time it has been very primal and raw, this time it felt very uplifted (I was in Denver, the Mile High City!). I remember it swooping down on me all of a sudden, and I jumped up and down several times. I believe I cried out. I felt fireworks go off in my head. I know it happened just as the song ended and I stood there with my head in my hands and cried tears of wonder. I had been directly connected to the divine, a deep soul kiss, a searing exposure.

I became introduced to the Reclaiming tradition of Witchcraft late in 2012. I attended their Samhain ritual and it was during the power raising that I tasted a little bit of the feeling I so often get at concerts. Then, at the Yule celebration, I had a full on ecstatic experience. We had been singing for several minutes, and I admit I was starting to feel a little disappointed. That inner voice was going, “that feeling isn’t happening.” At that point one of the women in the group motioned for all of us to take the hands of the people standing next to us. We gathered into a circle and raised our joined hands to the sky, still singing. Suddenly, I felt it float down on me, gently, like feathers–ecstasy. It felt like the softest of down, like champagne bubbles, like snowflakes. My heart felt full of candlelight and silent, watery beauty.

Each of these experiences was so different. One was raw and primal, another energetic, another calm and soft. But they each left me with clear sense of being touched. Those experiences and the energy that ran through them felt fundamentally different than anything I had experienced before.

I hope to have more of these experiences, and one of the main reasons I am attracted to Reclaiming Witchcraft is because it bills itself an ecstatic tradition. I want those experiences. I daresay that I need them. I am naturally wired as the kind of person who seeks transcendent experiences. That is why in my pre-recovery life I was so attracted to using LSD, mushrooms, and other drugs. But in my clean & sober life, I need healthy ways to have those experiences. I’ve found those through music and witchcraft.

Next week, I will write about why I think ecstatic experiences are useful.

East.

The direction from which the Sun rises every day. The birth place of light.

In Kemeticism, the Sun is represented by the God Ra. More accurately, Ra is the Sun at Mid-day (the Noon Sun),  Atum in the Evening (the Setting Sun), and Khepera in the morning (the Rising Sun). Khepera is traditionally associated with the image of the scarab beetle, a sacred animal in Kemetic practice. The name Khepera literally means “to become” – which I find awfully coincidental, considering the East is most commonly equated with manifestation and balance in Kabbalah (after all, the first thing to emerge from Ein Sof was Light). But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

The Ancient Egyptians put a huge amount of faith in the Sun – it was their life-giver, and at the same time, their destroyer…too much sun (too much time in the open desert, away from the Nile) and you could die. Without it, however, nothing could grow or thrive. In this sense, the Sun also symbolized balance, as did the direction of East. As Jeremy Naydler writes:

“In Egypt, the directions of east and west, north and south, are never in any doubt. Through the whole six-hundred-mile span of the Nile valley, there is an almost unbroken constancy in the northward flow of the river. It thus divides the land equally into a western and an eastern half. This physical division of the country by the Great River is given symbolic meaning by the cosmic and divine event of the daily birth of Ra in the east, his journey across the heavenly Nile (of which the earthly Nile is but an image), and his senescence and descent into the realm of the dead beyond the cliffs of the western desert. East and West are thus not simply physical directions, they are mythical and metaphysical orientations…The east has to be the side of rebirth, of new life, for every morning the whole country turns east as it awakens to the enlivening rays of the newborn sun.” (Naydler, Kindle edition, loc.264).

So in Kemeticism, East is the direction of rebirth, renewal, balance, and creation. One could argue that prayer should face East, then, toward the sun (there’s no mandate that this must be the case, but it feels natural, for me anyway). Interestingly enough, Judaism recommends prayer to the East. In modern Jewish practice, this now has more to do with the literal direction of Jerusalem, and the Holy Land, but in Kabbalah, the mystical component of Judaism, East has a much more “Kemetic” meaning:

“East in Hebrew is meez’rach, literally: “from the place of shining.” East is where you experience light emanating, bringing you clarity, renewal, a visual sense of the diversity of all things, and how everything is distinct from everything else. East is the place of new beginnings, of trying again, of starting anew. Another word for east is kehdem which means “beginning” or “before.” The ancient Jewish morning prayer elow’hi reminds us that each morning we awaken with a freshly laundered spirit; that we don’t have to start the new day shuffling about with yesterday’s toilet paper still suck to our shoes.” (Winkler, page 45).

Something else I have found interesting during my studies of Kabbalah is that of the animal associations with the Four Cardinal Directions – East’s being that of the lion.

“The lion lives in balance, in the way of the warrior, striking only when absolutely necessary, only when threatened or when it needs to feed the clan. The lion is then in the East, or meez’rach, the place of shining, of rousing fresh power and creativity, the place of counsel and balance.” (Winkler, page 48).

Hmm, if I remember correctly, does not Ra do battle with A/pep every night, only to rise again, victorious, in the Eastern Sky? Does that not make Him a warrior? Even more poignantly, there are myths that speak of Bast, an Eye of Ra (one of the fierce Sun Goddesses who defend and protect), as the destroyer of A/pep. Bast is a feline Goddess, a “lion” in Her own right (though she is most commonly represented as a black cat). Another Eye of Ra, however, the Goddess Sekhmet, is a lioness – Her name literally meaning “The Powerful.” Sekhmet Herself is a perfect representation of the balance of the Eastern Lion, and of the Sun itself: She so easily can obliterate humanity (as She has done in the mythical past!), while at the same time, also serve as the ultimate healer of all. It is said that Sekhmet is “the will of the sovereign solar power of the cosmos” – that’s a pretty awesome title. I don’t know Her well (personally), but I have a great deal of respect for Her. And I think She encompasses the very essence of East – the balance part, especially. In one moment She is the burning Sun, and in the next, the rays of renewal.

For me, there’s one other, final aspect of East that I rely on greatly in my own life, and that is that aspect of victory, of courage, of taking that moment to say, “hey, I made it.” I have issues with anxiety, so I understand feeling trapped/worried/unsure of what the day might bring, but when I see the Sun shining outside my window? When I really think about how lucky I am to be alive (yes, that’s sort of a “deep” thing to say, but it’s true)…whatever I have to face in my day doesn’t seem so bad; my worries, my fears, they dissipate in the face of morning light. The morning is actually my favorite time of day. It makes me feel like I can accomplish anything, it makes me feel like there’s so much time. Morning is quiet, serene, and full of possibility. Morning is the beginning, the start, the time of our own, personal creation, when we really get our “to-do” lists going. I feel most productive in the morning, my energy is highest. Some people are morning people, and I’m definitely one of them.

Those are the lessons Ra, Khepera, Bast, Sekhmet, and the other Solar Deities have to teach us: don’t be afraid to face the day. Wake with courage, and with presence. Balance your life; work hard to manifest and create what you love. And when you feel doubt, when it gets hard, when you want to quit – look to the Eastern sky.

AND BECAUSE LORD OF THE RINGS RELATES TO EVERYTHING EVER have an inspiration scene that perfectly sums up what I’ve just said:

I think that just about does it ^__~

Sources:

• Naydler, Jeremy. Temple of the Cosmos. Inner Traditions, 1996. (Kindle edition)
  
• Winkler, Gershon. Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism. North Atlantic Books, 2003.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Dir. Peter Jackson. New Line Home Entertainment, 2003. Film.
• Henadology

I’m a polytheist. I actually believe that the gods exist. Really and truly, and outside of our minds, and everything.

Why yes, I am that naive. ;)

Cailleach Bhearra, as imagined by the Irish Film Board.[1]

I haven’t met many people who have quite as a literal a view of the gods as I do (though I have met some). And it would be easy to put it all down to my background — except that my view of my gods today is very different from the way I used to see the Christian god. He was never as personal to me as my Pagan gods are today. Don’t get me wrong, I believed in him very strongly – but as a very abstract force.

In contrast, the Gaelic gods are very real spirits to me. To some extent they’re the forces of nature and/or the tribe, but they’re also individuals. Explaining my theology there would take far more words than is sensible in a blog post. But basically, that’s how they represent themselves to me. (And I value my eyebrows too much to tell a god that I think they’re wrong about that!)

But I’m nervous about talking about my gods with anyone else, hence the disclaimer. I’m really scared that people will think I’m dismissing the way that they experience the gods. Not true. I have the greatest respect for everyone’s experiences of Spirit, of the Divine. There have been a lot of blog posts knocking around the internet recently on the subject of the gods in Paganism, with many polytheists arguing that Pagan pantheists and humanists don’t take the gods seriously enough. In my very personal opinion, that’s crap. My way of understanding the gods does not have to be everyone else’s way. There’s a rich tapestry of belief out there. As the mystics said, god is the Light that is so bright it is as darkness to us.^[2] And if each of us is given a different glimpse of an edge of that Light, then I can surely learn so much from the rainbow of others’ perspectives.

So what does this polytheism mean for me? Well, for one thing, it doesn’t mean I take the myths literally. I don’t think Lugh actually knocked on the door of the Hall of Tara and told the gatekeeper about all the things he could do. I think the story says something about how my ancestors understood Lugh, as a powerful god who does all things well, with other tales revealing other ways that he was experienced. They met the gods in stories, and in stories they brought them back to this world. I think I’m a little bit in love with that approach. My ancestors weren’t idiots who took things too literally and could only conceive of people-shaped gods. They were much more subtle than that.

Deity shrine/ADF altar. It has Too Much Stuff on it.

In a way, I met some of these gods a long time ago — I was fascinated by Irish myth growing up. I bought books of it whenever I went to Ireland, and I tried to find many of the places talked about in the myths. But of course, I didn’t know them as individuals until much later. Brighid and the Morrigan turned up in a meditation very early on in my Pagan journey – they arrived together, initially as the symbols of the Crow and the Well. They’ve been a bit of a ‘team’ for me ever since – they encourage and support my social justice work, and my resistance to oppression in my own life, but in very different ways. I mainly relate to Brighid as a hearth goddess, as someone who sends me out from the darkness into the world, and who protects my home. I think she’s experienced very differently by different people.

And then there are the gods who are more land-focused, for me. Manannan mac Lir is strongly present in the part of Ireland where my family lives, by the sea — as is Cailleach Bhearra (who, interestingly, is known as his wife in local folklore), although I didn’t meet her until quite recently. Some Gaelic scholars talk about how there are two pantheons reflected in Celtic myths^[3], and I think it is possible to see tribal deities as separate from the remnants of a potentially-older pantheon of the forces of the land (who may in some way overlap with the Fomorii). There’s something of that in my experience. I like having the balance between the two – gods of chaos, gods of order.

As for Lugh, I was asking for his help for practical things a lot, and I thought it was only fair to give him a shrine, if I was going to keep calling on him. Among other things, I have a beautiful red wineglass with harvest symbols on it (found in a charity shop), where I occasionally leave offerings. I get the sense that he’s a very business-like god — he likes to get on with things. (In my experience.) Meanwhile, I think of Ogma as a sort of patron of my studies, and although I don’t talk to him much, the tiny shelf shrine seemed appropriate when I started working with the Ogham.

There’s only one god I (sometimes) honour who is not Gaelic, at the moment: Arianrhod. Other cultures’ gods are mostly still a mystery to me. I particularly can’t get my head around the Norse gods. I think at some point I’ll attempt to immerse myself in Norse mythology and see if I can at least begin to figure them out.

But here’s where it gets complicated. I also honour St. Catherine of Alexandria regularly, and other saints less regularly. She is not a goddess – she’s my patron saint. She made herself known to me some years ago, at my confirmation (which is why I took her name as a confirmation name), and she’s been happy to stick around – which is ironic, but hey ho. She’s also one of the most complicated saints I could have ended up with, what with the themes of pagan and Christian non-co-operation in her story. I work with other saints, too. I’m not entirely sure how to categorise them in relation to my Paganism, but I’m increasingly thinking I don’t need to worry about it. I’ve been reading that wonderful book The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, where an interviewee says that the Irish called on the saints faithfully to start with, then moved on to petitioning fairies and pagan gods if necessary. My somewhat ad-hoc approach is nothing very new. As needs must, and all that.

And then there are spirits who cross the ancestor-deity border in some way… and the other gods who have turned up from time to time… and this post is getting far too long, so I’m going to stop here.

This has been my act of Courage for the week!
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[1]See http://www.thisisirishfilm.ie/shorts/an-cailleach-bheara – a wonderful animated short film based on the myths of Cailleach Bhearra.

[2]This is apophatic theology, which posits that the Divine can only be expressed in negative terms, ultimately because it’s beyond our understanding.

[3]Alexei Kondratiev in ‘Land, Sea and Sky‘

I practice two forms of Divination, one I like to call “For Me” and the other “For Them.” I classify them like this, mostly because one I use much more intimately for personal questions/communicating with my Deities, and the other I use mostly to help others (my “free readings”, etc).

“For Me Divination” is my practice of Tarot. I haven’t been reading Tarot for very long, only a few months now, but it has already proved an effective method for helping me understand myself better and what I need, and it’s also proved quite useful for communicating with my Deities. I have, so far, been able to communicate most successfully and clearly with Het-heru and Nebt-het through Tarot. I use the Shadowscapes Tarot Deck, a popular, Rider-Waite-based deck sporting gorgeous watercolor illustrations of a very fantasy/elemental nature.

Here are my cards, in the lovely and adorable knitted pouch my Mom made for them ^_^

This deck instantly connected with me due to the elemental features – the paintings very much play-up the Elements associated with each Minor Arcana, for example (Water for Cups, Fire for Wands, Air for Swords, and Earth for Pentacles). I’m an extremely elemental person when it comes to magic, so that works well for me. The deck seems to already have a pretty good understanding of me, despite our short time together so far, as my readings often turn out very accurate for what does/did happen in my day, and just in general. I often laugh out loud when reading Tarot, the cards just know me. I read Tarot usually once a day – a “Daily Tarot” draw (one card) – as sort of a “message” or “theme” for my day. Other than daily Tarot, I use my cards to communicate with my Deities (like I mentioned), which I’ve done about three times now (doing this takes a lot of energy out of me, and it takes time, so I only use Tarot to ask Them questions when I really need clarification about something/need to speak with Them for important reasons).

The “For Them Divination” that I do is Bibliomancy. Bibliomancy is divination by books – the random choosing of a page/paragraph/section of a book (or several books) to answer a question or inquiry (or to divine in general/communicate with unseen powers). I personally am a fan of Dodger’s Bibliomancy Guide (for beginners). Successful Bibliomancy is usually dependent on the relationship one has with the book they are using. It is suggested that you use books you have owned for a long time/read often/care about deeply/etc. This is why the only books I use for Bibliomancy are my 13-year-old copies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which I read probably three-five times a year, sometimes more.

They are my comfort books, my beloved favorites. I know the story inside and out, I have been a fan since I was 10 years old, and I continue to read them in times of sadness/worry/or just to pass the time. I have loved all of Tolkien’s work since I was a child, and it has deeply inspired me and shaped the person I have become today (as corny as that may sound!). I would never consider doing Bibliomancy with any other series of books; I know Lord of the Rings (especially these copies of them) so well that I just don’t think Bibliomancy would be as accurate for me using any other books. Part of what seems to make my readings so accurate for others is because of how well I can interpet the books – I feel like I have a very deep connection with and grasp of the story being told, and how that story can help others. I sometimes wonder what Tolkien would think of that if he were alive today! ^_^

I offer free Tolkien Bibliomancy readings on the Crooked Cauldron forum. Don’t hesitate to ask if you’d like one! I enjoy helping people. But do keep in mind, as with most other free divinations/diviners out there, I live a real, working life, so I can’t always get to readings RIGHT away, though I do promise to get to them as soon as I can. Also as with most other divinations/diviners, it takes a lot of energy out of me (I try to get the readings are accurate as I can), so it may take me some time to get back to you in that sense as well, especially if I have just answered someone else or a few others. Please don’t send me any requests here or through tumblr, though; I like to keep my practice to the CC boards as much as I can, mostly for organizational purposes. I might open readings from time to time on tumblr if I feel it is necessary/when I have more time, but for now, it’s mostly just on that forum. ^_^

And that’s pretty much it! I used to be sort of wary of Divination, back when I first approached the Pagan/Polytheist/etc. community 2+ years ago…mostly because I was scared of the idea of “finding out the future.” I didn’t want to know. But I have since realized that Divination is a far more complex, and far more useful thing than simply “a vehicle for seeing the future.” So much of Divination has to do with the present, more than anything: who you are, and where you are in your life journey. I think sometimes we need to understand our current selves before we can even hope to understand where our futures might lead. And in that sense, too, Divination can also help us come to terms with our pasts. It’s a multi-directional practice, one that reaches far beyond the scope of “fortune-telling.” That’s how I’ve grown to feel, anyway!

Until next time ^_^

How long have you been in broadcasting?

In closing, I want to say how blessed I’ve been to be a part of this great profession. Some young broadcasters think that they are God’s gift to the profression and have an attitude that reflect that (that young freshman from Seton Hall I’ve read about on STAA comes to mind). We all have to understand how grateful we need to be to have this platform.

and that’s where it would have remained if i hadn’t come across randonneuring. the Madras Randonneurs (www.madrasrandonneurs.org) started conducting brevets in chennai in 2011 and last november, without having ridden the cycle for more than two months, i joined up to do the 200 km ECR brevet. it was heavy going, especially while coming back with extremely strong head/cross winds but managed to finish with about 20 minutes to spare.

the 300 km brevet in december 2012 and the 400 km brevet in january this year were much better affairs because i managed to get some long rides in prior to the brevets and was able to hit a rhythm much better. and it was something i found totally addictive. so, i guess, here i am…

planning to get myself a steel frame tourer (as the mtb is not really suitable for long distance endurance cycling), do the 600 km brevet in chennai as well as the 600 km and 1000 km brevets in bangalore. the aim is to ultimately qualify for and complete the paris-brest-paris randonnee (PBP) in 2015. fingers crossed. hoping to update this page as and when things happen in that direction. and, thanks for reading and for still being here. if indeed you are still here

My reaction is pretty much as follows:

*headtilt* Choice? What is this thing you call choice and what does it have to do with spirituality?

On the one hand, I find it fascinating. I try to imagine how it might happen. How does someone choose a religion? How might I go about it? Would I read books? Close my eyes and throw darts? Ask a Ouija board? (Actually, I would not ask a Ouija board. They give me a major case of the wiggins.*)

I did not choose my religion. Though, I have a hard time thinking of myself as having a religion. I tend to think of religion as something one practices apart from daily life. I cannot do that. I tried. For a while, I tried to keep my spiritual life separate from my daily life. I was told that I was missing the point. To single out parts of my life as non-spiritual or not requiring the part of me that I try to compartmentalize as Zagreus was saying that all parts of life are not worthy of divine attention. And that is wrong. Because our domain is life. All of life. All life is sacred and worthy of my full attention, so no more compartmentalizing.

I do not view my spirituality as a choice. I tend to think of it as a function, a job. I perform my function and things go smoothly. If I do not, someone comes along to kick me in the shins to remind me that now is the time for this to happen and they are tired of waiting for me. If I try to go against my function, I break and someone comes along to help me pull myself together. If I whine about my function, well, no one cares.

(Actually, Bri cares and a certain someone tries to reason with me until I pull myself out of my mood.)

I think it may sound harsh when I speak of it like that, but most of the time there is a certain flow to it and when I am not getting in my own way, it feels right.

I just did not choose it. As cliche as it sounds, it chose me.

* Why, yes, I was raised on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. How did you know?

And the thought was: I miss my rosary. I should make prayer beads.

Three strings of beads, for Land, Sea and Sky. (I’ll join them together at some point. Looking for something for the centre.)

It was a stunningly terrible idea. My hands don’t work too well. It’s taken a while. But what can you do when an idle thought becomes an obsession, one that has now been all-consuming since Lughnasadh? As idle thoughts are wont to become.

The rosary was my first serious connection with the mystical. Mary is a rather complex force in my life. I grew up Protestant – Pentecostal, in fact, with all the speaking-in-tongues and falling over that any growing girl could scoff (at). I never touched the mystical that way, though I knew plenty of people who did. Yet it was mostly weirdness to me, with an occasional side order of bonkers. I liked the singing (mostly). I was Puritan in my piety. I prayed a fair bit. I faithfully sought the mysteries – I thought they had to come eventually. But I didn’t experience anything numinous until years later.

And then the sudden, majestic holiness of an Anglo-Catholic* church: its haughty rafters, its cryptic prayer-chapel nooks, its brilliance in a hundred liturgical colours. I exchanged the babble of tongues for the exultation of silence, the raspy guitars for the furtively whispered Hail Mary, the gushing clamour of prayers for the aching loneliness of choral music, the distant Father God for a very immanent Queen of Heaven, incarnated in a glorious statue that wore its own rosary – and a veil at Advent. The first time I touched that rosary (golden calf of an idolatrous people), the sheer, illicit physicality of it, I knew what Julian of Norwich meant when she said “For in man is God, and God is in all.”¹

(Catholicism. Gateway drug to Paganism!)

Mary still has a place on one of my altars. We don’t talk much anymore. Ever full of grace, she moved aside so I could find the gods of my ancestors. Mostly, she’s now just a small Russian icon by a little white candle. A reminder.

But sometimes the Queen of Heaven decides she’ll have a moment of my time, thank you. Like, say, when I started writing this nice light post about beads.

It’s only fair. Really, she was the first deity I ever encountered.

These prayer beads are not Mary’s rosary. They were made to honour the depths of the sea of the dead, the endless reaches of the hills of the daoine sídhe, the blazing heights of Caer Arianrhod. These days my gods are truly immanent.

But they are not the Ones who taught me how to pray.

Be it unto me according to Thy word.

C is also for Cat, so have a Merlin bonus picture.

Ancient wizard. In box.

*Anglo-Catholicism is an English form of Catholicism. It has Roman Catholic roots, but there’s no pope (lots of Mary, though). It’s a very beautiful tradition, and it kept me in the church for quite a few years after I’d have left otherwise.

[1] Juliana, & Wolters, C. (1982). Revelations of Divine Love. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Cats in Kemet were so sacred to the people that in the Battle of Pelusium (525 BC) against the Achaemenid Empire was lost because the enemy took advantage of how sacred cats were to the Ancient Egyptians. The Achaemenid Empire released cats onto the battle field and the Ancient Egyptians did not fire their arrows in fear of hurting the cats… and when in close battle could not strike upon them because they had also painted the image of Bast  on their shields.

-Written according to Herodotus in his Histories.

In the villages, the greatest danger to Egyptian households were the numerous poisonous snakes, rats and mice which attacked food supplies in the home and the village granaries. The wild cat, it is assumed, strayed into the villages and hunted down the vermin, keeping them at bay. It’s easy to imagine the grateful Egyptians leaving out scraps of food to encourage the wild cats on their vigils. A symbiotic relationship occurred between animal and human. Next, the felines found their way into the Egyptian homes, spent some time there, allowed themselves to be tamed and raised their kittens in a human environment. As soon as the Egyptians began supplying the cats with food, thereby significantly changing their diet, and breeding them for certain characteristics, the cats were domesticated. They were perfect pets-playful, intelligent, affectionate and helpful to the farmers who sustained life in ancient Egypt.

Tomb paintings with cats as part of family life began to show up during the New Kingdom-about 500 years after the first attempts at domestication. But the most direct evidence for domestication comes from cemeteries of mummified cats. These appear to be from around 1000 B.C. (the late Pharonic era). And they were most likely domesticated cats from ordinary households or temple catteries; it wouldn’t make sense to go to such trouble for wild animals who died.

As a Kemetic person what does this mean for me? Cats to me are not just my love. But how could you NOT adore this face?

My devotion to cats are a form of devotion and sign of my devotion to Netjer.

Also they give me so much in this life why not return the favor.

I devote my time to the care of a sacred animal and thus I am in turn enacting a sacred duty tending to them, IE: in serving them I am serving Netjer. Not only spending time with my own two that I spoil rotten. But also with the ones that have not found their forever homes, to the ones on the streets, the feral colonies… and saying hi to friends cats.

Because:

My reasons for changing my name were primarily to disassociate myself from my past. Having been a former adult entertainer in the age of the internet means your past is never more than a few clicks away (granted, when I went into the business, the internet was new and more a novelty that the ubiquitous presence it is now). Simply googling your name will turn up a wealth of things you do not want an employer finding once you try to go legit. Due to what I can only assume was a “clerical error”, much of my work was released under my real name. I have had male coworkers approach me for sexual favors in exchange for “keeping my secret”. I have had female coworkers cattily state thinly veiled allusions to what they had discovered about me in front of the entire staff. I have even had people bring in copies of magazines I was in and ask me for my autograph at work. Eventually, I had to change my name if I ever wanted to be able to function in society without the stigma of being the town whore. This angered me, since I did not and still do not see anything wrong with what I have done. However, I was never particularly attached to my name, having always felt it didn’t suit me.

Of course, this has made my life awkward in many ways. In the Pagan community, people often mistake my name for a craft name. In public life I frequently get comments on the strange nature of my name, which of course means I have to pretend it is my name by birth or risk the myriad of questions that will follow. There is a weird embarrassment to confessing you have legally changed your name, like I need to justify my decision. Half my family forgets to call me by my new name, the other half refuses and will announce this in front of people who don’t know that I changed my name. My friends have all adapted, but new friends will eventually have to be told if they become more than acquaintances.

In some ways, my original name is my magical name; it is the secret name known only to me and a few close relations. I have had so many different names over the years, I can literally get confused in a crowd if I hear someone calling out anything phonetically close to any one of them. I have 2 different names from the various S&M clubs I used to work at, the names that I modeled under, names I used for film work, nicknames I have had, online monikers. These are all names that I have responded to, identities I have had that sit on top of my original self like layers of experience. My name now seems to bring them all together so I feel a little less like Sybil Green, but I still have this weird sense of the different chapters in my life having happened to someone else.

When the land is covered in a snowy cloak.

The Days are cold but spring is near

And all Earth’s Creatures begin to cheer.

SO bless the candles and their light

And let them burn away the night.

Sabbaths of the Northern Hemisphere by Shanddaramon

Imbolc or Candlemas is about the Goddess and the Sun God reuniting. (Reunited and it feels so good!) It is also about the returning of the Light/Sun. Days will start to get longer at this point, which I am extremely excited about since it has been bitterly cold the last couple days. Personally I cannot wait for spring/summer. Anyway!

In Celtic traditions this holiday is also called Brigid’s day. From my understanding this is pretty much where most of the lore of the holiday originated from. Brigid is the goddess of fertility, creativity, inspiration, metal-smiting, and medicine. She was also a healer as well as a guardian of children. She was the bridge waiting for her Sun God to return to her.

This holiday is defiantly one that explores the comfort food spectrum in my opinion. Hearty foods, like breads, pancakes, muffins. Also seeds because they symbolize fertility. Foods that defiantly warm up the home when made. For the ancestors it was very cold for them during this time, so anything that can warm up your belly should be made on this holy day.  Incense of this holiday are Basil, Wisteria, Cinnamon, Violet, Vanilla, Myrrh. Stones of Imbolc are Amethyst, Bloodstone, Garnet, Ruby, Onyx, Turquoise. Some activities that you can partake in are Candle Lighting, Stone Gatherings, Snow Hiking and Searching for Signs of Spring. You can also make some Brigid Crosses or Candle Wheels. Lastly, gather your friends and have a Bon Fire outside. (If you have the space for it of course)

This holiday is about new beginnings, purity, growth and the reunion with the god and the goddess.

Sadly since my kitchen is under a bit of construction right now, I will not be able to make anything for the holiday. Which is upsetting since I had a new recipe I wanted to try out. No worries though, I am sure I can think of something.  I personally don’t have anything rituals plan as of yet for the day but I will defiantly post pictures of my altar for it.

That is all for now…or and I hope that groundhog does not see his shadow because I am tired of this cold! Have a good one folks. <3

How long have you been in broadcasting?
I didn’t get in to radio until my senior year in college.  If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have gotten involved well before that.  My high school didn’t have a radio station, but they did put on the morning announcements and they had a sports guy.  That should have been me, but it wasn’t.  My biggest regret in life is not getting involved sooner. I made my radio debut in the fall of 2008, on the pregame show for an Indiana University football game.  I did the pregame show and ran the board.  I wish I had the tape. We would all have a good laugh.

When did you know that it was what you wanted to do?

I’ve always, even going back to my childhood, known that I wanted to be a broadcaster.  When I was a kid, I knew every Cubs’ player’s current batting average. While I always knew I wanted to get into broadcasting, it wasn’t until college until I knew what format.  I did play by play and sports talk while at school, and enjoy both.

How much time do you spend preparing for a broadcast?
Well, it kind of depends on how much information is out there.  I currently do a lot of high school games, and as anyone who does high school games knows, it’s hit or miss with how much information you can find.  In a sense, I’m always preparing for my next game, whether it’s making up my boards or coming up with game notes, interviewing the coach, or just thinking about what I might encounter during the game based on what I know about the teams involved.

What sports do you currently broadcast?
In the past year, I’ve done football, basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball.  At the moment, just basketball.

Who are/were the people you look/looked up to in broadcasting?
So many people have been influential.  Our own Jon Chelesnik has been a huge help.  David Kaplan and Judd Sirott work their tails off in Chicago, and are great at their jobs.  Mark Carman hired me as an intern at WGN Radio in Chicago and helped shape the early part of my career. My peers Ben Heisler, Jordan Bernfield, and Justin Weiner have been a positive influence on my career.  I can’t leave out Tom Langmyer, who helped me get my first full time job in the industry. JR Straus, Robb Rose, Ernie and TaQuoya Kennedy all were a big help in getting me on the road to being a better broadcaster as well.

 

Is there anyone you emulate, and if so in what way?
Not so much with play by play.  I’m fairly new at it, so I’m still developing my “game”, so to speak.  With sports talk, especially when it comes to interviewing, I really admire the way Dan Patrick treats a guest on the show.  I try to be as fair as possible while still getting the answers I want.

What is your favorite on air story you can share with us?
This story is more a behind the scenes story, but it nearly prevented me from being on the air at all.  This past fall, I did high school football for a certain internet streaming company.  The crew for a game consisted of the on-air talent, the camera guy, and a producer who ran the computer software.  So I usually got there two hours before gametime, and for this particular game, the producer was someone I had never worked with before.  I emailed him during the week to make sure he’d be there, and he said yeah no problem.  So I’m at the game, all set up, and we get to the end of the sophomore game.  No producer.  The varsity warmups start, no producer.  We’re now about 15 minutes from air.  I call the guy in charge, who’s in California (I’m in suburban Chicago), to see what he might be able to do.  He’s gonna make some calls.  Meanwhile I call the producer, he answers, and I say hey man where the hell are you?  He said…Oh man I’m not gonna be able to make it tonight.  Sorry.  I hung up on him.  Called the guy in charge back, and he told me that there was a guy coming to our game to shadow.  Thank God.  By the time I made my way back to the press box, shadow boy was there.  I said hi, I’m Brady.  Guess what?  You’re producing, sit down!  Luckily, the software wasn’t rocket science, and he had used something similar before.  The broadcast went off without a hitch. 

If there is anything else or any stories you really want to share please feel free to do so.
The most ironic thing I’ve learned in my short time in broadcasting is that in a communications business, communication is the biggest problem!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been involved in miscommunications!  It’s not long before you learn your lesson.  Double and triple check everything.  Whether it’s your out time or the game time…doesn’t matter.  For the young aspiring broadcasters: Realize that this job is not all glory.  You must put in the work to be great.  I know I have a long way to go.  Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone.  Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, they’re not the end of the world.  It’s even OK if you make the same mistake twice.  But learn from your mistakes.

Brady hard at work

Follow Brady on twitter at @BradyStiff or see more of his work on his STAA profile: http://staatalent.com/client/brady-stiff/

Next time we sit down with Victor Anderson. Would you like to be a featured interview or story on PBP Stories? Just send me an email at michaelhirn3@hotmail.com or tweet me @michaelhirnpbp. Thank you for reading as always.

Introduction

Out of curiosity I did a bit of my own research on Cannabis and it was extremely hard to find any unbiased information on the plant – on one hand there are people saying it should be legal and other people who think it should stay illegal. Both parties had their extremists and, as a studying herbalist who has been taught to do research upon more research, nothing I’ve been able to find has really convinced me that either side is right or wrong.
Again, as a studying herbalist, I disagree with the amount of control the government holds over us – it seems a little bit hypocritical when I see doctors handing out prescription only medication like they’re lollies. But I know it’s not every doctor and I understand the reasons behind the scheduling of a wide majority of substances, not just cannabis. In my personal opinion I think cannabis should be offered as medication and treated like any other medication, but I also believe that more power should be given to qualified herbalists. We should be able to prescribe cannabis to people who would most benefit from it eg. cancer patients going through chemotherapy.3
Personally, I use it in spiritual ceremonies, recreationally and for anxiety – particularly social anxiety. I use it to allow an opening of my mind whilst also allowing inner dialogue to come through without over thinking it (which I have a habit of doing if you haven’t already noticed). A lot of my close friends and family use cannabis – a few of them being highly addicted. But I also have friends and family who are extremely against it and just from talking to them I know that they’re uneducated about the whole situation.

I don’t see it as a drug – I see it as another herb that allows me to change the body, mind, emotion and spirit of an individual. Just like any other medicinal herb. Of course if you abuse it you can get into a lot of trouble, but you can abuse anything. This is why I think it’s important that a qualified practitioner such as a Herbalist or Naturopath be given more power.

General Information

*Botanical Name: Cannabis sativa & Cannabis indica. Subspecies sativa is used for it’s fibre and seed oil (among other things) whilst subspecies indica is used for medicinal and recreational purposes.1
*Medicinal Properties: Intoxicant, sedative, analgesic, anti-emetic. Traditional uses include the treatment of pain, rheumatism and asthma. The herb has been used medicinally in Ayurvedic medicine and TCM since ancient times. In the 19th century, marijuana was popularly used as a pain killer especially for menstrual cramps. Nowadays it is used for nausea caused by chemotherapy, depression and lack of appetite in AIDS patients and to lower intra-ocular pressure in cases of glaucoma. Seeds are still used in Chinese medicine as a mild treatment of constipation in elderly people and as a superfood for a nutritional boost.1 4
*Parts Used: The female flowers, associated leaves and the resin which contain the highest amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC has been the only chemical found in the plant to cause the hallucinogenic effects on the central nervous system. However, in my research I have come across the drug Marinol which contains the synthesized version of THC and has had many side effects including death.1 2

Ritual

5 6 7 8

As stated previously I use cannabis as a way to open my mind – this can be extremely useful when I’m meditating for a particular purpose that I don’t think I can accomplish on my own. On numerous occasions I’ve heard cannabis being referred to as a ‘teacher plant’ – one of the many actually (Ayahuasca being another).
This I completely agree with because when I first started smoking, one of my friends from high school died in a car crash. It felt like after that that someone had shaken up my brain and all the information that was stored in there was out of place. The reason why I liked it was because it taught me how to get past the grief and sort everything else in my life out at the same time. It’s also taught me things about other plants and many other things besides.
I started using it in ritual about a year and a half ago after I meditated a few times high and learnt some amazing things about myself and the people around me that I would never had if I was sober – things that I use in everyday life now.

I set up the ritual as usual then roll a joint (1 part mugwort, 1 part damiana, 1 part lions tail, 1 part cannabis). Ideally I would have it sitting on my altar for a couple of days before I smoke and keep a majority of my herbs on or next to my altar. Whilst doing this I think about the purpose of the ritual and what it is I want to learn during the meditation. Of course, you still want some sort of intuitive flow so it’s important you don’t become too rigid with the question or intent. It’s also equally important to have a bullshit filter to avoid your mind going in circles or latching on to every tiny thought (meditating for 15 minutes before smoking or my Meditation flower essences can assist with that).
Next Cannabis will usually take me to the place I need to go this can be in the form of an overwhelming desire to walk down to the park or art gallery or to simply sit on the balcony. When I’m in the right space physically and mentally, I will meditate. Guided meditations are extremely helpful for me, however I’ve only come across a couple that I like it’s important that you look around a bit (music, movies or being in nature can also assist).
Next I will usually draw, paint or write what it is I see, hear or experience. Once I have what I need I usually have something high in protein to ground me again (plus some flower essences and water). Having a shower or bath or simply taking a nap can also be effective – this is why it’s important I have an entire day or night to conduct such a ritual.

Note

In my experience Cannabis needs to be smoked with respect and reverence – even if it’s just recreationally. Being educated on the herb itself and being aware of where it’s come from (hydro or bush) is also important so that you can gauge how much you will need. Of course everyone is different so it’s essential for your first time smoking to be with someone you can 100% trust, in a place that you know and that you know how to meditate effectively. Generally, it’s extremely harmful to smoke cannabis with tobacco – this is usually how people develop an addiction to cannabis. Do yourself a favour and chop up with some other herbs that can enhance the effects or offset the potential side effects.

Conclusion

It’s a bit of a riskay post but I use it a lot in my practice and I thought it was appropriate to document on my spiritual blog. Of course there is a lot more to a ritual or ceremony than meets the eye or that can be recorded in words. If anyone has any questions or comments I encourage you to come straight to me with it and I will answer or listen to the best of my ability.

Beauty (also called prettiness, loveliness or comeliness) is a characteristic of a person , animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction.^[1] Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An “ideal beauty” is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection.

For centuries, beauty has been used as a status marker for mortals and immortals alike. The most beautiful mortal men and woman had power, and the most beautiful gods and goddesses had all of the glory. While this might seem like a call out to saying perfection is key, I can thoroughly assure you that it is not. Society, especially modern society, seems to have made absolute beauty a requirement for a successful life, but while many people might hold this key called beauty, they are missing one major component to using that key to its fullest potential – the lock. This lock is inner beauty, and it can make a universe of difference for everyday life as well as in your spell work, ritual, and connections. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but you must always remember, you are also a beholder – the most important beholder.

The experience of “beauty” often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Taken from Wikipedia, these are wise words to remember when walking the path of a Witch. A Witch is a woman who confidently walks the path of a healer, leader, lover, and protector; however, if a Witch is uncomfortable leading herself, then it can become very difficult for that witch to feel confident in her own abilities. After all, how can a witch help and heal others if she cannot help and heal herself?

The important thing to always remember is that a Witch draws her personal power from her will, which comes from her confidence in her own power and her own abilities. This confidence cannot come from any makeup and nice dress, confidence is gained by looking deep inside of yourself, accepting who you are, accepting what you can do, accepting who you’ve influenced so far, and accepting that you can do great things! That spark of understanding of yourself and your willingness to be strong and confident is the spark of beauty in every woman! Once you’ve understood that you are a beautiful, strong, complete woman on the inside, your magic and influence on those around you will only grow stronger from there! Your inside appearance will always shine through on the outside! Inner beauty builds inner strength, which builds a deep rooted confidence which gives us Witches our will.

Tips for a Witch’s True Beauty

See yourself as beautiful. FEEL yourself as beautiful.

Affirmations

• Week 1: Every morning, find one thing to compliment yourself on. It can be as small as the cutest freckle on your face, but be sure to tell yourself how cute it is! Look yourself in the mirror, look at that freckle and say, or tell yourself out loud in your own words, “(Your name), that is a beautiful freckle” or “(Your name), what a cute freckle!” Next, look at your whole face, look into your eyes and repeat that phrase. Feel it. Know it! Smile and start your day. Try to change it up every day, finding something new each morning.
• Week 2: Repeat week 1, BUT find something small you don’t like about yourself, maybe your eyebrows are too bushy or your lips are too plain. Try changing one thing about yourself so you can tell yourself how beautiful it is the next day!
• Week 3: Begin smiling regularly. Let those morning affirmations cheer up your day! My dad used to tell me to smile all the time, no matter what, and you’ll always feel better than if you weren’t smiling. I’ve held onto that knowledge since I was 4 and people STILL think I’m 15 (I’m 25 in March!). Revitalize yourself with a smile from here on out; not only will you begin to feel happier and look younger, you’ll also notice that people are less offended that you’re a Witch! People just expect it of me now and accept it very easily when they find out about me! A smile is worth a million words and a million miles!
• Week 4: Begin full-body affirmations. Find one thing about your body that you like and congratulate yourself on it! This is a repeat of Week 1, but using your entire body.
• Week 5: Continue full-body affirmations, finding something small to change. Perhaps your shirts don’t fit right; go buy a shirt that makes you feel good. Maybe your body looks plain; make something to spice it up! You don’t have to spend money to look good! Change something everyday.
• Week 6: Continue full-body affirmations, find something larger to change about yourself, but by now, you should be feeling very confident and happy with yourself and your ability to better your life!
• From this point forward, you will have seen how much of an impact inner beauty and outer beauty can have when you use them together! Seeing this much of a change in yourself and those around you will certainly boost your confidence! Through this confidence, you should be feeling stronger about your personal awareness, strength, and ability, giving you a great boost in your power as a Witch! Congratulations!

Beauty Spells:

Through the Goddess’ Eyes Beauty Spell: [perform on a Monday or a Friday, or in the hours of the moon or Venus]

What You’ll Need:

• A medium-sized mirror
• A glass of water
• A private place
• A robe

Instructions:

1. Wearing your robe and nothing underneath and by the light of the full moon, go outside to a quiet, completely private place with mirror and water in hand (a well-shaded backyard, balcony, or back porch is perfect as long as you don’t have any nosy neighbors).
2. Look up at the full moon in all her beautiful glory and imagine the Great Mother Goddess is smiling down on your, filling you with the beauty of herself and showing you the beauty that is you.
3. Close your eyes and really meditate on your beauty or what part of your body that bothers you most. Now imagine what the Goddess would say to you about it. See yourself as the Goddess.
4. Now disrobe. Let the robe drop down to the floor or earth. Take out the mirror and gaze into it, letting the light of the full moon show you your beautiful reflection.
5. Stare at yourself and imagine you are a Goddess. Now take the cup of water and slowly pour the water over your reflection and say:

On this full moon night
I wash away all distorted sight
May the Goddess show me
What she wants me to see
Only love and beauty
I’m bathed in her bounty
Wash away the mutated view
And show me my beauty true

6. Say this at least three times, and after pouring the water over the mirror, look at yourself one more time. You will see something different…what is it?

Stress Relieving, Strength Building Chant:

I am peaceful, I am strong
Though dark may seem so long.
For day must follow every night,
Everything is alright.
I am always safe from harm,
The Goddess holds me in her arms.

Correspondences for Inner Beauty and Strength:

• Crystals: Rose Quartz, Lapis Lazuli, Amber, Hematite, Fluorite, Sapphire, Jasper, Garnet, Obsidian, and Bloodstone [in order from most gentle to most strong/harsh]
• Goddesses: Astarte, Aine, Hathor, Aphrodite, Milda, Inanna, Ishtar, Sjöfn, Venus, Erzulie Freda Dahomey, or Oshun.

After all, what’s a witch without a few spells? In addition to the affirmations, try these spells to help in bettering your internal and external beauty! Those who grow their beauty from the inside have a stronger sense of compassion and acceptance of others because they know the work it takes to get to a good point in their lives! Be a compassionate Witch and show the world how to live it up!

Inner beauty builds inner strength, which builds a deep rooted confidence which gives us Witches our will.

What is “black magic”? Is there even such a thing?
How do you feel about using it?

Link

Much controversy about this, it seems. And it is this simple in the end: There is no such thing as “black magic”. Just as there is not “good” or “bad” intelligence. Or “good/bad” weapons. Magic is a kind of energy. What you use it for may be bad or good, but that is totally up to you. Some people like to say, “If your spell harms someone else, it is black magic.” But think about it – if you do a job spell and get a job, that is good – for you. But it may be bad for other people who applied for the same job. Now, “black” or “white” magic?

I think many people use this whole “black/white” concept in order to avoid taking responsibility for the at times unexpected outcome of their dabbling.

I had almost a full post written before I realised that I didn’t actually know what Virtue meant to me. I was trying to work why I care about Virtue, when a friend posed a question, in good Socratic tradition: “Do you care about it?”

Taking Responsibility

Yes, I care about Virtue.

Three things which the upright will gain: worldly sufficiency, peace of conscience, and unending happiness.

You won’t be surprised that my interest in ‘living right’ began in Christianity. But not in the way you might think. It was in liberal Christian churches that I learnt about fair trade, human rights, the destruction of the environment, and how young boys in Congo do incredibly dangerous work in tin mines for a pittance so that we can have mobile phones. At the time, I put it all through ‘God’s world’ filters. Today, I realise that it’s about living in *the* world, with all the huge responsibility that comes with that.

The concept of taking responsibility for myself and my actions is a streetlight along my path. I believe that all life is connected, but responsibility still has to start with me. That means looking at my impact – on my community, on the environment, on all the other life that crosses paths with mine (which includes people as far away as Congo). I think this falls under what ADF calls “the process of examining one’s life”^[1].

It’s not as easy as it sounds. A lot of the time, looking at the mountain I have to climb called ‘responsibility’ makes me inclined to lose the plot and go back to bed. I started using biodegradable hair products in an attempt to put a bit less rubbish into the water system, and immediately noticed how much cleaning fluid I pour down the drain. We started eating meat less and buying local produce, and then I realised that in order to do that properly, I’d have to go to farmers’ markets that aren’t accessible to me and use energy that I don’t have. (And I don’t just mean I’d quite like more energy. I mean that it’s a straightforward choice between working and going to farmers’ markets, and trying to do both could mean ending up in hospital. That wouldn’t be an ethical way to treat myself.)

Sometimes I start thinking about responsibility and I can’t stop – all I can see is the damage I’m doing. Virtue is a focus on creative action, instead. It helps me to stop beating myself up and start taking action. It’s about steps in the right direction.

Why All the Structure?

As a Christian, someone else was always telling me what to do, whether an archbishop, another member of the church, or God. For at least ten years I tried to find my own voice, my own song, and got shushed when I did. I was given an actual prophecy from another Christian once – it essentially I said I was on this earth to break the rules. I liked that, but I went one step beyond it. I realised I didn’t need rules made by someone else at all, whether divine or human. Now that I’ve found a path that allows that, though, there’s a lingering sense of exactly what do I do with all this freedom?

Taking responsibility doesn’t have to mean re-inventing the wheel. I’m very glad for people who have the highly developed ethical good sense necessary to come up with their own answers to the puzzles of living responsibly. But I have a brain that doesn’t work quite like other people’s brains (just trust me on that one), and I need structure and guidelines. Structure’s not a dirty word, at least not to me. I’m fond of saying that I’m religious, not spiritual. It’s not always meant as a self-mocking comment.

ADF has a suggested structure for approaching ethics. Each of their Nine Virtues addresses a different sphere of life, where responsibility, ‘right relationship’^[2] and ‘excellent action’^[3] are relevant. In each of these spheres of life, our decisions and expectations come into contact with community and other life. The decisions about how to tackle each virtue are still up to me, but I can take them one at a time, ideally without being swallowed by despair along the way. And the list includes unfashionable values like ‘piety’ and ‘moderation’, along with the more romantic ones like ‘wisdom’ – which makes me very happy.

ADF’s Nine Virtues:

• Wisdom, including good judgement
• Piety, including duty to ourselves, others and the gods
• Vision, or broad perspective
• Courage, including action in the face of danger
• Integrity, including honour, fairness and being trustworthy
• Perseverance, including drive and motivation
• Hospitality, including acting as a gracious host and honouring “a gift for a gift”
• Moderation, or indulging in neither excess nor deficiency
• Fertility – or, as I’d rather think of it, creativity – the enjoyment of abundance and appreciation of sensuality.

I really like most of these. Not all, but we’ll get there.

Why Not Keep it Simple?

Right action, right relationship, responsible ethics – it doesn’t always need that much structure. It can be kept as simple as Emma Restall Orr’s key ethical concept, ‘honour life’.^[4] All these principles are starting-points. I suspect that everyone’s starting-point will vary, depending not least on their path. I need inspiration that works for me, personally.

Brendan Myers’ concept of Virtue is based on offering an ‘excellent’ response to the randomness of fate. While Myers translates Aristotle’s concept eudaimonia as ‘the worthwhile life’, I understand that it more literally means something like ‘having the favour of the gods’. In the end, that’s an idea – a metaphor, if you like – that works rather well for me. I will work towards the favour of the gods. You?

Three things must be united before good can come of them: thinking well, speaking well, and acting well.

It’s that mystery of acting well, of acting responsibly in light of my connection to all of life, that I want to explore. Starting by working through ADF’s list of virtues and adding a few of my own, from my other places of inspiration, including the Gaelic myths.

Next week, C is for Courage.

References

All triads from John F. Wright’s collection A Compilation of Triads, Volume 1. http://wolf.mind.net/library/celtic/triads/triads.htm#Page

[1] http://www.adf.org/training/dedicant/right-action.html
[2] Restall Orr, E., Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics, Moon Books, 2008.
[3] Myers, B., The Other Side of Virtue, O Books, 2008.
[4] http://druidnetwork.org/ethical/articles/druidry-choice.html

Robert Adams

How long have you been in broadcasting?

I got my first job in 1990, at WMJV (Majic 105) in Patterson, NY as a weekend overnight DJ.  I added in a sports report at 6:00 AM.

When did you know that it was what you wanted to do?

I knew I wanted to be a broadcaster as a kid.  The decision became easier as a teenager once I figured out I wasn’t much of an athlete

How much time do you spend preparing for a broadcast?

I normally put a couple of hours into prepping for a broadcast, in that I make my charts and grab whatever research I can get my hands on.  My sports and radio work aren’t my full-time jobs, so prep time is often at a premium.  However, I have been broadcasting in this area for so long that I have a pretty good grasp of story lines.  Plus I get a lot of nuggets at the game site as I’m setting up equipment.  Getting time with coaches and players in the Fairfield County, CT area isn’t as easy as it seems, and rosters can occasionally be hard to come by, but I normally find a way to make it all work.

What sports do you currently broadcast?

I currently handle football, basketball, hockey, and baseball.  At times, I’ve also done lacrosse, softball, golf, and more.

Who are/were the people you look/looked up to in broadcasting?

I grew up to the north of New York City, and was a Yankees fan as a kid.  In the 70′s, we were blessed to have Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, and Frank Messer doing the Bombers games.  Messer struck me as a professional.  He was the first guy I paid attention to for the description of the action.  Dick Enberg is also a personal favorite because his ability to call almost any sport always impressed me.  I love the energy and descriptions of Doc Emrick.  His word usage is so strong that it often makes me laugh.  There have been so many broadcasters that I’ve looked up to both in and out of sports, but Vin Scully was the guy who absolutely blew me away.  I teach play-by-play and sports reporting, and am always telling students to listen to Scully to learn the right way to call a game.  His ability to describe and tell stories, but never step on the story, amazes me.  He doesn’t do hyperbole.  He is more than willing to let crowd noise tell everything that needs to be said.

Is there anyone you emulate, and if so in what way?

I certainly follow a lot of what Vin Scully has done, but also believe what Red Barber told him when he said (I’m paraphrasing): “The most important thing you bring into the broadcast is yourself.”  So I bring some Scully into the booth, but I also recognize that we have to entertain as well as report, so I bring a dose of humor and reality into the booth, which I think is a Joe Buck trait.

What is your favorite on air story you can share with us?

Wow – it is so hard to pick just one.  While I was first on the air when I was 21, I didn’t get into calling games and working more consistently in radio until I was almost 30.  Because of that I feel a sense of wonder still.  To say I stood in a room with Joe Torre, Dan Marino, Roger Clemens (regardless of what anyone thinks of him) and more is pretty cool.  Having the opportunity to work at the old Yankee Stadium was a “checklist moment.”  Interviewing Terry Bradshaw surpassed anything I could hope for, because we worry that the people we grew up watching might not be so great when we meet them.  I’ve called so many great games and have interviewed people both known and unknown that have amazed me.  I’ve called a game at Fenway Park.  I did eight hours straight in the middle of Superstorm Sandy.  I’ve called state championship-winning field goals (in the Carrier Dome) and have had virtually every technical difficulty that one can experience.  Like many, I’ve dealt with the highs and the lows.  But I’ll give you a story that involved something I did on the air that started out very mundane.  I called the championships of the Greenwich (CT) Youth Football League.  It’s a long day of games, and I finished up without thinking much of it.  Somebody asked for a copy (not uncommon) and I gave it to him.  A few months later, I get a call from a friend who tells me they heard my voice on the Howard Stern show that morning.  It was true – Stern’s Executive Producer, Gary Dell’Abate, lives in Greenwich, and got a copy of the games because his son played in one of the games.  While not mentioning me by name, Stern introduced the clip, and he and Robin Quivers repeated what I said.  If nothing else, that story is always a good ice breaker for me at a party.

On your resume you have “Sports Broadcasting Sampler” listed, what exactly is that?

My “Sports Broadcasting Sampler” is a demo that I linked to my LinkedIn site.  Instead of making it specific to just one sport, I made it broad, featuring a sports story, a news report (always have to show versatility!) and some play-by-play.  Just a little something to whet the appetite.

If there is anything else or any stories you really want to share please feel free to do so.

Wow – there are so many stories I could tell that I could write forever.  The “business” has sent me through every possible emotion.  I’m most concerned about the lack of quality broadcasting that I hear currently, which employers are using in exchange for cheap labor.  The broadcaster is so the “voice” of the team.  They are the fist impression that some fans get.  If I’m hiring, I want someone who is going to represent the team in the best way possible, while still being a good reporter.  I’m not looking for a fan in the booth.  I want a pro, who can read the copy, keep the listeners entertained, and get people to the ballpark.  I’ve learned over the years that not just any person can do this.

I have a son, and he often accompanies me to games.  I’ve given him what I hope are some good experiences.  He was an infant when I threw out the first pitch in Bridgeport, CT.  One of my favorite stories was when I was working with Hudson Valley.  He was six when I took him and his grandmother to a game in Aberdeen, MD.  We were in Ripken Stadium, with our credentials on, when I paused and had him look at the gates, which had fans waiting patiently to get in.  I said to him, “Do you see those people?  You’re in the stadium before they are.  Pretty cool, huh?”  It was a small moment, but something that I will never forget.  All part of why I love broadcasting games!

Huge thank you to Robert for a fantastic interview. If you’ve got a story you’d like to share please email me: michaelhirn3@hotmail.com or find me on twitter @michaelhirnpbp