Witchy Meme

Saw this on a few different blogs and, well, decided why the hell not.

Please describe briefly your Path: Its an odd array of things. Since I'm not part of a coven or group of any sort, I just became a cherry picker. Certain things sounded better then others and I applied that. Its my own thing and really odd. Eclectic is the only word I suppose.


Please describe briefly how you practice it: I work alone. I do my things at night for the most part and it is VERY spontaneous. If I feel like I need to do something, I do it because there has to be some reason why that thought/feeling cropped up.


When did you first commit to your Path?  Heh, I was in the 6th grade when one of my female friends, at a slumber party, brought this stuff up. All the girls thought it was cool, we watched The Craft that night and what not. She and I were the only ones who stuck with it, though it may not have been 'good.'

How is your practice different now than it was then? I'm serious about what I do now. I think about it and try not to do this in the heat of the moment. It's like night and day, actually.


Is your practice different today than how you thought it would be back then? Oh yeah. I was inspired by witch movies, so its very different then my little 6th grade mind had planned. Plus I've found deities I never thought I would.


Does your Path and core belief system differ now than how it was when you first started? Yes. I lean towards Egyptian and Canaanite deities rather than just the Goddess and the God, and back then I didn't really grasp the meaning in all of it.


What is your heritage and how does this inform your Path? I'm a huge mix of European nationalities. For a while I was told I was also half Hawai'ian.  While I still consider myself as such, that Hawai'ian side is actually Portuguese, the Azores to be exact. My descendants were some of the first Portuguese there and they lived on the Islands long enough to be considered Hawai'ian. Because I had been raised with that Hawai'ian side of me very prominent I learned a LOT about the deities. I've paid homage to Pele and know all the stories. While I don't actively worship them, if I do return to visit family I'll pay homage to them when I can.


What are your main influences for your Path? Bah, I don't know. Grendal and nature in general. Grendal supports me and we talk about all of this a lot. Nature-wise, I just try to keep in tune.


Which do you do more: practice or research? Research. I read a lot but wish I could do more practice. Things get in the way and I try to at least thank the deities in my mind when I can. I really need to do more stuff.


Do you feel that one is more important than the other? Not really and I can probably blame my own self for that. I need balance where ever possible.


What values and ethics are important on your Path and in your practice? Balance, equality, patience, and trying not to harm others, unless absolutely necessary(I can explain at another time). 

What sort of cycles do you feel your practice goes through? Normal highs and lows. I get into those stints where its all I think about and others where I can't seem to focus.

What is one of the greatest obstacles or struggles you have had to over come? Acceptance from friends/family and, in turn, not caring.


How do you see yourself practicing in ten years? Probably no different though I hope I bring my beliefs more and more in my life.


How do you incorporate your practice into your life? Being so close to nature. It helps remind me.


Has walking your Path changed you as a person? Oh yeah. I'm more even and I have found my love nature that I thought was left in my childhood.


Do you consider yourself to be a priest/ess? How so? I could be but not now. I practice alone.


A witch? How so? Depends on your definition of the word.

A shaman? How so? Nope. Have no idea about shamanism, so I don't claim to be a shaman.


Which matters more: getting the vocabulary right or the actual practice of what we are trying to define? It always bothers me when I look at huge rituals and wonder how people can remember all of their lines. And if they do the same thing each time, you just end up going through the motions and the feeling behind it might not be all that great. For me, its the practice.

One of the most profound things anyone ever said to you was: I guess there is two. 1- 'Oh, you're Pagan too? Awesome.'  2- 'My mother and father know all about that. They'd love to talk about it.'  They're profound to me, dang it!

A defining moment on your Path was: The dream that I had when Ba'al made himself known to me. :D

Have you ever taken a “leap of faith”? When I first started, it was a leap.

Please tell us something stupid, reckless or embarrassing you did once in your practice: Voodoo.....nasty stuff if you don't know what you're doing.  ._.


What is the most frustrating thing about your Path? Not being able to stick to it.

Have you ever been frightened? Yup.....the voodoo instance.

Can you perform ritual without a script? Yeah, because I don't use 'em.


Have you ever preformed spontaneous magick/spellcraft? All the freakin' time!


What are you still exploring or experimenting with? Heh, everything I suppose. I believe one is never done learning.


What (or whom) are you the most committed to in your practice and on your Path? Bast and Ba'al at the moment.


Ritual tools are …what ever I can find!


Magickal tools are …what ever I can find!


The one thing you can’t do without is: My necklace. It has a dragon and a cat on it....means a lot.


Seeking personal power is …natural.

Politics and you Path are …I don't like to talk politics. Too much fighting.

One thing you wish people would understand about your Path and/or practice is: Its just as good as yours and stop trying to tell me I'm going to hell. That place doesn't exist in my faith, so I can't go there. :p

Do you teach? I wish I could. What I want is to 'teach' children in the sense that there is still wonder and magic in the natural world.

What do you feel is the role of clergy in modern Paganism and Heathenism? Eh, I don't know. I'm of the opinion that you don't need a priest or priestess because all the information is there. You can learn about it and get stuff from it with or without them. Its like teaching in a sense: some people make it seem like you don't know a damn thing and they're all knowing. Not good.

When the Veil (or Hedge!) is thin, how does that feel to you? Static in the air. Anything can happen.

What entities do you work with most? (ancestors, gods, fae etc)Deities and Dragons.

What is your relationship with the Land? I love it and talk with it.


The most important aspect of ritual is: the thought and emotion behind it.


The main purpose of ritual is: I don't know how to answer this one. I suppose it depends.


What is the purpose of divination/dowsing (or whichever form of augury you use)? To see the possibilities and if a 'fix' is called for.

What was the most difficult book you ever read? (Either difficult to understand or hard to face what it said or both) I don't remember the title but it was the first book on Wicca that I picked up. I was so lost.

What book do you recommend the most to others? Honestly, anything by Cunningham. Some people may not like his work but I think it is the perfect springboard! Its all easy to understand and it helps newcomers to work their way into it.

What is you favourite podcast (if any) and favourite blog (other than your own)? Yikes. Not a podcast person and I go to too many blogs to figure that out. @_@

If you could impart only one last piece of wisdom or knowledge, or share one experience with the world at large, what would it be? Look to nature if you loose your way.

Is there an additional question you would like to see here? What is it? (please also answer) None.  This was good.


Please finish this meme with a picture, image or photograph of some sort:

 Heh, sim me!

Pagan Blog Prompts: Yule Plans

Yule is this coming Tuesday, 21 Dec. Have any plans yet? Ritual with friends/coven, or perhaps just a solitary night alone with your chosen deities?

I tend to practice alone, letting Grendal, my boyfriend, know when the holidays are coming up and what I would like to do.  Usually its a nice dinner for the family.  I don't voice the reason why the dinner is so nice but Grendal tells his parents and they're happy about it.  True, I am a little gun shy but Grendal's mother loves to know these things.

I have a bad track record of keeping up with the days since I had to do things in secrecy for so long.  This year I am making a nice ham dinner and going to light a few candles.  I don't know what else to do.  Tomorrow I may make some salt dough ornaments to hang on the tree as well.

Since this is my first time really celebrating Yule I'm still trying to work out what to do, especially on the deity front.  I will set out offerings but I do want to figure out a way to include Ba'al and Bast.  Ba'al is a fertility god and Bast was originally a defender of Ra, so her association with the sun could be very useful.  I'll probably update this once I've figured something out!

Happy Yule everyone!

Your Hippie Dippie Weatherman with Your Hippie Dippie Weather, Man!

I'm as much of a hippie as one living in Northern Illinois can be.  I did have dreads at one point(in high school, they were purple), I'm a tree huger(they need hugs), I listen to what Grendal defines as hippie music, I wear 'typical' hippie clothes in the summer(sarongs and skirts made from old sari material), etc. etc.  Guess the one thing of the stereo typical hippie-ness that I haven't done is the drugs.  No urge to.  My mother and auntie in Hawai'i always told me that if I ever moved back to the Big Island I would end up living in the Hippie town(never learned the name) not too far away from Hilo.  Honestly, I probably would.  Hippies are good people for the most part.  Haven't met one that I disliked.

There is snow outside which is a huge contrast to the white, warm beaches of Hawai'i.  I was born in Hawai'i and raised in California and Georgia since my parents were in the Air Force.  This is the longest time I've ever lived in one state(about 13 years) and, unlike the other women in my immediate family, I love it!  I remember visiting my grandparents up here for Thanksgiving and Christmas and loving the snow.  I never remember complaining about the cold.  I complain now but when ever there is a snowfall I am watching it like a wide eyed child.  Its always pretty.  Our husky loves it and will ask to go out if he realizes there is fresh snow on the ground.  He either eats it or flops down on his chest with his butt in the air, in the deepest mound he can find, and scoots around so his entire front half is hidden.

I've been feeding the squirrels around Grendal's house.  I missed having one that I could feed.  At my parents house there is a female squirrel that I call Chubs that will patiently stare at the backdoor when there are no peanuts out for her and will get within 3 feet of us, and allow us to toss nuts at her feet.  I called her Chubs because, well, she was a chunk!  It was spring time and I just thought she was a chubby squirrel.  After a point, though, the weight was gone and then there were three little squirrels in our yard.  She had babies!  But yeah, there are some squirrels here that I'm tossing feed out to.  They're gray squirrels rather than the red that Chubs was.  We have Stubs(has a tiny tail and may not be a yard resident), Scrapper(because he fights and eats the scraps since the other chase him off), Biggie Small(he's a big squirrel but thin right now), and No Name(no distinguishing marks so no clever name).  We also have a mated pair of Cardinals in the bush right outside the kitchen window, so I've tossed out bird seed as well.  Hopefully they'll stick around through the warm weather, despite the fact that the street will be torn apart when the township puts in a sewer system.

The tree is up in the living room but no decorations yet, but there are lights.  I believe we're waiting for the nieces to come over but it always eds up with Grendal and I decorating the tree, which isn't a problem.

Oh!  Here is the picture of my altar:

 Yes, there be dragons!  You can see 3 out of the 4 statues I have.  I also have the Chinese gods representing Happiness, Long Life, Wealth, and Peace around a little container, my wooden athame, the plethora of tarot cards, two date books(this year and next), part of my besom, and other odds and ends.

And this is the statue of Bast that keeps enticing my cat to get up where she shouldn't be.  I put a nice little flower head piece over her and that bracelet has tiger's eye beads.  I'm an odd one(pack rat in some cases) but everything I have has its uses.

Okay.  Enough yammering out of me because I have some business to tend to!

One Step at a Time

People have told me the holidays are a stressful time.  Up until recently the only stress I've had is how am I going to make it to all the Thanksgiving dinners.  I just stirred up trouble in my family's life and, sadly, I am the reason why my mother canceled the holidays.  I won't go into any details mainly because I doubt anyone wants to hear about it and I just want to push it aside.  I've said my piece to my mother, she's said hers, and what damage control I didn't fix either of my sister's will.  My father and I are just fed up.

Anywho, enough of that!  What I'm posting about is my faith.  More importantly the deities I follow.  This is more of getting myself used to talking about this and being proud of who and what I am!

Reading through a bunch of books and websites/blogs, I've come across some interesting things about picking deities or even pantheons to worship.  One big thing is some people believe that you have to be of Celtic lineage to worship Celtic deities.  I've heard the same about Norse, Native American, and even Japanese deities.  In some cases it was that you had to be of that 'race' or in that country (because we all know that the Gods can't traverse the oceans, right?).  Living in the states there isn't much in the way of native deities unless, by some standards, you begin to worship the Native American Gods.  I suppose I have a way out in the fact that I'm half Hawai'ian so I have those deities to pay homage to, yet something didn't seem right.

Going through the Hawai'ian pantheon I did find some draw to Pele and Mahina but I think it was more out of interest of their stories and my own heritage.  I dabbled with the idea of worshiping Pele but I began to notice my temper growing short.  While she is a lovely deity I figured that I would call to her in desperate times(in a sense I see a similarity with 'dark' Goddesses when it comes to her destructive nature and want to protect her children).

I thought about worshiping Nyx but, again, there was no intense connection.  I found her to be a wonderful being and very intriguing but I couldn't get myself to follow through with what I wanted.

At this point I hadn't thought about a God, just a Goddess.  One afternoon, though, it changed.  Now I have to say that when people tell me they have psychic dreams or someone/something contacts them through a dream, I am skeptical.  I know its weird but I am a very skeptical person when it comes to profound religious experiences in any religion/faith.  Its the person's word against yours.  Yes they could be telling the truth but they could easily be lying as well.

Back to the point!  One afternoon I had fallen asleep.  I usually don't take a nap in the middle of the day but I just fell asleep.  Most times I don't remember my dreams.  I wake up and I either slept like a log or it was fitful night.  This time, though, I remembered every detail of the dream in a way that just shocked me:

I was standing in my parent's driveway/back yard.  I was looking at the house and noticed that the sky was cloudy.  As I stood there, noting that it was going to rain soon, a figure came riding through the clouds on a cloud of his own.  There was lightning and thunder in his wake.  The man flew at me but 'bailed' at the last second, twisting himself away.  The man's face came incredibly close to my own and I noticed he was wearing a mask that had openings for his eyes only.  He wore a skirt that had reminded me of something out of ancient Egypt but it seemed off in a way.  His hair was shaggy and it seemed like he had horns that swept forward.  In his hand he carried what looked like a mix of a lightning bolt and a staff, and he had bony protrusions coming out of his elbows.

I woke up and was shaken, and the first thing I did was tell Grendal about the dream.  He was shocked(he knows that I 'don't' dream) and told me to write it down and sketch out the figure as best as I could.  There was some letters that had popped up with the dream, but I still haven't found a meaning(2 years after the fact) to them if there was one.

It took me a while to find out who this figure was and when I saw a statue it was almost an instantaneous "That's him!" moment.  The God that I believe came to me was Ba'al.  The image I saw and the descriptions I've read match up.  I do know there are different Ba'al's but I believe that they're aspects of the same being, and it has yet to steer me wrong.

I have found a Goddess and, honestly, I don't know why I hadn't realized that she had been with me for a long time.  Bast.  I will say that it was probably the fact that I didn't want a 'mainstream' Goddess to worship that I hadn't noticed it sooner.  Cats have always been in my life, I have loved them greatly, and they have brought me nothing but joy.  When ever I meet a new cat there is an instant liking between us, even with cats that are normally a little put off by new people or generally grumpy.  Another big thing is the fact that my mother had collected a few cat statues for a while.  One of them was a cat that wore an Egyptian necklace and was sitting rather proud.  I was always drawn to it and always wanted to touch it, hold it, and put it in my room.  When I realized there was a connection between Bast and myself, I took the statue and placed it on my makeshift altar.  Everything has been well since.

So yes.  I have a God and Goddess to worship other than the Mother and Father.  I do find it rather interesting that Ba'al has a connection with Egypt, being likened to Set.   Things always seem to come together in the end. :)