karismar

UFPJ Calls for Local Actions on 4th Anniversary of the War in Iraq

my time for writing has been limited as the puppies are ever growing and ever demanding right now. I have developed a fondness for this guy here….he is just a big ol fella who is laid back and has no cares. We just don’t have room for another large breed dog but he sure is pulling at my heart!

I talked earlier about needing to be better at rituals and ceremony but after I’ve thought about it some more I think that’s wrong. It’s not the rituals or the ceremony that I need or want but a deeper connection. Rituals are what I fled the evangelical church for, amongst many other horrors but funny how it still grabs hold of me now and then. Ceremonies can beautiful and affirming for any pagan or witch but I am more of a solitary pagan and to be honest, I don’t want the ceremony. BUT, I do need something that I’m missing. I’ll know it when it finds me, that’s usually how it works for me.

Saturday is the new moon which means I can plant my seeds on Sunday. yay!  It’s far too cold for direct sow but this will give them a nice start in the indoor flats. This is always a magical time for me as I begin to see new beginnings take root and all that spring and summer have to offer. It’s like a gift waiting to unfold right in front of me.

My time spent on my spiritual path has been lacking, more so in formality than anything else. It’s right here, deep inside my head but I know I need to spend more time in meditation and good old fashioned ceremony. A sweet little shop awaits me just downtown filled with encouragement……candles, stones, crystals, readings……. all there just waiting to help connect me with mother nature, the goddesses and even father time.  My hopes are high to accomplish a lot this weekend but I know I can’t expect much if I don’t put forth the effort.

I’m very interested in how each of you stay connected to our earth and goddesses so please let me know what you’ve been finding helpful…… 

ever have a day where you really get nothing substantial accomplished?  I was up early, showered and dressed for the day. That’s when I should have gone back to bed. Suddenly I felt that rush of adrenaline come on and boom, panic attack hits!  No idea why. I layed down, did my yoga breathing and kept telling myself I wasn’t dying.   Dishes are done, laundry has been running, some papers filed and I did take time to eat a good tasting salad for lunch. It’s a day where all I want to do is curl up under a pile of blankets and watch Practical Magic….it’s rainy and dreary outside, which I like just fine but it certainly does dictate how I feel about my day and what I want out of it. As much as I adore my family I would really enjoy having the house to myself for about a week:-)  Kids start filtering through any minute….I sure have come to really like my time alone during the day and notice when it’s disrupted!

I was reading a recent blog regarding meal planning and thought I’d say a few things about it. To be successful at maintaining any resemblance of a food budget, you must plan out your meals. 20 years ago I would have no idea what was for dinner and would be scrambling for something to eat well past dinnertime. It wasn’t until my first child was born that I got it together and had to have some order. I knew dinner had to be planned by 1pm everyday so there was no mystery come dinnertime. 1pm is what worked for me but anytime that allows you room to shop for food and prepare it prior to wanting to eat dinner is good. Do what works for you and your family. Then I took it one step further and started making a weekly menu which evolved into an on-going list that I keep with everyday ingredients we use. This really does make a huge difference not only in lowering the stress of "what’s for dinner" but it also lowers your food bill. You’ll find even more relief when your pantry is stocked and your freezer is full. Hopefully, from summer produce you’ve put up. If you can’t grow a garden, no worries, simply seek out a local farmer and buy from her/him. They will welcome you and thank you for supporting them.

In just a short time planning your meals can make your life easier and your bodies healthier. Just think, no more processed foods, fast foods or the like. Or, if you do choose these foods you’ll know you’re making a conscience choice to eat them, not out of desperation for a meal.

Eat well!! 

I arranged to have the car today and this morning went up to the local nursery to buy some Gardener&Bloome organic seed starter and some cool weather seeds. I didn’t get my seed order sent out as early as I’d hoped so I went ahead and bought the seeds that I need now. The others will arrive in plenty of time. These are from Territorial Seed Company, a local company. I bought Sugar Snap Peas, Olympia Spinach and Butterhead Lettuce, all three are cool-weather crops and what I want for spring greens. This is the start of my year-round gardening. My gardens and beds are no where near where I want them to be but if I’m going to attempt year-round I need to start somewhere.

I have had absolutely had enough of this cloned food shit!  Tucked away in section D of our newspaper was the hideous article on cloned beef.  and I quote, "it’s silly for Americans to worry about consuming the stuff of cloned animals or their descendants."- The Galesburg, Kansas rancher, veterinarian and owner of SEK Genetics-distributor of bull semen.

Are you fucking kidding me????  NO NO NO!  I am so disappointed in so many things from that article but I am highly disappointed that this is coming from a veterianrian. Shame on him. You know, Mahatma Ghandi’s quote that hangs in my dining room says, "You must be the change you want to see in the world" and I believe that applies here. Unfortunately we cannot rely on our "elected" cough cough officials to watch out for our health and well being so it’s up to us to make the changes. I absolutely will be protesting in every establishment that I enter. I’ll be asking where they purchase their food and if they value their customer’s health and if they don’t know where it comes from than I will gently inform them of our food quality crisis and walk out.

Here is the website for this hideous veterinarian and his  GM bulls. Nowhere did I see a contact link to email them and state my protest but I"ll keep looking.

www.sekgenetics.com 

Sundays have always been a difficult day for me. So many very bad memories from my evangelical christian upbringing smack me in gut every so often, and always on a Sunday. Each Sunday held little chance of any happiness but always a sense of doom. I was always fearful of dying from the rapture and going to hell as this was their tactic……fear.  Placing fear in others gave them power and control over me as I was too god damn afraid to do anything other than what they said. This fear stayed with me well into my early 20’s until the birth of my first child. It was then that I began to see that somewhere was an escape from it all. I had already left the church but I’m talking about that power that they still had over my emotions and mind. It wasn’t until my late 30’s that I found the mental escape completely without the guilt.  Now at 40 I have found a wonderful therapist who is helping me dig out from the fallout from it all and from my horrid childhood and presenting the church and my parents to me in the true light that they are……absolutely wretched. It’s really a welcome relief to me and she has given me so many answers to "why".  I spoke of my pagan pulling and desires, even as a very young child and she told me it was my pagan soul that saved my life as I should not have come out my childhood in one piece. As I’ve nurtured this life I have I’ve noticed my sad Sundays have turned into something entirely different filled with beautiful moments with my family, long sloppy mornings pouring over coffee and newspapers and days filled with movies, good books and laughter.  Often our best of friends stop over and enjoy a bottle of wine with us and sometimes it’s strolling through the neighborhood. The beauty of life is the recovery that it offers.

Steph sent this my way and I couldn’t help but join in!  take a look, this looks like a nice addition to the pagan community.

http://witchwoman.covenspace.com

http://covenspace.com