tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27817698183614268272024-02-08T08:16:44.648+13:00Another Witches BloggPombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-22847943797001283982012-11-11T08:41:00.004+13:002012-11-11T08:41:23.237+13:00This blog has now moved to wordpress, not for any particualr reason that i like the editing abilities better.. i was trying to keep up and post to both but that is tricky and as i can't figure out how to make it do that automatically.. *ponders this*.. my blog is now moved..<br />
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so you can find it here<br />
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<br />Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-21600565394863361902012-10-23T19:31:00.004+13:002012-10-23T19:31:50.770+13:00Magical Knowledge Book 1 Foundations, Book Review<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/full-moon-aug-012.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/full-moon-aug-012.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-477" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/full-moon-aug-012.jpg" height="535" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/full-moon-aug-012.jpg" title="full moon aug 012" width="640" /></a>Magical Knowledge Book 1 by Josephine McCarthy</div>
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Pagans
and Magical folk have for years been crying out for advanced texts on
magic. I believe that what they are actually looking for is not so much
advanced texts but deeper texts. Texts that deepen your understanding
of your path and practice at whatever level you are at. Theological
type texts that not so much answer your questions but encourage and lead
you to ask questions and find your own answers through practice.<br />
<br />
Josephine McCarthy’s book <em>Magical Knowledge Book 1</em>
is just such a book. It is the type of book that you will be thinking
about long after you have read it and you will be reading it a couple of
times. And it will be well worth the second read. I have always like
to reread certain books after I have had a revelation or period of new
understanding and I suspect that Josephine’s books will be some of those
that I reach for after such a time.<br />
<br />
<em>Magical Knowledge Book 1</em>
is written plainly and accessible while not dumbing down the subject
matter which is a rare and wonderful thing. This book is interesting
and thoroughly thought provoking in places and it is obvious that the
author is writing from a place of practice and experience, not just
research.<br />
I find it interesting that book two was released the
year before book one, but having pondered writing a book on things
magical and witchy I am also not surprised. Having seen what is out
there in beginner books and knowing Pagans are yammering for more
advanced texts it makes sense to write a more advanced text first, so to
speak. Also writing the second book first would, in my mind, give a
stronger focus for the first book. It can be difficult to write about
stuff you did 20 years go and the balls-ups you made with the clarity
needed for people just starting out or for those who take their magical
path seriously. So by writing book two first, in my mind it would be
clearer what would be needed for book one.<br />
<br />
There are a few typos
that I saw and given that I don’t generally notice such things that
means that the editor needed to play closer attention. However this does
not detract from the content. And over all I have to say this book is
well written.<br />
<br />
The first part of the book is essentially about the
theology of ceremonial magic, focusing on understanding the practice for
navigating the inner worlds, and meeting inner beings safely. Starting
with what Josephine describes as the Void. The Void, as I understand
how Josephine has described it, is a safe space between this realm and
that of the abyss and other inner realms.<br />
<br />
Josephine is certainly
thorough while giving simple but valuable exercises that build up your
inner muscles in order to be fit, both in mind and body to work magic on
the inner planes.<br />
<br />
Josephine also warns about becoming too focused
on one path or theme. This I suspect would be because your vision
becomes blinkered, like that of a cart horse. It is my opinion that
spending time with and studying other magical practice and theory, gives
you good insight and deepens your understanding of your own practice.
It’s a contrast and compare thing, becoming focused too much on one
thing can make it difficult to deepen the understanding of your own
practice.<br />
<br />
Does that make sense?<br />
<br />
Chapter 4, Inner Contacts
and Inner Beings threw me until it was made clear that it was ritual sex
magic that was being discussed. I was having issues imagining the
billions of beings popping into existence on this plane when people were
engaged in shagging. It was, to say the least, blowing my mind.
However, once I figured out the book was talking about ritual sex it
made much more sense.<br />
<br />
In the second half of the book, she writes
about the more ceremonial types of magic and practice. And it is kind
of here that the book and I part ways, but not because what she has
written is not valuable or incorrect in any way, but more because I am
not a ceremonial magician. Nor am I able to currently dedicate a room
to create a temple space, as I live with two other flatmates. However,
when I do set up a personal temple space I will certainly be taking into
account some of what is discussed in the second half of <em>Magical Knowledge Book 1</em>.<br />
<br />
Several
times I have read about inner places, aka the Void and the Abyss, to
discover these are places I have been before. Places I have
accidentally been or fallen into. This book teaches how to access these
places and their various beings with intent, by conscious choice and
how to do so safely, without as Josephine puts it ‘blowing yourself
up’. It could be said that I have a natural talent for such things.
This book has given me pause and a way of traveling to these places by
choice rather than accidentally. To essentially have more control over
my natural abilities despite not being a ceremonial magician in any
shape, way or form.<br />
<br />
I have the second book and will be purchasing
the third one once it is released, however I believe it will be some
time before I crack the covers of either, as I intend to fully integrate
and study the framework of the first. This is also one of those books
that you will have to read several times, each time gaining new insight
and knowledge, and I suspect that a second read will be done more slowly
and with note taking.<br />
I would recommend this book to anyone who
is wishing to deepen their understanding of magic, how it works and safe
ways to traverse the inner planes and meet inner contacts. This book
is not just for ceremonial magical types but also very informative for
those, in my opinion who are beginning or interested in spirit work, as
it has a very solid framework. I have been using her void meditation in
the mornings, and have found that communication with what I call a
guide to be a lot clearer.<br />
<br />
Overall I give this book 5 cups of tea
out of 5 and recommend it for anyone who is past the beginner stage and
looking to deepen and augment their own practice, whatever practice that
may be.<br />
<br />
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg"><img alt="" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" height="47" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" title="cup of tea" width="61" /></a><a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg"><img alt="" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" height="47" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" title="cup of tea" width="61" /></a><a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg"><img alt="" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" height="47" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" title="cup of tea" width="61" /></a><a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg"><img alt="" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" height="47" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" title="cup of tea" width="61" /></a><a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" height="47" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cup-of-tea.jpg?w=150" title="cup of tea" width="61" /></a>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-75944642585838937752012-07-29T17:43:00.004+12:002012-07-29T17:43:50.496+12:00Kaleidoscope Gathering<h2 class="entry-title">
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author"></span><a href="http://pombagiraspolly.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/kg/" rel="bookmark" title="2:04 am"><span class="entry-date"></span></a> <span class="by-author"><span class="sep"></span><span class="author vcard"></span></span> </div>
This time last year I was in Canada, and I very much wise I was
back over there. You see I went to Canada to go to a Pagan Festival.
Little did I know that the interesting Pagan festival I heard about via
the Podcast Standing Stone and Garden Gate, was organised by a Canadian
friend of mine who now lives in New Zealand, friends from when she grew
up. So when I proudly announced that in a years’ time I would be
winging my way to Canada to attend a kaleidoscope Gathering Pagan
festival of awesome, Bron blithely piped up that her friends organised
that and that she could put me in contact with them. Wow what an
excellent start. The time from that announcement to the arrival in
Canada was a bit of a trial, redundancy, temp work decisions about
whether or not I should be spending all that money to go over there. I
had saved around $5000, which is a lot of money, and when you don’t have
a job.. even more.. decisions decisions decisions.. A lady at work was
the one that said I would regret not going cause it was an excellent
adventure.. Thus this time last year I was in Canada<br />
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And oh what an adventure I had!! Below are a few photos for you view
pleasure, and so I can remember this as KG it starting to gear up and
people are arriving at Ravens Knoll and I am missing them..<br />
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<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_377" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4224.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-377" height="480" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4224.jpg?w=640&h=480" title="IMGP4224" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
This is what greeted me as about an hour or so out of Vancouver Airport and wonderful sunrise</div>
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So
on Canadian Streets, there are wooden lamp posts that have had notices
stapled to them for years.. many many years.. I had never seen anything
like this before thus I needed to take a picture. </div>
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<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4236.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-379" height="480" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4236.jpg?w=640&h=480" title="IMGP4236" width="640" /></a>OMG
Squirrels,, so exciting, and this is what made me purchase a fancy
camera when I got back to New Zealand.. cause I couldn’t get close
enough with my little digital camera This wee Squirrel had been specially trained by the Canadian Tourist
bureau, to preform for nuts, he even posed several different ways..
*grins*..<br />
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<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4242.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-380" height="480" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4242.jpg?w=640&h=480" title="IMGP4242" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="text-align: center;">
then it was OMG Snakes!! so very very cool!</div>
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I do believe this was a face I pulled a lot during my stay in Canada..</div>
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<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4264.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-383" height="480" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4264.jpg?w=640&h=480" title="IMGP4264" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
my camp site..that blue tarp to the left is where my wee tent was pitched..it was wee.. but there was one other smaller tent</div>
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So no pictures of campers, or not so many as it was important to get
permission, to post pictures on the internets.. also something that i
had not considered before.. but i figure a very good thing to do..
*nods* and also i spent most of my time running around meeting people
not taking photos of them.. *grins*<br />
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<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_386" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4270.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-386" height="480" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4270.jpg?w=640&h=480" title="IMGP4270" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
This was i beleive the smallest tent at the fest, which got filled up with ballons.. wheee..</div>
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this Canadian Pagan rode about on his bicycle with horns.. how cool is that.. he had many wonderful costumes it was awsome!</div>
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this is a frog one of the Kids in our camp caught.. it was awsoem and huge.</div>
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I loved the wild life in Canada, so different from New Zealand, which
is mostly birds, in Canada i got to see squirrels, Ground-hogs, Osprey,
and a chipmunk which i saw in a garden on top of a mall thanks to the
lovely Juni who i enjoyed spending time with after the fest.. hooray!<br />
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<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4266.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-387" height="480" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4266.jpg?w=640&h=480" title="IMGP4266" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
This
was the lake where i spend many an hour cooling down as it is very warm
in Canada this time of year.. there were snapping turtles which i think
i saw the head of once..*beams*</div>
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<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4280.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-388" height="480" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/imgp4280.jpg?w=640&h=480" title="IMGP4280" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
the
infamous poison Oak, err i think it was we don’t have anything like
that in New Zealand either. Anyway went on a nature walk workshop which
was very interesting.. next time I will have to take notes and pictures
so that I can then post it up here with more details.. *nods*</div>
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Drunken Gnoms, Wheee</div>
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OMG NOMS the best thing ever, Poutine, chips, cheese curd, and Gravey.. the best thing oh so yummie.</div>
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I got to try a bunch of new and good foods in Canada, I beleive apart
from Poutine my favourite was Trout, cooked by the lovely people I was
staying with. Most excellent!!<br />
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<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_392" style="width: 550px;">
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/polly-kg-2011-canada.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-392" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/polly-kg-2011-canada.jpg?w=640" title="Polly KG 2011 Canada" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Me at KG</div>
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It was wondours spending so much time with my peers, and new friends
that I had meet in Canada. And I am looking forward to going back next
year. *nods*<br />
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Cross Posted <a href="http://pombagiraspolly.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-70160700917301070212012-07-26T17:44:00.002+12:002012-07-26T17:44:48.360+12:00Surrendering to Service<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/walking-about-183.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-364" height="379" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/walking-about-183.jpg?w=569&h=379" title="walking about 183" width="569" /></a><br />
<br />
Surrendering to Service has taken me quite some time to come to terms
with, to be comfortable enough with to actually see what surrendering
to service looks like versus what I thought it looked like. It is as
though, like Perceval, I started out on my journey thinking and
believing it was one thing but realising that it was, while something
similar, actually quite different to what I originally thought and
believed. This all of course, was one of the things that came about
during the workshop on the Grail Quest I did several weeks ago, which I
have posted about previously.<br />
<br />
So what is Surrendering to Service and for that matter what is this
Service, and whom is it service to? These are quite complex questions
to answer, never mind that I had to understand that Service was not
servitude. It was an entirely different view and understanding that I
was being encouraged? asked? to surrender to.<br />
<br />
I can remember a friend of mine back when I knew not that much,
talking to me about surrendering to the will of the Gods, to which I
pulled a funny face at that thought, ‘No Gods are going to be telling me
what to do?’ I suspect now that this was a reaction, to a now outdated
framework that I had learned from my various accidental interactions
with Christianity. You see I had attended Sunday school as a young
child. At the end of the street where my Nana lived was a Catholic
church, and one of the nuns who taught at the school there, which I
didn’t go to, was called <a href="http://sistersofsaintjoseph.org.nz/sisters-of-the-past-whoweare-20/57-sister-pauline-kathleen-coleman" target="_blank">Sister Pauline</a>,
and given that was my name, I thought she was very cool, thus I
invariably turned up on Sunday mornings for her Sunday school classes,
even though I was not enrolled or Catholic.. but there you go Sister
Pauline was pretty awesome.<br />
I also went to an Anglican boarding School during my High School
years, while only being nominally Anglican. My family only ever went to
church for funerals and as Kiwis were not particularly religious anyway.
I certainly was never christened, and this was brought up by the
Father of said Anglican boarding school several times, but I always
refused. In many ways the Anglican faith is a lot more ridged than the
Catholic faith, sort of *wiggles hand* However the point here is, that
while spending time in these strong Christian institutions I apparently
learned that surrendering to God was in essence Servitude to God. After
all, Nuns had to give up everything, sex, money, possessions,
personality, (although Sister Pauline had a truck load of personality
from what I remember). Nuns gave up everything to marry God. Thus
surrendering to God, and indeed service to God, in my mind was
servitude, in that kneel in front of and tell him how unworthy you are
kind of way.<br />
<br />
But as it turns out I’m such a Heathen, oh wait, no that’s not right,
I’m a Witch *coughs*. I never had to recite any lords prayers
backwards, or have sex in a graveyard, although there was that Convent
fire- escape once . . . left funny bruises, and I still grin when I
think about it, *coughs* but that is besides’ the point to.<br />
<br />
The point we are talking about here is surrendering to service and
how it is nothing like the image I had in my head of Nuns surrendering
up themselves to servitude just so they could marry God. Surrendering
to service for a Witch, well for me is nothing like that. But having
said that this Surrender is certainly not easy, nor is it simple or
everyone would be doing it.<br />
<br />
Also why on earth would the Gods want a simpering subservient
submissive sleeping bumpkin when they have spent a lot of time putting
things in my path that has caused me to do some very deep personal
psychological and magical work on myself which has meant that I have
become a very strong, confident and outspoken women who can swear like a
pirate when sewing, and stare down the most uptight business man until
they yell uncle… *coughs*.. Actually to put that in a less egotistical
seeming nut shell, why would the Gods expect you to be somebody you are
not in order to surrender service? This is not to say that being
submissive doesn’t have its own power, but that is a whole other kettle
of fish, and today the fish is Spiritual Service.<br />
<br />
This all brings another thought to mind. For years I have been
telling various people who I have helped in a spiritual sense, be that
house cleansing, card reading, or just passing on those messages you
sometimes get, that its “part of the job description” or more to the
point “it’s all part of the service” could it be that I have already
being unconsciously serving? And perhaps this time it is about serving
more consciously. About stepping with conscious thought into service,
or choosing to Surrender to Service.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/eight-of-swords-002.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-362" height="583" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/eight-of-swords-002.jpg?w=386&h=583" title="eight of swords 002" width="386" /> </a><br />
<br />
Cross Posted <a href="http://pombagiraspolly.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/surrendering-to-service/" target="_blank">here </a>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-49237546101093428752012-07-15T15:32:00.000+12:002012-07-15T15:32:00.675+12:00The Grail Quest Workshop<strong>The Grail Quest Workshop</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/caludron-062.jpg" target="_parent"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-354" height="291" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/caludron-062.jpg?w=640&h=291" title="caludron 062" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
So the Grail Myth becomes the beginning of a map with which to find
our own immortal wounds and how work through them or heal them.
Remember how in the beginning I said, as this was not a workshop that
was going to be giving me answers in, the traditional sense of someone
giving you answers on a pretty silver platter, or in this case handing
you the Grail as it was not the Grail that is important here but the
quest itself. There was about 10 or so people attending this workshop,
and while it was wonderful to work with others and here what they had to
say about the Grail Myth and its quest, it is difficult to remember
just who was there as the work that was being done so internal,
reflective and magically strong that the other participants become a
part of the tapestry and energy of the workshop, not necessarily
individuals? Did that make sense?<br />
<br />
I am not sure that we spent much
time looking at one another so much as concentrating on what Nanny Ogg
was saying long with what questions and comments were being made by the
various attendees.. Needless to say the work shop ran over time, not
that I noticed as such. I know I was quite surprised when one of the
attendees said that she had to go as had previous engagement, I was
surprised at how much time had passed. I was certainly engaged with
what I was learning, processing and doing.<br />
<br />
After we heard a rendition of The Fisher King, Caroline lead us
further into understanding our maps, by proving us with helpful handouts
to write on and explained some cognitive behaviour therapy, with a
candle, or as she explained <em>Candle by The Fire</em> which is less
clinical and more about creating our own maps, making our own
connections and deepening our understanding of our selves and how we
work. It is about making our own connections, with ourselves, our path
and our community, rather than the individualism that so often happens
within mainstream psychology, or that is how I saw it. *ponders this*<br />
<br />
So why did I do this workshop? Being a Witch and Priestess is not all
about spells and rituals, but it is, I am finding, all about magic. I
have herd mutterings about psychology, and self-development being not
the focus of magic and Modern Paganism within certain quarters of the
Modern Pagan Movement, but I have to ask how are you supposed to
understand what your calling, or quest is without some deep personal
work along the way. How can you get to a place of understanding that
Magical work and being a priestess is not all love and light and three
times three, with a dash of harm non, but something deeper, something
grittier, something dirtier, something, *waves hands* and when you get
to that place through a lot of deep personal work realising that it is
now your turn to surrender to service, and that surrender is not
servitude. *coughs*.. am I over sharing?<br />
<br />
What this workshop has taught me is that we are all wounded in some
way or other, and like The Fisher King our wounds will not kill us in a
physical sense but they can on a personal and emotional sense, render us
dead. Remember the doctors receptionist.. Hi How are you? And your
automatic reply is to say “I’m fine”. This for me is indicative of a
wounding, created in many ways by our society, one where our emotions
are subjugated and we are given a bandage that makes us look happy,
even if we don’t feel it, even if we are feeling something else.<br />
<br />
These woundings are created by living our lives, the way our parents
or lack of parents brought us up, our society and its greedy fear
mongering normalisation, remember the Ginshu Knifes.., remember that to
be happy you have to purchase more stuff, because according to
advertising stuff makes you happy.. and finally remember he who has the
most stuff when they die.. Actually they are dead like everybody else,
can’t take your stuff with you. This is not to say that our entire
focus should be on feeling sad either, or that we should spend all of
our lives poking our immortal wounds as where would the fun be in that?
Its about balance, its about giving yourself to feel what you are
feeling, because more often than not you will find that once you have
acknowledged what you are feeling that emotion will pass through you.<br />
<br />
Finding your quest is not about finding the Grail or being told
answers to the ills of your life, but instead it is about asking
questions and asking the questions until you find the right question.
If Perceval had stopped the page who had the lance and asked him about
it, he would of learned that it was the lance that had caused the Kings
mortal wound, and further if he had asked the women or anyone in the
procession about the chalice, the Grail and its shinning waters, he
would of learned that that was what was needed to heal the King and
ultimately the land as the King and land are one.<br />
<br />
Too often in this world we are lead to and want to believe what the
unhealthy parts of our mainstream society is telling us, via the
television and mainstream media. It is my opinion that mainstream media
is now the opiate of the masses. It is no longer religion as it once
was during Marx’s time, but mass mainstream media opiating us,
medicating us, with wonderful food and sumptuous clothing, telling us
that we are happy in the castle, happy with not rocking the boat, or
asking to many questions, to not make a fuss, to keep a stiff upper lip,
to follow the script, need I go on?<br />
<br />
So we end up on a quest, a Grail quest, which is not about finding
the Grail but about finding and understanding yourself, your
connections, who you are and what you path is, through the Quest
itself. Remember Perceval, his quest actually started when he left his
mother in order to peruse becoming a Knight, a Knight of the Round Table
no less. Perceval believed that he had completed his quest and was in
the process of travelling home to show his mother of the Knight he had
become, but this was not his actual quest, not his path, not his service
if you will. I am quite sure that Perceval learned valuable skills and
insights while he was learning to become a night, which will help him
on his Grail Quest, and perhaps it was a part of this quest to become a
Knight, but ultimately Perceval’s quest was the Grail Quest not one to
become a Knight, that one was only half of the Story.<br />
<br />
<strong>Final Thoughts. </strong><br />
<br />
The memories and thoughts and notes I took during this workshop have
been milling around in my head for days now with many questions and
great food for thought. I am also coming to the understanding that like
most things in life the quest for the Grail to heal the immortal would
is a cyclic thing, which is a theme for this year, as you will remember
the two books I have been working with <em>Avalon Within </em>ß gosh
theme familiar? And the 13 dark moons, which are both about deep
personal work, and ultimately Questing for the Grail, as it is time to
heal my immortal wounds once again!Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-53199853166476388352012-07-12T20:22:00.006+12:002012-07-12T20:22:55.332+12:00The Fisher King<strong>The Fisher King</strong><br />
There are hundreds maybe even thousands of myths, poems, and storeys
that are about King Arthur, his royal knights, the quest for the Grail.
In the workshop we used one of the very fist poems that mentions
Perceval who is on his quest or thinks he is. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceval,_the_Story_of_the_Grail">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceval,_the_Story_of_the_Grail</a>) We were told the myth to start out workshop, loosely as follows. Or how I remember it..<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/percy.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-349" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/percy.jpg?w=640" title="percy" /></a><br />
<br />
Perceval who is has become a knight, as he always wanted to be, is on
his way home to show his mother what a wonderful knight he has become.
As he is travelling down the road he comes to a lake, which he must
cross in order to get home. He sees a man in a boat fishing on the
lake. He calls out to him, asking if he can have passage across the
lake so that he can continue on home to show his mum what a wonderful
knight he has become. The man in the boat tells him that he can’t
today, however he can tomorrow morning when there is a bigger boat he
should be able to cross. The man in the boat then informs him if he
continues down the road and over the hill he will find lodgings for him
and his horse.<br />
<br />
Perceval turns his horse and continues down the road and over the
hill where he sees a huge stunning castle. When he arrives at the
castle servants come out to attend to his and his horses every need. He
is then directed to the feasting hall for as there is a great feast that
night.<br />
<br />
Once he enters the hall he notices how finely everyone is dress, and
the tables full to groaning of amazing looking and smelling food some
which he has never seen before. He sees whole roasted pigs, lambs and
geese sitting on beds of vegetables, and the most wondrous deserts.
Women on the dance floor like flocks of pretty butterflies and exotic
birds their clothing is so beautifully. Even the servants in their
castle livery are richly dressed. As he wonders around the feasting
hall the King who is sitting on a dais sees him and calls him over to
dine with him gesturing to the seat next to him. Perceval sits next to
the King and on a closer look sees that it is the same guy who was
fishing from the Boat that morning on the lake. However seeing as
Perceval has been told before, during his knightly training that he
talks to much and he is in the presents of a king he wisely, he thinks,
decides to keep his mouth shut and not say anything. During the
evening there are several strange events that nobody else seems to
notice. First there is a page who is carrying a sword, the most
beautiful sword that Perceval has ever seen, it is rendered in the most
shiniest golds and silvers with an ornate handle and strong blade. The
page presents it to the King who in turns to Percival telling him that
it is only one of three such magical swords in the world, it is said
that it can slain anything even dragons, however it will shatter but
only when it decides it to and nobody can know when that is. Perceval
is surprised when the King then hands it to him as a gift. Perceval
then after admiring the sword hands it on to a nave to have it taken to
his room for the night.<br />
<br />
Perceval turns back to the crowd of lords and
ladies who are milling about in the hall in their finery eating the
fabulous food, dancing and drinking the amazing wines. A little while
later another page enters with beautiful a lance that is dripping blood,
this time the king doesn’t notice the lance and the page proceeds to
process through the feasting hall winding in and out and round the
people who also do not notice. Perceval is busting a gut not to say
anything but remembers his knightly training and the manners his mother
installed into him, and seeing as nobody else was saying anything or
even noticing he kept his mouth shut and is reactions to this strange
sight damped down.<br />
<br />
A little while later, and woman appears, carrying a wonderfully
golden Chalice, with gemstones surrounding the edges, the Grail,
Perceval here’s from whispers in the room, there is incandescent light
rising up from the liquid in the Grail, and behind the woman is a
possession of people, young old, infirmed, hansom, ugly, sick and well.
All beautifully dressed in golden colours matching that of the woman
and the grail. After the initial whispers however Perceval notices that
nobody is paying attention to the woman holding the grail with its
incandescent light and procession, so to decides not to say anything as
that would seemly be impolite. Perceval just watches the woman with the
grail and procession winding through the room taking a similar path to
that of the page who had the dripping lance.<br />
After the procession has passed and left the room the king who has
been conversing with people on the other side, tells Perceval that he
is going to retire for the night, even though it is still quite early.
He goes o to tell Perceval that he has a mortal wound that can not be
healed which causes him to be tire easily, and he is unable to walk.
Two pages arrive to carry him in his chair out of the feasting hall. <br />
<br />
Perceval stays and watches the people, eats until eventually he tires
and retires for the night. A page shows him to his room with is
beautiful and he notices left in his room that his armour has been
polished until it is gleaming like when it was new, as to his saddle,
and bridle. He smiles hugely as this will be a most excellent thing for
when he arrives home in armour to show his mother was a worthy night he
has become. And with that thought he promptly falls soundly asleep. <br />
<br />
When he gets up in the morning, he sees his armour all shiny and
polished, along with his saddle and bridle, so he goes to see if he can
find a squire to saddle his horse and help him into his armour. But
alas nobody seems to be around, the castle is quiet still and empty,
this concerns Perceval somewhat so he quickly dresses in his armour and
grabs his saddle and the sword the King Gave him, and hurries down to
the stable, where he finds his horse who has been groomed and looks
beautiful, again Perceval feels uneasy about this and decides that it is
indeed time to leave and continue on his journey home to show his
mother what a wonderful knight he has become.<br />
<br />
He mounts his horse and rides through the castle noticing that still
nobody is around. As he nears the drawbridge he sees that it is
beginning to draw upwards, this startles Perceval who spurs his horse
faster and races towards the drawbridge, with just enough time for his
horse to jump across the gap and land across the mote. Perceval’s heart
it racing, it was all very weird, but he tries not to think about it,
and so turns his horse towards home. Along the way he notices that the
trees are wilted, and there are no crops in the fields, and in the
paddocks, lay sick and dying animals, as he nears the hills, he finds a
woman who is cradling a Knight who has a moral wound that will not heal,
and she tells him how this knight received this wound from a lance, and
the only way to heal it was with the water from the Grail. And that
this is effecting the land and the King and Land are reflective of each
other so that while the king is stick so too is the land, and the people
who live there. Perceval there realised that it was the Lance and
Grail that he saw in procession the previous evening, and that he should
of perhaps spoken out and saved the king and land. Perceval felt a bit
guilty over that, and so started a quest to find the grail as this was
the only thing that could heal the land, so he asked himself, “Which
direction to I go in?”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/540px-hacker_arthur_percival_with_the_grail_cup.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-350" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/540px-hacker_arthur_percival_with_the_grail_cup.jpg?w=640" title="540px-Hacker_Arthur_Percival_with_the_Grail_Cup" /></a><br />
<br />
The end<br />
<br />
Except that is not so much an ending as a beginning, or if you read
the entire poem, it is the middle, as there is bunches of stuff
concerning training and trials and the like that happen from when he
leaves home and becomes a Knight, the point to ponder here is the
symbolism and what connections that it is making for you? Or in this
case me as i was the one attending the workshop.Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-79099194167194011332012-07-10T21:10:00.001+12:002012-07-10T21:10:56.411+12:00<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/druid-camp-2012-140.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-340" height="192" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/druid-camp-2012-140.jpg?w=640&h=192" title="Druid Camp 2012 140" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
In the weekend I attended a Grail Workshop fun by my friend and
Druid, Caroline aka Nanny Ogg. This workshop used the fisher King poem
as a tool to create a map with which to figure out your own Grail
Quest. Myth is so often more about the symbolism found within the story
rather than just the story, and the Fisher King has much excellent
symbolism.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://druidtherapy.blogspot.co.nz/" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-338" height="100" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/druid-therapy-copy.jpg?w=365&h=100" title="Druid Therapy - Copy" width="365" /></a><br />
<br />
Nanny Ogg is in the process of creating something she calls ‘<a href="http://druidtherapy.blogspot.co.nz/" target="_blank">Druid Therapy</a>’,
which is a combination of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and deep
Druidic Spirituality. Although it goes with our saying that it is not
is not just for Druids, I mean I am a Witch, and got a heap of useful
stuff out of the workshop, so it does have a wider scope that just
being for Druids. Anyone with a spiritual connection would fine
excellent value in Druid Therapy. Druid Therapy is something that
Caroline likes to call Candle By The Fire therapy or CBTF, as one of the
other attendees pointed out, which is about bring more meaning,
connection, magic, spirituality and humanity back into therapy. While at
the same time, keeping it grounded in good sound techniques of CBT and
other Psychological modalities, but not to the point of dehumanising
it. Does that make sense? It is difficult to explain. At this point I
want to point out that this is and was not a “Therapy” workshop so
much as a work shop that explained and provided tools with which to
deepen the understanding of the self, using myth, connection and magic.
Druid Therapy is about exploring yourself in a more magical, connected
and spiritual way.. Not as flowery as it sounds believe me. And for
those of us on a path that involved magic, deep personal exploration is
integral part of how it all works.<br />
<br />
For so long psychology has systematically removed spirituality,
connection and some could say, humanity from its process. It has
become more and more clinical relegating spirituality and magic in the
realm of delusional belief, not significant, or not real. Psychology,
at its worst has become out fixing our broken emotions which are all the
ones apart from feeling happy and giving us pills to that we are
‘happy’<br />
<br />
It is my belief that it is important that people have a sense of
connection with the lives that they live beyond that of clinical
behaviour and ‘feeling happy”. It would seem that our society has
deemed feeling emotions as something that is somehow wrong, and
indicative of brokenness especially the strong emotions such as sadness,
anger, stress, discontent, etc etc. Because according to society we
are meant to be happy all the time and if we are not then we are
obviously broken thus need therapy, and or pills to make us happy as is
socially acceptable. Or we are to purchase something in the form of
retail therapy as that will make us happy. Ginsue knifes anyone, second
set free for a limited time. *coughs*<br />
<br />
Let me put it another way, how often have you been to your doctors
surgery because you are sick and probably feeling quite crappy and when
you get there and the receptionist says ‘<em>Hi, How are you do today’</em>, and you answer automatically ‘<em>I’m fine thank you’</em>
or a variation of indicating that you are fine, or happy? When really
you are sick, which is why you are at the doctors, and you are probably
feeling like six forms of shit because you are sick. So why are you
telling the receptionist at the doctor’s office that you are fine? Think
about it. We have trained, or been trained by the wider society not to
acknowledge our feelings, not to feel what it is we are feeling unless
we are happy, and so often when we are not happy we tell others that we
are without even thinking about it. How often has a friend asked you
how are you? How do you reply? The usal reply that I make is ‘I’m fine,
how are you’. It’s a pretty standard greeting both in face to face and
also onlinet. What would happen if you took a moment and actually told
them how you felt? Actually I am feeling a bit sad today because I am
not happy with out something is going? When you ask a friend how they
are, do you really want to know or are you just going through the
customary greeting call and response? Think about it.<br />
<br />
Druid Therapy uses the Grail story, the quest for the Grail, and is
about putting the connection and humanity back not just into therapy,
but back into your lives as well. To acknowledge your mortal wound and
the Grail with which you can heal it. It is not ‘traditional’ therapy
and it doesn’t look it either, as it is not about talking about your
feelings and having a therapist tell you what that means, nor is it
about a therapist giving you the answers, as we found out during our
workshop, but instead it is about finding our own answer through the
medium of myth, and a map which we created during the workshop. We had
to find our own answers. Druid Therapy is about providing you with a
map and tools so that you can find the answers yourself, only those
‘answers’ are actually questions, and to keep on asking questions until
we find the right question or series of questions. So often we want
answers so badly, because we believe, or have been lead to believe that
the answers will fix us instantly, that we forget or don’t know what the
right question is. So using the Grail myth and Druid Therapy provides
us with an invaluable map, tools and connection with which to find the
questions.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/autuminal-equinox-2013-004.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-343" height="254" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/autuminal-equinox-2013-004.jpg?w=640&h=254" title="Autuminal Equinox 2013 004" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
As this turned into a monster of a post about the Workshop I attended
and Druid Therapy, I have decided to split this into three posts, with
the first one being explanation of sorts, the second one a rewrite of
the Fisher King myth as I remember it, and the third one about the
workshop itself. I will post the second instalment over the next day or
so.Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-53292085004910786362012-05-02T09:27:00.004+12:002012-05-02T09:27:57.387+12:00The Samhain Gate<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kaka-070.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-318" height="231" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kaka-070.jpg?w=640&h=231" title="Kaka 070" width="640" /></a><br />
The Samhain Gate<br />
<br />
Its Samhain here in New Zealand and I celebrated over the weekend at
the Woolshed, a place here in Wellington where Pagans of all varieties
come together to celebrate the seasons. For Samhain this year the
circle space was set up in the second lounge down stairs, with the
Samhain gate facing North, other times the gate has been set up in the
North West, which if you are using the southern hemisphere Sabbat
calendar wheel is actually the Lughnasadh gate, which in some ways can
be a very odd place to have the Samhain gate. The Samhain gate is that
place where the ancestors and those that have died recently enter the
circle. And for the longest time it bugged the hell out of me, that at
the woolshed it was place in the North West because it just felt wrong.
But this year the gate was North, and for some weird reason this felt
much better, which as usual got me to thinking about pagan cosmology and
how it is shaped.<br />
<br />
Traditionally the Southern hemisphere Seasonal Wheel goes in a
counter clock wise direction, (Sun Wise) starting with the Spring in the
East, then Beltane – North East, Summer Solstice – North Lughnasadh,
North West, Autumn Equinox – West, Samhain – South East and finally
Winter Solstice in the south.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wall-hanings-002.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-322" height="516" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wall-hanings-002.jpg?w=535&h=516" title="wall hanings 002" width="535" /></a><br />
<br />
Which if you follow the logic through and use the same points from
the Seasonal Wheel for your circle casting, it would mean that the
Samhain gate would be in the South West, however, given that when
casting a circle I teach that pretty much any element can be called from
any direction because it is important to practice magic in the place
you live, it would also follow that the Samhain Gate doesn’t have to be
in the South West, any more than that the element of air has to be in
the east. But it still bugged me. I will say however that when it
comes to group rituals, it is good to have everybody calling the same
element from the one direction. But that is not what this post is
about.. *coughdigressioncough*..<br />
<br />
So why did having the Samhain Gate in the North feel better this
year, than previous years when it has been in the North West? Well
there could be several reason.. first given that for most New Zealanders
their ancestors come from Europe, which is North from here, it would
make sense that if you are inviting your ancestors to come and join you
in your circle, to do it from a Northerly direction.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_320" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kaka-075.jpg"><img alt="The Samhain Gate" class=" wp-image-320" height="341" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kaka-075.jpg?w=640&h=341" title="Kaka 075" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="text-align: center;">
With Offerings of Salt, Honey and Bread</div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
Secondly here in New Zealand as a part of the Maori believe, spirits
of the dead travel to the tip of the North Island, where the entrance
of the underworld is, guided by a Ruru owl, and once there, they travel
down to the underworld where they are meet by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hine-nui-te-p%C5%8D" target="_blank">Hine-nui-te-pō </a>who
then guides them on to Hawaiki, so again that would point to the idea
that the spirits of the dead come from the North, and not the South.<br />
<br />
Now this is all well and good and make pretty good sense.. but I have
an idea that it was something more, than just the ancestors in the
North and Hine-nui-te-po, that made this years gate feel right. And I
realised what it was when I went back down after to the ritual was over
to see the French doors open. It was the door, during the ritual we had
opened the Samhain gate by opening the French doors. The fact that
these doors faced North fit in with the ritual, but I suspect that It
was not the main reason as to why it felt right so to speak. This door
opened to the outside, and it is a clear indication when inviting
someone in your house to open the door. <br />
<br />
Doorways have always been
considered magical places in myth and folklore. They are liminal,
whether you are entering or exiting, they are a place of magic where the
energy flows inwards and outwards. I can remember seeing pennies
concreted into the doorway of the family’s holiday batch, put there by
my grandfather, to encourage wealth. It was a tradition that he
carried with him from England where he was born. Doorways are often
gateways to other places, and in this case it was a gateway into the
otherworld’s, to where the ancestors and recently departed stood waiting
to be invited in.<br />
<br />
So it all comes back to that practicing in the place where you live.
I have heard that the traditional correspondences of cardinal direction
to elements originated in Greece, where their prevailing wind, the wind
that brings the weather comes from the East, thus East became air.
Here in Wellington the prevailing wind comes not from the howling winter
southerlies but the Westerlies, which would follow that air, should be
in the east. And when it comes to the seasonal wheel this to should be
practiced in the place you live, which can take some figuring out so
some contemplating of how the cosmos is created in your area. So it
makes sense to invite the ancestors from the north, and through a
physical door, although I do wonder as to what happens if the physical
door is in a different direction and if that would work?<br />
<br />
So here in new Zealand our magical cosmos is on where the ancestors
and the dead hail from the North, not from the South west as the
southern seasonal wheel would dictate nor from the North West as has
been practiced before but from the North, a time of midsummers, the
traditional element of fire. <br />
<br />
Those crazy Southern Pagans.. *grins*<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_323" style="width: 650px;">
<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kaka-073.jpg"><img alt="" class=" wp-image-323" height="426" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kaka-073.jpg?w=640&h=426" title="Kaka 073" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="text-align: center;">
Samhain
Crown made from a New Zealand sea bird whos name escapes me currently
but died due to an oil leak from a container ship here.</div>
</div>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-82771826434038542902012-05-02T09:22:00.000+12:002012-05-02T09:22:11.740+12:00Presently Centered<!--[if !mso]>
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<a href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/photography-11-nov-2011-063.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-314" height="285" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/photography-11-nov-2011-063.jpg?w=640&h=285" title="Photography 11 nov 2011 063" width="640" /></a><br />
Centering<br />
<br />
This is the first thing I teach anybody who comes to me and is interested in
Witchcraft and Magic, and it is the first thing that I teach my students when I
run my classes. The simple explanation for this is that I won’t work with
someone who does not how to do this because we live in this world. Thus
when doing magical work we should be centered and grounded in this world, or at
least for most of the time.<br />
<br />
It is important when learning about magic to be grounded in this world, to
understand that you still need to tidy your house, pay your bills, go to work,
while also honouring your Gods and making magic. Paganism in its various
forms is by its very nature is very romantic, and has been romanticised
throughout the ages. Even the modern history is kinda romantic, there are
heroes and villains and sometimes heroic villains, and more importantly there
is magic, which is something real, something that you can feel, and something that
you can use. Fairy Stories, Television, Moves and some anthropological
study tells us of a time when the village witch used herbs to heal the sick,
used magic and a bit of salt to save the world and told of the humble stable
boy, a person with an important destiny written about in prophecy. And let’s
face it we all like to be feel special, to feel like our lives have meaning and
importance in this, at times very difficult thing we call life, and witchcraft
has that in spades. There is finding your path, your deity and what it is
that you are meant to be doing with your life. There is discovering your
true self, stepping away from ugly mainstream culture, standing up for yourself
and learning how to do the things that you want to do as opposed to the things
that you believe you should be doing or that you have been lead to believe you
need to be doing. Witchcraft and magic in many ways gives you courage and
an out of the rat race, to be that special person with that special destiny.<br />
<br />
Also books, the several hundred thousand books that have been written on
various forms of paganism and how to do and or be a witch or druid or priestess
also have a tendency to paint a very romantic picture. There are powerful
visions, rituals and deities that these Authors meet, and seemingly a teacher
can be found on every street corner just waiting for you to walk by so they can
nab you and show you how to find your destiny and path. Alas the reality
of it is that it is not like this but it is very easy to get swept off your
feet, into the romantic maelstrom and loose touch with reality, to loose
touch with this world and all of its wonders. So this is why I teach Centering and Grounding first to help to keep touch with reality with this
world, with this earth and remember that you still have bills to pay and houses
to clean. And so that you know how to come back to earth with less of a bump.
So that you stay grounded enough that when you hit the deep magic’s you can
stay sanely, centered, and come through with an excellent experience and pretty
much not go batshit insane.<br />
<br />
Right scared yet? You should be.. ok maybe not. Perhaps not
scared so much as weary, stepping onto this path in a more conscious way can be
interesting and sometimes in a Chinese sense of interesting however it
also can be wonderful beyond words, but then if it wasn’t I wouldn’t be
teaching classes or writing about it now would I. So Centering <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>and Grounding, now that we know why it is
important, what is it? and how do you do it? First I am going to talk
about Centering , and in the next post Grounding.<br />
<br />
Centering<br />
<br /> <br />
Centering is like gathering your thoughts, so that you can concentrate on
what is at hand, and what you are doing. At times I believe
that it is very much like being in the present, in the now, as so many
self-help gurus and Buddhists will tell you. However this ‘being in the
now’ is, as is so often the case, not as it is portrayed in books. I
think that to get a point across in writing, so that it doesn’t sound lame, and
can be understood the writer embellishes what they are writing, not
because they are being mean or dishonest but it is more give a clearer
picture of what they were feeling and what they have experienced. How
this can create an over blown expectation for the reader, or as in my case a
miss understanding. So often in these books that talk about living in the
now, and the present, they are talking in absolutes, ‘you should be in
living in the now all the time’ the books say, ‘always be present in your own
life’. I often ended up wondering what they were talking about as I am present
in my own life? I live it don’t I? And what’s more Living in the now all
the time can be very difficult to achieve, unless you want to be a monk living
on a mountain top somewhere. It took me quite some time to
wrap my head around being in the present, in the now. I did not have any
problems understanding centering and grounding. But I did have problems
understanding this living in the now. Until a Student asked me if you
could center and ground separately?<br />
<br />
Most the time when you are preparing to take part in a ritual, centering and
grounding was done together as one exercise. Centering was about
concentrating on the ritual at hand and grounding about being grounded and
drawing up energy from the earth. Seemed simple right? Little did I
realise that centering was very similar to living in the now, so to speak.
And grounding was about staying there. Always good to learn from your
students I say! But it take me while to understand.<br />
<br />
It was not until I happened to be walking to catch a train to work one
morning that I finally understood what the books were talking about, and what centering and being in the now had to do with one another. As I was
wondering down the hill pondering about being present, and what it meant, I was
not paying attention to where I was walking, not that it is difficult to walk
down a hill on a paved footpath,*coughs* but alas before I knew what was
happening I tripped and landed on my arse on said footpath. And was very
present and in the moment, feeling the sting of concrete on my hands and
embarrassment in my face at having fallen over, but more than that I was
present, my mind was not wondering about on the either thinking of arcane
things, but it was instead present and I was sitting on the ground.
So I learned that being present is about being aware, not just of what you are
thinking about but also aware of where you are physically, what you are doing,
what’s going on around you, which when you think about it, is the same of being Centered. Not only are you focusing yourself, so that interrupting
thoughts of ‘must clean bathroom’, are sent on their way, so that you can focus
on the working, or ritual at hand. You are also being aware of where you
are and what you are doing, in the present moment. This also allows you
to pay attention when signs and messages are sent.<br />
<br />
So clear as mud?<br />
<br />
my suggestion is to practice being aware, to practice being centered
and try take note of the times when you are not. Now this is of
course way easier said than done. I have often equated learning to do
magic similar to driving a car, when you first learn there seems to be so much
to remember, check mirror, check handbrake, check seatbelt, what gear are you
in, which peddle are you using, steering, driving, screaming at the other
drivers.. but after a few years, it all becomes second nature to get in your
car and drive of without giving it much thought. The difference with
magic though is to keep giving it that thought, sure it will become second
nature and your technique will change and it will become easer like
driving a car, but the trick with good magic is to be aware, be present.<br />
<br />
Right then now on to the grounding segment of our lesson, which I will
discuss in the next Classes post.<br />
<br />
Have at it!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-58849762130904676062012-04-15T22:28:00.000+12:002012-04-15T22:28:05.210+12:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-0021.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-0021.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-304" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-0021.jpg?w=256" height="300" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-0021.jpg?w=256" title="magic on cuba 002" width="256" /></a></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
Wheee *glomps <a data-mce-href="http://stitchwitchcottage.com/about/" href="http://stitchwitchcottage.com/about/">StitchwitchCottage</a>*</div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Recently I won a tarot deck from <a data-mce-href="http://stitchwitchcottage.com/" href="http://stitchwitchcottage.com/">Stitchwitch Cottage</a>
which was very very exciting as it is the lovely Waking the Wild Tarot
by Poppy Paylin, and I was just reading the some reviews on line, when I
remembered that I had told a friend I would review the tarot cards I
currently have as a practice run for reviewing her oracle card deck when
it comes out some time in 2013ish, and I must say that from what I have
seen so far of my friends cards and book are going be an excellent
oracle deck with a strong New Zealand focus whee.<br />
<br />
However today I will review the Wildwood Tarot as I have been working with them exclusively over the last little while.<br />
<br />
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<b>A Review of the <a data-mce-href="http://thewildwoodtarot.com/" href="http://thewildwoodtarot.com/">Wildwood </a>Tarot.</b></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-027.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-027.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-303" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-027.jpg" height="644" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-027.jpg" title="Wildwood Tarot 027" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
I was always going to love the artwork of these cards as they are by one of my now favourite artists <a data-mce-href="http://willworthingtonart.co.uk/" href="http://willworthingtonart.co.uk/" target="_blank">Will Worthington</a>. He is the artist for the DruidCraft Tarot, Druid Animal Oracle, Druid Plant Oracle (with Philip & Stephanie <a data-mce-href="http://philipcarrgomm.druidry.org/" href="http://philipcarrgomm.druidry.org/" target="_blank">Carr-Gomm</a>) and the Green Man Tree Oracle (with <a data-mce-href="http://www.hallowquest.org.uk/" href="http://www.hallowquest.org.uk/" target="_blank">John Matthews</a>).<br />
<br />
The
Wildwood Tarot has been done in collaboration with Mark Ryan and John
Mathews. Now, the Wildwood Tarot has a bit of a history despite being
only being published last year. They are the remake of a very popular
deck called the <a data-mce-href="http://www.herebedragons.co.uk/chesca/cp/green.htm" href="http://www.herebedragons.co.uk/chesca/cp/green.htm">Greenwood</a>, by <a data-mce-href="http://www.herebedragons.co.uk/chesca/" href="http://www.herebedragons.co.uk/chesca/" target="_blank">Chesca Potter</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://www.markryan.info/" href="http://www.markryan.info/" target="_blank">Mark Ryan</a>
in 1996. What made the Greenwood deck different from other decks was
the replacement of all of the greekoroman/christen imagery with
Pre-celtic symbolism from around Europe and Britain, heavily based in
the Robin Hood myth. You see Mark Ryan played Nasir in the Robin of
Sherwood Series which screened when I was a teenager and what’s more
Nasir was always my favourite character.. I so wanted to be him when I
grew up, there may have been some fangirl squeeing when I found this
out! *coughs*..<br />
<br />
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/353225-nasir.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/353225-nasir.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-305" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/353225-nasir.jpg" height="781" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/353225-nasir.jpg" title="353225-nasir" width="496" /></a> </div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
I so wanted to be Nasir with two swords!</div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The
other thing that I am really enjoying about working with these cards is
that they are blunt, honest and at times brutal, it is not a deck for
telling fortunes, rather it is a deck to gain perspective and sight at a
deep magical level. I have always had difficulty reading for myself as
I have a tendency to shy away from the hard stuff that or decided that
I don’t like what I see therefore don’t see it. With the Wildwood
Tarot this is very hard to do, especially as I read out the passages
from the book for each card. I don’t do this when I read for others but
do when I read for myself. It’s a thing *grins* Also when I brought
the this deck I was told, so to speak that this deck was to be for my
personal use only, which is very odd for me as I have always been
comfortable with sharing my various oracle and tarot decks with others,
but not so for this deck. They are deeply personal and offer some very
personal insights into what is happeneing or how I am feeling. I have
been doing a one card draw every day for a few weeks now, with the
intent to get to know the cards more while also getting to understand
myself as well. It has been very very interesting.. remember the
aforementioned blunt? Well they are.<br />
<br />
On a more physical level
these cards are not huge, like the Druidcraft Tarot so are more easily
shuffled, the card stock seems ok, but like most tarot cards will wear
with use, they spread nicely and the backs of them are pretty much
indistinguishable from each other. Which is excellent for card reading.
And the artwork is done in wonderful bright colours<br />
<br />
I have both
the Wildwood and Druidcraft which are by the same artists, but different
authors, and I have to say that I have noticed a difference, not just
in the physical art work which are both lovely, but also with the feel
of each deck. The Druidcraft seem to be lighter in a way that is
difficult to explain, especially as the cards themselves are HUGE!,
however there is a depth and heaviness to the Greenwood tarot that seems
to draw out the secrets out of the dark. It is in my opinion a very
powerful deck. Every deck of cards I have had over the years has felt
different, and I am not just talking about what they are made from and
how heavy they are but each deck, despite being bits of inanimate
cardboard, have always ended up having different energy about them. I
figure this is to do with the person who owns them and how they use
them, and connects with them. Anyhoo, that may well be a topic for
another post.<br />
<br />
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-023.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-023.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-306" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-023.jpg" height="710" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/wildwood-tarot-023.jpg" title="Wildwood Tarot 023" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
The
artwork of the Wildwood Tarot has been drawn as opposed to painted as
with Mr Worthingtons other decks but this does not detract from the
beauty of the artwork on the cards themselves. For the Wildwood Tarot
Mr Worthington has stayed with initial theme of the original Greenwood
Tarot painted by Chesca Potter, while managing, I believe to enhance the
images and meaningful add detail. So there while there are differences
in the art work between the Greenwood and Wildwood they are still very
similar. Those that are more familiar with the Greenwood may not like
what Mr Worthington has done but I find it beautiful and evocative.<br />
<br />
Over
all I would recommend this deck for people, especially if they are
looking for a deck for personal work and use, are not looking for
fortune telling, and they want to it to be honest. With one caveat, if
these cards and their artwork do not speak to you, do not appeal then
these are not the tarot cards you are looking for. When choosing tarot,
it is important to go with a deck where there artwork speaks to you.
Mmk.Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-90772881457614361852012-04-12T18:52:00.000+12:002012-04-12T18:52:18.481+12:00Magic on Cuba<a data-mce-href="https://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-011.jpg" href="https://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-011.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-293" data-mce-src="https://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-011.jpg" height="712" src="https://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/magic-on-cuba-011.jpg" title="magic on cuba 011" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
One
man with a guitar, a violin and a loop pedal gadget played a concert in
Cuba Mall Wellington today, which is Thursday. It was like magic,
maybe it was magic. It was magic as he wove the base beat into his loop
pedal gadget creating a repeating pattern of tunes like the casting of a
circle, calling in the energy of the city to come and join him in his
creative endeavour. On top of this he wove further magic with his
electric violin playing a happy folk style jig which invited the city
fey to come and gather with the city folk to create an atmosphere of
happiness and generosity at his playing.<br />
<br />
The energy around where
he was playing, creating and casting his magic was palatable with the
intent of imparting the gift of music, the gift of happiness on this
somewhat gloomy autumn day in Wellington. And when he had finished
playing, this magic dissipated slowing, leaving people reluctant to
leave and wonder on. I wonder if he knew what magic he was weaving.<br />
<br />
It
turns out that this magical man’s name was Graeme James Crehan and you
can experience some of this magic here. And he is Christian, which for
me says that it does not matter what frame work you use, just so long as
it sings to you, you can create magic. !<br />
<br />
<br />
<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6v6A5NirqSw?version=3&feature=player_detailpage">
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true">
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6v6A5NirqSw?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-87309005613757294642012-04-09T16:23:00.002+12:002012-04-09T16:23:26.371+12:00As i have put my back out and am unable to move to much have a photo instead of words<br />
<br />
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/full-moon-march-2012-028.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/full-moon-march-2012-028.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-248" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/full-moon-march-2012-028.jpg" height="426" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/full-moon-march-2012-028.jpg" title="full moon march 2012 028" width="640" /></a>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-42907676007789335462012-04-06T18:57:00.001+12:002012-04-06T18:57:26.130+12:00A Murmer of Starlings<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-011.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-011.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-241" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-011.jpg" height="248" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-011.jpg" title="starlings 011" width="640" /></a><br />
They
gather on the tops of buildings in the cities, on aerials and wires,
just as the sun falls behind the hills and the sky lights up with dusky
pink tones. They herald the between times, when the sun has set but the
sky is not yet night. It is the first night of the full moon and magic
hangs heavy in the air, spirits are gathering for the veil is thin, and
Samhain is not far off. The Starlings are heralding in the night time
as the black birds herald the dawn. Starlings’ keepers of the gates
between the worlds.<br />
<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-002.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-002.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-240" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-002.jpg" height="412" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/starlings-002.jpg" title="starlings 002" width="640" /></a><br />
For
me this evening the Starlings that were gathering on the roof tops
around Wellington all making their way to the trees in the city where
they roost for a moment before they all take of in a murmuration, spoke
of the coming season, of the coming Samhain, the beginning of Winter,
here in New Zealand.<br />
<br />
<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iRNqhi2ka9k?version=3&feature=player_detailpage">
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<br />
one of my favourite videos, I love the expression of the girls faces at the end of the video!Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-36160365590203730382012-04-01T20:26:00.002+12:002012-04-01T20:26:45.250+12:00<a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mary-wall-hanging-001.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mary-wall-hanging-001.jpg"><img alt="View from my Balcony " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-228" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mary-wall-hanging-001.jpg" height="426" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mary-wall-hanging-001.jpg" title="Mary Wall Hanging 001" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Currently
I am languishing in an inner city pad in one of my favourite areas of
Wellington. I have often said this is where the freaks, geeks and
weirdoes hangout, my type of people really. And given that this inner
city pad is owned by a fellow Witch, I figure a post about Spirits that
inhabit this house would be appropriate for this week’s post, namely
House Spirits. This inner city apartment has them, I can feel them
quite strongly and yesterday was about getting used to each other. It
helps that I have set up an oil burner, as I suspect that incense may
well set of the fire alarms off, so instead I am using the afore
mentioned oil burner. I have brought with me lavender, sage, basil and
Frankincense, essential oils to use, and luckily for me the house
spirits have been enjoying this. I figured a good way of making friends
with other witches house spirits would be to give them an offering of
some sort, not that I realised this to begin with.<br />
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter">
<dl class="wp-caption aligncenter" data-mce-style="width: 365px;" id="attachment_230" style="width: 365px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="text-align: center;"><a data-mce-href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/hooping-083.jpg" href="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/hooping-083.jpg"><img alt="" class=" wp-image-230" data-mce-src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/hooping-083.jpg?w=300" height="236" src="http://pombagiraspolly.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/hooping-083.jpg?w=300" title="The Teapot of Awsome" width="355" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">The Teapot of Awsome</dd></dl>
</div>
When
I first arrived and after making a nice cup of tea in the awesome
teapot of awesome, I set up my laptop and duly put in the password to
connect to the network but alas, not working,pages did not want to come
up, you are connected to the internet it said but no pages for you.
EEEEK! For this Urban Witch having no internet is like a Hedgewitch
without her Hedge, so to speak. But after a bit of fiddling, resetting
and imploring that the internet work, it was up and running.. *phew*
There may have been a few cups of tea and some chocolate to recover. So
internet done, time to set up the sewing machine.. oh wait why is the
light not working.. *frowns* I have a Janome sewing machine and I have
noticed the light on it often stops working after it has travelled from
one place to another, well bugger. Again after imploring that the light
magically turned itself on, it did. It was about then that I noticed
the presents of the House Spirits that abided here. And what’s more
these house sprits were helping.<br />
<br />
At my house where I usually live
there are also house spirits, and given that the flat I am staying in is
a was build last year, most of the house spirits that now inhabit this
flat came with me, and given that I flat and don’t own the house I live
in they pretty much move with me from place to place. But having said
that, they are not something that I always notice because they have been
around for what seems like forever. In other places where I have
flatted there have already been some resident house spirits, and given
that I was now moving in, I have always made a point to lay down the
rules, ‘My house My rules’ they are pretty basic rules that I would and
do expect, not just house spirits to follow but also my friends. Don’t
be a dick or you will be asked to leave. It has been this way for at
least as long as I have been a Witch. Let’s leave out the current bit
where I have hawthorn berries drying in my room cause that would just
invite the fey.. *coughstoolateoopscoughs* but that is a different
spirit. Here we are talking about House spirits.<br />
<br />
This is the
first time I have been house sitting and in a fellow Witches house, so
the rules are somewhat different. It is not my house thus not my
rules. But there are rules and these rules need to be followed, so I
spent yesterday making friends with these house spirits. Given that
this is not my house and not my rules, it would do me no good to come in
like an elephant on roller skates and roll over all the current rules,
in fact it would be downright rude of me to state my house, my rules as
it is where I usually lived. So instead, after getting my computer
connected to the internet, with the help of the House Spirits, and
setting up my sewing machine, with the help of the House Spirits, and
once I had figured out that they were helping, I set about creating an
offering.<br />
<br />
I set up my Oil burner on a window sill with a coaster,
and offered these house spirits the scent and magic of Frankincense and
some of my personal energy with the intent to get to know each other, to
make friends, rather than make rules. This has worked well, and my
computer and sewing machine is working nicely and it feels very
welcoming. Today we had sage basil and lavender which was ok, but not
as accepted as the Frankincense. But hey, dems the breaks.<br />
House
spirits in my experience are generally a combination of energy left over
from previous tenants and people who used to inhabit the building as
well as your own personal energy. In a way that I don’t as yet
understand this energy combines and creates what I call House Spirits. I
generally find these spirits to be helpful, as they are in this inner
city apartment, and am figuring out that they need regular attendance,
offerings, if you will, which for this inner city pad comes in the form
of regular cleaning and tidying.<br />
<br />
This inner city pad was built
about 10-15 years ago in a building that is well over 100 years old,
which is quite old for New Zealand. These House Spirits are a mixture
of the buildings spirits that have been created over the last 100 years ,
a certain amount of spirit of place and several of my fellow witch’s
ancestors from her blood family as family is very important as well as I
suspect a personal spirit or two . Keeping an eye on the placed. It is
a curious but I suspect somewhat common mix.<br />
<br />
For me House Spirits
are often the combination of emotional energy, and an action with a
dash of spirit of place, as in the land that the building is built on.
You know when you go into a room where two people have been arguing,
you can feel the energy in room quite strongly. You could cut the air
with a knife, that is and can create spirit forms, especially if an
action and emotion is something that is repeated. I can remember seeing
a glimpse of a woman walking through a gate that was no longer there
carrying a basket and dressed in clothing from the early 1900’s while
visiting at a friend’s house, I found out that where I had seen that
woman had walk was where the original gate was. It looked like she was
carrying the days shopping home in a basket. I suspect that women who
have lived in that house have carried shopping home through that gate
quite a few times, thus an energy or house spirit has been created. I
have no idea what the mechanics of such a thing is I just know that is
how it is created.<br />
<br />
It will certainly make me pay closer attention
to the house spirits when I go back home in two weeks. I suspect that
my cat will tell me off quiet loudly, but I am also wondering if I will
look differently at my usual house spirits, that I have lived with for
so long, perhaps I am now taking them for granted. I will have to make a
point of paying them more attention, it is only fair.!<br />
<br />
Of course I could just be making this all up with a truck load of wishful thinking.. but I do not believe so.<br />
<br />
and finally for you who follow me on blogger, i now have a mirror Blog on Wordpress, which you can find here <a href="http://pombagiraspolly.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://pombagiraspolly.wordpress.com/ </a> I have imported all my posts to over there which included the comments, yay.. so if you would like to follow me there and not here that would be good. but for the next little while I will be posting the same post to both blogs. What you will not see here are the Extra two pages I have created on my Wordpress site, to showcase the sewing and Wall Hangings that I am and have been making, but you can see them on the Wordpress site and there will be links here when I have updated. Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-24553094118861240002012-03-25T21:13:00.000+13:002012-03-25T21:13:41.697+13:00Seasons in the Southern Hemisphere<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_PZA2IwEyzkoejvHfSr19NgPz3w7x77wsNRmqjE0YzDQGrI3Xu2gQsVFCGCErsW-CLERARrziyPraDpAJtqCXQ1xP2cHHg_Qc25GMsEXBKaFA8aLDT4iiBZJ09OveUw2Wej3PMrmS6k/s1600/Autuminal+Equinox+2013+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_PZA2IwEyzkoejvHfSr19NgPz3w7x77wsNRmqjE0YzDQGrI3Xu2gQsVFCGCErsW-CLERARrziyPraDpAJtqCXQ1xP2cHHg_Qc25GMsEXBKaFA8aLDT4iiBZJ09OveUw2Wej3PMrmS6k/s640/Autuminal+Equinox+2013+011.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawthorn Berries that were used in today's Autumnal Equinox Ritual</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Here in New Zealand it is
currently autumn heading towards winter, I have just celebrated the Autumnal Equinox,
with a bunch of local pagans up at The Woolshed, a local pagan place where the
Sabbats are generally held.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next
Sabbat will be Samhain, which is at the end April beginning of May.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The southern hemisphere wheel has turned to
the dark side of the year where the nights are longer than the days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the northern hemisphere they have just
celebrated the Vernal Equinox, spring is Spruning and their wheel has turned
towards the light half of the year where the days are longer than the
nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you get where I am going
here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In essences our seasons are in reverse
of the seasons in the northern hemisphere. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">It seems simple enough to
transpose the dates of the Pagan seasonal Calendar, which was cobbled together
in England, six months and hey presto you have a southern hemisphere sabbatical
calendar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All good right? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well actually no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a few
other things to take into account when living in a country where the original seasonal
calendar did not originate, and more so when it is in a different hemisphere, Not
only are the seasons reversed here in the southern hemisphere, so too is the
direction of how we cast our circles, which here in the New Zealand is anti-clockwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our sun rises in the east as it does all over
the world, but tracks north in the sky and sets in the west, rather than tracking
south as it does in the northern hemispheres. And as a point of interest, if
you happen to live near the equator, you will find that the sun tracks both
north and south, depending on the time of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is that squiggly line you sometimes see around
globes, the path of the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However
here in the southern hemisphere the fact the sun tracks north, also means
the ‘traditional’ correspondences for north and south are also reversed, with northing
being fire, and south being earth. but that is a topic for another post.
this post is about seasons. </span></div>
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<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">These
Sabbats that were cobbled together by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Gardner" target="_blank">Gerald Gardner</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Nichols" target="_blank">Ross Nicolas</a> while
hanging about sans clothes at Fiveacres Nudist club, in England, where made for
English Witches who lived in England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
where not necessarily put together with other countries in mind, so to
speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure here in New Zealand we have
4 distinct seasons, however we are further away from the South Pole than England
is from the North. There is a variation between the ‘traditional’ seasonal correspondents
that if often found in Pagan books and what is actually happening on the ground
here in New Zealand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also quite
an interesting variation of seasonal growth and temperatures from one end of
the country to the other, and I presume that this is the same for England,
however my point here is that your seasonal wheel should be something more than
just transposing the dates by six months, it should be shaped to the seasonal
norms for the land you are living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Now this is all very good and
well but here in New Zealand the British Settlers did not alter their various British
traditions such as Christmas, New Years and Easter to the reversed seasons of
New Zealand, and recently Halloween has become a thing in New Zealand, but it
is celebrated at the end of October rather than the more seasonally appropriate
end of May.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this causes some interesting
conundrums for Pagans and Witches here. What this means is that while the rest
of New Zealand is gearing up for Easter, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a Spring themed celebration, as it currently
is the Kiwi Pagans are celebrating the Autumnal Equinox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I mentioned in my first post I have found
this to be quite difficult to consolidate in my head and something that I am
constantly working on? With? Hm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can remember when I was a small child
communing with the Christmas Tree, which was a pine tree my uncles had gotten,
with its lights and shiny decorations, it was one of the first magical experiences
that I can remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However I have had
difficult over the years consolidating the distinct winterness of Christmas
decorations and trimmings, with the fact that here in New Zealand it is the
summer solstice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not however mid
summers, as the Summer Solstice marks the beginning of summer here and not the
middle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our hottest times of the year or
what I would consider mid summers is generally January and February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The duality of mainstream celebrating new
life, and the season turning towards harvest and the end of life makes for some
very interesting contemplation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
this year I will make Easter eggs with skulls on them and try to get past the
disgruntled feeling I get when the mainstream is celebrating the wrong thing in
the wrong season. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">The other interesting thing about
seasonal Sabats here in New Zealand is that while on the one hand we have four distinguishable
seasons, they are not quite the same as in Britain, where they originated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I mentioned
above Britain is closer to the north pole that we are to the south pole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that we have in relation quite a temperate climate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here in Wellington it
does not often fall below zero degrees, during the winter and we only have snow
in very small quantities in the city every bazillion years or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually we had snow last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And during the summer it does not often get
above 30 degrees</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">But then to my mind celebrating
and honouring a Pagan seasonal calendar not just about the dates and their ascribed
meaning, but also about celebrating seasonally in the land you live, which will
often deviate from the prescribed description found in books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This also means that your seasonal
celebrations and times may differ from year to year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">After spending a year gardening
for other people I became a lot more observant about my environment around
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I paid more attention to plants and
trees and have come to rely on them to tell me what the seasons are doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Actually this year I felt the
death of summer in quite distinctly in early March as I mentioned in previous
post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also I have noticed as mentioned
above the prescribed seasonal Sabbat dates, for the southern hemisphere <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>more mark the beginning of any given season
rather than the middle, and that the cross quarters Samhane, Beltane, Lughnasadh
and Brigid are more fluid than the equinoxes and solstices which mark the
passage of the sun</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Luckily on 1995 updated and
re-released in 2005, <a href="http://julietbatten.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Juliet Batten</a> wrote one of New Zealand’s only Pagan books,
<i>Celebrating the Southern Seasons</i>, which is an excellent guide on New Zealand seasons
and the various customs and suggestions on how to celebrate season here in New
Zealand<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a book that I have found myself
going back to again and again as my understanding of the cyclic year deepens,
something Juliet wrote I agree with and other things I don’t but I always find things
of interest.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0B9YSXbjGPtMfbEFMoTHsg83iry908AKF1iOLX1Sz76mYCkI7TIkpYDIyfQQaPlsxE-5-etHxAzCO5YQXllfImMS5pMwUXw228OkLpcW_Uv_bhS2wIdphKZZNliOPqG3LibT8WFV5brA/s1600/blog+post+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0B9YSXbjGPtMfbEFMoTHsg83iry908AKF1iOLX1Sz76mYCkI7TIkpYDIyfQQaPlsxE-5-etHxAzCO5YQXllfImMS5pMwUXw228OkLpcW_Uv_bhS2wIdphKZZNliOPqG3LibT8WFV5brA/s320/blog+post+010.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">So for those of you who are
interested here are the Southern Season Sabbat Dates starting from the current
one</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Autumnal Equinox <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>March 20-23<sup>rd</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Samhane <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>April 31<sup>st</sup> – May 1<sup>st</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Winter Solstice<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>June 20-23<sup>rd</sup> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Brigid<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>August 2<sup>nd</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Vernal Equinox <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>September 20-23<sup>rd</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Beltane<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Oct 31<sup>st</sup> – Nov 1<sup>st</sup><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Summer Solstice <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>December 20-23<sup>rd</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Lughnasadh <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>February 2<sup>nd</sup><span> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfCri_QEyC3fUPDDpGgdKoHha5u6WrRismuu6pN4OWmVp5ot7lp4TnyifnKoRs-rqHKt9YM0_TGT9jXK-Yq_qzrEG1tzawWuGNnWlnsoIqRaVGsPn8FZActEIs3-zH470D54NNzcEZVo/s1600/blog+post+008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfCri_QEyC3fUPDDpGgdKoHha5u6WrRismuu6pN4OWmVp5ot7lp4TnyifnKoRs-rqHKt9YM0_TGT9jXK-Yq_qzrEG1tzawWuGNnWlnsoIqRaVGsPn8FZActEIs3-zH470D54NNzcEZVo/s640/blog+post+008.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Todays colourful Sunset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-66266325792363633112012-03-18T22:02:00.003+13:002012-03-18T22:02:58.991+13:00Not Writers Block<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoNxqSQkl5mgP5A3Zx6TaHDgydOuW8YdsO9uSDPiZfKEcqd-stmEdL4_NELP0q04whhj0VFGo_K8EN4QBhNNw2l3V5_3QtI20fAtaf8hi1EAg0j2yqNPdZlu22_cMfNgQbKurgltkfe4A/s1600/writing+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoNxqSQkl5mgP5A3Zx6TaHDgydOuW8YdsO9uSDPiZfKEcqd-stmEdL4_NELP0q04whhj0VFGo_K8EN4QBhNNw2l3V5_3QtI20fAtaf8hi1EAg0j2yqNPdZlu22_cMfNgQbKurgltkfe4A/s400/writing+001.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was going to post about rituals, and I was going to post
about the equinox in the southern hemisphere, which is always chaotic, and also
the Autumnal equinox, cause I do like to remind those in the northern hemisphere
that it’s not spring time in the world but AUTUMN down here in New Zealand.
*coughs* but instead I am going to post about my day.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today was a most excellent day, I had cups of tea with a
fellow Witch, and we had one of those awesome rambly conversations that covered
a myriad of topics, lasted several hours and left me feeling very full. One of the
topics that we discussed was in essences, the amount of interesting somewhat
academic knowledge that I have in my head and why I am not writing about
it.<span> </span>It is this part of the conversation
that made my ears perk up in that way it does when you know that you should be
listen to this. When you just know that it is something important here.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Actually that very topic was a part of todays’ rambly conversation,
that picking up on what was said and topics that were covered because they have
hidden meaning.<span> </span>Perhaps it is why I have
picked up on not just the writing aspect but also several other topics, which
need further contemplation. <span> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Often when
you get the chance to spend time with fellow Witches and take part in a rambly conversation
over several hours, there is something or several something’s, in that
conversation that needs to be <span> </span>paid
attention to and sometimes it can take several days or weeks for what it is to
come out.<span> </span>Other times like today it can
take the walk home and a conversation with your inner voices to figure it out
that there is something more here, and it now needs your attention.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You see a little while ago I was asked by two wonderful
Canadian stoics, if I would write/finish my thesis which is on Modern Pagan
Books from 1954 to the present day, and by Pagan I mean mostly Wiccan. A little
while ago I was put in touch with a person who is editing a book about Southern
hemisphere Paganism and I offered to write a chapter on New Zealand Pagan
History. I offered but have not finished said chapter. <span> </span>I have started writing and have several pages
of notes and a whole bunch of research but have not yet finished it.<span> </span>Today I was asked again why I was not writing
about New Zealand Pagan history as it was important information that is currently
locked away in my head and really should be shared.<span> </span><span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well why have I not done this, three times, a charm some
would say, and I have been asked three times to write something on topics that I
am very familiar with and topics that I have researched into for years.<span> </span>I ran away from university because I was
unable to write, or, believed I was unable to write and therein lies the issue.
That topic that has been prompted so strongly during todays rambly conversation
with a fellow Witch.<span> </span><span> </span>A part of me still believes that I am unable
to write, despite, earning a degree, which was mostly writing, and a blog which
I am now updating regularly.<span> </span>As of today
I am beginning to understand more about why this is.<span> </span>Let me explain.<span> </span><br /><br />
You see I am dyslexic, and all through primary and secondary school I was told I
was lazy and stupid, and often if you are told something enough times it gets
in.</span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span>What I am now coming to realise is, that
sort of long term programming gets in really deep, on a subconscious level,
because I can also remember loving to write when I was at started school, not
for class but for fun.<span> </span>At high school
when I was about 14 or 15 I wrote, what today would be considered fanfic about
Robin Hood from the TV series Robin the Hooded Man.<span> </span>Me and my best friend used to write and then
read each other’s stories.<span> </span>We wrote with
red pens and on the Mighty Jotter Pad, the one with the big pink elephant on
the cover.. gosh..</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The other reason is to do with how I was brought up, you see
I am from a blue collar working class family, and things like writing or sitting
down to write where not done.<span> </span>Ok so it’s
not like I was yelled at or anything and it certainly was not a malleolus thing
but has I have gotten older and seen how other families work, I have come to
the realisation that my family were not accustom to sitting still, and if you
were sitting still, be that reading a book, or writing on a jumbo jotter pad in
red pen then obviously you had nothing to do thus jobs were found that could be
done.<span> </span>These jobs where more physical in
nature.<span> </span>Crafts were fine, knitting,
sewing, crocheting, digging, cooking, household chores and the like and to a
degree reading, although that was generally reserved for night/evening
time.<span> </span>But writing, that was for
homework, not for hobbies, or for time that could be spent better by doing
chores, or so it seemed.<span> </span>Of course
viewing this with adult yes things are viewed clearer now. <span> </span>It was not that my parent did not want me to
do well at school, it was more that doing physical things while at home was
more important than sitting down and writing, be those physical things knitting
and sewing, digging the garden or doing house hold chores.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the time it was just how it was, but also at the time it
was a distraction from writing as such.<span> </span>I
know this because I just went down stairs and asked my flatmate if I could help
with dinner, <span> </span>but actually I am
writing.<span> </span>And while she said nar she is
fine, it comes back to that if you are sitting down writing as I am doing then obviously
I have nothing to do thus should find something physical do to, like sewing or
cooking, or digging the garden or helping my flatmate cook… Very curious or
should that be obvious?<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Obviously there is a block, obviously there is reprogramming
that is needed, obviously, very obviously, consciously even, but it has not
been until today that I have made that connection, that connection between believing
that I am unable to write, the programming that got in, and the excuses that I have
been making to myself as to why I can’t write and how that all fits
together.<span> </span><span> </span>Most often I tell people that I speak not
write but actually I can write, and oddly or not so oddly I write like I speak,
which isn’t a bad thing, it’s a style thing.<span>
</span>And I have found that if I go read aloud what I have written then I can
do a pretty ok job about editing it, and today I am starting to realise
this.<span> </span>Realise that yes I can write and
that yes I have something important to say with my writing, it is a part of why
I have started this blog and am making an effort to update it weekly, so that I
write something every week so that I can fall into a rhythm of writing in a regular
way, so that I can realise that I can actually write and that my writing is worthwhile.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This will be my work for the week, actually probably for the
next few months to continue to realise that yes I can actually write, that I write
like I speak and that’s ok, good even, makes it easier to read a friend has
told me, and that despite whether or not I get this chapter finished on New
Zealand Pagan history in time to email to the editor, doesn’t actually mean
that I should not write it.<span> </span>Because
actually I can write, and actually I do write and it is not idle time it is
writing time.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> PS: if you would like to suggest edits, or point out where the spelling of any of my posts is squiff then please do so, you can leave a comment or contact me on my email urbanwitchery@gmail.com i am always happy for help in that aspect. !!</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-87524648597583568332012-03-13T22:07:00.000+13:002012-03-16T08:11:57.553+13:00The Druid Priestess Robe and Tabard<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today i received in my email box pictures of the robe and tabard that i have been making over the last few weeks, which you can see a post about the beginnings of in <a href="http://pombagiraspolly.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/robes-not-sacks.html" target="_blank">Robes not Sacks</a>. I have decided to call it the Druid Priestess Robe and Tabard given how wonderful Joanne who is a Druid Priestess, looks in it. Joanne also became a Grandmother this March Full Moon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9jDp4wHjH1XMrP1vZYxSvBNleliPPkhFqWge9vOBYxQ-vabvNxIMPvdkWExJAuFQGZaTt3fGy0eGT_nk-2tZSI8_2zMRtyEFFelVvnGUwBypBRLJLqLUwW9tLB_K0NAIf9FD0Quwh8Q/s1600/2012-03-12+16.37.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9jDp4wHjH1XMrP1vZYxSvBNleliPPkhFqWge9vOBYxQ-vabvNxIMPvdkWExJAuFQGZaTt3fGy0eGT_nk-2tZSI8_2zMRtyEFFelVvnGUwBypBRLJLqLUwW9tLB_K0NAIf9FD0Quwh8Q/s400/2012-03-12+16.37.05.jpg" width="300" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7rLmd6DS24dGFPd9rmWqSNxcL7JXLCwHWl_lMAWdm25FYWgMySbUQamCVwx3_ZtrDDkEAgdAfb20OlwbLcVc_xOfYW2OHg-5MMG_d_D2LCyZ5_42N_21YTtslAh-0Sm2ziGAqbprnOc/s1600/2012-03-12+16.36.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7rLmd6DS24dGFPd9rmWqSNxcL7JXLCwHWl_lMAWdm25FYWgMySbUQamCVwx3_ZtrDDkEAgdAfb20OlwbLcVc_xOfYW2OHg-5MMG_d_D2LCyZ5_42N_21YTtslAh-0Sm2ziGAqbprnOc/s400/2012-03-12+16.36.32.jpg" width="300" /> </a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am always impressed
when I sew a shiny type fabric as an accent to a non-shiny cotton fabric. It
lends a richness to the entire outfit and gives it some sort of edge.. or something.. I noticed this years ago when I was making fabric bunnies with frilly dresses, from cream calico, which is a pretty plane fabric, but if i sewed cream satin ribbon on it, it always looked much fancier. This time I have used a shot sort of silk, that is the turquoise blue of the dress and the royal blue of the tabard, neat ey? Especially as it was stuff I had laying around in my fabric box.. most excellent!! *beams* </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEcoRJYYDFSuEZ7deqa2L1YhftwOfDbU4tHkYXfWgB_HeRqvFxedBmT-XV1HvtwTzSy357C0-e-JJnxd8MOWcIpTaAt8vuoMiQoxDjqMCyiPryc5A9ZKXSARiD_PVEHeSFIVIfII2cp4/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEcoRJYYDFSuEZ7deqa2L1YhftwOfDbU4tHkYXfWgB_HeRqvFxedBmT-XV1HvtwTzSy357C0-e-JJnxd8MOWcIpTaAt8vuoMiQoxDjqMCyiPryc5A9ZKXSARiD_PVEHeSFIVIfII2cp4/s400/006.JPG" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was also totally stoked at how this Druid Priestess Robe and Tabard came
out. Both fit well and are not sack
like in the least, which to my mind, is as it should be for ritual wear, especially
if you are playing with others. OK so it doesn't really matter if you are playing with others but, I am a little over ritual robes being little more than sacks with arms or some weird sort of medieval fantasy frock, not that I have anything against medieval clothing but there is a time and place. I am more drawn to modern style robes, with influences from fantasy and medieval sure, but also something that could be warn every day, something that is comfortable to wear, something that you can wear down the street without people starring as often happens when wearing medieval garb. Something that would almost blend in. I have been thinking about for quite some time. Anyway back to the Priestess Druid Robe and Tabard *points below*</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The Back of the Tabard with the Goddess and Moon,the way the moon is here in NZ would be a New Moon. This moon thing is something I was in Canada last year, the moon there was upside down! It was quite weird but it does mean that the traditional triple moon/goddess symbol --> )o( for the southern hemisphere would look like --> (o) just as a side note. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNQDRsA5uOuj6CRi_kOIVu2uOIFg9Q-821MH65m9EbufGzehegkkYtTLDwVnvDQT6_T28lvoWEYgK0MqUcfI20tf4naaUQtNBJb4SzB2QPZnMtfubzkYQEZl7xjm7hXcKtEIAXoItT8U/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNQDRsA5uOuj6CRi_kOIVu2uOIFg9Q-821MH65m9EbufGzehegkkYtTLDwVnvDQT6_T28lvoWEYgK0MqUcfI20tf4naaUQtNBJb4SzB2QPZnMtfubzkYQEZl7xjm7hXcKtEIAXoItT8U/s400/015.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Also the fabric I used for the Goddess and this bag is a New Zealand craft print and shows various types of traditional weaving, which is often used in making <a href="http://www.aotearoa.co.nz/flaxworks/gallery.htm" target="_blank">Kete</a> a traditional woven bag, so it is appropriate that I used it to make a bag yes? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexKrzHq1KHWYJQtZTkyl5dPdqOCGCjGvsTzYb_ST0yUu3eMb7lLJVQYOmUPvtO1DxZzemqzuxBcrD1qGj1WsRSzMsyii78u73DAgkKw5mHbhMfApPRAZpHYw2p6Nmqz3ORPSOH-916SY/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexKrzHq1KHWYJQtZTkyl5dPdqOCGCjGvsTzYb_ST0yUu3eMb7lLJVQYOmUPvtO1DxZzemqzuxBcrD1qGj1WsRSzMsyii78u73DAgkKw5mHbhMfApPRAZpHYw2p6Nmqz3ORPSOH-916SY/s320/014.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the Awen symbol that I sewed onto the tabard, is appliquéd using a gold print craft fabric that I have used on three other tabards, see pictures below they are the green ones. the three awens are made from NZ craft print and is a print of the ocean, which suited our Druid Priestess well as she loves blue and I believe the ocean. The three dots, drops of inspiration are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81ua" target="_blank">paua</a> shell buttons, a nice touch I believe. The trick to good appliqué is iron on stiffener, and not the expensive stuff but the cheap stiffer stuff, as it holds the fabric nicely, especially when sewing it on with an ordinary sewing machine </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBYoEinvdiN4S4DRxyka7MYKe1G7KhdgNJUkMkyB0QaPLJKWjcFGqnE7TJgS9EYNJtIePi6rgf9zi4h0DAKcmBrKmZB0J_VVih2uYkz4mmzY_s4W_62XCjPTkMuX4MfQgb8r68qQSifc/s1600/2011-04-30+17.48.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBYoEinvdiN4S4DRxyka7MYKe1G7KhdgNJUkMkyB0QaPLJKWjcFGqnE7TJgS9EYNJtIePi6rgf9zi4h0DAKcmBrKmZB0J_VVih2uYkz4mmzY_s4W_62XCjPTkMuX4MfQgb8r68qQSifc/s320/2011-04-30+17.48.52.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Awen Symbol appliqué that i have made</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4dW8px9HtEwMkrXHpPkIfC5F0zcARDM3xvNUwKcGbbd93mxp-Gn2g2IF-mi5dAIgWo8vx0ce5iA5wVPh_7TT5J7tK7sM_rdoBJR4qFJF58N668tTVNaG-n4d4eYLHca7_OWrb0wbJu14/s1600/2011-05-15+20.34.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4dW8px9HtEwMkrXHpPkIfC5F0zcARDM3xvNUwKcGbbd93mxp-Gn2g2IF-mi5dAIgWo8vx0ce5iA5wVPh_7TT5J7tK7sM_rdoBJR4qFJF58N668tTVNaG-n4d4eYLHca7_OWrb0wbJu14/s320/2011-05-15+20.34.57.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Awen Symbol appliqué that i have made</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Here for your viewing pleasure, is a close up for the back with the Goddess and Moon. I edged both of these in dark brown cause I thought that black would be a weird combination given the colour of the fabric for the Goddess herself. it came out rather well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All in all, I have to say that i am very proud of how this Druid Priestess Robe and Tabard turned out and I feel very privileged to of being asked to make it for Joanne, who is just as wonderful as the photos show. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is a certain magic to sewing like most crafts. In our family we have always been crafty one way or another, and I could always tell the jumpers that my mother knitted to that of other peoples or commercially knitted jumpers. And now that I think about it the bits that my grandmother knitted as well. I once had a jumper that was knitted by both my mother and grandmother, now that was pretty awesome!! I used to tell my friends that it was love, and in away that is true, but there is also a certain kind of magic that goes into knitting and sewing, a certain crafting you could say> It sets these clothes a part form all the rest. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I hope to that I have managed to imbue this Druid Priestess Robe and Tabard with the same type of intent and energy that both my Mother and Grandmother did when they were making stuff. Especially as our Druid Priestess will be spending the next three or four months travelling around Europe, and attending the <a href="http://www.druidry.org/events-projects/events-0" target="_blank">OBOD </a>summer meeting at Glastonbury, where I am told all the other Druids where White!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-64392492400626887322012-03-04T18:08:00.004+13:002012-03-04T18:08:59.691+13:00There’s Change in the Air, A Deepening<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Currently I am reading several
books, <i>Avalon Within</i>, by <a href="http://www.ynysafallon.com/publications.html" target="_blank">Jhenah Telyndru</a> which I started a couple weeks back,
and In the <i>Shadow of 13 Moons</i> by <a href="http://kimberlyshermancook.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=64" target="_blank">Kimberly Serman-Cook</a> which I started today. Both
of these books are books that I brought a last year but have never read.<span> </span>This is often the way of Pagan books for me, I purchase
them and they sit on my book shelf looking all shiny and new, with that new
book smell until until I get an urge to read them.<span> </span>And it is an urge, like a guiding hand or
little voice that says you know those books you brought x months ago, it is now
time to read them.<span> </span>Only this time the
little voice also said, and quite firmly I might add, this time you will be
doing the work in said book.<span> </span>O.O
gosh!<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Both books have a theme of self
development and use a Pagan style frame to do the work. Both books are concerned
with shadow work and working with a cycle of healing that involves a lot of looking at the self. Perhaps the words 'deepening the understanding' of the self is better phrasing.<span> </span>Both of these books use the seasons and the
moon cycles as important aspects of the framework to use for this self
exploration.<span> </span>Gosh it’s like there is a
theme or something,*coughs* or something.<span> Self ! I do believe I will be doing some self development of sorts yes?.. *smiles*</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Avalon Within</i>s' Author,</span><span style="font-size: large;">Jhenah Telyndru</span><span style="font-size: large;"> is from the <a href="http://www.sisterhoodofavalon.org/" target="_blank">Sisterhood of Avalon</a>. This book talks about a healing cycle of self healing, which from further reading on the <span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.sisterhoodofavalon.org/" target="_blank">Sisterhood of Avalon</a></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span> site is a stong theme of the Sisterhood tradition. This books lays out the f</span>ive points on this cycle,
Descent, Confrontation, Emergence, Resolution and Integration, these five
points are combined to create a cauldron of transformation.<span> </span>Much of what I have read so far uses imagery from
the Avalonian myth cycle, that I have to admit has great appeal.<span> </span>I always was a fan of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mists_of_Avalon" target="_blank">Mists of Avalon</a> by
Marian Z Bradley, that book for me was quite seminal in how I understood a
witch and priestess to live her life.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span>So far I have done several of the meditations from this book, which have worked out well, an is the descent part of the cycle. I have meet my Avalonian guide and am now becoming acquainted with the huge apple tree which is the mother tree on the Isle of Avalon. I have also just down loaded the companion CD for this book which can be found on </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.ynysafallon.com/publications.html" target="_blank">Jhenah Telyndru</a> site. The CD has the several of the meditations read out, so that you can play along at home. I figure this will make it easer as it can be quite difficult for me to remember where I was meant to be going and who i was meeting. I did contemplate recording these meditations myself, but then realised that recordings of me sound weird to me so it would end up being to distracting, yeah, so the CD it is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next up for me with this book, Avalon Within, is to visit the healing/reflective pool and see what that has to show me. Once I have done that I will be ready for the second station or point on the cycle which is the confrontation. This is where I confront who I am currently and the shadow of who I am. It is, in a word, confrontational but then that is the point. A quote from the book sums it up nicely "Confrontation is the deepest point of the Cycle of Healing, the place where the roots of our disconnection and lack of wholeness are brought to light." <span style="font-size: x-small;">pg108</span> The author also points out that this cycle of healing can be difficult the first time you do it, but is not as bad when you repeat the cycle and that this cycle of healing is an ongoing process. During your lifetime this cycle should be repeated many times, and I am with the author on this one. I have spend a large amounts of time on this path looking within and trying to figure out what it all means and who I am. its a thing. *grins*</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">With the second book <i>Shadow of 13 Moons</i> I have
only just started to read it so am unable to give a fuller account. I am currently reading pg 15, so it is only
just introducing what the author means by Shadow and darkness. I am
however finding the book so far quite interesting and thought provoking, in a similar way to how I am finding <i>reading Avalon Within</i><span>. </span>There are not a lot of book reviews on <i>Shadow of 13 Moons</i> that I have managed to find, but given what I have read in the book so far and the one book review I also have read, I suspect that it will be one of those books that takes time for it to
become popular, or more popular than it currently is. <span></span>So I guess we shall see.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What all this points to is that it is time for me to do some personal
work. Work on who I am, where I am and what I am,
deepening of the self as it were. <span></span>This work will involve
exploring the shadow and looking into the dark corners.<span> </span>I was going to say looking into the dark corners
and bring what is in there out into the light, but i feel that for the part that would be
wrong.<span> </span>My instincts say that shadow self is as much a part
of me, as that which is in the light, its just that it is in the shadow, and perhaps not something that should be in the light, unless it should. Gosh this is becoming circular. *ponders this* My guess is, this is what the current reading and workings will all be about for me to some degree.<span> </span>This will be a period of getting to know more about my shadow, as well as
getting to know more about the light aspect, it’s a balancing thing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I believe the deepening of the
self is something that is always going on especially for magical people, or
it should be.<span> </span>This is something that is
in so many ways cyclic, where each turning of the cycle reveals a new layer of the deeper self. Which is also like an onion with its layers. As you peel back one
layer more is revealed, and while you are peeling your onion remember that not
all the layers and what they reveal should be discarded.<span> </span>Accepting your whole self, your darkness,
your light and every other shade in between should be, as I see it, <span> </span>the aim of the game.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes these cycles of
deepening the self are not consciously active or conscious for that matter and at
other times they are. This time for me I have a feeling that this deepening of the self will be a much more concious thing , more mindful, and will probably involve more actions in the form of ritual and meditation. <span> </span>This of course<span> </span>comes with several warnings, don’t make shit
up, sometimes it is what it is or perhaps not time to look in that dark corner
just yet.<span> </span>But it is however time to actively
seek, to dare I say it get jiggy with, the active ritual side of my faith in relation to the deepening of myself. <span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I felt the death of summer this morning, and the birth of Autumn, here in New Zealand and the year slip closer to its dark half. We shall see how this deepening of the self all goes as the dark half of the year is a good time for some self reflection. It may lead to a more active practice,
with formal rituals, daily devotions, and a variety of other practices, which for me in some ways is something new as I have always been less formal in my practices and devotions. <span></span>I
don’t know how long this will all take, or where it will lead but it will lead
somewhere.. </span></span>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-64856386356533680352012-02-12T19:57:00.000+13:002012-02-12T19:57:30.651+13:00The Green Spiral Hoody DressSo the last little while has been about sewing, and while I waited for my client to come around so we could do a fitting, I decided to experiment with embellishments, on a hoody dress that I have been wanting to make for quite some time, and then I decided to share it with the world. also I am believe that I will be selling this one. This hoody dress is a size 14 New Zealand sizing.. which can be found <a href="http://productsfromnz.com/size" target="_blank">here </a><br />
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First the Fabric, which is cotton Sweatshirt fabric, so it has a very slight stretch, the almost white, but actually sage is what I made the spirals from, and the brown the main hoody.. the peacock green I might be using on the second one of these I am making for another client. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbhu3uiufZDcKWDiH8s50phiQe_EnabWbsb8ND3dN_BbhqsUdUeyP2W0qyQIIXELYT36OjszKxx-Nsuf0fGQmvfd2yZbK4TKrJZIVuPhAyVMQu2vxaze_SB0cTkHKRGUC-2eHaTPJxnY/s1600/sewing+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTbhu3uiufZDcKWDiH8s50phiQe_EnabWbsb8ND3dN_BbhqsUdUeyP2W0qyQIIXELYT36OjszKxx-Nsuf0fGQmvfd2yZbK4TKrJZIVuPhAyVMQu2vxaze_SB0cTkHKRGUC-2eHaTPJxnY/s400/sewing+001.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
then i cut the pattern out.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTb72fCCmniANGeSci0bvhp5mSM9Cy4afYsSILz-S6cigudb965z3szQzqbJ94z02960WOmgSRf1feFazqF-AGwwaXbGHz2dgw1YsNGijqfQiEmPtJReCZE_03l5mn0VGNyo5zEhSltT4/s1600/sewing+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTb72fCCmniANGeSci0bvhp5mSM9Cy4afYsSILz-S6cigudb965z3szQzqbJ94z02960WOmgSRf1feFazqF-AGwwaXbGHz2dgw1YsNGijqfQiEmPtJReCZE_03l5mn0VGNyo5zEhSltT4/s400/sewing+004.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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followed by cutting and pinning the spirals. I enjoyed this bit as it was very creative, and i found out that spirals are pretty easy to freehand cut out, and not to difficult to sew on. Before when I made my wall hangings I used a iron on backing to keep the fabric nice and then zigzaged the edges, but this time I wanted the edges of the spirals to fray a little, which it will as the fabric is a knit, rather than woven.. so two things will happen when washing, this hoody dress, the inside will soften and apparently become a little fuzzy, (maybe I am kind dubious about that) and second the sage green spirals will gain a slightly frayed edge, which will look pretty cool. !!<br />
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and then i sewed it all together, and boy did it come out really well.. i am so proud!!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQ2THil68BoyOgG9J3WTFLU6eja7su8Djmzcs4AfvVmlAPjnhQCKvdqUZmL6nqIxG_PefCtwjQVncXnvaUy_3Q38J9TRBKT4vUfDnbqQJsosBYYvZZNZ59YLdhhgCZ-ZS6tXHLZk9_3c/s1600/hooping+094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQ2THil68BoyOgG9J3WTFLU6eja7su8Djmzcs4AfvVmlAPjnhQCKvdqUZmL6nqIxG_PefCtwjQVncXnvaUy_3Q38J9TRBKT4vUfDnbqQJsosBYYvZZNZ59YLdhhgCZ-ZS6tXHLZk9_3c/s400/hooping+094.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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I enjoy this type of crafting, it is both creative and technical at the same time. It also gives my mind a break from the heck strife of my life of late, and when I am done I have something physical in exchange. I remember once when I read the books Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card, reading about Makers, whos job it was to keep the unmaker, the destroyer away, and when the Alvin, who was the seventh son felt this unmaker close he would make something. I am not the seventh son of a seventh son but I am the first daughter of the first daughter of a first daughter, and maybe that is similar, however has I have grown over the last few years, a large part of who I am is that person who creates, crafts and sews, and when I do this I veritably imbue it with magic. </div>
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hmm.. *ponders many thoughts*</div>
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also if you would like this hoody dress, please message me, either here or on my email Urbanwitchery (at) gmail</div>
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*smiles* </div>
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<br />Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-73309947083891781612012-02-07T21:17:00.000+13:002012-02-07T21:22:02.723+13:00The Element of Land<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDfzBALpEKPU9wWNr5g4f8wimIIU8lYP58p0rmmBtKKlE3G_fPhA_bhElXCp2UryvsS_EUcsxLu-0arivlg11QOZGasTeYTCMiyjreoYnzqgdvwTa541CYfsh7Y7WQhwAbksvIifPJILU/s1600/Earthy+Leaves.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDfzBALpEKPU9wWNr5g4f8wimIIU8lYP58p0rmmBtKKlE3G_fPhA_bhElXCp2UryvsS_EUcsxLu-0arivlg11QOZGasTeYTCMiyjreoYnzqgdvwTa541CYfsh7Y7WQhwAbksvIifPJILU/s400/Earthy+Leaves.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo taken by me!</td></tr>
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For the longest time the element of earth confused me,
mostly I believe, because I was seeing a picture of the planet earth, and as
you know the planet earth contains all of the elements not just one. It was
a very perplexing thing. </div>
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So a few years back, I was re exploring my understanding of
the sacred elements. I travelled with
two witchy friends of mine to Castle Point, with the intention of discovering
what the element for east was. You see
while I understand that there are ‘traditional’ correspondents for the elements
and directions, I live in New Zealand, and our seasons and circle casting is opposite
to that of the northern hemisphere and seeing as I believe in practising in the
land you live rather than trying to fit something from another land, so to
speak, I was curious as to see what would happen. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Castle Point, Photo taken by Chris Seaman</span></div>
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Of course I had not been specific when asking about the
direction I was and elements, however the message I got back in regards to the
elements, was the following impressions which I have translated into words:
Land, Ocean, Wind, and Fire, somewhat different from Earth, Air, Fire and
Water. When I enquired further about
Land in relation to the elemental energies of earth, I was given a vision if
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I turned away from
facing the ocean and faced towards the land, I was sitting on the saddle, that
is the huge sticky up bit you can see in the photo. As I sunk my awareness down into the earth, I
stared to feel the land. I started to
feel the energies of the people who had lived on that land before. As I spread my awareness down through the
various layers of soil and into the distance, I could feel the farmers who made
their living on the land, holiday makers who came and went, the settlers, who
cut down the trees, and created the farms that the farmers now lived on and the
Maori and the lives that they had lived. Then I shifted deeper into the
soil and land itself, and could feel how the soil feed the plant life, and made
homes for some of our native birds, along with several of our import. The land was showing me something here, it
was the energies and wisdom of those that had lived and live on it. It is difficult to explain in words as I was receiving
emotions, which loosely translated into images, not really anything that was spoken. But then this has been how I have always done
this type of thing. And boy did it take
me years to figure that one out, but I digress, and perhaps is a subject for
post another day. </div>
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This energy these pictures of Farmers, Holiday Makers,
Settlers, Maori and the fauna and flora living on the land was part of the
energy of this element of earth, the land.
Which is quite different from my initial
image of the Planet Earth, go figure *coughs* </div>
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So what did I learn through all of this? Apart from the obvious learning in a very visual
way the more about the element Earth, or what I now refer to as Land. I also
learned that learning about the elements is an on-going process, and as you
yourself progress and deepening your understanding of magic, and your own path,
so to you deepen your understanding of the elements, kind of a hand in hand
thing. </div>
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I am currently furthering that understanding by doing the
elemental meditations by Philip Carr-Gomm, called <span class="album-name">Wild
Wisdom Meditations with Earth, Water, Air & Fire</span>, and these if you
are interested are very good and can be found <a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/PhilipCarrGomm" target="_blank">here</a> at CD baby. These meditations are also good for beginners,
to start their journey to understanding the elements. </div>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-16396954540320146532012-02-02T13:06:00.000+13:002012-02-07T21:23:01.918+13:00Robes not sacksSo After going to Druid Camp Aotearoa, at the Grove of the Summer Stars, one of the Druids who is travelling to England in June, asked me to make her a Robe and Tabbard, so that she has nice ritual wear for England. As we were discussion styles and designs, i got to wondering, so many druid robes of have seen are, to put it frankly sacks with arms, not flattering, and if you are a shapely woman, or man then would it not make sense to have a more fitted robe? but then it is also down to personal preference, just like some people like to have robes for rituals, others don't. But then perhaps some people shy away from robes because of their sack like design. then there are the robes that re reminiscent of medieval gowns, which are not really my thing.. anyway, i figured it would be nice to see what i am currently sewing for this lady as it is in my opinion quite beautiful!!<br />
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This is the fabric and pattern that has been choose. The turquoise at the back is the Dress/robe with the pattern for the Dress robe in the front. the royal blue and light blue are for the tabard, which will go over the Robe. on the tabard will be an awen and goddess appliqué the goddess on the back and the awen on the front. i am also making a small bag from the remainder of the patterned fabric. the gold and silver as also for the appliqué <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkUDaNXazrfn-0igD0HGCPKASHoEYK5NwK0SNYq84CjBQTSsfcM-YswXEBYlmB_7xmwAnXDlu58Owaa29ihS75yAKNNR9pVk1uMiIg26UpZX6oNmL6mzO6GEK4G56unp6vRoqPFizyFjI/s1600/sewing+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkUDaNXazrfn-0igD0HGCPKASHoEYK5NwK0SNYq84CjBQTSsfcM-YswXEBYlmB_7xmwAnXDlu58Owaa29ihS75yAKNNR9pVk1uMiIg26UpZX6oNmL6mzO6GEK4G56unp6vRoqPFizyFjI/s400/sewing+003.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
the pattern actually took quite some time to lay out as there was not actually enough, but lucky in one of my fabric boxes was some shot silk, well kinda silk which matched both the turquoise and royal blue.. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8hy6Zpuk7cVUaMmTnPySSfEOcRiRXpJhyphenhyphenAVnEOf3V9S_fDObt0MOwTOBgOIPDG5pC1q1aBPQAzZypaa058hT3itgkFvr3Y0lRccgW4zuzaRJaipfpmgzYnQ-_Ohf7WHcdZz93Vlb9vU/s1600/sewing+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8hy6Zpuk7cVUaMmTnPySSfEOcRiRXpJhyphenhyphenAVnEOf3V9S_fDObt0MOwTOBgOIPDG5pC1q1aBPQAzZypaa058hT3itgkFvr3Y0lRccgW4zuzaRJaipfpmgzYnQ-_Ohf7WHcdZz93Vlb9vU/s400/sewing+004.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ToYC2rYQXbgnjf9olgiti_JnfTNa2XnJa1Enmj1Yss6iWNxTZcRBf6rlsZ2kl_ObJAxe6_HthcQ_9f2ZP-lM9fz96GhN1HvwhJwlANBApbhaOvUn1ho5vDLVW5HBcSC1EuVsat5jaCk/s1600/sewing+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ToYC2rYQXbgnjf9olgiti_JnfTNa2XnJa1Enmj1Yss6iWNxTZcRBf6rlsZ2kl_ObJAxe6_HthcQ_9f2ZP-lM9fz96GhN1HvwhJwlANBApbhaOvUn1ho5vDLVW5HBcSC1EuVsat5jaCk/s400/sewing+006.JPG" width="256" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-L_7bz6rsqbNOUL5sedMVuJBYLp9PmhrpfE5UDc_HkL7g6b4tAtxBxgj_zEwBmEl8yD81rXDKO0LkqkflDg4Kb45ZmG7ZMXZpEIEVr07-Zkr6WbWb0KF4U7R8PyLsq0Sk-s5ssGUw5Us/s1600/sewing+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-L_7bz6rsqbNOUL5sedMVuJBYLp9PmhrpfE5UDc_HkL7g6b4tAtxBxgj_zEwBmEl8yD81rXDKO0LkqkflDg4Kb45ZmG7ZMXZpEIEVr07-Zkr6WbWb0KF4U7R8PyLsq0Sk-s5ssGUw5Us/s400/sewing+009.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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here is a pic of the of the extra fabric in comparison to the turquoise. its difficult to get in pictures as it changes and shifts in the light. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSa1Za7ikWfYfVzSZ7V5_kBS6OpUCzOt2iJZdJkA0sr-yLbAsGkTdfcBfhdkqyMKcRKTyz3DBJVYJLPWZUbEp351vVj0AfDAwppln7OgyZ9FGEbIptbIicRpfRc944PAOAVyuI-rTorE/s1600/sewing+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSa1Za7ikWfYfVzSZ7V5_kBS6OpUCzOt2iJZdJkA0sr-yLbAsGkTdfcBfhdkqyMKcRKTyz3DBJVYJLPWZUbEp351vVj0AfDAwppln7OgyZ9FGEbIptbIicRpfRc944PAOAVyuI-rTorE/s400/sewing+010.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
so now we have gotten to the stage of need for fitting, and their is no arms sewing on it as yet. Once the dress/robe is finished then i can make start o the tabard..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyB4H8FUttlX0frVFtwrhRdpjasD1msTi7bDkYqaWHsFfB93pe5zbQJWpp5NQiuBN41yVvv4Uc7onxVPdodpUuJlUYTy9rCpz1ROlOrGd4NJrNYlFIDAs32beCBdhWjy8-3SZAcJfA_G0/s1600/sewing+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyB4H8FUttlX0frVFtwrhRdpjasD1msTi7bDkYqaWHsFfB93pe5zbQJWpp5NQiuBN41yVvv4Uc7onxVPdodpUuJlUYTy9rCpz1ROlOrGd4NJrNYlFIDAs32beCBdhWjy8-3SZAcJfA_G0/s640/sewing+004.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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this satruday there will be a fitting and i will be able to put the arms on, and hem it.. whoot. the colours remind me of a paua shell, which has the similar colours of turquoise and royal blue<br />
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so gentle readers, if you were to have robes made what would they look like and why?<br />
<br />Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-89222575054344304122011-11-25T12:04:00.001+13:002012-02-07T21:26:48.198+13:00I'm on a Pagan Podcast!!which is exciting as it is one of my favourite podcasts!! whee.. so if
you wanna listen to what i said, and Mysti, cause that is pretty
interesting as well.. you can go download it from here <a href="http://www.stonegatepodshow.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.stonegatepodshow.net/</a>
also i do recommend standing stone and garden gate, as it is an
excellent podcast full of very thought provoking stuff and wonderful
Canadian accents.. *grins* you can read my review of Standing Stone Garden Gate <a href="http://pombagiraspolly.blogspot.com/2010/03/podcasts-new-black.html">here</a><br />
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but gosh it has made me weirdly wistful for Canada, and the Awesome Canadian Pagans who i meet while i was over there.. *is wistful*<br />
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so please go listen and tell me what you think.. cause i would like to know.. *smiles*<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdmcp4L3q7ZZaFRt5N_Qknvd3UzFS9r7KUHdy3vSv8OzHEtW0v0Md7Tz43dWnWHJKbZr5bBBhTz0vPIgelndsE82dpm5_7MFrjzI0gMhlipEGIOkaO_0oMhNOMniJ1uQ9IChBhAMzpdA/s1600/Polly+KG+2011+Canada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdmcp4L3q7ZZaFRt5N_Qknvd3UzFS9r7KUHdy3vSv8OzHEtW0v0Md7Tz43dWnWHJKbZr5bBBhTz0vPIgelndsE82dpm5_7MFrjzI0gMhlipEGIOkaO_0oMhNOMniJ1uQ9IChBhAMzpdA/s400/Polly+KG+2011+Canada.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me at <a href="http://www.kaleidoscope-gathering.ca/" target="_blank">Kaleidoscope Gathering</a> in Canadia whee!!</td></tr>
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do be doPombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-77326822515440228472011-07-14T20:24:00.000+12:002011-07-14T20:24:36.645+12:00Witches Work<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">What is this elusive work that
magical workers talk about? I ponder one Tuesday morning at work. You see
here where I live the pagan community is still very young and getting groups
together, whether organically or with purpose, is like grasping at rainbow
caused by prisms hung in a window to catch the sun. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">This weekend a fellow witch came
around and we talked about this. “are people afraid to work with each
other?” he asked. I know that often magical work can be quite
personal. Delving into the shadow can cause tears and tantrums which, for
the average kiwi whose nature is generally rather reserved to start with, can
be quite difficult to think of doing this with other people. Hell we
Kiwipagans have issues raising our voices above a whisper let alone actually do
any sort of chanting in a ritual. O.o</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">But again what is this work and
what does it look like? </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Well my ‘work’ looks different
from that of my Fellow Witch who came to visit on Sunday. That much is
pretty obvious even to the causal observer, but let me expand on this for a
moment. Take for instance the winter Solstice. For me and given
what has/had been happening I felt drawn to an all night vigil, instead of trooping
out to <s>concrete henge</s> Stonehenge Aotearoa, over the hill to celebrate
the longest night with those from the wider pagan community. My Fellow
Witch however did attend the public ritual which, he says went very
well. I do not know if he did any ‘work’ because I didn’t ask. But
during a numerous cups of tea on Sunday afternoon he did say that he generally
did a lot of work during more formal ceremonial and ritual setting.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Which got me to thinking so if my
work, in this instance, some shadow work was done during an all night vigil at
my house while several teens were partying on in the other room and my fellow
witches work is done during a ritual setting how does the average pagan know
when there is work to be done, or what from this work will take? It is
one of those instances where the books say “deep personal work will always be
done on the Sabbat with your coven mates in the form of highly ceremonial
rituals, with powerful magic’s and people to catch you should you fall”.. When
in all reality a lot of us are pretty much solitary (especially here in NZ,)
and we have not yet found a coven, group or circle that we would be happy
sharing such things with or we are not really drawn to coven work. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Again what is this work, and
baring belonging to a good working coven group or circle, what does it look
like? </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">On the one hand a witches work
can come in many different forms, from talking to a lady at the bus stop who
looks warn and is carrying and empty cat cage, because you can feel her grief
and you know that she needs someone to share the grief with, to deeply personal
internal work which is so that you can talk to that lady at the buss stop who
is carrying an empty cat cage with sympathy and understanding. However
for the purpose of this blogg post I am mostly talking about personal
work. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Personal work is not always
‘shadow’ work, in my opinion, although you have to admit a lot of personal work
gets done when the shadow self flairs up and acts like a dementor. That
being said personal work can also be done when the light is strong and you are
feeling like you are on top of the world. It is all a matter of
perspective and given that it is personal work, a deeper understanding of, not
just yourself but of others who you can </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">recognise</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> as similar. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">This is all very well and good,
but just how does a person do personal work? If you are like me and not
ceremonially based as such then sometimes to the outside observer my personal
work can look like not much at all, for example my solstice vigil.
Because of the theme of ‘circumstances beyond my control’ funnily enough my
choice of days of when I would be doing my vigil where also out of my control,
but then that was also a large part of my personal work for that evening.
Ideally I would have liked to stay up all night with a trusted fellow pagan, or
failing that have a quiet filled evening with a long ritual baths, tea and
food, but alas I had a house full of young strangers who were attending a b’day
party of the TAB, (teenage boy or as his mum calls him the Youth of Today.)
This was not a loud party by any stretch of the imagination but 7 teenagers on
the preface of adulthood can make quite a bit of noise. So while the
teens hung out in our lounge playing play station and a variety of games, some
even going to so far as to get teenage cooties on my chair. O.o I was
doing my vigil in my room. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">For my solstice vigil I hung out
in my room, I spent most of the evening tidying up my clothes and
cleaning several altar spaces, with occasional breaks for cups of tea and then
hiding back into my room from the teenagers err I mean surfing the
internet. During all that time I was also contemplating the particularly
shadow that I was dealing with, with questions such as why? how? and where did
that come from. Occasionally there was thoughts of eww teenage
cooties on my chair!! but for the most part I was working on the shadow
at hand. Early in the evening this was interspersed with bouts of
laughter with my flatmate who was just as bemused at the antics of the teens as
I was. Later in the wee hours of the morning after my flatmate had gone
to bed there were further venture out to the kitchen for cups of tea and a lot
more contemplation. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">To the outside observer it looked
like not much, apart from hanging out in my room drinking cups of tea.
Sure there were candles going in my room and incense burning in the burner but
as far as ritual gear, clothing or otherwise it was pretty noon existent.
</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">So how was this different from
any other night that I had spent in my room drinking tea and avoiding
teenagers, I would have to say intent, my intent that evening was to see in the
longest night, (well near enough) fare-welling our very odd winter, heralding
in the lengthening of days, and doing some pondering on a shadow aspect of myself.
So my the end of the night while very tired I was calm, things were more
settled in my mind and soul and I could feel the light filling the shadows,
where imbalance was before. In some ways it was a dark night of the
soul, a little death of sorts, and I am working on balance but then that is the
way of this path. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">So I guess the purpose of sharing
this is to say that work, magical work can take many forms, for some it is all
about high ritual, timing, ritual tools and robes or not. For others this
type of internal work can take the form of a long bath with some self
contemplation followed by journaling in a quite space that has been set up
before hand or it can be an unplanned vigil, with cups of tea teenage cooties
and quite contemplation in the wee hours of the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is all magical work, or one aspect of
magical work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am leaning as I travel
down this path that once you get past the big showy stuff it is often the small
stuff that has the biggest power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
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<br /></div>Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-65750464606117562872011-07-05T14:45:00.000+12:002011-07-05T14:45:11.332+12:00In lue of actually writing somethingand to remind you, all two of you who read this that i am still here, and still wanting to write stuff, but alas, have not found a topic with which to write about here are some links to excellent blog posts written by some of my favourite bloggers ok two.. *cough*.. anyways.. the reason behind posting these links is that not only are the blog posts interesting and thought provoking but so to are the replies. so often today when reading articles blogs and news articles on line, it pays to stay away from the comments, they are so often littered with mindless knowitalls, who are happy to tell you that you are wrong and they are right and here is why, as apposed to discussing the content of the post.. but this time, i believe i got as much out of the initial post as i did the comments.. which is yay!! <br />
<br />
<br /><br />
so first up entheogens and Self control By Sarah Lawless ( wish she lived closer so to make stalking easer. *cough*) <br />
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<a href="http://witchofforestgrove.com/2011/06/28/entheogens-and-self-control/">Entheogens And Self Control/</a><br />
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Second is another of Ms Sarahs Lawless's posts, about oversharing in your bloggposts.. now this is quite interesting as i figure that we are all prone to such things when we first start out. It is I figure a personal decision and thought process to decided where you line is, how much is good sharing and how much is not? And how does that change when you write on a sometime anonymous blogg verses a conversation with your neighbour. “why yes today my undies are yellow and brown and are actually thundrpants the best underpants in the whole wide world” is much better on a blogg than telling your neighbour, even when they are staring at afore mentioned undies on your washing line. <br />
<br /><br />
I guess as we get older telling everyone that you know when the spirit of your grandmother is in your house cause it leaves a smell of lavender and oil of olay is perhaps over-share, in some places but not so in others. i can remember when i was interviewed for Raido New Zealand, I pretty much kept the answers to pretty mundane stuff, national radio listeners didn't really need to know about my grandmother or the voices. Red pills blue pills choices choices. However when we had a memorial at home for my flatmates mother, telling a couple of her friends, who were awesome little old lady’s was appropriate , cause it cause an interesting conversation about ancestors and how their presents is sometimes noted. Anyway… here is Sarahs Blogg Post there is some interesting discussion going on in the comments.. it certainly gave me some interesting food for thought..<br />
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<a href="http://witchofforestgrove.com/2011/07/01/oversharing-witches/">Oversharing Witches</a><br />
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<br /><br />
third on the list is a post by Juniper the Hedgewitch on the funeral of a crow that was found dead.. its one of those read between the lines things, there is a wealth of information if you are willing to work for it.. <--- is suspect that this is a hedgwitch thing.. at first a hedge just lookes like bushes all lined up, until you take your time and look further..anyhoo<br />
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<a href="http://walkingthehedge.net/blog/2011/06/an-unexpected-funeral/">An Unexpected Funeral</a><br />
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and the last post is also from Juni, how to rehome a spirit in a suite of armour.. I liked this one cause well how do you rehome a spirit that lives in a suite of armour or anywhere actually.. why are they there? What is the purpose? What sort of spirit is Sir Knight?? Is he a buildup of the energy in the house from the inhabitants that is now manifested?? *ponders spirits*. Or is he something else did he come with the suit of armour?? So much to ponder.. <br />
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<a href="http://walkingthehedge.net/blog/2011/07/meet-sir-kinght/">Meet Sir Knight</a><br />
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right then have at it. <br />
<br />Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2781769818361426827.post-32533256724001765432011-05-11T08:34:00.000+12:002011-05-11T08:34:14.222+12:00well goshlooks like i can get into my blogg but not my LJ.. so i guess that means there will be a few more posts happening here.. might have to contemplate paganish topics.. and post some pics of the stuff i have been making.. most excellent..<br />
<br />
*smiles*Pombagirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077140273793332835noreply@blogger.com0