Resolutions, Self Improvement, and Self Care

I’ve always wanted to be the type of person who says, “I don’t believe in self-improvement.”  Unfortunately, I have to admit that I am somewhat addicted to it.  It’s the whole “new project” aspect of it.  I love starting new things.  Long time readers will know that where I lack is in the finishing.  I’ve started so many projects that haven’t really gone anywhere.  Either I forget, or lose interest.  Really, unless it’s a job, I’m not good at sticking to a schedule.

This year, while I am still compelled to do a full new year clean and cleansing of my home (I am procrastinating on the floors), I am also finding myself waffling on what I want to take on as a new project for the year.  My New Year’s resolution was about meditation and self-care (and doing a little more work on my blog).  Later this week, I am going for my first mani/pedi of the year – I think I will probably go with an Imbolc-y colour.

For the blog, I will probably be going through and overhauling some of the pages, and adding to some of the most popular topics.  I think that perhaps this is the year I need to give myself a break.  Prompted topics, while they can make for some really interesting content, tend to end up feeling like a chore, especially when they are due every week.

I’d like to write more on topics that are interesting to me, regardless of genre.  There are a lot of facets to me, so it can’t hurt to add some more facets to the blog.  I think the category of Pagan Lifestyle has room for all the things that make up me and my life.

One idea I had been tossing around in my head was the thought of contributing to some Pagan magazine sites.  It has been so long since I was up on the whole scene that I think it will take a bit of research to find out which sites are still active and popular – and looking for articles relating to a more secular approach to witchcraft and not only yet another spin on “How to Live a Religious Life”.  We’ll see how that goes.  I know that a lot of publications tend to shut down due to lack of interest/content.

On a positive note, no matter how flighty or lazy I get, this blog will always be here. Happy New Year – may yours be filled with blessings.

Bad Blogger

Bill Watterson is the Best

I know I have been neglecting you all terribly, but I have had my head stuck in a novel and … I DID IT!  I won NaNoWriMo!  Not quite finished the story, but I crossed the 50k finish line in 29 days, so that has to count for something.  I am dog tired. <- I like that phrase, tho every dog I’ve ever owned has be undeniably lazy, so I don’t know how apt it is.

I will say that writing a novel in 30 days with toddlers climbing on you is no easy task.  I swear that they have some kind of a radar that tells them when Mommy is busy, so that they can drop whatever it is that they’re doing and come running to chatter or scream at me.  But I muscled through, and now that I am physically exhausted, bring on the holidays!

Haha.  I am going to be spending December catching up on some reading in my spare time between kids, cleaning my sadly neglected house, and the holidays.  I will try to get some more pages updated here.  I will aim for writing up the Yule article for the WOTY page – I had assumed that I had that one written already.

Then my new year’s resolution will be to finish the story I started at NaNo and get it all polished up shiny.  I have also been thinking of finally getting the intro packet from the OBOD.  We’ll see how that goes.

That’s all I’ve got folks.  Talk at ya later!

Pagan Fashion

This article has been a long time in coming.  I can remember years ago looking for something somewhere that had either a list or a store that compiled what I, at the time, believed Pagan fashion to be.  For me, it was always a sort of semi-elegant, boho chic look.

Unfortunately, a lot of what I found back then was print t shirts and ritual robes.  Off and on over the years, I’d asked different groups of folks what they wore.  What was ‘Pagan Fashion’ to them?

The Wild Hunt » Pagans and Hindus Together: One Billion Strong

In addition to the ongoing dialog over gender that has defined PantheaCon 2012 for many, there were several other amazing talks, presentations, rituals, and panels that were important to our community, and deserve wider reporting. One of those was a panel discussion between modern Pagans and members of the Hindu American Foundationentitled “Pagans and Hindus Together: One Billion Strong.”

via The Wild Hunt » Pagans and Hindus Together: One Billion Strong.

Dryad worship for tree huggers | Examiner.com

Any season is the right season to get to know your local tree spirits, but spring seems to be an especially auspicious time. As the sap begins to rise, the leaves to bud, the tips of the branches to flush delicate green, the conscious beings that dwell within the trees may well be open to accepting overtures from humans who approach them with good intentions.

Continue reading Dryad worship for tree huggers – Baltimore paganism | Examiner.com

What if you were unable to wake from that dream?

I’ve been waffling on topics again, and I think that I have finally come to a topic that speaks to me.  This article for the PBP will be about Experience – but not in the way you might think.

I’m not going to talk about the value of experience over book learning.  What I want to explore in this article is how modern Pagans experience the world.

PP Archives – White Witchcraft

A brief word: this article was written in 2004 when I was far more active online than I am these days.  Eight years later, and I had almost hoped that this article would no longer be relevant.  From what little I’ve seen of the Pagan Web of 2012, I think that there is still a need for what is said here.

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I think that I am finally getting to the point where the mere mention of this phrase [white witchcraft] makes me want to run screaming from the room. But let me explain to you why…

I think that the concept of White Witchcraft is a hold over for people who are taking their first steps out of the structure of Christianity. They want to believe that there is some sort of universal punishment for those who commit misdeeds. To them, the concept of karma is much like the role of St. Peter, who tallies your sins to see if you get into heaven or not.

Dream Charms

D was a difficult letter for me.  I was thinking of doing a post on Dowsing  as the pendulum is one of my favorite tools. But I thought that I might save that for down the road when we hit the letter P.  That would allow me to fully explore the pendulum in all its glory.

Then I thought that I might do a post on Deosil.  I decided against that when I started doubting my ability get an entire blog post about ‘sunwise’ written without sounding like a school teacher.

I was running out of ideas, so I started poking around on the PBP Facebook page to see if anything posted there might help to inspire me.  And as it happens, it did.