Yule

I hope everyone had a blessed Yule. I know I did. I was worried to start, because I knew I could not celebrate to any extent on my own. I ended up shopping with my mom. After two front row parking spots, which I never get, and seeing my best friend in the store which is the only pagan friend I have here and fully didn't think I would see him on our holiday, I knew the Gods were with me despite the fact I didn't expect to feel their presence. I came home and lit the candles on the Yule Log I made for my alter last year and had a wonderful night.

The presence in my life lasted very strongly into today. My parents didn't wake me, which is a shock in itself, leaving me to wake on my own. I got up to my boyfriend saying good morning, did some yoga to connect to my own body and the universe, and did a short meditation. After doing a shielding ritual I adapted, I felt better than I had since I have been home. I chose my stone for the day, which oddly enough turned out to be a quartz, and spent the rest of the day being as mindful as I could and listening to my pagan podcasts.

Basically, what I mean is that I wasn't even trying and I fully connected with deity in a way I never expected. Whether it's through a short prayer or simply acknowledging the works of the divine in even the little things in life, I believe that there is something more and it can change our lives if we only look. Today, negativity was no longer a big deal. I dealt with it my way. I only hope that can continue.

Stones

I am slowly discovering the power of stones. I recently made a list of what sounded good from the pagan store I visit (Ancient Mysteries), and ended up getting all of them. I found myself choosing each stone due to the energies it gave off. The results have been amazing. I have purified those stones and the ones I had before in a way that I hadn't used before. I put out my stones the day before the new moon in my chalice and covered them with water before setting them on the window seal with the blinds open. I left them there 24 hours to get the energies of the lord and lady. At the same time (at sunset) the next day, I took them from the water, put them in an offering bowl I use, and added sage before putting water over them. Sadly, when I went to go move them the next morning I realized the bowl leaks and I now have a green circle on the cloth I keep on the window seal until I find time to wash it. The sage added on the night of the new moon seemed to give them an energy that was all their own. I put them in the chalice again for one more day and then set them on my alter to dry. Each night I added a little spell. The first night was for the banishing of all energies they had picked up, the night of the new moon was for cleansing and finding the power within the stones, and the last night was a request for the lord and lady to aide in the energies the stones would need to find their full potential. I found that this cleansing worked so much better than the elemental cleansing I had used before with my stones that has always been effective for my tools.

My whole purpose in getting more stones was because I knew I would be headed home for the holidays. I live in a very Christian home and my dad spouts negativity. It is a horrible environment and I find myself being completely drained if I am around the house for even an hour. The first day I was home, I didn't use my stones. The second day, I remembered them. Both yesterday and today I picked stones from my pile based on the energies they gave off as to which would help me the most that day. It has worked wonderfully. I am putting them in water each night under the moon (now in a candleholder because I am home but will use a chalice again when I return to school) so that the energies they absorb in the day to protect me will be drained off.

I failed to mention, after I cleansed the stones I took each and set up a temporary circle to ask the elements and the deities to assist me in finding each stones' purpose and then said what each would be used for and drew a pentacle over each in the air in the form of a spell. I am loving the effects so far. I know a lot of people use stones. Are my practices similar to yours? It it just what I decided would work...what did you learn that works for your stones? Do you cleanse them after each use like I have done? Let me know. Thank you to those who follow me, I love the support and an extra special thanks because I got my first comment!!!!

Daily Rituals

As a solitary practitioner, it is often very hard for me to find practices that fit my very eclectic system of beliefs. Because I feel like I have a very personalized system, I think that makes it hard for me to post here with any regularity for the fear that what I may be doing within my own practice may not be necessarily accepted by the majority of the community. Thanks to a friend of mine on Facebook, I recently made myself a pagan rosary and am very proud of the way it turned out. Since I made it, I have been thinking a lot about daily rituals. I haven't read much about them yet, but thanks to the wonderful Sparrow and Mojo at the Wigglian Way Podcast, I found out about the LBRP or Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentacle. I read up on it a little and sense then I have been using it most mornings to remind me to connect with my magic through the day. I have also been making a conscious effort to meditate daily and am still perfecting my use of the rosary I made.

Through my efforts to connect with myself, I have started using more energy work through out the day. Basically, now I am interested in daily rituals and if anyone has references for me to use I would be very thankful.

On that note, I am having a bit of trouble coming up with ideas for posts. Please comment and let me know what you want to hear about. If there is a topic you have been putting off researching or whatever, pitch it to me and I will see if I can figure something out. I want to see what I can learn and it would defiantly help if the topics were interesting to others as well.

Today

Today, it rains. The Goddess welcomes the God's nourishment and their union is continued.

I know I am not keeping up with this well, but I feel there is no point to write if the mood is not there. Then I would be writing about something no one wants to hear about.

So, since it's raining here, I am going to talk about my religious views on rain.

Rain surrounds the earth with the water element, bringing balance back to the world. I have found that rain is an awesome opportunity for meditation. The balance rain brings is a wonderful chance to find balance in my own body. Just going to my sacred space and talking to my animal guide or even just exploring the space the come to grips with my vision of reality is enough to keep me energized and fulfilled for sometimes weeks after.

Just wanted to share the wonder that rain brings my life. Hoping this helps anyone that actually reads....please follow and comment. Let me know I am not alone. What is your favorite way to relax and connect to the universe?

Hinduism's Concern

So, time to start putting some actually information in here. I will start with some ideas on Hinduism since that is what I have a more scholarly background in. Hinduism can be said to fall under the umbrella of Paganism, though many people would or will be upset with me for saying that. The pantheon is well used in the eclectic path. Most common we see Siva (Shiva in English translation who is a MALE thank you video game world for trying to tell us otherwise....), Kali, Ganesha, and probably Durga and a few others. If you use Hindu deities I would love to know who you look to because with my information with Hinduism I have no understanding of how Paganism would see those deities despite the fact I look to Siva and Ganesha both.

I brought this in because in one of my classes we have been discussing the idea of an ultimate concern, which would be translated as the guiding force in our lives. I have tried to tie in this idea with Hinduism and all I can come up with is that Hinduism's ultimate concern is that the practitioner seeks to become one with the divine. The whole process of reincarnation is to reach the goal of moksa, which is translated, in my understanding, as a connection with the Cosmic Spirit and the deities that are part of that. So, the question here for me is, if the ultimate concern is to become one with the eternal spirit and understanding that pervades all things and in truth is existence itself, how are we to live in a way that reflects that concern? I know Hinduism has their dharma or duty that one must fulfill in life based on their position, but for me as a Pagan, if I wanted to incorporate the belief of moksha (sorry I tend to switch between English and traditional spellings of these words) into my practice, how am I to live in a way that warrants my ultimate connection with the divine power? I will continue to try and figure this out among other things here, but for anyone that has an opinion please answer I would love feedback if anyone is reading...

Mabon

Yesterday was Mabon, and it was absolutely amazing. In my part of the world, the Goddess chose to bless us with much needed rain, that is continuing as I write this. I have been meaning to add some things I wrote to this but haven't had time to type them up, but I should be able to in the next few days. As far as why Mabon was so wonderful for me, I finally got some of my practices down into a ritual form. For the first time I actually Incorporated signs of the season in my alter and I cannot believe how much more open and powerful it makes it feel. Also, I learned that I rely heavily on my Athame, despite the fact I own two wands, and that bells are essential for my practice. There are currently 5 on my alter and there will be another added when the Sun God is reborn. I added some bottles to my alter to be used as spell keepers in a more everyday way since I tend to think it requires me to go out of my way to cast a spell even though I have had better results when I don't...in any case, I am learning that the simple stuff that I pick is often more influential in my practices than the more expensive items that I failed to listen to their energy. I bought my first pendulum at the Renaissance Faire and picked it up simply because I thought I needed one. It did the job, but yesterday I finally tried a pendulum that I bought a few months ago based on it's energy. The change was amazing. Over all I learned from all of yesterday that we need to listen to the spirits that guide us and go with energies because in the end that will be the best and only real choice.

Forgot

In yesterday's post I made this blog seem like it was going to be all
educational and religious. In all honesty, I can't keep my life out of
things so this will also probably be a very good place to find out
about me as a person. For example, today I saw a friend I hadn't seen
in six years. She is mainly the reason I used to be a very devout
Christian. Seeing her today reminded me that things may change in our
lives, but we as people still hold those core values we grew up with
and will always hold as a part of our being. Just because we are
different people didn't mean we had grown apart. Even after so long of
barely keeping in touch, we were still close. It's amazing how that
works. There are the people your life that are unforgettable...and
those that you can't forget simply because they complete you.

First Post. YAY!

I never really though about doing a blog until today, and now it makes perfect sense to me. I am a writer so what else would I do? I am a religion major in my now third year of college. My first year I realized that the Christian religion I followed no longer fit my life. Since then, I have spent a lot of time reviewing what I believe and am now very solid in the religion I have chosen. I am a proud Pagan, spend a lot of time listening to podcasts, and encorporate many ideas from the religions I study into my own practice. In this blog I hope to expand upon my beliefs and learn more about the beliefs of other religions, if only for myself. I would enjoy feedback if anyone cares to read. I make no promises about how often I post, but the more feedback I get the more likely I will make more posts.