Archives for spirituality

A Thankful Harvest

It’s the end of September, and fall is here. Mabon came and went a week ago, and in the Wiccan faith, the Autumnal Equinox is a time of thanksgiving. It’s the harvest Sabbat, when people think about what they have harvested over the course of the year.

I look over the things I’ve “harvested” this year, and I am ever so thankful.

That’s the theme that came to me as I look over this time of harvest and of what I’ve earned. My year started…well, in tarot terms I drew the Tower. I was blasted down to my foundations and had to rebuild again, but in alignment with the card’s meaning, what I built anew was stronger, sturdier, and would endure.

I am blessed that my mom’s health is much improved. The three-year saga to have her receive a simple outpatient procedure came to a successful end this past week. My own business and personal goals are in sight. I found a beautiful community…. I could go on and on.

I am…thankful! I feel blessed and really know the meaning of “the goddess is alive and magick is afoot”, because I don’t think any of this could have happened without HER help. I am blessed.

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Spontaneous Magick

I love it when the magic just flows. I might be doing something, not really thinking about magic when all of a sudden the spell was there. It’s nice, the spontaneous use of magick. And it really gets to the heart of living the faith.

I think we need to do more that will pull magick into our lives. I know last night with the spontaneous ritual, I felt more connected to my goddess than I have in a while…

I suppose I should say something powerful and profound here. But really, I think the crux is…make sure you let magick back into your life.

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Spiritual Poetry: Walk The Abyss

I walk the abyss
on roads where She leads,
where fiery paths turn aside
and charred ground resides.

Though I have no light or guide
save that which I bring with me,
I trust the voice down deep inside
that she will all truth provide

Summer’s hope grows dim
and winter’s too-rough winds draw near
in my abyss I cannot hide
any more than I could change an ocean’s tide

So I walk the abyss
on roads where She leads
one foot goeth before the other in stride
and I look forward, not back, on all that’s been tried.

~ Mary Caelsto

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Are You Leaving Fruit On The Vine

With the hot and dry summer, I’d kind of given up on getting peppers from my pepper plants. Originally I’d planted four chili and four red bell pepper plants that I’d started myself. But I mixed up which was which and some didn’t thrive. I bought other pepper plants, and it seems we’ve ended up with a ton of bell pepper plants. That’s okay. I love them; my parrots love them. I cook with them quite often.

My partner has been watering the plants, but nothing seemed to be doing much.

Until all of a sudden, I came home, looked at my plants, and realized the small peppers I’d left there thinking they’d get bigger, were rotting through.

And then it hit me. I’d been waiting for my peppers to get larger. I’d been so wrapped up in their size, I’d forgotten that they are ripe and ready for cooking. And they are delicious. (I’ve since harvested and used them.)

Are you waiting for your own peppers to get larger? Are you leaving fruit on the vine because you’re expecting something different or something more spectacular? Are you not harvesting your fruit because it doesn’t conform to some sort of expectations?

I am now enjoying my peppers, small as they are, and I wish the drought hadn’t gotten my green beans. I’m thinking about planting some fall collard greens for my lizards. And now, I know, to pay a lot more attention to my harvest and pick when it’s ripe.

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Follow the Wiccan Road

When we step foot on this path, it’s generally because She called us. And yes, but She, I mean the Goddess. It can be a difficult path, one that’s not for the faint of heart. But it can be a rewarding path. It’s also a path for those who wish to work on themselves, to better themselves, and to heal and grow. It’s easy to pay lip service to a deity. In the Christian world, those are called “Sunday Faithful”, people who go to church on Sunday and then the rest of the week do what they want. The “Sabbat Faithful” in the Wiccan religion might not find the level of growth and support that those fully committed to this road will find.

The good thing about the Wiccan road is that when we want to turn aside or try to find an easier path, when ours is filled with rocks and thorns, is that usually there are people there who can help us. They may take the form of elders, High Priests or High Priestesses, teachers, or even just really good friends we’ve met along the way. If we’re lucky, the person who helps us is a combination of those.

I see pagans, and Wiccans, as always being a bit apart from the community. Not better than the “mundanes” or even separated by religious differences. But more apart because we aren’t willing to leave it all up to God, or the Angels. We work for what we want. We also are willing to look at the shadow sides of things, not just the sparkly light-filled ones.

The Wiccan Road is an interesting one in these times, as more opportunities and more teachers come to light. People are finding connections more than before. And that is an amazing thing. Because like life, this road might be fraught with ruts or rough patches, but there are people to see us through. And that’s what walking the Wiccan road is like.

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Pagan Blog Project: J is for Janus

I’m a January baby, so it’s probably very appropriate that I write about the God which gives my birth month its name. Janus is a Roman god, and is commonly depicted with a face looking in either direction. Buffy The Vampire Slayer fans may recognize a statue of him used by Ethan Rayne in the episode, “Halloween”, when every character’s inner persona (or Halloween costume) became a reality. Buffy became a witless maiden; Xander became a soldier; Willow became a ghost, who then realized she didn’t like being invisible and unseen. Janus is the god of doorways, time, transition, and gateways. With one face looking backwards and one looking forwards, he is the perfect deity to give January it’s name. We look back to the year that just passed and look forward to the year to come.

Janus can be a trickster, and it’s from him that the term “two-faced” comes, so magick done with this deity needs to be careful and constructed well. However, he is a good choice for time magick, releasing, gateways, and transitions.

Writers and creative people might be familiar with his guises in the form of the blessed muse, which comes and brings inspiration, and writer’s block, which makes it impossible to write. The agony and the ectasy of writing, or any creative endeavor, are well represented by Janus.  Look to Janus to help you leverage the strength of your past and your previous endeavors as you branch out into a new  genre or project. The closing of a past project and the opening of a new one are under Janus’ domain.

The muses might be fickle, but Janus is always there, always watching, and always leading us away from the old and into the new.

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Pagan Blog Project: I for Inspiration

A magickal life is an inspired life. It’s true, you know. I’m a writer, so I live immersed in the worlds I’ve created, the stories that run through my mind, and since I also do nonfiction, the blog posts and articles that I’d like to share with the world. There was a time (okay most of 2011) when the muses weren’t speaking to me. I suspect it was because I was so wrapped up in everything in my own life that they felt they had no room to interject themselves into my life. It also could be because of some things in the writing world, as well as my personal life. But either way, I didn’t write much last year. That changed late 2011, early 2012.

You see, about that time I found my spirituality again. With all that had happened, honestly, I had no where else to turn but the Goddess. And giving myself, and my muse, over to her, made the plot bunnies as fertile as cute, fluffy bunnies can be. Plot bunnies are the cute fluffy bunnies you know. They’re not the ones that eat the heads off your marigold flowers or mow down the green bean shots in your garden, and can you tell I’m talking about real bunnies here? LOL! (We have roaming marauding bunnies where I live and woe to anything you want to grow. But I think we’ve reached an agreement. If I can have my garden, they can have everything else. *smiles*)

But seriously, back to the topic on hand, it was when I tapped into my spirituality, when I started living a magickal life that the inspiration came back. I thank the Goddess, those with whom I’ve had the chance to meet and learn from, and mostly the Goddess for that. I cleared away a lot, like weeding the aforementioned garden, and in the space, I allowed Her to fill it, and as a writer, what bigger blessing could she provide than inspiration. Story ideas. The kind of ideas that wake you up in the middle of the night and make you sit, fumbling for a pen and paper or a laptop so you can get started writing, those were the ideas that I had. And I’m loving it!

I feel the muse, the energy, and I know that I am the Source. Of course, She has something to do with it. But She also tells us as above so below, as within so without. If I weren’t open and receiving and inspired inside, then my outside world wouldn’t inspire me, and the chain goes on and on like a snake eating its tail (or my cat chasing hers).

For those looking for inspiration, I’d offer the same advice as I’ve given here. Get magickal. Get in tune. Get spiritual. When we connect our own inner source to the divine, then we allow ourselves to be filled, even as we’re filling others with the light of inspiration. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a writer. Artists, crafters, musicians, everyone, even if you don’t think you’re creative, uses this inspiring energy in his or her life. It takes inspiration to juggle a busy schedule with three kids and after-school activities. It takes inspiration to find a way to close the business deal. That’s creativity, baby, and the Goddess blesses all who chose to seek their own inner source.

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Pagan Blog Project: H is for Happy Magick

What makes you happy? And how can you stay happy when you’re busy, nothing seems to be working, and you’re overwhelmed?

I think all of us contemplate those questions at one time or another. I know I do. And until recently, I didn’t feel as if I had the answers. For me, happiness boils down to one simple thing: If you know you are on your path, then you are happy.

What does that mean? And how do you know if you’re on your path? And what is your path?

Your path is this: the work you’re meant to do, the gifts you’re meant to share with the world, and the joy you derive from doing so. If you know you’re doing what you’re meant to be doing, giving what you’re meant to be giving, and coming from a heart-centered, joy-filled place, then you, most likely, are happy.

Seems like a far away from the hectic and depressed life I had even eight or ten months ago, and I bet for someone reading this blog, he or she is thinking the same thing. That’s a dream. That can’t happen now.

But it can. Now I’m not going to sit here and say that it happens with the swish of a magic wand. As pagans, though, we’re usually used to working magick. And there’s nothing to say that we can’t work magick to help us find our path and our bliss.

Here are ways in which we can do that.

1. Meditation and ritual to help us learn what we truly want to do in life.

2. Rituals to help us release old hurts, feelings, slights, or baggage we’re carrying around.

3. Rituals to help us realize self-love, so that we have a full well to offer others.

4. Rituals to help us honor diety, because coming from a place of blessing and worship is moving toward a heart-centered life.

5. Rituals to help us honor the seasons and the Sabbats, because when we see the cycles in nature, we can see them in our own lives.

What rituals are you doing to help you find your happiness?

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Do You Have A Daily Spiritual Practice?

dandelion, allergy, sneeze

One of the things I’ve been introduced to is having a daily spiritual practice. It doesn’t take very long, maybe five minutes or so to give gratitude and speak my intent for the day. Then, I call on deity to aid me in my work. Sometimes it’s as simple as having a productive day and giving thanks for friends, family, and the abundance that I have. Other times, I ask for patience or ways to provide more compassion. And sometimes, I’m on my knees really having a conversation with the divine.

Do you have a daily spiritual practice? Do you spend a few minutes every day giving thanks for what you have, and maybe even having a conversation with the universe?

When I mentioned this to someone whose help I really appreciate (yet another gratitude), she was pleasantly happy to find that I did take these few moments a day, especially in my hectic schedule, to give thanks and gratitude.

What practices do you have on a daily basis? Do you light a candle? Do you burn a stick of incense? Do you say a prayer, or even repeat an affirmation over and over again?

How can you incorporate spirituality into your life? How can you create this connection with something outside yourself, yet something so intimate to as to be the very core of our beings?

What do you do…just for you?

Note: This post is part of the pagan blog project. G for Gratitude.

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Easter: It Holds Meaning For Us All

Today is Easter Sunday, and my mom, my partner, and I will be getting together at my house for a late lunch/early supper. (Judging from the state of my fridge, if any one goes hungry it is so not my fault! I love to cook!) The eggs have yet to be dyed (we generally do that sometime between the Spring Equinox and maybe the end of April), and way too many peeps have been eaten. It may have been a long time since this Wiccan has gone to Sunday School (I was baptized Catholic, though raised Mormon through my aunts and grandmother.), but I still know Easter is the day honoring the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As a Wiccan, death and rebirth in its many forms are a strong part of my spiritual beliefs. From the Wheel of the Year, which we see unfold in our yards and gardens, to Persephone’s trip back from the Underworld, being born again is…well, a fact of life.

Even if we take the idea of rebirth out of its spiritual roots, because not everyone is spiritual, we still can see it in our lives. A project we were working on might have been “dead”, only to have the senior brass revive the project with a memo. We might have been blocked on a writing project and then our muse returns to have it crafted with a dramatic finish.

We can look at many things in our life with an eye toward rebirth. And so, perhaps on this Easter, people of all spiritual ideals (and of none), can look at their lives and see not what has been gone, but what has returned and take joy and gratitude in the fact that rebirth is something for all of us, not just a chosen few.

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