Episode 2 & A Eulogy

First of all, I'm very excited! Rose and I recorded episode two of Shhh! There Are Pagans in Texas! yesterday! It would be finished now...if my computer hadn't been blown up by lightening on Monday. My hard drive survived, and my husband took it up to his office to pull some files I need from it to finish assembling Episode 2, as soon as he gets home from work I'll be finishing it up and posting it ASAP.

So, details about my computer. On Monday it rained. In fact it poured. Where I live in North Texas, this doesn't happen often and I was thrilled to bits. I thanked the rain/thunder and was super happy. I settled into my bedroom to work on rewriting notes from the last Tarot class I went to and there was a huge clap of thunder, a boom, and a pop and my computer was dead. The surge protector failed and it fried the mother board (and our Internet router). We decided to order a new computer, but it's going to be about two weeks before it gets here :-/ In the mean time, I've commandeered my husbands laptop and like I said, my hard drive survived, so I didn't loose any files, it's just a major inconvenience.

As a Eulogy for my Desktop, here is a haiku series:

Beautiful Desktop
Black as the velvet night sky
Your stars are now dim

Fate stole you away
Lead as a moth to a flame
Lost in the bright surge

Part of you lives on
To be given a new life
Your essence honor'd.

Mid-week update

Hello All!

A little mid-week update: Rose & I will be recording a new episode of Shhh! There are Pagans in Texas next week and we'll be releasing it in the first week of July. On the next episode I'll be doing a book review of one of the books I mentioned this weekend. I'll be reviewing Omar Rosales' Elemental Shaman.

Busy Busy Litha!

Happy Litha!!

Happy Litha everyone. And it's a hot one here in Texas. I went to a public Litha ritual earlier today and I nearly died. I seemed to be the only one extrordinarily effected by the heat. I got very dizzy and ended up having to sit through the ritual. I very nearly passed out. :-/ I did enjoy what I got out of the ritual, but the heat was just murder on me.

Lessons Learned for Attending Public Outdoor Summer Rituals:

1. Chug a bottle of water before leaving the house. A diet-coke on the way doesn't count.
2. Eat breakfast and/or lunch before leaving the house. A rice cripsy treat on the way doesn't count.
3. Bring a bottle of water to the ritual. And chug it.

Other things going on in my world. I've chosen my "major" to study for this year in my Coven. I'm studying shamanism. I've read a lot of great books so far:





Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation
by Sandra Ingerman and Hank Wesselman





Shamanic Journeying: A Beginners Guide

by Sandra Ingerman



and





Elemental Shaman

by Omar Rosales

Podcast!

So, my HPS and I have talked about doing a podcast since...maybe, March or April. We finally recorded the first episode of Shhh! There Are Pagans in Texas! It's available on iTunes or directly thru our website. Our mission, so to speak, is to provide information about local events and resources, but we are also going to be interviewing authors and experts in witchy-fields o' study, as well as discussing Wicca/Witchcraft issues and being as amusing as we can while doing all of this.

:-)

First Draft of a Letter to My Parents

Now, I don't know if I'll come out to my parents via Letter or in Person yet...it's a decision I'm still making. But, I decided to write a letter, because whether or not I end up using it, it is still a good exercise to help me figure out what to say. So, here is the draft:

Dear Mom & Dad,

I have always appreciated what you've done to support me; and I've really treasured us being able to get to know one another better over the past few years. Having you get to know the "real" me has been very special to me. And I would really love for you to know the things that are most important to me. It's why I'm writing this letter--because I love and respect you enough that I think you deserve to know me more honestly.

I want to preface what I'm about to tell you with this: I'm still the same person I have always been--I haven't changed. So without any further fearful prefacing--here we go; I am a Wiccan. Wicca is an earth-based religion. We focus on attuning ourselves to the cycles of the seasons. Wicca has a lot of negative stereotypes and is often discriminated against (which is what makes it a difficult thing to tell your parents). There are some things I feel I need to tell you about what Wicca is not. It is not a devil-satan worshiping religion and "black" magic is not promoted by this religion. It is generally accepted within Wicca that whatever actions you take will be returned to you threefold; so, if you do good things you will receive goodness, if you do negative things you will receive negativity. The idea is similar to Karma or the Golden Rule.

My religion is very important to me. It's an integral part of who I am, which is why I am compelled to tell you. I hope you can respect this part of me--it's important to me that you do.

With much love,
Me

Thoughts, opinions and comments would be much appreciated.