tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90413058734459707052024-03-13T14:53:25.372-07:00Manzanita, Redwoods and LaurelReflections of a Coastal Californian PaganDaniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-32977371043796975642008-10-10T13:33:00.000-07:002008-10-10T13:34:33.901-07:00Samhain PreperationsI woke up and it was cool this morning. We haven’t needed the fan on in our bedroom while sleeping for about a week, but I don’t think we’re going to have another heat wave this year. It was cool enough, in the shower, that I thought it would be nice to have the heat on. It’s not quite cold enough for the heater, well maybe in the morning, but I should get a new filter for it soon.<br /><br />The light and colors are late fall, at least for Northern California. I’m going to Murphy’s in a week or two, and I expect to see much more dramatic and colorful fall foliage up there.<br /><br />And in preparation for Samhain, I’m starting to plan out my ritual. Asking myself what do I want to do? How do I want to celebrate? The last two years, for me, have been about grief and letting go of that grief. Now, I’m trying to plan a ritual where I honor my ancestors without an emphasis on grief. There’s also the ADF ritual on Saturday that I’d like to get to. I’ve had such bad luck with hooking up with this proto-grove that I’m a little wary about attending the ritual. But I would like to experiment with the group, and see if these could be people I can work with in a spiritual manner. I do want a group, however small, of likeminded people to worship with. If that means rejoining ADF to be with a proto-grove, that doesn’t fit me exactly, but is close enough, that so be it. I’d rather that then the local UU church. At least with ADF I’d be working with polytheists.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-41273395827798690652008-03-12T17:47:00.000-07:002008-03-12T17:59:00.985-07:00Virtue BookRecently, I've been experimenting with book making. Most of what I've done so far consists of little research and a lot of ideas. Although I've made a few simple books. I've been mostly using <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Books-One-Kind/dp/0307353362/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205369356&sr=1-9">How to Make Books: Fold, Cut & Stitch Your Way to a One-of-a-Kind Book</a> which is a beautiful book with very clear instructions. <br /><br />One of the ideas that's been rattling around in my head is the idea of creating a small book of virtues. Sort of like a medieval prayer book: small, thick and portable. I'm still messing with what I want in it, but I'm thinking it would have a list of the virtues I want to follow, followed by virutes, sayings, maxims, and such from cultures and traidtions that are meaningful to me. For example the first section would be for Irish and other Celtic virutes, another section would be for Feri. I'd probably also have a section with some of the Delphic Maxims and some stuff from Buddhism. I'd seperate each section out and I'd give references in the back. Because if someone saw it I'd love to be able to site my sources, espically with the historical items. <br /><br />I've been looking at a lot of the <a href="http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T103006.html">Irish Triads</a> and using Erynn Laurie's "The <a href="http://www.seanet.com/~inisglas/ethics.html">Truth Against the World: Ethics and Modern Celtic Paganism</a>" as inspiration and starting points. <br /><br />I can't wait to work on this more. I'll probably be posting more about this later. Maybe even some of my final text and some images of the book.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-84705399003923741752008-02-28T12:21:00.000-08:002008-02-28T12:22:12.371-08:00My Pantheacon 2008 ReportI am finally recovering from the cold I had for the last few days. Which is unsurprising. Everyone around me has a cold, plus they ran rampant at Pantheacon, and I ran rampant at Pantheacon not getting enough sleep nor eating well. <br /><br />It’s kind of bizarre to feel so collected after the Con. Last year I came away disappointed with ADF, interested in ogam and some of the CR stuff, although still resistant, and hugely impressed with Thorn and Feri. I was buzzed on the energy, of finding like-minded people, of Micah understanding (in his words) that missing piece of me, of our engagement. It was exciting and exhausting. This year, I feel more focused, and present. I know where my path lies ahead of me. Or, really, what path I will be taking but not necessarily where it will lead, although I have hopes and goals. <br /><br />Overall the weekend was amazing. It clarified and redoubled my interest in both CR and Feri. I’ve come to realize, that a lot of the dissonance I was having was because I didn’t want to practice two faiths at once. But as an agnostic polytheist and an eclectic soul, right now I have to try to practice both. I resisted having a dual faith for a long time, but after working in both modalities all weekend, I came away both renewed in my faith and with a sense of awe and purpose. Ultimately, I see these paths containing intertwining lessons for me that I need right now. <br /><br />I have to work at both of them and I have to remain intellectually honest about how much they can overlap and how much I need to keep them separate. Feri seems to say that it can encompass all, but I’m not a fan of swallowing my CR practice up into Feri. CR says it’s a religion and shouldn’t be mixed with other religions. That’s fair. I don’t think I would call myself CR in the community, although it closely reflects a large part of my practice. <br /><br />What’s funny to me is that I’ve been moving here for a few months now, resisting it, being pained by it. Feeling like it was one or the other, but never both. And even though I had many examples of people practicing dual faiths (Gaulic ADF/Discordianism or Neo-Wicca/Quaker for two examples I feel are more extreme than my own) I didn’t want to go there. I thought it would be too much work. Frankly, it does look to be a lot of work. But work I love with Gods, Spirits, and Ancestors I love. <br /><br />This is huge, but this is my work and I will embrace with a full heart and an active mind.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-29236146913492441842008-02-26T12:58:00.000-08:002008-02-26T12:59:57.937-08:00The Importance of Local LandscapesYesterday I was thinking I’d chop my response up into 2 posts. One on mythic Ireland and one on the Bay Area my Place. Now I think instead I’d like to write a more complex entry interweaving both of these instead. I don’t think I’ll come close to conveying my complex feelings towards these landscapes, but I try.<br /><br />I’ve grown up and lived in the Bay Area my whole life. For most of it (all of it but 8 years, but I’m only 27 so that’s still a large chunk) has been in the East Bay. The hills, weather patterns, bay, ocean, flora and fauna are part of who I am. Not only have I paid more attention to them as I grew in my own paganism, but they are what inspired me into paganism. I can feel the land singing to me and I know how to tell the weather by smelling the wind. I know what order plants bloom in through the year. I know when to go hiking and where to see all sorts of beautiful landscapes, each different from the next. I’m tied to this land, much like people used to be tied to land, before we moved around all the time. I don’t feel my way is better; certainly, I would still like to live elsewhere – if only for the cheaper housing. But I feel I’ve been given a rare and special gift. Not just that I’ve lived in one geographical region for so long, but that I was interested enough to become emotionally invested in it and to learn the wheel of the year through all my senses, not just on a calendar. To drive home through rolling green hills with clefts and valleys filled with Oak trees, to see the willow trees at work bud their leaves, or to see goslings parade on the paths by the lake near my house, these sights bring me joy each day. They speak of magic and power that I often fear no one else pays attention to. <br /><br />Oddly enough (or maybe not so odd) because of this intense connection to my own area, it’s been hard for me to connect to mythical Ireland. The land has much in common with my own area – mists, fogs, green rolling hills, massive Oak trees, large lakes, bays, and the ocean. Yet it’s still so different. When I think of mythical Ireland I overlay the landscapes in the Bay Area that most fit it. For example Point Reyes Seashore in Marin does windy grass landscapes by the ocean better than no other place I’ve ever been. It’s been through this connection to my own land that I’ve even begun to access the ideas, tropes, and feeling for mythical Ireland. My gods walk through land that looks suspiciously like Point Reyes or Mt. Diablo.<br /><br />However, Irish myth is so caught up in place, as much or more than I am caught up in mine, that many of the events of the tales name places in Ireland. I often feel as if something is missing from my practice by not being more interested and drawn towards a mythic place that is more Ireland and less the Bay Area. I don’t feel any less connected to my gods, but I do wonder sometimes if I’m missing something by not investing more time into Ireland, mythical or not. <br /><br />This post was inspired by the <a href="http://mythology.ourgardenpath.com/2008/02/10/syncroblogging-on-mythology-anyone/">synchroblog </a>going on.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-72805629466638604632008-02-25T18:39:00.000-08:002008-02-25T18:43:23.295-08:00Funny SpellcheckI love that according to Microsoft Word I can be a Deconstructionist but not a Reconstructionist.<br /><br />I could wax poetic about what that says about our culture yadda, yadda, yadda, but I like the Deconstructionist movement and I realize that Reconstructionists are both new on the religious and verbal landscapes and there is no way to fairly expect it to be in there dictionary.<br /><br />But it's still funny.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-57903323241659965452008-02-18T17:25:00.001-08:002008-02-18T17:25:37.588-08:00Pantheacon 2008I'm back from Pantheacon! More to come.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-73606066531000523782008-02-04T17:49:00.000-08:002008-02-04T17:50:33.475-08:00Better Late - Imbloc Poem FestIn your light I learn how to love. <br />In your beauty, how to make poems.<br />You dance inside my chest,<br />where no one sees you,<br />but sometimes I do,<br />and that sight becomes this art.<br /><br />--RumiDaniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-35172446067237172502008-01-28T16:57:00.000-08:002008-01-29T08:29:10.445-08:00Brigit's Day Poem Fest (Sat. Feb. 2)<a href="http://branchesup.blogspot.com/">Branches up, Roots Down</a> is holding her<a href="http://branchesup.blogspot.com/2008/01/you-are-invited-to-third-annual-brigid_25.html"> third annual Birgid Poem Fest</a>. So click on over, sign up, and post some poetry.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-27787479161733725642008-01-07T13:57:00.000-08:002008-01-07T13:58:56.665-08:00Some complaints about ADF*<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I’ve been straying from the more ADF style personal rituals to something a bit more nebulous. Some elements from the ADF ritual stay – giving offerings to the Three Kins, for example – but I’ve left the most clunky aspects of it behind. <br /><br />I just have never, ever liked the cosmos ADF proposed. I’ve been working with them for almost two years now and I’ve finally given up. They’re supposed to be something that works across Indo-European cultures, but instead it ends up not meaning much to any of them. I don’t mind made up, I think it can be very moving, but framing a cosmos on what is basically a very bland, watered-down Celtic/Norse mash-up and then saying because it’s Indo-European based it should fit for everyone from Celtic to Baltic to Grecian only means it won’t really work for anyone. It’s in stuff like this where I really like AODA because they know it’s all made up and say, “we don’t mind, it works for us, who cares?” <br /><br />In fact, I find that ADF ritual structure is awkward in general for my personal practice. I’m finding that I like the CR approach of coming up with what works for you from the lore and the research. Back it up and work with it. Other people can do very different things and back it up with their own interpretations and everything is cool. None of that infighting about how we can hammer research into an ADF framework, which is already about 25 to 30 years out of date academically. Not that CR doesn’t have infighting; it’s just different in nature. <br /><br />I still think that ADF-style ritual would work for a medium to large group at high days. But I’ve not found a grove or protogrove to join, and so I’m a reluctant solitary within ADF. I joined to work with a grove and further my studies. I’m sufficiently started in my studies to go on my own now, and the grove thing never panned out. I don’t think that it’s worth my membership money any more. And maybe in a few years it will be. But right now it’s not.<br /><br />I don’t mind being a solitary. If I want a group of like-minded worshippers, I could always go to the local UU church. But what attracted me to ADF in the first place was that I might find other polytheists to worship with. I don’t regret my time with ADF, in fact I think it’s been incredibly formative for me. Certainly, it got me off my butt and actually worshipping, doing ritual, meditating, studying, and thinking about these subjects with other people. It got me out of what I would consider my interest phase (that lasted over 10 years!) and into an actual practice. I might still be a beginner, but I’m moving at lightening speed, maybe I’m catching up for those stagnant 10 years. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">*There are some good things about having a blog no one reads. This won't produce flame war for one.</span>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-44687346440605708282008-01-04T16:06:00.000-08:002008-01-07T14:01:30.296-08:00Happy New Year!I read <strong>68</strong> books this past year. Not bad, I always try for at least 52 and have the dream goal of reading 104 books or more in a year. Who knows, maybe 2008 will be that year. If you want to check out a more complex breakdown of what I’ve read this year, not religious in nature, check out my LiveJournal <a href="http://meri-sefket.livejournal.com/234850.html">here</a>.<br /><br />I thought I should break down my pagan books read here, as well as pimp the <a href="http://z3.invisionfree.com/PaganLit_Book_Club/index.php">Pagan Online Book Club</a> that I am now modding.<br /><br />Here are the religious-related books I’ve read this year:<br />Drawing down the moon : witches, druids, goddess-worshippers, and other pagans in America today / Margot Adler<br />Not your mama's tree ogam : a guide to Celtic ogam and alternatives to tree ogam / Erynn Rowan Laurie<br />American Gods / Neil Gaiman<br />A brief history of the druids / Peter Berresford Ellis<br />The Mabinogi and other Welsh tales / trans. Patrick K. Ford<br />Ogam : weaving words of wisdom / Erynn Rowan Laurie<br />21 ways to read a tarot card / Mary K. Greer<br />Keeping a nature journal / discover a whole new way of seeing the world around you / Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth<br />The earth path : grounding your spirit in the rhythms of nature / Starhawk<br />The druids / Ronald Hutton<br /><br />These represent about 14% of my reading this year. Not bad. I plan on reading much more by working my way through some of the <a href="http://www.paganachd.com/faq/readinglist.html">books recommended</a> on the <a href="http://www.paganachd.com/faq/">CR FAQ</a> as well as continuing to read along with my Pagan Book Club. I also plan on exploring other works that spark my interest like some on Shinto practice, to examine a modern indigenous polytheistic/animistic religious practice.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-52292843419693846282007-12-11T14:00:00.000-08:002008-01-07T14:01:58.966-08:00Integrity<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Another in my continuing series of posts on my 13 virtues. For more information see the beginning of my wisdom post <a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">here</a><a href="http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/Integrity">.</a></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/Integrity">Dictionary Definition. Firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: the quality or state of being complete or undivided.<br /></a><br />Dedicant Handbook Definition. Honor; being trustworthy to oneself<br />and to others, involving oath-keeping, honesty, fairness, respect, self-confidence.<br /><br /><br />I’ve meditated on this virtue for months and I keep coming back to the concept of wholeness. I’m not sure if I like either definition I’ve used here. My favorite discussion of integrity was on a podcast that featured Thorn Coyle, a Feri Priestess. She said that to her, integrity was really integration of the disparate parts of the soul to form an undivided personal divinity. While much of what she said referred to specific Feri theology – the tripartite soul and its division – what struck me most was the idea of integrity being action which comes from an un-divided self. This implies that we have to be able to know ourselves well enough to know when we are acting from a divided sense of self. For example, how can we be honest – a quality the dedicant handbook attributes to integrity – if we do not understand when and why we are lying to others or ourselves?<br /><br />The only problem with this approach is that someone can be undividedly bad, having integrity according to this definition by knowing why they are lying and doing it with their whole consciousness. So, I also see integrity as meaning that one must connect that whole self with one’s gods and the other virtues to form a whole of how one’s actions interact with the rest of the world. To have integrity, therefore, is to be able and willing to act from a grounded sense of self and one’s place in the world.<br /><br />I believe this would mean most people would try to actively live in accordance with their own virtues and values and enact them in the world. So a hypothetical woman, who was unaware of her lies because she was coming from an internally divided place, would try to become whole through self-observation – like meditation – and discussions with trusted friends and her gods. When she started to have a sense of her own wholeness and her place in the world she would then begin to act with integrity, seeing her lies as not helpful to herself or the people she told them to. She would be more willing to see the hurt and confusion they caused, instead of being willingly or unwillingly blind to them because she was not acting with integrity. This awareness would then lead to acting in a truthful manner, because she had come to it from a sense of wholeness.<br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />Others in this series:<br /><a style="FONT-FAMILY: trebuchet ms" href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">Wisdom</a><br /><a style="FONT-FAMILY: trebuchet ms" href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/09/piety.html">Piety</a><br /><a style="FONT-FAMILY: trebuchet ms" href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/10/vision.html">Vision</a><br /><a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/10/courage.html">Courage</a></span><br /></span>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-6691279224243961562007-12-10T10:47:00.000-08:002008-01-07T14:02:38.346-08:00The Dark Time of the Year<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The weather is cold and rainy. The hills are turning green. I haven’t seen an insect in awhile. It’s truly the dark time of the year.</span>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-40447551277270882932007-12-07T13:31:00.000-08:002008-01-07T14:02:27.182-08:00Winter Solstice Musings<a href="http://gaiantarot.typepad.com/artists_journal/2007/12/season-of-solit.html">“The deepest gifts of this season, I think, are the twin companions of Solitude and Community.” </a>- Joanna Colbert from the Gaian Tarot blog.<br /><br />I loved this line and thought I’d share it with readers. For me, who is in the process of creating her own personal tradition, the solstices have always been meaningful days to me. They are not traditional in any way we can tell to the insular Celts*, but seem to have been important to the people’s on the islands before the Celts arrived – with evidence stemming from many lasting stone age monuments that have features which correspond to the solstices (and some correspond to the equinoxes as well?).<br /><br />That being said I do not try to apply any “traditional” meaning to them. Instead, I read and contemplate what these days mean to me. Generally, I stay away from any Wiccan theology about the dying or reborn God as I am not Wiccan and do not like much of its theology. Instead I like to celebrate my solstices as peaks of their season. So, as the quote above alludes to, the Winter Solstice seems to be about sleep, hibernation, solitude but also about human-made light and warmth (including the warmth of social connections) to stave off the cold and the specter of death.<br /><br />This, of course, conveniently lets me celebrate in much the same way Christians celebrate Christmas – with lights (and maybe a tree), candles, songs, parties, presents and the like. I may have different reasons for the trappings, but the trappings can remain the same. I would have a Yule log, as we did growing up, if I had a fireplace. As it is I dress my apartment in candles, lights, and hang holiday cards as reminders of all types of warmth. I also decorate with visual reminders of the cold and winter usually snowflake garlands and faux icicles. Also, I have a tree. The tree is the only non-solstice-y item there – that’s just because I grew up with one, love the smell, and love decorating it.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*Expect for the traditions of celebrating and honoring Manannan Mac Lir on the island of Man during the summer solstice.</span>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-57609548250169952932007-10-29T17:28:00.000-07:002007-10-29T17:38:30.725-07:00One word to sum up a religionFirst off, I would recommend that everyone go and read <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/academicpagans/40447.html">this discussion </a>on the Academic Pagans LiveJournal Community. It’s my jumping off point.<br /><br />Some of my favorite one word descriptors were*:<br />Feri: Ecstasy (Alternately, paradox)<br />Reclaiming: Immanence<br />CR: Justice<br />CR: Truth<br />CR: Honor, Inspiration, Justice, Connection, Communion<br />CR: Truth, Honor, and Duty<br />Modern Paganism: Re-sacralisation<br />Wicca: Balance<br /><br />I think these are all virtues and qualities that I aspire to, and it’s not surprising that these religions have inspired my own spiritual path. But I had a gut punch reaction to <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/academicpagans/40447.html?thread=378879#t378879">the discussion about Truth</a>. It may describe why I’ve noticed myself leaning more and more towards CR as a spiritual path. Which has been surprising me. But that’s a discussion for another day.<br /><br />My absolute favorite one word summary, the gut-puncher, is CR’s as Truth. Truth is honor, imbas, duty and justice. It also aides true community and hospitality. And these are all ideas I find are the core of my own growing sense of self and religious identity. What’s amusing to me is how hard I find many of these virtues. I am not comfortable and easy with truth, honor, or duty. And I find, at least, the gift for a gift idea of hospitality to be a little odd and limiting. But the more I work with them, the more I realize how good they are. How magical and freeing they can be.<br /><br />I’m feeling the need to really think and meditate about Truth as the central idea of CR. It may not end up being the ultimate core summary of my own spirituality, but I think right now it’s a lesson I need to be working on and can easily see myself working on it for years.<br /><br /><em>*I took these from many different users, to give credit where it’s due read the entry and all the comments.</em>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-29133691796115006672007-10-21T12:52:00.000-07:002007-10-21T13:01:26.077-07:00Courage<p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Another in my continuing series of posts on my 13 virtues. For more information see the beginning of my wisdom post <a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">here</a>.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/courage"><i>Dictionary Definition. Mean mental or moral strength to resist opposition, danger, or hardship.</i></a></span> </p> <p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i>Dedicant Handbook Definition. The ability to act appropriately in the</i> <i>face of danger.</i></span> </p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><i style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">School House Rocks’ “Zero, My Hero”</i><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><br /><i style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">“Well, there are all kinds of heroes, you know.<br />A man can get to be a hero<br />For a famous battle he fought...<br />Or by studying very hard<br />And becoming a weightless astronaut. </i><br /><i style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">“And then there are heroes of other sorts,<br />Like the heroes we know from watching sports.<br />But a hero doesn't have to be a grown up person, you know,<br />A hero can be a very big dog<br />Who comes to your rescue,<br />Or a very little boy who's smart enough to know what to do…”</i><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><br /><br /></span> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >I have a version of “Zero, My Hero” by the Lemonheads and I always love the beginning of the song, which is the quote I gave above. In the legends from Ireland, hero’s like </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.maryjones.us/jce/ulstercycle.html">Cuchulainn</a></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > and </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.maryjones.us/jce/fionncycle.html">Fionn mac Cumhaill</a></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > are courageous. Fearless in battle, they are not scared of death, let alone their enemies. I honestly don’t know if this type of courage really exists outside of the battle field. Everyone I know who has experienced fight or die scenarios – from soldiers to trauma victims –don’t see their time in immediate danger as courageous. Instead, they see the moments afterwards, when healing and helping others and themselves, as when they were most courageous. Which is why I love the song lyrics so much, because following your dreams, studying hard, taking an opportunity to do the right thing, healing from trauma, facing your inner shadow, these are the acts of courage in any situation from the battle-field to the back yard. And these are the heroic acts mentioned. (None, of which are done by the number 0, but that does not negate the coolness of the number.) So while the dictionary definition and the dedicant handbook definition give similar meanings for the word, when I think of real courage, I just start singing “zero, my hero, how wonderful you are.”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Others in this series:</span><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">Wisdom</a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/09/piety.html">Piety</a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/10/vision.html">Vision</a></span>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-90990821442246529452007-10-18T14:52:00.000-07:002007-10-18T14:57:20.935-07:00I'm falling in love with the Beloved, Rumi<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I think I might start adding this simple line as a prayer to the Mother of All in my ritual. While I enjoy writing my own poetry for ritual, when I find some peice of song or poetry that speaks to me, I try to start including it in my basic liturigical outline. </span>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-7612967617111776362007-10-10T17:58:00.001-07:002007-10-10T18:02:14.333-07:00VisionAnother in my continuing series of posts on my 13 virtues. For more information see the beginning of my wisdom post <a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/vision">Dictionary Definition. A manifestation to the senses of something immaterial: the act or power of seeing. </a><br /><br />Dedicant Handbook Definition. The ability to broaden one’s perspective to have a greater understanding of our place and role in the cosmos, relating to the past, present and future.<br /><br />My first association with the word was as a lightly defined corporate buzzword used to make upper management feel good while essentially doing nothing for the larger organization. A strongly negative definition to say the least. There was a strong enough initial response I considered not using Vision as one of my own virtues, and writing this essay as to why I thought it was not a virtue but a buzzword. However, in order to do so I spent a lot of time in thought and meditation on whether or not to include Vision in my virtues. After a few weeks of thinking things through I decided to keep Vision as a virtue because it has the ability to be much more than a buzzword. Vision, to me, is the ability to plan and envision the future after fairly assessing the past and present.<br /><br />One of the many ideas that drew me to ADF as a religious and spiritual system was the idea that the founder had a vision for the future. He has set goals and those goals are still alive in the current organization. I see them referred to as directions to keep the organization striving towards excellence and that vision also allows ways to assess growth and change over time.<br /><br />Others in this series:<br /><a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">Wisdom</a><br /><a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/09/piety.html">Piety</a>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-18365752894690238842007-09-26T15:28:00.000-07:002007-09-26T15:50:03.814-07:00Contemplative Meditation from a Nun to You<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I came across this meditation in my reading today. It’s from M. Macha NightMare’s blog <a href="http://besom.blogspot.com/">Broomstick Chronicles</a>. For background, she is very involved in interfaith programs where she lives and went on a retreat hosted by nuns of two different religions. The Christian nun shared this group meditation:<br /><br />“Sister Marion showed us a teaching method used in her order wherein a short passage of the Bible is read aloud slowly, and really listened to. After a brief period of silence, they are read a second time. I volunteered and found myself in the odd position of reading just a few verses of the Gospel of Luke.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">“We Pagans don't have a sacred text, per se; however, I intend to try this practice with a few lines of poetry, lyrical words about Nature, or maybe part of </span><a href="http://www.reclaiming.org/about/witchfaq/charge.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The Charge of the Goddess</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. I think it could enhance our understanding. As I get older, I find I enjoy contemplative spiritual practices at least as much as more active practices, if not more.”</span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">You can find the rest of the entry <a href="http://besom.blogspot.com/2007/09/retreat-day-with-two-nuns.html">here</a>.<br /><br />While I like the idea of doing this with the Charge of the Goddess, or selections from Starhawk’s “creation myth” from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Path-Grounding-Spirit-Rhythms/dp/0060000937/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6779543-8623016?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190845291&sr=8-1">The Earth Path</a></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, I also think that poems would be of particular use here. Especially primary source poems from Ireland and Wales. I can see doing this with a lot of the poems credited to Tailsen. Or evening use this as part of a longer meditation series with the three cauldrons from the <a href="http://www.seanet.com/~inisglas/cop1.html">Cauldron of Posey</a></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. And this would be an excellent use of Graves’ The White Goddess, since his work should be read as a poetic inspiration rather than historical fact. </span></p>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-80850301046574384432007-09-07T11:28:00.000-07:002007-09-07T11:37:07.648-07:00PietyAnother in my continuing series of posts on my 13 virtues. For more information see the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">beginning</span> of my wisdom post <a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">here</a>.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Piety<br /></strong><a href="http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pious"><em>Dictionary Definition. Fidelity to natural obligations b : dutifulness in religion<br /><strong>Pious</strong>: marked by or showing reverence for deity and devotion to divine worship b : marked by conspicuous religiosity</em>.<br /></a><br /><em><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Dedicant</span> Handbook Definition: Correct observance of ritual and social traditions, the maintenance of the agreements (both personal and societal) we humans have with the Gods and Spirits. Keeping the Old Ways, through ceremony and duty.</em><br /><br />I like both definitions given above. I especially like the phrases “marked by or showing reverence for deity and devotion to diving worship” and “the maintenance of the agreements…we humans have with the Gods and Spirits.” While <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ADF</span>’s definition seems to focus heavily on ritual as the most important way to fulfill our duties to the Kindred, I like the dictionary’s emphasis on reverence and devotion which can happen both inside and outside of formal ritual. While ritual and sacrifice are the main ways I show reverence and devotion, I also show piety in other ways like prayer, study, meditation and action. I worship so many beings, consequently there are many ways to approach them and many ways to give to them honor, thought, energy, attention and praise.<br /><br />When I began to examine piety as a virtue I conflated it with sanctimoniousness. I now understand, from personal experience, it is not necessarily related to piety. After a year of meditation, study, prayer and ritual I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ve</span> come to know that piety is the sense of reverence I feel in the woods and the corresponding need to protect that beauty and miracle by cleaning litter I see as I wander down a trail, saying a prayer of thanks for the beauty of a vista, offering some organic fertilizer to native plants or even donating money to California State Park system. The Land gives to me in abundance, and I can only hope that my acts and gifts of piety give back even a fraction that which the Earth Mother and Land Spirits have given me.<br /><br />Others in this series:<br /><a href="http://manzanitalaurel.blogspot.com/2007/08/13-virtues-wisdom.html">Wisdom</a>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-2360274890016418842007-08-31T16:36:00.000-07:002007-09-07T11:32:22.345-07:0013 Virtues - WisdomThere are many tasks involved in finishing the Dedicant's Path in ADF. One of these is to write about the 9 virtues. The requirement reads as such:<br /><br /><div align="left"><em>Written discussions of the Dedicant's understanding of each of the following nine virtues: wisdom, piety, vision, courage, integrity, perseverance, hospitality, moderation and fertility. The Dedicant may also include other virtues, if desired, and compare them to these nine.(Suggested 125 words min. each)</em></div><div align="left"><em></em></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><em></em></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><em></em></div><div align="left">I have given a few months thought on these and come up with 13 virtues for myself. 9 of them are from the ADF dedicant's manual, 3 of them are virtues that are personally important to me regardless of spiritual path, and one comes directly from my own intrestes in CR.</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">This is the first in a series of 13, and is from the ADF Dedicant's Path.</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><strong>Wisdom</strong></div><br /><a href="http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wisdom"><em>Dictionary Definition. Accumulated philosophic or scientific learning : Knowledge : ability to discern inner qualities and relationships : Insight : good sense</em></a><br /><em><br />Dedicant Handbook Definition. Good judgment. The ability to perceive people and situations correctly, deliberate about and decide on the correct response.<br /></em><br />Of the two, I prefer the dictionary definition provided here. One reason is because it includes “accumulated philosophic [and] scientific learning.” Education is an essential part of wisdom, which is missing from the dedicant handbook definition. While I believe that an iron-age Celtic woman could be wise with little or no formal education in a pre-literate society, to be uneducated - and uninterested in being educated (either through self-study, group-study, or more formal styles of education) - is an unwise choice in modern society and leads to serious gaps in a person’s understanding of the universe. This intellectual source is the first of three that I believe are necessary for wisdom.<br /><br />Before I can discuss the next aspect vital to wisdom, I must take issue with the dedicant handbook’s use of “correctly” in its definition, as in “the ability to perceive people and situations correctly”. While some situations may have a correct way of being perceived, most do not. Also, I would argue that humans even more rarely have a correct way of being perceived. In my own definition I would substitute the word clearly for correctly. Clearly could involve seeing many sides, not just one correct side, as the term “correctly” implies. I feel that clearly perceiving a situation or a person calls for emotional maturity and intelligence that creates empathy and compassion. This emotional component is the second source of my three aspects of wisdom.<br /><br />To round out my personal definition of wisdom, I think much can be gleaned from the Irish legends regarding the salmons of wisdom. Druids and poets would often wait for years to catch a salmon that had eaten the hazel nuts of wisdom and so could bestow wisdom upon those who ate them in turn. From these legends I can understand another source of wisdom. It is wisdom gained from ecstatic spiritual practices, especially meditation. I see these legends as metaphorically speaking of searching the still space within for wisdom, or in an Irish Celtic context imbas. Ecstatic practices allow a person to discover inner truths and insight, in other words to eat the salmon of wisdom. This may take years to consciously develop, but is necessary to create real and well-tempered wisdom.<br />For me wisdom is based on the triad I have discussed above: intellectual, emotional, and spiritual sources. While each on its own is important, it is the combination of the three that leads to the deep wisdom that is a virtue.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-75404637485165922722007-08-27T16:53:00.000-07:002007-08-27T16:56:56.336-07:00Walking MeditationI walk around my office complex almost every day at lunch. I began it as a way to help heal from the repetitive stress injuries that come from working on a computer all day. Quickly I noticed an increase in aerobic capacity and hiking endurance. I believe that it’s because my walks add to the work I already do at the gym, not just because I walk at lunch. The more you exercise (within limits) the quicker you notice improvements. I’ve also noticed that it’s a wonderful way to decrease stress. My body relaxes at the 30 minute mark, and the last ten to fifteen minutes I feel like the stress of the day has evaporated. It’s very refreshing. <br /><br />I also use this time to let my mind wander or pay attention the trees and wildlife that surround my nature park - maple, willow, live oak, roses, lavender, jasmine, crows, other birds I cannot identify, ants, bees, bumble bees, crickets, etc. Recently, I created a simple prayer bead bracelet that I use to recite a chant for my 13 virtues. I can chant them silently to myself, or ponder what I mean by wisdom, or what integrity really is. <br /><br />More than walking, I think what is truly valuable is giving my mind 45 minutes most days to do some semi-constructive thinking or just time to let my mind and body relax. Seated meditation can do this, but walking enables me to practice all sorts of observations as well as meditation techniques like breath control or chanting in a totally different context than the seated meditation style.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-33448438142365821402007-08-17T15:43:00.000-07:002007-08-17T15:45:26.291-07:00Teachers and InspirationMy first draft of this was all about me trying to explain my conflicted feelings towards ADF, both the love and the, um, not love (hate is too strong of a word here). But the more I wrote, the more I realized that’s ridiculous to even try to explain it in one entry. It would be horrifically abbreviated, unless I wrote a treaties and I have better things to do with my time and this blog.<br /><br />And as conflicted as I am about ADF, you should hear me discuss Feri and Reclaiming traditions, another large influence on my own religion. Yeah, I know, I just took two pagan religions, each vastly different from the other, and cited them as my religious inspiration. I find that both have different aspects I’m drawn to and to be fair, I’m really conflicted with Feri and Reclaiming as well.<br /><br />And since I’m listing my influences I’d have to add CR and Buddhism. I know, I just outed my self as eclectic. *gasp* The horror. I guess I’ll have to live with it.<br /><br />I find the spark of the divine in all religions, I just have an easier time connecting with it through certain theologies and not through others. More often, I find the works spiritual elders (Ian Corrigan, Ceisiwr Serith, Starhawk, T. Thorne Coyle, M. Macha Nightmare, Anne Hill, Dianne Sylvan, Rumi, Buddha, the Dali Lama, Ram Dass and Erynn Rowan Laurie to name many of the people who inspire me) help me access and refine my own sense of spirit and connection to it. These people inspire me, the religions they belong to and the practices they teach inspire me. My spiritual home cannot be captured expect perhaps in the rhythm of the city, an expanse of the night sky and the breath of a tree.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9041305873445970705.post-77409265200111539322007-08-13T12:27:00.000-07:002007-08-13T13:02:57.658-07:00Introduction<span style="font-family:arial;">I’ve begun this blog to have a public space where I can share my own progress on my spiritual and philosophic path. I want to start to wade into the online pagan community more than I have already, and I also would like to become a small voice in the online pagan blogosphere (last time I use that word I hope). I’ve found that community inspirational, educational, challenging, maddening, etc. And have been more and more inspired to start sharing my own voice with it.<br /><br />I’m a member of <a href="http://www.adf.org/">ADF</a>, a Neo-Pagan druid organization. I’ve been with that group for a year and find it a very fun and fulfilling space, even if I’m not married 100% to their cosmology or theology. A lot of what I will be posting is in response to or in relation to ADF. However, I hope to be posting about my own nature observations, meditations, UPGs, rituals, trances, dancing, hikes, ecology, theology, comparative religion, atheism, green tips, and lots of other stuff that I see as influenced by or influencing my personal religion. I also hope to talk about stuff I read on other pagan blogs.<br /><br />I have a <a href="http://meri-sefket.livejournal.com/">personal journal</a>, which I’ve linked to on the side. I don’t really talk about my spirituality over there, mostly because it would be uninteresting, offensive, or fodder for anti-religion conversations that I have no desire to get into again and again.</span>Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680233190117316008noreply@blogger.com0