During our Lammas celebrations we strive to connect and honor Gaia. We spend the day in contemplation of the greater good, and those within our priesthood spend the day education, volunteering, and/or reaching out to the world around us in healing and love. These are pretty simple concepts but often these are forgotten in the hustle and bustle of daily life.
To think about our wonderful planet, about the element of earth and how it provides structure, support, and strength in our magickal and mundane lives is to look into the very heart of our practices and witness creation taking form. In our creation myth Gea the guardian of Earth springs forth as the great Goddess realizes she has form. Like all things- nothing exists until it is perceived. Those who are in the temple look at our own structure and honor what we do have, then reinforce it with the energies of the earth so it may continue to grow and support us as we grow.
Most in the temple will spend Lammas volunteering at soup kitchens or hospices, they will be out collecting garbage from parks to reclaim nature space, or they will be offering their services to others in need. We believe that giving back to the community is to support the community, and that when you support the community the community will support you.
So as Lammas night approaches we invite you to take a look deep into your own structure be it the three souls, your inner-temple, or the structure of your reality and honor it. Give thanks to those who support you, send blessings to those who got your back, send healing deep into the Earth, and take pride in your beautiful life. In essence we would like you to think about the road you travel and for once stop to smell the roses, maybe even plant one or two.
Gaia, the spirit of our planet is a vast and wondrous thing. She is fertile and ever changing and we who walk upon her are charged with the responsibility to take care of her because she takes care of us. As such, for those who are interested I invite you also to light a candle on Lammas and meditate on Gaia, perhaps even reciting this prayer while in your sacred space of connection.
" Gaia, spirit of this world, I pray unto your highest mountain and unto your deepest cavern that you may know that I know. I pray for your wounds to heal, for your waters to be cleansed, and your air to be purified. I pray for the days when we drank from your teaming waters of life, the days when your forests gave shelter, for the days when man-kind connected to you and searched your mysteries as I do. Mother Gaia, mother of man, I pray for your health, I pray for your wisdom, and I pray for your strength. Do not cry great mother, but be strong and mighty for I have not forgotten you."
Earlier this week I posted a link to an article written by Jason Pitzl-Waters on The Wild Hunt Blog in which I was quoted about polyamory. I also promised to write more on the topic later this week, and the time has come.
First off, I swore to myself I would never enter a polyamorous relationship. All the poly people I had known had been messed up mentally, were looking for another person to fill a void in their relationship, or were just looking for excuses to get their groove on with multiple partners. It all just seamed a little too out there for me. I grew up in the mid-west and had fully expected to find a partner by the time I was 30, settle down, have 2.5 children, and go on about life like an average American... only gayer. :P
Almost two years ago I completely fell head-over-heals for my two partners. It was unexpected but ultimately I am the typical Sag... romance, love, whispers of sweet nothings.... all the bane of my existence! I am a sucker for taking risks for love. I threw caution to the wind, boarded a plane, and within 6 hours I landed in California. Me, the small town boy gave it all up for the fast paced life in CA and I did it all for the promise of love.
Unlike before I had entered the relationship I was able to solely focus on the concepts of love, how it evolved within me over time, and also the sheer and simple fact that love is different every-time we experience it and not only that but love is simply not a finite resource within us. Truly unlocking it is to challenge our concepts of it and push the envelope as to how it can manifest in our lives.
Unconditional love? Hmm, well how can love be unconditional if we chain it to someone else's values? When I entered this relationship I was still banged and bruised from love gone wrong in the past, I was not vulnerable, but jaded. Contrary to the popular belief at the time of me entering this relationship, there was no brain-washing, there was no convincing, the guys if anything took everything I would have to do to make the switch into consideration and asked me every day if this was what I wanted. At times it felt like they were trying to talk me out of it for fear that I would loose too much. But I am bull-headed and stubborn, and c'mon have you seen my guys? HOT!
The truth of the matter is that we are dealing with love here. Love that is free to express its self in what ever way it chooses too. Of all the relationships I have been in this relationship has been the healthiest, the most challenging, and the most inspiring.
What makes the Dynamics of poly different than other relationships? That is easy! Very little. We value the power of the individual and are also aware that we equal more than the sum of our individual parts. Being poly allows for each individual to be independent. We each have our own relationships with the other, and then we have our over-all relationship. As long as we honor each-others needs and desires and do so from a place of understanding and compassion than we can do anything!
I wish I had some other great droplet of wisdom but to tell you the truth, what it takes to make any relationship successful is communication. Adding another person to the mix places a challenge on that but if you know that communication is the corner-stone of any relationship than you must not allow it to become what lacks. I don't just have boyfriends or partners, I have companions. Together we collectively make for a team of empowered and respectful individuals who are willing to test the boundaries of love.
People almost instantly jump to the conclusion that people become poly because of the sex- which I am sure does play a part in it for some, but ultimately that is not the point..... but a perk. I will choose to avoid getting into my sex life, because it is MY sex life and is no ones business. I think if we move away from everything being about sex all the time we can see what lies within the belly of the unknown.
Having multiple partners also means that you have more support. I know no matter what I have a loving, caring, and genuinely interested person within reach at all times. If I need a pick me up or a little inspiration all I need to do is pick up the phone or look over my shoulder. If something were to happen to one of us (Gods forbid) there are two people to help take care of the other. If one of us looses our job, there are two other sources of income. See the tripod brings stability and security.
I don't really see a big difference in my relationship compared to yours. I come home from work, am greeted with not one but two loving smiles, I sleep in the same bed as my partners, and I wake-up feeling that everything is OK. If one day I wake up and have the awareness that I am no longer in a relationship that served me, I at the very least have learned what I deserve from love, which is the most valuable lesson I have learned yet.
Being Poly works for me because you can not hide from your emotions, you can not act like it is all OK, because in a poly relationship you are guaranteed to have someone seeing what is really going on. It works because we are a family, not just three guys who sleep together. It works for me because there is real and genuine love. It works for me because it is empowering.
For those of you who do not know I am in a very happy Polyamorous relationship with two amazing men. I credit these men with being the loves of my life but most importantly as being two healthy individuals who showed me how a relationship should work.
Had I ever planned on being poly? NO! In-fact I spent a lot of time writing it off as something that wasn't for me, until I found myself in a swirl of romance and before I knew it- there I was in-love with two guys, lucky for me they were already married! In September we will be together for two years and I simply couldn't imagine my life without them.
When I was asked to comment for an article by Jason Pitzl-Waters of The Wild Hunt Blog I couldn't help but voice my opinion on this incredibly important matter. Marriage between two people of any gender is a wonderful thing, provided the parties can keep up their end of the bargain, but marriage between multiple partners? In this article by Mr.Pitzl-Waters we see a rising interest in plural marriage rights in Canada but also in the U.S. I have no issue with marriage in any-form, but I do question why the rights of a minority are in the hands of the majority? As a gay man I have struggled with this, but then I add two men to it and BOOM! It gets a whole lot more difficult. I am not saying I see marriage in my future with my men, but I am questioning why I do not have the option if all parties are in consent?
Marriage rights are the bane of my political consciousness. I have seen first hand children who are raised within a poly relationship and I have seen these children flourish! I will continue to write about polyamorous relationships later this week, but untill then check out this inciteful article by Jason Pitzl-Waters from The Wild Hunt!
Heya folks, so as a little appreciation for all the support I have added a "Freebee" section to the blog where you will be able to find several free wallpapers (scanned and safe) that I have made, as well as any other freebee's I may get my hands on- it happens.
Please feel free to take them and use them as you will.
Today's free wallpaper was inspired by Rowan Pendragon.- Hope she enjoys it!
Again Check out the freebee section, there are a few more up already and there will be more to come!
Imagine if this was your job, and that was your totem!
No, seriously poor dear! This does happen though due to urban sprawl. :(
But think about it, if this was your totem this would be the biggest RED TRUCK! The guy sitting at the bar sure does look like he has had a revelation- or, just maybe it scared the hell out of him like it would me. Either way he wont be forgetting the randomness of Mother Nature anytime soon.
The top 8 countdown of witches from 'Back in the Day'!
To me, growing up in the 90's was a sort of dream. I had access to cultures from around the world in ways that my parents and even my older siblings did not have growing up. MTV was always giving me the 411 on pop-culture, I could lose myself in Goosebumps books, Ellen came out on an episode of her prime-time show, and we had Bill Clinton as president. These were all things I took for granted! I got lucky, my childhood saw not only extreme periods of economic growth but also the only war that was going on was cold.
Whether you were listening to the tortured sounds of Tori Amos, Sarah Mclachlan, and Alanis Morriset, or the hard knock rap of the Wu Tang Clan, The Fugees, or Dr.Dre chances are you like me were soaking all of the new-found liberalism of mainstream media. Part of this new found media liberalism gave way for Witches to come back into our lives in a big way. The silver and small screens were filled with witchcraft and my young impressionable mind simply gave-in to the temptations of what life might be like if I could turn a boy into a cat, or if I had two crazy aunts who took me to teach me witchcraft. As I look back I remember stowing away in my bedroom and doing the exact same spells I saw each week on Charmed, I remember forming covens with class mates that would only last a week, and I remember going off into the woods and invoking the spirit.
As an adult I can not help but to pay homage to those witches who came into my life and hypnotized me. This post is a top 8 countdown dedicated to the witches from 'Back in the day' who shaped our young minds into the bad-ass witches we are today!
Number 8- Rita Repulsa
Now, some of you may be wondering who the hell Rita Repulsa is, but for those of us who grew up with the beloved Japanese turned American 90's pop phenom The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers you were probably fighting her evil spawn on the play ground after school. Rita Repulsa was an evil alien witch who had been trapped in a galactic dumpster by the forces of good for over ten thousand years.
Later in the series she marries the evil Lord Zedd after he plots to take control over her quest for universal domination. Rita had four minions who were trapped with her for those ten thousand years Goldar, Finster, Squat, and Baboo.
Her most famous line- “I've got such a headache!”
Truth be told Rita may be an alien witch from a ten thousand year old dumpster but she always provided the proper amount of snark and quick response. She rarely fought in hand to hand combat but instead would send her minions to do all of her dirty work most notably the Puddies! This is the kind of witch who didn't take crap (unless it was from her husband, or brother, or father, or of course the power rangers who weekly kicked her ass.)
Rita comes in at number 8 on the list of top witches from the 90's due to her lack of self empowerment, I mean after-all what kind of message are we sending to children with that hair?
Number 7- The Blair Witch
The Blair Witch project came out in '99 and is a documentary style- not so documentary which follows a group of college students who enter the woods of the Black Hills in Maryland as they investigate the Blair Witch. Supposedly in 1994 this group of amateur film students heads off into the woods and are never heard from again, however the majority of their film and sound equipment was discovered and that material was mastered into what would become the movie.
The film was originally released at the 99 Sundance Film Festival and after months of on-line publicity and leaks was released the same year by Artisan Entertainment. They big claim to fame was that reportedly the events in the movie were actual events that had taken place just five years earlier.
At the beginning of the film we are introduced to the Blair Witch by locals (some planted actors, and others who are reportedly actual members of the local community) as a witch who was hung in the 18th century that visited Rustin Parr a hermit who kidnapped seven children and ritually murdered them in the early 1900's. Later he turns himself into the police claiming insanity. As the story develops the ghost of the Blair Witch slowly pics off members of the crew and the movie provides one of the most satirically covered scenes of all time.
Although we never see the Blair Witch we are plagued throughout the film with her supposed symbol which is a bundle of sticks that form together to make a sigil.
Everyone thought this film was real and the film gave way to other amateur style not-so documentary flicks like 2010's Paranormal Activity.
The Blair Witch makes number 7 on our countdown because even though her character was loosely based on urban legend and was unseen in the film she still gave my ass nightmares! :D
Number 6- Sabrina Spellman
Originally released by Archie comics as the story of Sabrina Spellman, Sabrina the teenage witch debuted on ABC's TGIF in 1996 and was the first prime time series depicting a witch since Bewitched! The show follows a half witch/ half mortal sixteen year old girl who moves in with her aunts for “Witch training.” Throughout the series Sabrina undergoes a series of social and magical lessons as she gets swept away with the drama of life as an American teenager.
Sabrina has two wacky aunts, Hilda and Zelda who have given up life in the 'other realm' for a simple life amongst the mortals of suburbia. The three witches are also the caregivers of a black cat named salem who was once a witch who was punished for misuse of his powers and transformed into a talking cat.
Amongst some of the zany antics of the series Sabrina falls victim to backfiring spells, a sick index finger, and a closet that acts as a portal to the 'other realm.'
Sabrina was a great escape for me as a kid, but more important was my crush on her love interest Harvey who was nothing more than a popular dumb jock. Eventually the series moved to the WB for its final three seasons which follow Sabrina through her college years.
Famous Quote: Sabrina: “What's the matter? I have to be a witch, I have to be a mortal, I have to be a teenager and I have to be a girl all at the same time. That's what's the matter.”
Salem: “At least you still have your thumbs... and a door on your bathroom!”
Sabrina makes number 6 on our countdown to the top witch of the 90's because she spent more time trying to mix her witchcraft and her mundane life and not enough time snogging with the jock. Well, I mean we all have to have our priorities after-all.
Number 5- Eva Ernst
In the 1990 film release of Roald Dahl's book by the same name, Goddess of the small and silver screen Angelica Houston plays Eva Ernst the Grand High Witch of England in The Witches. The plot is centered around a young boy named Luke who is turned into a mouse after stumbling into a witches' convention which happens to be at the same hotel that he and his grandmother are staying at. I wont give any spoilers for the one person out there who hasn't seen the movie yet, but unknowingly all the witches at the convention end up drinking the same potion that turned our young Luke into a mouse!
The best part of the movie is when all of the witches rip off their human exteriors and show their real faces. Angelica Houston turns into a horrible looking hunchback with a crooked pointy nose. Of course this is the classic image of a witch, but as always she plays evil so well.
Famous Line: Eva: “Any questions? “
Millie: “Madam, what would happen if one of the chocolates we give away was accidentally eaten by a grown-up?”
Eva: “Then that's just too bad for ze grown-up.”
Number 4- The Sanderson Sisters
In the 1993 Disney film Hocus Pocus we are taken to Salem, MA where three evil witches are brought back from the dead for one night only, as Max the main character lights the “black flame candle” in a stunt to impress a girl. The three sisters are brought back from hell and spend all of halloween brewing a potion to suck the lives out of the children of Salem so their youth can be restored.
What made this movie so completely bad-ass is all the singing! In classic Disney fashion we are treated to several musical numbers, and with a cast that includes Bette Midler how could you go wrong? My favorite scene from the movie is when the three sisters sing 'I put a spell on you' and the parents of Salem are enchanted to dance until they die. The song is a classic, but this number took it over the top with a Vegas style extravagance!
We had all the great stuff in this movie, and boy did the sisters play it well! The eldest sister, Winnifred, played by Bette Midler was a power hungry high tempered red-head who is constantly struggling to keep control over her two sisters who lack commonsense as they tear through Salem searching for the children who brought them back from the dead.
The middle sister, a brunette stout witch named Mary, played by Kathy Najimy brought laughs as she flew off into the night on a vacuum cleaner. The youngest sister Sarah, played by Sarah Jessica Parker reminded me more of my boy-crazy sister, only... a little sluttier. I think SJP had more cleavage going on than I was used to in a children's movie, but hey if you got it....
Favorite Quote: Winnifred: “ I always wanted children....... ON TOAST!”
The Sanderson sisters although quick witted and hysterical were not so self actualized and this is why they make number four on our countdown.
Number 3- The girls from the craft
The craft became a pop-phenom after its 1996 release by director Andrew Fleming. The movie follows four catholic school girls turned punk-goth witches as they navigate their way through their junior year of high-school. The movie takes a turn for the dark when the characters gang up on the newest member of their coven as spells go crazy, dead sharks end up on the beech after a crazy night of invoking the spirit, and no less than three people die due to magick gone awry.
We have Nancy the white-trash dis-empowered goth girl who turns into a psycho because she missuses her magick, Bonnie who hates her body and then half way the film becomes a sex-bomb, Rochelle who fights the evils of blond bigotry, and Sarah the girl with baggage who becomes super-witch. Everything you need for a teeny-bopper flick about the wiles of friendship gone wrong.
Favorite Quote: Bus driver: “Watch out for the weirdos, girls.”
Nancy: “We are the weirdos, mister.”
Not only did we all know who these four girls were in our own high-schools, but we wanted to be just like them, and that makes the witches of The Craft our number three!
Number 2- The Charmed Ones
In 1998 the WB (R.I.P) brought the story of the three Halliwell sisters into our homes each-week. The first two-seasons delved into a myriad of issues surrounding their childhoods, careers, and love-lives as the sisters are reunited after their grandmother's death and discover that they are witches! Now, these three aren't just any witches, but The Charmed ones!
This show will always have a spot in my heart and because the first few seasons were completely kick-ass I will forgive them for making me bang my head against the wall all throughout the final three seasons. What I loved most about these witches is that they were fighting the forces of evil, or rather the source of all evil, and most often did it in high-heels. The series did 'Jump the Shark” when the eldest sister Prue died suddenly and mysteriously, ending the power of three, only to be replaced by a 'hidden' fourth sister- Page.
One of the coolest things about these witches is that they each possessed a specific ability, Prue- the power to move objects with her mind, and later astral project, Piper- the power to freeze people and places, and later to make them explode, Pheobe- The power of premonition and later the power to levitate, and of course Page who inherits the abilities of her estranged dead sister Prue but also has the power of teleportation.
Favorite Quote: Piper:
“Darryl, I'm sorry, but what do you want me to say? My sister was just possessed with a supernaturally born killer and my husband is in 1994, and I do not mean in the fashion sense. He time traveled back with my other sister so the only one left to help me is you.”
These witches were awesome and sexy giving them the number two spot on our countdown. Fighting the forces of evil in stilettos has to be a super-power all its own.
Number 1- The Owens Family
The1998 film Practical Magic featuring a knock-out cast which included Stockard Channing, Nicole Kidman, Diane Weisst, and Sandra Bullock explores the lives of a family of witches through the good times and the bad. In the movie we discover that the Owens women only have little girls and those little girls are natural born witches! The film primarily focuses on Sally and Gillian Owens as they try to take back their lives after the death of a husband and the accidental murder by belladonna of Gillian's fugitive ex-lover who is raised back from the dead only to become their worst nightmare.
The movie is in my book as the top witchcraft movie of my generation as it showcases strong women who live through tough times but always have each-other to turn to. The Owens women are powerful witches who live on the outskirts of society and never seem to age, their magick is beautiful and based off of actual magic that you and I might practice, but most impressively these witches embody everything I want to be when I grow-up, oh and I want that house!
Favorite quote: Francis : “My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage!”
A powerful cast playing powerful witches who not only know their way around an herb cabinet but actually make money off of their craft makes these self actualized divas our number one!
Now for those of you who are asking "What about Willow?" Willow did not become a witch on the TV series Buffy the vampire slayer until 2001! She will be on another top list soon. :P
The past few days I have found myself questioning "how I got here." After a lot of deep soul searching and personal recognition I have come to the conclusion that we are each given specific variables in life that we must identify and engage. As we engage them we understand them, as we understand them we concur them. How did I get here? A lot of damn hard work and dedication to MYSELF. The second we stop serving ourselves is the moment that we give away our right to sovereignty.
Truth be told I was not expecting by any means to have the life I have now. When I look back at my life I remember believing that I knew myself, my motivations, my drives, but in retrospect I was just as lost and confused as everyone else. I believe I am fortunate to have learned what to date has been the most valuable lesson yet- Trying to understand how the outer world works is a million times more difficult than understanding how I work. Primarily because the outer world is always shifting, always changing. Once I was able to take a step back from the rat race and look inside I was able to understand how I (key word) fit into the world around me, or should I say how the world around me fit into my own inner world. When I figured that out I was able to consciously influence the world around me, even more importantly I was able to do this from a place of authority.
I believe the big theme is gnosis. We all have a personal gnosis even if we do not understand it and it's variables. The trick in life, especially in becoming empowered ,is to define and establish our own gnosis. In my religion we believe that the establishment of personal gnosis is the first act in the evolution of our souls. We believe that if we stop looking through the chaos of the outer world and begin searching through the inner variables we can find not only our own sense of self, but the divine spark which makes us... well God.
We have this habit of placing others above ourselves, and this is seen especially in religious dogma. God, then Guru, then myself, or God, then Shepherd, then flock. By the acceptance of this very pre- established gnosis we are giving our authority away. How did Jesus become JESUS? How did the Guru become the Guru? How did the ascended master become an ascended master? They established their own gnosis. They looked at their tools owned them. They looked within and applied these tools, and in doing so redefined the terms in which they worked, they developed new tools and then shared those with whoever may stumble into the room with a willing ear.
In The Living Temple of Diana we approach every situation as if it were an opportunity to discover a part of ourselves that was previously uncharted territory. We create the rules for our own existence, understanding actions have consequences. Sometimes these rules are in direct conflict with the cultural norm, or sometimes these rules are in conflict with current beliefs. But when we engage them, study them, and redefine them we are creating a base for ourselves that creates our own gnosis.
Gnosis = Knowledge, and knowledge is power. To quote Gloria Steinem, "Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself." We must always choose to seek our own knowledge, because then we are discovering our own power. This power can never truly be shared as it is unique to us, but we are able to search for this together and help others explore the tools to discover the power within themselves. (i.e. We can not GIVE power (gnosis), but can only facilitate the cultivation of it in others.)
To bring this back full circle- The road to power is the road to self exploration which must never be taken for granted. As we search the inner realms of consciousness, subconsciousness, and id we become aware of pieces of us that we never knew were there until that moment. Within that moment we seize our power. This can be applied to any portion of our lives be it in love, career, or school. After the discovery of the unknown we discover the known, and like God Herself ( The Goddess ) it was within the whole time. Inner exploration lends to the ability of the individual to discover a personal gnosis that allows one, when engaged, to become just as powerful as God, ultimately making us Gods ourselves.
As in Valiente's Charge of The Goddess- "If that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without...."
Life may never lead us to where we thought it would. In my case life took me to places that rendered me with the ability to know myself in ways that I previously never thought possible. I know that I grew from being a dis-empowered boy from rural Brown County, Ohio to a strong man with a solid understanding of my own potential. No one can give me that, I had to discover it.
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