Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for...

1. My health, yey no longer having the flu :)
2. Being greeted by my cat every evening asking for tummy rubs when I get home.
3. Laughter and joking with my husband
4. The moment of mental clarity last night when everything for my thesis finally clicked into place.
5. Driving to work with the sun rising behind me and the moon setting ahead.

Rumi

Yes I know I missed yesterday's post - I have to be honest and say that when you spend all day and night researching magic and religion in the Greco-Roman world the last thing you want to do is write a theological post on your blog.  So I have to be honest with myself and say that maybe that particular weekly posting might get a little sporadic as my brain slowly melts out of my ears on the heavy stuff.


Today's Witchy Wednesday

(Source: http://forum.cafemontenegro.com/showthread.php?36980-Poetry-by-Rumi)

Wise words - then again I love Rumi.  But I post this for a reason.  Monday I actually partook of the wisdom (I believe T. Thorn Coyle is where I read it, although I'm sure others have said it) of taking the time to address those negative thoughts from the past that constantly re-enter your mind over and over again and embracing them, acknowledging them and figuring out what caused it, what I learned from it and then allow yourself to embrace it as part of your whole life experience and move on.  There are many thoughts that come to me on a regular basis regarding things I have done in my past that I do not like, things that bring me shame or just bother me and I often push them down, tell myself to get over it and let it go, never taking the time to deal with them.  Monday I tried the other way - and wow, what a difference.  It was something relatively small and not overly emotional (other than I felt stupid about it at the time and since) but I took the time to embrace it, discuss it and work with it and it no longer bothers me.  I actually deliberately made myself think about it the next day and I could view it with a sense of just a part of the larger journey.  Definitely applying this practice to the rest of these things as they emerge, although I'm certain that some will take more effort than others.

Back in the land of the living

Well it might have been the dreaded PCon Crud or it might have been I caught something from work but I've been off sick for the past week which is why there has been no posting.  So I'm trying to get back into the swing of this and thankfully today is relatively easy to work with.

A friend of mine posted this on FB and I thought it was incredibly wise and beautiful so I leave you with these words to ponder today.

This magnificent refuge is inside you.
Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway…
Be bold. Be humble.
Put away the incense and forget
the incantations they taught you.
Ask no permission from the authorities.
Close your eyes and follow your breath
to the still place that leads to the
invisible path that leads you home.
~ St. Theresa of Avila

Art by Julie Dillon

PCon Recap

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a PCon recap.

This will probably be one of many recaps that take place (not necessarily all on here) as I work through all that took place over the weekend.

This year was my first ever PantheaCon, and it will not be my last - I have already committed myself to attending next year.  This con did so much for me in so many different ways that I may find it hard to explain adequately all.

Firstly, I'll start with taking note of some practicalities that I want to recall for next year.

1. Arrive Thursday night.  We drove down on the Friday and arrived after the Con had officially started and I found myself feeling rather discombobulated with registering, getting my bearings, checking into our hotel off site etc that we called it an early night and missed out on an awesome ritual that night.
2. If at all possibly, stay at the Doubletree.  While we were not disappointed with where we were staying, we have a nice suite with the ability to cook our own meals, we definitely came to see the advantage of being able to duck back up to ones room when required instead of having to strategically plan return trips around desired schedules.
3. Take a spiritual first aid kit.  We became abundantly aware of how important it can be to take a kit of things that would enable one to better ground, cleanse and center oneself after certain events of the days.  We did have an altar set up in our room which was an inspired idea, but other items could definitely be included.
4. Take the day after con off.  I'm sitting at work right now feeling drained and a little out of sync with the non-con world (I also appear to have caught some version of the con crud too) and I can see the benefits of taking the day after off to help re-acclimate to the world before diving back in.

So what was it about PCon that was so great.  We aside from the wonderful experience of being with some dear friends and getting to bond and know each other better I walked away from the weekend feeling the beginnings of transformation.  

I headed there with a feeling that something was going to change, there was going to be a shift in my being that took place, good or bad, and I wasn't disappointed.  I went with the flow, took myself where my being called (for the most part) and was rewarded with an experience that wasn't overwhelming and left plenty to explore.  That isn't to say that the experience was all sunshine and roses, but thankfully there was only  one event that left me unhappy with how things were handled.  

What did I attend:

1. Love Your Demons, Love Your Self: a Conversation and Working with T. Thorn Coyle & Lon Milo Duquette.  An inspiring and interesting discourse that also provided the trigger for the poem I posted on Friday.
2. Wendy Rule Concert - I was a little bummed about this one.  I enjoy Wendy's music but I only stayed for 2 songs, somewhere in that audience was an energy suck so I just couldn't bring myself to sit through any more.
3. The Ole Time Good Spell Feri Pagan Tent Revival with Dustbunny Feri Initiates & more.  Loved this. So much energy, so much fun and an all around good time.  Great way to start the day (yes, it was my days start at 3:30pm because I had no sleep the night before).
4. The Heart is our Nation: A Morrigan Devotional with Cathubodua, Coyle & Ravenna.  This was amazing.  A truly moving ritual that looked with and then brought you together as a community in a way I've never experienced before.
5. Hekate's Path - Dark Moon Ritual and Shadow Practice with Timotha Doane.  I think the less said about this one the better.  From what I witnessed some people got something from it, for me it was not handled well.
6. Manifestation: The Four Powers of the Sphinx with T. Thorn Coyle.  Amazing.  The meditation that took place during this was such a powerful and moving experience I can't adequately describe it on here.  Needless to say I had a good cleansing cry at the end and felt much better about my day and the beginnings of transformation take root.
7. Tarot: Everything You Know is Wrong! with Thalassa - what a hoot, I loved it.  It was Tarot: The stand-up show and it was a great break after such an emotional experience in the period before.
8. Druid Ritual with Danse Macabre by House of Danu.  Torn on this one, I loved the parade and making our banners and the chanting and drumming at the end was nice, but the meditation couldn't be heard and aspects felt a little preachy to me.
9. Dance Elemental with DevaGnosis - this was energizing and freeing and I loved being able to dance my arse off with my fellow con'ers :)

And that was it - I paced myself, I missed things I wanted to do (but not for being turned away so I'm happy with that) but what I did I did for a reason and it served me well.  Looking forward to next year :)

Pantheacon Day 1

We made it.  Only got to one class today but it was awesome, T Thorn Coyle's "Love your Demons"  I was inspired enough during her first words that I wrote this poem

Who is that I see

sitting there across from me

a face I fear that I may know

if I only allowed it to be so

for as we look into the glass

reflected is the present and past

but if we can take the time to spend

learning to make our demons our friends

than what we see in that reflective glass

will come to reflect the whole of us at last

Copyright Julie Grucza, 2012-2013

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for...

1. Getting to go to Pantheacon tomorrow!
2. Warm Day, the suns rays and clear nights.
3. The wonderful friends that I have in my life from all over the world.
4. My brain - for some reason it always surprises me what I'm capable of.
5. The internet and electronic resources - without which I would not be able to do my thesis.

Witchy Wishlist

Witchy Wishlist

I think I have decided to set myself a goal for the year - it is a 2 part goal.

Firstly, I'm going to go through all my witchy books and see if there are any that I can cull out of my pile.  It sounds horrible as a book lover but there are books that I just don't use anymore.  They served a purpose for me when I got them but I like the idea of passing them on to someone else who can learn and explore their pages. I'm also going to go through and pull out those books that I have purchased and not finished reading yet.  My goal for the year is to get through them - now I realize that I probably won't make much headway on this goal until after I'm done with my thesis but I think this is all part of the reevaluation of my spiritual path that I'm currently going through.

The second part of this goal is to get my hands on some new information that will hopefully help me explore my path further.  While I'll admit I'm as susceptible to shiny book syndrome as anyone I want to explore on a deeper level so with that in mind I'm going to choose 5 books that I want to purchase and read in the coming year to develop my path more.

1. Etheric Anatomy: The Three Selves and Astral Travel

2. The Bowl of Light: Ancestral Wisdom from a Hawaiian Shaman

3. Witch Crafting: A Spiritual  Guide to Making Magic

4. Sweat Your Prayers

5. Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved.