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Kitchen as Ritual Space
After taking some time to settle back in my home, am finding that I'm starting to cook as though I'm comfortable again. Slightly more room has me considering taking the time to set up a small area for votive offerings in the kitchen. After a recent trip to an Indian restaurant, and catching a glimpse of a bronze statue of a Hindu goddess with a ( Read more... ) -
Turning up the dial on my death-radar
Came home about a month ago from another mournful trip to Florida. Although it was an opportunity to become more familiar with death and the energy that is associated with it, it was also a difficult time dealing with family members who were let's just say somewhat less receptive of the experience we had come together to witness. I was fully aware ( Read more... ) -
A Funeral for the Sun
Just came home from a trip to Florida. It was a combination funeral/early Christmas. My family is Christian, so I don't have any problem calling it that. I usually have 2 Christmases and I Yule every year; my family, inlaws, and then there's me. It was the best thing that a displaced Floridian could have hoped for - early holiday in 70 F. The fog ( Read more... ) -
Oceanic Roots
Was watching a show the other night where Ugandan natives engaged in a ritual and gave offerings of coffee beans to the ancestors of their tribe. At that very moment I started nodding in agreement as if I instinctively felt some kind of spiritual camraderie with the idea of using coffee beans as an offering. I have no idea of the significance of ( Read more... ) -
Midsummer & New Perspectives
Last weekend with a few friends, I attended Midsummer ritual organized by a nearby coven. It was performed with an obvious shamanic wiccan angle. Being a non-wiccan, I don't necessarily agree with the motions, but gained a few things from the experience nonetheless. It made me think about things I hadn't thought about for sometime:
1. finding the ( Read more... ) -
BonAppetit: Edible Energy
It actually began with a post to my primary blog at wordpress about Culinary Ritual Theory. Met with a friend tonight and had a discussion on a session she attended with a nutritionist whose specialty involves careful study and focus on raw or living foods. She is very open to the concept of positive and negative energies, albeit probably from a ( Read more... ) -
Searching for the Gods: A perspective on Mythology
Mythology is a cultural expression of widespread ideologies and experience. Today, many people in this world look down upon myth as tales completely rooted in fiction to keep society within moral boundaries. I don't entirely agree. Many civilizations since the dawn of time had special lessons to impart through the power of myth that embodied the ( Read more... ) -
Booklist
Last night a friend of mine was asking if there were any books that I could recommend on Paganism and goddess worship. So I decided to sort of take another inventory of the books I've read or have on my shelf, with notes on what I gleaned from them, if anything at all. Sometimes even a bad book has a grain or two of truth. Several of those I ( Read more... ) -
Pagan Picnic is this weekend
Last year's picnic had its ups and downs. This year, I have a friend going with me to attend the picnic. Somebody else who is also interested in this stuff - everything from roasted corn to workshops to sparkly shiny things! I don't really do the whole networking thing - at least not so much at the picnic. For me its about seeing who is in the ( Read more... ) -
Weather Systems of Chaos
Yesterday was a very strange time here. I have trouble sleeping so I wake up every couple hours. So yesterday morning I woke up exactly at 7:30 and spotted that the power was out. So we got up and went outside to work on the generator. I was out there freezing, gazing up at the skies as clouds sped fast overhead. Winds were heavy and there was a ( Read more... )