cosmology, consciousness, contrariness: the down to earth musings of a Goddess Mystic
If you landed here while looking for the international goddess research newspaper,
Goddessing aka
Goddessing Regenerated and
Goddess Network News), please let me direct you to it. My blog has no affiliation, other than affinity, with this
fabulous publication.
I have come to call myself Sage Starwalker, a name that's both a mouthful and a challenge to live up to, but when you ask for a name,
and the Goddess gives you one .... I started the
Goddess Mystic web site as a record of
my early priestess studies. I'm in my last year of Temple of Diana's
Spiral Door program. I'm an eternal student and have no plans to change that. I've accepted the identifier "disabled," but
fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis haven't completely stopped me. I have a home-based web design business. My ministry consists of
publishing
MatriFocus Cross-Quarterly (a zine); developing
Matrifocus [dot] Net to bring voices of the Goddess Movement to the blogosphere; teaching; peer counseling; dream interpretation;
performing rites of passage and doing divination work for community members; Saturn and Chiron Return chart casting and interpretation;
and web activism. My personal practice consists of contemplative arts and natural magic within Goddess, Pagan, Women's Mysteries, and Dianic Wiccan
frameworks. I'm a member of the Goddess Scholars Group, the Conflict Transformation Group, and Womonsong. I'm looking to
find more time for crochet, beading, and other art-making. Want to know more? Read
100 Things About Me
Goddessing is a recent contribution to Goddess vocabulary, following on from Mary Daly's suggestion that Deity is too dynamic, too much in process, changing continually, to be a noun, and should better be spoken as a Verb (following Buckminster Fuller's "God is a verb"). We can refer to goddessing meaning Goddess culture, Goddess way of life, Goddess practice, or 'my goddessing' as in my individual interpretation and experience of Goddess. (
Wikipedia)
See also:
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
On Target
Just back from the doc's office. She's a tiny woman with a big heart and a great mind. She says my grief and depression are on target and doesn't recommend either pills or therapy, unless I really want that --
support from friends, which I have,
is what heals, she says,
that and getting up each day and doing what's in front of me to do.
Well, that's pretty much what I thought, but it was good to talk with her, and cry, and have authoritative confirmation that I'm fucked up and that that's in the nature of things, given the givens. She asked me if I'd forgiven myself (ok, she really gets it). We talked about the responsibility we all have for how things are going in our culture, country, planet, about how everything and everyone is connected, about how one boy's suicide affects us all.
She also gave me prescriptions for refills and wrote a lab order and other typical doctor stuff.
Typical, normal. Those are oddly comforting words.
I think I'm going to bead her a necklace. She's been a great ally for over seven years now. It's funny how we don't typically go out of our way to thank doctors, except in passing at the end of our exams, or whatever. In the past I've thought
but they get paid for what they do. Well, yeah, but so do I. Who doesn't appreciate a special thank-you now and again?
I haven't done weather magic (I trust the universe, generally speaking, to know what's best weather-wise) -- but I do hope the skies will clear so I can eclipse-gaze tonight. I remember so fondly sitting under the last lunar eclipse with Lilith and my beloved. We were mesmerized. I have noticed that this morning's drizzle and heavy fog have lifted, that the overcast of late morning is still present, but thinning. There's a suggestion of sun through there, just beyond the gray veil. I hope, I hope, I hope...
I also ran across this at Mooncircle, by following one of
Laura Salmonstone's links:
Astrologically this darkening does not mean a loss or negation of what the Moon represents, but
an intensification and an opportunity to see through to its essence. Just as the stars become visible only when the Sun’s light is absent, the Moon can reveal certain secrets when her face is veiled. (
Full Moon)
Monday, October 25, 2004
Total Lunar Eclipse
Graphics and science info on this week's total lunar eclipse. For North America, it's our
last chance to see a total lunar eclipse until 2007!
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon form a near-straight line in space, so that the full Moon passes through Earth’s shadow. Unlike a solar eclipse, which requires special equipment to observe safely, you can watch a lunar eclipse with the naked eye.
(Blood-red Moon)Total lunar eclipses only occur during full moons. If I'm reading my ephemeris correctly, the moon will be in Taurus during the eclipse.
Some do magic during total lunar eclipses, and some don't:
During a lunar eclipse, we experience what might be called a "micro month". The moon is full, then partially or completely hidden, and then visible again. Within just a few minutes, an energy similar to a complete cycle of full, waning, new/black (if it is a total lunar eclipse), waxing and full again.
(PaganPath.com)The lunar eclipse is the symbol of the Crone, also called Hecate, Hel, Mother Hulda, the Snow Queen, Bone Mother, Demeter (when searching for Persephone and the earth's vegetation dies) and Sekhmet. It is significant that the eclipse does not related to the Crone as Lady of Wisdom, who is part of the Crone image with the waning crescent-moon part of the lunar cycle, but focuses on the Lady as Passage. Now is a fine time for Dark magic and Sidhe magic.
(Ireland's Own Myths and Magic)Eclipses generally bring things either into fruition, or to a halt. That particular area of your life will be affected depending on which house of your natal chart the eclipse falls in.
(Center for the New Age Newsletter)The dark red color of the moon has caused many cultures to equate the lunar eclipse with blood and magic.
(What Can I See During a Lunar Eclipse?)Chanting a Mantra just once during a lunar eclipse proves as powerful as chanting the same Mantra a hundred times in ordinary conditions. Great Tantriks and Yogis remain waiting for such moments for they are well aware of their significance. On the other hand the common man being unaware of this significance wastes these moments. The common family man has more problems and worries in his life due to which he remains ever worried. If only he knew, he could make use of these moments and solve all problems of life. Simply put an eclipse is a boon for the common man.
(Sadhana on Lunar Eclipse)Good for relationship magic. Eclipses rapidly bring everyone's emotions to the extreme in order for you to see them and understand them better—that's the shock effect of an eclipse. It is as if an eclipse turns up the volume in your heart so you can really hear the message inside.
(Moon Magic)Eclipses represent special opportunities to heal old patterns and to make major shifts in your life. Fears and feelings are closer to the surface.
(Campfire Magic)I know of two different European Craft traditions that have opposite views of doing magic during an eclipse. "In old days the peasant people used to think that it brought gloom and doom."
(Total Eclipse of the Moon)What do you think? Magic yes-or-no during an eclipse?
Magic or not, I'll be sitting outside with my beloved, around an oak fire and under an eclipsing moon ... that is, if that 40%-chance-of-rain prediction disappears.
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Friday, October 22, 2004
Halloween?
Well, we're not there yet, but it's making the news:
School District Bans Halloween"We really want to make sure we're using all of our time in the best interest of our students," Puyallup School District spokeswoman Karen Hansen said.
The superintendent made the decision for three primary reasons, Hansen said. First, Halloween parties and parades waste valuable classroom time. Second, some families can't afford costumes and the celebrations thus can create embarrassment for children.
Both of those reasons seemed sensible to the parents who spoke to ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle. But the district's third reason left some Puyallup parents shaking their heads.
The district said Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.
"Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion and so we want to be respectful of that," Hansen said.
Hmmm. As an acquaintance says ... I wonder what they'll do at Christmas. Is Santa Claus offensive to Christians?
Mainly, I wish this school district had thought things through and perhaps even asked some of us witches. I don't really want to see kids in the United States denied the secular celebration of their ancestor's holy day. Maybe educate instead of deny?
Oh well, as for me, I've been mainly silent here because I've been finishing up that odious
organizing task (should be completely done by the lunar Samhain -- 11/12) and redesigning
MatriFocus (soon-to-be-published Samhain issue still veiled) to accommodate expansion and change and to celebrate three full years of publication. But that's not all. I must be going through the 'why blog?' phase of suicide survivor depression. I expect I'll get through this, as I seem to be making headway on other things that were stopped, or seriously slowed down, by the depression.
Maybe I should have gone to the doc and gotten some anti-depressants, but my thinking has been that this is a stage of grief, not something to be medicated. Just to be sure, I'm gonna check in with her next week. She's an MD with a holistic medicine certification, so I trust her knowing about these things more than I trust the AMA corps in general.
Til then ... soul blessings!
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Wednesday, October 13, 2004
<<--< neo/pagan >-->>
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Protesting for the Environment
Taking to the streets to demonstrate and protest is more effective than working inside the system to influence the passage of pro-environmental legislation in the United States, according to a new study analyzing the impact of the environmental movement. (
University of Washington News)
Now we know....
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Monday, October 11, 2004
Purification
An interesting weekend -- magical herbalism workshop-- an intersection of Dianic Wiccan and Old (European) Family Trad recipes and cosmologies.
It turns out that in addition to concerns about cultural appropriation and the use of White Sage (
Salvia apiana) by non Native Americans, there is a second concern: some California habitats where it grows natively are endangered and/or protected, and the plant itself is
threatened, according to Crop Watch and on the "to watch" list of
United Plant Savers.
I rarely burn white sage, though I do have a small stash in my magical cabinet, an old oak chest I inherited through my mom from a great aunt.
Our teacher suggested a traditional European blend instead of white sage for purification purposes: 2 parts cinnamon, 2 parts clove, 1 part sandalwood.
Unfortunately, it turns out that sandalwood (whether Indian, Australian, Hawaiian, or Caribbean) is endangered!
So, I guess I'll let her know about the problems with using sandalwood. Perhaps she'll be able to suggest another alternative. And in the meantime, I'll consult Scott Cunningham's
Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs for some sandalwood substitutes that will work with cinnamon and cloves, and then check online until I find one that isn't threatened or endangered.
I wonder what hyssop or rosemary might smell like, when combined with cinnamon and cloves, and burned....
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