Update on Everything Under the Moon

Hello, Magickal People!  I have been pretty much MIA here for the better part of six months and I'm sure I have some 'splaining to do. Hopefully, you all haven't abandoned ship and this post is being read by someone! 

Let's start way back with last summer.  Most of you know that we had just moved and were settling in nicely here on campus.  The girls were keeping me busy and we were growing a lovely little garden.  I thought I was done with the baby business and was getting into the rhythm created by our little family.  Then Superman had a premonition.  I know. I'm the witch. That's suppose to be my department, but Superman holds his own pretty well in that particular area.  He just knew that if we were to have one more child, he would have a son.  The man has 5 daughters.  Well, I can't deny him anything, particularly not a son, so we decided to try again.  I was tandem nursing the girls and thought that would buy me some time, but with in two weeks I was pregnant with our little boy.  At the time of this post he is now three weeks old and completely amazing of course.  Miss Busy is a great helper when she wants to be and even advises me on how to do my job.  Little Moon loves "bruber," but is feeling a bit out of sorts with her new position in the family line up.

 

 

 

Because we were becoming a household of five, the campus housing regulations required us to move into a larger apartment.  Initially, this move occurred back in November and was a smashing success.  At first.  Soon after Christmas it became apparent that there were some major problems with our new apartment and after trying for over two months to rectify them with us in residence we had to move again.  Thankfully, the apartment across patio was open and we were only required to move next door.  It is safe to say that we cut things pretty close though.  Our first night in the new apartment, I went into labor.  This time I had the premonition and knew it would happen that way.

So, on to my locks.  To tell the truth, they are still significantly more of a mess than I expected them to be at 13 months old.  I love the wildness of my dreads, but some days it seems like I have the "woman lost in the woods" look going on.  Note: I am not very good at this selfie business and just make random faces at the camera while trying to capture the state of my dreads with out looking like a total idiot.  A good portion in the center of each dread is knotted up nice and tight, but there is an inch of loose hair at the top of each another 2 to 3 inches at the bottom just whisping around. Back in January, I bought a dreading hook tiny crochet hook with the goal of having them all tidied up before the baby arrived.  Unfortunately, I didn't do a very good job of figuring time into the equation.  I am rather slow at the business of crocheting hair and with the girls to help me out, I'm doing good to get one dread tidied in the span of an hour.  So at this point, I have 8 rather neat tidy dreads and about 25 very messy ones.  I'm not going for perfection, just manageable.  Maybe I'll have the look cleaned up in time for a 18 month update. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***It took me three days to write this blog post and it is now April Fools Day.  No tricks here, just my own lack of foresight.  

From Stalled Out to On a Roll

Hunter's Moon altar 2014

Ever since Little Bitty Baby made her appearance nearly six weeks ago and the entire third trimester of my pregnancy if I were to be completely honest I really haven't been feeling very ambitious.  The wheels are turning and the ideas are there, but both the time and energy to execute them has been absent.  This lackluster feeling effected every aspect of my life from routine chores to art projects and spiritual activities. 

The Harvest Moon came and went.  I wrote a beautiful baby blessing, but just didn't have the energy to set up an altar or cast a circle.  Superman and I just took the little one out in the yard to meet Her and called it a night. 

Mabon was going to be my new start.  I planned a ritual, collected crab apples and leaves to adorn my altar, and then cared for a new born and a teething toddler all day.  Once the girls were in bed, I sat down on the couch and didn't move until I could respectably call it a night myself. 

The Hunters Moon almost snuck up on me, but the unperformed baby blessing was starting to eat away at me.  Two days before the big night I started making plans, but true to my nature didn't finish pulling together a ritual until the last moment. 

Once all my notes were in order I set up the altar, laid out my Elemental stones, and then nursed the baby to sleep.  Having come too far and put in too much effort to stall yet again, I prepared myself and cast the circle. This being the first time I had cast or participated in a communal circle I fumbled a bit.  I didn't raise as much power as I do in my solitary working circles due to nerves, but I am sure that will come with practice.  As comfortable as I am with my husband, I have to admit it felt a little odd having an audience while I worked. 

When the circle was cast, Superman joined me with our sleeping baby and we read her blessing while she slumbered.  It was a beautiful experience and I believe we both were a bit misty eyed before it was over.  Although we often discuss spirituality and have fully compatible beliefs, this was the first time we celebrated those beliefs together in an official capacity.  It was a bit unnerving at first, but the feeling of closeness and contentment that followed was exhilarating. We also found it quite fulfilling to know that we had finally started a new spiritual chapter for our family. 

Now that I have resumed a magical practice and we have taken a step toward family spirituality, I feel like we are on a roll.  In the past few days we have been sharing more thoughts about Paganism, witchcraft, and the deities who may be playing rolls in our lives.  Not surprising, we both feel a special affection for Hela.  Also, I have already started making plans for Samhain.  Maybe I won't be finishing up at the last moment this time. 

Rewriting the Script

Hindsight is 20/20
Broken window in an abandoned shack outside West End, NC

Last week while I was in the hospital having Little Bitty Baby I didn't get to birth at home, Superman just couldn't come to terms with the plan I had the chance to discuss Paganism with two of the nurses.  Living in a rural area with very little outside influence, neither of them really knew what a Pagan was beyond "not a Christian." 

The first to ask was "K" the sweet nurse assigned to my care.  She had seen the listing under my religious preference and about mid morning just had to ask,

"What is a Pagan?"  Having a strong community of Native Sioux in the area I responded, 

"Paganism is a nature faith similar to the Native beliefs and is based on a reverence and oneness with the Nature." Very basic and simplistic, but I didn't want to overwhelm her. When she appeared to understand, I went on to tell her a little about my belief in The Power or Universal Energy and the inner connectedness of all that is in the Universe.  All of which she related to the faith of a Scientologist family member note to self, look up what Scientologists believe. 

"Don't you worship multiple gods and goddesses?" 

"Some Pagan's do," I responded.  "I am Pantheistic, meaning I worship no deities.  To me, deities are a way to break down the different aspects of The Power into more relatable units or personalities.  I reverence The Power as a whole." 

To tell the truth, I was pretty proud of the conversation.  I held my end and didn't flub around for answers too much.  Later we talked about auras and how science can now see the electric and magnetic energy the body emits. 

The following day when I returned for Little Bitty Baby's weight/ bilirubin check I convinced the doctors to let us go home the same day I gave birth I had a second, less successful conversation with "D".  Apparently the listing of "Pagan" on my chart had led to quite a bit of discussion among the nurses and "K" had done some explaining on my behalf, but "D" still had some questions.  After reiterating what "K" had told her, "D" asked,

"What does Pagan mean?" 

"Really, Pagan is the umbrella term for all European based Nature faiths.  The word pagan itself really just means rural.  It was the country people of Europe who held on to their ancient beliefs the longest during the spread of Christianity."  It was an answer straight from a witch's textbook, but she still looked confused so I continued.  "Druidery and Wicca are both forms of Paganism." 

At the mention of Wicca, the light went on. 

"Oh, I use to work with a Wiccan.  She was strange, she even did magic."  Uh-oh, this is definitely not the time to announce that I'm a witch.  I pulled a quick answer out of my hat. 

"Witchcraft is a part of Paganism, but not all Pagans are witches."  She seemed satisfied with the answer and the conversation moved in a more neutral direction-the baby, but on my way home I couldn't help but start rewriting the script. 

What I wish I had told her was this. 

"Magic and witchcraft really isn't anything like what you see in movies and on TV.  You know how Oprah talks about releasing intent into the Universe to make positive changes in your life?  That is the basics of spell casting:  using your own energy to communicate with the Universe about what you would like to see happen." 

I imagine she would have looked quite shocked and I would have finished up with,

"Anybody can cast a spell, but not all spells are successful.  You've probably cast a few yourself with out even realizing it." 



How comfortable are you about explaining your beliefs to others?  Do you sail right on through or flub along as I do? 

She's Here

For those of you wondering, Little Bitty Baby showed up a week ago today.  She was 8lb 11oz and 21 inches long...beautiful and healthy!