August 5th, 2017

Welcome to August, and a happy belated Lughnasadh! My internship continues to keep me very engaged, but, funnily enough, a month after my previous post, I am once again staying at my boss's house. I've actually seen a hummingbird here the last two days at a flowering vine, so that's been neat!

I love those little guys! (No actual hummingbirds in the above photo, I missed her.)

I also spent some time in Pittsburgh earlier this week, and stopped by a bookstore on the south shore. A lot of their selection was focused around social justice activism (a worthy subject, particularly in the current political climate), but they did have a folklore section as well, where I made a very interesting find - a translated copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead!

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Title: The Egyptian Book of the Dead: (The Papyrus of Ani) Egyptian Text Transliteration and Translation
Author: E. A. Wallis Budge
Date: Printed 2016, first published 1967

This text divides into three parts: an introductory section, the transliterated hieroglyphic text, and a translation of the text.

The introduction provides a wealth of background information on the context for the Book of the Dead; there is discussion of its known versions and variations, Egyptian funeral ritual, the gods discussed throughout the text, places mentioned in the text, and etc. The transliteration provides every line of hieroglyphics with a word-by-word translation below each character, and then the final section provides a comprehensive English translation of the entire text.

Overall, this is an excellent resource. It is highly academic, so it is full of citations, and parts of it read a bit dry, but in my opinion, having access to the full hieroglyphic text of the Book of the Dead is a must-have for anyone interested in Kemetic Reconstructionism or other Egyptian-based path. I found that just by reading the transliteration, I was beginning to pick up a few things about the language.

There's a lot of valuable information in the introduction, as well - I was excited to see a full ritual for funerary rites, complete with a description of when and what to give as offerings. It was just as helpful to have the full translation; perhaps obviously, Ancient Egyptian grammar does not correspond smoothly to English grammar, and so reading the transliteration is slow and somewhat confusing. The translation is much more palatable.

I do not have much in the way of criticisms for this work, except for one issue. In a few places in the introduction, the author has a tendency to suggest that polytheistic religions are "less evolved" than monotheistic religions (read: Christianity), and that the Egyptian religion was impressive despite being polytheistic. That kind of condescension rubs me the wrong way, and it continues a racist, Western narrative that white monotheistic religion is superior to indigenous polytheistic beliefs.

All in all, I'm glad to be able to add this text to my library. It was instructive, and I think it has a lot to draw on for ritual and meditation purposes. If you are interested in Egyptian mythology or practice, the Book of the Dead is a cornerstone of our understanding of Ancient Egypt and their practices - you should definitely check it out, but prepare yourself for some dense content.

March 3rd, 2017

My design studio took a field trip to the mall yesterday (our next project involves retail design), and of course I couldn't go to the mall without stopping at Earthbound, so...

...I bought a baby cauldron! It's a small, cast iron piece with three legs, and it was on sale for half-off. I've been eyeing them for a while, so I'm glad I waited to get one until they were on sale.

I also got this tiny leather-bound book. It was on clearance, plus I got another discount, so it was less than $1. I'm going to use it for recording sigil ideas in.

January 28th, 2017

I'll be heading over to SIPA's Imbolc ritual later this evening, but in the meantime I've been working on a knitting project. I like to knit a lot - there are few things quite so satisfying as making something you can actually use and wear - and I've been trying for years to get the hang of knitting sweaters. I've made no less than three separate sweater attempts in the past, and have gotten horribly stymied every time. However, as a holiday gift, my brother gave me a copy of Knitting Wizardry, by Amy Clarke Moore; it contains 27 projects inspired by the aesthetic of the Harry Potter movies, including socks, gloves, hats, and yes - sweaters.

On New Year's Eve, I picked a pattern to try. The techniques seemed like ones I could figure out, and I loved the look of it. The pattern, titled "Ginny's Sweater", features lacework up the back showing the faces of owls.

One of the benefits to being a knitting witch is that knitting (or crochet, for that matter) is a remarkable opportunity for knot magick. The owls in the back remind me of Athena, and also the expression "eyes on the back of your head". Therefore, I've been knitting this as a protection sweater. The idea is that the owls keep guard so nobody can sneak up on you wearing it, and so forth.

This is the sweater as it currently is in progress. I have the bulk of it done, but I need a bit more yarn to do all the finishing details, most particularly the button-band.

And here's the back. The owl pattern looks more subtle here than it does in the book's photo; not sure yet if that's a combination of my gauge and the yarn I chose, or if it just needs to be blocked. Regardless, I'm really happy with how it's coming along, and it even looks like it might actually fit me.

If you would like to purchase Knitting Wizardry, it's available as an e-book or a hard copy. This is the author's page for Ginny's Sweater on Ravelry, which in turn has links off to get the book.

December 29th, 2016

"A hummingbird tells us that the physical constants of the universe are slowly degrading and may someday shift, invalidating the laws of physics and instantly wiping out the universe as we know it, while simultaneously creating an entirely new universe in a single transcendental moment of genocide and genesis."

- Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Welcome to Night Vale

Spooky Yellowstone

While we were in Montana, on the way up to Glacier, we stopped for a few hours in the town of Livingston. Long considered the "gateway to Yellowstone", Livingston has had a long history of locomotive activity and tourism, and we spent time in their local railway museum. While there, I purchased a book about hauntings in Yellowstone, because I was not aware there were any, and it seemed like it might be neat to learn about them before we went there.

Title: Spooky Yellowstone: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore

Author: S. E. Schlosser

© 2013

Schlosser is a storyteller with a literature degree, who also developed and maintains AmericanFolklore.net, a site which collects folklore from across North and Central America, with legends from all fifty states. Her book, Spooky Yellowstone, draws on a wide variety of resources, including websites, newspapers, personal interviews, and texts.

The book opens with a map of Yellowstone marking places where the various sightings Schlosser recounts took place. I appreciated the inclusion of such a map, not only because it gives a visual of the spread of incidents across the park, but also because it makes it easier to compare to an actual map and find potential ghost-sighting routes. I wasn't able to convince my family to go ghost-hunting (we were a little pressed for time as it was), but we did pass by some allegedly haunted areas, which was neat to make note of.

Part One of the text retells 13 different accounts of ghost sightings, some of them modern and some of them hearkening back to the early days of the national park. My personal favorite was the story of a ghost train on the Cinnabar track ruts. While some of them felt more authentic than others, these were stories which on the whole were fairly straightforward tales of the paranormal.

Part Two goes on to describe other miscellaneous occurrences outside the explicable. Some of them resemble hauntings in nature, or, as in Fire!, examples of psychometry in action, with participants accidentally touching on a strong memory related to an area. Others were stranger, including one Bigfoot sighting, and one story of black magic gone wrong which was a bit too far-fetched for me.

Spooky Yellowstone was an interesting text with some stories that make me wish all the more that we could have spent longer exploring the national park. That being said, some of them also struck me as being a bit dubious. Was it fun to read? Yes. However, I would not call it a comprehensive guide to finding ghosts in Yellowstone. For me, it probably falls into that category of books which I liked, but did not need to pay full price for.

Book Review: Feng Shui

Title: Feng Shui: Harmony by Design

Author: Nancy SantoPietro

©1996

It's funny - this will be the third time now that I've written up a report on this book. For my Architecture History class, we were asked to make a poster and presentation about a book, and since I was already in the midst of reading this one, I decided to do my project on it. It's actually giving me a really interesting opportunity, as for the presentation component, part of my project will include talking about ways in which I have used feng shui principles in the design of my room at home. However, I wanted to do a post about it specifically for this blog, seeing as my readership here is likely more metaphysically-inclined than my classroom peers.

The short version: this is a great book. 

The long version: Nancy SantoPietro is one of only a few women in the US trained and authorized to practice feng shui professionally. Her book is forwarded by Professor Lin Yun, the founder of the Black Sect of Tantric Buddhism, and under whom she studied. Known internationally for her work, and former Chairperson of the first feng shui studies department in the country, SantoPietro is one of the foremost western experts and practitioners.

Yun's forward begins by describing a little of his sect of Buddhism, how it intersects with feng shui, and his experiences working with SantoPietro. This transitions into SantoPietro's introduction, which summarizes some of feng shui's history and its place in the modern world.

The first chapter covers the basics: fundamental principles and theories, how to quickly and easily sketch a floor plan of a building, and how to apply the bagua chart to that drawing. She also describes how to begin analyzing the relationship between floor plan and chart.

Chapter two starts getting into intentions, and how to narrow down one's focus in what changes to make. It also summarizes general categories of the kinds of things to look out for and consider altering.

Chapter three takes the reader through the nitty-gritty of designing the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, some of the most important spaces in the home. SantoPietro explains the impact that each of these has on one's life, and where design decisions can have a significant impact on one's health, wealth, and relationships.

The fourth chapter takes the reader through other spaces (the home office, dining room, living room, etc.) and offers low-cost but high-impact solutions for the problems that can occur there. These principles are really ones which can be applied in any space to produce significant results.

Chapter five covers the role of color, and six describes specific obstacles one might be facing, and where to look in one's home for design issues that could be compounding those obstacles. It also covers transcendental cures, which are in essence rituals written in a feng shui-specific context, but which incorporate elements like mantras, meditations, sympathetic magick, and other elements which western Pagans are likely already somewhat familiar with. 

The seventh chapter deals with sacred space - what it is, why we need it, and how to go about designating a truly sacred space in the home. SantoPietro goes into detail about altars, both religious and secular, and provides lists of correspondences for crystals and essential oils. 

Finally, the eighth chapter gives real examples of situations which SantoPietro's clients have faced, how SantoPietro advised them to adjust their living spaces, and the end results. This was less of an anecdotal advertisement for her work, and more of a step-by-step example about what it actually can look like to analyze a living space and change it, and thereby also change one's life. Her example stories cover a wide variety of living situations and types of people, so chances are good that there are relatable elements one can pick up on.

I will be up-front: I do not agree 100% with every single piece of advice in SantoPietro's book. There are things as an individual and as a designer-to-be which I would do differently. However, with that being said, this is an excellent manual on feng shui; it is extremely comprehensive while still being easy to follow, and there are lots of diagrams to visually illustrate the types of changes the author refers to. In general, she does a very good job of explaining the thought behind a feng shui principle, rather than just providing rules with no context, and it is clear that she is very well-versed in her practice. 

Whether you are just getting into feng shui or are already familiar with the subject, this text is a great resource. If you have any interest in using feng shui at all, definitely consider giving this book a look.

April 24th, 2016

Had a busy but good day today, part of which involved heading over to the Gaia House for a few hours, to enjoy a reception for the artists who have work in the Pagan art exhibit which has been on display there this month. We enjoyed coffee, lemonade, and an assortment of little snacks, and generally were able just to hang out and chat.

My painting, with description, that I've had hanging up.

A collection of paintings, all by one lovely individual.

A series of nature photography, all by another artist.

Triple Goddess painting by one of our more Norse-inclined practitioners.

These two photos, by SIPA director Tara, have a rather interesting story. They were taken on vacation while visiting a haunted potter's field of unnamed soldiers. Apparently, just after these were taken (on actual film, not digitally), it started to storm, so obviously there was not enough sunlight to cause lens flare (the white patches on the photos are just glare on the glossy paper; the orange is actually present). Also, these were the only two photos on the whole strip of film with these strange colors, so it couldn't have been water damage. As such, Tara's thought is that she caught some spirits on camera. The one in the top photo actually even looks humanoid.

Me with my painting.

Hand-made grimoire.

Set of runes.

And just for good measure, this is the spiral garden I helped build last spring. As you can see, the plants are pretty well-established now. The sage and kale really took over, so that's pretty much what's growing at this point.

The Sun Goddess

Today I finally finished reading The Sun Goddess, a book I started at the beginning of the semester. I would just like to say straight off the bat that this was an excellent book, and I would highly recommend it.

I came across the text after watching The Pagan Scholar on YouTube. The fellow who runs the channel, Travis, is an academic who reads and reviews scholarly works on contemporary Paganism. He had reviewed a title called Eclipse of the Sun, a book on sun goddesses, and I was really interested in reading it. However, when I went to order some books with a giftcard, I couldn't remember the title, nor could I find the video he talked about it in (I now know it was "Ouch, My Paradigm"). I ended up looking at other books on sun goddesses instead, and decided that this one looked promising. I ordered it, and am nothing less than pleased with it as a scholarly examination of the sun goddess narrative.

Title: The Sun Goddess: Myth, Legend and History

Author: Sheena McGrath

© 1997

Sheena McGrath is a practicing Pagan now living in California. She has been involved in groups in England and Canada, and has her degree in medieval studies.

McGrath's book opens with a proposition: that modern Pagans (and non-Pagan scholars, for that matter) who automatically associate the goddess with the moon and the god with the sun are looking at mythology too one-dimensionally. She proposes instead that the majority of pre-Christian Indo-European religions worshiped a sun goddess, with a corresponding moon god. She then goes on to prove this thesis with evidence from a plethora of Indo-European cultures, citing language, migration patterns, iconography, and surviving verses and folklore; she makes a compelling argument suggesting that, historically, the Greeks and Romans were really the odd ones out in terms of assigning gender to the luminaries. 

McGrath begins by introducing the reader to the Indo-Europeans, describing how and where they lived, how language patterns (and in particular, gendered language regarding the sun and moon) changed, and why she chose to compare their mythologies. Namely, Indo-Europeans prior to Christianization had a mythological cycle which was identifiably similar across political, cultural, and ethnic boundaries.

She then launches immediately into describing known sun goddesses from across Western Europe, talking about what we know of their worship, the symbols they used, and what remains of their stories. McGrath starts with Sól in Germany, then moves to Sunna in England, and continues with Freya in Scandinavia, St. Lucia in Sweden, and Œstre of the Saxons.

Next, she looks at Eastern Europe, beginning with the Baltic Saule. She talks at length here about the myth cycle, comparing it to trends in other regions, and in particular examining the frequent pattern of a moon god who seduces the sun goddess' daughter, the sun maiden, as well as twin sons of the sky god who are to be the sun maiden's husband(s). McGrath examines some known sun maidens, and includes in her list Auszrine. She also describes the horse and the swans as being significant examples of sun goddess imagery.

The following section traces sun goddesses in Slavic mythology, looking at Solntse, who between Her and Her sun maiden daughter also fulfill a role in the cult of the dead. McGrath further describes Slavic goddesses of the solstices, a mysterious solar goddess frequently depicted on traditional wedding embroidery, and how even in the Catholic church, the Virgin Mary has come to have solar aspects in Russia.

Then McGrath moves to the Celts, pointing out Grian and Graínne, as well as goddesses of hot springs like Sul, and fire goddesses like Brigit. The Celts also worshiped a series of horse goddesses, and McGrath reiterates her position that equine goddesses usually have a solar aspect. These include Áine and Macha. 

She also covers Arinitti and Nikkal of the Hittites, Arevhat of the Armenians, and Mtsekale of the Georgians.

While McGrath does acknowledge that the Greeks do not generally support her proposal (and indeed, notes that part of the reason for the dominance of the moon goddess, sun god narrative is a fierce historical obsession with neo-classicism), she does point out that it's not all so cut-and-dried as Helios or Apollo as the sun god with Selene or Artemis as the lunar goddess. McGrath brings up references to a female Helia, as well as the the strong solar imagery associated with Pasïphae (who mated with the very lunar bull in the story of the labyrinth). Other Greek women associated with the sun include Circe, Medea, the Hesperides, Eos, and even Helen of Troy.

Then the text moves on to India, where the sun god, Surya, has an aspect, Savitar, which is sometimes addressed as female. There is also his horse goddess wife, and a daughter, Suryaa, a sun maiden who marries twins, as in other Indo-European mythologies. Then there is Tantra, a fire goddess, and Ushas, goddess of dawn.

The next few chapters restate much of what has been said already, but categorizes information differently so that if one were looking for a specific piece of information, it would be easier to locate. One chapter discusses the relationship between solar goddesses and mazes, while others discuss the moon, sky, and thunder gods.

The final sections of the book switch from scholarly research to application, a pleasant surprise for me, as I had not expected this book to contain any information on ritual. McGrath provides a very simple ritual structure, and then offers several guided meditations and rituals by which to honor various sun goddesses and moon gods. 

Whew. If that seemed like a long summary, it's because it was. This is not an especially thick book (177 pages, not counting appendices or the bibliography), but it is dense. There is a ton of information here to read through, all of it very completely researched. If I had one criticism of the book, it would be that the organization of chapters felt, at times, a little arbitrary, but that is a small, small complaint. The book is fully cited from other reputable researchers (including references to Eclipse of the Sun, which makes me chuckle), and I learned an incredible amount about goddesses I had never even heard of before. 

Not only that, but this issue of assigning gender to the sun and moon (which in and of itself I feel is a fairly unnecessary practice, but that's a topic for another time) is an important one, because when we as a community get into this practice of automatically pairing the moon with women and the sun with men, we start leaving the door open for stereotyping and misogyny. 

Why? Because it's never really just that we pair women and the moon, is it? We pair women with all of the other metaphysical associations we have with the moon, namely passivity and receptivity. Meanwhile, men get paired exclusively with the active, sending energy of the sun. This type of binary thinking isn't beneficial to anyone of any gender, because no person exhibits one sole type of behavior all the time, and to suggest otherwise is ultimately limiting. 

Therefore, for that and other reasons, I feel that books like this are really critical for breaking the paradigm in contemporary Paganism, and coming to realize that mythology is complex, and that no one single narrative will ever fit every culture, nor should it, and nor should we try to make up or twist facts to suit a limited world view. 

9.5/10, absolutely read through this if you have the chance.

January 27th, 2016

Somewhere in the past 24 hours, my blog passed 20,000 page views. I never thought, when I started this page a little over four years ago, that it would be something I'd be able to keep going, let alone that anyone else would want to read it. I just wanted to thank you - yes, you - for stopping by, whether this is your first time or if you're a regular visitor. It really means a lot to me that my words and experiences are of interest to others, and if I've helped anyone by running this blog, then that's all I could ask. 

I wanted to put up another book review today while the text is still fresh in my mind, but first, here's a quick update on me: this week has been and will continue to be a busy one. Gaia House has been running a "Free-cycle" event the last day or two, so I swung by today and picked up an electric pencil sharpener and some kind of reddish crystal pendant necklace. I have a project due tomorrow morning for my Technical Woods class, and over the weekend, I'll be volunteering at Habitat for Humanity before attending SIPA's Imbolg ritual. I'm really looking forward to that! 

And now, without further ado... (I don't think I've said that in a while.)

Title: Dancing With Dragons: Invoke Their Ageless Wisdom & PowerAuthor: D. J. Conway

© 1994

I'll admit, I was a little wary of reading this after really not caring for a lot of Moon Magick, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked this quite a bit better.

The book breaks things down into a lot of smaller chapters, but essentially, she begins by discussing different cultures' perceptions of dragons, and ways in which dragon energies manifest themselves in the environment. She then discusses ritual tools specific to her brand of dragon magick, before leading into a series of rituals written to connect and work with different dragons for different purposes. The last group of chapters focuses on different types of dragons, where they can be found, and how and why one might work with them.

Dragon magick practitioners should be advised that Conway approaches her subject from a predominantly Wiccan perspective. I personally do not have an issue with that in this context, but if you prefer to work secularly or in some other variety of Pagan framework, then Conway's dragon rituals may or may not work for you.

She talks extensively about dragons of Eurasia, and Chinese dragons in particular, which I appreciated as my grounding in Chinese mythology is not as strong as I would like it to be. I'd really like to do a more in-depth study sometime, when I can get the books to that end. Anyway, I digress. Conway also touches briefly on the amphithere dragons of Central and South America, but she gets into some of the dismissive language which bothered me in Moon Magick; it strikes me as wrong to call civilizations such as the Aztecs "primitive", when in fact their society was highly sophisticated, no less so than any contemporary Old World nation.

On the whole, I liked Conway's rituals, and found her poetic incantations to be very nicely phrased. I tend to be a little picky about that sort of thing, but most of them, in my opinion, had both good meter and phraseology. 

Her text meshes well with previous research I've done into different kinds of dragons, and for that reason in particular, I connected with her work, because in general, it made a lot of sense to me.

There were only two other concerns which stuck out to me as something to look out for. Dancing With Dragons does provide a few mentions of ritual adaptations for disabled practitioners, but to be perfectly honest, it was pretty clear that Conway hadn't put more than the very minimum of thought into it. Whether they would actually be useful to anyone, I couldn't say for sure, but I kind of doubt it.

I also felt like Conway put a lot of emphasis on people having all of the exact tools she recommends. As someone who doesn't have access to a lot of the things her rituals employ, it bugs me a bit. Certainly any of the rituals could be adapted easily enough, but it still rubs me the wrong way to be told that I must have a specially engraved pentacle and a sword and a bunch of other stuff to work with dragons, when that is not the case.

Long story short, Conway's work seems to consistently come with at least a few caveats, but if you're looking for information on working with dragons, especially in a ritual setting, then Dancing With Dragons could be a good resource.

January 26th, 2016

I've had an almost-unnerving amount of free time after my last few days of class in which to sit and read, so I've been working my way through my new books. The first one I picked up was Moon Magick, which I've seen recommended on a few different Pagan and/or witchcraft channels I watch on YouTube. I'll be honest right off the bat: I did not love this book. My review of it, therefore, may be a bit rant-y. You have been warned.

Title: Moon Magick: Myth & Magic, Crafts & Recipes, Rituals & Spells

Author: D. J. Conway

© 1995

I was first intrigued by this text because it sounded like it should be extremely comprehensive, and the formatting reinforced that impression. Also, the artwork throughout the book is quite beautiful. 

The first chapter examines accounts of the moon's effects on human behavior, while the second examines beliefs relating to the lunar year. From there, the book breaks down every lunar month into its own chapter, and lists a ton of information corresponding to each one.

These chapters begin with a quick breakdown of which lunar goddesses around the world have festivals in that particular month. It follows this with a bit more elaboration on the purposes of these festivals and the deities they are associated with. Each month also has a list of magickal correspondences, including stones, herbs, colors, animals, and etc. Conway provides surviving bits of folklore attributed to that moon, and then several simple recipes to try. Each chapter also has ideas for small crafts, incense or potpourri blends, and summaries of the myths of the relevant goddesses. She even provides sample rituals honoring those deities.

It may sound pretty decent, and I cannot deny that there are parts of this book which were quite good, and which I will use. However - I have a few pretty significant complaints to lodge against this text which prospective readers may want to be aware of. Possibly these are related to the age of the book (it turned 20 last year), but as modern Pagans continue to read books like this, the associated issues continue to persist in our community.

First: this text does a great job further solidifying the gender roles which are often assigned to women in ritual, specifically the idea that women can only relate to moon goddesses (one of the other books I'm reading at the moment is doing a marvelous job at arguing against this premise), that feminine always equates to passive, receptive, and/or negative energy, and that masculine and feminine energies are the only kind which exist. As a woman with several friends and acquaintances who do not subscribe to the gender binary, this strict adherence to the male/female division strikes me as cissexist, especially when one considers that there are many deities who are agender, genderfluid, or otherwise neither specifically male nor female. On a side note, some of her cologne or herb blends are specifically listed as being "for men", because apparently Conway's notion of gender is outdated enough that she thinks men cannot enjoy lighter scents, and that women won't like something spicier or more savory.

Another issue I take with this is that it is at times very Eurocentric. While I have no issue learning more about Artemis, Diana, and Selene, there are moon goddesses all over the world, and I would have liked to learn more about them, especially as this book is making the claim to be a global representation of moon worship. There was little information from Africa or Asia, and virtually none pertaining to North or South America. Not only that, but what information there was about non-European cultures was at times just plain incorrect. I cannot claim to be any kind of expert on mythology, but there were some instances where even as a layman, I could tell that Conway's information was wrong. In one instance, she has a "Japanese friendship branch" craft, which she claims is given for weddings, birthdays, and new homes. In six and a half years of studying Japanese language and culture, I have never heard of anything remotely like this, and google does not turn up any results which remotely resemble what Conway is talking about.

Additionally, I found several instances where the language pertaining to other countries and peoples is objectifying at best, possibly tending towards racist by today's understanding of language. For instance, it strikes me as being inappropriate to take a drink based on Indian recipes and refer to it as "exotic", and I also am not thrilled by her practice of adding cinnamon or sandalwood to an incense and thinking that somehow makes it suddenly "middle eastern". If there are actual historical precedents for any of her blends, she did not list them. She could easily have named them something else without any stereotypical overtones. 

Moreover, I object to Conway just taking traditional practices from existing cultures and re-writing them for Wiccan-flavored rituals. While I do think people should work with the deities that call to them, I think that that should in all cases be done respectfully. Appropriating bits of somebody else's culture and pantomiming their religious practice does not in any way strike me as respectful. 

Of less importance, but still irritating to me, Conway cites herself a couple of times, which from a scholarly perspective is a problem, especially as I don't think any of her other books can be considered especially authoritative in their fields. Not only that, but she also interrupts herself a few times to recommend other Llewellyn products. I can't decide if that was her choice, or something Llewellyn advised her to include, but in either case, I don't need to be marketed to while I'm trying to read.

TL;DR: If you're looking for very general, beginner information about lunar deities, it might be worth skimming through Moon Magick and seeing what appeals to you. However, I would take what Conway says with a grain of salt, as her historical information in this text strikes me as very suspect at times, and her treatment of South and East Asian deities in particular is often exotifying. It's definitely the sort of thing I'd borrow or buy used, rather than paying full price.

January 20th, 2016

This was meant to be posted yesterday, but funnily enough, I was reading and forgot. Over the holidays, I received gift cards for Barnes and Noble, and I was able to use them to acquire some books I've been wanting to read for a while now. Three of these are applicable to the contents of this blog, and they all just arrived, so I thought I would share, that you too may experience the joy of new books vicariously through me.

Now, I say "new", but I actually bought all of these used. You can get a lot more bang for your buck that way. I started off with D. J. Conway's Moon Magick, which I've seen several very complimentary reviews of on YouTube. I also picked up a second Conway book, Dancing With Dragons, which has been on my "to read" list for years. I saw it ages ago in a bookstore, thought it looked interesting, and have never been able to get a hold of a copy. 

The last book I picked up was The Sun Goddess, by Sheena McGrath. I had seen a review for a solar goddess book which sounded really informative, but when I went back to look it up, I couldn't find the review anywhere, so I'm not positive this is the same text. Still, it sounded like it had a lot of really interesting content.

I will be reading these as I have time over the semester, and will certainly review them when I've finished!

January 18th, 2016

I'm back at school for the spring semester, and I decided that since we had today off, I would try reading some books I had yet to get to. I started working my way through Celtic Lore, but it was pretty dense, so I switched over to Zen. It was quite a bit shorter than the other one, but also a lot more informative than I had supposed.

Zen was something I picked up from the Goodwill here in town last fall. I have forayed a little bit into Buddhism, and actually had the opportunity one afternoon to learn some Zen meditation techniques from a monk while I was in Japan. As such, I was interested in learning more about it, and actually found this to be a reasonably comprehensive introduction. 

Title: Zen: An ancient path to enlightenment for modern lives

Author: Peter Oldmeadow

Copyright 2001

Peter Oldmeadow is a Sanskrit lecturer at the University of Sydney, and when this book was published, had over thirty years' experience in Buddhist theory and practice. I found his writing style to be very approachable, and the book clarified what I felt to be several of the more challenging concepts.

The book starts with the history of Buddhism in India, as well as the Buddhist understanding of suffering and how it relates to the Eight-Fold Path. It then segues into the development of different schools of Buddhism, and describes how Zen came about in East Asia. Oldmeadow traces Zen through China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as how Zen influenced practices such as calligraphy and the tea ceremony. 

Oldmeadow then discusses some of the primary meditation styles in Zen Buddhism, and how the practice was spread to the Western hemisphere.

When I picked this up, I had been expecting that this would be more of a "how to" kind of a book. What I found is that it's more of a summary of the history of Buddhism, and how and why the Zen tradition developed. While it was not exactly what I was anticipating, it was a very interesting read, and in spite of its length (73 pages), I felt like I learned a lot from it. That being said, it does strike me as being more of an introductory work. If you are already very versed in the history of the spread of Buddhism, this may not tell you much you don't already know. 

In short, if you would like to learn about the basics of Buddhist metaphysics and how Zen Buddhism developed, I would recommend checking out this book. If you're hoping for something more advanced, or strictly covering how to practice any given branch of Buddhism, this may not be quite what you're looking for.

Stare deep into the world before you as if it were

the void: innumerable holy ghosts, bhuddies,

and savior gods there hide, smiling. All the

atoms emitting light inside wavehood, there is

no personal separation of any of it. A Hummingbird

can come into a house and a hawk will not: so rest

and be assured. While looking for the light, you may suddenly be devoured by the darkness

and find the true light.

- Jack Kerouac, 1959

January 8th, 2016

Hello, friends, and happy New Year! Or, in Japanese, あけましておめでとうございます! I can't believe it's already 2016! I know for a lot of people, 2015 was a struggle, but we made it through, and here we are.

I certainly spent the year keeping busy. I read loads of new books, many of which I reviewed on this blog, performed in a play last spring, spent Litha in the Boundary Waters, had a grand time at Fairy Fest, and began working in earnest with a few patron deities. I also acquired many new crystals, and joined SIPA, the Pagan organization in my university's locale. I've started making some new friends, which was a pleasant surprise.

Here's to 2016 being an even better year! I've ordered a bunch of new books which hopefully I should have by the end of the month (topics include dragons, moon magick, and solar goddesses), and now that we're past Yule, the days will start getting lighter, which always improves my mood. I am looking forward to sharing another cycle with my readers, and hope that all of you experience love and light.

Shopping Haul

I did some shopping today! 

In order to celebrate my new job, and also just to relax a bit, I went out and bought some things at Earthbound that I've really been wanting.

First off, they had this amazing candelabra which I've been eyeing since last fall, and I finally just had to have it. It's completely my style, and just very bright and cheerful, so I'm glad to have it, even if it was pricey.

I got this cool candle at a discount, and it's actually a bit brighter purple than it appears in this photo, but it's a four-sided pyramid carved with an eye, and I think it'll lend a really interesting energy to any psychic work I delve into.

I got one of the best deals on these. They're 100% pure essential oil diffuser bottles, originally priced at $16, but they were on clearance for $4 a piece, and I got the second one at an additional 50% off, so I only paid $6 for the pair. The brand is rareESSENCE; on the left is the peace scent (frankincense, myrrh, palo santo), and on the right is the clarity (eucalyptus, sage). 

I also walked over to Goodwill and picked up a few things. This is Zen: An Ancient Path to Enlightenment for Modern Times, by Peter Oldmeadow. It looked interesting, and it was only $1.

This book, also, was $1. It is Medicine Woman, by Lynn V. Andrews, and is an autobiography. Again, it sounded interesting.

And then last, but by no means least, I picked up a frame for a very cool piece. This poem was written by Travis, of the Pagan Scholar YouTube channel. I won it in his giveaway, and wanted to be able to display it appropriately. It's a piece of blackout poetry, and basically turns an old Bible page into a unique, Pagan-ish poem!

September 5th, 2015

Title: Astral Travel for Beginners: Transcend Time and Space with Out-of-Body Experiences

Author: Richard Webster
©1998

I picked this book up at a thrift store over the summer and read part of it, but only just got around to finishing it this afternoon. Astral Travel for Beginners covers a wide range of subjects, and provides both a comprehensive guide to basic astral travel and also insights into hypnosis, remote viewing, and other psychic phenomenon.

The book is divided into fifteen chapters, the topics of which include:

• Astral travel requirements
• Involuntary astral travel
• The astral world
• Your first astral travel
• Advanced astral travel

and so on. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, Webster cites recorded examples of astral travel occurring throughout history and around the world. He defines terms like the "astral plane", "silver cord", and etcetera, He also discusses concepts of bi-location, astral doubles, and doppelgangers. 

Webster goes on to describe relaxation techniques to incite one's first astral travel experience. He does this in stages, beginning with the very basic "mind travel" and moving on to ways by which to completely separate the consciousness from the body. For more practiced astral travelers, Webster suggests how to visit other countries, times, and even planets. He further provides additional methods for achieving astral travel, should one be inclined to experiment, or if more "standard" techniques are unhelpful. 

For those interested in astral traveling while sleeping, the book contains a script one could record and play back before going to bed. There are also scripts for people who would like to work astral travels in a group, or as a couple. The book concludes with a discussion of how Numerology can enhance astral travel, along with a few of the author's personal experiencing teaching workshops and assisting clients.

On the whole, I quite enjoyed this book, finding it well-researched and informative. I also feel confident that given the time to practice, I could find the methods discussed very useful for achieving voluntary astral travel. Granted, the book shows its age in certain ways (hardly anyone uses cassettes anymore, for one thing), but the advice Webster provides definitely continues to hold up.

To anyone looking to start astral travelling, or hoping to expand their knowledge on the subject, I would definitely recommend Richard Webster's Astral Travel for Beginners.

September 3rd, 2015

I actually finished this book last night after starting it Tuesday, but by then it was late and I was too tired to do a review.

The book, which I bought last Saturday at Gaia House's Omni Sale, is Florinda Donner's Being-in-Dreaming: An Initiation into the Sorcerer's World (©1992). I knew nothing about it when I purchased it, except that the back described it as being the autobiography of a woman initiated into a Mexican branch of sorcery.

Now that I have read it, I would propose that the book reads in a similar vein as works like Vladimir Nabokov's Speak Memory; it is neither a dry nor an encyclopediac account of Donner's experiences, but rather comes across as an extended memoir, describing her thoughts, feelings, and impressions, not only the facts of what occurred.

Donner describes how a new acquaintance, Delia, encouraged her to go see a Mexican healer about her intense, recurrent nightmares. From there, she met a group of men and women who professed to be sorcerers, and suggested that Donner had the natural talent for "dreaming-awake", a state of heightened awareness that gives the sorcerers their power. Over the course of many years, Donner repeatedly ran across members of the group, including the new nagual (leader), Isidoro Baltazar, with whom she fell in love. Nearer the book's conclusion, she describes how she finally committed to the sorcerer's path for herself, and how she was eventually initiated into the practice and lifestyle.

The book was definitely not what I had anticipated upon picking it up. In some ways, it felt like reading a fantasy novel, especially as the reader understands the context from Donner's outsider perspective. It is definitely not a comprehensive instruction in Mexican sorcery, nor does it particularly describe a way in which the layman could formally enter into such a tradition. That being said, I couldn't put it down. I will also say that because the book is similar to a memoir, certain chapters tend to skip ahead by months or years, which can be a little confusing, as this is not always clearly explained.

Otherwise, the imagery is delightful, the people involved intriguing, and the discussion extremely feminist. The philosophy of dreaming provides a thought-provoking and gripping core concept for the text. It was an absolutely fascinating read, and one which I would gladly recommend to anyone looking to learn about a magic(k)al system not based out of Western Europe.

August 29th, 2015

I'm super excited! Today, the Gaia House was having what they called an "Omni Sale" - basically a rummage sale with books, clothes, art, household goods, and more. They are fundraising so they can do some much-needed renovations, and let's face it, I'm a sucker for a good bargain.

To start off with, I got several books. They were all only $1 each!

I first picked up this, The Fifth Sacred Thing, by Starhawk. I read her The Spiral Dance several years ago and really liked it, so I'm interested to see what this one is like. The back synopsis made it sound like it's a work of fiction. I guess we'll see!

Then I got Kundalini Experience, by Lee Sannella, M.D.. I've not read extensively into kundalini energy, and I am interested to see what this has to say.

I also picked up Being-in-Dreaming: An Initiation into the Sorcerers' World. My understanding is that this one is an autobiography of a woman, Florinda Donner, who participated in a Mexican variant of sorcery. Once again, it looked neat! I'll report back with reviews, eventually. 

While I was there I also got a vegetarian cookbook; I think that'll be a Yule gift for my Aunt C.

The last thing I picked up was this fine gentleman:

This dragon is actually an incense burner! One sits a tea light in the receptacle between his wings and then pours essential oil, liquid incense, or etc. in the glass dish above; wax melts would also work. Then one lights the candle, which heats the dish, and causes the scent to be released! I probably won't be using him in this fashion anytime soon, but in the meantime, I think he's going to be a little room guardian. He seemed to like that idea! 

August 24th, 2015

I had my first round of classes today, and on the whole, they went pretty well. I did spend a couple of hours doing homework this afternoon, but it luckily wasn't anything too stressful. I was able yesterday to read my new book from the thrift store, but by the time I finished it, I didn't get the chance to do a review. Hopefully I can bang one out in short order here.

Once again, the title of this was We'Moon '07: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn. The 2007 theme was "On Purpose".

This was a datebook and sort of almanac for the year 2007, but it also contained a lot of general astrological information, poetry, short stories, information on the sabbats, and lots of gorgeous illustrations. Interestingly, the calendar component also followed the lunar calendar, so there was that element of femininity to it.

Parts of this book were really great, and parts I was less interested in. The spelling of "women" as "womyn" threw me off a bit. I do have grapheme > color synesthesia, and any time the spelling of something is altered, it also changes the color of the word, so that was weird. They did it, they explained, to create a word etymologically separate from the word "men"; "women", "female", and etcetera are all obviously derived from words referring to the male gender, which the authors apparently found too patriarchal. I sympathize with the sentiment, but found their solution to read as rather contrived.

Besides that small linguistic criticism, I found it to be very readable, and actually more inclusive than I had been afraid it would be. Obviously the calendar was eight years out of date, but if this sounds like the sort of thing you'd want to look into, they are offering a 2016 datebook on their website here.

The message of this book, On Purpose, was really about intention, and using one's energies to focus on the future. A lot of the works asked, what can I, as a person, do to make the world a better place for future generations, and I think that's a message which still bears relevance eight years later. Much of the discussion was about the environment and climate change, but social justice was also a prevalent theme.

There was a poem about being gender-nonconforming, some art and a story by disabled women, works which crossed racial lines... In general, it struck me as being one of the more intersectional books I've come across.

I'd originally bought the book thinking maybe I'd cut out the artwork and do a collage or something, but now that I've read it... Yeah, I think that's just going to stay intact on my bookshelf.

A few other things from today...

That's my "back to school" picture outside the design building.

And then, I was able to pick some sage today!

I only got a couple of leaves, but remember that spiral garden I helped build last spring? Sage and kale were about the only things that grew, and there's a lot of them! I'll probably harvest more gradually, but I need to clean out another jar first.

August 22nd, 2015

I am officially moved in to my dorm room for this year! My mom and I got to my building around 9:30, at which point we had to haul everything up the elevator to my floor. It took the greatest bulk of the time to get the furniture placed correctly, but once that was done, the decorating went pretty smoothly. I didn't set my altar up at the time because I didn't want to make mom uncomfortable, but I was able to do it this evening after she left.

Once I had the basic unpacking done, she and I went to lunch, and then went shopping. We checked out both the local thrift store and the mall, and I found some very cool things I would like to share.

This is a book I got for a dollar at the thrift store. It's called We'Moon '07: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn; there's no single author, as this almanac was compiled by many people, but it was published by Mother Tongue Ink in 2006. Obviously, the 2007 calendar is way out of date for 2015, but the book contains some beautiful illustrations of goddesses and other figures, poetry, astrological information, and what looks like a lot of other cool things. I'll write you all a review after I read it.

Next, we went to the mall, and I went into my favorite store, Earthbound. They had Himalayan salt candle holders for $6.95, so I picked one up. I'd been wanting a salt lamp of some kind for years, and although this one wasn't fitted for an electric light, I still liked it a lot.

I also got this: a baggie of Guatemalan Worry People. The bag holds seven of the little figures. One is supposed to whisper one's worries at night into the bag, and then the Worry People will carry away your worries. That seemed like the sort of thing which might help me manage my anxiety, and they're handmade, so I was happy to pick up a set. 

Tonight, I got my altar set up. Last year, I put it on my dresser, but this year I didn't want my bed lofted, as that turned out to be a huge hassle. My mom suggested I put my dresser under my bed to make room in my closet, and it doesn't even have an inch of clearance. That left my mini fridge as the only available flat surface. It actually seemed to work out well. My altar cloth fits perfectly, I have crystals all over it, and also some offerings for Athena. In addition, I took a Starbucks Frappuccino bottle, cleaned it out really well, and made a hyssop infusion in it. I'll probably talk about that in a later post.

Hanging off the edge of my bed, I have my travel altar kit, as well as a pixie dust bottle from Fairy Fest. My travel altar I may use to do outdoor rituals, to take on Pagan retreats, etc. 

So that's what's going on here. Days until school starts: T minus one...

Scrapbook of Shadows

I continued adding to my little BOS today. I really like how it's developing. Here are a few sample photos. Sorry about the blurriness; the light quality in my living room could stand to be improved.

First, my book blessing pages. On the left, I glued a tag one of my mom's friends made me a long time ago. I wrote a short incantation on it invoking the elements to protect and guard my book. The right page is occupied by an "ancient Egyptian" blessing used on the show Babylon 5 which always resonated with me: "God be between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk." Cursory research is inconclusive on whether or not the blessing actually is Egyptian or if the show's writers simply made it up, but some sites anyway cite it as being from the 18th dynasty of Egypt. Authentically Egyptian or not, I find the words to be powerful ones.

On the next two pages is a prayer to Athena which I found here. As I am currently developing a relationship with Her, it seemed appropriate to include a prayer to Her first thing. I also glued in a tiger lily petal, and a sunflower petal, both from our garden.

Long-time readers may remember the posts regarding the Celtic tree months I did several years ago. I collected a lot of information, but it never made its way into my working BOS. Today, I dug up those posts and summarized their contents. I also took some leaves belonging to the trees under discussion and pasted them in. The birch leaf was wide enough that I created a foldable insert for it so that it would not cover up my writing. I also used a crayon to do some leaf rubbings on the right page, but the thickness of the paper stopped that from working very well. The tree month section spanned several pages, but those aren't finished yet, as I'll be adding more as I come across trees of the right varieties. 

Seven new pages today! That's pretty good, I think, and I like how they're looking!