A Package and Some News

Well. I said I had news, and I think it should be okay to share it now. I will attempt to condense a long story to its main points. For a long time, I have felt extremely drawn to the Shinto Kami, and just earlier this week decided that I finally felt ready to begin a relationship with Them. I have felt an incredible sense of peace in the wake of this decision, but I also know I have a lot to learn. I really want to be able to purchase pieces for a Kamidana like the one I blogged about on Tuesday; however, those pieces are expensive. This brings me to my second piece of news.

I got a job!!! I actually scored another library position down here at school, and I couldn't be more excited. I had my first shift tonight, and it was great. I can't wait to be making some more money so I can save up for things.

And finally, I got a really neat package in the mail today from my mom. There were a lot of great things in it, but check out these two handbags.

For some reason, my laptop takes great quality videos but really bad pictures. Still haven't figured that one out. Anyway, mom found both of those at a rummage sale. The red one has a dragon and chrysanthemum pattern on it, while the blue has a lot of kanji calligraphy. They're beautiful bags, and they might be antiques, I'm not sure. I am taking it as a sign, though, that I'm on the right track. It was really the confidence boost I needed to open a package and immediately be reminded of Japanese mythology.

November 20th, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving! It's on Thursday, folks. And tomorrow, my family and I are going out-of-town to spend the rest of the week with my grandparents. It often seems cliché to write about what we are thankful for; at this time of year, who isn't? But by that same token, it becomes such a rote chore to people that that they don't even think about it. People end up saying the same things over and over again - "my family, my friends, the house, our food..." - so I have decided to create a list of what I really thank the Lord and Lady for, to remind myself why we celebrate.
I am thankful for:

• Parents who support me in everything that I do.
• Siblings who, for the most part, are loving, kind, smart, and fun to be around.
• A pet cockatiel who is the sweetest little thing ever, and my brother's leopard gecko, who is hilarious.
• Great grades in school.
• A part in our spring musical, Les Miserables.
• My part in the fall play (which just passed), Break a Leg.
• All of the volunteering I've been able to do.
• My job at the library.
• My health, which has been pretty good for the most part.
• My mom's health, after getting several surgeries.
• My bedroom, with all of its awesomeness.
• My best friends, who are always there for me, whether I need a hug or someone to crack jokes with.
• My extended family, who stay in contact with me in spite of living far away.

Bright blessings to everyone in this week of thanks!

August 19th, 2012

So many exciting things to write about today. First of all, Hazelnut will be coming for a visit on Tuesday, before we're both back to school the day after. Summer went by so quickly.
I also started my first official job today, working as a page/book shelver at the local public library. I'm still not sure how that's going to play into my busy schedule, but it'll work out somehow.
On a more magickal note, I've been interested in the local flora ever since a presentation I saw last week on edible wild plants. Not only is harvesting wild edibles an interesting task from a culinary perspective, being able to identify natural growing herbs and flowers can be most useful in creating one's spells. It seems to me that it makes the most sense to work with what grows around you, naturally, rather than some dried flower shipped here from the other side of the planet. The energy just isn't the same. I'd like to get a real field guide, but in the meantime I'm making do with an app on my phone, called NatureGate. It allows you to look at a wild plant and choose from a wide variety of characteristics that describe it. Then, it calculates the potential species of what you're looking at, based on what you specify. It's a neat idea, but I'm not sure how useful it will be for me; it's based in Finland. Still, it says that many of the species are found worldwide, so we'll see.