Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Camp NaNoWriMo April 2013
I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo 2013 starting on April 1. Join me, why don't you? I'll be posting updates on my progress at my writing blog Thoughts Scraps on Paper Napkins. My goal is 25,000 words before May 1.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Ostara 2013
It's been a busy couple of weekends and the next couple are just as jam-packed. Not to worry, though, I'm taking my vitamins and trying to stay rested in between goings-on.
On the 16th, Hallowed Oaks Grove held its Ostara/Spring Equinox open rite. This is one of my favorite high days along with the autumn equinox. There's something about the clear change of seasons that really sets me aglow. This year was no different. Spring has been a little reluctant this year, and the weather has been erratic -- one week warm and sunny, the next temps near or below freezing and stormy. But Saturday was beautiful, just warm enough with some sun. We had an egg hunt for the children before the actual rite began, which also allowed for any stragglers to arrive. At the given ritual time (we actually started on schedule!), everyone gathered on or in front of the porch for the pre-ritual briefing and the procession to the fire ring. I didn't manage a head count at that time, but going back later, I counted 28 people standing in ritual. I think that's the largest attendance I've seen in the 3 years we've been holding rites on this property. The rite went pretty smoothly; any bumps went unnoticed in the flow of energy (you'd think after 6 years, I'd know The Portal Song all the way through). Our sacrifice to Eostre was well received -- a basket full of sweets, seeds, and flowers eagerly consumed in the sacred fire. The omen was both positive and cautionary -- wunjo, thurisaz, and nauthiz, which was interpreted as a successful community needs to stand together to protect and support its members; basically, together we are stronger than we are as individuals and none of us need fight alone. Later, in some cases a few days later, some of the participants told me they had seen entities/Beings watching the rite or had felt strong energy in the circle, nothing threatening though. That says successful rite to me. The potluck feast following was a grand fellowship as always with such a marvelous quantity and variety of food. The people who attend the High Day rites with us at Hallowed Oaks Grove really are what make them such festive and spiritually satisfying events.
Then I got a break -- nothing pretty much from Sunday the 17th through Thursday the 21st except helping a friend sort stones at his new business Dragon Kissed.
Then came Friday the 22nd. Friends had asked me to officiate their wedding. Such an honor! Just between us, this was my first. But I certainly didn't let that stop me! The rehearsal was Friday afternoon at a lovely park in Blount County filled with gorgeous overlooks and boulders, truly an inspirational setting. I went through the ceremony outline the couple had written with them, and the walk-through allowed us to tweak a spot or two. The rehearsal dinner was delicious too -- barbecue and baked beans and chips; there was also pie around but I was too full to eat any, though the aroma certainly tempted me mercilessly..
Saturday the 23rd was the Big Day for my friends (and me). It started out wet and chilly -- so different from the weekend prior -- but the rain ended early in the morning, long before time for the ceremony. Nerves were stretched tight among the wedding party, and there were a couple of glitches, though nothing devastating. I managed not to cry and ruin my mascara during the ceremony. I did choke up a couple of times which was a good cover for looking at my cheat sheets. Everything worked out, even if not exactly as scripted, and it was beautiful. The bride, the groom, their families, and the joy in their faces made any minor bump just that -- a bump that barely registered. Congratulations, Shannon and Berwin!
The very next day, Sunday the 24th, the local metaphysical store, Books, Beans & Candles, held their Ostara ritual. My husband and I offered our yard and fire ring as ritual space again as we did last year. I encourage this practice; it means this social butterfly gets to see more people more often! This ritual was very different than one I led for Hallowed Oaks the last weekend. Rather than ADF COoR, it was an eclectic rite with Wiccan elements including casting a circle and calling the elements/quarters. Even though there was approximately the same number of people standing in ritual as the Hallowed Oaks rite, the energy was far more concentrated with plenty of power raised to fuel our personal workings and to tap into the renewing spirit of spring. This group ritual is always lighthearted and fun with bright colors on the altars and flowers, all the way down to sacrificing a chocolate bunny to ensure fertility in our lives and our lands. There was a potluck feast after this ritual as well. Again, it was plentiful and varied, and I ate myself silly...again...as always.
So, yes, today, Monday the 25th, I am a little tired. I've spent a lot of metaphysical energy lately, joyously and to great benefit, but still it was a chunk. Now, I will replenish and get set for the next two weekends with a wonderful Easter lunch with my mother and sisters on Sunday the 31st and a 3-day camping trip to Georgia and Hawkfest the weekend after that. Then I have 2 free weekends before Beltaine! I'm gonna be so bored!
On the 16th, Hallowed Oaks Grove held its Ostara/Spring Equinox open rite. This is one of my favorite high days along with the autumn equinox. There's something about the clear change of seasons that really sets me aglow. This year was no different. Spring has been a little reluctant this year, and the weather has been erratic -- one week warm and sunny, the next temps near or below freezing and stormy. But Saturday was beautiful, just warm enough with some sun. We had an egg hunt for the children before the actual rite began, which also allowed for any stragglers to arrive. At the given ritual time (we actually started on schedule!), everyone gathered on or in front of the porch for the pre-ritual briefing and the procession to the fire ring. I didn't manage a head count at that time, but going back later, I counted 28 people standing in ritual. I think that's the largest attendance I've seen in the 3 years we've been holding rites on this property. The rite went pretty smoothly; any bumps went unnoticed in the flow of energy (you'd think after 6 years, I'd know The Portal Song all the way through). Our sacrifice to Eostre was well received -- a basket full of sweets, seeds, and flowers eagerly consumed in the sacred fire. The omen was both positive and cautionary -- wunjo, thurisaz, and nauthiz, which was interpreted as a successful community needs to stand together to protect and support its members; basically, together we are stronger than we are as individuals and none of us need fight alone. Later, in some cases a few days later, some of the participants told me they had seen entities/Beings watching the rite or had felt strong energy in the circle, nothing threatening though. That says successful rite to me. The potluck feast following was a grand fellowship as always with such a marvelous quantity and variety of food. The people who attend the High Day rites with us at Hallowed Oaks Grove really are what make them such festive and spiritually satisfying events.
Then I got a break -- nothing pretty much from Sunday the 17th through Thursday the 21st except helping a friend sort stones at his new business Dragon Kissed.
Then came Friday the 22nd. Friends had asked me to officiate their wedding. Such an honor! Just between us, this was my first. But I certainly didn't let that stop me! The rehearsal was Friday afternoon at a lovely park in Blount County filled with gorgeous overlooks and boulders, truly an inspirational setting. I went through the ceremony outline the couple had written with them, and the walk-through allowed us to tweak a spot or two. The rehearsal dinner was delicious too -- barbecue and baked beans and chips; there was also pie around but I was too full to eat any, though the aroma certainly tempted me mercilessly..
Saturday the 23rd was the Big Day for my friends (and me). It started out wet and chilly -- so different from the weekend prior -- but the rain ended early in the morning, long before time for the ceremony. Nerves were stretched tight among the wedding party, and there were a couple of glitches, though nothing devastating. I managed not to cry and ruin my mascara during the ceremony. I did choke up a couple of times which was a good cover for looking at my cheat sheets. Everything worked out, even if not exactly as scripted, and it was beautiful. The bride, the groom, their families, and the joy in their faces made any minor bump just that -- a bump that barely registered. Congratulations, Shannon and Berwin!
The very next day, Sunday the 24th, the local metaphysical store, Books, Beans & Candles, held their Ostara ritual. My husband and I offered our yard and fire ring as ritual space again as we did last year. I encourage this practice; it means this social butterfly gets to see more people more often! This ritual was very different than one I led for Hallowed Oaks the last weekend. Rather than ADF COoR, it was an eclectic rite with Wiccan elements including casting a circle and calling the elements/quarters. Even though there was approximately the same number of people standing in ritual as the Hallowed Oaks rite, the energy was far more concentrated with plenty of power raised to fuel our personal workings and to tap into the renewing spirit of spring. This group ritual is always lighthearted and fun with bright colors on the altars and flowers, all the way down to sacrificing a chocolate bunny to ensure fertility in our lives and our lands. There was a potluck feast after this ritual as well. Again, it was plentiful and varied, and I ate myself silly...again...as always.
So, yes, today, Monday the 25th, I am a little tired. I've spent a lot of metaphysical energy lately, joyously and to great benefit, but still it was a chunk. Now, I will replenish and get set for the next two weekends with a wonderful Easter lunch with my mother and sisters on Sunday the 31st and a 3-day camping trip to Georgia and Hawkfest the weekend after that. Then I have 2 free weekends before Beltaine! I'm gonna be so bored!
What have I been up to?
Still a little tired after an extremely busy weekend, mostly energetically/emotionally depleted but sweetly so. A wedding rehearsal, the actual wedding, and a great Ostara ritual with another group, all within 3 days, not to mention being less than week since our own big Ostara ritual with my Hallowed Oaks family. I'll set down the details and my impressions in just a bit. Right now, I'm going back for a nap.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Reflections on Feminism (or its lack) in today's culture
Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique was published 50 years ago. The idea that women had actual rights and were every bit as capable and entitled to the same or equivalent opportunities as men was revolutionary and set a generation on fire. And change happened.
Fifty years later where are we? The backlash from religious ultraconservatives was and is to be expected. Centuries of being told that women were inferior to men and should be subjugated to male rule "for their own good" made taking the ability to determine one's own destiny from those who wanted to make that determination for you difficult. What is disappointing is the backlash from women of the last two generations and the apathy among teenage girls. The apathy may be more explainable; they simply didn't see the sexism of the earlier generations. They have the opportunities that their grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought to secure; why should they fight to move further?
No, it is the women in their 20's and 30's that disappoint me more. Instead of taking up the banners of equality and opportunity, they complain that feminists have ruined it for them. Now, they are "expected" to go out and work or are "looked down on" for choosing to stay home. They seem to have forgotten this is not an issue simply about equal pay for equal work or breaking the glass ceiling or being able to choose to go out to work or stay home. The greater goal was and is changing attitudes, changing the mindset. This should be about choice for everyone -- women and men. I heard a woman comment that she was lucky she had a husband who liked to cook and stay home so she could work and go to school. But really she is lucky simply to have that choice. Most men do not feel they have the choice to stay at home or go out to work. If they did, how many would? Would more men take the opportunity to be "house-husbands" and let their wives work?**
I think younger women continue to think from a position of privilege. As women, we have this choice (in theory -- for some, economics have taken their choices away), and the choices seem mutually exclusive: you can't be one and be the other as well unless you are some sort of superwoman and even then you are ridiculed. This is sexism in disguise. That we as women must have special considerations or accommodations makes us weak. We don't need "special" anything; we need to recognize that we all -- women and men -- deserve the right to exercise our choices. To continue to relegate this to "just a women's issue" and to argue that feminists are hurting women in the long run is to be disrespectful of the achievements of those who fought that today's women can have opportunities. It is short-sighted and pretends the fight should be finished. This attitude ignores the call to take the banner and lead the next wave.
Human beings as autonomous individuals should have the right to choose in all aspects of their lives. Equal rights regardless of sex, race, sexual orientation, etc, should be a non-issue in the 21st century. But it's not. And because it's not, I will continue to be a feminist and fight for and promote equal rights for all.
**All my examples here involve heterosexual couples. Same-sex couples and polyamorous mixed-sex groups lend different perspectives and additional questions. Perhaps we'll explore them at a later time.
Fifty years later where are we? The backlash from religious ultraconservatives was and is to be expected. Centuries of being told that women were inferior to men and should be subjugated to male rule "for their own good" made taking the ability to determine one's own destiny from those who wanted to make that determination for you difficult. What is disappointing is the backlash from women of the last two generations and the apathy among teenage girls. The apathy may be more explainable; they simply didn't see the sexism of the earlier generations. They have the opportunities that their grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought to secure; why should they fight to move further?
No, it is the women in their 20's and 30's that disappoint me more. Instead of taking up the banners of equality and opportunity, they complain that feminists have ruined it for them. Now, they are "expected" to go out and work or are "looked down on" for choosing to stay home. They seem to have forgotten this is not an issue simply about equal pay for equal work or breaking the glass ceiling or being able to choose to go out to work or stay home. The greater goal was and is changing attitudes, changing the mindset. This should be about choice for everyone -- women and men. I heard a woman comment that she was lucky she had a husband who liked to cook and stay home so she could work and go to school. But really she is lucky simply to have that choice. Most men do not feel they have the choice to stay at home or go out to work. If they did, how many would? Would more men take the opportunity to be "house-husbands" and let their wives work?**
I think younger women continue to think from a position of privilege. As women, we have this choice (in theory -- for some, economics have taken their choices away), and the choices seem mutually exclusive: you can't be one and be the other as well unless you are some sort of superwoman and even then you are ridiculed. This is sexism in disguise. That we as women must have special considerations or accommodations makes us weak. We don't need "special" anything; we need to recognize that we all -- women and men -- deserve the right to exercise our choices. To continue to relegate this to "just a women's issue" and to argue that feminists are hurting women in the long run is to be disrespectful of the achievements of those who fought that today's women can have opportunities. It is short-sighted and pretends the fight should be finished. This attitude ignores the call to take the banner and lead the next wave.
Human beings as autonomous individuals should have the right to choose in all aspects of their lives. Equal rights regardless of sex, race, sexual orientation, etc, should be a non-issue in the 21st century. But it's not. And because it's not, I will continue to be a feminist and fight for and promote equal rights for all.
**All my examples here involve heterosexual couples. Same-sex couples and polyamorous mixed-sex groups lend different perspectives and additional questions. Perhaps we'll explore them at a later time.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
My thoughts on Faitheist by Chris Stedman.
Even though this book is called a memoir, it is far more than a string of anecdotes about his life up to a given point. It is a journey from the relative innocence of the love of family through the fervor of belief in God through disillusionment and bitterness back to the fervor of belief in humanity and community and finding his place within it. Many would have simply sat down and kept their opinions to themselves when faced with disdain, disbelief, dismissal, and even violence against their efforts. But Stedman held steady, faithful that building these bridges was the right thing and that telling his story was essential.
I look forward to watching this very young man work to further the building of bridges between communities for the betterment of the world and its people for a very long time to come. Telling one's story and listening to the stories of others is a simple step that is often overlooked and dismissed in the bigger picture of religion and politics, but it's one that works. Seeing individuals and knowing their motives counters the stereotypes the media attempts to feed us. So, to paraphrase Stedman at the end of Faitheist, what's your story?
Sunday, March 3, 2013
BITG Book club
I'm participating in Teo Bishop's book club on his Bishop in the Grove blog. The inaugural selection was Faitheist by Chris Stedman. I got a late start, and due to innumerable reality distractions, I still have a handful of pages left. I'll start adding to the discussion probably tomorrow. Until then, check out Teo's discussion and the current responses. Also, if you've not read the book, pick it up and do so.
http://www.bishopinthegrove.com/archives/faitheist-unpacking-1/
http://www.bishopinthegrove.com/archives/faitheist-unpacking-1/
Friday, March 1, 2013
New beginnings
Feeling a bit frustrated today. I had the rug pulled out from under me a couple of days ago, and while I'm actively moving on, today is a bit of a letdown. I had some plans to go out and take care of some errands and now those have had to pushed aside. So, I'm housebound for the moment and a little stir-crazy. I hope my plans come through before the end of the day at least, but right now, I'm still stuck here. So, rather than rant and get angry about things I can't control, I think I'll take a nap. Maybe I'll dream up some creative inspiration in the land of Nod.
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