Archive | October 7, 2013

Pope Francis: I can’t believe the Cardinals haven’t murdered the crazy bastard yet

Oct7

Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues

Progressive reformer can’t be what the College of Cardinals expected…

I don’t traditionally care for popes. The Roman Catholic Church has this really long history of promoting oppression and corruption and ignorance, and there’s the whole pedophilia thing, too. I’m hard pressed to think of an organization that done more raw damage in the entirety of recorded history, and that has always been presided over by a pope.

But I’m starting to warm up to this new guy. He hadn’t been wearing his cool new hat for more than about 15 minutes when he suggested … out loud … to a freakin’ reporter … that atheists can go to Heaven. Meet His Holiness, Pope WTF the First. Of course, the Vatican trotted out the spokesclergy to explain that the Holy Father had been misunderstood. There’s some confusion about the canonical meaning of the word “redeem” and blah blah blah…

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The memorial – part 2

Oct7

At 10:34 pm Friday I thought I had finished the slide show and it was 10 minutes and 36 seconds long but I woke up and realized I wanted to add and change a few slides more so I did and finished again oddly at 10:34 am but now it was just under 11 minutes. I wanted to share it right then but as it was I made my friends watch it after the consecration.

I was very happy that R was there to help set it up and mind the slide show and the music, he did a great job, while the ritual was going on so I could take pictures and do the parts I was responsible for. When it started most people were still talking and catching up because we had a lot of people fly in from all over the place to come. I knew I had done something good because slowly people started to be quiet and just stare at the two big screens that were up front. After spending so long on it and tweaking it so much so that the pictures fit the music and had some logic to them even if I was the only one that knew what the logic was, I still broke into tears watching it. When they showed it again at the end there were a lot of people standing with their arms around friends just staring at Laura. I’ll post it here later just because I want to even if the majority of people following this blog never met this wonderful woman. Not because I’m vain or proud of it but because she was a priestess that was well loved all over the world by many, many people and deserves to be honoured. I’m most happy that Laura’s family loved it.

I’m a puddler and it doesn’t take much to make me cry at a memorial to someone I love. I never cried as a kid because it was too often used as a weapon against me. Therapy took care of that in a big way I guess. My own frigging stories can make me cry, for Pete’s sake.

The ritual was full of poetry and things Laura wrote. She chose some of the music before she died such as "Smoke Two Joints" which just made people roar. People told the parts of her life that were important to them. Her sister spoke so beautifully as did her boss. We told the story of her life from the beginning to the end. I found out by looking at the memorabilia table that she went to the same schools over in Baldwin Hills that my mom did, many years later. And one was even the same where my mom first taught school. My mom was in the first class at Dorsey High and Laura was there 20 years later. I never knew that until I saw the familiar LAUSD report cards that our teachers used to fill out back when LA had A & B grades for people with birthdays in either June to November or December to May. When we got to Glendale my poor brother had to repeat a 1/2 year because Glendale didn’t have that. I knew she had been an early President of NOW here in LA and that was where she heard Z and learned about the Goddess for the first time. It was a wonderful evening seeing all the parts put together.

I only had to talk about our re-discovered goddess BunniHoTep and lead the Knot of Isis at the end. That was enough for me. It really was a beautiful night and that we pulled together for Laura. There are still some people who are hurt and mad and a few who haven’t caught a clue that their egos might have been part of the problem and that people who have been away for 10 years shouldn’t throw their weight around because we’ve woken up and don’t care anymore what they think of the rest of us.

The one most in question evidently found out about the consecration from someone. I have no idea because it wasn’t the three of us. And they went up to a member of the Grove and said they wanted to attend the events. Not.Going.To.Happen. Yeah sow a little more discord why don’t you Eris?

Especially since I’m the one who will be physically present for any event to lead it. We Skype a lot so M &D will always be there virtually some way even if it’s a conference call ritual. I’m not holding a grudge, I’m just not being stupid. If your behaviour does not seem to have changed and you can’t even come into my space where I’m the one in charge and you are still an overbearing twit then I’m sure as hell not going to redo the past. And I thought I felt someone trying to influence me through my crown chakra at the beach ritual yesterday and I spanked whoever it was. Friends who are wanted go through your heart not your head. Not playing that game.

I was so tired when I got home and I was stupid and stood way too long and by the time I got home after 11 I was in too much pain to go to sleep. I didn’t sleep very well and almost didn’t go to the beach riutal.

I’m an ArchDruidess Part one of 24 hours of rituals

Oct7

This weekend was weird, wonderful, tiring, stressful, loving, busy, and a lot of other adjectives that I haven’t had time to process. Saturday was our Arch Druidess Consecration in the Druid Clan of Dana. Laura was supposed to have done it last January but she was too sick. In FOI you have to have an Arch Druidess to function as a Grove and Laura was ours and only an Arch Druid/ess can make an Arch Druid/ess so the Grove really ceased to exist when Laura died. We asked Linda Iles to do it for us and she and deTraci Regula did it for us and it was beautiful. Now we have 3 Arch Druidesses! One for California and the other 2 in Portland OR. I’m glad I had Diana use my camera to take photos because I sure as hell don’t remember al ot of it it. I’ve found I don’t remember the initiations, ordinations etc once I stop being between the worlds. I tried so hard to retain at least some of it. I think the Goddess likes to do a mindwipe for some reason.

I did find out an interesting tidbit. Linda told us the first Grove Olivia and Laurence started at Clonegal Castle back in 1963 was with Philip Nichols pre OBOD. I had no idea that it started that far back. I know Olivia was active with some of the OTO and Golden Dawn people but somehow I missed that connection. Lady Olivia is 94 now.

Lady Olivia hasn’t written an official Arch Druid consecration ritual and Linda wrote her to ask what she should do and some of what we did is based on the ones done by Olivia at the castle. Lady Olivia likes for people to do their own. So Linda had to put it together herself. Linda wrote a beautiful ritual based on what Lady Olivia does at Clonegal Castle. I guess if it’s done at the Castle in Ireland you end up tromping to a Grove and the Brighid Well in the Temple downstairs in the castle and the ritual circle they have. You have to go through the Land of Dana, the Land of Morrigan and the Land of Brighid during the ritual with ordeals in each. Fortunately for us since it was over 90 degrees we stayed under our beloved pepper tree at the UU and virtually traveled. It was Laura’s favourite tree and the one she always sat in front of at Faire.

We were supposed to bring a staff, a robe to wear, a chaplet and a lunula. I used my staff that I made for one of RJ Stewart’s classes long ago made of oak doweling. It’s painted with Holly, oak and knot work, a fox that I drew from the Druid Animal Oracle and an Owl. It also has cords of different colours with beading that fit in tracks I carved into it.

I had brought my cape that is black velvet and has an emerald green dragon tapestry. It’s reversible. I know M and D brought theirs too but Di saved the day. At a meeting we missed for planning Laura’s service, I guess they picked scarves and things from Laura’s collection and Di had brought them for us to choose one. I chose an emerald green and purple scarf to wear as my robe. Much cooler and two of my favourite colours and it made me feel like Laura was there too. My chaplet was one I loved that I got at Ren Faire one year that Yoda likes to wear at home and my lunula is a carved bone crescent moon I was gifted from Ren Faire many years ago by one of my favourite Fair artists. http://www.pale-moon.com/index.php?com=home

I hadn’t bought any ritual clothes in so long I splurged and ordered a shirt from Ancient Circles to wear over black pants. http://www.ancientcircles.com/clothing/Men/ The white and black knot-work one.

We only had a few witnesses. I’m glad. I had a huge crowd for my ordination and it’s bit like getting married, joyful and a bit embarrassing if you aren’t some one that likes being the center of attention. This was just a few of us under the tree we love, in a place we love and missing the one who should have been there with us before her memorial service. It felt right to be quiet about it even though I’m sure there are some people who would have liked to be there or would have expected to be there. I guess this is the spiritual equivalent of elopement.

We had to choose anam cara from the natural world but those will stay private with me for the moment. One of them did the usual smack up the side of the head that finding my ritual name did long, long ago. The Goddess likes to whack me and say it’d right in front of you all the time open your eyes.

It was lovely if hot out there and there was a swallowtail butterfly flitting behind the tree while we were in the land of Tir na Nog. The Celts sometimes thought butterflies were souls and when we were asked to draw an oracle from the dish. Linda had made a tiny Greenwood deck and I drew The Ancestor which was Laura/Hieromum’s favourite card. It’s the Hierophant in the deck. M drew the Fool and D drew the Archer. It let me know without being told that Laura was there. I felt so loved right at that moment and knew that it was alright. I don’t know if other people go into ordinations wondering if we aren’t worthy but I do every time no matter how hard I’ve worked, especially since there aren’t very many Arch Druids in FOI/Druid Clan of Dana.

Now the Grove can grow and we have 2 Companion candidates. It was weird to go change clothes and go to dinner and come back for Laura’s memorial. Not many people knew what we had just done. It felt like I had a light on inside that no one but the ones who were there could see. A very surreal way to start the 24 hours of ritual.

Today’s reading

Oct7

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The Archer

The dawn of a new adventure, folded in the web of universal potential, waits for you to string the bow of your imagination and loose the arrows of creativity. This is a time to be bold and commit to the hunting of new life and a better relationship with the world as well as the fulfilment of wholesome ambition.

Take a moment to gather your tools and steady your state of mind. Take careful stock of what you want to achieve, why and how you will go about it. Then harness your potential by filling your quiver with all the talents, knowledge and cunning you possess and string the `bow of burning gold’ with the `arrows of desire’.

Take a deep breath and be calm. It is time to let your soul take flight.

This card is to do with having a clear sense of direction. If The Ancestor leads you on to your path, The Archer teaches you how to walk that path with independence, determination and focused skill. This card links to the Spring Equinox; a time to put the past behind you, to look to the future. It is the skill of The Archer that unifies the duality of intended and actual aim.