Pagan Blog Project – week 14 – G#2 – Geodes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robopancake/sets/72157642467178925/

Pagan Blog Project – week 14 – G#2 – Geodes

I've really been into rocks and crystals for the past year or so.  I was super excited to find nicely priced crystal specimens at a tourist shop while at the beach when I went early in March.  I haven't seen geodes since I was a kid stopping at tourist shops while in the Black Hills, visiting with my Grandpa, so I was so excited to pick up a few.  

The word geode comes from a Greek word meaning "earthlike", and they are metamorphic and/or volcanic rocks that are hollow.  They look like lumps of clay or ugly rocks on the outside, but the inside can be full of beautiful wonderment that forms through chemical processes that occur within the rock due to the presence of gasses or liquids.  They can be small (like mine) or huge (like those often shown in jewelry shops, museums, or gem shows).  More spectacular specimens are usually polished or dyed, though even in their naturel form they can be very beautiful.

Magically, geodes can be a symbol for the mysterious and the hidden.  Despite a rough exterior, the safety of stone, if you take the risk, crack it open, embrace the mystery, the beauty inside can be glorious.  Spiritually, delving into ourselves might be painful, but the benefits are well worth the effort of cracking open. 

Geodes are also said to increase feelings of joy and creativity and for soothing those who are anxious or worry a lot.  (Just think about how therapeutic it is to smash something with a hammer!)  They help release stagnant energy, and help break through a mundane rut.  They can help one focus on the big picture, rather than being distracted with little details.  They can aid in decision making and in shaping one’s own future.  Just like any other gemstone or crystal, a geode can be carried with you throughout the day or kept near your bed as you sleep.  You can keep it intact, charging it up with thoughts, energy, or intentions, then break it open ritualistically to release its potential.  Or, you can crack it open or buy an already opened geode and enjoy its beauty and properties that way.

 

I took my time to crack them open, waiting for a nice day when my sister and I could have a good time with it. She had a hard time with hers. It kept on bouncing all over the driveway! But her crystals were really pretty. Before cracking open mine, I thought a little bit about my life. What am I cracking open? An initiation, a possible ordination, graduation, a job… and SMACK! One hit with the hammer and it was in a billion little pieces. I don’t think my pieces are as pretty, but they’re mine, and that’s all that matters.

References:

http://www.ehow.com/how_7811014_use-geodes-magick.html

http://healing.about.com/cs/crystaltherapy/p/p_geode.htm

Pagan Blog Project

2014

Pagan Blog Project - week 1 – #1 - Arcade Fire (or, "Hey, Orpheus!")

Pagan Blog Project – week 2 – A#2 – Amber

Pagan Blog Project - week 3 - B#1 - Blue Apatite

Pagan Blog Project – week 4 – B#2 – Black Apatite

Pagan Blog Project - week 5 - C#1 - (witch) Crafting  

Pagan Blog Project - week 6 - C#2 - Crowns and Circlet 
Pagan Blog Project – week 7 - D#1 – “TO DARE”

Pagan Blog Project – week 8 - D#2 – Dead Can Dance 

Pagan Blog Project – week 9 - E#1 – Essential Oils

Pagan Blog Project - week 10 - E#2 – Empaths

Pagan Blog Project - week 11 - F#1 - Forsythia

Pagan Blog Project - week 12 - F#2 – Fairy Rings

Pagan Blog Project - Week 13 - G#1 – Gnostics 

2013

Pagan Blog Project - Week 2 - A#2 – Athena

Pagan Blog Project - Week 3 - B#1 – The Bible

Pagan Blog Project - Week 4 - B#2 – Baubo

Pagan Blog Project - Week 5 - C#1 – Covens

Pagan Blog Project - Week 6 - C#2 – Joseph Campbell

Pagan Blog Project - Week 8 - D#2 – Doctor Who

Pagan Blog Project - Week 10 - E#2– Eating

Pagan Blog Project - Week 11 - F#1 – Food

Pagan Blog Project - Week 12 - F#2 – Fairies

Pagan Blog Project - Week 15 - G#2 – Gnostics

Pagan Blog Project - Week 17 - H#2 – Hestia

Pagan Blog Project – Week 52 – Z#1– Zagreus 

Nearer

Last night with a sparkler in each hand, I drew huge banishing spirals into the air, thinking about the year that had just passed.

“Out with the old” I whispered, over and over again.

When the time felt right, I reversed my spirals, spinning inward, with the hopes to bring luck and love to me in 2014.

“In with the new!”

As the sparklers began to burn out out I went crazy with my magic, dancing and looping large streaks of burning color into the air.

“Out with the old, in with the new, out with the old, in with the new, out with the old, in with the new!”

When the light finally died, I released my intentions into the cosmos with a cheer. “Happy New Year!” My friends, enjoying their own magical moment of sparklers and nighttime joy, shouted with me. “Happy New Year!”

That was my last bit of magic for 2013, and my first bit of magic for 2014. Not bad for a year of intense ritual experiences and divine revelations… I’m not much of a resolution type person, but I really hope 2014 has just as much magic as 2013, if not more. 13 is a witch’s number, and I’d really say that 2013 was the Year of the Witch for me, but 4 is my number, and I’m really hoping that 2014 is The Year of The Space Witch.

Last night, home and slightly tipsy from champagne, I drew a card from my new deck, gifted to me from a dear witch friend. For this first reading of a brand new deck, Le Tarot des Femmes Erotiques, I drew the seven of pentacles. “Wait for the Moment” it tells me. Whereas 2013 Space Witch would have been annoyed and impatient, 2014 Space Witch is wise and understanding. I recognize the advice to wait wait wait as the current theme in my life.

Wait. The Cosmos have been telling me for months. For years. Wait. Now is not the time.

So I get my seeds and soil ready and I wait and do all the work I can for when the time is right, because I know when the time comes I need to be ready.

Wait.

So I started the day of 2014 with some more magic, making monkey bread and bacon and drinking champagne. (The Space Witch is a classy witch, for sure.) As I roll balls of dough I whisper into the food “Out with the old, in with the new, out with the old, in with the new, out with the old, in with the new!” I add a pinch of nutmeg for divine inspiration, cloves for a spicy kick, and cinnamon for an extra oomph. I can’t wait for this hot, goey, breakfast treat. So of course I take it out of the oven too quickly. The inside is still raw. “Wait!” the Cosmos remind me with my uncooked breakfast.

Oh yeah. Right. Maybe I still have some work to do on this whole patience thing, after all...

And later we get to enjoy pork loin, cabbage, and black eyed peas. I do live in the South, after all, and I can use all the luck I can get, and black eyed peas are lucky indeed. I’ll probably give some to the nature and land spirits later, or to the house wights.

But today isn’t just the New Year. No! It’s the new moon as well! How fortuitous! So I’m thinking about making some incense or oil later today, too. Maybe tonight with the darkness is deep and the night is cold.

The oil will be a mix of lavender, jasmine, sandalwood, cypress, and myrrh. The incense perhaps a bit complicated as I work out the perfect recipe. But I’m hopefully for the magic of this day to carry me through the next year, to capture it into a little jar of scent and energy.

2013 was rough for many people, and 2014 won’t be without its challenges. But aren’t you so excited?

Pagan Blog Project – week 52 – Z – Zagreus

http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com

Pagan Blog Project – week 52 – Z – Zagreus

My husband has his degree in Classics, and his department’s Classics Society had this poster up on campus. It was this life-sized, goofy painting of Dionysus - some generic dude with a toga and some purple and some grapes and a big cup of wine. The caption at the bottom said “Born Again Pagan” and while my Pagan friends thought it was super clever, I guess it caused quite a stir among some of the other students and faculty.

At first I didn’t get the joke. I didn’t think it was terribly clever. In my experience growing up Baptist, and later spending time in an evangelical fundamentalist church, the phrase “born again” takes on a pretty specific meaning. To be born again means that you are born physically and then you change your life around and give it to Jesus and start listening to Christian rock and watching the 700 Club and your old life is dead and you’re reborn living a new very boring life.

(Sorry, Christians… I know that this isn’t 100% accurate to the “born again” experience, and I don’t want to discredit how powerful the experience can be. This is just what it was for me which is probably why I’m Pagan now and not Christian.)

So in my experience, born again meant that you were born by your momma and then your old life dies and you live a new life. Or it kind of meant that maybe you tried the Christian thing and then it failed and then suddenly it makes a lot of sense and you are born again and given a do-over for Christianity. Maybe you’ll get it right this time. Maybe it will stick.

So the phrase “Born Again Pagan” just seemed kind of silly to me. When I became a Pagan, no part of me died. It just changed, it morphed. I was the same old me I always had been, but I didn’t have to give anything up, and really, I didn’t have to do anything new (like watch the 700 Club). I could just be Pagan now, and that was that. There was no death or rebirth, but rather, a transformation.

This actually reminds me a lot of the Death card in tarot. It (usually) doesn’t mean a literal death, but more of a metaphorical ending of something in order for something new to grow. The old stuff acts as fertilizer for the new stuff, and the new stuff is often stronger and better than the old stuff, but it needs to be fertilized by the old stuff.

So my coming to Paganism was pretty similar to the Death card. I didn’t die. I wasn’t reborn. I wasn’t born again. I was just transformed.

I’m a huge fan of myth and storytelling and metaphor, so it wasn’t until I began to study mythology that I finally began to understand the phrase “born again Pagan.” There are lots of dying/resurrecting god/man/godman myths from all over the world. In particular, the Classicists of my husband’s degree program were drawing upon the myth of Zagreus/Dionysus when they thought they were being clever with their little poster.

Ancient Crete is a bit different than mainland Greece in many ways, and the Cretians tell the story of Zagreus, who is the infant child of Zeus, or maybe Hades, after they impregnate Persephone while disguised as a snake. Hera gets jealous, as she often does, and she convinces the Titans to murder little baby Zagreus. While in the form of a bull he is torn to pieces and eaten. Someone finds the child’s heart, and Zeus gives this to Semele so she becomes pregnant. Zagreus is reborn as Dionysus.

So finally I was finally able to begin to understand why Dionysus is a Born Again Pagan. (Though I guess one could debate on the term “Pagan” as it applies to Dionysus, but I’m not going to get into that right now.) But what does the term “Born Again Pagan” mean for me? What does it mean for you?

Zagreus has been born again as Dionysus, and that means anything you damn well want it to mean.

And that's part of the fun of being a Born Again Pagan.

In My Heart

It’s been a long time since I’ve had either the interest or energy to send holiday cards. When I managed the coffee shop I was just too busy and tired and crabby to even consider it. And of course being in school is also a valid excuse to be lazy, right? But this year I decided I’d try to put forth more of an effort to get into the holiday spirit, so I’m sending holiday cards.

I’m already ahead of the game (slightly) because at some point a few years ago my husband and I bought boxes and boxes of cards so we have a lot to use. That means I didn’t have to go shopping for cards, which is great because who has time for that?

I did have to go through my address list (still the same list that we used when we sent out wedding announcements in 2007). So I had to edit the list some, changing some last names because of divorces or marriages, adding some names and addresses as my friends and family continue to grow, and sadly deleting some addresses because I’ve lost touch with a few people or because of deaths over the years

Then I sat down this morning and turned on my “White Christmas” playlist on Pandora (told you I was putting forth extra effort) and I addressed each envelope and added our return address. (Which has prompted me to buy some address labels because this is ridiculous.) Of course I spent too much time matching the perfect cards with the perfect people, paying attention to flashiness, glitter, modesty, religious content, potential political messages, etc.

As I wrote a message in each and every card, I realized that this shouldn’t be a mechanical process. When I write “Hope you all have a magical holiday season and many blessings in the new year”, I really mean that. After all, I’m a minister and a priestess. When I write or wish “blessings”, it’s not just a random word I’m throwing around. I really do wish these people (and others!) blessings for the new year. 2013 was very hard on many people, and I hope 2014 is better. You all could use all the blessings you can get!

 

As a witch, wishing someone Christmas Magic might have the potential to be something special. I’m not really casting spells or charms on my Christmas cards in a traditional sense, but regardless of one’s background and current practices, this holiday season holds special meaning for many people. Even when I was conducting group therapy up at the state psyche hospital, one of the girls said rather dreamily “Christmas is just so magical.” And she is right, I think. It is magical.

Christmas Magic is a special type of magic, so when I write “I hope you have a magical Christmas” perhaps maybe I’m adding just a little bit of magic into the world. Some of my cards are going to family members I haven’t seen in years and years, and others are going to friends I see every day. But that doesn’t mean that they all can’t enjoy some extra magic this holiday season, or that they won’t benefit from some extra blessings in 2014.

So quiet unexpectedly, writing holiday cards became an act of magic and intention for me this morning. I turned on the lights on my tree. I lit some candles. I turned up the Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. I got comfortable with a cozy sweater and I wrote holiday cards, sending out a little bit of magic and a few little blessings to those I love and those I have loved.

Because regardless of one’s practices and beliefs, we could all use a little something something extra this season.