Category: Dionysus

This one’s for the Girls….

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Bouncing off the Gods, Dionysus, Food for Thought, Hellenic Polytheism, witchery1 Comment

Hey Ladies,

You all know who you are and how dear your are to me and how much I love you.  You have been my friends and confidants and co-conspirators over the years.  Dear dear adopted Sister of my queer heart and soul.  So when I was surfing the net today and found this post about the Krewe of Muses at the StregaNola blog, I thought of all of you.

So this year, remember to raise a glass in Toast to the Ladies of the Krewe of Muses, and perhaps pour a Libation to the Muses that inspire us all…

And heck, who knows, We may have to get ourselves together on a Pilgrimage to watch this particular festival someday…

Peace,

Pax

And let us neither neglect the Heathens on the list of sisters… nor fail to revel in our warped senses of humor, cause we don’t want to get so weepy or sentimental that we fail to remember that we both can rock and, when the situation demands, kick butt!

(I know, I know, not the rockinest hardest driving version out there, but I first heard it live, and much more rocking/hard-driving from Heart a couple of years ago…and this was the best audio quality with the all important first lyric in their version…)

PS- there is some excellent blogging going on over at the StregaNola blog, check them out!!

Toasting the Bountiful Harvest ~ Beaujolais Nouveau

On By PaxIn Culinary Pagan, Dionysus, Food of the Gods, Religio-Americana, Thanksgiving1 Comment

Dear friends and Pagani,

I dedicate this Thanksgiving post to Night Wandering Dionysus and the rest of the Theoi Daitioi (Gods of Feasting).

Folks who look at the evolution of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday will often point out that the Pilgrims weren’t farmers or they would have had arranged to arrive earlier and harvest in October.   Luckily for us, they didn’t know much about farming; and however much the pilgrims really had to do with the evolution of the U.S. Thanksgiving, we get the opportunity to enjoy a superlative wine with our Civic Harvest Festival!

For U.S. Pagans, Beaujolais Nouveaux is the perfect wine to toast Thanksgiving in its aspect as a Harvest festival, as it is usually only a matter of weeks before that the wine in the bottle or glass was grapes on the vine waiting until the growers detected that they were at their peak, and ready for harvest.

Beaujolais Nouveau is the briefly fermented first batches of wine pressed from the current years wine grape harvest, Gamay grapes to be specific.  Beaujolais grapes are picked only by hand, as are the grapes of the Champagne region; both of which are strictly regulated under French law.  Beaujolais Nouveau also under goes a specialized fermentation process known as carbonic maceration, where most or all of the grapes are left whole and very little fermenting must is added, the weight of the grapes themselves helps crush the grapes on the bottom and aids in a fermentation process where the grapes ferment individually and relatively little of the harsh tannins present in the grape skins are pressed into the resulting wine, as is usually the case with longer aged and more traditionally pressed red wines.  All of this results in a fruity and light flavor profile.

It debuts in the Third Thursday in November, no matter when the Harvest begun, and its flavor profile tends to blend well with rich and hearty foods of the type common to the Beaujolais region, or of the sort that we in the U.S. associate with Thanksgiving and the Winter Solstice feasts!  The average quality Beaujolais Nouveau should be able to last a few months, and may take you as far as a celebration in March or even May.  An excellent vintage (in a good year for the grapes) you could very well keep it for a year!  Consult a wine professional or expert near you for advice if you are not sure.

In looking at a Beaujolais Nouveau you should be aware that the California wines marketed as a Gamay Beaujolais, or similar title, will tend to use a different variety of Gamay grape, and as they are grown in different land and microclimates the California Beaujolais will tend to have a different flavor profile than the French, in the end, try both and see what you like better and which blends better with your Holiday feasting!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Pax / Geoffrey Stewart

Some informative links…

 

Beaujolais Nouveau Wikipedia Entry

Beaujolais Nouveau: History Behind the Third Thursday in November

10 Fascinating Facts About Beaujolais Nouveau

Its Party Time for Beaujolais Nouveau

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrive!!

New Moon, Noumenia, and Me.

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Dionysus, Hecate, Hellenic Polytheism, Modern Pagan, New Moon, Seeking, spiritual practiceLeave a comment

Dear Friends and Pagani,

A stick of incense burns upon my altar.  An offering unto the Theoi on the Noumenia.

In ancient times the Noumenia honored Selene, Apollon Noumenios, and The  Household Gods; including Hestia, Zeus, Hermes, Hecate, Appolon Ageieus, the familial Agathos Diamons, and ones honored Ancestors.   Many contemporary Hellenic Polytheists will take this time to honor and make offerings to all of the Theoi.

Technically I am three days late, as the first sliver of the waxing moon, which the ancients considered the New Moon and the start of the new month; however it was on a walk earlier this evening that I caught my first sight of the moon since the astrological New Moon.  It helps that I am being inspired by recent discussion of how to handle food offerings on the Neos Alexandria ~ discussion group on Yahoo.

The basic discussion was that once food has been offered to the Gods, it becomes blessed as They partake of its essence, and then the worshiper may eat the food offered to the Gods.   (the general feel, based on UPG and some historical sources, is that food offered to the Dead is better left out in the woods or perhaps burnt)  Because of my current financial status I have to rely on discussion groups and online sources of information about my worship of the Theoi.  Although admitedly almost 40 years of being a history geek have certainly helped to inform my online research… and I am finding a little money here and there to start buying books to increase my knowledge and understanding.

And still I practice.  I pray to Them, I make offerings of incense, and now apples, and water… maybe some juice or wine….  Practice, practice, practice… Pray, sit in meditation, breathe into my Center, going for walks, writing out my thoughts and feelings and doing my best to become the best me I can be; both for myself and for the Gods.

“Every day, in some small way, I reweave myself, I rebuild myself.”

I am not only dealing with the recent break-up of my increasingly mis-named Life Partnership with the Big Guy; I am dealing with all of the old patterns and hurts that I have acknowledged for years but never really wrestled with, everthing that came roiling to the surface after the break-up.

I am doing it though!  I am finding my way.   I am learning who I am and what is important to me.  I am building my spiritual and religious practices and figuring out how to work within and build upon my relationships with the Theoi, and with the Lady and Lord of the Witches, and the other Gods who I encounter and have encountered in my journey.

I am learning how to budget, and how to eat properly, and how to date and laugh and live and love; both again and for the first time.

For all of these blessings, and all of the blessings in my life, I thank the Gods.  I offer my words and sweet smelling incense unto Them.

Peace,

Pax

Pagan Values: Xenia, Xenos, and The Theoxenia

On By PaxIn Community Building, Dionysus, everyday, Food for Thought, Hellenic Polytheism, Pagan Values Blogging1 Comment

Hospitality, Friendly-Strangers, and Honoring the Divine

So having made a place in my life and heart for Dionysus, and having recently graduated with an A.S. degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management, one of the things that has caught my eye about The Bull Roarer is his place as one of the Theoi Daitioi, or the Gods of Feasting.  Out of this fact, I have as a part of my budding Hellenic Polytheistic studies, and as a personal way of honoring Him, been learning about foods and feasting in a cultural and social and religious context in ancient and modern Greece.  This has also led me into research for a long term project for a written piece about food and wine and their use in Pagan events and rituals in feasting and offerings.  Which is how I learned of Theoxenia.

Theoxenia is a ritual feast honoring a God, or Gods, in Hellenic Polytheism.  The basic outline of this ritual ~ which differed from the feasting related to the more usual  sacrificial rights (Note: for most contemporary Hellenic Polytheists, being raised as city or suburban kids, modern sacrifices are in the nature of prepared food being burnt and offered.) ~ of having a feast with a place at the table (or in the Hellenic mode a dining couch reserved for) a God or perhaps several God; this has been adopted and adapted by contemporary Pagans in a number of ways, both for honoring the Gods and for Honoring the Beloved Dead for those that observe Samhain.

Theoxenia is the act of hosting or showing a God or the Gods hospitality or Xenia, which is the Greek concept of hospitality.  This attitude of treating the Gods like honored guests, is actually one that I first saw fully articulated in Deborah Lipp’s The Elements of Ritual…, where she makes extensive (and fabulous) use of the Honored Guests Metaphor.  That in a Wiccan Circle Witches should treat the Gods, and Spirits, called upon like honored guests… seems rather simple doesn’t it? 

I think that the same holds true for other forms of Paganism, and that this developing of a relationship with the Gods, however we concieve of Them, is a practice common to many forms of Paganism.  It certainly seems to be so in my experiences with Gods, and in what I have read of others expereinces of the Divinities.

Earlier I said that Theoxenia is showing the gods hospitality or xenia, Xenia is the greek word/concept for hospitality.

“Xenia consists of three basic rules: The respect from host to guest, the respect from guest to host, and the parting gift (xenion, ξεινήιον) from host to guest. The host must be hospitable to the guest and provide them with food and drink and a bath, if required. It is not polite to ask questions until the guest has stated their needs. The guest must be courteous to their host and not be a burden. The parting gift is to show the host’s honor at receiving the guest. This was especially important in the ancient times when people thought gods mingled amongst them. If you had played host to a deity (a concept known as theoxenia) and performed poorly, you would incur the wrath of a god.”

Now, I don’t think we need to be too formal, or bound by the forms, that Xenia took in ancient times.  I do think that remembering that Hospitality is a 2-way street an ongoing relationship between Host and Guest, and not merely an obligation on the part of the Host, is key and would help sort out a LOT of drama in the Pagan movement!  Not only face-to-face at events and rituals, but online as well!

Gastblogschaft

Main Entry: gast·blog·schaft
Pronunciation: ‘gäst-blog-shäft Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural –en
1 a : responsibility for hospitable treatment, or response, exhibited by a blogger to readers’ comments 1 b : a blogger’s respect for readers that includes a commitment to accuracy; a tendency to respond to readers’ comments with consideration and a level of respect commensurate with that expressed by readers
2 : a blog commentor’s reciprocal responsibility to comment with the courtesy and respect shown by the blogger
3 : the aura or atmosphere of fun, engaging interaction created by such commitments to respect by bloggers and readers

~ Bernulf from A Heathen Blog: Expanding Inward

Now just as I think we could keep certain things in mind in our relationships with the Gods, and our relationships within the bounds of Hospitality, I think we could examine how we view/interact with one another.  I think too often we in the Pagan community have had pendulum swings of how we view others in the movement ~either they agree with us in every particular or they are teh fluff-bunny or the enemy~ which is where we come to Xenos, which is a complicated Greek word that can range in meaning from “foreigner” to “Stranger with/to whom I have a ritual/social obligation”…

“Xenos can be translated to both foreigner (in the sense of a person from another Greek state) as well as a foreigner or traveler brought into a relationship of long distance friendship. Xenos can also be used simply to assert that someone is not a member of your community, that is simply foreigner and with no implication of reciprocity or relationship. Xenos generally refers to the variety of what a particular individual can be, specifically guest, host, stranger, friend, and, as previously mentioned, foreigner.

The ambiguity of the meaning of xenos is not a modern misunderstanding, but was in fact present in ancient Greece.”

A lot of us are still getting to know one another, and despite the “comming home” feeling so often cited in discussions about how and why one came to Paganism, and depite the goal in some Traditions of Paganism of finding a Family, instant family doesn’t happen… even in a family of choice…

So lets take a few moments to examin how we are relating to our Gods and to one another…

Discussion of my recent Beltane post…

On By PaxIn Aphrodite, Bouncing off the Gods, Dionysus, everyday, Food for Thought, Harm None, Highest Ideals, Modern Pagan, My Florida Sabbats, Pagan Ponderings, Pax's Beliefs, Reinventing the Wheel2 Comments

So the ever fabulous Tracy the Red posted a reply to my recent Beltaine related post.   I should like to share it and my reply, with you my dear readers and encourage more discussion on this, here, and on the Pagan Community Builders list, and elsewhere in the community.

Anyway Tracie posted this to my comments section…

“Be careful there, darlin’ because Beltane is a festival that is directed at the Celtic fire God Bel and Aphrodite is Greek. She has Her own holy tides and we all know how stroppy She can get if She doesn’t receive Her proper worship. Beltane also doesn’t involve Maypoles either; that’s May Day. Maypoles are something Germanic peoples are into, even to this day. May Day itself is a day sacred to Freyja and is a lot more “Samhain-esque” than most would realize.

Wouldn’t mixing and matching deities and festivals fall under “cultural misappropriation?””

Well, I’ve written a small bit about cultural misappropriation recently, and also had a bit of a chat on the topic with Tracie the other day (pray for her air-conditioning unit folks!), so the topic is hovering about and well worth bringing up.  It is also an issue I have started to seriously wrestle with as both a Neo-Pagan Witch and a budding Hellenic Polytheist.

I have re-read the article, and I can see where, as a result of some inspecifics in my writing of it, I did commit some cultural misappropriation… or an least provide opportunity for it to flourish.

I would say there are two areas where I could have written things out better.

1. I did not write clearly enough about which Beltaine I was writing about.

Beltaine/May Day/Walpurgisnacht are three inter-related festivals that have some very different meanings for different branches of our Pagan movement.  I tried to speak to this within the post

“Especially this time of year.  Beltane, or May Day, is the time of year when many of us modern Pagans celebrate fertility and passion and joy and love and lust.”

Note the use of the word “many”… not “all”; but I should have been more detailed.

To a Celtic Reconstructionist, it is the fire festival celebrating the beginning of Summer and a festival for Bel.

To Heathens it may be a festival of Spring, and a time to honor Nerthus and Njord.  (for some Kindreds anyways….)

(And in both of the above examples different groups and individuals will have different observances, and ways of relating to and honoring the holiday.)

For the Hellenic Recons and well Beltaine really has little to do with the directly reconstructionist path.  Some have already celebrated Anthestreria.  (more on this Dionysian festival later)

Then of course for the Neo-Pagan and Witch and Wiccan communities the Beltaine Sabbat takes elements of  all of the above with a heavier focus on the light-hearted fertility and spring and a little less on the Samhaineque elements.

(by the by Tracie I am officially filing the serial numbers off of ‘Samhainesque” and going to be slipping it into as much everyday conversation as is possible)

It was this last iteration of Beltaine, one of the more widely celebrated ones (currently) in the Pagan movement, that I was speaking to in my recent article.

2. I did not explain a few things about my Hellenic Polytheism

See even though I am a self-described Hellenic Polytheist, and I am currently researching and involving myself in some Hellenic and Greco-Egyptian Recon subjects/groups… I am not a hard core recon… at least not yet, I am more than willing to concede that my thoughts and feelings on this issue may change and evolve, but here is where I am at the moment.

~I am drawn to the worship of the Immortal Gods, the Olympians, the Cthonic Dieties and a number of others from the Hellenic Pantheon, most especially Dionysus and Hecate with some burgeoning relationships with Antinous, Aprhodite, and Pan.  I make offerings of incense and pour libations of water and, as I am able, wine to Them whilst reciting from the homeric and orphic hymns and sometimes my own poetry striving to do Them justice and honor.

~ It is my heartfelt belief that the Gods are real are many and have always been with us, to paraphrase Plethon.  They didn’t go up onto some shelf at some point in History.  Thus they are as much a part of the modern world as say cell phones or Valentines Day.

~ At the moment I am welcoming the Gods into my life in the Modern world… Honoring Aphrodite at Valentines for example… and Dionysus during the two Florida Wine Harvests  (June and August).  I am looking at some of the Recon calendars… but my thing is I am not living in Ancient Alexandria or Athens… I am living in Davenport, Florida USA.   The agricultural and spiritual rythms, the rhythms of the natural world around me, are very different than those in the lands where the Theoi were first honored.

~This also relates to a similar difficulty I have had with the Neo-Pagan Wheel of the year since moving to Florida.  What does Beltane really mean in a land where fertility is never in question and Winter Solstice and Imbolc are the Citrus and Strawberry Harvests respectively?

So those are some of the issues I am trying to sort out for myself right now, and part of why I wrote of Aphrodite in association with Beltane.  I was not trying to claim that Beltaine is a festival of Aphrodite, more that Beltaine celebrates things that are a part of Aphrodite’s concerns…

I send my apologies to Aphrodite, Bel, any hardcore Recons reading the blog for any offense the piece may have caused.

Though, in the end, I must also stand by the posts core message of honoring fertility and sex and sensuality, honoring the Goddesses and Gods related to those things, and honoring ourselves through responsible behavior.

Peace,

Pax

_PS_ this may seem like a silly post to some, but if I am going to speak about how words and language has power I need to be very conscious of how I use them.  Also, if I am going to kvetch to people about a local Pagan groups “Native American” Pipe Cermony (which doesn’t actually involve ANY native americans nor any sort of sanction approval from the Lakota people whose ceremony they are stealing)…. well, if I am going to complain about such things I need to keep my own spiritual house clean!!

Honoring The New Year: Raise your glass in a toast!!

On By PaxIn Dionysus, everyday, Honoring the New Year2 Comments

Honoring the New Year, is a series of posts highlighting sites and links, that I find amusing or inspiring when viewed through the lens of my identity and world-view as a Witch and Pagan.

So I was surfing the internet the other day, trying to correct and expand some of the links on my “Links!” page… it was brought to my attention that several of the links originally listed in Ceremonial Magick more properly belonged in their own area under Thelema…when I discovered todays amusement…

Thelema Mountain Vineyards

No!  Seriously!!

South Africa is, over all, rather blessed for a country its size with a fair amount of wine country, a long history of viticulture and vintnery.  Ostensibly named for the Abbey of Thelema from Rabelais’ “Gargantua and Pantagruel” this Vineyard and Winery is in  Stellenbosch, which is the epicenter of the Wine making industry of South Africa.   Stellenbosch is the Loire, The Napa or Okanagan Valley of South Africa.

Now is definitely the time to try wines some of the superlative wines  from South Africa as global warming will undoubtedly have some variety limiting and production altering effects on this viticultural earthly paradise.

See, wine grapes come in all different varieties… species too, but the main species for wine making is Vitis Vinifera… and these different varieties evolved in some very specific areas and under specific conditions… and these are the conditions that certain grape varieties thrive under.

This is why you have some French Champagne houses looking at investing in land in the South of Britain as an early investment against global warming. The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes that are used in Champagne may not be suitably grown in the Champagne region by the end of this century.  No word yet on what they’d actually call French made Champagne grown somewhere other than Champagne… since you’d pretty much HAVE to make it near the vinyards to ensure quality…

…did I mention that wine grapes are finicky?

Anyhow now is definitely the time to start trying out wines from South Africa, while they are at their finest and the peak of their game.  If you’re looking for an investment in the future start looking to unconventional wine regions like Canada… yes, I said Canada.

Now the observant amongst you may have observed that when talking about Thelema Vineyards, I said “Ostensibly named after…” well go read their about our name page and tell me what you think…

Peace,

Pax

.

Praying and Pouring

On By PaxIn Chrysalis, Dionysus, Hecate, Honoring the Heroes, Prayer, Religio-Americana, witcheryLeave a comment

I went about my day today in a bit of a daze.  Strange hours of sleep and a lot of emotional ups and downs.  I’ve written some of my thoughts about Prop 8 and its ilk already.

I didn’t do any sort of formal ritual today.  I simply prayed and made some offerings.

I lit some incense for President Bush, President Elect Obama, and for John McCain and their guiding and guardian spirits.  I lit some Incense for the Lord and Lady of Witchcraft.  I poured some libations of water and wine to my beloved dead and to the Mighty Dead of the Craft and to our Fallen Soldiers.  I poured Water for Hecate.  I poured Wine for Dionysus.  I drank some wine and though some thoughts and am trying to assess a question on the minds of a lot of people right now.

What can I do?

I’m still working on that one.  I have a lot more praying and thinking to do.

Peace,

Pax

Gay Days and other things…

On By PaxIn Dionysus, everyday, Gay PrideLeave a comment

So, Gay Days at the Magic Kingdom was Saturday. This combined with the fact that Late June is the first of Florida’s Wine Grape Harvests means its a good time to Honor and remember Dionysus, Lord of Revelry and Responsibility. June also marks Gay Pride, so I am choosing to Honor both Dionysus, and my Queer heritage and Honored Predecessors (my own idea for honoring Queer ‘ancestors’) in late June.

We set out at about 8 or 8:30 and our first stop was to Burger King for Breakfast, a
Disney outing tradition my Partner, our roomate, and I have.
Then to the Magic Kingdom. We took it easy this year, it was extra
hot, and also we’ve done a lot of the rides. We did Thunder Mountain
Railroad, and Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribean was down for
repairs (sigh) we did our usual Carousel of Progres visit, and for
the first time went to the Hall of Presidents.

Later in the day we connected up with some friends of ours and we
changed plans midstream, going out to dinner and then meeting our
friends back at our house for cocktails and an impromptu pool party.
A couple of gay couples and some drinking a laughter… a good way to
celebrate the new holiday! (new for me anyhow)

Later on, after everyone had gone or gone to bed, I poured a
libation. Lacking wine, I used the strongly mixed Malibu and Diet
Cokes that most of us had ended the day with.

There will probably be a few more somethings for Dionysus and the Honored Predecessors this month…
not sure what yet….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been slacking a little in my writing and reading, but after this evening I have a couple of days off and I will be renewing my momentum then. I really have gone into what I used to think of as my Mid-Winter hibernation/introspection/quiet-time mode this Summer. As I have mentioned before the rythms of MidSummer down here in Florida is rather reminiscent of Midwinter in Alaska… you hunker down in your house, spend as little time as you have to outside (with a few exceptions) and you look forward to better weather ahead.

I am still sorting out some of my feelings about the virtue of Beauty, and my own looks. I am thinking about the next essay Strength, and my relationship with that particular Virtue.

In other news, I have recently started trying to add the Iron Pentacle exercise as outlined in Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorn Coyle. It is exhilarating and a little unnerving to be doing something new with my energetic work, the Iron Pentacle is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I find myself wondering if this is a Solitary thing, or a your-mileage-may-vary, or a little bit of both?!

Also, I have been playing around with the theme for this blog, the pic in the banner is actually from Alaska of a river valley outside of Anchorage that I’ve been camping in.

Peace,

Pax

~~~~~~~~ Links of Interest~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lakeridge Winery ~ Vineyard and Winery outside of Orlando, FL.; it was somewhere on their site that I first found information about Florida’s grape harvests…

Signs in the Crowd…

On By PaxIn Chrysalis, Dionysus, everydayLeave a comment

So I work at the Universal Studios theme park here in Orlando. I mention this because you’d figure it out anyway if you read the blog regularly and pay attention to this post in particular.

I was working a food service tent near the stage last night durring our month long series of Mardi Gras events. The musical headliner was Heart, and it was an awsome show!!

I got my break just as the parade was starting and was feeling tired and kind of empy inside. I am wading my way through the crowd and not really watching the parade when something catches my eye and I look up at the float passing by.

“The Universal Krewe of Dionysus”

~blink,blink~

I smile to myself feeling strangely encouraged go to break and continue my evening with a MUCH better attitude…

A Bacchant’sPrayer

On By PaxIn Chrysalis, Dionysus, PrayerLeave a comment

I am a Bacchant!
By birth and by choice,
I follow in the wake of,
and revel in the ways of,
My Lord, Dionysus!
Ecstasy and Inspirations,
Tempered by
Responsibility and Moderation.
“All things in moderation!”
Even, on occasion, moderation.
Gentle, Wild One, Dancing,
Torch Bearing, Emancipator,
Who Prowls the Night,
Guide my steps,
Grant me good counsel,
That I may be
Good and Healthy and Prosperous and Wise
That I may be worthy of Thy leadership!
Blessed Be!

The Bacchant’s Birthday

On By PaxIn Chrysalis, Creativity, DionysusLeave a comment

A white candle is lit and the sandalwood cone burns bright. A hot bath is drawn and its water, and salt, are blessed. The warmth of the bath and the incense smoke play upon the night air from open windows. The wine is blessed…

I bless thee, oh creature of Earth and Water,
I bless thee by fruit and vine, by seed and stem.
I bless thee oh blood of Dionysus
Blessed be so mote it be.

I raise the goblet up, toasting the Gods and Goddesses of my heart and soul. I drink in the wine, in scent and taste and touch. The rich scents of black fruits and berries in the wine dance with the scent of the sandalwood, and the hints of cedar and citrus blossom in the night air. I am overtaken by a dream of decadent dythrambic dalliances with Dionysus.

I dry myself and go outside to sit in the starlight seeking a moment of silence staring at the stars above. Seeking out constellations familiar and imagined. Staring at a single flickering star, seeking silence as midnight works its alchemy upon both day and night. In a moment I am one year older, feeling both ancient and newly born as my thoughts take flight.

The Gods are as remote as the stars, and as close as our indrawn breaths.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

On By PaxIn Chrysalis, Dionysus, HecateLeave a comment

So tonight was my second ritual honoring Hecate.

It was nice, a pleasant piece of time spent pouring a libation to Her, and raising a toast to Her, and thanking Her for Her guidance and for the blessings I have had in my life.

Nothing dramatically woo-woo, although while my own dog stayed calmly on the couch it did amuse me to hear the far off barking and howling of other dogs in the area. Coincidence or Sign, I don’t know. It made me smile though.

It is strange for me to notice some of the changes I have already experienced in the last month.

It seems as if grounding and centering is something that comes in an instant now. I think about it for a moment and I’m there. The visualizations and imagry that were once an integral part of this process for me are not a requirement for me anymore. I remember the images and associations, but I no longer feel a connection to them.

It does not feel like a loss, although a part of me feels as if it should.

Having given myself over to Hecate and Dionysus I know that I am inviting changes into my life. I don’t fear change as much as I once did, even a few weeks ago…. is that another sea change wrought by Their presence in my life?

I have a lot of questions about this… I need to talk to some folks about these changes…

…

My mundane life is going well, work is progressing and I have a good chance of becoming full time at the theme-park. My final semester of school is half-way over. Soon I will Graduate. Another ritual, another transformation.

I have been finding distractions with readings and gaming online, but I think I am ready to set my old pattern of disctracting myself from looming changes with trivialities. On some deep level I feel like I am being re-woven into someone new. Given how much time and energy I spent trying to discover who I really was and to like myself, this seems both exciting and bothersome.

“When one door closes, another door opens…” ~ nearly every regular character on Charmed… among other folks who’ve said that…

I haven’t posted here for much the same reason, not only the lack of time with my recently hectic work schedual, but also the reflex action of shying away from dealing with serious things. Not wanting to write here, not wanting to think about what is going on within me and what comes next. So much of my life, heck- so much of our society, seems to be about NOT dealing with things… with making excuses or avoiding responsibility.

Not trying to be anxty here, just factual and observational…

more later…

"A flawed offering is still an offering."

On By PaxIn Chrysalis, Dionysus, HecateLeave a comment

So my work schedule at the theme park has gone into overdrive and my schedule has been moving around like a five-year-old on Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs!

I wasn’t able to perform my libation or prayers to Dionysus on the First Quarter as planned. Exhaustion and a lack of time contributed to this, as did my own feeling that I should strive to honor the gods to the best of my ability. I was feeling increasingly guilty about not being able to honor Him as planned and prayed to Hecate on this one day before work.

“Even a flawed offering is still and offering.”

The words or though very clearly entered my head. They had that indefinable feeling of being something to pay attention to, and of coming from outside myself, that I have learned to listen to/notice/respect over the years. I thought about it for a few minutes, turning the idea and its implications over in my head.

The Gods know us at least as well as we know ourselves, heck they have an outside perspective so they usually know us better that we know ourselves… even at first acquaintance. They are more than capable of knowing what is sincerity and what is superficial.

It seemed like Hecate was telling me to go for it, so I did.

I uttered a simple prayer to Dionysus, offering a portion of my heart and life to Him and explaining why I was doing so, and my new found relationship with Hecate. In response I felt an unfolding of joy and good cheer and received a bit of personal wisdom.

Tonight I intend to honor Them, and those Gods who have touched my heart and mind and soul in the past. An early Full Moon, as it were, for this wandering and wondering Witch.