From a Witch's Point of View

Wise advice

2009-04-19T01:07:00.000-04:00

Hitch your wagon to a star. Let us not fag in paltry works which serve our pot and bag alone. Let us not lie and steal. No god will help. We shall find all their teams going the other way: every god will leave us. Work rather for those interests which the divinities honor and promote, --justice, love, freedom, knowledge, utility. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude "Civilization"

Wanna get your ass kicked?

2009-04-19T01:05:00.000-04:00

'Flyboy' (Air Force), 'Jarhead' (Marines), 'Grunt' (Army), 'Squid' (Navy), 'Puddle Jumpers' (Coast Guard), etc., are terms of endearment we use describing each other. Unless you are a service member or vet, you have not earned the right to use them. That could get your ass kicked.

I know

2009-04-19T01:04:00.001-04:00

It's true, we're all a little insane.
But it's so clear, now that I'm unchained from your lies.
Fear is only in our minds,taking over all the time.
But you, poor innocent thing,
You'll dry your eyes and testify, you'll lie.
You know you think you'll break me, don't deny.
One day I'm gonna forget your name.
And on that one sweet day,
You're going to drown in my lost pain.
And oh you love to hate me don't you?
I'm your sacrifice. You, the martyr.
You hate that I dream in darkness,
You hate that I sleep to die.
To erase you completely, erase the lies.
My burning ashes blacken the day.
A world of nothingness, blows me away.
Do you wonder why you hate? I know why.
Are you still too weak to face your mistakes?
Are you just too weak to face the truth?
Do you wonder why? I know.

Bite me!

2009-04-19T01:02:00.000-04:00

There appears to be a few who believe that they are the authority within the Pagan Community.

They seek to discredit and condemn according to THEIR standard of morality as if we all share that standard.

They believe they are the authority that can judge who is to be considered an elder or teacher. They believe that they have the authority to "evict" one or others from our Community based on their judgments.

Well to them I say "BITE ME"!

They'll have no authority over any but those who choose to place themselves as their subordinates.

Certifiable

2009-04-19T01:01:00.000-04:00

Most who know me believe me to be absolutely crazy.

Well, I can tell you that after my visit to the doctor today, I've found that they are all quite correct... I AM certifiably insane...

...and enjoying every moment of it!

The Hag

2009-04-19T00:59:00.000-04:00

The Hag is astride,
This night for to ride;
The Devill and shee together:
Through thick, and through thin,
Now out, and then in,
Though ne’r so foule be the weather.
A Thorn or a Burr
She takes for a Spurre:
With a lash of a Bramble she rides now,
Through Brakes and through Bryars,
O’re Ditches, and Mires,
She followes the Spirit that guides now.
No Beast, for his food,
Dares now range the wood;
But husht in his laire he lies lurking:
While mischiefs, by these,
On Land and on Seas,
At noone of Night are working,
The storme will arise,
And trouble the skies;
This night, and more for the wonder,
The ghost from the Tomb
Affrighted shall come,
Cal’d out by the clap of the Thunder.

Robert Herrick (1648)

Patience

2009-04-19T00:58:00.000-04:00

They say that patience is a virtue.

Since when have I ever been virtuous?

Nahhh!

2009-04-19T00:56:00.000-04:00

I often wonder what happened to my sanity. Wouldn't it be nice to have it back?

But then again.... Nahhh!

Have you?

2008-09-06T01:08:00.000-04:00

Have you told those you love, that you love them today?

Have you told them how wonderful they are?

Have you told them how beautiful they are?

Have you told them how special they are?

Have you told them how much they enrich your life, and how blessed you are to have them?

Do it before the day is through, and do it every day!

LA

Sanity

2008-09-06T01:07:00.000-04:00

I often wonder what happened to my sanity. Wouldn't it be nice to have it back?

But then again.... Nahhh!

LA

Patience

2008-09-06T01:04:00.001-04:00

They say that patience is a virtue.

Since when have I ever been virtuous?

Certifiable

2008-09-06T01:03:00.000-04:00

Most who know me believe me to be absolutely crazy.

Well, I can tell you that after my visit to the doctor today, I've found that they are all quite correct... I AM certifiably insane...

...and enjoying every moment of it!

LA

Liars

2008-08-31T06:40:00.002-04:00

A half truth is a whole lie. ~Yiddish Proverb

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

A lie has speed, but truth has endurance. ~Edgar J. Mohn

The truth is more important than the facts. ~Frank Lloyd Wright

The cruelest lies are often told in silence. ~Adlai Stevenson

I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't. ~Mark Twain

Lie to me, I'll know. Lie about me, you'll pay. ~LA

Honesty

2008-08-31T06:39:00.000-04:00

Honest hearts produce honest actions. ~ Brigham Young

Look a man in the eye and say what you really think, don't just smile at him and say what you're supposed to think.

Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense. ~ Steve Landesber

The Witch's word is the Witch's bond. ~ LA

Do you know me? Or do you think you know me?

2008-08-31T06:38:00.001-04:00

If you really know me, you know that I'm a friend to the end, and there is a love that you will never lose. If you think you know me, you hate me.

LA

Redemption

2008-08-31T06:37:00.000-04:00

Redeem yourself by looking to being the best you can be and doing what is right in the present and future, not by trying to correct the past.

LA

I have a new hero... Way to go Mr. Ulrich!

2008-08-24T23:35:00.001-04:00

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Business Writer Sun Aug 24, 5:41 PM ET

WASHINGTON - It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute.

Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.

The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.

A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.

"There's a tremendous amount of money at stake," said Robert Willens, a New York City-based tax analyst at Robert Willens LLC. "Tens of thousands of people could be in line for a refund."

Don Alexander, an IRS commissioner in the 1970s and now a tax attorney in Washington, said while it's not unusual for individuals to take on the agency, "most of them lose."

Alexander called it "quite a significant case."

The dispute arose when more than 30 mutual life insurance companies became publicly traded corporations in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, in a process known as "demutualization."

Mutual companies are owned by their policyholders, so the companies provided stock and cash to compensate them for the loss of their ownership interests when they went public.

All told, roughly 30 million policyholders received distributions, Ulrich estimates. MetLife Inc. provided over $7 billion of stock to about 11 million policyholders when it went public in 2000, while Prudential distributed $12.5 billion in stock to another 11 million.

The IRS held that the recipients hadn't paid anything for the shares and owed taxes on the full amount when the shares were sold. Cash distributions also were fully taxable, the IRS said.

That didn't sound right to Ulrich, 72, an accountant for 49 years. He began researching the issue in 2001, when he received shares from two companies, Prudential and Indianapolis Life.

Ulrich concluded that policyholders had paid for their ownership rights through their premiums so the distributions should have been tax-free.

That could make a significant difference in what a taxpayer owes. If a company distributed shares worth $30 and a recipient subsequently sold them at $32, under the IRS' view they would pay taxes on all $32. Under Ulrich's interpretation, they would owe taxes only on the $2 per share gain.

In 2003, Ulrich publicized his views by contacting tax and insurance experts and setting up a Web site.

"Largely I was regarded as a lunatic," he said, who "would never prevail against the IRS."

Still, some people who'd paid taxes contacted Ulrich and asked him to file refund requests, which he did, for a fee. Some of those refunds were granted, he said. Tax experts say the IRS doesn't always closely scrutinize small refunds.

One of his clients, Jean Prevost and her husband, Jim, who live near Minneapolis, received a refund of almost $1,500 in federal and state taxes in 2003.

"It wasn't a huge amount of money, but it was ours," she said.

But the IRS wasn't pleased with Ulrich, accusing him of promoting abusive tax shelters and demanding the names of his clients, which he said he refused to provide.

The agency backed off in 2004 with help from the IRS's Taxpayer Advocate office, Ulrich said.
IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland said the agency is prohibited from commenting on its interactions with taxpayers.

One of Ulrich's clients, Eugene Fisher, a trustee for a Baltimore, Md.-based trust, sued the IRS in February 2004 after being denied a refund.

Judge Francis Allegra of the Court of Federal Claims in Washington sided with Fisher and called the IRS' view "illogical" in an Aug. 6 decision. He ordered the agency to refund $5,725 in taxes plus interest to the trust overseen by Fisher.

It's not clear how many people could benefit from the ruling. Many of the 30 million policyholders are probably too late to seek refunds, since claims must be filed within three years of the April 15 tax deadline. That means the statute of limitations for taxes paid for 2004 ran out April 15, 2008.

Many individual taxpayers may not have enough at stake to go to the trouble, said Burgess Raby, a Tempe, Ariz.-based attorney who represented Fisher. Still, millions of policyholders could benefit from the court's ruling, he said.

Raby credits Ulrich with being the driving force behind the issue.

"The genesis for this was Chuck's real feeling that this was an unfair position" by the IRS, Raby said.

The government could appeal the ruling and likely will fight future refund claims, perhaps hoping for a different outcome in a separate court, tax experts said.

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the government hasn't yet decided whether to appeal.

Still, taxpayers should request refunds if they're eligible, the tax experts said, because even if the IRS rejects the claim, doing so extends the deadline for a potential refund for two more years.

Ulrich will prepare refund requests for interested taxpayers, for a fee, and has posted additional information at his Web site, http://www.demutualization.biz. But he said the principle is more important to him.

"I think it's important that taxpayers' rights be protected," he said. "We should have had a Boston Tea Party over this."

What makes me smile?

2008-07-23T03:46:00.005-04:00

When I walk in the door and the cat comes running to me, excited that I'm there and just wants be loved. Of course, she is quick to get a treat after the hugs, squeezes, and purring too.

To be continued...

Sometimes...

2008-07-22T01:56:00.002-04:00

Sometimes it's good to just contemplate our lives. What is good with it, what is bad with it, what can be changed, for that matter, what should be changed or what should not be changed.

In doing so, it's very easy to be caught up in the day-to-day blahs and become burdened with all that troubles us.

Yes, those things are important. They can drain us and make us miserable. They can take the fun and satisfaction out of our lives. They must be dealt with, never ignored, difficult as that may be.

I've found, hard as it is many times, that to focus on what is good in our lives, what makes life worth living is even more important. Those blessings that are so easily overlooked when you're getting hit over the head with the battle-axe called mundane life.

What makes me smile?

What makes you smile?

... to be continued...

LA

Night Blessing

2008-06-12T02:15:00.002-04:00

Mother of the Moon in blackened sky,
Your blessings you bring as here I lie.

Guide me safely through my dreams,
Enlightening my plans and my schemes.

As evenings' cloak envelops me,
I bless the earth the skies and sea.

When with morning's sun I rise,
Let Nature's beauty grace mine eyes.

As I close my eyes and count to three,
Blessed Be to mine and thee.

Lessons

2008-06-12T02:08:00.001-04:00

Lessons flowed to my spirit that day,
And these thoughts went through me swiftly,
As the black birds flocked above.
As they landed and looked upon me, they seemed to hear my mind.
And then off they went to their faraway places,
Carrying my thoughts away
Among the clouds and sky.

Flew away with my thoughts of doubt, panic, guilt and fear,
Past the flowing edge of the river they followed
That carried the images of my soul to the greater bodies of water.
And brought back to me as they returned, again they seemed to call,
See this now! Feel the coming of what is you!
New thoughts and glimmers of the bright lives you’ll have ahead!
Feel the oncoming freshness and embrace all that She has given you.
And learn from this, all of this.
All that is gone is not you anymore, cast as far from you as the East is from the West.
Doubt not, panic not, fear not and throw guilt aside.
All that is new is you, and even this will change.
Embrace the change, as the newness of spring comes alive again and again.
So is the newness of spring within you, again and again.

LA

I Dare

2008-06-12T02:03:00.000-04:00

Most beauteous love inside my heart doth come;
Though all encompassing I shall not fall.
Upon this eve our bodies so entwined,
The Gods our spirits and our flesh do call.
With raven's wings doth my heart merry beat,
And keeps such flight into the starry sky.
Into your world I verily retreat,
My will throughout this night to keep I try.
This perfect union surely must be blessed,
Else why are you a mirror in mine eyes?
To find you, kindred, I would not have guessed,
In this perfection, there, the mystery lies.
Ere to these yearnings I dare concede,
For in that fruit there lies that loving seed.

LA

Everafter

2008-06-12T01:57:00.002-04:00

Come unto the green glade
Where thorny brambles part
The mossy mist enveloping
The passage to my heart.

It is now that I may show you
While stars in tandem fall,
Dancing merrily upon we two,
Forever does us call

The silent moonlight casting
Her shadows in the night
breaking silence, brilliant,
beckoning such light.

Two bodies now clandestine...
Everafter shall they be
Together 'neath the starry night,
The sky, just you and me.

LA

Winds of Change

2008-06-12T01:46:00.002-04:00

Soft winds blow,
Winds of change
through the darkness of night.
I see your sweet skin glow.
Mysteries of the soul unwind,
As the thickness of love and trust
Is spiraling down upon us,
enveloping body, spirit and mind...
The winds of change....
The promise of life...
As the burdening chains
Are cut and we're freed
to ponder the wonder of each other,
the mysteries that are within and without,
the mystery of mysteries,
and the Winds of change
Carry the promise of happiness...
Love...
Laughter...
and the most intimate gains of true love shared...
Such is the promise of two souls...
Wandering until the promise of one another is found...
In the Winds of Change...

LA

Funny...

2008-06-06T00:57:00.002-04:00

Life has a way of swinging like the pendulum.

Right now, I hope that pendulum remains blissfully inanimate.

Right now, I am happy, loved, and I love.

For Mooch

2008-05-05T13:06:00.006-04:00

Thank you...

There is a special place in our hearts for those we have loved, to those who have loved us without question, without a word or a promise...

There is a special place where there is no pain or fear, where love flows freely...

There is a special place that rests in our hearts forever.

You will be missed my Beagle Boy.

What are Gods?

2008-04-23T00:14:00.000-04:00

It seems to me that most folk spend a great deal of time trying to answer that question, and a greater amount of time being more and more confused as the question is posed over and over again, only to receive more answers than one could shake their staff at!

Personally, I dare not ask the question. Some things I simply accept because they just are.

I have felt the gracefulness of their touch, the pain of their anger, the humility of their lessons, and the fear and joy of their presence.To say that they are conjured up within our imagination to me is simply an easy way out of seeking them in their truth and power.Yes, the human psyche can create a reality; after all, we do have the power of creation. But as far as creating that which is the foundation of the bloodline, well, that would be as ludicrous as believing I created my mortal mother and father!

I choose simply to know what I have experienced to be the truth of the matter, and seek the deeper knowledge that our God and Goddess have to offer, that which we already know, and only need to remember.

I will leave these theologies to those who wish to argue amongst themselves!

Anagram

2008-03-28T04:02:00.000-04:00

There's a snake coming out of the darkness.
Parade from paradise.
End the need for Eden,
Chase the dreams of merchandise.
There is tic and toc in atomic.
Leaders make a deal.
The cosmic is largely comic,
A con they couldn't conceal.
There is no safe seat at the feast,
Take your best stab at the beast.
The night is turning thin,
The saint is turning to sin.
Raise the art to resistance,
Danger dare to be grand.
Pride reduced to humble pie,
Diamonds down to sand.
Take heart from earth and weather.
The brightness of new birth.
Take heart from the harvest,
Shave the harvest from the earth.
Reasoning is partly insane,
Image just an eyeless game.
Miracles will have their claimers,
More will bow to Rome.
He and she are in the house,
But there's only me at home.
Rose is a rose of splendor,
Posed to respond in the end.
Lonely things like nights,
I find, end finer with a friend.
I hear in the rate of her heart.
A tear in the heat of the art.

Incenses and Oils

2008-03-28T03:07:00.001-04:00

First, understand that many grimoires give elaborate instructions in obtaining ingredients for incenses, oils and spells. Pay no attention to these things.

Things like “collect the Vervain at the third hour of the Full Moon when Saturn is in Pisces, and only collect from the hallowed ground of a churchyard” would not make the Vervain any stronger. This long and drawn out instruction is given to sort the dabbler from the serious Witch. The Witch Proper knows to pay attention to the first part of the instruction, and ignore the latter.

It matters not where you obtain your ingredients. Obtain them any way you can in the most convenient way you can.

If you do get them from the wild, or from your garden, leave enough so that the plant can recover unless it is the final harvest of the season. Always thank the spirits of the land for their gift. A little bit of something as a gift is always good, and can be bread, wine, or something of you such as a drop of blood.

If you do harvest the herbs yourself, make sure you dry them completely before using them. Hanging them in the window in the sun is the best way that I’ve found.

Always know your herbs. If they are poisonous, use rubber gloves! Be mindful of the amount of the darker herbs that you use and their effect. Too much can be dangerous and sometimes even fatal.

Oils can be made if you wish to go through the trouble, but are found with a little bit of legwork much easier. The same goes for oils as with herbs. Know your oils and their effects before you use them. Again, gloves are appropriate for the darker oils.

Keep your herbs in clean jars with lids that seal. You can also use Zip-Loc bags. Keep them in a cool, dry location. Most will stay well for a good period of time. Label them well.

Oils should be kept in jars that seal as well. Keep them in a cool dark place. Make sure you mark them well with a marker that is permanent! Usually the best way is to label the top of the lid as oil tends to get onto the side of the container with use and will destroy any label.

Oils will stay good for about one year after the container is opened. After that they may spoil and will not work well.

A Woman I Know

2008-03-28T03:02:00.001-04:00

I want to tell you about a woman I know.

When she walks into a room you can feel the sexuality radiate from her.

She is pleasing to the eye with her soft doe eyes, full lips and long hair.

Her body is a wonderland, perfect as a playground for lustful adventures.

Her voice is soft as so is her skin.

When she looks in your direction you can feel the heat rise in the nether regions and if she dances for you, you are done. I have watched her for many years interact with men of all ages, shapes and sizes. Rich or poor, she doesn’t care.

I watch these men try so hard to conquer her. Through manipulation of all sorts, they try to impress her, try to appeal to her nurturing side by trying to make her feel bad for them so she might try to make them feel better. They try outwitting her or intellectualize, she keeps up and surpasses them. She doesn’t bow to their egos.

She is kind and gentle but she will not diminish her self for the sake of a man’s ego. When none of the manipulation works, she is called the bitch. She is the one who has done wrong. She takes it all in stride. She has more strength of character then most men would ever think possible. She also has children whom she is the best kind of mother I have ever seen.

She raises them to be independent, not Mamas boys or weak girls but strong within them selves.

So what is she?

Is she a whore because she is very sexual?

Is she a bitch because she strong in character and intelligent, or is she a mother because she is warm and nurturing?

All of these qualities wrapped up in one woman?

I will tell you who she is...

She is a Witch.

Good Enough

2008-02-17T20:02:00.002-05:00

Under your spell again.
I can't say no to you.
Crave my heart and its bleeding in your hand.
I can't say no to you.
Shouldn't let you torture me so sweetly.
Now I can't let go of this dream.
I can't breathe but I feel.
Drink up sweet decadence.
I can't say no to you and I've completely lost myself,
and I don't mind.
Shouldn't let you conquer me completely.
Now I can't let go of this dream.
Can't believe that I feel.
I feel good enough,
its been such a long time coming,
but I feel good and I'm still waiting for the rain to fall.
To pour real life down on me,
cause I can't hold on to anything this good.
Am I good enough for you to love me too?
So take care what you ask of me cause I can't say no.

So we'll go no more a roving

2008-02-16T02:43:00.000-05:00

So, we’ll go no more a roving,
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a roving,
By the light of the moon.

2008-02-16T02:40:00.000-05:00

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth.

Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets, in their turn,
Conform the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

A Bi-Polar Existence

2008-02-16T02:18:00.001-05:00

There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness.

When you're high it's tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones.

Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty. There are interests found in uninteresting people.

Sensuality is pervasive and the desire to seduce and be seduced irresistible. Feelings of ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence, and euphoria pervade one's marrow. But, somewhere this changes. The fast ideas are too fast, and there are far too many, overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friend's faces are replaced by fear and concern.

Everything previously moving with the grain is now against....

you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and emerged totally in the blackest caves of the mind.

You never knew those caves were there. It will never end, for madness carves its own reality.

Thoughts

2008-02-16T02:14:00.001-05:00

I honestly believe that as a result of it I have felt more things, more deeply; had more experiences, more intensely; loved more, and have been more loved...

... laughed more often for having cried more often; appreciated more the springs, for all the winters...

Depressed, I have crawled on my hands and knees in order to get across a room and have done it for month after month.

But normal or manic I have run faster, thought faster, and loved deeper than most I know.

Thoughts... again...

2008-02-16T02:09:00.001-05:00

Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet? - L. M. Montgomery (1874-1942)

What is this doing in my thoughts on bipolar?

Don't worry - I am NOT suggesting that the beloved Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery was manic depressive, or that her delightful character Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables books was even the softest of soft bipolars.

However, I DO LOVE the concept "there are no mistakes in tomorrow".

It belongs in thoughts on bipolar because bipolar people know better than most the true meaning of regret and have a strong need to believe in the miracle of a new beginning.

The psychiatrist who finally correctly diagnosed me used to say it to me all the time when we first met and I was very depressed: "there are no mistakes in tomorrow".

Eventually the power of this concept sunk in - these words really did change my life! They instiled courage and optimism in me again.

Quote of the day...

2008-02-16T02:02:00.001-05:00

Suicide is what the death certificate says when one dies of depression. - PETER D. KRAMER (1997)

Love and Sin

2008-02-06T04:07:00.001-05:00

Christianity has done a great deal for love by making a sin of it.

Sadness

2008-02-06T04:02:00.000-05:00

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

Death Reveals

2008-02-06T03:53:00.001-05:00

When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed. Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter. The body is an old crock that nobody will miss. I have never known a man to think of himself when dying. Never.

Wise

2008-02-06T03:36:00.001-05:00

He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise

Mind Awake...

2008-02-05T02:09:00.000-05:00

See the thoughts churning in my mind?
Can’t you see that I’m in my dream land?
I cannot just walk away…
I always walk alone.

See the colors burning in my mind?
Can’t you see the fire in my hand?
I could just throw it your way…
Instead I carry the stone.

Feel the ideas blurring in my mind?
Too many to grab I’m swaying and…
Wish I could throw them away…
I can’t they just won’t go.

My Daemon

2008-01-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

Sacrifice

2008-01-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

It's true, we're all a little insane.
But it's so clear, now that I'm unchained.
Fear is only in our minds,
taking over all the time.
You poor sweet innocent thing,
Dry your eyes and testify.
You know you live to break me, don't deny.
One day I'm gonna forget your name.
And one sweet day,
You're gonna drown in my lost pain.
Fear is only in our minds,
Taking over all the time.
You poor sweet innocent thing,
Dry your eyes and testify.
And oh you love to hate me don't you?
I'm your sacrifice.
I dream in darkness, I sleep to die.
Erase the silence, erase my life.
My burning ashes blacken the day.
A world of nothingness, blows me away.
Do you wonder why you hate?
Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes?

My Immortal

2008-01-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

I'm so tired of being here,
Suppressed by all my childish fears.
And if you have to leave I wish that you would just leave,
Because your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone.
These wounds won't seem to heal.
This pain is just too real.
There's just too much that time cannot erase.
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears.
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears.
And I held your hand through all of these years.
But you still have all of me.
You used to captivate me by your resonating light.
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind.
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams.
Your voice, it chased away all the sanity in me.
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone.
But though you're still with me,
I'm all alone.

Field of Innocence

2008-01-09T01:23:00.000-05:00

I still remember the world from the eyes of a child.
Slowly those feelings were clouded by what I know now.
Where has my heart gone?
An uneven trade for the real world.
I want to go back to believing in everything and knowing nothing at all.
I still remember the sun,
Always warm on my back.
Somehow it seems colder now.
Where has my heart gone?
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger.
I want to go back to believing in everything.
Where has my heart gone?
An uneven trade for the real world.
I want to go back to believing in everything.
I still remember.....

Hello

2008-01-09T01:14:00.000-05:00

Playground school bell rings again.
Rain clouds come to play again.
Has no one told you he´s not breathing?
Hello, I'm your mind giving you someone to talk to, hello.
If I smile and don´t believe,
Soon I know I´ll wake from this dream.
Don´t try to fix me, I´m not broken.
Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide, don´t cry.
Suddenly I know I´m not sleeping.
Hello, I´m still here,
All that´s left of yesterday

Lithium

2008-01-07T01:56:00.000-05:00

Don't want to lock me up inside.
Don't want to forget how it feels without...
I want to stay in love with my sorrow.
Oh, my Gods, I want to let it go.
Come to bed, don't make me sleep alone.
Couldn't hide the emptiness, you let it show.
Never wanted it to be so cold.
Just didn't drink enough to say you love me.
I can't hold on to me,
Wonder what's wrong with me.
Don't want to lock me up inside.
Don't want to forget how it feels without...
I want to stay in love with my sorrow.
Don't want to let it lay me down this time.
Drown my will to fly.
Here in the darkness I know myself.
Can't break free until I let it go.
Let me go.
Darling, I forgive you after all.
Anything is better than to be alone.
And in the end I guess I had to fall.
Always find my place among the ashes.
I can't hold on to me,
Wonder what's wrong with me.
Don't want to lock me up inside.
Don't want to forget how it feels without...
...stay in love with my sorrow.
I'm gonna let it go.

New Year

2007-12-31T23:41:00.000-05:00

What can I say? 2007 sucked more than any other year of my life...

Oh Fate what have ye in store for 2008? Dare I ask? Nevertheless, boldly I tread upon what is yet to come. Hopeful in that Fate will be gracious to me this year and give me peace of mind.

LA

New Year? Or just a continuation of Fate?

2007-12-22T04:14:00.000-05:00

Well, seems that the dark season is teaching me plenty. Lots of introspection on myself and all that lies within this totally not-understood world.

This is the time of the year when I am spoken to on very subtle levels, and I am consistent in just being silent, alone, and thoughtful. Plenty is to come very soon. New ways to approach, and old ways to stubbornly let go of... even though I know they kick me in the ass every time.

I am indeed a Witch, but that doesn't mean I'm always wise when it comes to my own condition. I am in the place of counselor to many who come to me very regularly for advice, a shoulder to cry on, a sympathetic, if not empathetic listener. But do I always know what's best for myself? HA!!!!!

New things I'm told are coming. I have to say enough is enough when it comes to spiritual "children" and come to know how to help the "children" grow to be more of the spiritual adult. Come on! We are not meek little spirits!!! We are POWERFUL entities known as the Witch race! Claimants of the Red Thread Lineage!!!

Know how to be Proud in not being prideful and boastful. Know what the meaning of our lives are and finding that meaning within ourselves. Know that truth be first, no matter the cost. Truth in all things. Truth to ourselves and others in all things, in all ways, at all times. And of course, this entails being true to self first!

May this season of darkness bring enlightenment, prosperity and truth.

LA

We Suffer

2007-12-21T01:45:00.000-05:00

It’s the same old thing.
Day after day.
All alone we suffer.
We suffer.
While the world steals our heart away.

It’s the same old theme.
Night after night.
All alone we suffer.
We’ll suffer.
While the world steals our love away.

It’s the same old pain.
Time after time.
All alone we suffer.
Still Suffer.
While the world steals our dream away.

When our light shines upon the world,
And it flies right by their eyes.
Then we find ourselves in the shadows,
‘Cause the world won’t find compromise.

We’ll find that again.
Year after year.
All alone we suffer.
We suffer.
While the world steals our light away.

LA

Quotable Quote!

2007-12-20T23:05:00.000-05:00

"It would be counter intuitive to assume the deities would lose their attention so fast. That's (a) human characteristic. So long as the earth grows, shadows grow and fall, the wind moves and the waves wash, they exist. So long as humans are born remembering a connection beyond what our immediate senses tell us, there will be witches. As long as will produces change in objective physical reality, there will be magic."

Sapphire

How do I cope?

2007-11-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

I attribute my good spirits to my quickly eroding sanity.

LA

A Spell (An excellent way to get a Fairy)

2007-11-07T23:37:00.001-05:00

Gather, first in your left hand
(This must be at fall of day)
Forty grains of wild sea-sand
Where you think a mermaid lay.
I have heard that it is best
If you gather it, warm and sweet,
Out of the dint of her left breast
Where you see her heart has a beat.

Out of the dint of that sweet sand,
Gather forty grains, I say;
Yet-if it fails you-understand,
There remains a better way.

Out of this you melt your glass
While the veils of night are drawn,
Whipsering, till the shadows pass,
"Nixie-pixie-leprechaun!"
Then you blow your magic vial,
Shape it like a crescent moon,
Set it up and make your trial,
Singing, "Elaby, ah, come soon!"

Round the cloudy crescent go,
On the hill-top, in the dawn,
Singing softly, on tip-toe,
"Elaby Gathon! Elaby Gathon!
Nixie-pixie-leprechaun!"

Bring the blood of a white hen
Slaughtered at the break of day,
While the cock, in the fairy glen,
Thrusts his gold neck every way,
Over the brambles, peering, calling,
Under the ferns, with a sudden fear,
Far and wide-as dews are falling-
Clamoring, calling, everywhere.

Round the crimson vial go,
On the hill-top, in the dawn,
Singing softly, on tip-toe,
"Nixie-pixie-leprechaun!"
If this fail at break of day,
I can show you a better way.

Bring the buds of the hazel-copse,
Where two lovers kissed at noon;
Bring the crushed red wild-thyme tops
Where they murmured under the moon.
Bring the four-leaved clover also,
One of the white, and one of the red,
Bring the flakes of the may that fall so
Lightly over their bridal bed.

Drop them into the vial-so-
On the hilltop, in the dawn,
Singing softly, on tiptoe
"Nixie-pixie-leprechaun!"
And if once will not suffice,
Do it thrice!
If this fail at break of day,
There remains a better way.

Bring an old and crippled child
-Ah, tread softly, on tip-toe!-
Tattered, tearless, wonder-wild,
From that under-world below,
Bring a wizened child of seven
Reeking from the City slime,
Out of hell into your heaven,
Set her knee-deep in the thyme.

Feed her-clothe her, even so!
Set her on a fairy-throne.
When her eyes begin to glow
Leave her alone for an hour-alone.

You shall need no spells or charms,
On that hill-top, in that dawn.
When she lifts her wasted arms,
You shall see a veil withdrawn.
There shall be no veil between them,
Though her head be old and wise!
You shall know that she has seen them
By the glory in her eyes.

Round her irons on that hill
Earth has tossed a fairy fire:
Watch, and listen, and be still,
Lest you baulk your own desire.

When she sees four azure wings
Light upon her claw-like hand;
When she lifts her head and sings,
You shall hear and understand:
You shall hear a bugle calling
Wildly over the dew-dashed down;
And a sound as of the falling
Ramparts of a conquered town.

You shall hear a sound like thunder;
And a veil shall be withdrawn,
When her eyes grown wide with wonder
On that hill-top, in that dawn.

--Alfred Noyes

Remember

2007-11-02T00:28:00.000-04:00

In times of trial may I remember, that all of my ill-taken fortunes will return to me ten-fold at the misfortune of those who had taken them or wished me ill-will.

LA

Trust

2007-10-29T01:39:00.000-04:00

“It takes much time to gain the love and trust of a person, but only a moment to lose it.”

This statement is so true, but I feel the need to examine this and put it in context of what really should lie within a relationship with another person.

I believe all too often that friendship and love are simply too fleeting these days. Importance of relationships is of little meaning to most.

Too easily we are willing to throw away a wonderful, close and loving relationship with a friend or other significant persons. To be a true friend to someone is to know that person. Not just know, but understand and sympathize with that person, even in tough and very troublesome times.

A friend is someone we trust and love. And in return, we are loved and trusted. Yes, indeed it may take some time; even years to grow that love and trust. And yes, that trust can be, and probably will be broken from time to time. But that is what being a friend is all about. Knowing that the other may break a trust, but, truly in their heart, didn’t mean to, didn’t want to, and are sorry for doing so.

So, do we throw away love and trust at the whim? Hopefully the answer is no. If friendship and love have any meaning at all, it extends the hand of forgiveness and embraces despite it all. This shows that you can be trusted to be a friend, no matter the circumstance.

Isn’t that the trust we are really looking for anyway? To have a relationship with someone who loves you, embraces you, and trusts you just as much as you do them, no matter what.

Something to think about? Indeed.

LA

To know your future Companion...

2007-10-28T01:32:00.000-04:00

Take a candle and go alone to a looking-glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say you should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjugal companion, to be, will be seen in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder.

The Hag

2007-10-28T01:25:00.000-04:00

The Hag is astride,
This night for to ride;
The Devill and shee together:
Through thick, and through thin,
Now out, and then in,
Though ne’r so foule be the weather.
A Thorn or a Burr
She takes for a Spurre:
With a lash of a Bramble she rides now,
Through Brakes and through Bryars,
O’re Ditches, and Mires,
She followes the Spirit that guides now.
No Beast, for his food,
Dares now range the wood;
But husht in his laire he lies lurking:
While mischiefs, by these,
On Land and on Seas,
At noone of Night are working,
The storme will arise,
And trouble the skies;
This night, and more for the wonder,
The ghost from the Tomb
Affrighted shall come,
Cal’d out by the clap of the Thunder.

Robert Herrick (1648)

Walnut Boats Divination

2007-10-28T01:13:00.000-04:00

Open English walnuts, remove meat, and in each half shell fasten short pieces of differently colored candles, each of which is to be named for a person and, after lighting, set afloat in large tub of water or pond. The behavior of these tiny boats reveals future of those for whom they are named. If two glide on together, their owners have a similar destiny; if they glide apart, so will their owners. Sometimes candles will huddle together as if talking to one another, while perchance one will be left alone, out in the cold, as it were. Again, two will start off and all the rest will closely follow. The one whose candle first goes out is destined to be an old bachelor or maid. These nut-shell boats may also be made by pouring melted wax into halves of walnut-shells in which are short strings for wicks.

The Moon

2007-10-28T00:57:00.001-04:00

"The Moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to."

I just LOVE Hallowe'en!!!

2007-10-27T00:43:00.000-04:00

Patriotism

2007-10-27T00:41:00.000-04:00

Conceit, arrogance, and egotism are the essentials of patriotism... Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.

Double, Double...

2007-10-26T11:15:00.000-04:00

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add there to a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Macbeth (4.1.5-37)

Poetry

2007-10-25T00:40:00.000-04:00

Poetry operates by hints and dark suggestions. It is full of secrets and hidden formulae, like a Witch's brew. - Anthony Hecht

A Lesson to Remember...

2007-10-24T12:29:00.000-04:00

"Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand"

Monkshood

2007-10-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

Most beautiful of poisons, border-plant,
wearing your small green cowl,
little friar, little murderer,
aconitine flows from your roots to your deep purple flowers,
small deceiver, centerpiece for a poisonous feast.

A few leaves in the salad,
a few seeds in the soup,
a thick root to flavor the stock and it is all over.

Let the lover beware
who buys you for love philters.

The dose is deceptive.
One pinch leads to passion
but two will surely lead to death.

Yet you twinkle little blue bell at the edge of the garden,
wearing no warning about your slim green neck.
Wolfsbane, Friar's cap, Chariot of Venus -
how many may claim to be poisonous head to toe?

That honor - Friar Death - belongs to you.

Black Magic

2007-10-21T13:35:00.000-04:00

Sometimes a cliché just wears out. It loses meaning or, worse, begins to say things we never meant. I think it's time to retire the phrase "black magic." Magic is magic, be it bane or otherwise, it is all sacred, and it is the choice of the Witch for what purpose it is to be used.

I've heard much too often the terms "White" or "Black" magic, and I've heard "Grey" as well. Frankly this only shows me just how much most people, even witches, hold on to their past and what our "Christian" society has embedded in their minds from birth and on forward throughout their lives.Saying "black" when we mean "evil" is nasty nonsense. In the first place, it reinforces the racist stereotypes that corrupt our society.

And that's not all. Whenever we say "black" instead of "bad," we repeat again the big lie that darkness is wrong. It isn't, as people who profess to love Nature should know.

Darkness can mean the inside of the womb, and the seed germinating within the Earth, and the chaos that gives rise to all truly new beginnings. In our myths, the one who goes down to the underworld returns with the treasure. Even death, to the Witch's understanding, is well-earned rest and comfort, and a preparation for new birth.

Using "black" to mean "bad" is a blasphemy against the Crone and the Dark Lord. But even if we no longer speak of magic as "black" or "white," we still need to think and speak about the ethics of magic. Although black is not evil, some actions are evil. It simply is not true that anything a person is strong enough or skilled enough to do is OK, nor should doing what we "will" ever be the whole of the law for us. We need a clear and specific vocabulary that enables us to choose wisely what we will do.

We need to replace the word "black," not simply to drop it. Some Pagans have tried using "negative" as their substitute, but that turned out to be confusing. For some people, "negative" means any spell to diminish or banish anything. Some things - tumors, depression, and bigotry - are harmful. There's nothing wrong with a working to get rid of bad stuff. "Left-handed" is another common term for wrongful practice, very traditional, but just as ignorant, superstitious and potentially harmful as the phrase "black magic" itself. So instead we tried using the word "unethical." That's a lot better - free of extraneous and false implications - but still too vague.

Gradually, I began to wonder whether using any one word, "black"or "unethical" or whatever might just be too general and too subjective.

Now, before I continue, I need to make it very clear that "ethics" is clearly a word that is defined by the individual. What is ethical for me may not be to you, and vice verse. Therefore, take no measure from this for what is or is not ethical. YOU are the judge of what is ethical for YOU. And YOU take the responsibility for what YOU do.

I certainly pass no judgment to any witch for what they choose to do. It is indeed their choice to make, and not mine in any way. I do, of course, have my opinions, but they are simply that, opinions. You may or may not even agree with what is written here. And that is OK too. The God and Goddess will work in any way you ask. This is mainly concerned with the Witch's responsibility to think clearly with as many facts possible before acting. Acting responsibly is not unreasonable, sometimes inconvenient, yes, but nevertheless, it is proper.

I won't settle for blind obedience. If ethical principles are going to survive the twin tests of time and temptation, people need to understand just what to avoid, and why. Even more important, they need a basis for figuring out what to do instead, especially when it comes to projective magic.

Projective magic means active workings, the kind in which we project our will out into the world to make some kind of change. This is what most people think of when they use the word magic at all. Quite clearly, magic that may affect other people is magic that can harm. This is the basis of the proverb "a Witch who can't hex can't heal." Either you can raise and/or direct power or you can't. Your strength and skill can be used for blessing, or for bane. The choice is yours. Just as some people feel that strength and skill are their own justification, others feel that any projective magic is always wrong -that it is a distraction from our one true goal of union with the Divine or a willful avoidance of judgment. I think these attitudes are equally inconsistent with the Witch's philosophy.

We are taught that we will find the Lady and Lord within ourselves, or not at all, that the Witch Mother has been with us from the beginning. We can't now establish a union that was always there. All we can do, all we need to do, is become aware. Knowing what it feels like to heal and empower, again and again till you can't dismiss it as coincidence, is one of the most powerful methods for awakening that awareness. It makes no sense to say that the direct experience and exercise of our indwelling divinity distracts from the Great Work.

Indeed, it is this intimate connection between our magic and our self-realization that our ethics protect. Wrongful use of magic will choke the channel. No short term gain could ever compensate for that.

The "karmic" argument against practical workings seems to me to arise from a paranoid and defeatist world view. Even if we assume that the hardships in this life were put there by the Powers That Be for a reason, how can we be so sure that the reason was punishment? Perhaps instead of penance to be endured, our difficulties are challenges to be met. Coping and dealing with our problems, learning magical and mundane skills, changing ourselves and our world for the better - in short, growing up - is that not what the Gods of joy and freedom want from us?

We, as Witches, believe that we are chosen by or God and Goddess. Yet it is up to each of us individually to choose whether to recognize them or not, to listen to them, commune with them, and to work with and respect our Deities. One of the most radically different things about a Witch's belief system is that each one of us has the right, and the need, to choose the focus of our relationship with our Deities. We make these choices knowing that whatever energies we invoke most often in ritual will shape our own further growth.

Spiritual practices are a means of self-programming if you will. So we are responsible for what we worship in a way that people who take their One God as a given are not.

Think about this: what kind of Power actively wants us to submit and suffer, and objects when we develop skills to improve our own lives? Not a Being I'd want to invite around too often!

So it will not work for us to rule out projective magic; nor should we. Prohibitions are as thoughtless as total permissiveness or blind obedience. Ethical and spiritual Witches ought to be able to make distinctions and well-reasoned choices.

Not so much thought of as "Black", but because I've just talked about Projective Magic, It's probably appropriate to touch on Receptive Magic. Receptive magic can be thought of also as "passive" magic, although it is not at all passive. Carrying an amulet or gemstone charged to attract a lover, money, a job and such are examples of receptive magic. This energy is such that it attracts or is magnetic.

The amulet should not be confused with a talisman. Talismans are not receptive and generally are used as protection, illumination, personal power, increasing self-worth, luck, energy, positive outcomes. In talismans, it is the energy of these power objects that repel negative forces by sending out positive energy.

Projective - Fire - Protection, strength, will power, courage, energy, power, blood,birth, lust, sex, war, anger Carnelian, Garnet, Red Jasper, Ruby

Receptive - Water - Love, acceptance, peace, happiness, joy, laughter, calming, soothing,soothing, opening, de-stressing, Rose Quartz, Rhodonite, Rhodochrosite

Projective - Fire - Protection, illumination, personal power, increasing self-worth, luck, energy, positive outcomes Carnelian, Orange Calcite

Projective - Air - Communication, conscious mind, heightening visualization abilities,travel, digestion, nervous system, skin, energy, movement, mental awareness, Citrine, Yellow Zircon, Yellow Carnelian

Receptive - Water - Healing, fertility, life, plants, gardens, eyes, kidneys, stomach, money, riches, prosperity, luck, love, balance, Bloodstone, Aventurine, Green Moss Agate

Receptive - Water - Peace, calming emotions, sleep, healing, reduce fevers, remove ulcers, eliminating inflammations, remove pain, purification, Lapis Lazuli, Sapphire

Receptive - Earth - Spirituality, mysticism, purification, meditation, psychic work, subconscious mind, healing, peace, removing headache, mental illness, depression, Amethyst, some Fluorite

Receptive - Water/Earth - Sleep, Psychism, luck, protection, removing headache, substitute for any other stone, Snow Quartz, Opal

Receptive - Earth - Protection, grounding, self-control, resilience, quiet power, Obsidian, Jet, Apache Tears

In the example above, you'll notice that projective is associated with Air which could include rituals having to do with travel, instruction, study, freedom, knowledge, and searching. And Fire in which some rituals would include protection, courage, sex, energy,strength, authority, and banishing. Receptive is associated with Earth in which such rituals might include money, fertility, employment, stability, prosperity, and grounding. And Water in which such rituals would include love, purification, psychic abilities, dreams, sleep, peace, marriage, and friendship.

Noticing this will bring you also to the conclusion that projective is male, and receptive is female as Earth and Water are feminine. Fire and Air are Masculine.

Baneful magic is magic done for the explicit purpose of causing harm to another person. Usually the reason for it is revenge, and the rationalization is justice.

For Witches there is no rule without exceptions. If you think you would never torture somebody, consider this scenario: in just half an hour the bomb will go off, killing everybody in the city, and this terrorist knows where it is hidden....

I know, a bit extreme, but you get the point.

It's a bad mistake to base your ethics on wildly unlikely cases, since none of us honestly knows how we would react in that kind of extreme. Reasonable ethical statements are statements about the behaviors we expect of ourselves under normally predictable circumstances.We all get really angry on occasion, and sometimes with good cause.

Then revenge can seem like no more than simple justice. The anger is a normal, healthy human reaction, and should not be repressed. Most times there's no more need to act it out in magic than in physical violence. Instead of going for revenge - and invoking the consequences of baneful magic - identify what you really need first.

For example, if your anger comes from a feeling that you have been attacked or violated, what you may need first is protection and safe space. Work for the positive goal first, it can be both more effective and safer. If this proves to be ineffective, then perhaps the use of baneful magic would be appropriate.

The consequences of baneful magic are simply the logical, natural and inevitable psychological effects. Even in that rare and extreme situation when you may decide you really do have to use magic to give Hitler a heart attack, it means you are choosing by the same choice to accept the act's consequences. Magical attack hurts the attacker first. Let me explain…

The only way I know how to do magic is by use of my imagination, by visualizing or otherwise actively imagining the end I want, and then projecting that goal with the energy of emotional/physiological arousal. All the techniques I know either help me to imagine more specifically or to project more strongly. So the only way I can send out harm is by first experiencing that harm within my own imagination. Instant and absolute consequence - the natural, logical and inevitable outcomes of our own choices.

I would think also, that somebody dumb enough to do such workings too often would soon lose the ability to imagine specifically, as their sensitivity dulled in sheer self-defense. That callusing effect is the reality behind the pious proverb that says "if you abuse it, She'll take it away."

Of course, these effects or consequences can be and most times are minuscule when we act with clear conscience. The greatest consequence of all is to work baneful magic when you know in your heart that it is not the right thing to do and the target person does not truly deserve it.

But not every other magician is ethical. Psychic attacks do happen. Should we not defend ourselves? Of course we should. Leaving ourselves open to psychic attack is no good example of the autonomy and assertiveness our Gods expect. But first, how can we be sure what we are experiencing really is psychic attack?

The fantasy of psychic attack is often a convenient excuse that allows us to avoid looking at our own shortcomings. When lack of rest or improper nutrition is the cause of illness, or a project isn't completed on time because of distraction, it's a real temptation to put the blame outside ourselves. Doing this too easily betrays our autonomy just as badly as meek submission to attack does. Then, to compound matters, projected blame becomes an excuse for unjust revenge - and that is baneful magic without excuse.

Once in a while, some fool really does try to throw a whammy. It's hard to predict when you might be targeted. Passive shields are always a good idea. Like a mirror, these are totally inactive until somebody sends unwelcome energy. Then a shield will protect you completely and bounce back whatever is being thrown. You may not even know consciously when your shield is working, but the result is perfect justice.

Perfect justice is both elegant and efficient. You won't hurt anybody out of paranoia or by mistake. And perfect protection, even though we do not have perfect knowledge.

That being said, it is not the way of the Witch to suffer at the hand of another. And no Witch should allow him or herself to be a doormat! Protection for yourself and those dear to you is indeed reason enough to get "tough" with magic.

Always remember this rule. Once you cast spellwork, no matter what kind or for what reason, put it completely out of your mind. Once done and the circle is opened, it simply never happened. This is the best and only true way to protect yourself from the consequences of your spellwork.

Bindings, according to some, are completely defensive. They do not harm, only restrain. But imagine yourself being bound - perhaps by someone who believes themselves justified - and notice the feeling of impotence and frustration. Binding is bane from the viewpoint of the bound.

Even if restraint were truly not harmful, bindings can be poor protection. They target a particular person or group. What if you suspect the wrong person? Somebody harmless is bound and your actual attacker is not bound. Shields, which cover you, not your supposed enemy, will cover you against any enemy, known or unknown. This is not to say that binding is always improper and/or out of the realm of answers to defend against attack, just be sure you have the right person!

Coercive magic is magic that targets another person to make them give us something we want or need. When most people think of the "Magic Power of Witchcraft," this is for the most part, what they have in mind.

The spell to make the teacher give you a good grade, or the supervisor give you a good evaluation, the spell to make the personnel officer or renting agent choose you, the spell to attract that cute guy or girl, all are examples of coercive magic.

So, what's wrong with high grades, a good job, a raise, a nice apartment and a sexy, horny lover? There's nothing at all wrong with those goals. Go for it! There is certainly nothing wrong with using what you know and have at your disposal to get what you want or need.

But don't actively strive toward good ends by coercive means.Although there is no deliberate intent to do harm or cause pain in coercive workings, other people are treated as pawns. Their autonomy and their interests are ignored.

Forcing the will of another is not always harmless; controlling the independent judgment of another human being can be harmful.

One of the main reasons people fear and hate Witches is our reputation for controlling others.

Innocent people, who are connected to the situation, but invisible to us, may also be seriously hurt: the cute guy's fiancee', the other applicant for that job. What you think of as a working designed only to bring good to yourself can bring serious harm to innocent third parties. This is somewhat a weak argument, since almost always one can come up with third parties that could be affected. Even though this may or may not be the deciding factor in your choice to use magic, it may be wise at times to think of this. I, at times, choose to also ask for protection for innocent parties if I believe that they might be harmed otherwise. Children are most likely to get my attention on this.

That isn't the only way an incomplete view of the situation can backfire. There's a traditional saying that goes, "be careful about what you ask for, because that's exactly what you will get." What if he is gorgeous, but abusive? What if the apartment house is structurally unsound?

Finally, remember this: asking specifically limits us to what we now know or what we can now imagine. I remember a time when I could not have imagined being a Witch and Priest. What if the cute guy in the office is perfectly OK, but your absolutely perfect soul-mate will be in the local Kroger next Wednesday? The more specifically targeted your magic is, the more you chance limiting yourself to a life of missed chances.

This is not to say that you shouldn't be specific. Of course you should! My point here is make sure that you are very well educated and have all the facts before you ask. Patience can pay off if you look deeply into yourself to know for sure what it is you want or need, as well as looking further into the specific objects of your desires.

And beyond all the scenario spinning lies the instant natural, logical and inevitable consequence of the act. It's more subtle than in the case of baneful magic, since you are not trying to imagine and project pain, but the damage is still real. Here are some examples.

Every time you treat another human being as a thing to be pushed and pulled around for your convenience and pleasure, you are reinforcing your own alienation. The attitude of being removed from and superior to other people takes you out of community. As the attitude strengthens, so will the behavior it engenders. The long term result of coercive magic, as with mundane forms of coercion, is isolation and loneliness.

Did I just rule out all the good stuff? Love charms, job magic, spells for good grades? Not at all! It is not only ethical but good for you to do lots of magic to improve your own life. Whenever it works you will get more than you asked for - because along with whatever you asked for comes one more experience of your own effectiveness, your power from within.

Work on yourself and your own needs and desires without targeting other people whenever possible. You should feel free! Ask for what you want. Visualize it and raise power for it and act in accordance on the material plane. "I need a caring and horny lover with a goodsense of humor." "I want an affordable house near where my coven meets with a tree outside my window." "I need to be at my best when Itake that exam next week." Go ahead, fulfill your dreams, and sometimes let the Gods surprise you with gifts beyond your dreams.

Manipulative magic is magic that targets another person for what we think is "their own good," without regard for their opinions in the matter. In the general culture around us, this is normal. As you read this, you may have some friend or relative praying for you to be "saved" from your evil Pagan ways and returned to the fold of their preference. These people mean you well. By their own lights, they are attempting to heal you. We work from a very different theological base.

As Witches, we affirm the diversity of the divine and the divinity of diversity. If there is no one, true, right and only way in general, do we dare to assume that there is one obvious right choice for a person in any given situation? If more than one choice maybe "right," how can one person presume they know what another person would want without asking them first?

No life situation ever looks the same from outside as it does to the person who is experiencing it. Are you sure you even have all the facts? Are you fully aware of all the emotional entanglements involved? Perhaps that illness is the only way they have of getting rest or getting attention. Perhaps they stay in that dead end job because it leaves them more energy to concentrate on their music. How do you know till you ask?

And, to further complicate the analysis, it's possible that the person you are trying to help would agree with you about the most desirable outcome, but fears and hates the very idea of magic. They have as much of a right to keep magic out of their own life, as you have to make it part of yours!

Our craft teaches that the sacred lives within each person, that we can hear the Lady's voice for ourselves if we only learn to listen. "... If that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without." In behavioral terms, when you take another person's opinion about their own life seriously, you are reinforcing them in thinking and choosing for themselves. The more you do this, the more you encourage them to listen for the sacred inner voice.

Conversely, whenever you ignore or override a person's feelings about their own life, you are discounting those feelings and discouraging the kind of internal attention that can keep the channels to wisdom open. Although well-intentioned meddling may actually help somebody in the short run, in the longer run it trains them to dependency and indecision. Few intentional banes damage as severely. This is especially true because even the untrained and unaware will instinctively resist overt ill-will, but in our culture we are trained to receive "expert" interference with gratitude.

Check by asking yourself, "who's in charge here?" The answer to that will tell you whether you are basically empowering or undermining the person you intend to help.

And, as usual, the effects go both ways. The same uninvited intervention that fosters passivity in the recipient will foster arrogance in the "rescuer." Its control and ego-inflation masked as generosity. It's very seductive.

If you make this a habit, you will come to believe that other people are incompetent and powerless. Then what happens when you need help?

Your contempt will make it impossible for you to see what resources surround you. Manipulative magic is ultimately just as alienating ascoercive magic – and it's a much prettier trap!

The way to avoid the trap is to do no working on the behalf of another person without that person's explicit permission.You don't need to wait passively for the person to ask. It's perfectly all right to offer, as long as you are willing to sometimes accept "no" for your answer. For the person who believes s/he isunworthy or who is simply too shy, offering help is itself a gift.

Taking their opinion seriously is an even greater gift: respect.

The rule is that whenever it is in any way physically possible to ask, you must ask. If it's not important enough to pay long distance charges, it certainly isn't important enough to violate a friend's autonomy. If asking is literally not possible, then and only then, here are, of course, exceptions:

Sometimes an illness or injury happens very suddenly, and the person is unconscious or in a coma before you could possibly ask them. If you know that this person is generally comfortable with magic, you may do workings to keep their basic body systems working and allow the normal healing process the time it needs. If they are opposed to magic, for whatever reason, back off!

Traditionally, an unconscious person is understood to be temporarily out of their body. Maintaining their body in habitable condition is preserving their option, not choosing for them. Doing maintenance magic requires a lot of sensitivity. At some point, the time may come when you should stop and let the person go on. Be sure to use some kind of divination to help you stay aware.

This is a hard road. It may be your lover, your child, lying there helpless. Any normal human being would be tempted to drag them back,to force them to stay regardless of what is truly best for them, regardless of what they want. Don't repress these feelings; they do no harm, even though your actions might. It takes great strength and non-possessive love to recognize that your loved one knows their own need. You may be calling them back to a crippled body, to a life of pain. You may be calling them back from the ecstasy of the Goddess. And this is no more your right than it would be to murder them.

If a person is temporarily not reachable, you may charge up a physical object, such as an appropriate talisman or some incense.

When you present it to them, give them a full explanation. It is their choice whether to keep or use your gift. By interposing an object between the magic and the target in this way, you can work the magic in Circle, with the group's power to draw on, and still get the person's permission before the magic is triggered.

With all these rules about permission, perhaps it would be safer to work only on ourselves? Safer yes, but not nearly as good. If you have permission, you may do any working for another person that youmight do for yourself. Coercive magic is just as unacceptable when somebody else asks for it, and you may not do manipulative magic on your friend's mother, even at your friend's request. The permission must come from the magic's intended target and from nobody else. Done properly, working magic for others is good for all concerned.

Every act of magic has two effects. One is the direct effect, the healing or prosperity working or whatever was intended. The other is a minute change in the mind and the heart of the person who does the working. Everything we experience, and especially everything that we do in a wholehearted and focused way - the only way effective magic can be done - changes us. Each experience leaves its tiny trace, but the traces are cumulative. They mold the person we will become.

Logical, natural and inevitable consequences caused by our actions(magic) can be desirable. When you send out good, what you send it with is love. Love is the driving force. When you let love flow freely, the channel down to love's well spring stays clear and open.

When you send out good, you direct it along the web of person-to-person connection, and awareness of that web is reinforced. The totality of that web is the basis of community.

When you send out good it feels good. In the same way that sending out bane requires imagining pain, sending out blessing requires imagining pleasure, strongly and specifically. And, when you send out good, just the same as when you call it to yourself, you reinforce your sense of effectiveness in the world. Blessings grow in the fertile ground of mutuality, to the benefit of all.

So, perhaps there is a descriptive word that covers all wrongful magical workings after all. How about "non-consensual" magic?

Magic can be used for dominance, just the same as muscle or money. There is no difference, ethically, between the magical and the mundane. We are not obligated to tolerate power trippers among us. We are not obligated to run our own community by the slogans and ground rules of the dominator culture.

We need to get away from absolutes and to look in practical terms at the advantages or disadvantages of our choices. Once more, our craf titself shows us the way to steer between the false choices. What aperson does that affects only them - magical or mundane - is truly nobody's business but their own. But they would be wise to at least take a look to see the consequences of their actions and magic!

We have the right to protect ourselves individually and as a group. No ideology should turn us into passive victims when something we hold precious stands to be destroyed. So by this, if magic need be used, no matter what kind, by all means....go for it! As Witches, we do indeed believe in "an eye for an eye". When magic isused "justifiably", the "consequence" is inconsequential, or even, non-existent.

Tragic Injustice

2007-10-21T03:41:00.000-04:00

People often fail to examine whether behavior, thoughts and feelings might be a normal response to stresses in a bipolar person’s life. Always calling these things the result of bipolar disorder is a tragic injustice. There's something grotesque and dehumanizing about immediately calling their behavior, thoughts and feelings the result of this biological mental disorder, because it's a denial of their fundamental reality.

LA

Friends

2007-10-21T03:39:00.000-04:00

One who looks for a friend without faults will have none.

Love You to Death

2007-10-21T03:35:00.000-04:00

In her place one hundred candles burning,

As salty sweat drips from her breast.

Her hips move and I can feel what they're saying, swaying.

They say the beast inside of me is gonna get you.

Black lipstick stains her glass of red wine,

I am your servant, may I light your cigarette?

Those lips smooth, yeah I can feel what you're saying, praying.

They say the beast inside of me is gonna get you.

I beg to serve, your wish is my law,

Now close those eyes and let me love you to death.

Shall I prove I mean what I'm saying? Begging.

I say the beast inside of me's gonna get you...

Let me love you to death.

Another One Bites the Dust

2007-10-21T03:32:00.000-04:00

VATICAN CITY - A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man said in an interview published Sunday that he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico said he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity."

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual activity is a sin.

"It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the Church with my psychoanalyst work," La Repubblica quoted Stenico as saying.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that the monsignor had been suspended pending a Vatican investigation. Stenico is a top official in the Vatican's Congregation of the Clergy.

The Vatican after acted Vatican officials recognized Stenico's office in the background of a television program on gay priests that was broadcast on Oct. 1 on La7, a private Italian TV network. Stenico was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful.

In the Repubblica interview, Stenico said he had met with the young man and pretended to talk about homosexuality "to better understand this mysterious and faraway world which, by the fault of a few people — among them some priests — is doing so much harm to the Church."

He said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy.

Italy's Sky TG24 said Stenico had written a letter to his superiors with a similar defense.

Calls to Stenico's home and Vatican office went unanswered Sunday.

This guy is soooo busted! Why can't these guys get it right? Instead of running from being human and creating hypocrites of themselves, why can't they just accept that it is human to love and lust?

Instead, they hide themselves in the shadows in hopes that they will never be found, and when they do, they deny that which brings happiness and fulfillment and embrace a doctrine of condemnation and damnation.
Suckers.

Affirmations Are Good For You!

2007-10-21T02:49:00.000-04:00

You might think the whole business about "affirmations" these days is one of the ideas generated by those "new-age" folks. But affirmations are at least as old as mankind itself. The only thing new-age about them is the way we react, respond and recover from them.

Affirmations are the things you hear and consider correct, that relate to your worthiness, lovability, intelligence, etc. They are internal (things you tell yourself) and they are external (things others tell you). Affirmations are either spoken or unspoken; as much believability can be ascribed to a behavior as to the voiced interpretation of that behavior. The message you hear may not be the spoken message; you might be reading something else into the spoken message, or you may be combining the spoken message with the unspoken one to create another message entirely, and that is the one you "hear", believe and retain. Affirmations are either positive in nature, or negative.

All of this definition doesn't tell you the most important fact about affirmations...that they can directly affect your mental attitude, and thereby your behavior, over a period of time. Dick Sutphen, in his "Master of Life Manual", discusses the negative thinking we heap upon ourselves in our everyday lives. He says,

"Many people have no idea how frequently they think in a negative manner. If you climb out of bed cursing the alarm clock, grumble your way through breakfast, then dwell on how much you dislike the rain and the traffic during your commute to work, and brood unhappily about your job, and on throughout the day, you are literally creating a worse reality for yourself. Because you are thinking more negative thoughts than positive ones, there is simply no way you can be creating anything but a negative reality. With all that negative programming in your computer, how could it do anything but create the programmed result: more negativity?"

Sometimes, the manner in which we were raised is a clue to the kinds of affirmations we receive. Mixed signals become negative affirmations in the computers that are our minds; so a child raised with words of encouragement, and statements of positive approval, but also with a parental lack of interest in the successes or failures the child encounters, or with disapproving looks and actions for the child's errors and miscalculations becomes a child who believes the negative aspects of the message more than the positive. Think of positive affirmations as lovely, soft feathers, and negative affirmations as wooden croquet balls, you will see that if you are hit with one of each, you will remember the croquet ball much longer.

Sometimes, our environment is at fault; or our acquaintances; or, if our job seems to generate the bulk of our negativity, perhaps we should examine our real feelings about that job. "A sense of oneself as being small can, through physical tension, transform even a tall person into a stooped, slumped, cramped, "small" person. Likewise a sense of strength and power can cause a small person to move with such energy and expansiveness that his or her size becomes irrelevant and may even be unnoticed." (Meir Schneider, "Self Healing; My Life and Vision")

Your feelings about yourself truly determine how you present yourself to the world. We've all known people who were not physically attractive, yet were considered to be great beauties, incredibly handsome, models of human comeliness. They accomplished this feat, not by mass-hypnosis, but by behaving as if they were attractive. Their behavior then influenced the people around them to consider them to be attractive. They could not change how people felt about them, or what people thought of them, but they could change the way they perceived themselves, and thence to influence the way other people responded to the way they perceived themselves.

Nearly 100 years ago, James Allen wrote in "Become the Master of Your Own Destiny", "Out of a clean heart comes a clean life... Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life... Thought is the source of action, life and manifestation; make the source pure, and all will be pure." And Dick Sutphen concurs: "To become a Master of Life means to transform the way you experience your life. In so doing, you learn to let fear and negativity flow through you without affecting you, and to be direct and natural, in balance and harmony. Everyone has the potential to create their own reality, so if you are not happy with the way it is, what (your) mind has created, (your) mind can change (it).

"All of us have been processing affirmations all of our lives. From the moment you were born, messages have been taking root in the garden of your mind and have been flowering there all along. If you now find that your view of yourself is basically a negative one, then the messages you have nurtured all these years have been negative messages. You have only to decide that you want to change those messages, and the reversing process has begun. Of course, you will not change a lifetime of negativity with an hour, or even a day of positive thought. But it will happen.

Imagine a cup full of green-colored water. In order to clear the color of the water in the cup, without discarding it, it is necessary to input far more uncolored water than there is colored water. This will be a long process, but it will eventually prove out. Your negative input is the green-colored water, and the positive you will replace it with is the clear water. If you put in positive enough thought, often enough, over a long enough period of time, the negativity residing within will be forced to vacate.

The positive thoughts are the affirmations you present for absorption to your own mind. What affirmations should you present? How do you know which ones will make a difference? "The measure of an affirmation's success is whether or not it soon manifests in your world. You should be able to manifest almost anything you are affirming with 21 days.", says Marcus Allen, author of "Tantra for the West; A Guide to Personal Freedom". He goes on to say, "There are some exceptions to this, if the project is vast or complicated, or the goal is distant. But the results should become clearly evident to you in a short time. You should be able to feel the change. If the results aren't happening, it is only because you are affirming something else on deeper, perhaps less conscious, level which is creating something contradictory to what you are affirming consciously.

"Mr. Allen describes an affirmation worksheet that can be used to rid your mind of the negative aspects that your affirmation seems to give birth to. His book is, of course, the best source of information on the process, but to summarize the program, open a notebook so you have a clean sheet on either side. On one side you will write the positive affirmation, on the other side write the thoughts that pop into your mind that seem to resist the affirmation. For instance, if you affirm, "I am a unique individual", and your mind thinks "Weird is more like it!", both of those thoughts should be on the pages.

You are instructed to continue writing the positive thought on the one side, and keep writing whatever negative or resisting thoughts occur in your mind on the other. The negative page will be a true representation of the kinds of thoughts you must remove, in order for the positive thought to remain unchallenged. Sometimes, just seeing those negative ideas written down will help you to see their foolishness or inappropriateness. Some will dissolve as soon as you see them, as you write them. Others will be more deeply ingrained into your unconscious, and may require other, less sweeping, affirmations that attack that particular thought.

Chris Griscom, whose healing work was featured in Shirley MacLaine's "Dancing in the Light", concentrates on healing the emotional body in her book "Ecstasy Is a New Frequency: Teachings of the Light Institute". "We know scientifically that the mind does control the body. We can slow down our heartbeat. We can change almost anything.", Chris writes.

"I want to change, but I don't know how. I don't know where to start." If that's your complaint, try this exercise. Write down every negative thing you hear your mind say to you about yourself. This may take a while, but you will have a picture of the programming that currently exists in your computer. It is a verbal x-ray of your mind. You have before you a list of the things that need to be changed, the inappropriate thought sequence, the reason you feel less than exuberant about yourself. From this list of negatives, you can create a list of positives. No matter if you don't believe them at first. You probably didn't believe the negative thoughts the first few times you heard them, but repetition seems to carry acceptance on it's back. So, all you need to do is repeat the positives over and over, until the acceptance it carries comes to you.

I believe that...

2007-10-21T02:48:00.001-04:00

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge, myth is more potent than history, dreams are more powerful than facts, hope always triumphs over experience, laughter is the cure for grief, and love is stronger than death.

Love

2007-10-21T02:47:00.000-04:00

Love is more than just a feeling: it's a process requiring continual attention.
Loving well takes laughter, loyalty, and wanting more to be able to say, "I understand" than to hear, "You're right."

Someone Else

2007-10-21T02:44:00.000-04:00

When I fell from grace I never realized how deep the flood was around me.
A man whose life was toil.
Was like a kettle left to boil, and the water left scars on me.
I know now who I am.
If only for a while, I recognize the changes.
I feel like I did before the magic wore thin and the "baptism of stains" began.

They used to say I was nowhere.
Heading down was my destiny.
But yesterday, I swear, that was someone else not me.
Here I stand at the crossroads edge, afraid to reach out for eternity.
One step, when I look down, I see someone else not me.
Looking back and I see someone else.

All my life they said I was going down.
But I'm still standing, stronger, proud.
And today I know there's so much more I can be.
From where I stand at the crossroads edge, there's a path leading out to sea.
And from somewhere deep in my mind, sirens sing out loud.
Songs of doubt as only they know how.
But one glance back reminds, and I see, someone else not me.
I keep looking back At someone else... me?

Life

2007-10-21T02:41:00.000-04:00

We walk through our lives one day after the next, but every once in a while, we stumble, completely unknowingly, into places and people that will forever alter our lives and until we blindly find our way to these people and places, life has not yet begun.