Liturgy

Within the past couple of weeks, I've begun writing a personal liturgy book.  I need it in two senses, one in that it's on my 3rd Degree (which, if I didn't say it, I'll say it now!  I finished my 2nd Degree, haha!) which I didn't know until after I started it, but mainly I wanted to make one because of my Clergy position within the community.

If someone comes to me and says "I NEED this ritual done in 3 days, can you do it?" I can have something ready to go.  I'm trying to cover all my bases, so to speak - and in the process of it, have been having some interesting thoughts.

For one, I've discovered I think differently than a lot of people do on Coming of Age rituals.  I think that there are two parts to them - one with family and friends present, which is what I personally call a Coming of Age - an acknowledgement and recognition of the new adult presence in the family, and the young adult's acceptance of greater responsibility within the family.  The second part would be initiation into the mysteries of their specific sex.  So much of what I've seen is specifically about the initiation into the mysteries, but I think that really misses a large part of the equation.  Not only for the new young adult, but for their family - being able to acknowledge that the child is no longer simply a child, but a complex human with his/her own experiences that will help direct them on their path.

I've also been asking around a little bit, getting opinions on what the most important ritual is and why.  I've gotten a lot of different answers, but now I want yours!  So here is the question of the day:  What, to you, is the most important ritual, and why?  Handfasting?  Initiation?  Coming of Age?  Eldering?  Something else entirely?  

I'm looking forward to the answers!

Goddess Bless,

Stacy

A post in which (*sigh*) I sort of ruin Valentine's Day

So, Sunday evening.  Sean and I are talking while each doing our own thing.  After a few minutes of easy silence, he says, "What are our finances like right now?"

My first reaction, of course, is panic.

"Why?  What happened?  What broke?  Did something happen with the car?"

"No," He says.  "Why can't I know?"

"I mean, I like when you actually show an interest in finances," I say.  "I just get worried when it's out of the blue."

"Honey..." He says with a sigh.  "Tuesday."

"Tuesday?  Is this about your prescription getting filled?  We can afford that.  Or your blood work?"

"What else is Tuesday?" He asks, a little more exasperated now.

"Our date night?"

"VALENTINES.  Tuesday is VALENTINES."

"Oh.  OH!  Ohh..."

Yeah.  So then he spouted off about how hard it was to ever surprise me with anything.  We had a good laugh about it, and I assured him that I would forget about it by then since I forgot it was even coming.  Which was a fib, because since he is planning on doing something for me I want to do something for him, which requires me thinking about it.

So that is how I sort of ruined Valentine's Day.

Goddess Bless,
Stacy

Cycles - in Life

Did you ever hear that luck comes in threes?  That three good things will happen, then three bad, then three good, repeating over and over?  Wicca and many other branches of Paganism are all about cycles  - the Wheel of the Year, any of the Triple Goddesses, and the idea of Maiden, Mother and Crone.  Being that most of Paganism is based on a form of Nature worship, we take our spiritual cycles from nature - the changing moon, the seasons, and of course the cycle of birth to death.

So many things happen in cycles, even if we are not aware of them.  There a couple of things that have made me think about this a lot lately.  In my personal life, I see evidence of a Karmic-like cycle - what goes around comes around.  As a specific example I gave to my Dad yesterday, I've been doing a lot of fundraising and charity work over the last few months - and now Sean has his promotion (8 months early, I might add) and over the next couple of months, that raise.  To me it is a great (and very specific to money, strangely enough) example of what you do coming back.  Could it be coincidence?  Sure it could.  I choose not to look at it that way, though.  

On a larger scale, another area I'm noticing a cycle shift in is the human rights movement, in particular the GLBT rights movement.  This Ellen Degeneres/JC Penneys thing going on right now is a huge part of that.  The fight for GLBT rights is the next part of the human rights cycle.  I'm just going to pick a random point in history to start here - say the reformation.  The fight for the right to believe something other than what the Catholic Church said was right.  Take a few more jumps, look at the fight for women's voting.  Look at the fight for African American rights.  After each of these struggles for equality, the majority of people assumed that all was well - there were no more rights battles to fight.  Now the tide is turning in the GLBT battle.  It will continue, and it there will still be struggles, but more ground has been gained than has been lost.  Closer to the Pagan side of things, look at what Ginger Strivelli is doing for religious equality.  I think within the next 20 years we will see a new shift towards life rights instead of human rights - all living things deserve to be treated fairly, not just humans.  Who knows where these fights will go - but it will never be completely finished.  Such is the nature of something cyclical.  History repeats itself, after all.  

What cycles have you noticed, both in your personal life and on a larger scale?

Goddess Bless,

Stacy

As a Note:  This post isn't exactly what I wanted it to be - my words aren't working this morning!  I felt it was a neat topic though, and not something that my brain would ever figure itself out on, so I posted it anyway.  Yay for weekends?

What a Week

Hey All!

Read through, even if it looks boring, haha.  There is we got some AWESOME news which I'll share at the end of the post.

Thanks so much for the awesome response to my first Vlog - I definitely think I will be doing more of them, especially if life continues in this crazy busy way.  Even just doing that first Vlog, I learned a lot - I saw "Um" far too much, and lose my train of thought far to easily!  But, that is the point.  I got my first piece of Troll hate, and was really impressed that they took the time to make a new account and send me a private message to tell me how awful and ugly I am, lol.  I got 4 words in, realized what it was, and deleted it.  It made me giggle.  So, would you guys like to see me vlog more?  Yay or nay?

Sean went to the Doctor yesterday, to see the final results from his tests (except for the one that hasn't been scheduled yet).  About a year ago, Sean had gotten bloodwork done and we were told that his bad cholesterol was in a good range, but his good cholesterol was a little low.  So we changed a bunch of things, and this last round of bloodwork which we got the results of yesterday showed that his good cholesterol has gone up, but so has his bad cholesterol - still within normal range, though.  That's it.  That was the only thing "wrong".  They still can't find a reason why everything happened.  Regardless, because of Sean's family history of heart disease, Sean and the Doctor decided that Sean should start taking medication for blood pressure and cholesterol now - just because he is on the high side of normal and has the history.  I'm glad that Sean has decided to be proactive about it.

We've been in a crazy flurry of cleaning over the past couple of days, because we are getting a bunch of new furniture super cheap; the reason for which I will tell you at the end of this post because it is AWESOME.  We are getting a China hutch, an antique phone table, two end tables, a computer desk and an office chair.  For $110.  So, we are sorting stuff.

Now, the awesome stuff?  Since it is finally official, I can say it.  Sean's boss has been out here in Alberta for years, but his plan was always to go back home to Ontario once he had enough money.  They put their trailer up for sale last year and were having trouble selling it, because they wanted WAY too much money for it.  Well, the papers were signed yesterday - it sold!!!!  Why am I so excited about this?

Well, we get cheap furniture, because they don't want to take it back to Ontario.

Mostly though, it means a promotion and a HUGE raise for Sean.  Like an extra 4 dollars an hour.

FOUR.

Seriously.
SERIOUSLY.

Yes, so we are excited.  Back to cleaning for new furniture!

Goddess Bless,
Stacy

First Vlog!

Go easy on me!  I, of course, can only notice horrible things about this video...heh.