This is another combined blog. There has been much work done on http://abbottsinn.ning.com since last we wrote. The home page now has music, games, TV streaming, Paypal donations, and Youtube. Stephen had been very bad after I went to bed a few nights ago. In order to get all these things on your computers, you have to open an account for each of them. It’s very easy. They talk you through the entire process, and it’s free. Next month you can probably start downloading music for your own pages. By the way, the music on the home page has live chat. It’s so much better than dead chat, don’t you think?
Stephen’s been getting sadistic pleasure out of deleting spammers. He calls it “killing them,” but unfortunately they’re still alive to carry on their nefarious business. Out of 138 members, 100 were spammers, and what they were spamming us about was Canadian Viagra, from a Canadian pharmacy. We figure they’re Canadian Mafia. If you spam us, you will die, as far as this or any other network we own is concerned. Plus we will be so pissed off at you that we will boycott your product. If you want to push your product, for Goddess’ sake, do it the honest way and buy advertising space. Then you takes your chances that anyone will buy your product, but at least you won’t get shot down for spamming us. The Canadian Mafia put on their mukluks before they attack. They don’t go to the mattresses; they go to the mukluks. Stephen didn't cream his jeans; he wasn't wearing them. He was wearing his khakis.
Stephen is ecstatic that Horslips still is a going concern in almost-2011. He downloaded a bunch of Horslips music to the network. It’s all free, but we do of course accept and encourage free will donations. Just set up your free accounts. It’s strictly voluntary, but very exciting. Stephen worked for that band a long time ago, and still has a soft spot in his heart for them.
The putties, as usual, have been spreading their own brand of humor and chaos round here. We have two extras who have come in for the winter. We have paganed them Veep (VP visiting putty) and Veem (Visiting Putty’s Mommy). We don’t know whether Veep is male or female, as s/he is still too shy to let me pick hir up and ascertain hir gender. They seem to be house trained in that neither has left deposits where they shouldn’t. Veem is one of Little Boy’s daughters, and Veep is his grandchild. Frakki is the straw master. She will wait and wait until something distracts me, like writing, then steals the straw out of my drink.
We encourage you to go to our website http://abbottsinninternational.com. Also, call our toll free number for a reading, a class, or research. 1-888-611-7982 is the number. See if there is anything that should be on the site that isn’t there. If there is, contact us. We want to express our thanks to SilverRaven for telling us how to delete the spammers, and steering us to the menu of things to download for the home page of the network. There are about 40,000 games on our network now, some of which are fantasy role playing, and Pagan. We encourage you to invite people, but be careful whom you invite, that they aren’t spammers that Stephen will just have to kill off. We hope that this information has been helpful.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Combined Blog" What's New & Exciting
This is a combined blog. We’re both writing this. Welcome to all our new members. First an update on me. Today I returned home after 3 days in Kaiser Hospital, and 10 days at a skilled nursing facility. You see, a couple screws in my ankle came loose, and had to be repaired. So now I have to go for 5 more weeks off my ankle. It is so nice to be home now. I missed my computer, the putties, my vitamins, yes even Stephen. I’m still on pain meds, and will be for the foreseeable future. It’s only a light dosage of Vicodin and acetaminophen, so I don’t think it’ll alter my thought processes much. Not like those damned Percocets they had me on after I broke my left ankle. Because Medi-Cal partially paid for this little escapade, they won’t let me have any narcotics. I’m just as happy without them. Opiates make me mean, stupid, and constipated. That’s a combination you don’t want to be around. I did a spell to get out early. I got the idea from Instant Magick by Christopher Penczak. It was one of those little spells using my magickal trigger and a visualization. I had to do my legwork, of course. I had to be good enough at my physical therapy that they felt I was ready to go. Remember that just because it’s magick, doesn’t mean it’s instant. You still have to do your research and work. You have to back up your magick with work on the Earth plane. Magick can give you that edge over your rival, but it’s no substitute for good solid mundane work. Stephen says that too many people believe that once you do your spell, that’s it. You need to repeat the spell. Three times is a good number. You want to do it an odd number of times, 3, 5, 7, or 9 times.
When my arrival home finally woke up Stephen, he told me about all the changes there have been in my absence. And now we’re telling you. That is what this blog is mostly going to be about. Stephen has been working with the guys at Yellow Book to perfect our website with them. This afternoon, whilst I snoozed, he and Ryan made broad sweeping changes to the website. http://abbottsinninternational.com/ is the URL. Hie ye there. We would like to promote Yellow Book, and congratulate them on the fine job they’re doing on the website. If you can afford $29 a month we recommend you go this route for your website. You get a really good deal. When finances permit, we’re also going to put a listing for Abbott’s Inn International in Yellow Book. Since it’s near the beginning of the alphabet, we’ll be in a prime spot. I saw the site today, and I was mightily impressed. This is a class operation, folks. I went over the spelling mistakes, and they were corrected. There are several pages to the website, and plenty of cool graphics. In two hours, Stephen managed to, with Ryan’s oh so capable help, completely revamp the whole thing. We like to promote people who do good work for a reasonable price, and these folks do a good job.
Soon to come: http://dragonslair.ning.com/. Watch for it. The Abbotts Inn constellation will be a pentagram, with Dragon’s Lair in the sacred center. Soon also to come: music, video, and live chat on our other two ning networks. So watch these pages for more updates. If you go to the website and find mistakes, please tell us about them, and we’ll have them corrected. Stephen wants to stay on top of this daily. Any day now, the website Julie is working on will be finished. It’s another website for Abbott’s Inn International. Next month, when finances permit, Dragon’s Lair will be started, and brought to the 2nd level. Abbotts Inn 93 and the Abbott’s Inn International. To that end, we are encouraging donations. Dragon’s Lair will be dedicated to Doc’s memory. The website is dedicated to Isaac’s memory.
One of the bullets on the website will carry you directly to PRN, the Pagan Radio Network. If you haven’t been there before, go there; it has great music and podcasts, You can join the forum, and the network. There is also a bullet for the upcoming Dragon’s Lair network. Today Stephen also signed up with Adsense and Adword to get the site listed in the search engines. And as soon as I can find out where my ebooks are being offered for sale online, I’ll put that on the website as well.
Isaac Bonewits died August 12th. I met him a bit over 36 years ago. He signed my copy of his book Real Magic [sic] “All my Lust, Isaac”. I was a shapely 27 years old back then. I attended a ritual of his grove back in the summer of 1974, which was followed by sundaes at Bridgeman’s Ice Creamery, and an orgy at his place. I was afraid I’d break him since he was so thin and fragile looking, but then I looked at his first wife, who later would become David Geller, and decided that if she hadn’t broken him I certainly wasn’t going to. I became a 1st Order Reformed Druid in the Schismatic Druids of North America that day, I enjoyed knowing him, since he never took anything seriously, including the religion (the ADF) he started in 1982. He was always up for a pun, the more outrageous the better. Even much later when he was sick, he had a sense of humor. One time we talked to him on the phone in my room whilst we were working, and he was cracking jokes even then. That was the last time we talked to him before he died.
Stephen met him in 1970. He and Isaac talked back to the Campus Crusade for Christers that day. It must have been hilarious. Those two young men really showed up the jesoids for the ignoramuses that they were. The two hit it off immediately. They also fought off the scientologists. Stephen got an advance copy of his book. At that time, Isaac’s room mate was Robert Larson, who is now also dead. Isaac invited Stephen to their apartment. The three men talked, thrilled with the discovery of all the common interests they shared. Then there came a knock at the door. Isaac peeked out. There were two overdressed men on the stoop. Larson went into his room, and emerged in full Viking regalia. His bass voice thundered out: “Have you read your Eddas today?” The two jesoids fled, fearing for their lives. They were never troubled by door-to-door religionists again. Stephen, Isaac, and Robert were fast friends until Robert’s and Isaac’s deaths.
As for Doc, I could say so much about him that this blog would quickly become a book, and fill up the floppy disk it’s on. Also, it wouldn’t fit into the space in the network for it. I actually met Doc twice. The first time was at the last Time Co, back in 1991. I attended a panel discussion about Renaissance. The persona I had in mind back then was a Lady DeWinter type, a woman of intrigue. For some reason Doc fascinated me. I kept encountering him at the convention. Then a few weeks later I met him again. My then husband, Richard Segel, was interviewing him with a view to Doc possibly joining San Jose Lodge #10. Doc got both of us into Renaissance, but I stuck with it, and Richard didn’t. Doc was also a Richard, but I only called him Richard around his mother and brother, who is still a dear friend of mine. Miles and I adopted each other as brother and sister.
We decided to take an apartment together. I got my lump sum payment from Social Security, and I used it to pay the deposits on the apartment. Because Richard was a Mason, and Doc aspired to be, we had to keep our budding romance on the down low. I don’t know when I first realized that I loved Doc. All I know is that he filled an emptiness deep inside me, an emptiness that Richard never touched. Richard was busy filling his inner emptiness with other women, trying to achieve his dream of the perfect Pagan open marriage. As a result, we grew farther apart. Doc and I grew closer together. On October 3rd, 1993, we got handfasted for the first time. It was performed by His Grace, Duke James Melville, Chief chamberlain to Mary< Queen of Scots. In early 1995, Richard served me with divorce papers. He too had found the love of his life, a woman who would prove to be way more possessive and controlling than I ever had been, even in my worst, most psychotic moments. But Doc helped me through it. He got his 2nd degree, and started to study for his 3rd degree, a status he would never reach because of the coronary that took his life on July 17th, 2008. Doc applied himself to his Druidry and his Wicca with the same intensity he applied to his Masonic studies, and his college studies to become a medical assistant, which he achieved in 2000. I know this, because I helped with all four of these studies. With his Masonic studies, I helped by showing him how he could take apart the precepts of FreeMasonry, hang them on mental hooks composed of the magickal categories, such as the elements, and learn them that way. As a result, I learned more about FreeMasonry than I probably should have known, being a woman, and a non-initiate. Doc encouraged my writing, and described NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as “The Olympics for writers.” I thought this was so cute that I told it to everyone I know. He celebrated with me when each of my ebooks was published, and made it possible for me to carry on an interview with an online radio show host. I got the fame bug bad, I admit it. But Doc was by my side through all of this. As a Druid, he was perfectly happy as a Preceptor, which is the equivalent of the Summoner in a Wiccan coven. He even had his own newsletter, the Unhewn Megalith, which came out sporadically. He helped me with my newsletter, The Greymalkin Gazette. Look for The Unhewn Megalith to come back as a group, just as we brought back the Greymalkin Gazette as a group on Facebook.
Stephen met Doc at Dundracon in 1989. Doc attended one of Stephen’s Pendragon games, and the two became friends almost immediately. Stephen encouraged Doc’s dramatic side. Doc liked Pendragon because it appealed to his deeply romantic side. Doc liked all the Chaosium games. Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, Arkham Horror, and Pendragon were all Chaosium games. Eventually Stephen told him about the Hazelnut MotherGrove. Doc attended at least one presentation at Stephen’s apartment on 11th Ave. in San Jose. By this time I had met him. He crept into Druidry slowly. His primary interest was gaming, but then he was invited to attend a Druid ritual, and accepted. From then on it was Druidry all the way. But he never got over his love of gaming. He had one character: Crouton the Salad Barbarian, who I loved talking about. Early on Stephen made him preceptor, which was a job he loved. He remained Preceptor even after he was ordained to the 3rd Order. We ordained him to the 3rd Oder. During his vigil in Stephen’s backyard in Rancho Cordova, we read to him from the pages of the Faery Wicca Tarot. I think doing that affected him deeply in a very positive way. Stephen appreciated his dedication. “Once he got his claws into something he wouldn’t let go. The two men were into a lot of the same things. He especially liked to see all the magick Stephen liked to put into Call of Cthulhu and Pendragon. Stephen loved his sense of humor, it was so dark and droll. Stephen was in shock when I told him that Doc had died.
Stay tuned for more updates to the Abbott’s Inn International pentagram, and don’t forget to call 916-455-2267 or 1-888-611-7982. for all your divination, magickal classes, and magickal resource needs.
When my arrival home finally woke up Stephen, he told me about all the changes there have been in my absence. And now we’re telling you. That is what this blog is mostly going to be about. Stephen has been working with the guys at Yellow Book to perfect our website with them. This afternoon, whilst I snoozed, he and Ryan made broad sweeping changes to the website. http://abbottsinninternational.com/ is the URL. Hie ye there. We would like to promote Yellow Book, and congratulate them on the fine job they’re doing on the website. If you can afford $29 a month we recommend you go this route for your website. You get a really good deal. When finances permit, we’re also going to put a listing for Abbott’s Inn International in Yellow Book. Since it’s near the beginning of the alphabet, we’ll be in a prime spot. I saw the site today, and I was mightily impressed. This is a class operation, folks. I went over the spelling mistakes, and they were corrected. There are several pages to the website, and plenty of cool graphics. In two hours, Stephen managed to, with Ryan’s oh so capable help, completely revamp the whole thing. We like to promote people who do good work for a reasonable price, and these folks do a good job.
Soon to come: http://dragonslair.ning.com/. Watch for it. The Abbotts Inn constellation will be a pentagram, with Dragon’s Lair in the sacred center. Soon also to come: music, video, and live chat on our other two ning networks. So watch these pages for more updates. If you go to the website and find mistakes, please tell us about them, and we’ll have them corrected. Stephen wants to stay on top of this daily. Any day now, the website Julie is working on will be finished. It’s another website for Abbott’s Inn International. Next month, when finances permit, Dragon’s Lair will be started, and brought to the 2nd level. Abbotts Inn 93 and the Abbott’s Inn International. To that end, we are encouraging donations. Dragon’s Lair will be dedicated to Doc’s memory. The website is dedicated to Isaac’s memory.
One of the bullets on the website will carry you directly to PRN, the Pagan Radio Network. If you haven’t been there before, go there; it has great music and podcasts, You can join the forum, and the network. There is also a bullet for the upcoming Dragon’s Lair network. Today Stephen also signed up with Adsense and Adword to get the site listed in the search engines. And as soon as I can find out where my ebooks are being offered for sale online, I’ll put that on the website as well.
Isaac Bonewits died August 12th. I met him a bit over 36 years ago. He signed my copy of his book Real Magic [sic] “All my Lust, Isaac”. I was a shapely 27 years old back then. I attended a ritual of his grove back in the summer of 1974, which was followed by sundaes at Bridgeman’s Ice Creamery, and an orgy at his place. I was afraid I’d break him since he was so thin and fragile looking, but then I looked at his first wife, who later would become David Geller, and decided that if she hadn’t broken him I certainly wasn’t going to. I became a 1st Order Reformed Druid in the Schismatic Druids of North America that day, I enjoyed knowing him, since he never took anything seriously, including the religion (the ADF) he started in 1982. He was always up for a pun, the more outrageous the better. Even much later when he was sick, he had a sense of humor. One time we talked to him on the phone in my room whilst we were working, and he was cracking jokes even then. That was the last time we talked to him before he died.
Stephen met him in 1970. He and Isaac talked back to the Campus Crusade for Christers that day. It must have been hilarious. Those two young men really showed up the jesoids for the ignoramuses that they were. The two hit it off immediately. They also fought off the scientologists. Stephen got an advance copy of his book. At that time, Isaac’s room mate was Robert Larson, who is now also dead. Isaac invited Stephen to their apartment. The three men talked, thrilled with the discovery of all the common interests they shared. Then there came a knock at the door. Isaac peeked out. There were two overdressed men on the stoop. Larson went into his room, and emerged in full Viking regalia. His bass voice thundered out: “Have you read your Eddas today?” The two jesoids fled, fearing for their lives. They were never troubled by door-to-door religionists again. Stephen, Isaac, and Robert were fast friends until Robert’s and Isaac’s deaths.
As for Doc, I could say so much about him that this blog would quickly become a book, and fill up the floppy disk it’s on. Also, it wouldn’t fit into the space in the network for it. I actually met Doc twice. The first time was at the last Time Co, back in 1991. I attended a panel discussion about Renaissance. The persona I had in mind back then was a Lady DeWinter type, a woman of intrigue. For some reason Doc fascinated me. I kept encountering him at the convention. Then a few weeks later I met him again. My then husband, Richard Segel, was interviewing him with a view to Doc possibly joining San Jose Lodge #10. Doc got both of us into Renaissance, but I stuck with it, and Richard didn’t. Doc was also a Richard, but I only called him Richard around his mother and brother, who is still a dear friend of mine. Miles and I adopted each other as brother and sister.
We decided to take an apartment together. I got my lump sum payment from Social Security, and I used it to pay the deposits on the apartment. Because Richard was a Mason, and Doc aspired to be, we had to keep our budding romance on the down low. I don’t know when I first realized that I loved Doc. All I know is that he filled an emptiness deep inside me, an emptiness that Richard never touched. Richard was busy filling his inner emptiness with other women, trying to achieve his dream of the perfect Pagan open marriage. As a result, we grew farther apart. Doc and I grew closer together. On October 3rd, 1993, we got handfasted for the first time. It was performed by His Grace, Duke James Melville, Chief chamberlain to Mary< Queen of Scots. In early 1995, Richard served me with divorce papers. He too had found the love of his life, a woman who would prove to be way more possessive and controlling than I ever had been, even in my worst, most psychotic moments. But Doc helped me through it. He got his 2nd degree, and started to study for his 3rd degree, a status he would never reach because of the coronary that took his life on July 17th, 2008. Doc applied himself to his Druidry and his Wicca with the same intensity he applied to his Masonic studies, and his college studies to become a medical assistant, which he achieved in 2000. I know this, because I helped with all four of these studies. With his Masonic studies, I helped by showing him how he could take apart the precepts of FreeMasonry, hang them on mental hooks composed of the magickal categories, such as the elements, and learn them that way. As a result, I learned more about FreeMasonry than I probably should have known, being a woman, and a non-initiate. Doc encouraged my writing, and described NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as “The Olympics for writers.” I thought this was so cute that I told it to everyone I know. He celebrated with me when each of my ebooks was published, and made it possible for me to carry on an interview with an online radio show host. I got the fame bug bad, I admit it. But Doc was by my side through all of this. As a Druid, he was perfectly happy as a Preceptor, which is the equivalent of the Summoner in a Wiccan coven. He even had his own newsletter, the Unhewn Megalith, which came out sporadically. He helped me with my newsletter, The Greymalkin Gazette. Look for The Unhewn Megalith to come back as a group, just as we brought back the Greymalkin Gazette as a group on Facebook.
Stephen met Doc at Dundracon in 1989. Doc attended one of Stephen’s Pendragon games, and the two became friends almost immediately. Stephen encouraged Doc’s dramatic side. Doc liked Pendragon because it appealed to his deeply romantic side. Doc liked all the Chaosium games. Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, Arkham Horror, and Pendragon were all Chaosium games. Eventually Stephen told him about the Hazelnut MotherGrove. Doc attended at least one presentation at Stephen’s apartment on 11th Ave. in San Jose. By this time I had met him. He crept into Druidry slowly. His primary interest was gaming, but then he was invited to attend a Druid ritual, and accepted. From then on it was Druidry all the way. But he never got over his love of gaming. He had one character: Crouton the Salad Barbarian, who I loved talking about. Early on Stephen made him preceptor, which was a job he loved. He remained Preceptor even after he was ordained to the 3rd Order. We ordained him to the 3rd Oder. During his vigil in Stephen’s backyard in Rancho Cordova, we read to him from the pages of the Faery Wicca Tarot. I think doing that affected him deeply in a very positive way. Stephen appreciated his dedication. “Once he got his claws into something he wouldn’t let go. The two men were into a lot of the same things. He especially liked to see all the magick Stephen liked to put into Call of Cthulhu and Pendragon. Stephen loved his sense of humor, it was so dark and droll. Stephen was in shock when I told him that Doc had died.
Stay tuned for more updates to the Abbott’s Inn International pentagram, and don’t forget to call 916-455-2267 or 1-888-611-7982. for all your divination, magickal classes, and magickal resource needs.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Hedgecraft: What Is It?
Let’s start with a definition. Hedgecraft goes back to Stephen’s grandmother, who used herbs to combat Stephen’s asthma. Hedgecraft seems to be a natural progression from Druidry. Llewellyn Pub. is a great place to get books on hedgecraft. Also Mind-n-Magick has a huge bookstore and search engine. Type in “hedgecraft” and you’ll get several entries. Hedgecraft works with nature. It also includes kitchen witchery. This group got its inspiration from Silver RavenWolf’s seminal book “Hedgewitch”. My definition of hedgecraft includes not only Stephen’s definition, but also some elements of sorcery, in that you gain power, and learn to use it effectively. Hedgecraft could be said to be the source for herbal magick. With that definition, it’s not only hundreds but thousands of years old, from the very dawn of homo sapiens.
One of the deities used in Hedgecraft is Miach, son of Dian Cecht, who got jealous of his son’s ability and knowledge of the healing arts, and killed him. This just underscores how evil jealousy really is, and why it should not be tolerated. I’ve gotten in trouble whenever I’ve fe;t jealousy, and was tempted to do something that would go against the Wiccan Rede.
I got lots of inspiration from that book, but the one I use all the time has to do with a man Silver talks about in the beginning of the book. He was having trouble with his insurance company. He had a phone which wasn’t hooked up to anything. He dialed 911, and said what he needed. Within two days he got not only a new insurance company that had the quality of service he needed for the price he was willing to pay, but the old insurance company came crawling around asking for another chance. With much pleasure he told them to stick it. He had a new agent who believed in service after the sale. Stephen had an old cordless phone, which I asked for. I made a “call” on it. Stephen likes to call it “the Goddess phone.” All you have to do is believe.
One of my fondest memories of childhood was when my maternal grandmother took me through my mother’s flower beds, and taught me that even weeds have uses. From the crabgrass she pulled out from around Mumsy’s flowers, we got our spring greens. Mumsy washed them, cooked them, and we ate them with vinegar. It’s how I learned to like spinach later. Grandma was a staunch Christian, but she knew her plants.
Stephen and I want to turn you onto the Herbal Tarot out from U.S. Games.
Before you use your herbs in magick, do what the Native Americans do, ask the herbs’ permission to use the plants. This means you are cooperating with the Wiccan Rede. “Harm none” does not apply just to humans, but to animals and plants as well.
We are going back to the schedule we worked up over a year ago for taking care of our networks. We suggest that you work up a schedule yourselves and keep to it. Whilst I’m working on this Stephen is playing with my balls. No, I’m not transgendered. They are metal balls I use to massage my hands. I have 2 sets, one given to me by my 3rd exhubby, the other by my friend Leila, who is unfortunately now deceased. As I write this, and Stephen is playing with my balls, he just turned me on to a new drink, Canada Green Tea Ginger Ale. It’s very good. I was surprised, I must say. We think that beverages should be included in hedgecraft. Green tea has antioxidants in it, along with a small amount of caffeine for alertness and two amino acids that I can’t remember what they are.
What is your definition of hedgecraft and hedge magick? Are they separate things or just different words for the same thing? One other thing that can be included in the definition of hedgecraft is certain arts and crafts such as needlecraft, fiber arts, candle and soap making. Can you come up with some other ones, which may be included? Is there anything we’ve missed in our definition of hedge craft and hedge magick that needs to be mentioned? What is the relationship to hedgecraft with cottage craft? I’ll start. Hedge Witches often lived in cottages. Cottage craft is anything you can do or make in a cottage. My friend Cherye makes aromatic oils from herbs she grows in her garden. Another friend of mine, Jen, our present Senior Druid, is very taken by fiber and textile arts, so she spins and dyes her own yarn. Some people make their own mead, a beverage I am very fond of. My sister in Renaissance, Princess Keturah, makes her own mead, and I’m sure that Lindsay will too, once her beehives produce enough honey. She is also employing wood burning to make her own Ogham fews. I have one of them, which serves to solidify my Dedicant Path oath.
I am a needlecrafter. So far I do two main crafts, crochet and embroidery. I want to teach myself beading. I’ve already embroidered with beads, producing two irises with beaded blossoms and leaves and stems embroidered with metallic ribbon floss. Once I get so I can get back to the library, I want to grab that bag of fabric that’s back there, and transfer a design I have for a wall hanging. It’ll show a lady in a long gown lounging on a crescent moon with the legend: “What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?” I’ll transfer the design using the old fashioned pencil-and-carbon-paper method. Right now I am learning how to use bamboo yarn by crocheting motifs out of it. Bamboo is a very nice yarn, but it’s still rather pricey.
Stephen’s craft is yardcraft, in which he takes a yard which has been neglected for awhile, and by dint of clipping and mowing, turns it into a showplace. He has a lot of equipment: and electric mower, an electric weed trimmer, and a sprinkler. Sacramento is rather dry in summer, so he waters every other day. Since his mower is electric, he has to let the lawn dry a bit before he mows. He has served as gardener for such notables as Marion Zimmer Bradley for 7 years, Steve Perrin of Chaosium fame, who created Runequest, and Dave Hargrave, who created the Arduin Grimoire.
Another cottage craft is weaving. My 2nd mother-in-law, Barbara, used to weave. I’m sure she’s still weaving, except that her loom is now celestial in nature. There is also card weaving, which another friend of mine from Renaissance does. There is also quilting, which a couple of my friends do. It was originally used to make use of the still usable portions of old garments, and odds and ends of fabric to make something that would keep the family warm in winter. Now providing brand-new fabrics for quilts has become big business.
Cabbage Patch dolls were originally all made of cloth, and were a cottage craft designed to give Appalachian women a livelihood while their men suffered from black lung disease from working in the now defunct coal mines. I read about the origin of Cabbage Patch dolls somewhere, but don’t remember my source. Maybe you can find it for me. When Janvier was a baby, and women were fighting each other over Cabbage Patch dolls, I got a much less expensive doll with no face, and embroidered facial features on it, then on my computer I created an adoption certificate for the doll. I then put one of Janvier’s baby dresses that she had out grown on the doll. I am continuing to listen to Pagan Radio Network. Perfect music for listening to when writing this about hedgecraft.
Some years ago Dorothy Morrison wrote a book called “Magical [sic] Needlework”. I found it very inspirational. If you know how to chart, you can design your own magickal filet crochet hangings. Other things can be made with papier mache. In a similar vein collage art, and also diorama art. Stephen used to make dioramas. Also there are magickal mirrors. Stephen used to combine papier mache mountains. His dioramas won awards. He built one of a battle of the Civil War in the Smoky Mountains; hence the mountain in the diorama. He also did one of an erupting volcano. Is cottage craft an offshoot of hedgecraft? Stephen says yes. I say yes if they are with a magickal theme. My friend Cherye’s aromatherapy oils are definitely hedgecraft.
Let’s sum up what we’ve talked about here. We’ve talked about hedgecraft and hedge magick; whether they are separate or one and the same. We discussed books on the topic. We talked about examples of cottage craft. Now it’s time for you to air your views. What do you folks think on the subject? We also discussed how seemingly ordinary objects can be used in modern spellwork, specifically the Goddess-phone. We discussed music on the internet. Beverages, especially if herbal, are part of hedgecraft. We had a long discussion about cottage crafts and how they intersect with hedgecraft.
They took the bus bench away from the sidewalk in front of the Kmart parking lot. Why are the Regional Transit people taking benches away from bus stops when they should be putting more in? It’s yet another way in which ordinary people are being shat upon just because they either aren’t rich enough to afford a car, or choose to take mass transit because they’re environmentally aware, or too old or blind to drive. Where are people supposed to sit whilst they wait for a bus that only comes when it feels like it? I’m lucky because when I start walking and taking the bus again I have my sporty red and black walker, which has a seat on it. So I have a chair wherever I go. I take my walker with me as a protest because I noticed early on that this town is notoriously short on places for people to sit either whilst walking to the shops or waiting for a bus that might or might not come. And now they’ve taken another one away.
Seven weeks ago, I broke my right ankle. It was in a gallstone attack. I went to the bathroom, and was going to go to my room again when I was hit by a wave of pain so severe that I passed out. I must’ve sat on my ankle hard because when I tried to get up, my ankle went crunch! I sank down on my rear again against the door. Stephen and I had a dialogue: ”Are you all right?” he asked.
“No, I’m in a lot of pain.”
“I’m calling 911.”
“Ok.”
He asked me the questions the dispatcher asked him. I answered them. At length they arrived. I took my book and my purse with me. We went to Kaiser Morse hospital. I gave them the address. They knew how to get there. We arrived after a few minutes. They admitted me, and the next morning, my ankle was operated on. Then I spent from then until Wednesday the 7th in the hospital. I came home, and am now in full recovery. Six weeks ago I got into my room, and finally got access to my computer. Will give you updates as we proceed. Update: a month ago I got out of the house. My physical therapist taught me how to hop down the steps using my aluminum walker. I used it to go to the liturgy meeting, and then Sunday I went to our Grove’s Lughnasadh ritual, where I donated a dollar, and offered some whiskey to Miach for my own healing, the healing of my friend Snoodlady, who was in the hospital with a serious sinus infection that gave her double vision and vertigo, and my friend Cherye who has a nasty staph infection in her legs and feet. On two fronts there were immediate results. Snoodlady felt well enough to come home on Monday, and I learned to carry my walker whilst in my wheelchair. My physical therapist taught me some exercises to do in my wheelchair, and I worked myself up to 32 of each. The last one I learned was the wheelchair pushup. I did 32 of them today, for which I am very proud of myself. Stephen thought that you should know. ..
Yes, August 20th was my surgery day. And it happened as I hoped it would. I don’t remember what I dreamed whilst being under anesthesia. I did admitting, answered verifying questions, got something to relax me, and then woke up in Recovery. I was still pretty out of it, and a little sore. I put my clothes on, and Carl caught up with me. I came home, and relaxed. Healing has already starting. I didn’t feel like having much of a supper. I found out, because the nurse weighed me, that I had lost 9 lbs. That was before the surgery, so I don’t know how much my gall bladder weighed, as full of gall stones as it was. Also I’m wearing a fiber glass cast, so I don’t know how much I’ll lose when I lose the cast, and can finally start TAKING SHOWERS!
We need paid readings and donations. Send donations to my Paypal account tezra.reitan@gmail.com and to Stephen’s email account at any of his email addies. If I get $5 donations, I shall send the donor a copy of one of my ebooks. For $20, you can have all five ebooks.
Remember, if someone from a Ning network asks you to pay, say “No way!” The only way this’ll work is if we all stick together and call the a**holes on their BS. We have to be willing to walk away from our networks, because they are counting on people being scared to walk away from their networks. This guy Jason Rosenthal is a bully, and there’s only one way to deal with a bully, and that is, to stand up to him.
He managed to scrape the $87 together. But it meant cutting into the rent money. He is already $1800 in the hole for the rent, and I am $800 behind, because I can’t afford to pay $500 per month in rent.. You guys have not been doing your part. It’s not as though he’s begging for hand outs. He is willing to return value for value given. And $32 flat for a reading or a class is really a bargain. Ordinarily he charges $32 an hour, so $32 flat is a very good deal. Remember it’s 916-455-2267. Raise me on Windows Live Msgr or AIM and I’ll give you my phone number, and the hours you can call me.
Back before my accident, Stephen was able to scrape $50 together to pay our friend to put our website together, and she’s working on it now. I’m looking forward to seeing it. It should be very impressive. Fear not, we’ll keep you abreast of all developments on this front. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick will then be on the internet map, so to speak, in a big way.
Inquiring minds want to know: How do we add music to our sites? Please let us know. The person who helps us do that earns a reading on webcam on the popular IM clients. The person who helps us establish ourselves on the Paganspace.net chat client earns a reading. We’re using readings as currency here because we have no other medium to use for an incentive. All the money we make goes for paying the bills of bare-bones living.
Stephen is hopping mad right now (appropriate for a frog, no?) because his ex-wife Debbie is taking one of the twins and giving her to a strange woman who lives at their complex. He has grown quite attached emotionally to both of them, and doesn’t like to see the pair split up. I was prepared emotionally a long time ago for this eventuality. I just don’t know why it took Debbie so long to do it. I suspect that she calculated it so as to cause the most hurt to Stephen. Yes, she is that cruel. She claims to be a Wiccan, but doesn’t abide by the Rede at all, and never has a good word to say about anyone. I try not to think about what she says about me, but I shudder at the emotional abuse she piles on their daughter. Stephen was so emotionally distraught that he broke a pair of his glasses accidentally right after she called. Debbie never lifted a hand to care for these animals from the day they were born. Until my accident, we took turns feeding them, then Stephen took it over. It was he who shelled out moneys for food and kitty litter. Debbie has never compensated him in any way for the expenses. It was I who arranged for the twins to get spayed. Frikki is coming home and Dr. Livingston I. Presume is going with Debbie this weekend. Frikki had a couple of habits the woman couldn’t tolerate.
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One of the deities used in Hedgecraft is Miach, son of Dian Cecht, who got jealous of his son’s ability and knowledge of the healing arts, and killed him. This just underscores how evil jealousy really is, and why it should not be tolerated. I’ve gotten in trouble whenever I’ve fe;t jealousy, and was tempted to do something that would go against the Wiccan Rede.
I got lots of inspiration from that book, but the one I use all the time has to do with a man Silver talks about in the beginning of the book. He was having trouble with his insurance company. He had a phone which wasn’t hooked up to anything. He dialed 911, and said what he needed. Within two days he got not only a new insurance company that had the quality of service he needed for the price he was willing to pay, but the old insurance company came crawling around asking for another chance. With much pleasure he told them to stick it. He had a new agent who believed in service after the sale. Stephen had an old cordless phone, which I asked for. I made a “call” on it. Stephen likes to call it “the Goddess phone.” All you have to do is believe.
One of my fondest memories of childhood was when my maternal grandmother took me through my mother’s flower beds, and taught me that even weeds have uses. From the crabgrass she pulled out from around Mumsy’s flowers, we got our spring greens. Mumsy washed them, cooked them, and we ate them with vinegar. It’s how I learned to like spinach later. Grandma was a staunch Christian, but she knew her plants.
Stephen and I want to turn you onto the Herbal Tarot out from U.S. Games.
Before you use your herbs in magick, do what the Native Americans do, ask the herbs’ permission to use the plants. This means you are cooperating with the Wiccan Rede. “Harm none” does not apply just to humans, but to animals and plants as well.
We are going back to the schedule we worked up over a year ago for taking care of our networks. We suggest that you work up a schedule yourselves and keep to it. Whilst I’m working on this Stephen is playing with my balls. No, I’m not transgendered. They are metal balls I use to massage my hands. I have 2 sets, one given to me by my 3rd exhubby, the other by my friend Leila, who is unfortunately now deceased. As I write this, and Stephen is playing with my balls, he just turned me on to a new drink, Canada Green Tea Ginger Ale. It’s very good. I was surprised, I must say. We think that beverages should be included in hedgecraft. Green tea has antioxidants in it, along with a small amount of caffeine for alertness and two amino acids that I can’t remember what they are.
What is your definition of hedgecraft and hedge magick? Are they separate things or just different words for the same thing? One other thing that can be included in the definition of hedgecraft is certain arts and crafts such as needlecraft, fiber arts, candle and soap making. Can you come up with some other ones, which may be included? Is there anything we’ve missed in our definition of hedge craft and hedge magick that needs to be mentioned? What is the relationship to hedgecraft with cottage craft? I’ll start. Hedge Witches often lived in cottages. Cottage craft is anything you can do or make in a cottage. My friend Cherye makes aromatic oils from herbs she grows in her garden. Another friend of mine, Jen, our present Senior Druid, is very taken by fiber and textile arts, so she spins and dyes her own yarn. Some people make their own mead, a beverage I am very fond of. My sister in Renaissance, Princess Keturah, makes her own mead, and I’m sure that Lindsay will too, once her beehives produce enough honey. She is also employing wood burning to make her own Ogham fews. I have one of them, which serves to solidify my Dedicant Path oath.
I am a needlecrafter. So far I do two main crafts, crochet and embroidery. I want to teach myself beading. I’ve already embroidered with beads, producing two irises with beaded blossoms and leaves and stems embroidered with metallic ribbon floss. Once I get so I can get back to the library, I want to grab that bag of fabric that’s back there, and transfer a design I have for a wall hanging. It’ll show a lady in a long gown lounging on a crescent moon with the legend: “What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?” I’ll transfer the design using the old fashioned pencil-and-carbon-paper method. Right now I am learning how to use bamboo yarn by crocheting motifs out of it. Bamboo is a very nice yarn, but it’s still rather pricey.
Stephen’s craft is yardcraft, in which he takes a yard which has been neglected for awhile, and by dint of clipping and mowing, turns it into a showplace. He has a lot of equipment: and electric mower, an electric weed trimmer, and a sprinkler. Sacramento is rather dry in summer, so he waters every other day. Since his mower is electric, he has to let the lawn dry a bit before he mows. He has served as gardener for such notables as Marion Zimmer Bradley for 7 years, Steve Perrin of Chaosium fame, who created Runequest, and Dave Hargrave, who created the Arduin Grimoire.
Another cottage craft is weaving. My 2nd mother-in-law, Barbara, used to weave. I’m sure she’s still weaving, except that her loom is now celestial in nature. There is also card weaving, which another friend of mine from Renaissance does. There is also quilting, which a couple of my friends do. It was originally used to make use of the still usable portions of old garments, and odds and ends of fabric to make something that would keep the family warm in winter. Now providing brand-new fabrics for quilts has become big business.
Cabbage Patch dolls were originally all made of cloth, and were a cottage craft designed to give Appalachian women a livelihood while their men suffered from black lung disease from working in the now defunct coal mines. I read about the origin of Cabbage Patch dolls somewhere, but don’t remember my source. Maybe you can find it for me. When Janvier was a baby, and women were fighting each other over Cabbage Patch dolls, I got a much less expensive doll with no face, and embroidered facial features on it, then on my computer I created an adoption certificate for the doll. I then put one of Janvier’s baby dresses that she had out grown on the doll. I am continuing to listen to Pagan Radio Network. Perfect music for listening to when writing this about hedgecraft.
Some years ago Dorothy Morrison wrote a book called “Magical [sic] Needlework”. I found it very inspirational. If you know how to chart, you can design your own magickal filet crochet hangings. Other things can be made with papier mache. In a similar vein collage art, and also diorama art. Stephen used to make dioramas. Also there are magickal mirrors. Stephen used to combine papier mache mountains. His dioramas won awards. He built one of a battle of the Civil War in the Smoky Mountains; hence the mountain in the diorama. He also did one of an erupting volcano. Is cottage craft an offshoot of hedgecraft? Stephen says yes. I say yes if they are with a magickal theme. My friend Cherye’s aromatherapy oils are definitely hedgecraft.
Let’s sum up what we’ve talked about here. We’ve talked about hedgecraft and hedge magick; whether they are separate or one and the same. We discussed books on the topic. We talked about examples of cottage craft. Now it’s time for you to air your views. What do you folks think on the subject? We also discussed how seemingly ordinary objects can be used in modern spellwork, specifically the Goddess-phone. We discussed music on the internet. Beverages, especially if herbal, are part of hedgecraft. We had a long discussion about cottage crafts and how they intersect with hedgecraft.
They took the bus bench away from the sidewalk in front of the Kmart parking lot. Why are the Regional Transit people taking benches away from bus stops when they should be putting more in? It’s yet another way in which ordinary people are being shat upon just because they either aren’t rich enough to afford a car, or choose to take mass transit because they’re environmentally aware, or too old or blind to drive. Where are people supposed to sit whilst they wait for a bus that only comes when it feels like it? I’m lucky because when I start walking and taking the bus again I have my sporty red and black walker, which has a seat on it. So I have a chair wherever I go. I take my walker with me as a protest because I noticed early on that this town is notoriously short on places for people to sit either whilst walking to the shops or waiting for a bus that might or might not come. And now they’ve taken another one away.
Seven weeks ago, I broke my right ankle. It was in a gallstone attack. I went to the bathroom, and was going to go to my room again when I was hit by a wave of pain so severe that I passed out. I must’ve sat on my ankle hard because when I tried to get up, my ankle went crunch! I sank down on my rear again against the door. Stephen and I had a dialogue: ”Are you all right?” he asked.
“No, I’m in a lot of pain.”
“I’m calling 911.”
“Ok.”
He asked me the questions the dispatcher asked him. I answered them. At length they arrived. I took my book and my purse with me. We went to Kaiser Morse hospital. I gave them the address. They knew how to get there. We arrived after a few minutes. They admitted me, and the next morning, my ankle was operated on. Then I spent from then until Wednesday the 7th in the hospital. I came home, and am now in full recovery. Six weeks ago I got into my room, and finally got access to my computer. Will give you updates as we proceed. Update: a month ago I got out of the house. My physical therapist taught me how to hop down the steps using my aluminum walker. I used it to go to the liturgy meeting, and then Sunday I went to our Grove’s Lughnasadh ritual, where I donated a dollar, and offered some whiskey to Miach for my own healing, the healing of my friend Snoodlady, who was in the hospital with a serious sinus infection that gave her double vision and vertigo, and my friend Cherye who has a nasty staph infection in her legs and feet. On two fronts there were immediate results. Snoodlady felt well enough to come home on Monday, and I learned to carry my walker whilst in my wheelchair. My physical therapist taught me some exercises to do in my wheelchair, and I worked myself up to 32 of each. The last one I learned was the wheelchair pushup. I did 32 of them today, for which I am very proud of myself. Stephen thought that you should know. ..
Yes, August 20th was my surgery day. And it happened as I hoped it would. I don’t remember what I dreamed whilst being under anesthesia. I did admitting, answered verifying questions, got something to relax me, and then woke up in Recovery. I was still pretty out of it, and a little sore. I put my clothes on, and Carl caught up with me. I came home, and relaxed. Healing has already starting. I didn’t feel like having much of a supper. I found out, because the nurse weighed me, that I had lost 9 lbs. That was before the surgery, so I don’t know how much my gall bladder weighed, as full of gall stones as it was. Also I’m wearing a fiber glass cast, so I don’t know how much I’ll lose when I lose the cast, and can finally start TAKING SHOWERS!
We need paid readings and donations. Send donations to my Paypal account tezra.reitan@gmail.com and to Stephen’s email account at any of his email addies. If I get $5 donations, I shall send the donor a copy of one of my ebooks. For $20, you can have all five ebooks.
Remember, if someone from a Ning network asks you to pay, say “No way!” The only way this’ll work is if we all stick together and call the a**holes on their BS. We have to be willing to walk away from our networks, because they are counting on people being scared to walk away from their networks. This guy Jason Rosenthal is a bully, and there’s only one way to deal with a bully, and that is, to stand up to him.
He managed to scrape the $87 together. But it meant cutting into the rent money. He is already $1800 in the hole for the rent, and I am $800 behind, because I can’t afford to pay $500 per month in rent.. You guys have not been doing your part. It’s not as though he’s begging for hand outs. He is willing to return value for value given. And $32 flat for a reading or a class is really a bargain. Ordinarily he charges $32 an hour, so $32 flat is a very good deal. Remember it’s 916-455-2267. Raise me on Windows Live Msgr or AIM and I’ll give you my phone number, and the hours you can call me.
Back before my accident, Stephen was able to scrape $50 together to pay our friend to put our website together, and she’s working on it now. I’m looking forward to seeing it. It should be very impressive. Fear not, we’ll keep you abreast of all developments on this front. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick will then be on the internet map, so to speak, in a big way.
Inquiring minds want to know: How do we add music to our sites? Please let us know. The person who helps us do that earns a reading on webcam on the popular IM clients. The person who helps us establish ourselves on the Paganspace.net chat client earns a reading. We’re using readings as currency here because we have no other medium to use for an incentive. All the money we make goes for paying the bills of bare-bones living.
Stephen is hopping mad right now (appropriate for a frog, no?) because his ex-wife Debbie is taking one of the twins and giving her to a strange woman who lives at their complex. He has grown quite attached emotionally to both of them, and doesn’t like to see the pair split up. I was prepared emotionally a long time ago for this eventuality. I just don’t know why it took Debbie so long to do it. I suspect that she calculated it so as to cause the most hurt to Stephen. Yes, she is that cruel. She claims to be a Wiccan, but doesn’t abide by the Rede at all, and never has a good word to say about anyone. I try not to think about what she says about me, but I shudder at the emotional abuse she piles on their daughter. Stephen was so emotionally distraught that he broke a pair of his glasses accidentally right after she called. Debbie never lifted a hand to care for these animals from the day they were born. Until my accident, we took turns feeding them, then Stephen took it over. It was he who shelled out moneys for food and kitty litter. Debbie has never compensated him in any way for the expenses. It was I who arranged for the twins to get spayed. Frikki is coming home and Dr. Livingston I. Presume is going with Debbie this weekend. Frikki had a couple of habits the woman couldn’t tolerate.
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Hedgecraft 4 Us
Welcome to Hedgecraft 4 Us! We’re certainly glad you could make it! This is a brand new group. Note no number after the name. The 4 in the name doesn’t count. When I start a new Hedgecraft 4 Us group, it’ll be Hedgecraft 4 Us 2 and so on. I maintain that it involves magickal arts and crafts, especially using things found in nature. I used to know a woman who picked up roadkills, and used the body parts; bones, fur and feathers to make magickal and sacred objects. I really admired what she did. She was making use of something that otherwise would either be incinerated, thus adding to air pollution, or tossed on a landfill somewhere. She was creating beauty out of ugliness. She created her own little mecca or paradise. According to Stephen, hedgecraft is woodcraft, and hedges imply protection, since that is what hedges are for. I think that hedgecraft includes herbalism. So it’s arts and crafts using materials taken from nature, woodcraft, protection magick, and herbalism. Another name for it is Green Power.
Green power is the power of healing others, animals, and self-healing, using the powers of nature. It packs a double whammy. Using herbs uses the green power of the earth, but you can tap into it directly. Stephen and I just did a breathing exercise outside, where we tapped into the power of starlight, but you can tap into the power of the Earth Mother Herself. Go outside. Lean against a tree, if you have one, but otherwise just feel the earth beneath your feet. Feel the embrace of Her gravity as She clutches you to Her bosom. Take a deep breath. Exhale, as you exhale, breathe out all your tension, worries, stresses, and problems. Breathe out all your anger, sadness, and depression. As you breathe in again, breathe in all that green power. See brilliant emerald light filling your lungs, and your entire body. Each time you exhale, breathe out all the bad stuff. The earth will transmute it into nutrients and fertilizer for Her plants. Each time you inhale visualize your entire body being filled by green light. Do this for about five minutes, and then resume your activities. This can be done to tap into the power of the Sun, the ocean or a lake, or the night as we did tonight.
I have a book on Hedgecraft called “Hedge Witch.” I haven’t started reading it yet because I’m still in the middle of “Ritual Craft,” but me thinks ‘twill be the next book I read. It’s by Silver RavenWolf, who has written a number of great books with one exception, so I’m sure I’ll like it. The exception of which I speak is “Solitary Witch”, which has at least one serious error on every page. I found them, and I wasn’t even being all that persnickety. Someone really fussy would doubtless find more than I did. But that is not germane to our discussion here. Green magick also has to do with anything life affirming. In hedge craft, everything is alive, which I suspect is animism. Everything has a soul. Closely allied with that is pantheism, in which All That Is, Deity, whatever you want to call it, is in everything. Stephen is drawn to hedge craft because one of his mundane jobs is yard work, in which he is out in the green every day. There’s tree magick too, which is definitely life affirming.
It looks very good that cannabis is going to be legalized soon. Marijuana is a perfectly good example of green magick. It heals, it makes you feel good it quells the nausea felt by cancer patients during and after chemo so that they’ll feel like eating, it relieves menstrual cramps. It also relieves the pressure on the eyeballs caused by glaucoma, which Stephen has. Industrial hemp could provide thousands of jobs. Industrial hemp would bring billions of dollars in trade into a state that sorely needs the money. California is $25 billion in the hole, and industrial hemp could fill up that hole, as well as not having to put out the funds for CAMP. Of course the cotton, tobacco, and liquor lobbies aren’t going to be too happy with the competition they’re going to get, but they’re going to have to just suffer. The reason we’re in the hole is the @#$%^&*! Republicans who obstructed California’s attempts to bring in a budget.
There are Ann Moura’s books on Green Witchcraft and Magick. Green Witchcraft I, II, and III, and Green Magick are all good texts on what we’re doing here. I wrote down on index cards the 5 laws of a Green Witch just because I wanted to learn them. You see, as a 3rd degree Witch, I’m still studying, but I decide what I want to study. Cottage Witchery by Ellen Dugan is another one to look into. Two more by this talented author are: Garden Witchery, and Natural Witchery. The next one is Craft of the Wild Witch by Poppy Palin I have this book, and enjoyed reading it. We encourage all of you to read these and review them here in the Discussions section. We made it open for a reason. We want anyone who is a member to be able to post discussions here. Now some people in our Google groups have abused this privilege but I don’t think any of you will abuse it. Sandra Kynes wrote Whispers from the Woods and Sea Magick. Sacred Land and Voices of the Earth are by Clea Danaan. I haven’t read these, but you are free to read and review them. Encyclopedia of Natural Magic[sic] by John Michael Greer. I have this one and enjoyed it greatly. Pagan Visions for a Sustainable Future by Ly de Angeles, Emma Restall Orr, and Thom Van Dooren. These books are all from Llewellyn’s New Worlds. It’s an excellent publication for torturing yourself with all the books you want to buy, but can’t afford.
Google hedge-craft, and see what you come up with. Hedge-craft may one of the oldest forms of Witchcraft. We already know that it gains its power from the woods. Last night I slept with “Hedge Witch” under my pillow. I had very interesting dreams, but I don’t know what they were. Stephen claims to have invented the technique, but I use it whenever I get a new Tarot deck. It’s a fairly traditional technique for attuning oneself to the object. You can put one card in a zip baggie, put it under your pillow, and see what kinds of dreams you get. How many of you who are in this group, actively practice hedge-craft? For those who are, please post, so that we can respond to your posts.
For tree-craft, look into Steven Blamires’ book Celtic Tree Mysteries. Stephen recommends it.. I didn’t care for it myself, but perhaps I expected more from it than it promised to deliver.
I looked up “hedge-witch” and found that it is one who is not part of a group or coven, but more often one who is into the green arts, herbal cures, and spells. Go to www.hedge-witch.com for more on this fascinating topic. I wonder how a hedge-witch and a kitchen witch compare. We have a friend who is a kitchen witch. Stephen thinks they’re about the same. I think that there are subtle differences. For the kitchen witch, her hearth is her range, while for the hedge-witch her hearth is the bonfire s/he builds out in her backyard. If you have any other definitions of hedge-witch, or of kitchen witch, please share them with us.
Stephen mentioned cottage-craft, but when I think of cottage-craft, I think of the weaver weaving in her cottage, and making Cabbage Patch dolls. Stephen mentioned sewing, embroidery, crocheting, and pottery. Another cottage craft is what our friend the kitchen witch Cherye does. She makes both herbal anointing oils and herbal massage oils. She is a masseuse, and laying-on-of-hands healer, so she uses them in her practice, as well as selling them at various small crafts fairs in the Redding area. I think she also makes poultices. You can also make drapes and curtains.
So we have three related kinds of Witches here: hedge-Witch, kitchen Witch, and cottage Witch. Note that I capitalize Witch. I think Witch should be capitalized like Lutheran, Baptist, Buddhist, or Hindu. What all three have in common is that they were very often the village wise woman or cunning-man. Cunning is a form of spell-casting. There were cunning wives and cunning-men. There may be a connection between cunning and hoodoo, although hoodoo is strictly New World, whilst the cunning thing is European; Old World.
When I finish “Ritual Craft” by Amber and Azrael Arynn K, I plan to start reading “Hedge Witch” by Silver RavenWolf, the book I mentioned in one of the paragraphs above. I’ll tell all of you how the book is. I can hardly wait. I actually started reading “Ritual Craft” before I moved here, in fact, before I broke my ankle, and Doc died. I stopped reading it to read some library books, specifically The Pirates Republic as research for my kid lit book “The Littlest Pirate” Then I got caught up in reading books for my Dedicant Program. Stephen wants me to tell you how I select which book to read next. Well, it’s pretty haphazard. Mostly I shut my eyes and point.. After I finish “Hedge Witch” I’m planning to read the two “Real Witch” books I have. Some books I have are reference books such as “Magickal Correspondences” and “The Encyclopedia of Magickal Ingredients,” which are not intended to be read cover to cover, but referred to when one is creating a spell. Basically, when a book on the shelves in my room catches my eye, I tell myself I’m going to read it, and schedule it in.
When you can spare $2, subscribe to Llewellyn’s New Worlds. This issue featured books on Hedge-Craft, from the Hedge-Witch hirself, to all the things which are included in Hedge-Craft such as tree magick, herbal magick, and cottage magick. It’s a very popular publication.
Green power is the power of healing others, animals, and self-healing, using the powers of nature. It packs a double whammy. Using herbs uses the green power of the earth, but you can tap into it directly. Stephen and I just did a breathing exercise outside, where we tapped into the power of starlight, but you can tap into the power of the Earth Mother Herself. Go outside. Lean against a tree, if you have one, but otherwise just feel the earth beneath your feet. Feel the embrace of Her gravity as She clutches you to Her bosom. Take a deep breath. Exhale, as you exhale, breathe out all your tension, worries, stresses, and problems. Breathe out all your anger, sadness, and depression. As you breathe in again, breathe in all that green power. See brilliant emerald light filling your lungs, and your entire body. Each time you exhale, breathe out all the bad stuff. The earth will transmute it into nutrients and fertilizer for Her plants. Each time you inhale visualize your entire body being filled by green light. Do this for about five minutes, and then resume your activities. This can be done to tap into the power of the Sun, the ocean or a lake, or the night as we did tonight.
I have a book on Hedgecraft called “Hedge Witch.” I haven’t started reading it yet because I’m still in the middle of “Ritual Craft,” but me thinks ‘twill be the next book I read. It’s by Silver RavenWolf, who has written a number of great books with one exception, so I’m sure I’ll like it. The exception of which I speak is “Solitary Witch”, which has at least one serious error on every page. I found them, and I wasn’t even being all that persnickety. Someone really fussy would doubtless find more than I did. But that is not germane to our discussion here. Green magick also has to do with anything life affirming. In hedge craft, everything is alive, which I suspect is animism. Everything has a soul. Closely allied with that is pantheism, in which All That Is, Deity, whatever you want to call it, is in everything. Stephen is drawn to hedge craft because one of his mundane jobs is yard work, in which he is out in the green every day. There’s tree magick too, which is definitely life affirming.
It looks very good that cannabis is going to be legalized soon. Marijuana is a perfectly good example of green magick. It heals, it makes you feel good it quells the nausea felt by cancer patients during and after chemo so that they’ll feel like eating, it relieves menstrual cramps. It also relieves the pressure on the eyeballs caused by glaucoma, which Stephen has. Industrial hemp could provide thousands of jobs. Industrial hemp would bring billions of dollars in trade into a state that sorely needs the money. California is $25 billion in the hole, and industrial hemp could fill up that hole, as well as not having to put out the funds for CAMP. Of course the cotton, tobacco, and liquor lobbies aren’t going to be too happy with the competition they’re going to get, but they’re going to have to just suffer. The reason we’re in the hole is the @#$%^&*! Republicans who obstructed California’s attempts to bring in a budget.
There are Ann Moura’s books on Green Witchcraft and Magick. Green Witchcraft I, II, and III, and Green Magick are all good texts on what we’re doing here. I wrote down on index cards the 5 laws of a Green Witch just because I wanted to learn them. You see, as a 3rd degree Witch, I’m still studying, but I decide what I want to study. Cottage Witchery by Ellen Dugan is another one to look into. Two more by this talented author are: Garden Witchery, and Natural Witchery. The next one is Craft of the Wild Witch by Poppy Palin I have this book, and enjoyed reading it. We encourage all of you to read these and review them here in the Discussions section. We made it open for a reason. We want anyone who is a member to be able to post discussions here. Now some people in our Google groups have abused this privilege but I don’t think any of you will abuse it. Sandra Kynes wrote Whispers from the Woods and Sea Magick. Sacred Land and Voices of the Earth are by Clea Danaan. I haven’t read these, but you are free to read and review them. Encyclopedia of Natural Magic[sic] by John Michael Greer. I have this one and enjoyed it greatly. Pagan Visions for a Sustainable Future by Ly de Angeles, Emma Restall Orr, and Thom Van Dooren. These books are all from Llewellyn’s New Worlds. It’s an excellent publication for torturing yourself with all the books you want to buy, but can’t afford.
Google hedge-craft, and see what you come up with. Hedge-craft may one of the oldest forms of Witchcraft. We already know that it gains its power from the woods. Last night I slept with “Hedge Witch” under my pillow. I had very interesting dreams, but I don’t know what they were. Stephen claims to have invented the technique, but I use it whenever I get a new Tarot deck. It’s a fairly traditional technique for attuning oneself to the object. You can put one card in a zip baggie, put it under your pillow, and see what kinds of dreams you get. How many of you who are in this group, actively practice hedge-craft? For those who are, please post, so that we can respond to your posts.
For tree-craft, look into Steven Blamires’ book Celtic Tree Mysteries. Stephen recommends it.. I didn’t care for it myself, but perhaps I expected more from it than it promised to deliver.
I looked up “hedge-witch” and found that it is one who is not part of a group or coven, but more often one who is into the green arts, herbal cures, and spells. Go to www.hedge-witch.com for more on this fascinating topic. I wonder how a hedge-witch and a kitchen witch compare. We have a friend who is a kitchen witch. Stephen thinks they’re about the same. I think that there are subtle differences. For the kitchen witch, her hearth is her range, while for the hedge-witch her hearth is the bonfire s/he builds out in her backyard. If you have any other definitions of hedge-witch, or of kitchen witch, please share them with us.
Stephen mentioned cottage-craft, but when I think of cottage-craft, I think of the weaver weaving in her cottage, and making Cabbage Patch dolls. Stephen mentioned sewing, embroidery, crocheting, and pottery. Another cottage craft is what our friend the kitchen witch Cherye does. She makes both herbal anointing oils and herbal massage oils. She is a masseuse, and laying-on-of-hands healer, so she uses them in her practice, as well as selling them at various small crafts fairs in the Redding area. I think she also makes poultices. You can also make drapes and curtains.
So we have three related kinds of Witches here: hedge-Witch, kitchen Witch, and cottage Witch. Note that I capitalize Witch. I think Witch should be capitalized like Lutheran, Baptist, Buddhist, or Hindu. What all three have in common is that they were very often the village wise woman or cunning-man. Cunning is a form of spell-casting. There were cunning wives and cunning-men. There may be a connection between cunning and hoodoo, although hoodoo is strictly New World, whilst the cunning thing is European; Old World.
When I finish “Ritual Craft” by Amber and Azrael Arynn K, I plan to start reading “Hedge Witch” by Silver RavenWolf, the book I mentioned in one of the paragraphs above. I’ll tell all of you how the book is. I can hardly wait. I actually started reading “Ritual Craft” before I moved here, in fact, before I broke my ankle, and Doc died. I stopped reading it to read some library books, specifically The Pirates Republic as research for my kid lit book “The Littlest Pirate” Then I got caught up in reading books for my Dedicant Program. Stephen wants me to tell you how I select which book to read next. Well, it’s pretty haphazard. Mostly I shut my eyes and point.. After I finish “Hedge Witch” I’m planning to read the two “Real Witch” books I have. Some books I have are reference books such as “Magickal Correspondences” and “The Encyclopedia of Magickal Ingredients,” which are not intended to be read cover to cover, but referred to when one is creating a spell. Basically, when a book on the shelves in my room catches my eye, I tell myself I’m going to read it, and schedule it in.
When you can spare $2, subscribe to Llewellyn’s New Worlds. This issue featured books on Hedge-Craft, from the Hedge-Witch hirself, to all the things which are included in Hedge-Craft such as tree magick, herbal magick, and cottage magick. It’s a very popular publication.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Review of the Serpent and the Stag
I just finished reading Julie Ann Maahs’ novel “The Serpent and the Stag.” You should read it. You really should. I think it has something for each of us. In a way, it kind of reminds me of the movie “The Wizard of Oz”, where the scenes on the Kansas farm are in stark black and white, while the scenes in Oz are in full Technicolor. Sarah Marie starts out in the drab black and white world of fundamentalist Christianity, where they themselves are the only white pure ones, while anyone who disagree with them are creatures of darkness, and evil. She is plunged into a weird wide colorful world, when she goes looking for her father, and ends up at his commune, an idyllic, colorful place, which Sarah nonetheless sees as Satan’s playground. Were this book to be made into a movie, and I the art and lighting director, I would have all the scenes before Sarah runs away shot on black and white stock. Then when she meets Sam, it’s in color, but in very dark hues, all of it shot either at night, or in day-for-night. When she finally gets to the commune, everything would be in brilliant sun-washed color. Maybe I’d have the colors a little muted to symbolize Sarah’s point of view that all these people are devil-worshippers, and so, lost to her god.
It is a murder mystery, but Sarah is not a prime character in the mystery, a potential victim perhaps. Some Christians may object that the villain spouts all this righteous-sounding language, but speaking as a Pagan, I like it. I’m sure we’ve all heard far too many villains spout holy sounding language.
If I were a movie producer looking for a story to shoot, I would pick this one. It teaches all of us that we have something to learn about others, and that different does not mean bad.
You can find it at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10619
Go read it. It’s a trip and a half.
It is a murder mystery, but Sarah is not a prime character in the mystery, a potential victim perhaps. Some Christians may object that the villain spouts all this righteous-sounding language, but speaking as a Pagan, I like it. I’m sure we’ve all heard far too many villains spout holy sounding language.
If I were a movie producer looking for a story to shoot, I would pick this one. It teaches all of us that we have something to learn about others, and that different does not mean bad.
You can find it at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10619
Go read it. It’s a trip and a half.
Friday, March 12, 2010
This May Be the End
Well, here I am again, and if things don’t significantly improve soon, it may be my last time. I quit KEEN because I wasn’t making any money at it. I had to use the only $20 I did earn to bid to get a decent place in the queue so that I’d get calls. Nearly all the calls I got were from people wanting free readings. Bidding is a racket. The readers are so exploited, but because they’re independent contractors and desperate for work, the companies get away with it. I would not encourage anyone I liked to become a reader for any of the psychic reader outfits. From what I’ve heard, they’re all rackets, in various ways.
Tomorrow (it may be today by the time I get done with this blog) our landladies come to see what needs to be fixed in the house. Stephen has turned into a regular slave driver because he thinks we’ll be evicted if the house isn’t spic and span by tomorrow. My job is impossible. I have to get rid of the pet stains that have accumulated, and nothing we have in the house is effective at getting rid of the stains. Also I am $200 behind in my rent. I had just barely enough money to pay my bills, and that way only by stiffing the landlady $100. We’re having no luck in our hunt for a housemate. The men are pigs, and the women are afraid to move here because it’s an ethnically mixed neighborhood. We both want a woman. I want a woman because women don’t leave the toilet seat up, and most men do. But we can’t say that in the ad.
If I get evicted, and am homeless, I will either kill myself or arrange things so that I am murdered. Right now life in the Summerland is looking pretty damned good to me. Stephen owes $900 because his SSI check got eaten this month because in February he got $900 overdrawn because Bunko de America lied to him and told him he had $900 in his account and he wrote $900 in checks to the landlady. The Bunko de America charged him $900 in overdraft fees. He thinks he’s $3000 in the hole. He thinks I’m being a bit heavy now, but I’m just telling it like it is. Stephen went through it before, and now it’s my turn. But I don’t think there’s any rescue for the princess this time.
If you cared and weren’t so self-absorbed, you could go to PayPal, to tezra.reitan@gmail.com, and leave a donation. Then email me and tell me your donation, and I’ll either email you a copy of one of my books, or a reading, depending upon whether it’s $5 or $32. And forget about making excuses in your comments. They don’t help at all. Neither do statements about how tough you have it. My compassion is in the negative range.
Tomorrow (it may be today by the time I get done with this blog) our landladies come to see what needs to be fixed in the house. Stephen has turned into a regular slave driver because he thinks we’ll be evicted if the house isn’t spic and span by tomorrow. My job is impossible. I have to get rid of the pet stains that have accumulated, and nothing we have in the house is effective at getting rid of the stains. Also I am $200 behind in my rent. I had just barely enough money to pay my bills, and that way only by stiffing the landlady $100. We’re having no luck in our hunt for a housemate. The men are pigs, and the women are afraid to move here because it’s an ethnically mixed neighborhood. We both want a woman. I want a woman because women don’t leave the toilet seat up, and most men do. But we can’t say that in the ad.
If I get evicted, and am homeless, I will either kill myself or arrange things so that I am murdered. Right now life in the Summerland is looking pretty damned good to me. Stephen owes $900 because his SSI check got eaten this month because in February he got $900 overdrawn because Bunko de America lied to him and told him he had $900 in his account and he wrote $900 in checks to the landlady. The Bunko de America charged him $900 in overdraft fees. He thinks he’s $3000 in the hole. He thinks I’m being a bit heavy now, but I’m just telling it like it is. Stephen went through it before, and now it’s my turn. But I don’t think there’s any rescue for the princess this time.
If you cared and weren’t so self-absorbed, you could go to PayPal, to tezra.reitan@gmail.com, and leave a donation. Then email me and tell me your donation, and I’ll either email you a copy of one of my books, or a reading, depending upon whether it’s $5 or $32. And forget about making excuses in your comments. They don’t help at all. Neither do statements about how tough you have it. My compassion is in the negative range.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Last KEEN Blog
This is it. I quit. I hope the woman who gave me such a lousy review on my Tarot reading is happy. Being with Keen has been the third worst experience of my life. It follows right after losing Doc, and being on IMVU. The bidding was what lost me. Bidding is a racket, and ought to be illegal. The whole idea behind my joining KEEN was to earn money, not spend it. I had to use what little money I actually earned on KEEN bidding so I would get calls. Some calls I got, too. All they wanted was free readings. The idea behind the free five minutes was an incentive to go for longer readings, not be the entire reading. I guess that’s what I get for taking financial advice from Stephen. He’s a black hole, moneywise.
I was going to do a more positive version of my previous blog, and tell how five minutes isn’t long enough to do a quality reading. Not only does it short change your reader, but it does also short change you, the client. So stop trying to get something for nothing, and concentrate instead on getting value for value given. If you can’t afford to pay for a reading, you probably shouldn’t be calling KEEN, or any other phone psychic service.
A lot of you call because you’re in love with a person who just isn’t that into you. Why are you wasting all your time and energy on this person when there are others around who would like to get to know you but you are so into this spoiled person you don’t even see the person? Maybe he doesn’t look like Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, but he’ll probably be a steadier man, and won’t play the mind games on you the guy you keep calling us about does. He (it’s usually a man because most of the callers are women) plays those games on you because he enjoys the sense of power it gives him, and because he can. You let him lead you around by the nose. Kick him to the curb, and find someone who is into you. You’ll know he is into you because he won’t play mind games on you to bolster his male ego. All you have to do is be true, and not play any mind games on him. Communicate honestly with him. Then you won’t have to call phone psychics to find out what he’s thinking; he’ll tell you.
I was going to do a more positive version of my previous blog, and tell how five minutes isn’t long enough to do a quality reading. Not only does it short change your reader, but it does also short change you, the client. So stop trying to get something for nothing, and concentrate instead on getting value for value given. If you can’t afford to pay for a reading, you probably shouldn’t be calling KEEN, or any other phone psychic service.
A lot of you call because you’re in love with a person who just isn’t that into you. Why are you wasting all your time and energy on this person when there are others around who would like to get to know you but you are so into this spoiled person you don’t even see the person? Maybe he doesn’t look like Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, but he’ll probably be a steadier man, and won’t play the mind games on you the guy you keep calling us about does. He (it’s usually a man because most of the callers are women) plays those games on you because he enjoys the sense of power it gives him, and because he can. You let him lead you around by the nose. Kick him to the curb, and find someone who is into you. You’ll know he is into you because he won’t play mind games on you to bolster his male ego. All you have to do is be true, and not play any mind games on him. Communicate honestly with him. Then you won’t have to call phone psychics to find out what he’s thinking; he’ll tell you.
Monday, February 15, 2010
"Cross the Gypsy's Palm with Silver"
Well, I’m not really a Gypsy, or their more proper name for themselves, the Romani. But the old saying still holds true. You have to play the piper, so to speak, if you expect to get a reading of any worth. Another way of saying it is “no tickee (or monee) no washee)”. My days of giving out free rides are over, and I will give out five free minutes coupons strictly on merit. Don’t expect anything for free if you haven’t given me anything lately. I need to pay bills, and to eat. Actual silver never changes hands, but the saying still applies. Instead it is electrons that flit from one place to another. But you start the process by your willingness to pay for a reading. All I can promise is that I shall give value for value received. The only $20 I earned, I had to use for bidding. I almost quit KEEN. I may quit anyway, when Stephen6580’s largess runs out. I think that having to spend your own money for bidding is a rip-off. On March 1st or when Stephen’s largess runs out, if things haven’t picked up for me, I shall leave Keen and tell Stephen “The people have spoken. They don’t think my readings are worth paying for.”
This is not a charity. We are here for one reason, and one reason only; to use our psychic skills to make money to live. That is it. Nobody’s driving a Mercedes. I joined Keen for one reason only: to try to augment the meager stipend I receive from Social Security, which is not nearly enough to live on. So consider: when you use your free five minutes, and only your five minutes, you’re taking food out of someone’s mouth. Someone will lose her electricity or phone, or maybe even her home if she cannot afford to pay her rent. If you can’t afford to pay for a reading, maybe you shouldn’t be a member of Keen at all. There’s an old Dutch word: tanstaafl, which means there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Someone always has to pay. If you aren’t getting your 5 free minutes, ask yourself: What have I done to deserve it? It is a privilege, not a right. Basically it’s an incentive to get you to spring for a paid reading. My really good readings are at least 15 minutes.long. That’s the only way I can interpret fully the cards I draw. If you expect a reading for only 3 or 5 minutes, you are shortchanging yourself, as well as me. I am not a “pure” psychic, nor have I ever claimed to be. I require the focus of a card deck to bring forth my psi. Cards must be shuffled, and counted. Cards have complex imagery and much symbolism. It is these symbols which bring forth the interpretations, and thus your oracle. You must respect the process, and in this society, this culture, the way respect is paid is by paying money. If you respect me, I will respect you. But no more free rides.
This is not a charity. We are here for one reason, and one reason only; to use our psychic skills to make money to live. That is it. Nobody’s driving a Mercedes. I joined Keen for one reason only: to try to augment the meager stipend I receive from Social Security, which is not nearly enough to live on. So consider: when you use your free five minutes, and only your five minutes, you’re taking food out of someone’s mouth. Someone will lose her electricity or phone, or maybe even her home if she cannot afford to pay her rent. If you can’t afford to pay for a reading, maybe you shouldn’t be a member of Keen at all. There’s an old Dutch word: tanstaafl, which means there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Someone always has to pay. If you aren’t getting your 5 free minutes, ask yourself: What have I done to deserve it? It is a privilege, not a right. Basically it’s an incentive to get you to spring for a paid reading. My really good readings are at least 15 minutes.long. That’s the only way I can interpret fully the cards I draw. If you expect a reading for only 3 or 5 minutes, you are shortchanging yourself, as well as me. I am not a “pure” psychic, nor have I ever claimed to be. I require the focus of a card deck to bring forth my psi. Cards must be shuffled, and counted. Cards have complex imagery and much symbolism. It is these symbols which bring forth the interpretations, and thus your oracle. You must respect the process, and in this society, this culture, the way respect is paid is by paying money. If you respect me, I will respect you. But no more free rides.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Support your Friendly Local Pagan Elders
Welcome to Geriatrics for Pagans! We’re glad you could make it! This is an actual first group, brand new. We don’t have to tell you to check out the other groups of the same name on other networks. If you are over 60, this group is for you. Some may be under 60, and still want to be in the group. That’s ok too, You may learn something from us old geezers and farts. This group is for Pagan elders. What is it like to be a Pagan elder? “We have all this wisdom, but we never get laid.” That’s Stephen. That’s all he thinks about. And I tell him two things: 1. do what is necessary to make a woman attracted to you. 2. Use the Secret in this, that is, stop complaining about how you never get laid, and start acting and thinking as though you always get laid. You young Pagans believe that once you turn 55 or 60 you no longer have a sex drive. Well, in this case, you are wrong. Especially where Stephen is concerned. “You may venerate us as great sages of wisdom, but don’t make us into eunuchs. One of the things we geriatric Pagans need is veneration and respect, understanding, but realize we are human, not gods and goddesses, with very human needs. Another geriatric Pagan, Isaac Bonewits is concerned about how the Pagan community treats its elders. Stephen gets the distinct impression that the Pagan community just wants us dead, so it can venerate us as honored ancestors and doesn’t have to support us or listen to our wisdom. Stephen is sure that if you reach the age of 60, they want you to die. It’s a bit like the movie Logan’s Run where when you reach the age of 25 you have to participate in the deadly carnival. Isaac and Stephen may be right on a certain level, but I find that I get a lot of respect. Of course, I wish that respect translated into bucks. Stephen says “Don’t we all?”
Pagans by and large have this reluctance to financially support or contribute to the financial wellbeing of other Pagans. Stephen sometimes feels like he is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Pagan community. ”I don’t get no respect.” He really respects Dangerfield for devising that routine.
It wasn’t always this way. At one time, ten or twenty years ago, to be considered a Pagan elder was a status of honor and respect. It seems to Stephen that this is no longer the case. Robert Larson, Stephen’s, Isaac’s and my dear friend, former Arch Druid of the Berkeley Grove, and one of the founding fathers of the RDNA at Carleton College, died alone and unattended in the Emergency Dept. at Highland Hospital in Oakland. This was unconscionable. There are other instances as well. Robert Larson is not an isolated instance. For all I know, Judy Foster (Calypso) died alone as well. She was a leading light in the formation of NROOGD. Is it Stephen’s and my fate to wind up alone and unattended in an emergency dept..in Sacramento? Can the Pagan community rise above this? Can the Pagan community own up to these crimes against their elders, sages and crones? Mind you Stephen is dictating all of this. We have always been an ornery independent sort. Getting Pagans to agree on and get together on anything is like herding cats. Which we here get a lot of practice in, since we have a full coven of cate, or putties as Stephen calls them. Stephen hopes that the Pagan community will wise up and take responsibility for its elders so Isaac doesn’t end up dying alone like Robert Larson did. Stephen fully realizes that he himself is biased in this regard, but he doesn’t care.
For the past 2 hours, we have been watching George Clooney’s Hope for Haiti Now concert, and I have been struck with the strong desire to order the download of the concert, but all my attempts to find the download have come to naught. But it’s a great concert. If you can figure out where on the Itunes site they’re offering downloads of the concert and I want one. If you can figure out how to order email me at the email addy that’s listed on this group’s site. Folks, if you possibly can, dig deep and donate to the Hope for Haiti Now charities. Haiti is the Caribbean center of Vodoun, and has a lot of Pagans who live there. The earthquake in Haiti utterly devastated that country, which was, if not the poorest country in the world, close to it. It’s important that we show our humanity and help these people in their plight because Stephen and I live in California, and we know about these earthquakes. One hundred sixty four people died in the Loma Prieta quake. The Loma Prieta quake was 7.1. The Haitian quake has been variously evaluated from 6.5 to 7.3 So far the Haitian death count is over 100,000. How many animals have died we don’t know.
If anyone would know, it’s Betty White, who just won the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as an actor for over 6 decades and protecting animals; all animals, worldwide, not just the cute ones. Another person you could check out is Bob Barker, who also has spent his leisure time protecting animals. A third actor who has always been concerned with animal welfare is Brigitte Bardot. You remember her. She was big in the French cinema of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. She also did American films.
It’s very rare to find Pagans, elder or otherwise, anywhere except the Internet. We are basically invisible in the media. When Stephen was living down in San Jose he would appear from time to time on KKUP, a public radio station in Cupertino. My third ex-hubby and I joined him a few times. But since he’s been here in Sacramento, he’s been almost a total recluse. So if any of you have any ideas about elders getting more respect and support, please post here.
I find that I get respect from other Pagans. But it’s respect I earned, not asked for. You earn respect in three ways: 1. By being humble enough to learn 2. By doing things that earn respect such as founding 2 covens, and being in on the founding of a third, in which I still belong. 3. Giving respect to others.
We would like to hear from other sages, crones, elders in the Pagan community. We want to hear whether you are encountering disrespect from other Pagans. Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, are they dissing you? Kitty Crowe, how about you? Robin Goodfellow, Gaia Wildwood, how about you? Are you getting the respect you have earned, or are they treating you like a fossil who should be put out to pasture? Please excuse the mixed metaphor. These are just a few of the crones and sages I know in the Bay Area. I know there are many others whose names I don’t know throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. I didn’t name you, but I want to hear from all of you. We elders should organize ourselves. If we continue to get no respect, we should organize and fight. Stephen feels that it is cowardly and despicable the way the younger Pagans treat us. Stephen feels that it is mostly a matter of gender, what female elders get respect while male elders for the most part do not, but acknowledges that may be female elders who are having trouble getting their respect. I feel that it is a matter of perception. While Stephen does not perceive that he gets any respect, I see that I do.
If you know anyone who wants a fairly cheap housing situation with two congenial Pagan magickal housemates in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Sacramento, contact me at tezra.reitan@gmail.com or Stephen at abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or Stephen at his phone number 916-455-2267. Also, we desperately need donations to keep Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick afloat. You can send donations of any size to either Stephen’s Paypal account at abbottsinn@gmail.com or abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or my Paypal account at tezra.reitan@gmail.com. If it’s for at least $32, you’ll get either a reading or a class from our vast collections of divination decks/methods/tools or for the class, pick a topic from our vast repertoire in the field of magick. For $60, you can actually have both a reading and a class. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet, or my mic, but with Stephen you can have sound and video on Yahoo IM, Windows Msgr or Skype. With me for a short while, it’ll be just phone or typing on Yahoo IM or Windows Msgr. Thank you for using and disseminating Stephen’s Zodiac referral number 1-800-280-8496. Stephen1580. It helps ever so much when you use it instead of the regular number because you don’t pay any more, but he makes three times as much. We’re both on SSI, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger drastically cut both of our checks, and Keen isn’t coming up with the paying calls. I haven’t made one cent since signing on with Keen. My clients all demand free five minute readings, and refuse to go over that five minutes for a paid reading. In fact, it’s cost me money to bid so altogether, Keen has been pretty much of a total loss for me. If you need money, kids, mow lawns or babysit, don’t join a psychic reading service, because it’ll just suck in what little money you do have.
Do check out the PaganRadioNetwork.net It’s free, although they certainly do accept donations. Doesn’t everyone? Seems like everyone has his hat out nowadays, and we’re sorry to be part of that, but the situation is dirt. We almost lost our power yesterday. In these times of smaller SSI checks, a bankrupt state, and practically non-existent paying KEEN calls, the prices just seem to be rising all the time for less and less service or quality.
AT&T is offering a “free” cell phone deal. Don’t fall for it. It is a scam. You have to open up a new account for a friend or family member. This will end up costing you more than the phone is worth. So beware of any “deals” AT&T offers you.
In order to keep his computer alive, or perhaps get a new computer, Stephen needs a new battery and Windows 7, because Vista is just too unreliable. Vista is the worst operating system since 98. But first Stephen has to pay off his rent, and so do I. Don’t buy a Dell or do business with Wells Fargo. They’re both ripoffs.
If you’re ever in Sacramento, look up Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. Together they own Gallery 14 at 14th St. and 60th Avenue. We’re promoting them big time. Walter Rhoads has a very interesting and different approach to art. He compares himself to the late great Jackson Pollock but there are two main differences: Rhoads is still drawing breath with a healthy 98.6 degrees temperature (except when he’s sick, in which case it’s somewhat higher) and I think Jackson Pollock was gay, and Rhoads is, like us, hopelessly hetero.
We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Sorry about my negativity up there, but I’ve been very depressed by this economy lately, and wishing I were with Doc in the Summerland.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky my BFF (BoyFriend Forever)
Little (Big)Boy
Oreo (the Mouser)
Bailee Beasley Beastly
Frikki & Frakki
Dr. Livingston I. Presume aka Prince Henry the Navigator
Pagans by and large have this reluctance to financially support or contribute to the financial wellbeing of other Pagans. Stephen sometimes feels like he is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Pagan community. ”I don’t get no respect.” He really respects Dangerfield for devising that routine.
It wasn’t always this way. At one time, ten or twenty years ago, to be considered a Pagan elder was a status of honor and respect. It seems to Stephen that this is no longer the case. Robert Larson, Stephen’s, Isaac’s and my dear friend, former Arch Druid of the Berkeley Grove, and one of the founding fathers of the RDNA at Carleton College, died alone and unattended in the Emergency Dept. at Highland Hospital in Oakland. This was unconscionable. There are other instances as well. Robert Larson is not an isolated instance. For all I know, Judy Foster (Calypso) died alone as well. She was a leading light in the formation of NROOGD. Is it Stephen’s and my fate to wind up alone and unattended in an emergency dept..in Sacramento? Can the Pagan community rise above this? Can the Pagan community own up to these crimes against their elders, sages and crones? Mind you Stephen is dictating all of this. We have always been an ornery independent sort. Getting Pagans to agree on and get together on anything is like herding cats. Which we here get a lot of practice in, since we have a full coven of cate, or putties as Stephen calls them. Stephen hopes that the Pagan community will wise up and take responsibility for its elders so Isaac doesn’t end up dying alone like Robert Larson did. Stephen fully realizes that he himself is biased in this regard, but he doesn’t care.
For the past 2 hours, we have been watching George Clooney’s Hope for Haiti Now concert, and I have been struck with the strong desire to order the download of the concert, but all my attempts to find the download have come to naught. But it’s a great concert. If you can figure out where on the Itunes site they’re offering downloads of the concert and I want one. If you can figure out how to order email me at the email addy that’s listed on this group’s site. Folks, if you possibly can, dig deep and donate to the Hope for Haiti Now charities. Haiti is the Caribbean center of Vodoun, and has a lot of Pagans who live there. The earthquake in Haiti utterly devastated that country, which was, if not the poorest country in the world, close to it. It’s important that we show our humanity and help these people in their plight because Stephen and I live in California, and we know about these earthquakes. One hundred sixty four people died in the Loma Prieta quake. The Loma Prieta quake was 7.1. The Haitian quake has been variously evaluated from 6.5 to 7.3 So far the Haitian death count is over 100,000. How many animals have died we don’t know.
If anyone would know, it’s Betty White, who just won the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as an actor for over 6 decades and protecting animals; all animals, worldwide, not just the cute ones. Another person you could check out is Bob Barker, who also has spent his leisure time protecting animals. A third actor who has always been concerned with animal welfare is Brigitte Bardot. You remember her. She was big in the French cinema of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. She also did American films.
It’s very rare to find Pagans, elder or otherwise, anywhere except the Internet. We are basically invisible in the media. When Stephen was living down in San Jose he would appear from time to time on KKUP, a public radio station in Cupertino. My third ex-hubby and I joined him a few times. But since he’s been here in Sacramento, he’s been almost a total recluse. So if any of you have any ideas about elders getting more respect and support, please post here.
I find that I get respect from other Pagans. But it’s respect I earned, not asked for. You earn respect in three ways: 1. By being humble enough to learn 2. By doing things that earn respect such as founding 2 covens, and being in on the founding of a third, in which I still belong. 3. Giving respect to others.
We would like to hear from other sages, crones, elders in the Pagan community. We want to hear whether you are encountering disrespect from other Pagans. Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, are they dissing you? Kitty Crowe, how about you? Robin Goodfellow, Gaia Wildwood, how about you? Are you getting the respect you have earned, or are they treating you like a fossil who should be put out to pasture? Please excuse the mixed metaphor. These are just a few of the crones and sages I know in the Bay Area. I know there are many others whose names I don’t know throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. I didn’t name you, but I want to hear from all of you. We elders should organize ourselves. If we continue to get no respect, we should organize and fight. Stephen feels that it is cowardly and despicable the way the younger Pagans treat us. Stephen feels that it is mostly a matter of gender, what female elders get respect while male elders for the most part do not, but acknowledges that may be female elders who are having trouble getting their respect. I feel that it is a matter of perception. While Stephen does not perceive that he gets any respect, I see that I do.
If you know anyone who wants a fairly cheap housing situation with two congenial Pagan magickal housemates in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Sacramento, contact me at tezra.reitan@gmail.com or Stephen at abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or Stephen at his phone number 916-455-2267. Also, we desperately need donations to keep Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick afloat. You can send donations of any size to either Stephen’s Paypal account at abbottsinn@gmail.com or abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or my Paypal account at tezra.reitan@gmail.com. If it’s for at least $32, you’ll get either a reading or a class from our vast collections of divination decks/methods/tools or for the class, pick a topic from our vast repertoire in the field of magick. For $60, you can actually have both a reading and a class. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet, or my mic, but with Stephen you can have sound and video on Yahoo IM, Windows Msgr or Skype. With me for a short while, it’ll be just phone or typing on Yahoo IM or Windows Msgr. Thank you for using and disseminating Stephen’s Zodiac referral number 1-800-280-8496. Stephen1580. It helps ever so much when you use it instead of the regular number because you don’t pay any more, but he makes three times as much. We’re both on SSI, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger drastically cut both of our checks, and Keen isn’t coming up with the paying calls. I haven’t made one cent since signing on with Keen. My clients all demand free five minute readings, and refuse to go over that five minutes for a paid reading. In fact, it’s cost me money to bid so altogether, Keen has been pretty much of a total loss for me. If you need money, kids, mow lawns or babysit, don’t join a psychic reading service, because it’ll just suck in what little money you do have.
Do check out the PaganRadioNetwork.net It’s free, although they certainly do accept donations. Doesn’t everyone? Seems like everyone has his hat out nowadays, and we’re sorry to be part of that, but the situation is dirt. We almost lost our power yesterday. In these times of smaller SSI checks, a bankrupt state, and practically non-existent paying KEEN calls, the prices just seem to be rising all the time for less and less service or quality.
AT&T is offering a “free” cell phone deal. Don’t fall for it. It is a scam. You have to open up a new account for a friend or family member. This will end up costing you more than the phone is worth. So beware of any “deals” AT&T offers you.
In order to keep his computer alive, or perhaps get a new computer, Stephen needs a new battery and Windows 7, because Vista is just too unreliable. Vista is the worst operating system since 98. But first Stephen has to pay off his rent, and so do I. Don’t buy a Dell or do business with Wells Fargo. They’re both ripoffs.
If you’re ever in Sacramento, look up Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. Together they own Gallery 14 at 14th St. and 60th Avenue. We’re promoting them big time. Walter Rhoads has a very interesting and different approach to art. He compares himself to the late great Jackson Pollock but there are two main differences: Rhoads is still drawing breath with a healthy 98.6 degrees temperature (except when he’s sick, in which case it’s somewhat higher) and I think Jackson Pollock was gay, and Rhoads is, like us, hopelessly hetero.
We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Sorry about my negativity up there, but I’ve been very depressed by this economy lately, and wishing I were with Doc in the Summerland.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky my BFF (BoyFriend Forever)
Little (Big)Boy
Oreo (the Mouser)
Bailee Beasley Beastly
Frikki & Frakki
Dr. Livingston I. Presume aka Prince Henry the Navigator
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
My Take on "Primitive" Paganism
Paganism is perhaps the oldest religion on this planet. It started out with animism and pantheism. Animism and pantheism are concepts which seem to go along together, although they have subtle distinctions from each other. Pantheism is where the Supreme Being is in everything. Animism is where there is an animating spirit inhabiting each thing in nature. Trees, plants, animals, and even stones have spirits or souls.under this belief. This belief originated when primitive people observed steam arising from the wounds of animals in winter. Many of these spirits later became deities, especially the larger forces of nature.
Shamanism is usually a part of these beliefs. The shaman or wise wo/man, or cunning wife/man serves hir community by walking between the worlds, soul journeying to heal members of the community or defend the community as a whole from forces that would seek to tear it apart. S/he is skilled in the arts of spiritual warfare, as well as herbs and healing techniques.
There is a movement within the American Pagan community towards primitive Paganism. Just because it bears the name “primitive” does not mean it is unsophisticated. Its practitioners simply want to balance high tech with a high touch spiritual experience. To that end, many of them have taken to primitive means of permanently adorning their bodies with piercings, scarification, and ancient methods of tattooing.And these are not people who live in the country, forest, jungle, or mountains. These are urban Pagans, who live either in towns or cities. For example, there is a sizable “primitive” Pagan population in San Francisco, which is less than 2 hours by car from where I write this.
There is a growing contingent of techno-Pagans, cyber-Pagans, and cyber-shamans. Because they reside in out lying areas where there might not be physical groups accessible to them, they practice their religion and spirituality online in environments such as IMVU, Second Life, and Red Lantern. Others use chat programs such as IRC, Yahoo, Chatango, and the chat facility available on Paganspace.net. Together with my partner-in-crime, Stephen Abbott, we have done Druidic ordinations online.
As humankind moved from hunting/gathering cultures to settled agricultural communities and cities were built, priesthoods began to be developed. Unfortunately, these often became insular and hidebound, full off their own importance, and forgot their necessary connection with the people they served. In fact, they forgot that it was the people they served, not the gods. The ancient Khemetic priesthood is one sterling example of this. May we who have been called to be priests and priestesses never forget that it is both the people and the Mighty Ones that we serve. Returning to our prehistoric roots and “primitive” Paganism is one way to remember where our duty lies.
Shamanism is usually a part of these beliefs. The shaman or wise wo/man, or cunning wife/man serves hir community by walking between the worlds, soul journeying to heal members of the community or defend the community as a whole from forces that would seek to tear it apart. S/he is skilled in the arts of spiritual warfare, as well as herbs and healing techniques.
There is a movement within the American Pagan community towards primitive Paganism. Just because it bears the name “primitive” does not mean it is unsophisticated. Its practitioners simply want to balance high tech with a high touch spiritual experience. To that end, many of them have taken to primitive means of permanently adorning their bodies with piercings, scarification, and ancient methods of tattooing.And these are not people who live in the country, forest, jungle, or mountains. These are urban Pagans, who live either in towns or cities. For example, there is a sizable “primitive” Pagan population in San Francisco, which is less than 2 hours by car from where I write this.
There is a growing contingent of techno-Pagans, cyber-Pagans, and cyber-shamans. Because they reside in out lying areas where there might not be physical groups accessible to them, they practice their religion and spirituality online in environments such as IMVU, Second Life, and Red Lantern. Others use chat programs such as IRC, Yahoo, Chatango, and the chat facility available on Paganspace.net. Together with my partner-in-crime, Stephen Abbott, we have done Druidic ordinations online.
As humankind moved from hunting/gathering cultures to settled agricultural communities and cities were built, priesthoods began to be developed. Unfortunately, these often became insular and hidebound, full off their own importance, and forgot their necessary connection with the people they served. In fact, they forgot that it was the people they served, not the gods. The ancient Khemetic priesthood is one sterling example of this. May we who have been called to be priests and priestesses never forget that it is both the people and the Mighty Ones that we serve. Returning to our prehistoric roots and “primitive” Paganism is one way to remember where our duty lies.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A History of Pagan Music
Hi! We’re Tegwedd ShadowDancer and DruidMaster. We’re really happy to be on PRN.
We’ve been on for three months since we were reinstated. The music is just beautiful. I especially liked the Volva songs by Kari Tauring. I happen to be half Norwegian, so the Norse tradition really calls to my blood. I lean more towards the Vanir than the Aesir, however. I love that Freyja is the Goddess of fertility, love, and Witchcraft. We had lost our accounts back when everyone had to redo theirs. But that’s in the past. Both Stephen and I would be glad to hear from Lew. Please contact us when you can. Stephen’s phone # is 916-455-2267 cell is 916-612-2504 and email is abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com. My email is tezra.reitan@gmail.com. One neat thing (there are so many) about Freyja is that she is a cat Goddess. Her chariot is drawn by cats. The dwarves bequeathed the magickal necklace Brisingamen. The dwarves bestowed on Her some of their magick so She’d have access to them. Because of what was bestowed upon Her Freyja is now a patroness of the dwarven race. Stephen recommends that you read the book Brisingamen by Diana L. Paxson. If it’s not too much trouble, please play more Celtic music such as Horslips (whom Stephen worked with), the Chieftains, etc. If anyone’s interested, Horslips’ music can be found on YouTude with video, and on Rhapsody. That’s where I got mine. Also you can find it on their official website http://www.horslips.com. To make sure, Google it. There’s at least 8 Horslips videos on YouTube. Stephen was a personal friend of the band from the mid 70s to the early 80s, but lost contact with them. He would like to get in contact with them. For the most part Horslips’ music has a strong Pagan flavor to it. Some members of the band such as Jim Lockhart called him the band’s Druid. Stephen even had a birthday party for Jim Lockhart. Jim was in the Bay Area and said “It’s my birthday. Why don’t you invite a few friends over? “ Stephen did and over 100 people showed up. Jim thanked Stephen on no uncertain terms for the spontaneous birthday party. Many local Pagan musicians came to this party, as well as people who loved Horslips’ music. Some of these musicians actually garnered some fame, such as Gwydion Penderwyn, who unfortunately passed into the Summerland in 1982. Gwydion would later record Songs for the Old Religion and the Faerie Shaman. Gwydion and Jim hit it off big time, and loved to jam together into the wee hours. Stephen worked with them, and wanted to go to a concert they were holding in the Bay Area, but was felled by a serious asthma attack, and had to go to the hospital in Oakland. Horslips dedicated one of their most famous songs to Stephen. The work Stephen did for Horslips was he promoted them, networked for them (before the day of the Internet) and in some cases sold their recorded music. Stephen is so inspired talking about this that when this post is finished, he’s going to reconnect with the band, especially Jim Lockhart on their website.
Gwydion worked with Stephen for several years, and put on at least 2 major Pagan events: the Witches’ Ball with Starhawk and the Midsummer Pagan festival with Steve Godlstone and Bill Coleus. They were very close buds. They also shared several interested: Welsh or Cymric myth, legend and magick, and bardic music. The Witches Ball took place at the haunted Finnish Hall in the Berkeley wharf area. The Witches Ball was a rousing success which inspired them to put on the Midsummer Pagan Festival in Big Trees Meadow in the Oakland Hills. There was a huge after ball party at Stephen’s Orcland (Oakland) house, the site of the aforementioned birthday party. As it was with the birthday party, many other Pagan musicians jammed with Gwydion until the wee hours. Soon after this party, Stephen, Gwydion, Bill Coleus, and Steve Goldstone started working on putting on the Midsummer Pagan Festival. It was decided that Stephen should call Jim Lockhart in Ireland to invite Horslips to play. They worked on the festival for a goodly amount of time then got a call from Jim expressing his regret that the band had broken up and wouldn’t be able to play the festival. This sad news was tempered when Brigit, Goddess of bards smiled upon them and another group stepped in to replace Horslips. The band was Emerald Web. Emerald Web was Bob Stole and his wife Cat Apple, synthesizer and flute. Bob died in the early 80s. Emerald Web’s music enchanted the people at the festival, and Stephen started working for them as he had with Horslips. One attendee came up to Stephen and raved about how much he loved Emerald Web. The man had long hair with a red bandana. With the mist falling from the sky, he felt as he danced as though he were in a faery circle, and that the sidh approved of what they were doing. They had over 600 attendees to the festival, and there were many other musicians besides Emerald Web. Stephen worked with Emerald Web for over 9 years, until the death of Bob Stole, and with his death, Emerald Web. Bob drowned in Carl Sagan’s swimming pool in Florida, a very strange death. Bob Sole and Cat Apple were what we call Pagan sympathizers. Their background was more Eastern, and were both martial artists, but they had very strong ties with the Pagan and so-called “New Age” communities. (Isaac always said that the difference between Pagan and New Age is several decimal spaces to the left of the decimal point) Neither Bob nor Cat liked the term “New Age”, They saw themselves as innovators, and didn’t like to be thus pigeonholed. The one concert that was very popular was the one they did at the Planetarium in San Francisco with the laser lights. Stephen said it was awesome. They also did it at the Oakland planetarium. Stephen sold their music, sold their albums, and accompanied them to numerous gatherings and parties. Stephen worked with many other bands which Bob and Cat turned him on to, chief among which was Ancient Future, which is still going strong today. Another musical group Stephen worked with during this time was Geist, the husband and wife team of Diana Stork and Teed Rockwell. He continued doing this kind of work up until 1992 or 93 when he lost contact with these wonderful bands Now all he has left are his memories and their music on cassette and vinyl, nothing on CD. Since he has a long standing account with Rhapsody, he may be able to get some of this music on Rhapsody. He would love to see Emerald Web, Gwydion, Ancient Future, Horslips, and Geist on the Pagan Radio Network. So Lew, if you are reading this, please know that if he can be instrumental in bringing this music to PRN, please call or email him so you two can set something up. This music deserves to be heard again, Lew, so that a new generation pf Pagans and Pag-symps can appreciate the hard work these people did. May this be done if only for the memory of Gwydion and Bob Stole. His number again is 916-455-2267. Stephen encourages fellow music enthusiasts to call him and talk about the music. .
.
We’ve been on for three months since we were reinstated. The music is just beautiful. I especially liked the Volva songs by Kari Tauring. I happen to be half Norwegian, so the Norse tradition really calls to my blood. I lean more towards the Vanir than the Aesir, however. I love that Freyja is the Goddess of fertility, love, and Witchcraft. We had lost our accounts back when everyone had to redo theirs. But that’s in the past. Both Stephen and I would be glad to hear from Lew. Please contact us when you can. Stephen’s phone # is 916-455-2267 cell is 916-612-2504 and email is abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com. My email is tezra.reitan@gmail.com. One neat thing (there are so many) about Freyja is that she is a cat Goddess. Her chariot is drawn by cats. The dwarves bequeathed the magickal necklace Brisingamen. The dwarves bestowed on Her some of their magick so She’d have access to them. Because of what was bestowed upon Her Freyja is now a patroness of the dwarven race. Stephen recommends that you read the book Brisingamen by Diana L. Paxson. If it’s not too much trouble, please play more Celtic music such as Horslips (whom Stephen worked with), the Chieftains, etc. If anyone’s interested, Horslips’ music can be found on YouTude with video, and on Rhapsody. That’s where I got mine. Also you can find it on their official website http://www.horslips.com. To make sure, Google it. There’s at least 8 Horslips videos on YouTube. Stephen was a personal friend of the band from the mid 70s to the early 80s, but lost contact with them. He would like to get in contact with them. For the most part Horslips’ music has a strong Pagan flavor to it. Some members of the band such as Jim Lockhart called him the band’s Druid. Stephen even had a birthday party for Jim Lockhart. Jim was in the Bay Area and said “It’s my birthday. Why don’t you invite a few friends over? “ Stephen did and over 100 people showed up. Jim thanked Stephen on no uncertain terms for the spontaneous birthday party. Many local Pagan musicians came to this party, as well as people who loved Horslips’ music. Some of these musicians actually garnered some fame, such as Gwydion Penderwyn, who unfortunately passed into the Summerland in 1982. Gwydion would later record Songs for the Old Religion and the Faerie Shaman. Gwydion and Jim hit it off big time, and loved to jam together into the wee hours. Stephen worked with them, and wanted to go to a concert they were holding in the Bay Area, but was felled by a serious asthma attack, and had to go to the hospital in Oakland. Horslips dedicated one of their most famous songs to Stephen. The work Stephen did for Horslips was he promoted them, networked for them (before the day of the Internet) and in some cases sold their recorded music. Stephen is so inspired talking about this that when this post is finished, he’s going to reconnect with the band, especially Jim Lockhart on their website.
Gwydion worked with Stephen for several years, and put on at least 2 major Pagan events: the Witches’ Ball with Starhawk and the Midsummer Pagan festival with Steve Godlstone and Bill Coleus. They were very close buds. They also shared several interested: Welsh or Cymric myth, legend and magick, and bardic music. The Witches Ball took place at the haunted Finnish Hall in the Berkeley wharf area. The Witches Ball was a rousing success which inspired them to put on the Midsummer Pagan Festival in Big Trees Meadow in the Oakland Hills. There was a huge after ball party at Stephen’s Orcland (Oakland) house, the site of the aforementioned birthday party. As it was with the birthday party, many other Pagan musicians jammed with Gwydion until the wee hours. Soon after this party, Stephen, Gwydion, Bill Coleus, and Steve Goldstone started working on putting on the Midsummer Pagan Festival. It was decided that Stephen should call Jim Lockhart in Ireland to invite Horslips to play. They worked on the festival for a goodly amount of time then got a call from Jim expressing his regret that the band had broken up and wouldn’t be able to play the festival. This sad news was tempered when Brigit, Goddess of bards smiled upon them and another group stepped in to replace Horslips. The band was Emerald Web. Emerald Web was Bob Stole and his wife Cat Apple, synthesizer and flute. Bob died in the early 80s. Emerald Web’s music enchanted the people at the festival, and Stephen started working for them as he had with Horslips. One attendee came up to Stephen and raved about how much he loved Emerald Web. The man had long hair with a red bandana. With the mist falling from the sky, he felt as he danced as though he were in a faery circle, and that the sidh approved of what they were doing. They had over 600 attendees to the festival, and there were many other musicians besides Emerald Web. Stephen worked with Emerald Web for over 9 years, until the death of Bob Stole, and with his death, Emerald Web. Bob drowned in Carl Sagan’s swimming pool in Florida, a very strange death. Bob Sole and Cat Apple were what we call Pagan sympathizers. Their background was more Eastern, and were both martial artists, but they had very strong ties with the Pagan and so-called “New Age” communities. (Isaac always said that the difference between Pagan and New Age is several decimal spaces to the left of the decimal point) Neither Bob nor Cat liked the term “New Age”, They saw themselves as innovators, and didn’t like to be thus pigeonholed. The one concert that was very popular was the one they did at the Planetarium in San Francisco with the laser lights. Stephen said it was awesome. They also did it at the Oakland planetarium. Stephen sold their music, sold their albums, and accompanied them to numerous gatherings and parties. Stephen worked with many other bands which Bob and Cat turned him on to, chief among which was Ancient Future, which is still going strong today. Another musical group Stephen worked with during this time was Geist, the husband and wife team of Diana Stork and Teed Rockwell. He continued doing this kind of work up until 1992 or 93 when he lost contact with these wonderful bands Now all he has left are his memories and their music on cassette and vinyl, nothing on CD. Since he has a long standing account with Rhapsody, he may be able to get some of this music on Rhapsody. He would love to see Emerald Web, Gwydion, Ancient Future, Horslips, and Geist on the Pagan Radio Network. So Lew, if you are reading this, please know that if he can be instrumental in bringing this music to PRN, please call or email him so you two can set something up. This music deserves to be heard again, Lew, so that a new generation pf Pagans and Pag-symps can appreciate the hard work these people did. May this be done if only for the memory of Gwydion and Bob Stole. His number again is 916-455-2267. Stephen encourages fellow music enthusiasts to call him and talk about the music. .
.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My BOS and 2 Other Books
For me, the Book of Shadows has a very narrow focus. A lot of Witches like to put a bunch of stuff in their BOSes: dreams, visions, psychic experiences, experiences while doing a spell, and whatnot. I like to have a separate book for my magickal diary, a separate book for my dream journal, and then there’s my BOS. I also have several Disks Of Shadows, and a Box of Shadows. The Disks of Shadows are floppy disks labeled “Disk of Shadows” and “Daughter of Disk of Shadows.” On these disks are spells and rituals. The Box of Shadows is a Whitman’s Chocolates Sampler box with spells in it, both from the Llewellyn Spell A Day calendar, and a few spells I wrote down on 3 x 5 index cards.
The other books I keep (albeit sporadically) are my dream journal and my magickal journal. The dream journal is a looseleaf binder filled with notebook filler paper in which I record my dreams, and occasionally story ideas that I come up with in the middle of the night. The reason for this is twofold. When you deal with dreams, you’re dealing with the subconscious. The subconscious is an invaluable tool for one who has made friends with hers, and knows how to use it. For the magician or Witch, it is the seat of magick. It is the subconscious which does the magick. To those who follow the Max Freedom Long and Huna tradition, the subconscious is the Younger Self. It is always aged somewhere between the ages of 5 and 12, and never never grows up no matter how old we get on the outside. It loves to do magick and ritual. It loves to get dressed up and play make-believe. But it believes that what it is playing at is literally true. The subconscious has no sense of irony. When I was 45, I suddenly realized what a powerful tool I had in my wonderful wild weird subconscious, and how wonderful it could be if I made friends with it. The subconscious is also the seat of the imagination, and a writer needs her imagination. The subconscious is where all a writer’s ideas come from. If you have voices telling you what to write, that is where your voices come from. My shrink explained to my meds group that creative people often have voices in their heads telling them what to create. Great authors, poets, artists, and musicians call it their muse. The Muses in Greek mythology were the nine daughters of the god Apollo and the nymph Memory. But I think that there are male muses too, for the emerging female artists of our times. I have both male and female muses. One night I awoke to a very insistent woman’s voice speaking with a thick French accent nagging at me to tell her story. Where did this voice come from? Why, it has to be my subconscious. Freudians say it’s through endless psychoanalysis and every dream has a sexual component, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, the smell of which makes me gag. You yourself are the best interpreter of your own dreams. Your subconscious is, as you know, a seething broth of everything you’ve ever experienced, whether directly in your life, or indirectly in books, movies, what people have told you, etc. There is also the unconscious which has images we are not aware of but which are in our DNA, and come through to us at times just because we are human. It is in that one percent of our DNA which differentiates us from our closest primate cousins the great apes.
The last book that many Witches include in their Books of Shadows is the magickal diary. This I can see in a way. You want to put in your BOS about how a spell or a ritual went when you performed it. Here again I return to the need for a narrow focus for the BOS and the need for a separate volume. Your magickal diary is a lab notebook which should list the conditions under which you undertook to perform this spell or ritual. This includes any planets transiting that day or night, and your own psychic mood. I follow the Thelemite practice of listing the Sun sign and Moon sign. I refer to the spell or ritual in some way, and describe it. I leave room for results and aftershocks. What I use is one of those composition books with marbleized covers that you can often get 3 or 4 at a time for cheap during August’s getting ready for school sales.
I have decided to give KEEN a deadline. If they don’t get their act together and send me sufficient paying calls to make it worth the trouble to stay with them by March 1st I’m leaving and never looking back. KEEN has been like IMVU to me. It’s been a lot of headaches, hassles, and stress which I don’t need. I had to take my Magicjack off my phone, which means I can’t make long distance calls. All the money I would’ve made from KEEN I had to put back in for bidding, which is a racket. In order to be in a place on the list that is high enough for people to see your listing and call you, you have to bid. Well, I had to bid the money I’d made, and the bid only lasted one day. Did I get any paying calls from it? No! So if you want to earn extra money, find some other way to do it. Do NOT become a reader for KEEN or any other psychic reading service. They exploit their workers, and you don’t get a thing from them. I only joined it because Stephen pestered me so to join it. Well, the next time he comes up with a great scheme for making money, I shall remind him of my KEEN experience and tell him to keep quiet about it. If it works for him, maybe I’ll ask him about it Oh, and if you want to delay my departure from KEEN, call 1-800-275-5336 and ask for Teiweth ShadowDancer 8342 or go to http://www.keen.com and ask for Teiweth ShadowDancer and I’ll give you a good reading. But only call between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. (all times Pacific). That’s when I’m available.
.
The other books I keep (albeit sporadically) are my dream journal and my magickal journal. The dream journal is a looseleaf binder filled with notebook filler paper in which I record my dreams, and occasionally story ideas that I come up with in the middle of the night. The reason for this is twofold. When you deal with dreams, you’re dealing with the subconscious. The subconscious is an invaluable tool for one who has made friends with hers, and knows how to use it. For the magician or Witch, it is the seat of magick. It is the subconscious which does the magick. To those who follow the Max Freedom Long and Huna tradition, the subconscious is the Younger Self. It is always aged somewhere between the ages of 5 and 12, and never never grows up no matter how old we get on the outside. It loves to do magick and ritual. It loves to get dressed up and play make-believe. But it believes that what it is playing at is literally true. The subconscious has no sense of irony. When I was 45, I suddenly realized what a powerful tool I had in my wonderful wild weird subconscious, and how wonderful it could be if I made friends with it. The subconscious is also the seat of the imagination, and a writer needs her imagination. The subconscious is where all a writer’s ideas come from. If you have voices telling you what to write, that is where your voices come from. My shrink explained to my meds group that creative people often have voices in their heads telling them what to create. Great authors, poets, artists, and musicians call it their muse. The Muses in Greek mythology were the nine daughters of the god Apollo and the nymph Memory. But I think that there are male muses too, for the emerging female artists of our times. I have both male and female muses. One night I awoke to a very insistent woman’s voice speaking with a thick French accent nagging at me to tell her story. Where did this voice come from? Why, it has to be my subconscious. Freudians say it’s through endless psychoanalysis and every dream has a sexual component, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, the smell of which makes me gag. You yourself are the best interpreter of your own dreams. Your subconscious is, as you know, a seething broth of everything you’ve ever experienced, whether directly in your life, or indirectly in books, movies, what people have told you, etc. There is also the unconscious which has images we are not aware of but which are in our DNA, and come through to us at times just because we are human. It is in that one percent of our DNA which differentiates us from our closest primate cousins the great apes.
The last book that many Witches include in their Books of Shadows is the magickal diary. This I can see in a way. You want to put in your BOS about how a spell or a ritual went when you performed it. Here again I return to the need for a narrow focus for the BOS and the need for a separate volume. Your magickal diary is a lab notebook which should list the conditions under which you undertook to perform this spell or ritual. This includes any planets transiting that day or night, and your own psychic mood. I follow the Thelemite practice of listing the Sun sign and Moon sign. I refer to the spell or ritual in some way, and describe it. I leave room for results and aftershocks. What I use is one of those composition books with marbleized covers that you can often get 3 or 4 at a time for cheap during August’s getting ready for school sales.
I have decided to give KEEN a deadline. If they don’t get their act together and send me sufficient paying calls to make it worth the trouble to stay with them by March 1st I’m leaving and never looking back. KEEN has been like IMVU to me. It’s been a lot of headaches, hassles, and stress which I don’t need. I had to take my Magicjack off my phone, which means I can’t make long distance calls. All the money I would’ve made from KEEN I had to put back in for bidding, which is a racket. In order to be in a place on the list that is high enough for people to see your listing and call you, you have to bid. Well, I had to bid the money I’d made, and the bid only lasted one day. Did I get any paying calls from it? No! So if you want to earn extra money, find some other way to do it. Do NOT become a reader for KEEN or any other psychic reading service. They exploit their workers, and you don’t get a thing from them. I only joined it because Stephen pestered me so to join it. Well, the next time he comes up with a great scheme for making money, I shall remind him of my KEEN experience and tell him to keep quiet about it. If it works for him, maybe I’ll ask him about it Oh, and if you want to delay my departure from KEEN, call 1-800-275-5336 and ask for Teiweth ShadowDancer 8342 or go to http://www.keen.com and ask for Teiweth ShadowDancer and I’ll give you a good reading. But only call between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. (all times Pacific). That’s when I’m available.
.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Passion Magick
We’re glad you could make it! Do check out the other Abbott’s Inn Fine Art of Passion Magick groups on other networks. If you are not at least 18 years of age, change to another group right now. I’m eligible because I’m so far over 18 that my daughter is over 18! Llewellyn has many book titles on the subject of sacred sex and sex magick. Two of my favorites are: Modern Sex Magick by Donald Michael Kraig and Secrets of the German Sex Magicians by Frater U:.D:..
There are many sex positions in tantra. The book Sexual Secrets by Penny Slinger and Nik Douglas is a more accessible version of the Kama Sutra, that ancient Hindu pillow book. A pillow book is a book of instructions in the arts of love, so called because it is often stored under a bed pillow. I have a copy of a translation of the Kama Sutra. It’s a translation because I can’t read Sanskrit any better than you can. My only complaint about it is that it doesn’t have any illustrations.
There are many secret societies in which sexuality play a major role. It was rumored that homosexual sex practices played a major role in the Templars. The Fraterni Saturni also practiced sex magick, as do the I.O.T. The OTO is well known for sex magick, but as a former member, I can tell you that there is precious little sex magick going on. If there is any, the members are doing it on their own, without any official sanction. In fact, the present administration is trying to take all the magick out of it, and make it just like a straight Masonic lodge. I learned very little ritual magick while in its membership. I learned more in spite of them than I did under their tutelage. Much of the Tibetan sex magick practiced there was suppressed first by the Nazis and now by the Communist Chinese, but may still be practiced in exile in India and Nepal. If you know any more about the Tantric schools of India and Tibet, please post here. Or if you know of other magickal lodges or secret societies who practice and teach sex magick please let us know. Jonathan Mumford is a knowledgeable source of information about sex magick and tantra. The one though that I’d like to meet is Frater U:.D:.. I have several of his books on both straight magick and sex magick.
The very subject of sex magick has a bad reputation for 2 reasons. One obvious reason is of course the Christians, who have basically been against anything having to do with sex since about the 3rd century because of St. Anthony. The second reason is that unscrupulous persons have used sex magick in order to compel other people and stay in control over them, when sex magick between loving people is supposed to be a liberating experience, not an enslaving one. If anyone tries to control you using sex magick or any other means, run the other way as fast as you can. Find a Wiccan priestess and have the person blacklisted is what Stephen has to say on the subject. Always use sex magick for positive ends. .Use sex magick for sexual enhancement. Use it to charge sigils for positive ends such as prosperity or healing. One other book, the New Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort, MD has many positions for you to check out and use. I believe it is still in print. You can also find positions in Denning & Philips’ book on sex magick: The Llewellyn Practical Guide to the Magick of Sex: The Book of Creative Loving. Of course, Sexual Secrets is the classic in the field.
Right now our neighbors are setting off fireworks to celebrate the New Year. This isn’t relevant to our discussion of sex magick except that when you have really great sex, and if you have orgasms, it can be as though fireworks were being set off. Neither Stephen nor I like the kinds of fireworks that make lots of noise. I told him that the Chinese light up firecrackers in order to scare away evil spirits. All right, back to sex or passion magick.
Stephen mentioned the use of creative visualization during sex magick. This requires a lot of skill because you have to only superficially pay attention to the sex, but most of your attention needs to be on what you are visualizing. Also you and your partner both need to be thinking of the same visual image. I had a fantasy once of being made love to by a Roman gladiator, and the result was my ebook Roman Rhapsody, which came out in early 2008. In creative visualization, the woman will invoke her favorite aspect of the Goddess, and the man will invoke his favorite aspect of the God, preferably the Goddess’s correct Consort, such as Ishtar’s Consort Tammuz, and so on. Pay attention to your breathing while you’re aspecting. Visualize lofty vistas where your “characters” reside.
Soothing music can also be helpful in setting the mood. If doing tantra, Tibetan drumming or Indian sitar and tabla playing can put you into the right mood. .
If you know anyone who wants a fairly cheap housing situation with two congenial Pagan magickal housemates in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Sacramento, contact me at tezra.reitan@gmail.com or Stephen at abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or Stephen at his phone number 916-455-2267. Also, we desperately need donations to keep Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick afloat. You can send donations of any size to either Stephen’s Paypal account at abbottsinn@gmail.com or abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or my Paypal account at tezra.reitan@gmail.com. If it’s for at least $32, you’ll get either a reading or a class from our vast collections of divination decks/methods/tools or for the class, pick a topic from our vast repertoire in the field of magick. For $60, you can actually have both a reading and a class. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet, or my mic, but with Stephen you can have sound and video on Yahoo IM, Windows Msgr or Skype. With me for a short while, it’ll be just phone or typing on Yahoo IM or Windows Msgr. Thank you for using and disseminating Stephen’s Zodiac referral number 1-800-280-8496. Stephen1580. It helps ever so much when you use it instead of the regular number because you don’t pay any more, but he makes three times as much. We’re both on SSI, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger drastically cut both of our checks, and Keen isn’t coming up with the paying calls. I haven’t made one cent since signing on with Keen. My clients all demand free five minute readings, and refuse to go over that five minutes for a paid reading. In fact, it’s cost me money to bid so altogether, Keen has been pretty much of a total loss for me. If you need money, kids, mow lawns or babysit, don’t join a psychic reading service, because it’ll just suck in what little money you do have.
Do check out the PaganRadioNetwork.net It’s free, although they certainly do accept donations. Doesn’t everyone? Seems like everyone has his hat out nowadays, and we’re sorry to be part of that, but the situation is dirt. We almost lost our power yesterday. In these times of smaller SSI checks, a bankrupt state, and practically non-existent paying KEEN calls, the prices just seem to be rising all the time for less and less service or quality.
In order to keep his computer alive, or perhaps get a new computer, Stephen needs a new battery and Windows 7, because Vista is just too unreliable. Vista is the worst operating system since 98. But first Stephen has to pay off his rent, and so do I. Don’t buy a Dell or do business with Wells Fargo. They’re both ripoffs.
If you’re ever in Sacramento, look up Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. Together they own Gallery 14 at 14th St. and 60th Avenue. We’re promoting them big time. Walter Rhoads has a very interesting and different approach to art. He compares himself to the late great Jackson Pollock but there are two main differences: Rhoads is still drawing breath with a healthy 98.6 degrees temperature (except when he’s sick, in which case it’s somewhat higher) and I think Jackson Pollock was gay, and Rhoads is, like us, hopelessly hetero.
We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Sorry about my negativity up there, but I’ve been very depressed by this economy lately, and wishing I were with Doc in the Summerland.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky my BFF (BoyFriend Forever)
Little (Big)Boy
Oreo (the Mouser)
Bailee Beasley Beastly
Frikki & Frakki
Dr. Livingston I. Presume aka Prince Henry the Navigator
There are many sex positions in tantra. The book Sexual Secrets by Penny Slinger and Nik Douglas is a more accessible version of the Kama Sutra, that ancient Hindu pillow book. A pillow book is a book of instructions in the arts of love, so called because it is often stored under a bed pillow. I have a copy of a translation of the Kama Sutra. It’s a translation because I can’t read Sanskrit any better than you can. My only complaint about it is that it doesn’t have any illustrations.
There are many secret societies in which sexuality play a major role. It was rumored that homosexual sex practices played a major role in the Templars. The Fraterni Saturni also practiced sex magick, as do the I.O.T. The OTO is well known for sex magick, but as a former member, I can tell you that there is precious little sex magick going on. If there is any, the members are doing it on their own, without any official sanction. In fact, the present administration is trying to take all the magick out of it, and make it just like a straight Masonic lodge. I learned very little ritual magick while in its membership. I learned more in spite of them than I did under their tutelage. Much of the Tibetan sex magick practiced there was suppressed first by the Nazis and now by the Communist Chinese, but may still be practiced in exile in India and Nepal. If you know any more about the Tantric schools of India and Tibet, please post here. Or if you know of other magickal lodges or secret societies who practice and teach sex magick please let us know. Jonathan Mumford is a knowledgeable source of information about sex magick and tantra. The one though that I’d like to meet is Frater U:.D:.. I have several of his books on both straight magick and sex magick.
The very subject of sex magick has a bad reputation for 2 reasons. One obvious reason is of course the Christians, who have basically been against anything having to do with sex since about the 3rd century because of St. Anthony. The second reason is that unscrupulous persons have used sex magick in order to compel other people and stay in control over them, when sex magick between loving people is supposed to be a liberating experience, not an enslaving one. If anyone tries to control you using sex magick or any other means, run the other way as fast as you can. Find a Wiccan priestess and have the person blacklisted is what Stephen has to say on the subject. Always use sex magick for positive ends. .Use sex magick for sexual enhancement. Use it to charge sigils for positive ends such as prosperity or healing. One other book, the New Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort, MD has many positions for you to check out and use. I believe it is still in print. You can also find positions in Denning & Philips’ book on sex magick: The Llewellyn Practical Guide to the Magick of Sex: The Book of Creative Loving. Of course, Sexual Secrets is the classic in the field.
Right now our neighbors are setting off fireworks to celebrate the New Year. This isn’t relevant to our discussion of sex magick except that when you have really great sex, and if you have orgasms, it can be as though fireworks were being set off. Neither Stephen nor I like the kinds of fireworks that make lots of noise. I told him that the Chinese light up firecrackers in order to scare away evil spirits. All right, back to sex or passion magick.
Stephen mentioned the use of creative visualization during sex magick. This requires a lot of skill because you have to only superficially pay attention to the sex, but most of your attention needs to be on what you are visualizing. Also you and your partner both need to be thinking of the same visual image. I had a fantasy once of being made love to by a Roman gladiator, and the result was my ebook Roman Rhapsody, which came out in early 2008. In creative visualization, the woman will invoke her favorite aspect of the Goddess, and the man will invoke his favorite aspect of the God, preferably the Goddess’s correct Consort, such as Ishtar’s Consort Tammuz, and so on. Pay attention to your breathing while you’re aspecting. Visualize lofty vistas where your “characters” reside.
Soothing music can also be helpful in setting the mood. If doing tantra, Tibetan drumming or Indian sitar and tabla playing can put you into the right mood. .
If you know anyone who wants a fairly cheap housing situation with two congenial Pagan magickal housemates in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Sacramento, contact me at tezra.reitan@gmail.com or Stephen at abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or Stephen at his phone number 916-455-2267. Also, we desperately need donations to keep Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick afloat. You can send donations of any size to either Stephen’s Paypal account at abbottsinn@gmail.com or abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or my Paypal account at tezra.reitan@gmail.com. If it’s for at least $32, you’ll get either a reading or a class from our vast collections of divination decks/methods/tools or for the class, pick a topic from our vast repertoire in the field of magick. For $60, you can actually have both a reading and a class. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet, or my mic, but with Stephen you can have sound and video on Yahoo IM, Windows Msgr or Skype. With me for a short while, it’ll be just phone or typing on Yahoo IM or Windows Msgr. Thank you for using and disseminating Stephen’s Zodiac referral number 1-800-280-8496. Stephen1580. It helps ever so much when you use it instead of the regular number because you don’t pay any more, but he makes three times as much. We’re both on SSI, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger drastically cut both of our checks, and Keen isn’t coming up with the paying calls. I haven’t made one cent since signing on with Keen. My clients all demand free five minute readings, and refuse to go over that five minutes for a paid reading. In fact, it’s cost me money to bid so altogether, Keen has been pretty much of a total loss for me. If you need money, kids, mow lawns or babysit, don’t join a psychic reading service, because it’ll just suck in what little money you do have.
Do check out the PaganRadioNetwork.net It’s free, although they certainly do accept donations. Doesn’t everyone? Seems like everyone has his hat out nowadays, and we’re sorry to be part of that, but the situation is dirt. We almost lost our power yesterday. In these times of smaller SSI checks, a bankrupt state, and practically non-existent paying KEEN calls, the prices just seem to be rising all the time for less and less service or quality.
In order to keep his computer alive, or perhaps get a new computer, Stephen needs a new battery and Windows 7, because Vista is just too unreliable. Vista is the worst operating system since 98. But first Stephen has to pay off his rent, and so do I. Don’t buy a Dell or do business with Wells Fargo. They’re both ripoffs.
If you’re ever in Sacramento, look up Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. Together they own Gallery 14 at 14th St. and 60th Avenue. We’re promoting them big time. Walter Rhoads has a very interesting and different approach to art. He compares himself to the late great Jackson Pollock but there are two main differences: Rhoads is still drawing breath with a healthy 98.6 degrees temperature (except when he’s sick, in which case it’s somewhat higher) and I think Jackson Pollock was gay, and Rhoads is, like us, hopelessly hetero.
We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Sorry about my negativity up there, but I’ve been very depressed by this economy lately, and wishing I were with Doc in the Summerland.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky my BFF (BoyFriend Forever)
Little (Big)Boy
Oreo (the Mouser)
Bailee Beasley Beastly
Frikki & Frakki
Dr. Livingston I. Presume aka Prince Henry the Navigator
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