School Officials in Oklahoma have accused a 15 year old student of hexing a teacher and causing him illness. The ACLU spokesman said that they believe this is the first lawsuit involving actual accusations of witchcraft. (The student is apparently a Wiccan.) They not only suspended her for casting spells, but told her she couldn't draw or wear Wiccan symbols in school anymore.
There's so many things I could comment on here, I'm flummoxed. *grin* Let me just say then that Wicca has been 'officially recognized' and that if you can wear a cross to school, or a Star of David, then Pentacles should be allowed as well. Deal with your fears people - they're showing up in front of you so you can SEE them and decide not to be ruled by them anymore! But don't worry - if you miss this opportunity, you will create another one.
Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory. -- Alan Alda
I remember when I had my wisdom teeth extracted... It was the first time I'd ever been out cold - I counted back from 99 (oh, that was weird - one of those moments when you type something (the 99) and they say it on the tv at the exact moment you're writing it - cool!), and barely got past 99. Next thing I know I'm laying down in the recovery room with my mom sitting in a chair next to me. It kinda boggled my mind having NO CONSCIOUS memory and having missing time - like a not-as-scary-or-against-your-will kinda abduction experience. (Best part was having a good excuse to eat lots of ice cream though.)
Uh-oh - I've been at it again - a new blog design is right around the corner - the new one is more artsy and typographical, a bit brighter, and uses style sheet codes for the links. I'll keep this design up until at least Halloween though. Just wanted to tease you a little.
Artists take what IS and add a piece of themselves to it. That's why artists have never been good at doing tasks by rote. They must find their OWN way to do or express something, even the most mundane of things, like washing dishes, or walking. Even in small ways, artists make something NEW out of what IS - they are intimately connected with the unmanifest in this way - never tell them that imagination is not real, for they know better.
... We are ALL artists - sometimes we just don't realize it right away.
From an interview with Laurie Anderson (performance artist) .... "But back to the Bible: the Sermon on the Mount. 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? . . But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' I think Richard Nonas was thinking of the Sermon on the Mount when he told me it was okay to be an artist. I was out of art school and I was complaining all the time about paying my rent: How am I going to eat? How am I going to go on? He said, "You’ve got it all wrong. First you have to say, ‘What do I want to make as an artist? What do I want to do as an artist?’ These other things are unimportant–they’ll happen anyway. Once you get your priorities straight, you’ll be surprised what happens."
Sounds AMAZINGLY like what Seth (as channeled by Jane Roberts) said about the 'idiot flowers' in one of the books - cool.
Halloween's almost here and I've been a little lax with my ghost story postings - so here's "one for the road" (nyuck nyuck). "About 6 years ago, my husband bought a 20 year old van at an auction. We found out that it had been owned by an old man who lived in it, traveling around the country in his retirement. My husband fixed it up, and he started driving it around. When he drove it, there were no problems. Whenever I drove it, there were always problems. The engine would die (no pun intended) for no reason. I slammed my hand in the door three times on one errand. My clothes caught in the door, in the seat belt, even around my arms when I tried to put the key in the ignition. Of course my husband thought I was being silly. None of that stuff happened when he was around. The only time he witnessed anything was one time on our way to a camping weekend. We had our two dogs with us, and while we drove, they were sitting on the bed in the back of the van. We stopped at a mini mart for something to drink. My husband got out of the car, locking the door. I got into the back to settle the dogs before getting out of the van myself. I heard the engine start again. I turned around, and my husband was outside, frantically trying to open the locked door. I went to the drivers' seat, and reached to the ignition turn it off. No key. Oh, yeah, my husband had it with him outside the door. My husband had trouble getting in, even with the key. So I reach over and open the door. He slid into the seat, then dropped his keys. I don't know why, but I decided to say something. I said, "You need to stop this right now! If you keep this up, we will turn around and go home. Then you won't get to go anywhere, and that's what you want to do, isn't it?" Right then, the vans' engine stopped. After that, my husband never again laughed at me when odd things happened in that van. A few years ago, my husband replaced the engine, and we never had any sort of trouble from that van again." (from Shadowlands)
And you thought Smell-o-Vision was just a funny joke people tossed around when talking about the future of internet interactivity. *grin* You KNOW people are going to create a way to make foul odors emit all over your computer room before you can stop them - it'll be a new kind of a virus. Heh heh. And what a way to set someone up - man using computer, smell-o-vision sprays flowery perfume all over - woman comes home and gets a whiff.... Evil - pure evil. *grin*
Today's Blue Moon Horoscope: Friday and here we are at the Scorpio New Moon. If you have your chart, pinpoint where the New Moon falls at 4 degrees Scorpio. Actually any of the fixed signs in the early degrees will be affected. Choices are again highlighted as again, we are WARNED to be very careful of the choices we make, especially right now. They can and will echo down through the ages. With the magnification of the Uranus station and the proximity of Neptune, these are not lightweight decisions. These are some of the big boys of the sky. Actions taken under them can't be taken back so easily. Venus in Sagittarius opposes Jupiter. In the meantime, Mercury retro will quincunx Jupiter, reactivating the Jupiter-Pluto dance again. This is going to be with us for awhile, hope everyone is getting used to it! :) We keep running into the question, "Are you SURE this is what you want?" And while the question may be getting monotonous, just remember that the Universe is giving us every opportunity to refine the vision before it becomes our reality.
I know what you mean about mornings. The other day I woke up at about 5 a.m., and jumped out of bed to be up BEFORE 'morning' hit - I think it's because I have these old associations that when I wake up in the morning, time is not MINE. For most of my life it's belonged to school and work. But when you wake up at night instead of in the morning, you wake up to your OWN time and I find I like 'being there' better.
During daylight hours, everyone else is up and thinking all sorts of thoughts (usually chaotic and often repetitively mundane, but busy busy busy), but at night they rest - so being up at night, for me, is like having some psychic space you can relax and stretch out in. The air isn't crowded and invasive.
Disjointed Thoughts of the A.M. I got stung by a bee yesterday on my little finger - it's still a little swollen, along with half of the back of my hand. It's been years since I've gotten stung by a bee; probably since I was a kid running around barefoot and stepped on one. Weird! In other news, the rain started at 4 this morning and is just letting up now... if it keeps raining, even off an on today, maybe our stream will start flowing again! Without the stream, most of the environment here seems so STILL all the time, as if it's holding its breath, waiting for water. Even in the rare occasion of a breeze or gusty wind.
Thursday's Blue Moon News Horoscope: Today would be a really good day to call in sick. Think I will. :) Actually, we have so much going on, it will be noticeable almost everywhere. We have three very strong aspects coming into play, and it could kick up some dust. First one out of the starting gate is Uranus who drives back direct at 17 degrees Aquarius, at 4:21 AM. (And just a reminder, I use Pacific Time, so adjust your time accordingly.) Time for change! We've been preparing for this for five months now. Shame on you if you aren't ready!! Time to take a giant step forward. More like a quantum leap, but we won't quibble about terminology. :) If you have your visions lined up, and the garbage has been jettisoned, congratulations! Forward movement is almost assured. If not, setbacks rather than breakthroughs are a real possibility. Next in line, we have the Sun squaring off with Neptune at 4 degrees Scorpio-Aquarius at 3:54 PM. Time to ride the uncharted waters of your intuition. Some of it can be rather unsettling, but ride the wave, and see what you can see. You may find the answers you've been subconsciously avoiding. These two alignments can be quite the blow, try and hang on. This too shall pass. Do whatever you can to stay grounded, and calm. You may not see a whole lot of calm people today. Pat their pointy little heads and go for a walk. Go see the leaves turning! Pretty leaves.. .. And finally, the Moon takes her trip through the Underworld as She moves into Scorpio at 5:23 PM, driving us deeper into the waters of the subconscious. With a Scorpio Sun and Moon, it can be quite intense. But you can magnify that by about 1,000 with this alignment. This is the moment of truth, passing through the past and into the future. Don't let the fun house mirrors distort your visions. A real good time to relax and reflect.. .. just drift. Light a candle, say a blessing and a prayer, and move one giant step ahead.
We were driving out our private road (which we share with neighbors who live way back in the hills and the local bovines) and I managed to snap this photo of a light (how now) brown cow that was only 2-3 feet from the car and didn't really feel an impulse to move away as we drove by. *grin*
You know those days when everything you've been thinking about kinda slips into place in your mind and forms a cohesive whole and then your head feels like it's twelves sizes larger than usual? Well, that's not what happened to me.. *grin* ... okay - that IS what is happening to me. Hopefully, I'll still be able to fit my head through the doorway because after all of this BRAIN WORK, I'm REALLY hungry and want a piece of that apple pie I made yesterday - LOL.
heh heh - "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? I suppose this depends somewhat upon the size of the soul. I think there are cases where the trade would do." -- Josh Billings, humorist (1818-85)
BTW, I'm only posting the Blue Moon Astrology THIS week because it amuses me - so enjoy it while it lasts. *grin* So - WEDNESDAY... the Moon stays on her balanced course through Libra, which, with any LUCK will have an effect on peace-making efforts. Use it if need be. We actually have a few trines kicking off today, which is always cool. The Libra Moon trines Jupiter at 6:08 AM, and trines the stationing Uranus at 6:03 PM today. This is a great time to set what your vision of the future will be. Decide what your future will be, and hold that thought! It looks to be a real productive mid-morning as the Moon in Libra forms a Grand Trine in the element of Air with Jupiter in Gemini and Uranus in Aquarius. Let your talents rip, and see what you can accomplish! For tomorrow we enter the New Moon, and Uranus goes direct. Busy, busy complex day tomorrow. Prepare.
We have just created a new family holiday - "HAPPY UPGRADE DAY!" - whenever we upgrade the computer, we must celebrate with feasting and much computer using. *grin* Seriously - we've been running on *24* mgs of RAM for WAY too long - and now we're up to 80 mgs - AHHHHHH!!! And we also got a newer CD drive - one that WORKS. So tonight, we had a great dinner and are looking forward to some homemade apple pie later as well. I'm sure we'll develop more events or traditions to go with this holiday as we go along. Heh heh.
But wait! There's more on the "Jim Twins"!! (see previous post for beginning of story.) DEFINITELY confirms my probable self theory... "Each one of them had an adopted brother named Larry, and each had a dog named Toy. At school, both of them had enjoyed math, but did rather poorly in English; they had both worked for the same burger chain when they were young; both had law enforcement training; and both twins had worked as gas station attendants at the same time, different stations. As adults, they had both married women named Linda, and had divorced about the same time. Both of their second wives were named Betty and they both had sons that were named James. One of them named their son James Alan, the other one named his son James Allen. Both twins had identical smoking and drinking habits, bit their nails compulsively, and had gone on diets to lose exactly 10 pounds just before they met." See, I don't think it's genetics - I think DNA is actually just a REFLECTION of who we choose to be, not what MAKES us be something. So because their DNA is the same (split from the same zygote) they start off with basically the same ideas of what they want to experience, and then as they go make slight changes to the plan according to their individual tastes. (That's as far as my theory goes on that - LOL.)
Another one funky story from my own life when I was living in the Seattle area: "I'd planned on going over to my friend Becky's house that morning. As I was standing in my bathroom with the door open, brushing my hair while looking in the mirror, I suddenly changed my focus from my own image and looked "past" myself to the reflection behind me. Now, usually I don't do this, mostly because it's just the reflection of the side of the refrigerator in the kitchen. This time, however, my heart lurched in my chest and I spun around. I could have sworn there was a huge, thick, block of a man made out of greenery and leaves standing right there! But when I turned around, all I saw was the side of the refrigerator, with a few plants sitting on top and a few sparse vines dangling down the side. Now, you might say that I just saw the plants and misinterpreted the image - I'd almost buy that EXCEPT... At the same time (we confirmed this later) Becky was standing in her kitchen making coffee. She turned around and completely filling her doorway was a huge green man! It stared at her and she stared at it for a full split second before her brain caught up with her, scared her, and then the green man was gone. We were pretty excited when we exchanged stories about an hour later, needless to say." (The green man is also a great legend - Celtic origin I think - dealing with nature spirits!)
Probable selves or just another cool twin story? "An unmarried immigrant woman gave birth to two boys, twins, who she put up for adoption shortly afterward. Later that August, the Springer family of Dayton, Ohio, brought their new adopted son home. They were informed that his twin brother had died. And while they felt badly for the boy, they were so glad to finally have their own child, the inquiry stopped there. In the meantime, almost 100 miles away in Lima, Ohio the Lewis family adopted a brand new baby boy. They too were told that the boy's twin had died. The Lewis family discovered, quite by accident, that the "other half," the twin to their son was still alive six years later. What was rather astonishing is that both of the families named the boys "James" or Jim, as they both became known as."
Today's Horoscope via Blue Moon News: Tuesday and we enter the period of anticipation before the first New Moon of the Scorpio Sun. Along with Uranus preparing to station direct on Thursday, you may notice people are tense and crabby. Blow it off, tempers are too easily set off right now. Look to the Middle East, and you tell me. Don't expect the answers to come too easily and try and enjoy the inward journeys you will find yourselves in. Don't go magnifying your fears in the fun-house mirrors of your imagination. That serves no purpose. Leave that to the Halloween experts and take those journeys literally, not psychologically right now. The Moon conjuncts Mars at 23 degrees Virgo just around the witching hour, (12:00 AM) which activates that critical, annoying little nagging voice in our heads. Ignore it. Nurture the inner-child, it does not need a whippin'! Patience.. .. and this too shall pass. Patience will again be a definite plus as the Moon puts on her judge's robes in Libra at lunchtime, and later trines Saturn and then Neptune. Everything in its season and time.
I would have posted the Astrology entry earlier but I kept getting errors from Blogger - I think that should be fixed now. Hopefully, tomorrow will yeild another good astrology report and a fluidly working blogger. *grin*
Every Monday Blue Moon News sends out their newsletter with astrology for the weekdays. I usually ignore daily astrology because the interpretations are usually really off or too mundane and not applicable, but Blue Moon's are actually much more to my liking - a little more conceptual, but going with the energy instead of trying to tell you which day you should go to the drycleaners for the best results. *grin* Anyway, having said that - here's today's:
Monday the Moon in Virgo squares off with the Jupiter-Pluto opposition first thing this morning. Still time to do the fall clean-up.. ..personal, work, home, relationships.. etc.,.. The line between reality and what we visualize will continue shifting through the week. So expect more of those "out of the corner of the eye" movements and other signs that the old ways are making way for the new. The Sun in Scorpio parallels Pluto. This is a time for shedding the past limitations and diving into the deep end of the Sea of Possibilities. Can't get there with all the baggage. The old fears and limitations have to go. It's a ball and chain around your neck right now. Shake it off, and let it be what the new paradigm grows out of. Holding our ghosts only causes the journey to become too heavy, letting go isn't as painful as carrying the load. Let it go. It's time.
I just remembered that WE have our very own original ghost story to tell too! Here it is as we wrote is down... "Merlin (our five-month old puppy) was running around the house, barking at seemingly nothing - we joked about having ghosts in the house. Then, Kristen was in the bathroom, while John was playing with Merlin in the kitchen. Suddenly, John watched from across the room as the cabinet doors above the sink opened by themselves and two glass pyrex dishes came crashing down into the sink. The two dishes survived the fall intact, and managed to miss six (treasured) Looney Tunes glasses soaking in the other half of the sink. The bowls had been positioned in the MIDDLE of the cupboard. Seemed like someone wanted our attention. So, we decided then to see if we could get something through the Ouija board. The energy came in quickly.... It spelled out "Heidi" and said yes when we asked if she had lived here in the past. Then we got something like "Stop tearing my world apart..." We got the impression that she had died, but didn't know it and was confused by OTHER PEOPLE changing around her house - something like that. Then she told us that the walnuts we had in a bag had gone bad and not to eat them. (We'd had them for a while and so just tossed them out.) Then we got the impression of chaotic energy again and she said, "REST, I NEED REST..." We asked how we could help her, but the planchette just circled around - she didn't know. So, on impulse we created a power circle to send her calm energy. Kristen sent her an image of a stable, calm, peaceful park setting, like in Jane Robert's Oversoul 7 Trilogy, and told her to go there. Eventually we felt her energy calm down and felt she’d been able to focus on the park. Kristen also gave her the suggestion that someone would be along soon to help her - like maybe an aunt. We never heard from her again."
Another strange story (you wouldn't believe how many I have read where people see black things and dark cat shapes - interesting!): "Shortly after I moved into my home, I met my current husband. When he moved in, alot of strangethings began to happen. Several times we were awakened late at night (three a.m.) by loud knocking at our door. When we got up, no one was there. One night we awoke at three a.m. to the sound of footsteps. We both got up, looked all around the house, looked OUTSIDE the house, no one there, yet we could both still hear the footsteps. They stopped after about ten minutes. Later still, one evening, we were discussing these events, when I said something like, "Geez, if only we had some sort of proof of all this weirdness..." and at that moment, a large dark shadow flew out of a mirror we were sitting by, making aloud fluttering noise as it flew through the house and out the front door. My husband looked at me, I looked at him, we were both afraid to speak. "Did you see that?" He said it first. Well, we both saw it. Then, the kids began to see shadow-cats. That is, cats in the house. At that time we had no cat! I asked if there was a spirit in the house one day, and a name popped into my head, but I never pursued that.We began to affectionately address the ghost and treat it like it belonged there, and gradually these strange events stopped." (from Shadowlands)
Oh, the evil thoughts one has when one owns a digital camera! *grin* Those guys I mentioned earlier are still out there - not just LOADING wood, but even mulching it with a loud generator too - LOL. Anyway - I thought about sneaking up on them (in the zoom lens sense of sneaking up) and taking a picture to post, but the zoom probably won't really be enough. *sigh* But it made me laugh to think of doing it. And wouldn't it be funny if these two ranchers that I don't know caught me taking a photo of them? *tumbleweed*
Ahh, the universe has SUCH a sense of humor. Considering my previous rant about people being really loud before dawn even hits... here's the quote of the day I found in my inbox... "Consider that this day ne'er dawns again." - Alighieri Dante *grin* I'm considering it... and I think I'm feeling thankful - LOL!
In the 'people are clueless' category... we live on a private road that gets very little traffic and there are no houses anywhere near us. This morning, about 25 minutes ago, a truck drove right by our house, and then parked by this load of wood from a fallen and then cut up pine tree. I can only assume he's there to load up on wood. (still dark - couldn't see) No, there's nothing wrong with that. What IS wrong is the cluelessness which allows someone to BLAST COUNTRY MUSIC from their truck stereo WHEN IT'S STILL DARK OUT and THERE'S A HOUSE a few hundred feet away (did I use enough uppercase lettering there?). Sure - I'm awake already, but John was sleeping. I don't mind people cranking music in their cars - even when it's so loud you can't hear your OWN car radio - because car's MOVE and it's TEMPORARY and on busy streets. This guy just doesn't seem to have a clue - or he's stone deaf.... There's supposed to be a quail hunter coming this morning as well, so I guess we can add eventual shotgun blasts into the mix at all - apparently Sunday is NOT going to be quietly dawning today. (I rant, but I'm laughing too.)
Speaking of boar skulls... (how many times do you get to say something like THAT in normal conversation, eh?)... here's a photo of the one John mounted on a post as a Halloween decoration.
Although the lower tusk on this side is broken (it usually protrudes up and over the top jaw line), that means you can clearly see the HORIZONTAL tusk sticking out from the top jaw - didn't even know they HAD those - another reason you don't want to mess with a boar. (So many jokes there... I just can't choose - consider yourself lucky.)
Trick or Treating on the 28th just because Halloween is on a TUESDAY??? Pure Evil. Just another example of how we get trained to try and stuff everything within the school/work system. OHMYGOD - a holiday is not convenient because schedules must be maintained? They already did it with Presidents Day and Columbus Day (observed - PAH!) etc.. You know, life really isn't schedulable and controllable like we think it is - it's always bursting at the seams. To quote Princess Leia, "The more you tighten your grip Vader, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." While I know many people just go along with whatever the masses are doing, more and more of what's 'not allowed' is squeezed out into the next probability. And, in this next probability, we're all there having a HUGE party - opening a new bottle of champagne everytime someone gives up trying to 'fit in' and says "Screw it."
Some people find old golf balls in their back yards - we find bleached cow bones.
There are vertibrae galore there, along with what we think is a hip or shoulder bone (the large one in the photo). We also find a lot of rib bones (about a foot and a half long) that the dogs play fetch with - although sometimes they get confused about whether to retrieve them or chew on them. *grin* Someday I figure we'll assemble a whole cow - or a mutation of a cow with a boar skull on top. Ewwwwwwwww!
Hey - how can you 'vote early, vote often' if everybody has to go to the polls on the same day (okay, excluding mail in absentee ballots) and you can only vote once? LOL. "I want to vote six times, about 3 days before the actual voting day." Don't mind me, I'm just amusing myself.
Took the dogs out at 4:30 a.m. and the stars are absolutely INCREDIBLE at that hour - they're so bright and the sky's so clear (well, in California, at least) - it takes your breath away - and not because it's also rather nippy outside! *grin* Orion's belt was glowing just over the treetops at that hour.
