CyberCoven.org

(I’ve never shared this story publicly.)

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Tested and used by yours truly. Gathered from all over the InterWebs.

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I’m spending Mabon literally in the middle of an orchard. I’m in Italy and all around me they are harvesting apples and pears (the peaches were last week, melons the week before). The house we are staying in is 100s of years old and has been in the same family all of that time. There is a pomegranate tree in the garden, and I’m delighted to see one ‘in the wild’ because it’s so entirely new for me. When we aren’t cooking for ourselves, my husband and I venture uot to one of many local places where we are often the only Americans, if not the only ones speaking something other than Italian. We do our best to expand our vocabulary and laugh when they switch to English because we just aren’t very good at it.

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One of our ‘rules’ is that getting to a foreign country is so expensive that we want to stay there as long as possible.  Another rule is that we each pack only a piece of luggage small enough to carry on, and a personal bag. Yet another rule is that we do our best to dress like locals. This means we have to get creative about what — and how — we pack.

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“Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. For those few months, you’re not required to be who everyone thinks you are, and that cut-grass smell in the air and the chance to dive into the deep end of a pool give you a courage you don’t have the rest of the year. You can be grateful and easy, with no eyes on you, and no past. Summer just opens the door and lets you out.”
~Deb Caletti, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

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Everyone knows the phrase ‘fair weather friend’ — the ‘friend’ who is only around and interested in you when when circumstances are pleasant or profitable. If the going gets tough or tricky, they just completely disappear. Not many consider that the opposite type is also possible.

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I just published the summer edition of Facing North!

We can take things a little slower during the summer, enjoying the weather and being outdoors all the more. It is, however, a great time for sitting in the shade with a tall glass of your favorite cold beverage and one of the many wonderful books we have been reviewing lately.

This month, we offer:

The Weiser Book of the Fantastic and Forgotten: Tales of the Supernatural, Strange, and Bizarre
Reincarnation, Plain & Simple: The Only Book You’ll Ever Need
Words at the Threshold: What We Say as We’re Nearing Death
Numerology Plain & Simple: The Only Book You’ll Ever Need
The Herb Gardener’s Essential Guide: Creating Herbal Remedies & Oils for Health & Healing
The Mythic Journey: Use Myths, Fairy Tales, and Folklore to Explain Life’s Mysteries
Shamanic Wisdom for Pregnancy & Parenthood: Practices to Embrace the Transformative Power of Becoming a Parent
Tarot of Bones
The Witch’s Book of Shadows: The Craft, Lore & Magick of the Witch’s Grimoire
Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day

May the heat of summer fill you with joy!

Last night I had the pleasure of acting as a priestess-counselor for another priestess. (For the sake of narrative, I will call her M.) She was concerned that her speaking would involve the revelation of oath-bound information and that had prevented her from reaching out for quite some time. M, however, felt that there were current events occurring based on a former group she had been with, and that the oath-bound materials were a core of the issue. Not being able to speak to anyone from that group without risking (psychic) injury, she turned to me.

In the end, M. invoked the blessing of Isis to have compassion for her if she was going to transgress, and I took an oath not to reveal anything to another. . . and we talked.

And now I’m writing about it.

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A Statement of My World View

In my world:
Who you choose to be your sexual partner does not define you.
Who you choose to love does not define you.
Whether you choose to have sex, or not does not define you.
What you do to earn money does not define you.
Whether you earn money for your labor does not define you.
Whether you believe in ‘deity’ in any form, duality, presence, or religious framework does not define you.
What color your skin is does not define you.
What school you got a degree from does not define you.
What level of degree (grade, high, bachelor’s, etc.) you have been awarded does not define you.
What gender you are does not define you.
Whether you have suffered violence does not define you.

In my world:
You are shaped by your thoughts and feelings.
You influence others through your expression (whether verbal, visual, or written).
How you treat others defines you.
What you do with your life defines you.
What you choose to do in response to others defines you.
Everyone is ‘other’ which is wonderful and a constant opportunity to learn.
We are all in progress, not perfect, and the journey is the process.

I recognize that my world is not THE world. In no way does my worldview accept ‘color blindness’ or ‘erasure’ or any kind of dismissal as acceptable. In recognizing the disparity between my worldview and ‘reality’ I offer my space — at home, work, online, teaching — as safe for everyone as long as they agree that different is not threatening, lesser, or to be cast out.

Fear can be unlearned; but it’s not on those you fear to help you. (They’ve got enough to deal with already.)

Hate cannot be tolerated.

(I almost can’t write this, I still feel intense shame.)

There were two times in my my life when I was poor enough to feel actual physical hunger. The first was when my parents first separated and I was living with my mother in a commune in Berkeley (CA).* I’d been wrested from a typical middle-class (white) suburban lifestyle full of meat and bread in unlimited quantities and thrust willy-nilly into a hippie commune. No sugar. Homemade bread. No meat, except when we killed a chicken or rabbit. Nothing processed.

I hated it.

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