I'm A BootCamp Momma

My twenty-year old son went off to Bootcamp this week.  He's in the Army National Guard stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia.

My heart is broken, my world turned upside down, my center off-balance.  Even though we prepared for this day, since he was a toddler, nothing can quite prepare you to see your grown up child walking down the street with a Military duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

We're a proud family and we're very proud of our son.  I know he's going to be a successful soldier.  He's made for it and he choose this path all on his own.  And yet, knowing that he could potentially be put into harm's way strikes terror in the deepest part of my soul.  Yet we have our faith.  The Goddess walks with us, shines Her light down upon us, and lights our days with Her golden Sun.

I took a walk today and saw yellow leaves in the trees, which means the Wheel is turning.  Not only in Nature is the Wheel turning, but my life is turning too.  Our son is in the National Guard and our daughter is in her junior year of college.  Regardless of our faiths and belief systems, I feel lots of parents can empathize with my feelings and it's this camaraderie that sustains me.

I found on Facebook a page for Fort Benning and also a page for parents of New Recruits.  I used to be a Facebook snob, not wanting to join or become a Social Networker.  But I am so grateful for Facebook and for people who share and post about their lives, accomplishments and struggles.  I've found Pagan support, friends, life support and community on Facebook.

I was extremely grateful to also find Circle Sanctuary's Military Pagan Prayer Cards online.  The prayer spoke to my heart and soothed my soul.  I have a candle lit for our son with the prayer underneath.  As soon as we receive his mailing address, I'll send him the prayer card.  My son was also happy to find Pagan support within the Military.  It was awesome to see forums, chatrooms and support for Military Pagans.  I am grateful to all the people who have worked so tirelessly to bring us into the light and have support for our faith, beliefs and way of life.

I also made my son a safe travel mojo to carry with him.  It makes me feel good knowing he's got it with him.

Today I'm still raw and trying to keep it together.  We missed his first phone call home so we're all a little bummed today.  But I took a walk and talked to the trees, listened to some music and felt a little better.  I'm also keeping up my martial arts practice and that's a big help too.

I send blessings to all with children and family in the Military.  And thank you all for reading my blog.

Blessed Be,
Najah

Altar for President Obama

Update! November 5, 2012:
  Hail Moonday-Monday! As has been my charge for the last four years, the altar for President Obama is lit! May the blessings of re-election be ours and his! Blessed Be, So Mote It Be!

As Priestess Najah, I've been keeping an altar for President Barack Obama since November 2009.  Recently over the past few Moon cycles, I've had trouble keeping the light going on the altar.  I've cleaned the altar, added new herbs and powders, lit the candles on different days and still nothing worked.  I attributed this to lots of negativity and bad juju being sent President Obama's way.

I may not always agree with our President  or his policies or decisions, but it has become my Charge to keep this altar for his entire term, and thus I am doing so.  So after trying all I knew to keep the light going, I contacted my good friend Dr. Christos Kioni and he helped me out!  Dr. K suggested I move the altar.  So after waiting for the appropriate time and using divination, I moved the altar to its new home.

I'm pleased to say the candle is now burning the strongest and brightest it has burned in a long time.  Thanks so much Dr. Kioni for your help, you ROCK!
When I began this altar I offered to light a light from my altar, for anyone who would also like to the keep the light going.  If you would like a candle lit from my altar, just send me an email.  You will need to provide your own candle.

Peace and Blessings to us all.

The Full Moon is Calling

"Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month and better it be when the Moon is Full..." the words from the Charge of the Goddess, repeating over and over again in my head.  I am brooding and snake like today, feeling in a slight trance.  It's the Full Moon tonight as well as a total Lunar Eclipse.  We won't be able to see it in North America, but we will feel it and I am feeling it already.

Its a night of endings and new beginnings as was revealed to me in my prayer and meditation this morning.  How appropriate for this night as the Moon delves into the shadow and emerges from the light.  A true metaphor for any changes one may going through.  Tonight is a night to delve into the shadows of your life, look at them breathe them and then let them go.  And once you have let them go, emerge into the light, shedding your former self and embrace the newness of Spirit that has come to you.

Once this night has passed the Moon will begin to wane, so I find myself retreating into myself, merging with the Magick that has been created on this night.  It will be a time of internal integration of Spiritual messages and dreams.  Add to that the Summer Solstice occurs on Tuesday.  What a magickal period!

Blessed Be,
Najah

The Snake and The Dog

I don't particularly like snakes, but I don't exactly dislike them either.  I would say I respect them and have a morbid curiosity about them.   I know snake shed has some very potent spiritual powers and is thus used in Hoodoo and Craft spells alike.  I also know its one of my Kung Fu forms.
I love dogs.  Dogs rock.  They're loyal protectors and members of the family.
I have a dear friend who has both a dog and snakes.  The dog and snakes have gotten along for a long time, that is until last night.
My friend who is a gracious snake keeper and truly loves her snakes was helping me to get to know them better.  For the first time in my life I held two snakes tonight and let them crawl around my arms.  Her snakes are boa constrictors.
The first snake was warm and tame and felt warm against my chest.  I was surprised how peaceful I felt just letting it rest in my arms and against my body.  My heartbeat slowed down and  I could feel it's heart beating at the same time.  Very awesome experience.  I held him for a while and we returned it to it's cage.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Next came the larger boa constrictor.  This snake was quite a bit bigger than the first one and had a beautiful sepia pattern on its body.  I wasn't ready to completely hold this one, but I did let it crawl over my leg while she held the rest of it's body in her arms.  While we had the snake out, the dog was also around, close to the snake.  I remarked how impressed I was that the snakes and the dog got along.
After a while the snake was returned to its cage.  However, we took the snake back out for few minutes to look at some interesting markings on its skin.  I was feeling pretty great about the entire experience.  In the Medicine Cards the snake is the symbol of transmutation, the sign of alchemy, very heavy magick indeed.  I was fascinated with the warmth of its body and its strength, although I could not bring myself to look into its eyes.
Next thing we know the snake draws it's head back and bites the dog in the nose!  Oh my!  This has never happened before.  The dog was ok, mostly shaken up and we felt awful.  It was surreal.  One moment we all sitting pleasantly and the next moment, strike!  I had never felt or seen anything like it.  The snake bit the dog as it was crawling over our legs.
Of course the snake went back in it's cage.  The snake came to the window and peered out.  The dog went to the window and looked in, as if to say "Hey buddy, why did you bite me ?", the dog being true to it's loyal and forgiving self.  The snake said, "Hey, I'm a snake".

Dusty Ole Magickal Books

I wandered.  I decided to stop in at my favorite used bookstore, "Westside Books" http://www.westsidebooks.com/
Lois, the owner greeted me.  It was good to see her as we hadn't seen each other in while.  We start chatting it up and lo and behold my husband comes around the corner!  (Big smile, kisses of joy).  "Did you know he was here?" asks Lois.  "No, I didn't, we came here separately" I replied (big smile).
The magick has begun for me at Westside Books, again.  I love this bookstore.  New, used and rare books stacked floor to ceiling, cramped aisles with old chairs, stacks on the floor, aisles crammed so high and wide with books, you can't see over them.  Just my kind of place.
Today, I tell myself, lets check out some other aisles of the store before heading to my favorite section, the Metaphysical section.  So I did.  I wandered and browsed, gabbed some more with Lois and had a great time, just allowing myself to be led to my section when the time was right.
I finally make my way to the metaphysical section.  It has scattered light peeking in between all the dusty used books and smells of old paper.  I love the smell of old paper in books.
I'm drawn to a book on the Tarot.  I'd been thinking of getting a new Tarot book for a while and there it was.  As I thumbed through the book, I could tell we were a match.  I decided to sit on an old  blue, chair and take a better a look.  Thumbing through the pages, I come to a receipt and this is what it says:
"Seven Rays Book Store...May 23, 1995"! Wow.  Amazing.  A 16 year old receipt in perfect condition.  Hmmm.  One plus six= 7, total price for the book today..$7.00  :)

I googled the store and it still exists.
http://sevenrays.com/
Lois says she gets her goosebump  quota when I visit her store.  Yeah, me too, Lois, me too! I know more shall unfold from this journey today.

Blessed Be.

Disenchanted and Disillusioned

I had a dream.  It started in 2000 when I took a certificate class in Herbal Medicine.  It was the first time I touched the Earth in a magickal way through herbs and instantly I knew I was home.  I was with women who were passionate about herbs and healing and felt this was definitely the place for me.  I soaked up the knowledge like water, my soul had been parched and thirsty for the comradeship of women healers and Earth knowledge for what had seemed like forever.

While I was in that class I met some Occultists, Witches, Seers and Pagans, and even had my own supernatural experience with a ghost.  I felt open, ready and willing to learn more, see more, and help others. Being an avid reader, I immersed myself in books on herbs, healing, The Craft, and Spirituality.  I learned to read Medicine Cards and the Tarot.

In 2001, I became an Ordained Minister through Universal Brotherhood Movement.  I did so, because a dear friend asked me to wed her and her beloved in New York.  Applying for ordination and receiving it was a huge spiritual change in my life and I loved performing weddings.  Its one of my favorite things to do and a gift from my friend that keeps on giving.

From there, I joined a Drum Circle where I really got introduced to The Goddess, the Wheel of the Year and ritual.  I can still see the hall, lit with candles, smelling transcendent of white sage and all the drums in the Circle.  It was a dream come true.  Again I knew I was home.  I was with Mother Drum Circle for eight years and it was a sad day indeed when it came to a close.

And then in 2008 I stepped into the Hoodoo.  Hoodoo came to me on a business trip to New Orleans.  Returning home I found cat yronwode's book in a spiritual supply store and it changed my life.  I read the inside cover and again I knew I was home.  Here was a place where I could put my herbal knowledge, my spirituality and my desire to help others to good use.  I was excited to learn and be a part of such a cultural legacy.  I knew I was on the right track.  I enrolled in her course, studied hard and graduated.  During my first week in the course, I met my first real practicing Witch.

I asked if she would teach me, leading me to initiation.  That led to a Year and a Day study and she dumped me 3 months shy of completing the goal without any explanation.  I continued on my own and self-dedicated.  I tried to start my own Circle - not coven, just a group of women meeting together to honor the Goddess, the old ways and the Moon.  That died.
Next I tried to study with Elder in the community.  That fizzled out.  Each time I tried to touch with the Goddess and set out on the path of initiation it failed.  The latest failure happened this week as I prepared for a ceremony.  Every time I tried to set a date for the ceremony something went wrong or the date wasn't available.

I don't understand why the path to the Craft of the Wise is so difficult.  Has the Goddess forsaken me?  Does she not want new followers in her Craft?  Three years I have knocked on her door and each answer has left me fallen on my face, sad, disillusioned and disenchanted. 

I have gone back in my heart and mind to what I feel drawn to, called to.  I feel called to the Moon.  I love the Moon.  I worship with the Moon, I find my Divinity in the Moon.  Perhaps the Goddess I have been seeking is not the one of the Craft of the Wise.  Perhaps She exists in my Moon,  in whom my heart always find a home.

My birthday is next Saturday.  A time of rebirth and renewal.  I plan to immerse myself in the sacred waters of a healing mineral spring.   I hope when I come up for air a new sense of purpose and direction will be made known to me. 

Blessed Be.

Love, Love, Lucky Mojo!

A year ago this week I was on my way to San Francisco, CA to visit a dear friend and attend the Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Weekend and Workshops.  I was so happy to be back in my dear Cali, the home of my childhood.  I never spent much time in Northern California, so I was excited to be exploring Sonoma County, the beautiful land of trees and vineyards.  While there I took a beautiful drive to the ocean, which I will never forget.  There is a haunting beauty that never leaves you, as you drive throught the forest and then emerge at the ocean.

I was like a giggly schoolgirl the morning of the Hoodoo Workshop weekend.  I had studied hard to graduate from cat yronwode's Hoodoo Rootwork Correspondence Course in 2008.  From the first moment I entered into relationship with her, through her books, I had known I was home.  Now to think I was just a few miles from meeting her in person and seeing Lucky Mojo with my own eyes.  I could hardly stand it.

I drove the beautiful winding road from Guerneville to Forestville.  I parked and walked up to the path that leads to Lucky Mojo Curio Co.  I was hit with the sight of lush green plants and trees, and roses. Oh the beautiful roses!  Luckily you can see it to, through my Youtube Video:

I won't be attending this year, as my travels are taking me overseas, for the first time in my life!  I am so excited to be getting off the North American continent!
However I will miss being with cat and the wonderful Lucky Mojo staff, and all my colleagues from the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers (AIRR), eleven of whom are attending this year!  I wish each and every one of them a wonderful, blessed and prosperous weekend.  I will be with them in Spirit.
If you're in the area, be sure to stop by Lucky Mojo, for which you will be abundantly blessed!

Najah