Maybe it's time to go a little bit crazy...

Never take anything seriously, you never get hurt. Never get hurt, you can always have fun. And if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends.

i'm alicia. 24. awesome. phoenix. incredibly lazy. bad taste in music. the youngest cat lady you've met. One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.

Just remember, it's turtles all the way down...

"I will dream of a time when we value blue skies more than new automobiles, count our wealth in joy rather than possessions, and dwell in peace and balance with the Earth. I am not without hope."

— David Gaines

"Some people say that if you stop believing in anything metaphysical, life just loses it’s color and it’s beauty, but that’s just not true. I know exactly how a rainbow is formed. I know that it’s just sunlight reflected in drops of moister. But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the experience of seeing a rainbow."

— Cristina Rad

Ostara / Eostre / Spring EquinoxSun enters Aries | Color: White | Planting Day | Waxing Moon
As Spring reaches its midpoint, night and day stand in perfect balance, with light on the increase. The young Sun God now celebrates a hierogamy (sacred marriage) with the young Maiden Goddess, who conceives. In nine months, she will again become the Great Mother. It is a time of great fertility, new growth, and newborn animals.The next full moon (a time of increased births) is called the Ostara and is sacred to Eostre the Saxon Lunar Goddess of fertility (from whence we get the word estrogen, whose two symbols were the egg and the rabbit.The Christian religion adopted these emblems for Easter which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The theme of the conception of the Goddess was adapted as the Feast of the Annunciation, occurring on the alternative fixed calendar date of March 25 Old Lady Day, the earlier date of the equinox. Lady Day may also refer to other goddesses (such as Venus and Aphrodite), many of whom have festivals celebrated at this time. Traditional Foods: Leafy green vegetables, Dairy foods, Nuts such as Pumpkin, Sunflower and Pine. Flower Dishes and Sprouts. Herbs and Flowers: Daffodil, Jonquils, Woodruff, Violet, Gorse, Olive, Peony, Iris, Narcissus and all spring flowers. Incense: Jasmine, Rose, Strawberry, Floral of any type. Sacred Gemstone: Jasper Special Activities: Planting seeds or starting a Magickal Herb Garden. Taking a long walk in nature with no intent other than reflecting on the Magick of nature and our Great Mother and her bounty.

Ostara / Eostre / Spring Equinox
Sun enters Aries | Color: White | Planting Day | Waxing Moon

As Spring reaches its midpoint, night and day stand in perfect balance, with light on the increase. The young Sun God now celebrates a hierogamy (sacred marriage) with the young Maiden Goddess, who conceives. In nine months, she will again become the Great Mother. It is a time of great fertility, new growth, and newborn animals.

The next full moon (a time of increased births) is called the Ostara and is sacred to Eostre the Saxon Lunar Goddess of fertility (from whence we get the word estrogen, whose two symbols were the egg and the rabbit.

The Christian religion adopted these emblems for Easter which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The theme of the conception of the Goddess was adapted as the Feast of the Annunciation, occurring on the alternative fixed calendar date of March 25 Old Lady Day, the earlier date of the equinox. Lady Day may also refer to other goddesses (such as Venus and Aphrodite), many of whom have festivals celebrated at this time.

Traditional Foods: Leafy green vegetables, Dairy foods, Nuts such as Pumpkin, Sunflower and Pine. Flower Dishes and Sprouts.

Herbs and Flowers: Daffodil, Jonquils, Woodruff, Violet, Gorse, Olive, Peony, Iris, Narcissus and all spring flowers.

Incense: Jasmine, Rose, Strawberry, Floral of any type.

Sacred Gemstone: Jasper

Special Activities: Planting seeds or starting a Magickal Herb Garden. Taking a long walk in nature with no intent other than reflecting on the Magick of nature and our Great Mother and her bounty.

(Source: mic-cosmar)

(Source: mociun)

Happy atheist week!

I took the “Are you smarter than an atheist” quiz on some random Christian website. It says

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups in a 32-question survey of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. On average, Americans got 16 of the 32 questions correct. Atheists and agnostics got an average of 20.9 correct answers. Jews (20.5) and Mormons (20.3). Protestants got 16 correct answers on average, while Catholics got 14.7 questions right.

So, I got 26 out of 32. The six I missed were the ones where it asks where in the world has the most of which religion and about The First Great Awakening.

[[Click picture to take the quiz yourself!]]

If Candlemas day be cloudy and grey, Winter soon will pass away.

Happy Imbolc, everyone! My walk to work was overcast and windy so that means winter is almost over.

I have always loved Groundhog Day, but this is the first year that I’m celebrating it like a Panthiest! I’m still stuck at work, but when I get home I’ll be lighting some candles/incense and eating some spicy Mexican food!

Then it’s time to clean my room… :P

Imbolc Customs & Lore

Other Festival Names:Candlemas, Oimlec, Brigid’s Day, Groundhog’s Day; merged with Lupercalia/Valentines Day

Festival Dates: January 31, February 1, February 2, February 6, February 7.

Multicultural Parallels: Ground Hog’s Day (USA); Aztec New Year; Chinese New Year; Roman Lupercalia; Valentine’s Day (USA); Armenian Candlemas.

Flames: Sacred Fire

torchlit processions circling fields to purify & invigorate for the coming growing season (old Pagan)
lighting & blessing of candles (11th century, Christian)
sacred fire of Brigid (Celtic Pagan)
torchlit procession to honor Juno Februata/Regina (Pagan Rome; Christianized, 7th century)

Brigid:Celtic Goddess

Triple Aspects

Goddess of Inspiration - poets, poetry, creativity, prophecy, arts
Goddess of Smithcraft - blacksmiths, goldsmiths, household crafts
Goddess of Healing - healers, medicine, spiritual healing, fertility (crops, land, cattle)

Symbols

Fire - flames, candle crown, hearth
Water - cauldron, springs, wells
Grain - Brigid wheels, corn/oat sheaf Goddess effigy, Brigid’s Bed
Creatures - white cow with red ears, wolf, snake, swan and vulture
Talismans - Shining Mirror to Otherworld, Spinning Wheel and Holy Grail

Name variations: Brighid; Bride (Scotland), Brid, Brigit, Bridget, Briganta (England), Brigan, Brigindo (Gaul), Berecyntia, Brigandu (France)
Name means Bright One, High One, Bright Arrow, Power.
Christianized forms: St. Brigit (Irish), St. Ffraid (Welsh), St. Bridget (Swedish), Queen of Heaven, Prophetess of Christ, Mary.

Pictish Pagan Roots
Bruide, the Pictish royal throne name, is said to derived from the Pagan Goddess Brigid. The Bruide name was given to each Pagan Pictish king who was viewed as the male manifestation of the spirit of the Goddess. The most sacred place of the Picts was Abernethy in Fife. It was dedicated to Brigid, in Pagan times, and to St. Brigid, in Christian times. Columban monks tended a Celtic abbey there and hereditary abbots were of the Earl of Fife branch of the Clan MacDuff, which survived to the present day as Clan Wemyss (Weems).

Irish Transitions and Traditions
When Ireland was Christianized, veneration of the Pagan Goddess Brigid was transformed into that of St. Brigit, said to be the human daughter of a Druid. St. Brigit became a saint after her “death” and was supposedly converted and baptized by St. Patrick. Pagan lore was incorporated into the Christian traditions and legends associated with Her as a saint. For example, as St. Brigit, She had the power to appoint bishops and they had to be goldsmiths. She was associated with miracles and fertility. Into the 18th century a women’s only shrine was kept to her in Kildare (meaning Church of the Oak) in Ireland. There, nineteen nuns tended Her continually burning sacred flame. An ancient song was sung to Her: “Brigid, excellent woman, sudden flame, may the bright fiery sun take us to the lasting kingdom.” Brigid/St. Brigit was said to be the inventor of whistling and of keening.

Customs

Blessing rushes/straw and making Brigid wheels
Putting out food and drink for Brigid on Her eve (such as buttered bread, milk, grains, seeds)
Chair by hearth decorated by women; young woman carries in first flowers & greens, candle.
Opening the door and welcoming Her into the home. “Bride! Come in, they bed is made! Preserve the House for the Triple Goddess!” Scottish Gaelic Invocation: “May Brigit give blessing to the house that is here; Brigit, the fair and tender,Her hue like the cotton-grass, Rich-tressed maiden of ringlets of gold.”
Brigid’s Bed (Scotland): Putting grain effigy and a phallic wand in a basket next to the hearth/candles at night and chanting three times: “Brigid is Come! Brigid is Welcome!”

Purification

removing Yuletide greens from home & burning them (Celtic)
cleaning up fields and home (old Roman, Februa “to cleanse” month)
Mary purification festival (Christian, Western church)
burning old Brigid’s wheels and making new ones (some parts of Ireland)
placing Brigid’s wheel above/on door to bless home (Celtic, Wiccan)

Signs of Spring: Ground Hog’s Day

seeds as a symbols of new life to come
first greens and flowers as offerings
weather - bright or grey
hibernating animals - groundhog, bear, badger

If Candlemas day be sunny and bright, Winter again will show its might.
If Candlemas day be cloudy and grey, Winter soon will pass away. (Fox version)
If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight.
If Candlemas day be shower and rain, Winter is gone and will not come again. (Traditional)

Spiritual Awakening: Spirit Within

initiations - self, group (Dianic & Faery Wiccan); Christchild in temple (Christian, Eastern church)
dedication - shrines, temples (contemporary Pagan)
self blessing and spiritual dedication
inner journey for Divine inspiration
affirming the artist/innovator within; energizing creative work.