Tuesday, March 22, 2011

tuesday blog thought: more snow!

one of the wonderful things about the british blogs i follow is that the gardens green up so much quicker than does my wee patch in the connecticut valley. victoria's backyard is just one shining example. i shall be scrolling through her lovely photographs & sighing deeply this thursday when more snow falls this first week of spring!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

on seasonal celebrations...

an (as usual) excellent post on chaos magic tripped a pet peeve of mine. that pet peeve  being the peculiar insistence of many of many pagans/wiccans tying celebration to an agricultural calender.  i haven't read dawn of sex & so can't argue for/against the idea of agriculture as enemy.  however, i can argue that the marketing of wheel of the year as a necessary part of pagan practice has more to do with selling an easily grasped concept which lends itself well to the peddling  of various patterns, decorations, books, etc. than it does with the idea of magical practice.
harvest home in the face of technology  which allows many of us to buy strawberries in december makes no sense. nor does assigning spiritual significance to an agricultural occasion which precious few people have any direct experience with.
for those of us with gardens, or even with farms, who want to celebrate a good harvest by inviting friends over --that's all well & good-- but hanging out with friends & family hasn't a damn thing to do with my spiritual or magical practices. to claim that it must merely adds an extra layer of fluff which takes too much of my time to shove aside.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

tuesday blog thought: my father & chickpeas

the other day this luscious soup was posted in one of my favorite cooking blogs, the wednesday chef  
it features one of my favorite beans, chickpeas (a/k/a: garbanzo beans), plus the crunch of croutons. yum! this is one soup which can't go wrong.  the recipe also brings back a father-memory: whenever my dad goes up to a salad bar there are certain things which are always on his plate. one of which is chickpeas.  not too many, just enough for a small mouthful. every time,the same amount of chickpeas remain on his plate, to be scrapped off into the trash at the end of the meal.  i asked once why he takes something he knows he doesn't like & he replied "because i might like them this time.".  i didn't ask how he would know if he liked the chickpeas this time if he hadn't eaten at least one of them...

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

where am i heading?

the kitchen sink collective has a lovely post involving chicks & necromancy (it takes a Writer to be able to combine the two legibly).  it gives to me to think about my relationship with the dead. i don't particularly have one, nor do i feel called to develop one.
my mother has a lovely round table filled with framed wedding photographs of our family. as they die, she places their photo near the back. newer weddings go in the front. my auntie (moms' sister) has a collection of family histories & many photographs.  i have a few things that my grandmother (mothers' mother) has made me, & a clock my mom has embroidered for me. also i cross-stitched an animal totem for my maternal & paternal grandmothers. haven't figured out what to do for my mother as she isn't a fan of animals.  and that's it.
i don't feel a need to converse with them, & they don't feel the need to speak with me. i don't feel a loss over it all. i rather wish i did. more emotion is generated by the show 'ghost hunters', even if it's an intense dislike over the rude premise the show is based around. i.e., these ghost aren't bothering the 'hunters' so why are they bothering the ghosts?!  what i feel called towards are trees & stone, & the Spirit of Place. perhaps this is due to my moving so often as a child.....