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Nature pics, Wiccan topics, fun stuff! :)

Blessed be

Indigo

Indigo Incarnates

Melissa, Doug, and I had a real blast last night with karaoke. I do not have a melodious voice at all. In fact, it's downright gravelly. But no matter how badly I sing, I can always count in at least  one person being worse. 

I don't do too badly if I puck the right songs. For example, I can do a pretty passable rendition of "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and "Paint It Black". On the other hand, I did a pretty disastrous version of "Synchronicity II". 

The key to karaoke is to avoid 1.) songs where the key is too high and 2.) unfamiliar songs. In the case of "Synchronicity II", the vocals are just way too high for me to sing. Of course, I didn't try to sing it high. I sung it low and gravelly, har har. 

I was pretty happy to learn that one of Doug's other karaoke friends is also a Wiccan. Very cool :) 

Indigo Incarnates

One of the great things about Turning Circle is that the members take turns writing and leading worship services (I think we share that trait with the Quakers). Patrick led the rite for Friday. He prepared a combination Wiccan/Buddhist ceremony. There was a Buddhist invocation that I liked quite a bit:

"May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May all being have happiness and the causes of happiness."

It's always a real treat Patrick leads a service. He has a wide variety of altar settings and he puts a huge amount of research into writing liturgy. 

Turning Circle never gets stale :)

Indigo Incarnates

It’s been a while since I’ve done any serious blogging. I guess sometimes I get into a mood where I don’t feel like I have anything useful to say. Other times, I feel like I’m just going to waste space by whining about things I cannot change. I’ve also felt worn down lately because of the situation at work (no raises for two years, working with a staff that hates the supervisor and vice versa). My caseload is 50% higher than it had been six months ago.

So… griping aside, here’s what’s going on.

Doug and I are getting married on August 6, 2010. It breaks my heart that we are so terribly broke and that our wedding is going to be an el-cheapo civil wedding. I’m glad we are getting married, but I’m sorry that we can’t afford something better. I want to eventually get a real Wiccan wedding.

Things are going well with Turning Circle. I’m excited that I’m leading three services this year (I lead one in the spring, I’m leading at Lughnassadh, and at Samhain). Wicca is everything that Christianity is not. Christianity is a religion of hate, fear, and death. Wicca is a religion of pace, respect, and life.

I’m happy to say that my mom is still alive. She’s outlived her life expectancy by nearly two years now. She is very sick, but she refuses to give up.

I find it amazing Christians are praising the nation of Malawi for putting a gay couple in jail for 14 years.Many Christians on the associated comment forum (Newsvine) advocate putting all the gay citizens in the United States in jail.

Lemme point out something: Republican Fundamentalist Christians do **NOT** like to pay taxes. Seriously. So, these bigots obviously didn't think through their idea of universal incarceration of American homosexuals.

Since homosexuals make up about 3% of the US population, and the US population is approximately 300 million people, that means that there are about 9 million homosexuals. The amount of government outlay required to build enough prisons to house an additional 9 million people would have to cost close to a trillion dollars (if not more). Then the government would have to pay to hire guards, electricians, janitors, cooks, and all the other ancillary professionals that are associated with running a jail. Then there would be the cost of heating, air conditioning, water, and sewer. All that would be at taxpayer expense. Surely a pretty big tax increase would be required to foot the bill.

Now, the cost to the American taxpayer wouldn't stop there.

If you incarcerate 9 million homosexuals, the government would lose taxable income from those 9 million people, since jailed people can't hold jobs. The lack of taxes would have to be paid by the people who aren't incarcerated (i.e. the Christians).

The cost to the American taxpayer wouldn't stop there.

Since people in jail can't have jobs, that also means they can't pay bills. America would experience a brand-new wave of credit defaults as incarcerated homosexuals would be unable to make their payments on their homes, cars, and credit card bills. If I became incarcerated for being gay, I would be forced to default on my $75k mortgage, my $18k car, and my $2,200 credit card. Multiply that by 9 million, and you have a pretty big credit default! The American taxpayer would, of course, have to pick up the tab for that (are the Christian fundamentalists ready to open their wallets yet?)

The American people aren't done paying yet!

So, with 9 million gay Americans suddenly incarcerated, the companies these people worked for now have to hire and train 9 million replacements. Guess who pays for the cost of hiring and training? The consumer, of course!

Hang on! The taxpayers aren't done paying yet!

Fast forward fourteen years and the huge wave of formerly-incarcerated homosexuals are released from prison. Now the government has to hire a bunch of parole officers to supervise the recently released "criminals". Unemployment goes through the roof, since there are suddenly 9 million people who used to be incarcerated but are now out of work and essentially unemployable (it is VERY difficult for someone to get a job with a criminal record.) So the Christian Fundamentalists had better be prepared to open their wallets again since the unemployable, ex-con, gays will have to apply for welfare, food stamps, and social services (despite the fact that they used to be doctors, teachers, lawyers, coaches, writers, poets, construction workers, police officers, etc.)

What a brilliant idea from the Christian Right, eh?

Indigo Incarnates

It was very interesting last weekend. I was invited to a Beltane Rite run by an Alexandrian coven. The Alexandrians are a pretty old sect of Wicca and have many similarities to the Gardnarians. So… It was a very structured ritual that lasted five hours. I feel really honored that I was invited to become a dedicant, but I think I am too eclectic to really fit in with the Alexandrians. The problem with membership in a closed coven is that it limits one’s opportunity to worship elsewhere. By contrast, Turning Circle is an open circle. So if I want to attend a Unitarian church service or go to a Catholic mass (not that the latter is ever going to happen), it wouldn’t transgress my membership with Turning Circle. So, it was cool getting the invitation from the Alexandrians, and I’m flattered that they thought I was good coven material, but I think I will stick with my open circle.

I had the dreaded community supervision duty at Pretrial on Friday. Amazingly enough, all the defendants on the itinerary actually had homes that existed and were not boarded up shacks. That’s the first time in a while that it’s worked out that way. Apparently the 2.5-year-old Dodge Durango bit the dust since we were given a Chevy Blazer to drive on Friday. Lemme tell ya: don’t EVER by a Dodge/Chrysler product. Despite having been driven only 2.5 years and less than 20,000 miles, the Durango assigned to Pretrial was in the shop *all the time*. The “check engine” light would come on, the transmission would make funky noises, the odometer would randomly show error codes instead of miles driven, and it got only 6 MPG. The last few times it was driven, it was obvious that the transmission was about to be dropped onto the pavement. When accelerating, the truck would sort of go “hmmMMMmmmMMMM… pause.. CLUNK… pause.. hmmmMMMMMmmMMM… pause… CLUNK… pause…” Add to that the fact that the suspension was so rough that you could feel it in your spinal column every time the truck ran over a cigarette butt. And to think: Barack Obama gave Chrysler/Dodge tens of billions of dollars worth of payment-free bailout “loans”. The company needs to go out of business because they build junky jalopies. It’s just unbelievable.

I did a 4-mile power walk yesterday before the game yesterday. I can’t imagine better weather. It was sunny, windy, and cool. The humidity was pretty low and the sky was clear. It was basically a perfect day. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to spend the whole day indoors if there was an option to do otherwise.

Last night was game night. As some of you know, I wrote a role-playing game (it’s a paper-and-dice variety, not a computer game). The odd thing last night was the sheer number of “critical success” die rolls I got. Theoretically, a critical success should only occur in 5% of the die rolls since it is a “20” on a d20 die when rolling an attack, or is a “1” on a d20 when casting a spell or rolling a proficiency check. However, the distribution of critical successes last night was closer to 1 in 5 rolls. I was very excited! It meant that the players really had to work to defeat the army of Ash Zombies I sent at them. Whoo-hoo. The hilarious thing was that the majority of my critical success rolls involved parries. It was delightfully frustrating to the players!

Indigo Incarnates

I have exactly three (3) people that ever initiate contact with me: Doug, Doris, and Jeff. There are many other people that call themselves “friends” but, in reality, I don’t call a person who can’t make time for me a “friend”.

I have a couple “friends” that only call me when they have problems with their computers or cell phones. I have a couple “friends” who won’t ever meet me in person. I have “friends” from my former church that have no once initiated any contact with me.

I just get so tired of phony people. I feel guilty about writing a nastygram to a “friend” that hasn’t returned one single phone call in close to a year. She wrote back “but doesn’t Facebook count as communicating?” No. It especially doesn’t count when I am not communicated with.

I am tired of phony people that act like having a friend with a dissociative disorder is “interesting” only to get left in the dust when they learn that it actually takes a significant amount of emotional depth to befriend a person with MPD/DID. The average people, sadly, is all talk and no walk.

Of course, my family is no better. I have an aunt, uncle, and cousin that literally live five miles from me and yet Doug and I are not included in holiday gatherings or any other events. In a time of real darkness and despair (1993 –1996 in particular), my “family” left me to swing in the breeze and basically shunned me.

There is more to a friendship than the desire to be “liked”. There’s more to a friendship than pressing the “like” button on a Facebook entry. Friends share their time with each other. They want to be part of each other’s lives in bad times and in good.

I am tired of fake friends.

Indigo Incarnates

I was really glad that the weather was cooperative this weekend. I walked 5 miles on Friday, 2 miles yesterday, and 10 miles today. It was good to get some real exercise. It was sunny and warm too. 

It's amazing what I can get the body to do if I have sunlight. It's one of the perks of being a changeling and not a human. I was not particularly tired after a ten mile walk either. I probably could have done 12 miles or even 14 miles. 

I noticed that vines and grasses start greening before the trees do. But this weekend I did see that some of the trees were sprouting new leaves. The birds are coming back and I heard a lot of frogs chirping as I walked past the stream that runs paralell to the NCR trail. 

I saw some rock formations that dripped with runoff water and had new moss and grasses sprouting from jagged crevices. I thought they were pretty. The stones were changeless and powerful; not alive, but allowing for life upon their facets. 

Thistle flew for much of the time in the bright sunlight. I am blessed to have him paired to me. 

Indigo Incarnates

I worked my Spring Rite as this month’s moon service at Turning Circle. It’s a pleasant, life-affirming ritual in which the spellcrafting involves empowering a plant with our intentions of things we want to grow or improve in our lives. We’ve got two new regular visitors who are considering becoming full members. Whoo-hoo!

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My friend Mav’s child is finally old enough to be able to sit through a 60-minute service without bouncing around like a Mexican jumping bean, so that was pretty good. Vera is about the most pleasant and good-natured 4-year-old anyone is likely to encounter.

Having attended a few Unitarian church services, I can understand why they are so willing to reach out to the Wiccan/Pagan community. Both faiths affirm life, human dignity, and the preservation of the ecosystem. The Unitarians simply don’t work magic into their services and we do. By contrast, the fundamentalist Christian services invariably affirm death, shame, and the concept of a “throwaway” ecology (they claim the Rapture’s coming, so they can rape the Earth any way they want to.)

I really can understand why paganism is making a comeback in this country. It’s a religious ideology that believes that life is sacred, that males and females are equally loved and valued by deity, and that benchmark for behavior is “do not harm” instead of “do not sin”. After all, “sin” is arbitrary and comes from a book, while “harm” is innate and comes from the heart. We all know when we’ve hurt someone, and Christians use the “sin” benchmark as a way of them justifying hurting others.

Indigo Incarnates

This was a pretty cool weekend. On Friday night, Doug and I met up with his friend Melissa for some karioke. I was unaware that Metalica ever recorded a heavy metal version "Whiskey in the Jar". But I muddled through, heh heh.

On Saturday, I did an 8-mile power walk on the NCR trail. Some shrubs are getting a little green and some of the grass is growing back. It was sunny and warm. It was just about a perfect spring day.

On Sunday, I went to an Ostara service. It was an outdoor ritual held at the Patapsco State Park. We also picked up litter for an hours since it's sort of a Wiccan thing to leave a place in better shape than when we arrived.

Today, I did the taxes. I'm getting $600 back! Yay! I can get the winter electric bill caught up!