A friend of mine, Jenn and her family are going through what can only be called a tragic travesty of injustice. The story is hers and her mother’s to tell, and so I am not going to tell it here. However, you can be assured that there is much wrong with the situation on so many levels, and I can tell you for a fact that this type of thing does not just happen where they are, it happens all over. You might even know someone who was a victim of this type of thing - I know that I happen to know at least two people who have been in this situation. And sadly, the situation did not go in their favor. Please visit Save My Boys to learn more about this and to learn what you can do to help them bring this injustice to light and hopefully get this resolved.

One of the things I usually stay as far away from as possible is politics. I despise politicians. I think they’re all nothing more than a bunch of liars and when we vote, we vote for the best liar. The upcoming presidential election is no different. The American people decide who to vote for based more on mudslinging campaigns and who manages to come out looking better after the mud fight is over, than on the real issues and what the candidates are going to do about them.

That being said, I’ve heard some very bad things about both candidates. But what I’ve been hearing about McCain’s running partner, Sarah Palin, is just too crazy for words. The woman was actually blessed by a pastor who is a “witch hunter.” The man has actually blessed her and she believes that his blessing her and praying for her is how she got her spot as Governor of Alaska. Sorry Sarah, the VOTERS put you there, not that pastor’s prayer! YOU and the VOTERS had to do the work. The only thing Deity did was watch over you, and perhaps give you a bit of guidance as to what you should do next. But YOU had to do the work to convince the voters to vote for you. The VOTERS had to believe what you said and feel you were the best candidate for the job. Deity didn’t just give you that spot.

I can’t help but get the eerie feeling that giving Sarah Palin a place in our US Federal Government, especially one of such high responsibility as the Vice President, is a bad idea. Who is to say that she won’t convince McCain to get rid of programs such as Planned Parenthood - whose mission is not only to prevent unplanned pregnancies, but to provide much needed women’s health care to women who can’t afford it - or convince McCain to start pushing laws through Congress that will make it illegal to practice any faith other than Christianity?

Already I am hearing Christians in my area talking about how they don’t want anti-hate crime laws passed because they’re afraid that if their pastor is preaching, someone in the congregation might take offense or think the pastor was singling them out and have the pastor arrested for a hate crime. Yet not passing those laws would mean that those “good Christians” would be allowed to do anything they wanted to Wiccans, Pagans, Gays, Lesbians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, etc. They could commit acts of hatred against us and we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on legally. But do the people crying out against those anti-hate crime laws think of that? No. Because they only care that THEIR “rights” are being trampled on. We have no rights apparently.

How much do you want to bet that Sarah Palin could have a great hand in keeping those anti-hate crime laws from being passed? I’m betting she could have a great hand in it. She might not have the power to veto the laws, but McCain would, and she’d have to have some sway with him, or else why would he pick her as a running mate?

I’m not particularly scared of what might happen if McCain/Palin get into office, but I am annoyed by the backwards attitudes they represent. Their getting into office is going to set us back years, decades, or even centuries as far as civil rights and freedom of religion are concerned. I guess we’ll all have to watch and see what happens. I’m not particularly for Obama, but I’m thinking I’ll be voting for him, as I don’t want Palin or McCain near the White House.

I am a person who has always struggled with religion, faith, spirituality, etc. I can be so interested in it, I can love all the tenets of a faith or religion or spiritual path, but then loose all interest in the subject just as quickly. I have been interested in and following Wicca for the past 5 years now. However, I go in spiritual spurts. Meaning I have a tendency to go long periods of time without doing anything spiritual and then all of a sudden realizing that I’m falling into a rut again where I have no faith.

For me, a lot of the problem was the fact that for the first year and a half of my studying Wicca, I lived with my terminally ill mother. She was Mormon and as good as the Church was to her, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her or any of the members of the Church who came to see her that I wasn’t interested and that I didn’t believe in it. So I hid it from her and from them.

Then she passed from this life into the next and I moved in with a roommate who liked to claim she was Wiccan but was so terrified of what her parents would say that she made me hide everything from them when they came over. So that didn’t help me any. I was being forced to hide from everyone else who and what I was.

I was so happy when I could tell my friends that I was Wiccan and not have to worry about being treated any differently. Then I moved back to Iowa from Texas with a friend of mine and all of a sudden, her father and the bishop of the Mormon church ward she belonged to fed her a bunch of lies saying that she couldn’t be re-baptized (long story) into the Church because Christ wouldn’t enter her home because of me. I knew that to be a bunch of crap, because frankly, MY beliefs have nothing to do with HER deities and how they treat her. At first they were happy with me putting away all my Wicca and magick books and not practicing. I even let this blog go at that time - the domain name sat dormant with nothing on it because it was Wicca related and I couldn’t use it.

Then all of a sudden it was being said that I needed to find a different place to live - because of my faith. So I had to move into a crappy apartment that 2 years later, I still can’t afford to move out of. When I’m home, I’m fine, but if I’m at my best friend’s house, I’m stuck going to church with them every Sunday. So I’m being bombarded with things I don’t believe in and being stifled by faith that is not my own.

Of course, if I’m at home I have no internet access and I need internet access as I do some work from home on my blogs. So now I’m working towards the goal of simply getting my bills paid off and getting my life back on track to the point that I can get my internet access back at home so I can start being me again.

But one thing I have to say, is I know I let myself do these things. I allow myself to be pushed into things I don’t want to do concerning faith and religion. I allow myself to be dragged off to church each Sunday even if I don’t believe in it and I don’t listen to anything they say. I allow myself to be stifled by others. Now - I know this, I admit it. I just have to change it. And unfortunately, changing it is the hardest part of the whole thing.

I am lacking in spirituality. I don’t know what it is with me. I guess I just allow, and I do take responsibility for this, I allow the mundane life to get in the way of my magickal and spiritual life. I know I’m allowing it because I’m not taking time to study my Wiccan texts, I’m not taking time to learn more. I’m not taking time to connect with Goddess and God. I’m not taking the time to do even the smallest things. I don’t take time to say a blessing when I eat. I don’t take time to light a candle or two even for a few moments each day.

I don’t devote time to creating my tradition. I haven’t touched my Tarot cards in weeks. I have got to get myself on track. I can’t say back on track as I’ve never really been on track. But I must get myself working on my spirituality again. I need to start working on my Tarot again. I need to start working on devotions to the Goddess and God. I need to start saying my blessings when I eat. There are a lot of things I need to start doing. I just have to get off my rear end and start doing the things I should be doing.

I know that if I start doing the things I need to do, that my life will be better. That I will stop having as much stress in my life, that I will start having all that I need and more. I know this with every fiber of my being. I just have to kick myself in the butt and get started.

One of the things a friend of mine has been curious about is alternative methods of healing, including Reiki and meditation with crystals and the like. Healing herbs is also a curiosity of hers. Of course, she knows that it’s best to consult a physician as well, but like my own doctor, she probably has a better chance of getting a prompt appointment with a San Diego plastic surgeon than with her doctor.

I told her I’d do some research. Right now she’s more worried about me finding a resolution to my own problem. My problem is my ears are retaining fluid like nobody’s business. They’ve always been odd ball about draining properly and the past couple of weeks they’ve been horrible. I’m trying to find some good herbal remedies for making fluid drain from ears. If you know of any, leave me a comment.

I’ve heard some interesting things about “ear candling.” Some sort of beeswax candles that are burned where you can feel the heat and whatnot in your ears. It’s supposed to help with a lot of ear problems. Maybe I should search for that? Hmmmm.

Sometimes I honestly wonder if some women take looking good too far. I mean, I understand the wish to look good, and I understand that it can make you feel good to look good, but when does it go too far? I mean to be honest, I have never understood why anyone who did not really need to would undergo something like revision rhinoplasty surgery. I guess I’ve always been of the school of thought that one should be happy with the way Goddess created them.

Now I have no problem with people who need to have the surgery done in order to have a better quality of life. But what bugs me, is when people do it simply because they let other people tell them that they aren’t pretty enough because their nose isn’t perfect. No one is perfect and the media’s ideas of what is perfect is enough to make me scream. We’re not all skinny and pretty like the fashion models you see all over the internet, television, and magazines. Most of us are a little or a lot overweight, and none of us are perfect.

If you need it, get it, if you don’t, don’t. That’s my take on it. Be happy with how Goddess created you. She did it for a reason.

One of the things I think are cool, not that I’d ever get one, is a Wiccan or Pagan themed tattoo. I’ve seen some beautiful tattoo designs of various Wiccan and Pagan things, including pentacles, runes, Goddess symbols and more. I’ve also seen some gorgeous faerie tattoos.

Now I have an interesting take on what is or is not a Wiccan or Pagan themed tattoo. Frankly, if you practice Faerie Wicca, then a faerie tattoo would be, for you, a Wiccan themed tattoo. One of the WWE’s wrestlers has a tattoo of roots going down one arm. To me, it’s Wiccan/Pagan themed, regardless of the fact that he’s a Christian, because he himself stated that the reason he got the tattoo of the roots was to “connect him with the Earth.”

One of the gals at work is a Pagan and she considers anything with Celtic knot work to be Pagan themed, and she has a few tattoos that include Celtic knot work. I guess it’s up to each person as to what is or is not a Wiccan/Pagan themed tattoo. Each person is different and each person has their own ideas about everything regarding their faith.

I had a friend of mine, who is not Wiccan or Pagan how one would go about conducting an outdoor ritual. The reason she asked is because she’s curious that way. Like I said, she’s not Wiccan or Pagan, but she tolerates my being Wiccan and she does ask questions about it when something doesn’t make sense or catches her fancy.

I told her that from what I’ve been able to gather, never having been to one myself, that some set up an altar and have everyone make a circle around it. Some people use tiki torches for quarter candles. One thing I said I highly doubted they used, unless the entire area is strictly Wiccans or Pagans, is high power outdoor loudspeakers. I can just about imagine the issues we’d have with the people in the surrounding areas if we did use them. LOL Can we say somebody’s gonna call the cops? Yeah, I thought so.

I’d love to attend an outdoor ritual someday. Too bad the groups in my area don’t hold them outdoors anywhere.