Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to
 them, “A fight is going on inside me.  It is a terrible fight, and it is
 between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow,
 regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,
 lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. 

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”

“This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.” he added.

The Grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

modern day amazons

Women in the Ukraine, tired of being oppressed and victimized, have thrownback to the time of ancient Scythian amazons, and have taken to training and bettering themselves.

Asgarda - amazons of the Ukraine 

Biodh Se!

the Raven as a totem animal

From this page: If a raven totem has come into our life, magic is at play. Raven activates the energy of magic and links it to our will and intention. With this totem, we can make great changes in our life; the ability to take the unformed thought and make it reality. The raven shows us how to go into the dark of our inner self and bring out the light of our true self; resolving inner conflicts which have long been buried. This is the deepest power of healing we can possess.

This page has some good info too: raven

and FYI: crows are the smallest form of raven

Native American Code of Ethics

1. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.

2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.

3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.

4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor.

5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours.

6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant.

7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression.

8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you.

9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven.

10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body and spirit. Practice optimism.

11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family.

12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow.

13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you.

14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of one's will within this universe.

15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails.

16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions.

17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden.

18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first.

19. Respect others' religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others.

20. Share your good fortune with others. Participate in charity.

Will Smith's Wisdom

I vote we make Will Smith an Honourary Member of the Order of Scathach. He GETS IT.

"Any fool can make a baby; it takes a MAN to raise a child."

My parents were 19 and 18 when they oops'd and got pregnant. My mom refused to abort, and told my dad to take some time to decide whether he wanted to stay with her and raise the baby, or leave her. He drove around for a few hours, then came back and said "I'm in." My dad was an 18-year-old boy. They had just graduated high school.

They got married a couple months later, and I was born (premature) a few months after that. They've been together 35 years, their children are 34, 30 and 28. That 18-year-old boy stepped up and became a Man.

Happy Father's Day to my Dad.

~
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
~

This commercial was pulled off the air because too many viewers complained about the "gay content". Obviously they missed the part where having this mayo would make Mom just as awesome a lunch-maker as the guy at the deli.



And now I totally want a ham sandwich.

Battlestar Galactica cast speaks to racial discrimination at the United Nations

So say we all.

Cat House on the Kings

chakra meditations

Third Eye Chakra meditation:

Avatar: the Last Airbender

This is a truly amazing children's animated series that even adults can appreciate.

I really like how this show incorporates: martial arts disciplines (kata forms as a means to practice moving chi), warrior ideologies, learning to work with and manipulate ("bend") the four elements, mental discipline and psychic abilities, "drawing up" deity, reincarnation, and especially taking full inventory of your strengths and weaknesses in order to work to overcome your shortcomings to be a stronger, better, more compassionate person.

The majority of the themes in this show resonate with what we, in Scathach, are working on.



And Uncle Iroh rocks my socks!

Demystifying Paganism - Reverend Derrek Younger

This is a truly brilliant sermon, which I think Christians and Pagans alike should watch. I would attend any church this man preaches at.



continue on to Part 2:


and conclude with Part 3:

preborn

Since I have been pregnant, I have been having some strange dreams. Not even just dreams, but more like this unborn child is taking me on walkabout through the astral plane or Dreamtime. Like s/he wants to meet the people in my life to determine if s/he wants me to be hir mother.

In the dreams I am visiting close friends and covenmates, and we are interacting. About what, I can't recall upon waking, I only know that the conversation could just as likely have happened in real time, because when I am back in real time both me and the people I have interacted with both recall the interaction having happened and that it didn't seem to matter that it was in the astral because it carried over just as if it happened in real time. Telepathy?  Astral projection? Aboriginal DreamTime? Can't say for sure. All I am certain of is that I AM interacting with people, regardless of venue, and it IS just as valid as if it happened in real time and in real life.

For those who are familiar with Frank Herbert's "Dune", the term "preborn" comes to mind.

[[Perhaps I should change my choice of name from Alivia to Alia? wait, maybe better not to invoke that kind of crazy, given hir mother... heheh]]

As a "for example", I offer the following dream episode:

Several weeks ago I phoned Logan's mother (unbeknownst to Logan) to inform her she was going to be a grandmother again. On the phone she was cold and distant, sounded almost annoyed to hear from me, and avoided committing to meet with me in person the next time she was in town (I wanted to tell her in person, not over the phone, so asked to meet for coffee). Put off by her reception, I did not tell her I was pregnant and instead wished her well and ended the call.

That night, I dreamt I had the in-person meeting I wanted and told her she was a grandma again. To which she promptly replied "I am not. That is not my grandchild; I will have nothing to do with it, or you."

I woke the next morning upset by this dream, and phoned Logan. I asked if his mother knew I was pregnant, and if she knew I had left him and moved out. He replied that yes, she was well aware (he told her the week before), and that she was "unenthusiastic" about the pregnancy. And continued to impress upon him that she wanted nothing to do with me or my child.

These are the kind of dreams I have been having since becoming pregnant.  Encounters in the astral plane / Dreamtime that unfold just as they would if they were in real time with these people.

Has ANYONE else experienced this, or know of someone who has?

today is my birthday (self-promoting)

It's my birthday. I'm having an Open House / House Party. Come on over for a few hours and hang out. There will be ice cream cake. Yes, it's a school night, but I don't work tomorrow so I'll be awake until I'm asleep.

6765 Lakeview Avenue, Burnaby

Pickup from Edmonds skytrain station; phone Logan (778) 239-4739

I think I'll put out a jar if anyone would like to contribute $10 or so to my "Ange needs a 6' bullwhip already!" fund. That's a worthy cause, isn't it??

the colour RED in Japan

Story of Kannon Bosatsu
The Offering of a Red Scarf
from Dreams, Myths & Fairy Tales in Japan.
Einsiedeln, Switzerland, Daimon, 1995.
Courtesy of www.cgjungpage.org/index.php

In this story, the appearance of the red skirt on Kannon's statue is a sign of her having traversed this world from the "other" to help those in need. From Dreams, Myths & Fairy Tales in Japan, 1995. See Hayao Kawai's chapter on "Interpenetration: Dreams in Medieval Japan." Kawai recounts the following medieval story:

There was a man living with his wife and only daughter. He loved his daughter very much and made several attempts to arrange a good marriage for her, but was unable to succeed. Hoping for better fortune, he built a temple in his backyard, enshrined it with the bodhisattva of compassion, Kannon, and asked the deity to help his daughter. He died one day, followed by his wife shortly thereafter, and the daughter was left to herself. Though her parents had been wealthy she gradually became poor and eventually even the servants left. Utterly alone, she had a dream one night in which an old priest emerged from the temple of Kannon in the backyard and said to her, "Because I love you so much, I would like to arrange a marriage for you. A man I have called will visit here tomorrow. You should do whatever he asks."

The next night a man with about thirty retainers came to her home. He seemed quite kind and proposed to marry her. He was attracted to her because she reminded him of his deceased wife. Remembering the words which Kannon had spoken to her in her dream, she accepted his proposal. The man was very pleased and told her that he would be back the next day after attending to some business.

More than twenty of his retainers remained behind to spend the night at her home. She wanted to be a good hostess and prepare a meal for them, but she was too poor to do so. Just then an unknown woman appeared who identified herself as the daughter of a servant who used to work for the parents of the hostess a long time ago. Sympathetic to the hostess' plight, she told the latter that she would bring food from her home to feed the guests. When the man returned the next day, she helped the daughter of her parents' master again by serving the man and his attendants. The hostess showed her gratitude by giving her helper a red ceremonial skirt (Jpn. hakama).

When the time came to depart with her fiancee, she went to the temple of Kannon to express her thanks. To her surprise she found the red skirt on the shoulder of the statue; she realized then that the woman who had come to help her was actually a manifestation of Kannon.

We see in this story not only the realization of what was promised in a dream, but also the Kannon's entry into this life as the former servant's daughter. Added to that is the appearance of the red skirt on the Kannon's statue as a sign of her having traversed this world from the "other."

Savage Daughter

(Chorus)
I am my Mother's savage daughter.
The one who runs barefoot, cursing sharp stones.
I am my Mother's savage daughter.
I'll not cut my hair.
I will not lower my voice.


My Mother's child is a savage
She looks for her omens in the colours of stones
In the faces of cats and the fall of feathers
In the dancing of fire and the curve of old bones

My Mother's child dances in darkness
And sings heathen songs by the light of the moon
And watches the stars and renames the planets
And dreams she can reach them with a song and a broom

Now my Mother's child curses too loud and too often
My Mother's child laughs too hard and too long
And howls at the moon and sleeps in ditches
And clumsily raises her voice in this song.

Now we all are brought forth out of darkness and water
Brought into this world through blood and through pain
And deep in our bones the old songs are waking
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain.

Cauldron Magick

DAYAM!! but our coven can COOK!!

om nom nom... :-D