A Goddess' Presence

 "I have too many fantasies to be a housewife"

   I actually stuck by that quote for a while, in my earlier twenties. (Not that that wasn't long ago... I just turned 28 in June). I imagined having a home and a career. My intent was to eventually make it to graduate school for Veterinary Medicine and run my own clinic. My mom was a homemaker all my life and while I saw nothing wrong with it, I just knew it wasn't for me.

   Fast forward 10 years later and I've worked no more than 6 months in the past three years since having both my girls. I couldn't afford graduate school so I tried community college and online classwork but got pregnant and couldn't finish. I now stay at home daily taking care of our daughters and trying to make our dated apartment into a home.

   But tonight, standing in our kitchen as I started making dinner, I realized I suddenly felt in my element. Where before I could run a graveyard shift of 3 people plus myself while juggling registers, drunks and gas pumps (I worked at a gas station for 3 years), I could now pick up the house, clean the kitchen, prep bottles, keep an eye on both girls as they played together while cooking dinner and getting rid of the dishes. Before, I ran on someone else's schedule and now I'm *sortakindanotreallybecauseofthekids* on my own time. I take care of them while taking care of the house, I run my own Etsy shop and have several craft fairs coming up. I've made some decent starting revenue this year and picked up some more business.

I stood there, chopping lettuce, and felt a wave of calm and at peace. For months now, I've been feeling like I've lost myself and life would never be more than the daily in and out of dishes, laundry, kids and meals.







     I glanced to my left and saw the image of Brigid and the Blessing of Gratitude frame I had made for a kitchen altar about 2 years ago:

 

 

 

   I believe now, in hindsight, that it may have been Brigid's presence that I felt while in our kitchen. It was immediate - I grabbed the frame lit the candle I keep on the stove, grabbed my fireproof cauldron and set up a quick, impromptu kitchen altar right in the middle of cooking.  (Vanilla Caramel because it smells like Fall and I can't wait for the seasons to change!)

 

 

 

   I recited the Blessing of Gratitude I had printed on the image, dropped in an offering of lettuce from what I was cutting, and continued on with dinner. Soon after the feeling diminished somewhat, as the baby started crying and the toddler came running, but for a while, I was a domestic Goddess and I felt more empowered than I have ever felt in the role of a mother, wife, homemaker, shop owner and last, but mostly importantly, a w.o.m.a.n.

 

 

   May you all feel this light, man or woman, and embrace your path. Slainte!



Happy Lughnasadh - A time of Harvest

   I have had so much to post this past month, but my computer was infected with some serious malware and it took me FOREVER to clear it out. Normally it wouldn't be so bad; just a couple of annoying flashing ads but this time it was the worst I've ever had. 3-4 different ads on each website I went to, it was affecting me being able to open any e-mails and even coming to post a blog post there was a huge ad right behind all my links for font, to post a picture, etc. making it nearly impossible to post comfortably.

   However, I am happy to report that between my husband and I, they are completely gone and I can re-join the blogging community once again!


  So, first off:

 

 

   It's the festival named after the god Lugh and the time of the harvest. Summer is hopefully coming to a close as we look towards shorter days, cooler weather and my favorite season of the year - Autumn. Though it doesn't feel like it yet here in North Carolina, August always brings with it good feelings of the coming of cooler weather, the start of school, cuddling up under blankets and the holidays not far behind.  :)

 

   With it being time to harvest, I am also crossing my fingers that we will be able to get some veggies out of the plants we've been growing all summer. I found a great idea on pinterest about growing a pallet garden and thought we'd give it a try.

 

 

 

   We started out with flowers along the bottom and veggies on top. The flowers lasted pretty long but in the other pallet I was growing herbs and this ridiculous NC heat killed what little grew or prevented anything from growing to begin with.

 

   However, we did have our green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers sprout and we're just waiting for them to flower.

 

  The beginning of our green beans....

 

 

Basil seems to be the only herb that can grow here. These sprouts are MUCH bigger as of today.

Cucumbers

 

 

Our tomatoes. This thing is HUGE now. We have about 4-5 stalks and just noticed today that it started to flower. I'm thinking we might have to get another pot soon.

 

 

   I did mange to save some flowers however. We have 5 sunflower plants growing and my Lantana is a hardy plant and has managed to be completely dead twice and still come back!

 

 

 

 

   So hopefully, our harvest will produce some veggies to munch on. I plan on this month to try and start growing some herbs again once the weather cools off a bit.

 

 

 

  What do you plan on harvesting this season? Are you celebrating Lughnasadh now or waiting until the weather and season changes a bit more?

 



 

A Journey Through the English Ritual Year

  This was shared on the Celtic Paganism group I am a part of on Facebook. Great pictures and looks like fun times!

English Ritual Year

Pagan Pride Days Raleigh 2013

For anyone living in Raleigh, NC or surrounding areas or anyone who will be visiting in September, stop by Pagan Pride Days in Raleigh September 21-22. I'll be a vendor there this year and would love to meet you!

Supermoon 2013

The Snakes are still in Ireland

   Just a quick post this morning. This article was shared this morning on Facebook. In it, the author writes about the increasing number of Pagans in the country of Ireland where previously Catholicism and Christianity had a strong hold.

   Very interesting!

The Snakes are still in Ireland

 

Back to Basics and a project idea

So...

   I've been waiting for things to settle down around our household so I could get into a routine and start blogging again, get on a schedule...

Yea, that's not happening.

So let's just jump right back in, shall we?


  I have to admit, I've been a little less than spiritual the past couple of months. Since having our second daughter I've been spending a lot of time enjoying her since I was able to with the postpartum depression with my first, along with wrangling my oldest daughter during some jealous moments. Our days are long and between them, my husband's ever changing work schedule, my Etsy shop and myriad of other things, the least I have done is check off a quick prayer or thanks for something that has finally gone right.

   Now since I like structure, I figured I'll start back at the basics and start doing something small and simple every day to get me in the habit again. And what better way then prayer and offerings?



   People have been making offerings for centuries for a variety of reasons: to ensure good crops for the harvest, give thanks, or just to simply connect with their gods.

  Now offerings can also be a variety of things as well. Found objects outside from nature you believe your god or goddess would be fond of, food from your finished meal or while your cooking as well. A poem or picture you've done yourself if you're an artist.

   For my daily offerings I believe I'll start with a bit of what I make each night for dinner. Long ago I made a small framed picture of Brigid for my kitchen and I had a small offering plate that sat in front of it. I think it's time to dig it out or find a new one. (It might have been lost in the move). In the mornings I'm not quite sure if I'll do an offering as well or just start the day with a rising prayer. In a previous post I included a rising prayer I found, but I'm going to work on one myself and use that one instead.

   Now for the project idea!

I'm a little addicted to Pinterest. There is just an incredible amount of DIY projects, crafts and sewing tutorials that I really need to just take a break and finish the ones I've found first, before starting anything new!

   Something that I've come across the other days was a Home Management Binder. Basically this binder holds all your information (financial, health, daily, etc.) in one easy to find binder. As I was wading through all the examples, I noticed a lot of the bloggers showing off their work did have a little bit of their spirituality showing in their books. Scriptures written on certain pages, religious themed covers, prayer sections to focus on their faith and goals. It got me thinking.

 

   What about a pagan home management binder? Specifically, Celtic/Irish?

 

   So, dear readers who are left :)  that is what I plan to work on. It'll be the last thing I add to my list of a million things to do (mainly for Etsy and the upcoming Pagan Pride Days festival in September). I will keep you updated on how it's going. So far I'm just brainstorming ideas for the different sections, such as:

 

   - Daily, weekly, monthly cleaning

   - Grocery list

   - Finances

   - Blog ideas and posts

   - Herb supply list

   - Ritual/circle schedule

   - Calendar

   - Mean planning

 

 

   Now, most of these can be found in any HMB, but I want to add a pagan twist to it. Like I said, still working out the details but I'm hoping it all comes together!

 



Update... getting a bit personal

   To those, if any of you, who are still with me, thank you for sticking around.

   The past two months have been crazy. The new year came and went, I neared the end of my pregnancy and gave birth to our second daughter on January 14 after being induced for high blood pressure and Pre-Eclampsia. As of today she is almost 7 weeks old and we are getting a little more adjusted to being a family of four.  :)

   This weekend we are also moving out of our expensive townhouse to somewhere a little more cost effective and outside the ridiculous city limits. I was hoping to have already started posting again, but it's just too much right now between our girls, moving and also dealing with two of us being sick. (Newest addition included)

   So, for right now this is just a quick check I to let you know I am still alive and do plan on coming back to blogging, just not as soon as I had hoped. I do wish you all to stick around and enjoy the rest of 2013 with me!

New Year, Fresh Start - Happy 2013!

 

   So 2012 slipped out quietly for our household. Our 2 year old ran around till 11:30 then the hubby and I watched the ball drop on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve.

 

   2012 has been rough for my family and many things have been negatively affected in my life, this blog being one of them. But with the new year comes a new focus and concentration. The Pagan Blog Project is continuing in 2013, courtesy of Rowan Pendragon. And I myself will be bringing back my monthly study of crystals and herbs each full moon as well as the weekly (or bi-weekly) god/dess post.

  

   It's time to renew, refocus, and re-energize. Welcome 2013.