Ink Blot

Gene Roddenberry went to his grave, telling stories that, although they supposedly happened light years away, were relevant to our every day lives. From the beginning, he claimed that the characters and races on Star Trek were parallels for people here on Earth. Little did anyone know that the characters were actually taking on traits of Neo-Pagan sects across the country! Was Gene Pagan? Who knows, but sit back and enjoy this little trip, where no Pagan has gone before…

Wiccans - The United Federation of Planets

The Federation means well. They let just about everybody into their little social club, so long as they agree to play nice. They don’t talk about rules much, but keep referring to one Prime Directive that all other laws are based on. That said, they frequently violate that rule when the need suits them. Often heard speaking in various UK accents, even though they’re not from the islands (Et tu, Jean-Luc?)

Asatruar - Klingons

Obsessed with honor and combat. Have no qualms with eating meat and eat it with obvious relish. Insist they did everything first (”But Hamlet is so much better in the original Klingon.”) And who wants Klingon opera, when you can have Wagner’s Die Neibelung?

Ceremonialists - Vulcans

Have you ever heard someone say, “Excuse, I was reading this and wanted to tell you: “anal retentive” has a hyphen in it.”? Everything is very orderly in their universe. No room for untidy things like emotions and the like.

Druids - Bajorans
(with special guests: the Tuatha de Dannan as The Prophets)

You cannot separate the Bajorans from their faith. Religion permeates the very air they breathe. Although this should be a unifying force on their devastated environment, they are constantly fighting with one another. Like many other races, they are subject to charismatic leaders.

New Agers - Betazoids

Profoundly psychic when you don’t want them to be; dense as a rock (crystal) when you actually need some help. Spend an awful lot of time talking about “vibes” and are perpetually concerned with how others feel. If they weren’t so damn cute, you’d just want to smack them. You only see the women of this race.

Numerologists/Kabbalahists - Binars

Numbers are everything, don’t you know. Can loudly pronounce a given number (93!) and have people laugh at it like it was a punch line. Draws all sorts of really interesting links between things based on the numerological significance. Socially uncouth. The only difference between the Binars and numerologists is that Binars have mates that understand them.

Setians/Satanists - The Skin of Evil
(the oil slick that killed Tasha Yar)

A long time ago, a race decided to sluff off all their evil, mean and nasty emotions. They physically excreted these emotions into a big pile of black ooze. The race bailed off the planet, leaving the ooze which, over time, became sentient… sort of, and delights in causing fear and pain in others.

Dianics - The Women of Angel 1

Imagine a planet where women are in charge! It is a wonderful, peaceful place. Everyone gets along all the time and no one ever goes hungry. Yeah, right. Behind the facade of perfect love and perfect trust and gyno-unity, there is an iron fist in that velvet glove. And, surprise, surprise, the gynarchy is subject to the same power struggles and in-fighting that the rest of us are.

KayOs MagicKians - The Children of Tama
(Damok & Jilad on the ocean)

I know I’m speaking English, and I know that they are speaking English. However, sometimes, you just can’t seem to understand what these souls are trying to tell you. Although they have something valid and wonderful to share with the Federation, what they have to say is mired in a language that excludes more than it includes. Fnord.

Llewellyn Publications - the Borg

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. Your history and beliefs will become part of the Borg Collective, where they will be watered down and spread out evenly between everyone in our race. Lower your shields and hand over your money; resistance is futile.

taken from http://www.ecauldron.com

I’ve been trying to determine the significance of Mabon / Equinox to me from a spiritual perspective. At the moment, the closest I can get is Thanksgiving, plus this sense of bittersweet celebration. It’s a harvest festival, so YAY, but it’s also about to get frakking cold. *Shiver*

I have a hard time relating to the archetypal Oak and Holly Kings, or the Lord and Lady and their revolutions:

The Holly King now has overtaken the Oak King.

The Lord’s power wanes, he will die by Samhain.

I don’t get why that maters.

I’ll take Persephone and Demeter and Hades, plus pomegranate juice is yummy.

I grew up with a meal mantra, not so much a blessing, that I can still repeat in my sleep. I don’t use that one anymore, and I’ve been feeling that I should be using SOMETHING with the kids. Not that I’m great at cooking to start with. Here are a bunch I found that are happily Pagan.

May We Appreciate and Remember – Buddist

Today may we appreciate this food and remember those who are hungry.
May we appreciate our family and friends and remember those who are alone.
May we appreciate our health and remember those who are sick.
May we appreciate the freedoms we have and remember those who suffer injustice and tyranny.
Peace on earth.

Divine Energy – Pagan

From forest and stream, from mountain and fields, from the fertile Earth’s nourishing yields, I now partake of the Divine Energy; may it lend me health, strength, and love.

Elemental – Wiccan

Blessed be the Earth for giving birth to this food
Blessed be the Sun for nourishing it
Blessed be the Wind for carrying its seed
Blessed be the Rain for quenching its thirst.

Blessed be the hands that helped to grow this food,
To bring it to our tables
To nourish our minds, bodies, and spirits.

Blessed be our friends, our families, and our loved ones.
Blessed Be.

Goddess – Wiccan

Goddess, bless this food you have given me
Let it be filled with your divine energy
So that I will be healthy
And live a long and happy life.
Goddess bless! Blessed be!

Cerridwen – Celtic

O Lady of the Harvest, bounteous Cerridwen,
For the meat and bread that sustain us,
And the wine that brings us joy,
We thank you and promise you,
That we will never use the strength derived from your gifts,
To willfully harm your creatures or violate your laws.

Mother Earth – Generic (vegan)

For the golden corn and the apple on the tree,
For the golden butter and the honey from the bees,
For the fruits and nuts and berries we gather on our way,
We praise the loving Mother Earth and thank Her everyday.

Lord and Lady – Wiccan

Lord and Lady, watch over us,
and bless us as we eat.
Bless this food, this bounty of earth,
we thank you, so mote it be.

A Prayer to the Earth – Pagan

Corn and grain, meat and milk,
upon my table before me.
Gifts of life, bringing sustenance and strength,
I am grateful for all I have.

The Hunt – Norse/Celtic

Hail! Hail! The hunt has ended,
and meat is on the table!
We honor the deer who feeds us tonight,
may his spirit live within us!

Invitation to the Gods – Pagan

I set a place at my table for the gods,
and ask them to join me here tonight.
My home is always open to you,
and my heart is open as well.

Offerings – Greco/Roman

In ancient Rome, it was common to leave a bit of your food on the altar for your household deities. If you would like to do this at your meal, you could use the following prayer:

This meal is the work of many hands,
and I offer you a share.
Holy ones, accept my gift,
and upon my hearth, leave your blessings.

Great Spirit – Pagan/Native American?

We thank you for the gift of this food.
We send blessings of peace, love, and release to all whose bodies energies brought us this nourishment. We honor you in our enjoyment and utilization of this meal.
May it bring us health and joy, reminding us of our interconnections with all that is.
As we receive, so do we give thanks for this gift.

With young children, it is best to keep prayers short, simple, and to the point as below.
Thank you, Great Spirit
Thank you, chicken and peas and milk (or other food items)
Thank you, Mother Earth
We love this food.

Buddhist Blessing for Food

Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space
combine to make this food.
Numberless beings gave their lives
and labors that we may eat.
May we be nourished
that we may nourish life.

The candle that started at Imbloc built to a zenith on Beltaine. It now recedes. Because, really… who wants a huge bonfire in the heat of summer? As I get older, I apprecate the cycles of time more and more. And how they affect me. I am at my most industrious in the fall. And at my most dream-like now in Spring. Looking back over the years, during those years that I’ve had something to distract me, I have stayed more grounded in the spring. During those that I don’t… I do very rash things, like up and join the Army.

2008: slowly going crazy

2007: April thru June: 2 trips home in 8 weeks, very distracting

2006: March and April: trying to get pregant. If that’s not a cure for spring fever, nothing is.

2005: April and May: Bought a house. Very distracting

2004: April thru June: Pregnant, alone… very bad time

2003: March: up and joined the Army

2002: May: Screw Juniata - dropped out of school.

So now it’s the middle of June and in my attempts to function on a daily basis, I feel like an old washing machine, going round and round the same routines until I rattle apart at the seams. What I WANT to be is a balloon, drifting up in the clouds to parts unknown. How many balloons does it take to lift a washing machine?

Beltane is my second favorite holiday. After Halloween, of course. There is a great Fire that fuels the Earth. I mean this both literally (ahem, SUN!) and figuratively. The heat that had been building since Candlemas is the most within our reach, you can almost touch it with out being burned to smithereens. Leap the fire if you dare. 

So it’s a common scenario: someone is ill, or is hurt or is generally not their usual selves.  And they or someone close to them is asking for prayer and/or enegry and/or thoughts. My question is: Is there a difference? You send intent out into the universe. Is God™ or any other deity acting as a focal point? A magnifing lense? Is sending prayers/energy/thoughts to a deity any better or worse than sending prayer/enegry/thoughts to the person directly?

It’s a matter of skills. If God acts as a focal point, great! If you send directly to the person, great! It is indeed the thought itself that counts. It doesn’t particularly matter what we call it. You send prayers, I send enegry… the intent is the same. The semantics make us feel better, but at the core, it’s irrelevant.

How a person carries themselves matters. And there are lots of ways to do this. One of my people-watching theories is that you can tell quite a bit from the way a person walks. The idea being is that a person subconsciously leads with their strengths.

The nerd.

If a person is most confident about their scholastic or intellectual abilities, they will lead with their head. And by ‘lead’ I don’t mean that they walk head down like a battering ram or anything. More that their head (brain) is the first body part that one notices when they walk by at a distance.

The athlete.

A person confident of their athletic ability or strength will lead with their shoulders. This is much more common in the men that I have observed, less so in women. In fact, most of the women I have seen walk in this fashion are either college athletes (the ones I’ve seen up close) or Olympians (I’ve seen on TV)

The athlete variation. (Gorilla walk)

Some men (all these are men, in my observation)  who work their upper body in disproportion to their lower body walk in a way that holds their arms out from the body and draws more attention to those as opposed to their shoulders.

Sexy

When a person holds most confidence in their gender or their sexual talents, they walk with their hips. Ok, yes, I know. Everyone walks with their hips. But this is the first thing you see. From what I have observed, this is both men and women, both gay and straight.

Belly walk

This is how pregnant women usually walk. Sometimes because they are physically unable (at that point in pregnancy) to walk any other way. Sometimes because they identify best as ‘pregnant’. I have seen some men (always with beer bellys) walk like this as well. They indemnify most with their belly. I find that a bit odd, but to each their own.

Left foot, right foot

If you watch a young kids walk, say between the ages of 3 and 6, they tend to pay just a bit more attention to their feet, since they are relatively new to the whole walking thing, and they don’t appear all that certain of how their feet really are attached. I’ve seen adults do this too, and I can’t decipher why this is.

Switching.

Not everyone walks the same way all the time. I’ve seen people walk like nerds on one situation (after class) and then walk like athletes later (after playing tennis).

Negating factors.

People who are carrying things, or pushing or pulling things.

Members of the armed services – some always walk like a ‘solider’, which is to say, with very little distinguishing features. Some do this only in uniform.

People who are injured.

I was drawn to the magic place, where the veil thins and over the babble of the creek, you can hear the fairies laugh. I came 15 years after the whole thing started. I was hardly the first. Certianly not the last. I stood in the Royal Meadow with my infant son when the Greenman called the corners and welcomed the Spring. I was enchanted.

I returned to the magic place, where invisible wings and hand carved flutes stir the breeze. I wanted that peace that graced the trees. My expectations were high. I had walked here before. I stood by the house with my infant son and watched the fairies transform to lumbermen and EMTs. I was enthralled.

I crave the magic place, where the bounty of Earth springs forth and bears joy by it’s very existence. I found peace and joy and each of the 7 blessings. You can touch them. They dance in the water and wind. I walked from field to farm, bearing fruits of labor to share and partake. I was euphoric.

And like every perfect thing, this too must end. Brought by the politics of the fairies themselves, the circle is closed. The May Pole stands still, testament to what was. I will harvest the land. The magic in that shall last. The magic that drew me, however, has proved fleeting. I will not play the games of bureaucrats and nobility. They can have their Court and their Ball. My sons and I will find another path.

I have never lived today before. At least not that I remember. And not remembering makes it not count. So if I have never lived today before, that means that the possibilities are endless. It’s so easy to get caught in the daily grind. Keeping our noses down that we never look up and see the sky, the trees. Or feel the rain on our faces. I have never lived today before and the world knows it. The world waits, poised, ready to leap. From the water nymphs in Pierceville Run to the firebirds of Siberia to Herne of Sherwood Forest, they wait. For someone to see and respond. Someone less hesitant than I. Maybe one day, I will give myself to the rain. Not Today.

So, I’m waiting for some manner of convergence. It’s Ostara (Equinox), the Full Moon, and Good Friday all at once and I think I am waiting for some manner of energy to es’plode or something. I’ve been totally, 100% unable to do anything about it myself, except maybe watch it pass by. But I was looking forward to the watching.

Wee Bear was up all night, first time he’s done that in MONTHS, and I’m a little bit convinced that he knew something was afoot. Being 14 ½ months old, he wasn’t not super-good at expressing this, but he tried.

So, barring, WB’s fits last night, I’ve been rather disappointed on the whole power surge I was expecting. I guess there’s still time, but I coulda sworn it was going to be last night or nothing. I really was not expecting nothing. Maybe if I manage to pull my head above water on this whole ‘going crazy’ thing, then I will go and check things out for myself. As much fun at it is to watch things explode, its best to find out ahead of time if the cloud is mushroom-shaped.