Moving along my path...I'm not going to keep posting here about goddesses and pagans.  It didn't seem to bring that much new information, and I preferred reading to posting.

So I'm still available on my other 3 blogs:

Alchemy of Clay - about my pottery life

Living in Black Mountain NC - mainly photos

When I Was 69 - Personal Archives

Sick as a dog...just saying

So glad I'm not sick as a cat.  Who knows what that would be like.

And I'm grateful for friends who have sent healing energies my way.  I have to laugh at one friend who says she wants me to have such good healing that I'll feel better than I did before I got sick. 

I don't post that much about my ailments...which seem to come on more and more often with the years.  So perhaps I do post a lot about them.  But, tee hee, there's still the delete button.

Do you journal?  I have for years...though there are big gaps.  And do you happen to use any divination aids?  Divine guidance through cards, pendulums, books, or whatever?

I do Tarot cards.  They give me insights into what my psyche is needing to hear about...or as Jung would say, my unconscious is talking to my conscious personality.  Whatever.  These little ideas that are flung out on the table relate to me enough that I can remember them throughout the day or week...and perhaps guide my actions accordingly.  I don't believe they tell the future.  I often don't even have a question to pose to the cards.  I just like having a different view of things pointed out to me.

So while I'm recuperating, I'll probably have a chance to do a spread.  I use the Motherpeace deck, and use the Celtic spread...at least I think that's what it's called.  If I'm in a rush, I sometimes just do one card for each direction.

Some thoughts with Byron's help

I seem to end up posting links here, more than sharing astute wisdom of my own.  Mmmm.
Well, wisdom flows like a river, and the internet has become one of links between us.
Here's  H.Byron Ballard's recent post about Imbolc.  More on Imbolc will be here soon.  From me.  I promise.

Divine feminine poetry

Poetry by divine feminine friends...
Susa Silvermarie

Yes, you can click and go to the site.  It's a divine thing to do!

Annelinde Metzner

Goddess Pages is an excellent resource from the UK.

And here's Linda's blog link, where she posts a poem of hers weekly.

Osun celebration

A PBS show about Osun, one of a series about various religious rituals...is available on PBS.org until Jan 28.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365384458/

Watch this one to learn about Osun, (say Oshune) the goddess of the waters, from the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

And go to Nigeria with Americans who are to be initiated as Priestesses and attend the annual Osun festival.  If you don't have time to watch the whole 55 minutes, you'll miss some snippets of how a goddess religion has endured, traveled, and adapted.

I have friends in Asheville, NC who celebrate Osun and have rituals by the waters in our North Carolina mountains...but they didn't get into this movie.  I'll post some pictures of our rituals though soon.

Goddess shows up everywhere

Calendar, both as wall style and a spiral bound version, with my friend's poetry included!

Phoenician carving dating to the 7th century BCE, found in Italy.

Dextra Quotskuyva, Hopi potter,  sipapu symbol .the womb of Mother Earth, emergence of beings from the underworld

discussion on pagans

I get a newsletter which included this link today.  An interesting, and very intellectual discussion about paganism.

Pagans

She's there inside you all the time

I've perhaps gone over the edge...or maybe my being connected to the Goddess as immanent, as a being with many names but totally inside me all the time, means I don't have this need to connect outside myself as much.

Yes I still need other people...but not for my spiritual path.

Awareness, as Buddhists say...just to tune into what is already there.  So there's a sense of completeness.

I didn't feel any of the New Year's push.  Certainly not to celebrate one night out of 365. 

I have no sense that waking up yesterday I should look at anything differently, or strive in some way to change either myself or my environment.

When asked if I had intentions, I kind of mumbled.  Nope.  I may think up a word that will stand for my direction of my path, but for now I just am walking it.  My life continues...seemlessly. 

I have come to terms with the anxieties of changes that are inevitible in my life. When my needs change, then things must also change.  Yes it takes effort to settle with what will be most comfortable for me. And that's just the mental/spiritual preparations.  The actual work of making changes in my life are still out there.  Many hours ahead will require my attention, but I think I'm about ready to move in the direction that is required.

I've recently witnessed an iPhone that just died.  After many hours on one day to get it fixed, there was no resolution.  A busy family member spent those hours away from the joys of the season talking to strangers on another phone...and he had a whole week without receiving any phone calls.  It would still text and do email but no phone functions.  We are servants at times to our gadgets...and I've done the same kind of routine myself...grudgingly, with phones and computers.  These are our devices to serve us, but they can sometimes be demanding.

I remind myself to look within for the spark of love, life, and the connection to my Higher Spirit.  She is always there, waiting for me to notice her.

No matter the spiritual practices that I've been around lately, the talk is always of the Source of spirituality coming from outside ourselves.

Please stop and listen to the inner Guide, that part of yourself which proves that She exists as much in you as She does in me.  I think all religions are based on removing that spark of divinity and placing Her on an altar.  It's fine to have external reminders, but we really only need to sit in silence to reconnect with what is always there...a divinity which each of us has inside us, our connection to Source.

Unfortunately she lets cell phones and computers continue to have their own problems.  But it all works out eventually.