Moving to Wordpress

Hello dear readers!

I'm updating to let you know that I've moved The Ditzy Druid to Wordpress.  I've been contemplating this move for awhile after looking through several wonderful looking blogs.  After fiddling with the features, I find that I really like it more than Live Journal, Blogger, Tumblr (Tumbler?) or any other blogging site I've tried.  It looked complicated at first, but it's really more user-friendly in my humble opinion.  I also moved my website to Wordpress so everything is combined and easy to navigate.

I'm still tweaking it (Weretoad is going to make me a personalized banner to replace the stand-in), but everything is set up.  All the old posts and comments have been imported, my study program was moved over, and I am happy.  I'm going to keep my Blogger account for now to maintain my online identity.  I regret to inform my LJ readers that I cannot figure out how to easily forward my Wordpress posts.  I may end up just ignoring LJ for awhile.  Most people I know have given up on it anyway which kind of sucks because I have fond memories attached to it.  Worry not - I will continue to check the accounts from time to time to keep up with friends who use Blogger and LJ.

Otherwise, I invite you all to visit my new blog/website: http://ditzydruid.wordpress.com/.  There is an RSS feed as well as an option to receive updates via e-mail.  If those do not please you, you can also catch my updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for reading The Ditzy Druid on Blogger!  I hope you will continue to follow me on Wordpress.

Blessings,
Grey Catsidhe

( For My LJ and FB Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Magical Efficacy

Check out this amazing blog post over at "Inciting a Riot."  It's all about the public's misunderstanding about magic, and the Pagan community's own relationship to magic - specifically why everyone isn't doing it and why magic isn't marketable.  It's really some great food for thought.  I wish I had read this blog post ages ago when I first started to try and explain magic to my non-Pagan friends.  I always end up looking like a crazy person.  Since I grew tired of the "this chick is insane/stupid/gullible/going to Hell" look, I'm mostly in the "keep magic to myself and sacred" camp.  I sometimes post about it on my blog because, aside from the friends who are Pagan or are more accepting of my craziness, the blog is relatively anonymous.

Also, I must admit.  I do get a giddiness when I know more about magic than some people.  It's kind of a horrible thing to admit, but when people don't believe, I just feel like...  "Damn, you're really missing out on something amazing. "  They're probably looking at me thinking, "Damn, she's missing out on xyz."  It's funny how that works...



( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Dandelionlady posted a lovely tutorial on making basic cornhusk dolls!  I wish I had this a few days ago.  :P

( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Pop Culture Pagans on The Juggler

Have any of you been reading The Juggler?  For those of you out of the loop, it's a member of the Pagan Newswire Collective and focuses on Pagans in pop culture - tv, movies, and books mostly.  I really dig the author's most recent post about some of the best Pagans on TV.  I loved that she included Lisa Simpson.  How many of you saw that episode last year where Lisa started to study Wicca?  It was probably one of the best portrayals of the religion on TV I've ever seen.  I highly recommend it if only for the significance of such an event.

I also like that Lucius Vorenus from "Rome" is on the list.  I haven't started the second season, but I was impressed with the very authentic portrayal of ancient Paganism.  There might have been some imperfections that Roman geeks could have spotted, but based on my growing understanding of authentic ancient magic and polytheism, it seems pretty spot on.  

I was also happy to see Tara from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."  The show has a horrible understanding of what Paganism is.  It doesn't understand Wicca.  It's as if the creators read the first paragraph of a Wikipedia entry and decided to mash and mix that understanding with the standard Hollywood portrayal of traditional witchcraft.  As the Juggler says:

Why not Willow, you say?  Don’t get me wrong, I love Willow as I love all the characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  But Willow, like a lot of television witches, was a caricature of a witch.  She was an imperfect, magical, supernatural and most of all fictional character.  Tara, from the moment we met her at UC Sunnydale’s student Pagan group, always struck me as much more organic. Sure, she is part of the same mythology but she just felt more down to earth, more real.  Though there is no evidence in the story, I can see Tara attending a Samhain ritual and honoring the Goddess and calling the quarters.

I totally agree!

( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

The Importance of the Axis Mundi in Ritual

I have another link to share with you, this one from one of my favorite blogs - The Witch of Forest Grove.  This particular entry is about the importance of the world tree in ritual, whether you are of Indo-European influence or a witch.


Check it out for a good read!

( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Daddy-Longlegs

My new favorite blog, Adirondack Almanack, has a great entry about daddy-longlegs.  I knew they weren't actually spiders, but I had believed that they had truly poisonous venom that they were incapable of delivering to us.  According to Ellen Rathbone, a biologist and environmental educator in the Adirondacks,  those are urban legends. I've always liked daddy-longlegs.  Such fascinating little guys.  


( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Follow These Blogs!

I want to take a moment and promote a couple blogs just started by people in my tribe.  One is called Rambled Mind  and will be a place of art and ramblings by a talented individual.  The other, O-C-Designer, is a blog about interior designs, environmental materials, and doing so while dealing with OCD (by another talented individual!).  Please follow them as I'm sure they will be fun and interesting.  :)

Love to my tribe!



( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Curses

Jason Miller, from the infinitely fascinating Strategic Sorcery, wrote a wonderful post about morality and magic.  I do think there can be a time and a place for curses, but I agree with him that they are generally not necessary or even moral.  Great read!


( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

New Look!

Woah...  Blogger added a million more template and background options...  I like it!  Behold the new and improved "Ditzy Druid!"  I liked the image of the path through the woods.  The symbolism should be fairly obvious, but I also chose it because I love being in the woods.  I don't spend enough time there, but when I do I feel more at peace.


[ For my LJ friends, please visit me at: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ ]

In case you haven't seen...

ADF's new Arch Druid made The Wild Hunt!  Check out the lovely photo.

[ For my LJ friends, please visit me at: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ ]

Lupa recently posted about our relationship with deities and how it relates to our own will and power.  I thought it was well-written and pertinent to my recent post about the evolution of our relationship with deities, specifically Brighid.

It is amazing to me how much human beings will disempower themselves when dealing with deities, spirits, and other such beings, simply because they are deities or spirits. Of course, those of us raised in the States, at least, where the dominant religious paradigm involves bowing before a parent-deity who is supposedly so great as to be unbeatable are already starting at a disadvantage, similar to women who are raised with the constant message that they should wilt before men. If one is to bow and worship, it should be by one's own choice, not by the idea that because we are only humans we are therefore only fit for such interaction.

And yet we are capable of so much more. In our own realm of reality, we have wrought countless changes--both for the better and for the worse--with our own collective hands. We have stretched beyond the bounds of our ancestors' biological limitations to increase our knowledge, our technology, and even our lifespans. To say that these things were only the will of the Gods is to disempower ourselves and our own creativity and ingenuity. Yes, Hermes may have adapted to the Internet, and Artemis may watch over feminists. But we are not only puppets of the deities, and they did not create computers or nonviolent protests or the atomic bomb or the printing press themselves.

Let's give ourselves more credit. It is not hubris or arrogance. It is acknowledging that we as a species are powerful in our own right. And as powerful beings in our own realm, we do not need to simply roll over for beings who are powerful in theirs. If I did that, I would have been destroyed in my first journeys into the spirit realm. Being strong does not mean being defiant. Just as we should respect other species of animals for the power they hold in their own bailiwicks, and plants in theirs, and the elements of weather in theirs, and deities in theirs, so should we respect ourselves and the power of our bailiwicks.

That last bit of emphasis was mine, because I believe that respect can go a long way with with any being.  That said, I don't think the Gods' power ends in their realm - I think it has significant carryover in our "own".  I think the Gods are more powerful than us but, as I've said before, we've evolved past a point of fear (most of us, anyway) and the Gods are more interested in having our respect than our loathing or terror.  We should be students/friends/lovers/partners/hosts and engage in a symbiotic relationship with deity.

Lupa's post does give me something to think about though.  For example, Brighid is very much my muse and I credit a lot of my inspiration to her.  To me, she is a power of inspiration incarnate.  So how much of the ideas are mine?  Do they become mine?  Are they a blessing she gives to me and all that is required back is thanks and a job well done?  Is the final piece my own or partly hers as well?

I recently read a biography about John Lennon.  I loved reading about the origin of different songs. For example, "Beautiful Boy"is about his son Sean Lennon.  In my own understanding, the original idea was inspired by his son.  John turned the idea into his own creation by interpreting their relationship into his own words and images.  When the song was finished and released, it was given back to Sean and to the world.  In the end, it belongs to all three.  Perhaps that is the same with muse-inspired art?  Or anything involving the Kindreds?  They give, we take.  We give, they take.  Everyone benefits in some way when the relationship is reciprocal and respectful.

If we aren't reciprocal and respectful to the Kindreds?  Well, we only need to watch the news to see what's happening to the environment.  Whatever the skeptics of global warming say, I firmly believe that we played a part and that we are greatly responsible for much of the death and destruction occurring around us.  In the end, though, Mama Earth is capable of swallowing us whole without a thought, and the sun is capable of swallowing her.  That's just the way it is, or at least the way we know it to be right now.  If the Kindreds aren't respectful to us?  Well...  There's always this. ;)

Folkish Heathenism vs All of Pagandom?

Having worked with many wonderful Pagans in an open network/group, I've experienced the frustration, sometimes even disgust, with other Pagan paths/traditions.  I've also experienced the mental and social reconciliation that can happen when two people who believe very differently can come together, learn, and make something beautiful like a ritual or even a lasting friendship.

In MVPN down in Utica, there was always a huge lack of Heathens.  We had one come during a meet and greet (I was not lucky enough to make his acquaintance) but he never returned.  He was looking for others like him and not the Wiccans that were present.  My friend Parallax worships Heathen deities but I'm not 100% sure if she calls herself a Heathen.  She practices through an ADF context, as do other would-be Heathens who take issue with Asatru's folkish (sometimes racist) stance.

Jason Pitzl-Waters, author of "The Wild Hunt" blog, steps up and questions the often deliberate distance placed between "us" (All of Pagandom) and "them" (the "traditional" Heathens) in his entry entitled "Asatru and the Alternative Right."  The whole she-bang is definitely worth reading, but the best bit is the final paragraph:

In the end it comes down to this. I don’t have to like all Pagans, I certainly don’t have to practice with all Pagans, and I’m long over the notion of any sort of real “Pagan Unity” ever being feasible, but a broader idea of solidarity is important if we are to capitalize and build on the legal, political, and social gains we have made. When we trash each other to impress other groups or individuals, we don’t damage the integrity or utility of those other religions and traditions, but we do harm the vital solidarity necessary to get the things we all want. This doesn’t mean you can’t draw distinctions or even civilly criticize paths different from your own, but when folks start implying that you shouldn’t be in the larger movement, that’s counter-productive and drains enthusiasm from the activists working for the rights of all Pagans.

Jason is brave to stand up for everyone, and I applaud him for doing so.  At the same time, we need to remember that not all self-described Heathens are like that.  It's unfortunate that many Heathens have ostracized its more liberal members - the ones who see beyond skin color and country of origin.  Thankfully they have a home in Ár nDraíocht Féin  and the larger Pagan community.  We have our differences, but we need to stand together for our rights.