Pneumatised!

MM,

The start of Samhain week was just the start of my ten-day spree of craziness. After the Samhain festivities were over with (at least that I went to), I had to go to the do jang and help with the black belt test.

Originally, I was planning on running the 10k again, but I wasn’t planning on being sick and exhausted from a busy week. I headed out to the track to check up on the people running the 10k. It was dark by then. The run was scheduled for 6 p.m. Deciding I shouldn’t even try to run (Nathan’s orders), we headed to the do jang. When I got there I found out the black belt test was Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday. I had left my uniform at home and had to go back to get it. I had an hour and a half still to go home and come back, so Nathan and I decided to go eat dinner and then head home. I got back to the do jang just at 8 p.m. The black belt testees were doing their written test, so I had time to get changed. It was good timing. The test lasted until 11 p.m. Then we were to continue the next day at 12 noon. I got home tired and still a little sick around midnight. I went to bed after eating and washing up.

The next day, Saturday, I woke up around 10-ish and got to the do jang early around 11:45 a.m. The test went from 12 noon to 4 p.m. It was overall a very good test the past two days. Everyone did fairly well. Thus concludes another black belt test. There are now about 16 more black belts added to the do jang this year. I have to say I was happy that I did not need to get up early on Sunday.

Sunday, November 5 I got up early enough for Sunday circle again. I was feeling totally tired and really needed a break. All I could do was hope for a quiet night at WCC and a quiet ritual. Then I found out there was a Steering Committee meeting and election that night at 6 p.m., so I left earlier to make that. It turns out we didn’t have enough people to have a meeting so I was there early and had some time to rest and just putter around before getting dressed as Summoner. Ritual that night was okay. The idea was good, but the execution was a little strange. After ritual, Nathan and I hung out with a friend of mine who is visiting for a few days. I was glad Nathan and him got along. My friend is a very special person. I feel a kinship with him because he is very spiritually connected. Nathan and I got home late that night, but it was a fun night chatting with a friend I don’t see often. On my way home that night, I suddenly felt elated and a weight lifted because my ten-days of going out and not getting any “me” time at home was finally over. 😀 It felt good to get stuff done, but after a while I just don’t feel like being around anyone or doing anything. Thankfully, it wasn’t a full two weeks of craziness.

Yesterday, I was looking forward to some quiet time to myself. I ended up sleeping in late. Then when I was in the bathroom, the fire alarm in the building went off and I heard the landlady telling people to get out of the building. I quickly got dressed, grabbed my purse, my cell phone, my jacket, and slipped on some shoes (slip-on shoes are handy to have around in case of fire), then ran down the stairs. I’m so thankful I live on the third floor. I didn’t even have time to find the cats. They were all hiding under the bed. Anyway, the fire trucks arrived on time and took care of the fire. It seemed to be a smaller fire than the one we had June 2005. I just don’t know why there have been two fires in the past 18 months. People are being careless. It’s just annoying, and makes me nervous about living here. In any case, my day was messed up, and I felt antsy. I ended up staying up last night mostly because I napped for a few hours and woke up at 1 a.m., but also because having a fire that day made me nervous about going to sleep. Thus, I went to sleep in the morning and woke up today late again. This time though, no fire! 🙂

*sigh* Time is running out on me, but I finally got a chance to get some writing done. Hehe. Writing in my journal helps me keep my brain and thoughts organized. I don’t know what I would do without that. Right now, I’m making stew for dinner. Then the next thing I’m going to do is read a bit more. Dinner is almost ready, and I will eat and watch some TV shows. Then hopefully, my brain will work properly and I can think about the rituals I need to write. Once that is done, I need to review my reiki materials again. Loads to do! No wonder my brain just takes a hiatus on me sometimes. I can’t seem to turn off the mental hyperness. At least I’m getting things done.

Okay, I’m starting to feel more relaxed now. Yes, there’s my mind. It doesn’t seem to be floating out in space too much right now. 😀

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Samhain (pronounced “sow-een”) is normally a crazy time for Wiccans. It is not only one of the eight sabbats, but is generally considered to be the Wiccan new year. Consequently, there is tons going on and not enough time to do everything. Samhain (also commonly known as Hallowe’en) then tends to get celebrated over a whole week and not just on the day. Though traditionally it is said that Samhain was celebrated for three days straight – October 31 to November 2.

My Samhain festivities started on October 27 with the Witches’ Ball. It was once again at Zemra’s. Since I am Summoner this year, I thought it would be good PR for me to attend – at least show up and say hello to people. Nathan accompanied me. We stayed for a few hours and then headed home around midnight. I was tired that day already and since the music wasn’t much to our liking we didn’t have much to do. The place is a bar and the music was much too loud for chatting, so we were pretty bored after a while. Though I had fun getting dressed up. I was a Hallowe’en tramp and Nathan was my Hallowe’en pimp. Haha! 😀 I wore a bright orange outfit, crop top with a double split skirt, and I had some plastic orange and black scarves. It was a little cold going home after though. I felt quite chilled and my poor legs and feet felt frozen even though I wasn’t wearing open-toed shoes.

The next day, Saturday, October 28, I was going down to Hamilton WCC for their Samhain ritual. It was the same ritual to be done at Toronto WCC’s Sunday circle. I thought it would be good for me to see it before I had to be Summoner in Toronto. I ended being Summoner in Hamilton that night though because we were missing some people in the ritual play. The ritual was the Descent of Inanna play. The Hamilton Summoner was dragged into the ritual, and I was asked to be Summoner. It was nice watching the play in Hamilton. There was just enough people in the audience so that the room wasn’t overly crowded. Plus, it felt good to serve another community in the capacity as Summoner. The people there were quite accepting and generally friendly. After the ritual, we headed back to Toronto and I ended up at Lady T’s place for a bit. I got home that night around 2 a.m. and just crashed.

Sunday was, of course, the Toronto WCC Samhain ritual – the same as the Hamilton one on Saturday. Having seen it once already I was prepared for it. I ended up sleeping in quite a bit on Sunday. I woke up and pretty much got ready to leave again. I was that tired. Samhain ritual is always busy and crowded. We always get a lot of people out this time of year. Not only do we have our regular members, but people who might be interested in Wicca come out on Samhain. Not really a good time to try to meet people there, but a good time to get started I guess. (Note: those who want to meet people through WCC should really come on a quieter night. On a busy night like Samhain, all the important people who are normally friendly are just too busy and worn out to be social.) So, as I was saying, it was quite busy. We had a packed house, and some people showed up late. I ended up letting two people in late. They were lucky, there was just enough room for them. Later, three more people showed up, but there wasn’t any more room and the ritual was almost over. They had to just sit in the lounge area until ritual was over. Realistically though, they shouldn’t have shown up at 9:30 expecting to make it into the ritual. Granted, it was bound to start late that night because of the amount of people involved with the ritual and everyone has to feel ready before it starts. People were starting to get anxious waiting for ritual to begin. It’s funny how even adults act like children when waiting for something. “Is it time yet?” equals children in a car asking “Are we there yet?” Then to top it off someone tried pulling a joke on the Priesthood that was not really appreciated. Frankly, it was immature and not needed at the time. I like a good joke now and then, but not when there’s a roomful of anxiously awaiting people. Overall though, the ritual went well, better than on Saturday despite the fact that there wasn’t much room for the play to take place (you find room I suppose). Then we had feast as is the custom for Sabbats. Nathan and I left late. I was waiting for people to clear out, and then I locked up the temple. At least after the ritual, I got a chance to sit and eat a bit.

Monday, October 30, I was supposed to have a day off. Suffice it to say I didn’t. I ended up meeting my sister to go over some conditions in the offer we rejected on the house. My sister doesn’t like legal stuff, so I think she just wanted another person’s opinion. It probably made her feel more comfortable about the decision. After that, Nathan and I went downtown to go book shopping. I had recently finished reading book four (The Shadow Rising) of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and needed the next book. As it turned out we found three books at the used book store that I needed, and I went to the World’s Biggest Bookstore to buy the one I actually needed to read then (book five). (Note: this serial is addictive, I can’t seem to focus on getting work done because I keep thinking of the story.) We got home around 9 p.m. that night.

Tuesday, October 31 was Samhain. I went to the T.T.W.G. Samhain in the park. Nice, I didn’t have to do anything that night, but it was a little cold out, and I was feeling a little tired. The deities called that night were Persephone and Hades. Feast was good. There was the special Sabbat chicken. Yum! Nathan and I got home by midnight.

Wednesday, November 1, I woke up sniffling and with a sore throat. Damn. Too much time outside the past week being cold. I ended up going to my mom’s place because I got a call saying there was another offer on the house. Turns out there wasn’t. The agent didn’t even have the offer yet. Nathan came over and we ended up going home around 8 p.m. because there wasn’t one yet. I hadn’t heard anything after, so I’m assuming it fell through. When I got home that night I ended up sleeping from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. the next day. I woke up Thursday feeling horrible and a little hungry. I was up until about 1 p.m. and then went back to sleep. I woke up around 5 p.m. again, and got ready to go out for another Samhain ritual. I ended up being Handmaiden that night even though I was a little sick. The ritual was fine, but being sick and being Handmaiden that night, the ritual went over my head really. All I really know is there was a meditation with a guide and the deities called were Hades and Hecate. My brain just shut down when I didn’t need it.

I’m going to do ritual next for my group. I’m still mulling over what to do, but I have a few ideas. I actually do have a ritual written up, I might just end up doing that because I really need some time this week to relax and get my head straight again. Samhain week was just too much! To top it off, there was another Samhain ritual on Friday, November 3, but I didn’t go because I had to be at the 10k run. Being sick, of course, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even try. I was just miserable being out there.

Another Samhain has now come and gone. Happy New Year to all the crazy Wiccans! Here’s hoping another good year ahead.

BB,
Cassandrah
Child of Morrigan, Mistress of Samhain
Brigid’s Flame

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

I had to drop off my Summoner staff at Lady T’s place first before going to the do jang. I ended up walking for 20 minutes to get to the subway station and got to the do jang at 7:30 p.m. I missed half the class. I took the rest of the class and stayed for another hour to practice on my own.

Wednesday

I went to the do jang and took the 7 p.m. class. I stayed another hour just practicing patterns. I also promised to help someone work on their demo for the test, so I stayed a bit to help with that.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame