Pneumatised!

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

MM,

A very busy weekend.

I had four rituals in a row this past weekend – a Hindu inspired ritual, an Age of Reason, an Odin Invocation, and a return of winter/farewell to Persephone ritual.

The Hindu inspired ritual (called puja in Hindi) was for clearing away obstacles to good fortune. We made offerings to Ganesh and Lakshmi. Ganesh helps clear away obstacles and Lakshmi is a very popular Hindu goddess of luck and good fortune. It was nicely done and I very much enjoyed this kind of observance. I’ve been meaning to study more about the Hindu gods, but just haven’t gotten around to it. (Though now, I’m reading about India in my World’s Religions book. I found a used textbook called The World’s Religions written by Ninian Smart. It was published fairly recently in 2003, so it is somewhat up-to-date.)

An Age of Reason is a ritual for pre-teens usually. When a child reaches a certain age and begin to show capabilities of making her/his own decisions in life, they can have an Age of Reason. In an Age of Reason, we recognize this in the child and welcome her/him into an adult life recognizing that there is still much for the young person to learn. We expect the young person to behave maturely while allowing her/him to behave child-like, but not childishly. (Hey, even as adults it’s still good to have some child-like wonder at the world.) Basically, we recognize that the young person can think reasonably. If we have an issue with the young person, we discuss it with the young person first. The young girl we held this ritual for is quite amusing and adorable. She’s an impulsive type, but quite intelligent. She said she didn’t feel any different after the ritual, but I expect she might notice the differences later especially how adults will treat her for now on.

The Odin Invocation was interesting. Invocations are quite intense rituals where a deity is invoked into a person (called a “vessel”). While the deity is invoked, people have a chance to speak with the deity or ask questions. Overall, it is quite interesting. While I admit that there is no “real proof” (what is “real proof” but experience?) of the existence of deities, it is always fascinating to take part in an Invocation. What I cannot deny is that the deity in the vessel always seems to know me (and other people who take part) quite well. It’s strange. There is something to be said for experiencing something. So far, at the Invocations I’ve been to, the deity has read me quite accurately. Choosing to believe in gods with no real proof except for experience, I’d have to say they know us and our minds pretty well. (In case you were wondering, Odin is a Norse god. He became the primary god of the Norse, somewhat displacing Thor. You could equate Odin to Hermes in Greek mythology as Odin has communication attributes – he “discovered” the runes – and is also a psychopomp.)

Public ritual was a return of winter/farewell to Persephone ritual. Persephone always has such wonderful energy. You always leave a Persephone ritual feeling light-hearted and peaceful. For those who are not familiar with Greek mythology, Persephone is the goddess of the spring. Persephone was given to Hades (Lord of the Underworld) in marriage by Zeus against her mother’s wishes. Her mother, Demeter, the goddess of the fertile earth, refused to let anything grow unless her daughter returned to her. In short, it was arranged that Persephone would return to the world above during the spring and summer seasons so that the earth could be fertile again. Then Persephone would return to the Underworld in the autumn to spend the winter with her husband, Hades. A very beautiful myth. Thus, her rituals always give off a warm glow. (Oh, and let’s not forget Hades. I happen to be somewhat of a Hades child, and he can be quite adorable even if a little grumpy at times.) People just leave ritual feeling loved.

This coming weekend is Samhain weekend, another very busy weekend. First, there’s the Witches’ Ball Friday night. Then, Saturday I’m getting a drive out to Hamilton to the temple there – I finally get a chance to visit the Hamilton temple. Then, of course Sunday is public ritual. We are having the same ritual performed Saturday and Sunday for Samhain. It is to be a very special mystery play ritual based on the Descent of Inanna from Sumerian mythology. I haven’t seen this ritual before and am very excited to see it performed. Since I’m Summoner on Sunday, I won’t get to experience it as a participant. Thus, I am going on Saturday so I can have that experience. I expect it will be really well done. I’m told the majority of Priesthood is involved. Since they have been rehearsing quite a bit for this, I’m sure it will be a great performance. I really can’t wait. (Can’t you tell?) I will try to get a blog post on here about the Samhain ritual soon after, but the week after promises to be busy as well. (I’m hoping I can actually breathe in November and get some more work done.)

Samhain blessings,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

P.S. Since I don’t have time to provide sources for the mythology mentioned here, I recommend using Wikipedia as a starting point for some of the mythological names mentioned. There is always some good basic information available on there regarding different mythologies.

Friday, October 20, 2006

I went for a two-mile run. I did the first mile in 9 minutes 7 seconds and the second mile in 10 minutes 40 seconds. My total time was 19 minutes 47 seconds. A little slow, but I’ve been a little too busy to run more often.

Monday, October 23, 2006

I went for a 5 km run. Actually the route is 5.7 km, but that’s okay. I managed to run the whole distance. 😀 I was quite tired when I got back, but content. I think if I do a few more two-mile runs next week, I should be fine for the 10k run. I’m just glad I’m not testing this time. It’s good for me to keep up the running though, because I’ll have to do it anyway for my next dan.

My time for the 5.7 km was 40 minutes 28 seconds. It’s slower than my time in the summer, but I think comparable to how I ran the 10k. I think I could have ran more even though I was a little tired. Not sure if I can run the whole 10k yet, but I’ll try to run as much as I can again and see how I feel. Like I said before, it hurts to stop running once you’ve covered around 5 km.

This past weekend was busy. This weekend will be the start of a busy two weeks and I still have much work to do. *sigh* Sometimes I wish there was two of me so I could get more stuff done, but they say be careful what you wish for. Hehe.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

My Reiki One manual is complete and I’ve just about finished my Reiki Two manual. I have one appendix left to write in the Reiki Two manual. Next, I need to finish my teaching outlines and notes and review the two manuals I’ve completed. Then, I will have to make a good start on the Reiki Three manual.

It seems I’m almost ready to start teaching Reiki One and Two classes. I’m thinking November might too soon for me as I have quite a bit going on right now, December might be too busy for everyone as it is the holiday season, that leaves me with January. In the new year, I will try to schedule some days to teach Reiki One and Two classes.

Starting in November, I am available for private informal teaching for Reiki One. Right now, I have one person studying Reiki One with me. I’ve scheduled her classes to start in November. The private informal teaching is available for those who aren’t too keen on studying reiki in a formal class setting and will allow more one-on-one interaction between me and the student. If you are interested, please send me an email. Make sure your subject line is appropriately titled so I do not mistake it for junk mail. I will reply as soon as I am able.

Be sure to check here every so often for updates. When I have class dates and times scheduled I will be posting them here as well as on Brigid’s Flame.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local renaissance woman
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Training blog update:

October 14, 2006

I went to the do jang at noon and took half of the mixed children’s/adult’s class. Then I stayed for the black belt training. There’s another test in November so the candidates are getting ready for it, but any black belt can take the class.

October 15, 2006

I went to the gym in the afternoon.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Seated row
Seated chest press
Pectoral fly
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift (this is called the shoulder press)
Lateral pull down
Back extensor

Free weights:
Situps (on a incline bench; worked out the obliques as well by doing double punches during the situp)
Bicep curls
Pushups

October 17, 2006

I went to the gym again. Majorly sore from the last time I went. Only had a day to recover from the exercise, but it’s good to try to go regularly. Since I hadn’t been doing the weight training much lately, I thought it was good I went when I could.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Seated row
Seated chest press
Pectoral fly
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift (this is called the shoulder press)
Lateral pull down
Back extensor

Free weights:
Situps (on a incline bench; worked out the obliques as well by doing double punches during the situp)
Bicep curls
Weighted squats
Additional shoulder exercises (front and back shoulder joint)
Wrist strengthening

I did 20 minutes of bicycling. It’s getting a little easier. I should really try to push the cycling up to 30 minutes. Since I haven’t done much running lately, I though the cycling would be good. I still need to do a 5 k run sometime.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local renaissance woman
Brigid’s Flame

An ideal…

If you live each moment as you would like to live it and feel you have done
and are doing so, you should not have any regrets were to you die the next
moment.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local Webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I got home last night around 9:30 p.m. Yay, I could eat again! Nathan was making chili. As it was not done cooking yet, I had some leftovers and then some chili a little later. It was yummy. I didn’t eat much as usually it is best to take it slow with the food after a fast. I ended up falling asleep early and waking up today at 3 a.m.

Last night was my Neophyting. For this I had to fast for 24 hours prior to it. Although I cannot describe the Neophyting on here, I will say that the fast added to the experience of it. It did make it easier for me to trance out. Unfortunately, this made my brain blank out a few times during the Neophyting! At least I didn’t pass out and end up on the floor. I’m finally a Neophyte.

“What’s a Neophyte?” In the Odyssean tradition of Wicca, a Neophyte is a student of the tradition who can perform practical and some magical aspects of ritual. A Neophyte is capable of leading a ritual under guidance of a teacher (Priest or Priestess). A Neophyte has learned the basics of Wicca. Essentially, “neophyte” means “novice”. A Neophyte isn’t a true beginner as a Neophyte has some knowledge of Wicca. To be a Neophyte is to take the first step towards reaching Priesthood by making a commitment. To be a Neophyte also means that the student has taken their first oaths to the deities of Wicca. After becoming a Neophyte, advanced work must be done before the student can become part of Priesthood.

The Odyssean tradition of Wicca, the tradition of the Wiccan Church of Canada (WCC), is a unique tradition in that there is a neophyte stage. Most covens do not have this stage. A Neophyte in the Odyssean tradition generally meets the requirements of first degree Priesthood in other traditions and private covens. The reason for this is simply because the WCC is a public church and its Priesthood must deal with the public. Priesthood of private covens do not generally have to deal with the public – they may choose to, but they are not public clergy. A consequence of the WCC being a public church is that the training must be stricter. This will allow students to develop not only the traditional training needed to lead rituals, but also to be part of a public clergy. Additionally, many people would seek out the WCC because they seek power. Having stricter training weeds out those who seek power because they generally would not be patient enough to go through the long training required. Also, I suspect the additional time required gives the teacher time to adequately judge if the student has these ulterior motives for joining Priesthood. (For more information about this, please read A Brief History of the WCC and the Odyssean Tradition.)

So, I’m finally a Neophyte. I’m sure many of friends and acquaintances will probably say “About time!” seeing as I’ve been a member of the WCC for about as long as I’ve been doing taekwondo (and I have a second dan black belt now). However, I needed to be sure I wanted to make this commitment. I was already committed to the gods, but being committed to a public church is a whole other story. There is a lot of work involved even once a student reaches Priesthood. However, I’m happy. It is something I needed to do. Of course, there is more work to do to reach Priesthood (my teacher promises to give me some soon). I suspect it’s somewhat more interesting work. Additionally, I’m now officially qualified to teach a public class at WCC if I wish to volunteer. 🙂

Life is getting interesting.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame