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Monday, February 14, 2011

My Valentine...

Last week, seven years ago, I came to Vegas to surprise my friend Shawna for her birthday. Her husband set me up at his brothers place for the night so we could keep my arrival a surprise until the party - and that's where I met him.  An incredible, beautiful soul - laid back and confident, and absolutely adoring.  We hit it off immediately - like we had known each other our entire lives; and when it was time to head out for the party, I hated to leave him behind.


A month or so later, on a whim, another friend and I decided to drop everything and fly to Vegas to see John Mayer in concert.  I couldn't stop thinking about him, so when Shawna mentioned that we should go out to eat at Memphis Championship BBQ (where he just so happened to be working at the time), I couldn't wait to get there!


That was that.  He came out with us that night, came up to Portland to visit me a few weeks later and from then on, I was ruined on other men - he was it for me.  We dated long distance for just under a year before we decided we were ready to make life together.  We moved in together in February/March of 2005, and with my two children at our sides, we were married on Yule, in a private ceremony - just us and my spirit-sister as witness.  Holder was born exactly 5 days later (the day after Christmas), and our lives would never be the same.

Today, we have added a Georgi, two cats and a big beast of a pooch to our family, but it's still us.  Circumstances have been rough and we haven't been on a date away from the kids in well over a year, but our bond is still strong and we are making things happen.  I love him more today than ever before, and I am looking forward to a lifetime of tomorrows by his side.


 I can only hope that all of you are as blessed as I am to have such an incredible partner to call your Valentine, and with that said,

"I love you Mr. Famulare - Happy Valentine's Day"

and to all of my readers on this special day,


Loves and Blessings,

Luhnna

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Defining My Craeft


Including my children and husband in my craeft is proving to be an incredible learning experience for me.  In exploring my thoughts on Imbolc and deciding how best to include my family, I have learned a lot about myself and my own beliefs.

One reality I have faced about myself recently is that no matter how hard I try, the truth is – I am just not a very “deity-oriented” witch.  My craeft is far less focused on worship and ritual than I have observed is the case for many of my pagan counterparts. My tradition seems to be more centered about Earth “honoring” as opposed to worship and more focused on communion with the Elementals rather than with specific deities.  I’m not saying that I don’t include any ritualistic practice or worship in my craeft; nor am I saying that I do not believe in or worship the Lord and Lady.  I am not even saying that either of these approaches are wrong, even for me – they just don’t come natural for me. 

Ritual Practice 
 
The fact is I have to work very, very hard to make a ritual happen. I am a great planner – I am just not a great doer.  By the time I finally get around to it, the spirit and intention behind the works have worn away rendering them, well, not very affective.  In general, my most spontaneous works tend to be my most powerful, which is why I include so little ritual in my craeft. 

Worship
 
Similarly, I struggle with the concept of worship - probably with much thanks to my early Christian background, worship in its most obvious form, has proven very uncomfortable for me.  I believe worship should be celebratory practice and come from a place of peace and love – but for me, the whole process is so uncomfortable that I can’t be at peace – and generally my mood is far from celebratory; so again, I have found ways to “worship” without traditional “worship.”  I focus my energy on honoring the deities through honoring the earth and all her inhabitants with love, patience, and seva (selfless work).

Defining Deity

Finally, I have always had a hard time with attaching myself to specific ideas of deity.  I don’t have an existing pantheon to which I am culturally bound or even most drawn to; and while I have always found the traditional stories about specific deities and the histories, rituals and particular strengths attributed to them, interesting –I just haven’t found one that feels relevant to my practice.  I can’t help feeling that by giving the divine a specific name, I am somehow limiting my understanding of the limitless.

If you think about it, naming is a very human obsession – we name people and things to define them in terms that we can understand. Naming something defines not only what it is, but what it isn’t.  When is the last time you looked at something without naming it?  Can you look at a rock without knowing it as a rock and see it for the infinite possibility of what it could be?  Naming it defines it and in a sense, limits its possibility.  It’s the same for the divine – no name I could give the Lord or Lady could come anywhere close to defining the All and Nothing that they really are.  No idea is grand enough.

Am I the only one?

I’ve done a lot of reading and listening online and it really seems that this is not an issue for most pagans out there.  Most witches I know are very comfortable with ritual, worship is a part of everyday life, and nearly all seem to have a specific pantheon of Gods and Goddesses with whom they can identify themselves with.  Am I the only one?

How do you all feel about ritual?  Is your practice planned and routine or do you take a more spontaneous path?

Do you formally worship the Lord and Lady?  If you do – how?  What works for you?

And finally – what Gods and Goddesses are you drawn to?  Do you include the Elementals in your craeft?

I’m really hoping to hear from you.



Blessings and Namaste,  

Luhnna

Friday, January 28, 2011

It's All Starting to Feel Real!

There are exactly 23 days until the official launch of my Papercraft Blog and the official re-launch of a more structured Magick Mirror.  I am getting things done - slowly but surely, and as of today I looked at my blogs and at my list of things yet "to do," and discovered to my surprise, that I'm almost there!!!  My dream concept is about to become reality; and I can't wait to share!

So here's where I'm at - the Papercraft Blog is coming along.  The skeletal structure is in place, I'm figuring out wordpress as I go, and I have officially begun working on content.  Yay Luhnna!!! 

As for Magick Mirror - I wanted to get more structured.  I felt like I was in danger of spreading myself too thin and didn't want to find myself in a position of neglecting this blog to meet deadlines for other projects.  So, I have a plan.  I am officially committing myself to 3 posts a week - that's a lot for a busy work-at-home Mom, so after much sulking, I've decided to be good with that. 

Mondays and Fridays I will post real articles on Magick Mirror - the reflective, contemplative articles you have come to love and expect from me.  On Wednesdays, I've decided to mix it up a bit.  I LOVE the idea of Wordless Wednesdays, so I'm going to include it here on Magick Mirror - with a twist of course.  All of the imagery I include here will be related to my understanding of the craeft, and although my posts will be wordless I am hoping you all will have much to say. 

Finally, you will still be able to find my bi-weekly, Wednesday, articles on The Pagan Household and I will continue to keep some time open for occasional guest posts.  What do you think?  Any thoughts?

Namaste and Blessed Be,

Luhnna

Inspired by Life

I am so excited for Stacy Evans, author of Inspired by Life Blog and Hearth and Home Columnist on The Pagan Household.  Her followers count hit 25 this week and today she is at 27, so she's decided to reward her followers with her very first giveaway!  Yup - 4 great gifts: a pentacle tote bag, a Celtic charm key chain, a beautiful Josephine Wall journal, and a $20 e-gift certificate for Dragon Moon Gifts.  I actually have the very same journal and use it as a Dream Journal.  It's good size, high quality and absolutely beautiful.  I love mine.

If you are not familiar with Stacy, she's a young pagan Mommy, writes for the blogs I mentioned above and even has her own etsy store - impressive for someone with such a little munchkin at home.  I'm impressed with all she is taking on and I hope y'all will take a look at her sites, read her posts and be sure to enter her giveaway.  You can also find her on facebook and twitter.

Personally, I find her success inspiring.  I have only been online for a few months and have met so many great people.  Stacy stands out as one of those great, helpful, encouraging souls - she puts herself out there and is always available for others in need.  Most admirable is that she really seems to be doing what she does for herself, for her family and for others, not for money, not for acknowledgment, but because its just who she is and what she loves to do.  It's good to see someone so deserving actually achieving her dreams; and I hope that I will be able to do the same with the same, selfless, loving motives.

Namaste,

Luhnna

Thursday, January 27, 2011

I have a Button!!!

OK - so, just a little bit of randomness... I have been working on my craft blog attempting to create a button - and attempting is the key word here.  Yup - if you haven't guessed it by now, you might as well know that I am seriously inept at everything internet related.  Hours have been spent painfully hashing out the dos and don'ts of botton crafting.  I'm not kidding - HOURS; and, I still don't have one for my craft blog!  Darned wordpress.  But - I am happy to report, that Magick Mirror officially has a button!!!  You can find it to the right under the "About Me," section.

No loves, I am sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the ugly white canvas background, but like I said before - completely inept at this internet stuff!  I'm just thrilled I got an image this time. Hahaha. 

So, tell me what you think?  Any thoughts?

Loves and Namaste,

Luhnna

Sunday, January 23, 2011

I don't usually do this, and I know I've been away...

...but I'm sure many of you have read my new bi-weekly column, Green Family Magick on The Pagan Household, and my recent guest post on The Balanced Witch. I am still here, I'm just really swamped - so my posts may be few and far between for a while!

Aside from working on The Pagan Household - which by the way, if you haven't read already, you should absolutely do soon; I have been very busy preparing for the launch of my new crafts blog, Luhnna's Papercraft Corner, and Etsy Shop, Familiar Moon. I am extremely slow when it comes to technology, so you can only imagine how much "fun" I've been having - LOL.  I hope to have both of these sites fully launched by February 20th.  In addition to all of that, please understand, we are still knee deep in preparation for the impending move, Imbolc is right around the corner and our family is just getting over our second bout of illness since Yule.  It's crazy here!!!

Still - crazy as it is, I wanted to spread the word for two up and coming pagan favorites of mine (and I'll admit, for purely selfish reasons).  Author Laura DeLuca's new book Destiny is soon to be released and she has partnered with one of my favorite Etsy shops, The Whimsical Pixie for a complete Destiny Inspired Altar Set that I just LOVE.  I want this for my daughter - it's exactly her style, so I have entered my way into this drawing in as many ways I can see possible. <3  It helps that I already liked her blog to begin with and The Whimsical Pixie is the reason I got started with Etsy in the first place, so I don't mind sharing with you all. If you have the opportunity, please check them both out and share with your friends.  The more we support fellow pagans in their endeavors, the more we will find ourselves accepted and embraced by mainstream society.  Witches of the World Unite!!! Hahahaha. 

I hope to be back on here regularly, soon after Imbolc.  However, realistically, I'm going to commit to being back for good once my business projects have launched - just shy of a month.  I appreciate your patience and look forward to seeing you regularly again.  I hope you visit me on The Pagan Household in the meantime. 

Loves and Blessings,

Luhnna

Monday, December 20, 2010

Four days later...

Well loves... here I am, four days later, and no closer to getting things done than I was a week ago! I've actually gone backwards.  I am so not ready for Yule.

I told you before that my youngest, Georgi, became very ill with a severe case of croup on Wednesday. She spent all night in the ER on Thursday and we were both miserable all day Friday after having no sleep the night before. I am still trying to recover.

Her fever finally broke early Saturday morning and I was able to get some catch up work done around the house during the day, despite my exhaustion. Early this a.m. however, I woke up to her barking cough (a reminder that she still has a ways to go to be over this thing), and my son Holder crying that his tummy and his eyes hurt. Great. And yes - by early-afternoon, his mild tummy ache and burning eyes had developed into a full-fledged fever, complete with red eyes and lethargy. Thankfully, no sign of a barking cough from this one yet - but his fever has been stubborn and he has been whiny and needy all day.

To add insult to injury, Georgi has decided that she is not ready to share the spot light - so I have had TWO whiny munchkins all day, I am getting sick and absolutely nothing is getting done around my house.  We have boxes everywhere (we are preparing to move in a few months), no room for the tree we were supposed to get today, no family altar, no candles, no baking done, no decorations up - we are SO far behind, and Yule's Eve is tomorrow (well - today depending on what time you are finally reading this).

I don't want to be stressed out all day tomorrow - Yule should be relaxing and enjoyable - and I don't want to be exhausted. So, I have reluctantly decided that it is time to let go. I am not going to get the articles I wanted to post up and on my blog for Yule this year - some of them will happen, but as Yule proceeds... others will have to wait until next year when we are settled into our Nashville home with less on our plates.

I am also having to let go of some of our plans - we may not get to make as many Yule crafts or Yule treats as we would like to do, we may have to scale it back to make room for more packing and purging. Our solstice ritual may have to be more of an observance due to sick family members; and this year, Yule just may have to be more for us about cleansing out the old to make room for the new to begin - just as the winter cold prepares the earth for the fertility of spring.  Hmmm? I'm too tired to decide exactly how that's going to work just now.

The thing is, any of you who know me also know that I'm a bit obsessive compulsive (an understatement I'm sure). I do not let go easily. I am also a serious perfectionist which makes "scaling back" even more difficult to do. This is going to be much harder on me than it may seem like it should be.  Still, I am trying to get behind this and start fresh. I will have to get some sleep and reevaluate in the a.m..  In fact, a little positive energy sent my way would be much appreciated. I can use all the support I can get; and any of you adept to healing, please send some healing energies out to my littlest ones?  I really do appreciate the thoughts - thanks.

Please tell me I'm not alone... is anyone else out there having a Solstice season like mine?

Namaste,
Luhnna