Book reviews

coming soon! I recently signed up for digital Galleys (advance reading copies) from the site NetGalley and plan to post many of my reviews here. I'm excited to expand my horizons and try books from categories I wouldn't necessarily be able to afford otherwise. My first title wasn't quite what I'd expected (see review here), but the next two books look very interesting. First up is a thriller by author Aric Davis called The Fort. After that, is A Death at Crooked Creek, an old mystery now being investigated by modern forensics. I've got some science, some politics, some writing reference, and some science fiction coming as well, including a book of the best short stories of Connie Willis.

Judgement

I considered writing about the expected definition of this word. It would be simple enough. I'm so used to being judged (by others, but mostly myself) for so many of my life decisions that it would be easy to add to the list. I instead decided to go with an option much more constructive. My Robin Wood deck and "Tarot Plain and Simple" by Anthony Louis.

The Judgement Card from the Robin Wood Tarot

The card speaks to something much more helpful. It is a card of rebirth, dying to one life and being reborn to something new. The advice in Louis' guide says it is the end of a cycle, a time of renewal and awakening, and a time to reap the rewards of past actions. The time has come to wipe your slate clean and prepare for a positive new beginning.

The timing of judgement as my word for the week is uncannily perfect. Many of my old modes of thinking and feeling are dying, personal and professional. By moving my physical residence, packing up all of my belongings and purging the unnecessary as I unpack, I am seeing things in a new light, deciding what matters and what is a waste of my precious energies. I am learning that I don't have to limit my hopes and dreams. I only need to have realistic expectations. I can only complete one task at a time, can only do so many tasks in a day.

In my "professional" life, I am setting different goals as well. The day job, the one that currently pays the bills and the cat food, has to be less important than my heart's desire. I want to write stories. I want to write blogs and book reviews for the Pagan community. I want to create Pagan greeting cards. I can't do that if I let my retail job be so important, if I let my hard work, passion, and energy go to a job I don't absolutely love. So, it is time to embrace and manifest the message of the Judgement card in my everyday life. It's time to be reborn!

H is for Home

An offhand comment from a friend made me wonder about my idea of "home" and how my spirituality affects that idea. The comment (which in retrospect hurt my feelings a bit) was that where I live isn't important to me, that my home was just a place for my stuff. The intimation was that I make enough money to afford a nicer place, so I shouldn't settle for something cheap. At first I thought, "Well, yeah. My apartment is a place that holds my stuff." But it is so much more than that and I'm not so shallow as to put material things first.

First and foremost, my apartment is where my babies, my seven fabulous felines, live. They are my top priority, why I stick with a crappy retail job until something better comes along. My previous apartment was tiny. It was on a busy street. It had very little to enhance the lives of my cats, my familiars. While the new place isn't much bigger, it has a floor plan that gives room to run and play. More important, it has a screened-in patio. The kitties can now feel the breeze and smell the fresh air and new scents instead of watching it behind panes of glass. Since I still live in a city near lots of traffic, they must be indoor only. But the new patio gives them some of the outdoors without risking their lives. They love it!


For me, it has separate rooms; individual places I can set up for quiet time, ritual time (including a fireplace), and creative time. My old place was two open areas with very little privacy. Moving also helped me to purge many unnecessary belongings and feelings. Big, dark pieces of furniture that made the rooms oppressive were exchanged for modular, white organizers. My "skinny" clothes, those clothes we hold on to in case we become thin again, were depressing reminders of a time I couldn't get back, a time I needed to leave in the past. They went to people who need them. My writing area has moved from a corner of the living room to its own space. I am free to work on the fresh start I so desperately need.

The best part of the new abode is that it really feels like Home. The energies are warm and peaceful. As a Taurus, I love a fairly sedentary lifestyle. And I'm an introvert, so being a solitary allows me to properly charge my batteries, physically and spiritually. When I'm exhausted after a long day in retail, surrounded by energy draining people, I can come back to a place that relaxes me by simply being here. I'm also very close to a park and the river. Nature is now a five minute walk away, ready for magick.

Home is not about living in the most expensive place. It's not about a place for my material stuff. It is about place for my life.

Vanishing beauty

This used to be what summer looked like in the beautiful field behind my apartments. Now it is monoliths of freeway supports, large machinery, and lots of dirt. I miss my Texas wildflowers!

E is for Earth

As I watch the beauty of my element disappear around me through constant construction (new freeways and shopping centers) and destruction (the evils of fracking), I get the urge to embrace what little I have left. Or escape the pain of "progress" and find nature again. Living with a government that values the dollar over the air we breath, the water we drink, and the earth that feeds us frightens me. The scariest part is the absolute refusal of major groups of Americans to even admit there is a problem, much less take responsibility. To deny our climate is in turmoil is to turn a blind eye to the truth, to choose ignorance because it disagrees with dogma (or the corporations with profits at stake).

Part of me feels helpless to do anything to change. But a larger part knows that as an urban dweller, I contribute to the problem as much as the people who believe the Earth was put here just for them to use and abuse as they see fit. In my search for a way to help make a difference, however small, I found a book of essays called Pagan Visions for a Sustainable Future. The description on the book says that "Once, Pagan spirituality was about nature and survival...It still is." Essays from authors such as Ly de Angeles and Starhawk cover a wide range of topics from several perspectives. I will review the book in more depth once I've had a chance to read all of the essays. For anyone who wishes to discuss it with me, you can find it at Llewellyn Worldwide or on Amazon.

I was also introduced to the writings of Rachel Carson while taking an environmental science class. We read a biography about her lifelong fight to preserve nature from the use of dangerous pesticides, chemicals that killed not only the insects damaging crops but the flora, fauna and anything that fed on them. Crop dusting wasn't exactly done with pinpoint accuracy. She fought hard to get the government to consider more than the lost revenue from farmers and the profits of the pesticide companies. Her book Silent Spring presents the facts behind the dangers of DDT and is generally considered what launched the environmental movement when it was published in 1962. And it helped in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. It is a book that even now, over 50 years later, comes under fire and picked apart as poor science. Carson was called an alarmist that made grand exaggerations to make people fear pesticides while ignoring their supposed benefits. They say the claims she made about the dying bird populations are obviously not true, as the populations did not crash. I wonder how they ignore the possibility that maybe the populations did not crash because she fought pesticides so adamantly. Also, much has happened in the world of science since 1962, so yeah we know more now than we did then. The EPA has an entire section on their website that covers pesticides, including a page on human health issues. She is still an important figure because of what she began and what she stood for, through her love of nature and its delicate balance. Her other titles include The Sea Around Us, Under the Sea-Wind, and The Edge of the Sea. The wonderful biography about her writings is The Gentle Subversive.

Aven!

Here's the newest member of the family. I know, a little late. She'll be a year old next month. She's adorable and very smart, like her big brother, Finley.

Community

I know the topic of community has been discussed a lot lately. And not just in Pagan circles. It has made me really think about just what community means to me. After the presidential election, I felt like part of a group that truly wants great things for our country. Some were willing to set aside party affiliation to see the other side did not have the average American's interest at heart. When a natural disaster strikes, it makes me proud to see those same average Americans chipping in what they can to help people, no matter where they're from. The tsunamis in Japan and India. The hurricane on the east coast. Tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, and all over tornado alley. The victims were human and deserve the same consideration. And when some Christians try create lies and half-truths about the Pagan faiths, we try to band together in support.

So, at first, it surprised me to find people who didn't want any part of a Pagan community. Until I really read what they were saying. Because being Pagan means as many different things as the idea of community, it makes sense that trying to be one great "Pagan Community" is a lot like trying to lump the major monotheistic groups into one community. And for the many of us that choose a solitary path, that further muddies the water. I've tried doing the group thing, even on a small scale (2 or 3 other people). It is nice to have like-minded people to share with and learn from. But I still end up feeling like my more intimate, solitary work feels the most...for lack of a better term, right. I can be as casual or formal as what feels proper to me without worry.

But I do still feel that as a larger whole, when dealing with people who don't understand Paganism, Wicca, nature-based faiths, and every faith or spiritual belief the big religions attack out of fear, we need some sort of support system, no matter how loosely organized. Even if the support system is simply to help explain the many and varying beliefs that currently fall under that "umbrella" of Paganism, how they are all unique, wonderful, and nothing to be feared. It is always easier to overcome prejudice when you have the support of others who understand, can sympathize.

The inspiration for this post came from a class I am currently taking, Introduction to Ethics. The discussion this week is on responsibility and the difference between duty and charity. We read about the famine in Somalia in 2011. Between an unstable government and extreme drought, thousands upon thousands of people died from starvation. The UN said February of last year that the famine is over, but the situation is still very precarious. The question posed to the class was about whose responsibility it was to fix the problem. Do we worry about starving people across the globe when we still have a hunger problem here in the US? I was (and still am) boggled by how many classmates said to just ignore the problem elsewhere until all of our problems are fixed. In an age where we can span the globe with the click of a mouse or tap on a portable device, the community feels much more global. It is harder for me to say "it's not my problem" and go about my business. Granted, I can't make a huge difference on my own, but when people band together as a group, one small drop in the bucket becomes a lake. My tiny donation, when combined with hundreds of other tiny donations can make the difference between a mother having to bury her child or getting the chance to watch that child grow and prosper.

The individual goal for any given circumstance will bring together whichever kind (and size) of community is necessary to overcome difficulties, prejudices, and fears. We can be a community without losing our individual needs.