As some of you know, my boyfriend Sonny proposed to me earlier this fall. We're getting married in 2010, and we've launched a website to document our planning of the great event.
You can visit our site here, at www.sonny-and-andrea.com.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Very Interesting-Looking Documentary
I'm hoping to have time to watch this documentary, entitled "Hoopeston", which was directed by Thomas Bender.
Review to be posted upon watching. But if you have time before I do, hope you enjoy it! Thanks so much to Jason of The Wild Hunt for, once again, posting the best Pagan News of Note.
Review to be posted upon watching. But if you have time before I do, hope you enjoy it! Thanks so much to Jason of The Wild Hunt for, once again, posting the best Pagan News of Note.
The Winter Holidays
Or, Yule, Christmas, and the middle way...
As you can see from my abundant lack of posting, things have been unbelievably busy but wonderful. I had the great pleasure of attending a Yule ritual put on by the Northern NJ Pagan Fellowship on the 21st. I was a bit tentative about attending my first public ritual, but honestly, it was such a wonderful event. It was so different from working as a solitary - I've been composing tomes in my head about the different feel of the energy we raised.
The friendly open-ness of the group was also amazing. Everyone was so friendly, from the moment I walked in the door. I felt badly for not having brought food (I had been visiting my family in PA and had just driven back to Jersey for the ritual, so had no time to cook anything properly. Honestly, I need to leave enough time to cook things twice any time I arrange to bring things - just in case I ruin it the first time.), so they let me help prepare the food that was there. We had all sorts of wonderful tubers (potatoes, yams, etc), and such to bake up, and a wonderful chicken pasta, as well as this glorious cider. Gwaeron, the group leader, was also kind enough to share his mead stores.
I need to devote an entire paragraph to this mead, actually. I don't like alcohol - I'll have a margarita or a mamosa from time to time, but usually only one (at most two). I don't like the way alcohol tastes, honestly. But I took a sip of this mead, and honestly, it was like drinking sunshine. I will definately be sharing more about it as I find out where it came from - and will be very glad to incorporate it into some of my own personal rituals.
I'm going to be working on something to celebrate the New Moon on Saturday, if I can. While I may not actually be able to perform anything, the gesture of planning for the next go round would be extremely satisfying to me, I believe. I really want to do more work with the moon - I feel as though that's where I draw a lot of my energy from when I am in need, and would like to recognize that wonderful gift.
In any case, now that we've sort of covered Yule...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I celebrate the togetherness of family and the birth of a very important historical figure here - I may not be Christian, but that doesn't mean I can't admire a man who was truly great in spirituality. The presents thing is pretty awesome too, honestly. It is great to be so close to my family around the holidays - I can feel so disconnected out in North Jersey, and being near everyone for these days is amazing. I am so lucky to have such a great family!
As you can see from my abundant lack of posting, things have been unbelievably busy but wonderful. I had the great pleasure of attending a Yule ritual put on by the Northern NJ Pagan Fellowship on the 21st. I was a bit tentative about attending my first public ritual, but honestly, it was such a wonderful event. It was so different from working as a solitary - I've been composing tomes in my head about the different feel of the energy we raised.
The friendly open-ness of the group was also amazing. Everyone was so friendly, from the moment I walked in the door. I felt badly for not having brought food (I had been visiting my family in PA and had just driven back to Jersey for the ritual, so had no time to cook anything properly. Honestly, I need to leave enough time to cook things twice any time I arrange to bring things - just in case I ruin it the first time.), so they let me help prepare the food that was there. We had all sorts of wonderful tubers (potatoes, yams, etc), and such to bake up, and a wonderful chicken pasta, as well as this glorious cider. Gwaeron, the group leader, was also kind enough to share his mead stores.
I need to devote an entire paragraph to this mead, actually. I don't like alcohol - I'll have a margarita or a mamosa from time to time, but usually only one (at most two). I don't like the way alcohol tastes, honestly. But I took a sip of this mead, and honestly, it was like drinking sunshine. I will definately be sharing more about it as I find out where it came from - and will be very glad to incorporate it into some of my own personal rituals.
I'm going to be working on something to celebrate the New Moon on Saturday, if I can. While I may not actually be able to perform anything, the gesture of planning for the next go round would be extremely satisfying to me, I believe. I really want to do more work with the moon - I feel as though that's where I draw a lot of my energy from when I am in need, and would like to recognize that wonderful gift.
In any case, now that we've sort of covered Yule...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I celebrate the togetherness of family and the birth of a very important historical figure here - I may not be Christian, but that doesn't mean I can't admire a man who was truly great in spirituality. The presents thing is pretty awesome too, honestly. It is great to be so close to my family around the holidays - I can feel so disconnected out in North Jersey, and being near everyone for these days is amazing. I am so lucky to have such a great family!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Obama's Inaugural Choice
Today, an article in CNN touted the fury of liberal democrats at President-Elect Obama's choice of an inaugural speaker: namely, Rick Warren, conservative pastor of the Saddleback Church (and author of "A Purpose-Driven Life").
Yesterday I commented on a post by Jason at The Wild Hunt. It was in reference to teaching spirituality in schools, and how mainstream religions are always happy to be taught in schools but get all persnickety when it comes to giving fair treatment to other spiritual paths - such as, oh, say, Paganism.
I bring this up because I think people sometimes forget that equal representation and free speech mean that everyone gets a voice. Just because you don't agree with someone, or because you find their beliefs offensive, doesn't mean they can't speak their minds. When we are oppressed (meaning we as general people), we are quick to express our outrage - but when someone we don't agree with is silence, well, it's just not quite as awful, now is it?
Wrong. Democracy means that we are all on equal footing - we all get to hold the mike, no matter how repugnant or distasteful our ideas may be to others. Without this freedom, and without respecting it for everyone, we wouldn't be a truly free society (which some would argue we already aren't).
Rick Warran is opposed to gay marriage. He opposes abortion rights. But he's entitled to those views. And just because he holds them doesn't mean he, as a gifted speaker, should be refused an invitation to an important event. He is a spiritual leader to a large portion of American Christians - and he's also a good guy (as near as I can tell), and just because I disagree with him on several important issues doesn't mean I think he should be excluded from the national stage. And I certainly don't think he's going to take the opportunity to stir up contraversy - he's probaly just as excited to have Obama as a president as we all are.
Part of being an equal society means giving everyone equal voice. Without this fundamental right, how can we ever hope to achieve equality for anyone else?
UPDATE:
An excellent rebuttal from the president elect...
Yesterday I commented on a post by Jason at The Wild Hunt. It was in reference to teaching spirituality in schools, and how mainstream religions are always happy to be taught in schools but get all persnickety when it comes to giving fair treatment to other spiritual paths - such as, oh, say, Paganism.
I bring this up because I think people sometimes forget that equal representation and free speech mean that everyone gets a voice. Just because you don't agree with someone, or because you find their beliefs offensive, doesn't mean they can't speak their minds. When we are oppressed (meaning we as general people), we are quick to express our outrage - but when someone we don't agree with is silence, well, it's just not quite as awful, now is it?
Wrong. Democracy means that we are all on equal footing - we all get to hold the mike, no matter how repugnant or distasteful our ideas may be to others. Without this freedom, and without respecting it for everyone, we wouldn't be a truly free society (which some would argue we already aren't).
Rick Warran is opposed to gay marriage. He opposes abortion rights. But he's entitled to those views. And just because he holds them doesn't mean he, as a gifted speaker, should be refused an invitation to an important event. He is a spiritual leader to a large portion of American Christians - and he's also a good guy (as near as I can tell), and just because I disagree with him on several important issues doesn't mean I think he should be excluded from the national stage. And I certainly don't think he's going to take the opportunity to stir up contraversy - he's probaly just as excited to have Obama as a president as we all are.
Part of being an equal society means giving everyone equal voice. Without this fundamental right, how can we ever hope to achieve equality for anyone else?
UPDATE:
An excellent rebuttal from the president elect...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Deep Down, Everyone Is Pagan (or wants to be...)
I attended an absolutely amazing event last Saturday - the Phoenixville Firebird Festival. It is my goal to attend this event year year from here on in, as it was ridiculously fun, absolutely entrancing, and a wonderful expression of community in an otherwise "P.C." (politically correct) world.
I would like to thank Schamis for taking this wonderful picture, which I borrowed from his blog. (I did not think to bring my camera this year, but will definitely do so next year).
This video really captures the "Burninating" (we love you Trogdor!!!) beautifully - and the marshmallow toasting (which was great, right up until the wings almost fell on said roasters). The point of this post was really more to analyze the reaction of the crowd to this event. There was singing, drumming, and an enormous crowd of onlookers.
At one point, I turned to my good friend Molly (who follows a similar spiritual path to my own) and remarked that it was one of the most pagan events I had ever attended - and the crowd, by-and-large, probably would not consider themselves to be such.
I believe that paganism strikes a chord and resonates with the most basic parts of our human spirituality. I'm glad that there are still venues in which our increasingly politically correct and otherwise expressionly-stunted culture can come together and celebrate such a primal instinct and joyous refrain.
In short, huzzah for giant burning effigies - it's great that they still bring us together. :-)
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