Thank you, Janie, for sharing a piece of your inner world with us! ~Solaris
Hey all.
I am a horrid procrastinator. In the instance of this blog post, it is due to being given wiiiiide range of topics, as in "whatever you'd like". Ahhhhh...dangerous, even more so due to so very many juicy topics to pick from... that being said, welcome to 'Janie's Stream of Consciousness or Shit I Probably Should Keep to Myself ....'
1. Trump.... ugh.... that's all I got.
2. Witch Wars. I won't go into the details. NO. There is a fairly intense one going on right now and I am truly astonished at how the self-proclaimed Love-and-Light folks have responded. I haven't commented on any of it except to express my support for one who is targeted. And I won't. I will comment on the tar and feather spirit I have witnessed, tossed out with such virulent putrescence that I thought my screen would go dark. Love and light, eh?
3. Love and Light ... ugh... such a loaded subject... I cannot, for the life of me figure out how some get stuck in that sentiment. How does L&L help when you are under attack? How is that comfort when your enemies are pounding you from all sides? How do I call myself a witch/practitioner of magic (k) and get bound up into the fear of "harming"? It doesn't, and it can feel hollow, even if you know it is well-meant.
I begin my rant here... Balance... the idea of always love and light, and a Three-Fold Return is so unbalanced that the thought of it has bugged me from the beginning, from the time I was a baby pagan (I prefer lower case p), following what I assumed had been figured out by better thinkers than I.
Eventually, my opinions were backed up by some authors and practitioners, in different words, but the same idea. Still, I remained in the Deeper Broom Closet...the one that whispered to me that it should be OK to take care of business, when badly wronged. I have been badly wronged over the span of my life and I had made it a point to not sit back and take it. Now I am supposed to let things just happen? What is the point of magick, then?
I continued to have other, well-meaning folks whisper "karma" and "do no harm" and as much as I wanted to abide by those tenets, they just didn't ring true.
I was already pretty ingrained in boxing with the gods...because I am a spiritual brat....anyway... One day, I attended a workshop that Dorothy Morrison led, which coincided with the release of her book, Utterly Wicked. During her talk, she made statements to the effect of grown up witches doing what they needed to do and accepting the consequences. <----This is paraphrased because a lighthouse-sized light-bulb switched on in my brain and my brain cells and neurons were doing jigs of some sort.
I will tell you that I am far from confrontational. During my first round of Ethics studies, using "When, Why, If..." by Robin Wood (find it if you can, it is THE best ethics book EVER), it was determined that I was, "Most Likely to Not Only Allow Someone to Break in Front of Me in a DMV Line, But to Also Offer to Bake Cookies For Them". A pushover, you might say. I was non-confrontational out of fear...karmic/remnants of past JudeoChristian "fire insurance".
Dorothy's words made sense to me on a cellular level - I was not a sick, twisted w/bitch, I might be rather normal(ish) ...soooo...back to the love and light stuff. It makes me crazy. Seriously... since when did the witches in ancient times say, "Oh, Jenny Smith hath trashed my good name and hath caused my family hard times, I will sit on my hands and wait for their fate to be dealt"? (I think this was a point Dorothy made, too). Never, that's when.
And shamans? Those folks have EPIC battles amongst themselves! BUT it's not about waking up in a bad mood and just wanting to fuck someone up. It's a response to being under fire, cursed, hexed, the target... and taking your power back.
It's balance. It's accepting the consequences of your actions - which, by the way, we are taught to do from the time we can walk and create havoc. Why are we taught, at 2, about choosing our consequences, then as adults, as magical beings, let it ride?
This is a really simplistic expression of my thoughts, somewhat limited by the device on which I am creating this post, somewhat limited by my unwillingness to argue. I find love and light to be useful at times, however, when love and light fails me, I will pull up my big girl britches and stomp in the mud until the problem is solved. Balance. What is sent returns (an Ann Moura phrase that works for me...). That is my focus.
My stream of thought then, lands me here with the opinion that, for some, the fear of bad publicity or some spiritual limbo, keeps them floating in the hands-off, let Universe/deity of choice take it (anyone notice that our many and various deities are pretty freaking vengeful?). I have no clue how to do that and maintain my sanity but I do understand it. I am a peace-loving and seeking human being. I will also defend and protect. Balance.
And here I will stop for now. I may have more thoughts. Thanks to Solaris for allowing me a space to toss a few thoughts out there. Oh and for fucks sake, please vote.
Janie H. Carpenter is a musician and an ordained HPS following an Eclectic Ecoshamanic, IndoPagan path. She is a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and formally studied Horticulture and Sustainable Agriculture. Janie has taught practical magick, directed a pagan choir (The InChanters) and loves to dance, especially at the local working drum circle at Mystic Moon in Norfolk. She resides in Richmond, VA where she is mama to a bunch, and granny to more than a dozen. 