A prayer for Moura from my personal journal.

 Dear Friends,

I hope that this prayer brings you comfort and peace as we move through the final days of Moura.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Dear Lady Anna,

I follow your footsteps in to the places of darkness within me. Help me resist the Kheres of despair and terror. Guide me over the frozen, broken ground of depression. Lead me through the maze of khere-thorns to the passage where I face my fear of mortality and the afflictions of the body. Especially help me with my fear of blindness. 

Let me follow you to the edge of the Abyss and cast into it that which is not of Déa. May it be that I hide in the shadows of the false Dark Queen's hall and bear witness to your heroic sacrifice. Let me weep as the heralds for your descent into oblivion.

For Love's sake, so mote it be.

What is the Rule of Our Lady? Pt.2

 In my last essay, I addressed the central rule of Our Lady. Let us expand our view a bit more. In the adapted Madrian rules for a harmonious life a great deal of emphasis is placed on obedience and maintaining the social order of the household. In the Aristasian rendition of these rules, the same emphasis is there but it is expanded to include a larger social hierarchy. With all of this focus on obedience, it is tempting to say it is a slavish, cult like mindset. I suppose one could say that, but what of the free will that Déa endowed all beings with.

Socrates is reputed have said on his death bed - The unexamined life is worthless. Our Lady appears to agree with this sentiment given how often we are called to self examination in the Book of Her Teachings. Between self examination and free will, obedience  becomes a decision based in critical thinking. One may decide to hold up the existing social structures by obeying the implicit rules of the unspoken social contract between the members who create that social structure. One may decide not to obey the social contract and undermine a given social structure. 

Either decision bears considerable weight and should be made from a place of love for oneself and others. If the social structure you find yourself in is doing harm, it is wise to reject it for the sake of your wellness and the wellness of those who depend on you. At the same time, your actions, may by necessity, imitate others who support this system of behavior and deed. Action that is coerced can not be held against you. Remember that before any other being, we are called to obey Our Lady. Her rule is love unto all, including ourselves and those that would scorn us.

Such loving is difficult, especially in the case of those who scorn us. It is wise to love such persons from a discreet distance to maintain your safety. We need not embrace that which is dangerous to ourselves or those who depend on us to prove our transpersonal love. Treating them with respect and courtesy is enough.

Postscript: I currently am operating with a massive migraine. I've had this post on deck for a little while now and then lost it among my children's school papers. When I found it this afternoon, I knew I had to post it before it got eaten by my desk. Please forgive any typos and grammatical errors you find in this. Migraines are horrid things.

Well, we've made it to Moura.

 Dear Reader,

Hopefully your Moura-Eve celebrations were boisterous and filled with delight on Sunday. Yesterday was the first day of Moura and for many Moura Day is a day of fasting and quiet contemplation. For me it was a day of running errands like a chicken with it's head cut off. I was exhausted when I finally was done for the day. I wanted to post something on here, but I just had no spoons. I was barely able to string together sentences when I was chatting with my husband about when was a good time to pick him up from work.

This season/month in the Filianic calendar is a time for purification, penance, and preparation for Spring and the high holiday of Eastre. (I use the British spelling of the holiday to keep me from mixing it up with the Christian holiday. My region spells the Christian holiday Easter. I'd go with Ostara but that has specific meanings that don't fully align with Filianism.)

Moura Eve wasn't a fun day like last year. It was tense, I had aura symptoms of a migraine, and I had to tamp down a large chunk of who I am to avoid an incident with some of the extended family. This being a different religion than the rest of the family is exhausting. They want for us to behave like good Christians but we're not Christian. Sure, some of our behaviors align with what Christians consider good but there's a lot that just doesn't go there. And my kids have begun asking 'hard' questions about Christianity, like why did the Christian God destroy Sodom and Gomora. I've been using every ounce of my research into this religion and what I can remember of the theology classes I took at college. The kids shrug and go 'ok' and I have to remind them not to bring these questions up with people like their Grandparents who will get highly offended.

The migraine hit Moura Day as I was out running errands. I got home and took my medicine and laid down for a little bit. It has pushed into today and I'm struggling to get things done. At least I can string a few words together into a sentence, right?

My planned purification is cleaning house. I can't use candles now or incense because of a change in the lease from the landlord. It's a bit irritating after 13 years of that not being a problem, but such is life. There's always more than one way to do a thing. My planned penance is hand copying another version of the Clear Recital into a note book. One year I copied the Aristasian version. This year it will be the New Celestial Union Version. If there's space left in the note book, next year it will be the Madrian version as presented in the Eastminster Critical Edition (one of the earlier versions). My preparation for Eastre is going to be saying the rosary as often as I can through the month/season. 

I'm still laboring under a migraine. I'm not sure how much of what I can get done. My kids are on break from school. They have some questions about what I am doing. So, I'll be explaining that to them and give them a choice to participate in this month's ritual activities. I have a feeling Moura is going to be exhausting this year.

Regarding Sai Sushuri (aka Sai Sucri or Sushurichan)

Picture from Gagan Cambo via Pexels.com

 Dear Reader,

Most anyone with an education in Western European art or any understanding of the history of the Roman Empire will look at the image accompanying this post and immediately recognize her as Venus de Milo. Venus (or as she is known in the ancient Greek faith Aphrodite) is a goddess of love.

The Madrian community saw her as a cognate to Sai Sushuri. They recognized that both did hold sway over romantic love but also other forms of love. Sai Sushuri holds sway over platonic love, community bonds of affection, familial love, and the love that people hold for their land and livelihood. This is a limited list of the manifestation of love that Sai Sushuri and Venus reign over.

The Madrian community put greater emphasis on the love that came between a community and their respected leadership than romantic love. They also put greater emphasis on the love that is between people out of their basic humanity.

The Aristasian community adhered to these concepts as dearly as the Madrian community did before them. Somewhere in the process of the seclusion of the Madrian community and the Aristasian community's rising, a word was chosen to express the love of all: amity. Amity is a transpersonal, immersive love experience wherein one finds that there is something to love in all places of this world. It is similar to the Greek term Agape, as used with respect to love. It is a transpersonal, immersive, and expansive love for all.

The modern Filianic/Déanic community holds the concept of amity in a special place in their heart. All loves are viewed as valid and sacred, as gifts from Déa to strengthen, nurture, and comfort us in times of difficulty. Sai Sushuri is always with us, pouring this grace over us as per Déa's will. As such, Valentine's Day has been claimed by the believers in Déa as not a day to focus strictly on romantic love but a day to celebrate all forms of love and renamed Amity Day to reflect this.

Uh oh, my health is acting up again.

Picture from Pixbay via Pexels.com

 Dear Reader,

I'm having a bit of a rough time of it over here. We've safely ruled out long Covid. (That was a huge relief.) But my doctor is talking about all of my problems with sleep (nightmares, difficulty falling asleep, and difficulty staying asleep) are likely the result of sleep apnea. He has ordered some testing and I hope the results can help us figure out what on Earth is going on with me since August of 2021. My daytime drowsiness has be awful and I barely get any of my household chores done and can hardly keep up with the kids. It's been rough, like I said.

I envy that kitten in the picture. Little cutiepie sleeping peacefully. I'm hoping when we sort all this out I'll stop losing half a day, every day, to naps. Exhaustion is just rotten and makes doing things like driving to appointments a bit hazardous. But, that's what has been keeping me from posting of late. I will try to get more posts up in the near future. They may be posted in the evening or late afternoon. Either way, I'm going to try my hardest to get this blog moving again. Wish me luck, all y'all.

Practical Witchcraft: Dirt Poor Witchcraft pt. 2 - Candles.

 Dear Reader,

An altar lit by wax candles is a romantic image. Some people have the space to make a grandiose job of it. It can be really impressive. And then there's what they show in the movies where the back room of the spooky spell shop turns out to be a cathedral of sorts with hundreds of candles and elegant icons. (That movie back room has to be a TARDIS because every spell shop I've been in has a back room that's barely big enough to turn around and spit in.)

If you're in the position that I'm now in (the landlord renewed the lease and said no candles or incense) or you simply can not afford actual candles even from the discount store, this post will give you some ideas on how to work around this.

The first suggestion I have is a little on the pricey side for initial payment but as a long term budget expense, it actually turns out to be less expensive than buying candles in bulk every few months. Get a package of electric tea lights. "Burn" them only for the duration of your work. As soon as you finish your spell or prayer session, turn it off to conserve the battery for the next use. And screw anybody who says you can't use a candle over again or that electric candles will screw up the magical energy of anything.

Experience has shown me that electricity in the vicinity of any magical item serves to increase it's capacity for use. They act like spiritual batteries/capacitors that release the energy when you put them to use. And unlike a battery or a capacitor, they won't explode if you try to push too much energy through them, they'll simply ground the excess. But I digress.

My second suggestion is a bit cheezy but it works. Take some colored paper, make a tube of a suitable length. Glue together. Add a flame shaped bit at the end that you've determined is your top. With this version of a 'candle' you are going to focus elemental fire energy into the candle until it feels 'full'. Remaining on the altar, this paper candle will be continually replenished by the high magical energy quotient naturally present in the altar space. Shrines are also places of high magical energy that can recharge these.

My third suggestion is take an item associated with elemental fire energy and place it on the altar. Citrine is a good stone to use for this because of its association with the Sun. Equally good to place on the altar is lava rock. This includes: obsidion of all varieties, lava stones, and pumice. Any igneous stone is a good choice as well because they are formed in the Earth under high heat and pressure, and they will carry traces of that heat in their matrix.

Happy Lunar New Year (a day late)

 Hi, everybody!

I have not abandoned this blog. I have been struggling with what is seriously looking like 'Long Covid' with all the brain fog, exhaustion, and the fever that won't quit since October of last year. (Yes, I will be discussing this with my primary care doctor when I see him at the end of the week.) I have sat down to write posts and forgotten what I was doing in the middle of the process. Being too much of a perfectionist, I just can't post a half completed piece. It is taking me longer to do my writing across any platform. My brain is struggling to get words right. I keep having to check my spelling on common words, names, and pretty much everything because of the brain fog.

My anxiety is creeping upward. I am deeply concerned that I have become unreliable and that it will have horrific consequences. (Good gods, that was harder to spell correctly than it should have been. Took me 4 tries.)

My charity work has been put on pause because I really have to finish my eldest son's sweater. I am a quarter of the way done with it. I knit slower now and drop more stitches. This thing is in garter stitch but here I am struggling with it. Ugh.