Literary Addicts Weekly Meme #1

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#1 What Are You Currently Reading

Review: Practical Prosperity Magick by Ellen Dugan

Practical Prosperity Magick: Creating Success and Abundance
 by Ellen Dugan
Publishers: Llewellyn Publications
Published: June 8th, 2014
Pages: 240

Break down blocks that have kept you from achieving your goals and let Ellen Dugan show you how to correctly work magick to achieve prosperity. Filled with humor and no-nonsense advice, this book has numerous spells, charms and rituals as well as the foundations for success. You'll learn about the seven hermetic laws and the law of attraction. You'll see how the question of prosperity is framed by the four natural elements and discover the basics of magick. Included are easy and practical techniques to stay upbeat, remove negative thoughts, draw good luck and money quickly, transform bad luck to good, remove obstacles, and much more. This is the ideal guide for magically overcoming challenges to success and prosperity, even in our current economy.

Review: Morrigan by Laura DeLuca

Morrigan by Laura DeLuca
Publishers: Pagan Writers Press
Published: November 8th, 2012
Pages: 320

Shuffled from place to place in the foster system, Morrigan doesn't know the meaning of home. Plus, she is different. She has power over fire, the ability to move objects with her mind, and glimpse into the future. Just when she believes her life can’t get any stranger, she discovers her true identity.

Filtiarn, a knight with a dark past and a surprising secret, has been tasked with guiding the heir of Tír na NÓg through countless perils to be returned to her family. Once Morrigan has been reunited with her mother and grandmother, their triad can save the forgotten land of magic from being devoured by an ancient evil

"You Are What You Eat."

This blog post is going to be about why I'm turning back to my Vegetarianism/Veganism after about a month of eating meat following a year or so of no meat.

I'm going to try to explain why I feel that, for me, being a vegetarian is the best option for me, not only as an animal rights activist, but as a Wiccan. I'm not here to try to convert anyone, but if you happen to want to give vegetarianism/veganism a shot, well hell, I'll be pleased. 

Maybe some of you will agree with me, some of you may think I'm crazy. I hope maybe some of you will see where I'm coming from and perhaps even agree with me. 

I'm going to try to keep this as "normal" as possible without going into my animal rights activist rant. 

But I make no promises. 

"You are what you eat." 

Think about it. We've all heard it. We've heard it from the gym teachers yelling at us to stop eating all the donuts, we've heard it from our mothers wanting us to cut out junk food. But think about it. You are what you eat. 

What does this mean to you? Does it mean what most people take is as? A way to curb people from stuffing themselves with greasy french fries and sugary sodas? Or do you take it a step further? 

As I was driving to work today, I had a minor epiphany. For the past month or so I've been nibbling on meat again. I don't really know why. At first I felt like my body felt better when I ate meat. Yes I'm an activist, yes I've leafleted and tabled with organizations and yes I know all about the horrors of factory farming - that's why I first went "veg" a year or so ago. Still, I listen to my body first and organizations second, sometimes third. 

For the past two weeks I've had digestive issues. I won't horrify you with details of that. Today I decided than rather than deal with the stomach aches and issues, I was going to cut out meat again. In addition to the stomach issues I've had crap energy. I haven't been sleeping well, I feel sluggish all the time and I have headaches more often. So, as I was thinking of the money I would save by not eating meat I started to think and "you are what you eat," popped in my head. As I watched the world go by me in blur of green trees and red robin birds I realized that I can't eat meat anymore. 

Keeping the "you are what you eat" in the back of your mind hear me out. As a pagan woman I believe we're all connected. I believe that animals have spirits. I believe that animals fear, love, have hopes and lives and dreams. As an activist I know these sentiments are true. I've read countless articles, watched documentaries, read outlines of research and all that. I know that piggies are just as smart as dogs, if not smarter, that baby chicks communicate with their mothers while they're still in the eggs, that dolphins are smarter than cats (my cat Snowy will disagree, but that's a story for another post.) 

I believe that whatever we eat sustains us. This can be proven by science. We don't eat, we die. Fact. Whatever it is that we eat is absorbed into us. As I was thinking today I thought: "well, if we absorb whatever we eat...and that happens to be meat...and the meat is really an animal...and those animals have feelings...well, what if, just what if we absorb what those animals were feeling?" 

You are what you eat. 

Humor me for a second. Really think about it. Personally, ever since I've incorporated meat into my life I've been a little moodier, a lot more angry when I have the digestive issues, sluggish, "like crap." All of the meat that I've shucked out money to buy has come from factory farms where the animals have been brutally killed. All meat is murdered. I'm pretty sure all the animals felt immense pain, intense fear. Those were their last feelings, the last things that ran through their minds, their bodies, theirs souls....and I eat that. 

I'm absorbing all that negativity, all that fear, all that brutality. That's what's sustaining me, my body, that's what's feeding my soul. And I'm not ok with that.  If you are what you eat and I'm eating a bunch of unhealthy (yes meat is unhealthy for you) negativity, well it's no wonder why I feel like crap all the time. It's no wonder that I'm in a spiritual slump of not doing a damned thing. 

What do you guys think? Does this make sense to you? Do you feel that by changing what you live on will change your spirituality at all? What sustains you? 

~Ristoria. 

Coven VS. Solitary Practice

So, I'm a few days late in this Thursday Pagan Blog Prompts thing, but real life has been throwing a few lemons at me. However, I checked in on PBP's site and I see that the topic is about Coven study vs. solitary study in your pagan/wiccan practice.

Here's the actual prompt text.
"Please forgive me if this prompt has been done, but coven vs. solitary practice is something I have always been interested in. I practice in a coven myself, but spent a many good years doing my own thing as a solitary, so I have felt first have the benefits and drawbacks of both situations.
How do you all feel? Do you practice in a group or solitary? Which do you prefer? If you chose one over the other, why do you feel that way? If you are a coven member, would you ever go back to being solitary? If you practice alone, would you ever join a group? Just something to think over. :)
I look forward to reading your thoughts!!"

Right now I like to think of me as both a Coven member and a solitary witch. I do have a coven and, actually the prompter that wrote this post is a Coven sister of mine. Love you, Ivy! 

But, I also do a lot of practice on my own. I've been on this path for 4 years going on 5 I've read a lot of blogs, articles, websites and the like about Wiccan practice (since that's how I identify - as a Wiccan.) Many people seem to think that once you start practicing in a Coven, if you ever do, then you have to do all of your practice with your Coven. Not so. I think that practicing with your Coven for a majority of the time, say for the Sabbats and for some Esbats are ideal, but you can't do ALL of your practicing with the Coven. 

Unless you all live together in a huge house, which would be cool, you can't share all your magickal moments together. Like drinking your morning cup of tea while feeling the cool breeze on your front porch. Or practicing your visualization skills while you take a morning shower (tropical waterfall in the amazon where there are no bills to pay anyone?) Or how about that extra moment you take to look up at the sky and wave to the moon when you take out the trash at night? 

These moments are just as magical as the ones you have in Coven circle time, if not more so - because they are intimate, they are yours and they are your moments with the Divine. In a way I prefer my solitary moments over Coven time. Yes I love my Coven to bits and I'd do anything for my girls. I can't imagine not having them in my life and the moments we have are so special. However, I also cherish those moments that I have alone, where I know that I'm right in my ways, where I'm not nervous as hell that I'm going to cast incorrectly or what have you. 

I guess I'm in the air. 50:50. I guess it's a good thing I'm a Coven member and a solitary witch. :)

~Ristoria. 

Pagan Blog Prompts

So, lately I've just been posting my book reviews and that's fine and dandy, but I think that I'm also going to be doing a weekly post on Paganism.

I am Wiccan and my faith is a huge part of my life. I used to be Christian and my faith meant little to nothing for me. I went to church every Sunday and that was about it. In the summer I went to Vacation Bible School and taught a class here and there, but nothing more. When I was 13 I decided to leave the church. I didn't want to go to VBS in the summer, I didn't want to go to Sunday School. Sadly the church I went to was cliquish, if you can believe that. Everyone there had been going since they were born, and I was raised without religion until I was 7.

My mother is Protestant and my father was Catholic. When he passed away my mother had a religious turnabout, and since she wanted to make sure her children got into Heaven, she decided to have us baptized. Even from the age of 7 I couldn't understand the Christian faith. I thought that the Christian God sounded hypocritical on top of many other things. Luckily my mom is amazing and let me make the decision to stop going.

For a year or two I was content without being religious. I was trying to get through middle school, and then high school and sleeping in was more important to me than getting up and going to church. When I got to be 15/16 though I started to do some research. By the time I was 17 I identified with the "Pagan" label, and then later on I discovered Wicca.

When I was 18 I found the woman who is now my high priestess in my coven and we started that together. I've come a long way in the past few years when it comes to my faith (I'll be 21 in less than a month) but I still have a lot to learn and a lot to think about. That's where Pagan Blog Prompts comes in. Every Thursday they have a new Pagan themed prompt and one of my Coven sisters just so happens to be a co-admin now. So, in addition to my book reviews and any other random posts I decide to throw on here, I am also going to try to faithfully (hah, pun) blog about the prompts that the ladies on PBP provide.

In love and light.

Ristoria.