Loony Swan Lake

Settling in

2010-09-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

I'm finally done with the busy busy travelling and settling back into my own space. I had forgotten how wonderful this is. Now, i'm planning, preparing, and just building much much excitement for my most beloved upcoming holiday... which i'm sure all of you easily can guess. ^_^
I already have my costume for Halloween! I'm also throwing a tea party on Mad Hatter's Day for myself and my other "crazy" friends which involves a tad bit of costuming. So I have a bit a head of me.

Now you may or may not know that I am new to this path. I suppose you could say i've been studying for about 4 years, practicing for almost 2. I've got a lot to learn, and in turn am learning things about myself that were a bit hidden. One of those things was brought clear to me by a Pagan Centered Podcast I decided to listen to to pass the time while I was on a plane (one of many this summer/winter for me). That statement is quite simple: People are afraid of being wrong because they're afraid of seeming stupid. (I'm sure there are some people who aren't like this, but I am for simplicity's purposes making a broad generalization.) This generalization though applies to me.

With the label of being accelerated and intelligent, I suppose I have felt this pressure to know about anything I speak of. Really though--this is not the case, it's very hard to do, and quite frankly makes life a bit dull. But, because of that fear I will not talk about something in conversation or voice my thoughts because i'm afraid of not knowing the truth or that the person might be more experienced, think something else, and accuse me of being wrong. Thus leading me to feeling stupid and embarrassed. Hm... how do I overcome this? I love researching so much, so i'm not sure where I could improve in that area without becoming a full time resident to its prowess. So, i'm taking a stab at either expressing me thoughts AND expressing my "fears." By fears I mean things that I know I don't know a lot about, but want to learn, instead of being quiet and not admitting whether I'm knowledgeable or not.

That was long and done with half of my first cup of coffee for the morning. But, now I must be off for my first day of classes for this year. Let's hope it's even better than the last! I just thought i'd try and post to kick off this academic year. Ching ching! For better health, more learning, organization, and the proud feeling of accomplishment!

Verona

Divvying it up

2010-09-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Another conflict I often face is time management. I'm sure it's been something hammered into our heads time and time again. But let me talk this out at least one more time.

With so many interests and so little attention span, how do I do all the things I love ( and don't love) in one day, or one week for that matter? I don't, I forget the things I need to do or shove the things I love out of the way, and over all I get completely overwhelmed which causes me to shut down and think I have nothing to do. It's difficult for us who have a lot of interests and not enough routine, whether we like it or not. I for one love spontaneity but find that a certain amount of routine helps me give most things the attention the need, day by day.

I had a piano teacher who once told me words I now live by: You can do anything, just not everything. Now, the way I take this, is not everything at the same time. :) I still try to do what I can.

With the tides of interest, necessities of society, and our own personal commitments. How do we get everything done? Then, how do we give more time to ourselves? ...And still make it to bed and back awake in time.

Verona

Back in Action

2010-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've been off for a while due to traveling, but am back and brewing up new things to talk about.

To keep the post from being in vain, I will say this much for now:

I'm quite discouraged by the more available pagan/spiritual/wiccan books out there. After reading a lot, I'm just seeing the same thing over and over again. It's encouraged me to not look to the writing of someone else, but look again and really focus on what's written inside of me to continue to find my path... ~~as corny as that sounds.~~ But really, is that what spirituality is all about? --The introspection... that's after all one of the biggest and most repeated thing you will find amongst most of the books regarding pagan spirituality in general, regardless of which religion. I would like to believe that it's stressed in all religions, but I can't make that claim.

So my question(s)... Do books really help us? Are they a good substitute for a teacher? Can we and whatever spirits alone truly be our own guide, or do we on the rational physical level need something more material to help us...

Verona

Interesting Links

2010-08-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

As promised... Here are some links that I've collected and found interesting.

An organized sort of "lesson plan" that has some useful information in it

http://web.archive.org/web/20031216024718/whywiccanssuck.com/learn0.html

And the front page of the website, take it as you wish. : P

http://web.archive.org/web/20030621193239/whywiccanssuck.com/index.html

Basic Rune stuff, not really an area of expertise so perhaps some of you can help me on this one.

www.earthwitchery.com/runes.html

I do like this site....

http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/05/a-trip-around-the-pagan-blogosphere.html

A free tarot program that downloads to your computer. Not the same as the real thing, but it has it's own benefits as well. Quite well designed, I enjoy it. : )

http://www.orphalese.net/index.aspx?chosenculture=en

A nice essay/study about Morgan Le Fay

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/ofapoet/morgan.html

A good site for any one in Tarot I think...

http://www.learntarot.com/top.htm

And for those of you interested in herbs, here's a cool little thing on how not to use them.

http://www.personalhealthzone.com/herbsafety.html

Anyway, I hope you can use some of this. I'll collect some more when my eyelids aren't failing me.

Perhaps some of you have something to share to? Let me know!

Verona

Creativity Splurrge

2010-08-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, splurrge with two Rs. I'm dizzy from it! It's been an incredible day of painting. I'm simultaneously working on three paintings (watercolor) switching to the next as one dries. It's such a wonderful feeling!

Coming up with another post for tonight before all my creativity goes to sleep.
Verona

2010-08-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

I realize that I haven’t done any posts on Tarot. Shame on me.

Being that I’m quite new, I wouldn’t expect much of me, but I’m just using this to log my experiences and things I find concerning Tarot such as spreads or new decks that I like.

So I found this spread from the Newsletter from Tarotschool.com and thought I would give it a shot.

The Spiritual Path Spread:

Position 1: What you need to pay attention to at this time.

Position 2: The current challenge.

Position 3: The hidden influence.

Position 4: Current lesson

Position 5: What not to focus on

Position 6: The next step

Now it didn’t specify any particular position, so I did somewhat of a pentagon/pentagram/circle shape with the 6^th card being in the middle, being the geek I am.

The results I came up with were actually really surprising! It was very thought provoking, and brought up some insightful things that I wasn’t admitting to myself. So overall, this is a good one that I’m saving in my journal.

( Page of Cups card from Paulina Tarot Deck.)

Random thought

2010-08-04T15:02:00.001-07:00

My eyes show who I am no matter what color they’re painted. When a person evaluates my character, they can look at a number of things to judge what I like, what I do, hold old I am, my intelligence, and my way of life. I find that a lot of people in my experience will use the clothes I wear, the shoes I wear, how I walk, how I might do my makeup, how my hair looks, etc. Through these indicators, they will judge me. Are these good indicators? Well it depends; I can easily dress and “look” how I know myself and how other people know me. But I can also look completely different from that and still be content. What should one do then? Look at me. I’ve met a few people who look past whatever covers me and they tell me things about myself that not many other people might recognize. They look in and past my eyes and see whatever it is that makes me who I am, that one can only explain through what they think is true. Nothing has proven this “identity” and what makes it what it is, it’s just something that is understood individually.

Verona

Solar Eclipse 2010

2010-07-11T05:18:00.000-07:00

First, sorry for not updating. I've been moving, travelling, and vacationing (which means no computer, by choice). It's been wonderful.

Moving on, we have a total solar eclipse on our hands here! 11 july, 2010 is a total solar eclipse, which the sun has so kindly decided to make in the middle of the ocean! Ah well, those of us in South America (depending on where) will get to see some of it. It looks like Argentina and Chile are in for a portion of it, but further east may not... I'm not really sure. The time of it is supposed to be 18:15 - 20:51 UT. (Which is about 15:15-17:51 in Eastern/most eastern S. America time.)
[image from http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov]

Because of this, the new moon is definitely a good time to start and set new goals, improvements, good habits, etc. you might want... I know I could think of a few good things for myself!
________

In other news, i'm planning on putting together a book for Herbs. Yes yes, there are tons out there. But i'm dragging this explanation out for dramatic purposes; bear with me.
This book is mainly for my own purpose, but I plan on adding a section to my blog for it too. Why should I do this? Because being bilingual (Port and Eng), I find such difficulty when trying to find an herb in one country or the other, but you're not sure what it's called. The dictionaries sometimes have more common herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano) but not always herbs such as (witchs hazel, feverfew, lemon balm) and you have to search the internet for inconsistent or even wrong information. (rant off)
So, i'm in the works for a solution to this problem of mine! Soon I can go to stores in US or Brasil and find what I need!
More later, you have my word.

Random fun thought #1

2010-05-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

Should this be a trend? We'll see.

Talking to my friends very late last night in a haze, I tried to describe why we got along so well together, but other people had a hard time accepting us. I entertainingly described it like this:

Weird people can best be described with a spicyness rating. Now, we know that everyone has their own preference when it comes to spicy food, some like it mild while others like it hot. We ain't no two stars.

Moral of this: eat more spicy food!

So long loves, until later this evening when I have something more important to rant about.

Wooah now london

2010-05-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, i'm sure this is everywhere. But check out our new Olympic mascots for 2012!

.

Yeeeah. At first glance I thought they were quite strange. After seeing this video, I thought it was really cool what they represent. (The taxi cab symbol on their head representing London's cab system and the one eye representing a camera lens to see the world's competitors) I think the sad thing is that the site I found this on views them so negatively. The public that comment are usually rather supportive. But then again, people are often going to be more encouraged to comment when they disagree with something presented to them.

Could the design have been better executed? Perhaps. I think they look great animated though. Maybe that's just me and my fear of people wearing huge mascot suits. It has never sat well with me, I don't like creepy mascot people. So really my only complaint with them is that one looks angry and the other looks sad. Why would one do that? (And why is one wearing an oven mitt???)

Hit the link for the full article (also containing video of the "birth" of these little fellas) referenced here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/London-unveils-creepy-looking-mascots-for-2012-O?urn=oly,242206

Quickly: Artifact in Israel

2010-05-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I don't have much time as I have to go audition, I'm going to leave you with this little article. I just love it when new artifacts are found, but it astonishes me as to how much could there be left to uncover? There's no way of saying, and that just gives me this jittery feeling of a young teenage girl going on her first "date!"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37258852

I may come back and double post today to make up for yesterday.

Enjoy loves!

"Intro"

2010-05-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

So I figured that most people post an intro to their blog. I've seen it done, i'm not lying to you! I swear!

None the less, I will write something brief, but I have better things to talk about today.

Hello one and all! But most likely one at this point. None the less, I used to have a blog before myspace and later facebook took over and took away opinions, personality, and relations of the outside world, replacing it all with breaking the individual down to what's on their mind, likes, and whatever they're a fan of. Frankly, I miss sharing my opinion on things! I also miss being able to talk about whatever I want and not be afraid to do so.

Now i'm here, and if you want to know why, it's because I will be talking about what intrigues me the most and what means a lot to me. Feel free to disagree, be opinionated, agree whole heartedly, be supportive, be sarcastic, or what ever else! I will do the same.

What are my interests? Well, that's why there is an about me section... isn't there.

Now on to the good stuff!!!

Perusing my little forums today, I ran across these article in the New York Times that just made me happy!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/science/12prof.html?_r=2

Now, if this could actually be more avidly executed, it would be not only cool but rather beneficial. There is seriously nothing wrong with more trees. Right? I will just take a moment here to agree with myself.

After reading this article, it made me reconsider what I'm doing with my life: how cool would it be to have the kind of knowledge this woman has? I personally just love plants, and if I weren't going into music, I think I would change my major to something more related to this. It's very moving and encouraging that someone is doing this.