With Yule less than a month away, I still haven't figured out how to include my kids in the celebration.  I think the girls are old enough now to participate, at least in some way.  I'm just not sure how.  Technically, I probably should have been teaching them, and including them in everything since they were younger, but they've always been very talkative, and I didn't want them to have problems at school due to things they may have said.  They understand more now, and realize that not everybody feels the same way about things, so it seems like a good time to start teaching them the things that Daddy and I believe in.  I figure I can just start out simple, teaching them what Yule is, and giving them some little projects that are related to the day. 

I've wanted so desperately not to be considered "eclectic", I wanted to find a path that suited me.  I thought I had found it in Asatru, but there are still parts of Shamanism, Celtic and Egyptian magick that keep calling to me as well.  My own personal beliefs do not coincide with any of them specifically, but with bits and pieces of each of them in some way.   I feel most at home in nature. I would rather be outside, alone, just sitting in, or walking through, the woods.  I believe everything has a spirit, plants, trees and animals. I believe there is a Great Spirit of all, and that this spirit is the whole formed from 2 halves, a God and Goddess.  I believe that there are also many lesser type gods and goddesses, each belonging to a specific path, and each having a particular "meaning".   I believe that that all religions that are said to have a "God", all truly have one god, that "All Gods are One God".  I believe that when masculine religions took over, the Goddess was forced aside and forgotten by the majority.  I don't believe that life as it is can exist with just one, life just isn't possible with just a male figure.  I believe that 2 parts are always needed to create a whole.  I believe what I believe.....and that is who I am.

who's been "Born again"...ugh! My hubby's uncle has cancer and is not doing well, last week he was in an induced coma on a respirator. The point of this blog comes from after they woke him up. We went to visit him Sunday,and all we heard during our visit was religious talk.  First beginning with how he had "found God" so many years ago, but had been beginning to lose his way recently. His cancer was a sign that he needed to, as he put it, "return to the fold".  He kept asking my husband and I if we have "found God", have we "taken Jesus as our Savior" and other things of a similar nature. For most of my life church and talk of religion have made me feel uncomfortable and now, here I was pretty muched trapped in a room being preached to. While I am glad that he has found something to give him strength, I do wish there was someway to make him understand that it makes me a bit uncomfortable, but I really don't want to upset him, since he is so weak. I mean, I can't just come out and say "I'm a Pagan, please don't push your religion on me",I don't think that would go over well. A friend gave me some advice, just smile and nod, (not his words but, that's the gist of it).  That way, I don't have to be anything but true to myself, while giving the impression that I agree with him.  So, next time we visit, I will do my best to just be polite, and of course just smile and nod. 

Well, here goes nothing.  While my hubby is on vacation (his first in 5 years) I will be avoiding (or at least trying to) the internet.  We made a deal, he stays away from the PS2 and I stay offline.  We spend time together and with the kids.  So, to those who read this, I wish you well and I will "see" you in August :o)

I just joined a new meetup group.  I'm really looking forward to meeting fellow Pagans, as much as I like being a solitary, it would be nice to have people with similar interests to talk to. Don't get me wrong, I think my online Pagan friends are great, but sometimes one needs real human interaction, LOL!  The meetings are to be held at Rolling Hills Country Mall (for those who watch Ghost Hunters, the place with the bats) and I know the place very well.  I used to go there often, before the stores closed.  It's not until August 28, so I have over a month to wait, but I am still quite excited about the whole thing.  I guess you might call it my "coming out of the Broomcloset", so I'm nervous at the same time.  But, how can I call myself "Pagan and Proud" if I am afraid to be who I am?