tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59779003171990634852024-03-13T09:20:24.141-04:00At the AnvilStepping up to the Anvil, I lick the metal with my scorching blue flame tongue. Blade dances, twirling in, out, and about, the wind wafting the smell of sweet bread through hair and heart. Like a snake I strike the metal with piercing blows and cool it down with an opened Heart, passion of the deep, dark waters, quenching the thirst of connection, spilling out unto the earth. Magic is afoot . . . Reach up and strike below, be whole at the Anvil!FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-42235900988435141172015-06-16T18:31:00.000-04:002015-06-16T18:48:54.159-04:00Essence of a Thing<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The world
holds your being. These cosmos hold your being. The very stitches of love hold
your being.<br />
<br />
Throughout our busy days, we often lose sight of our
initial goals, those goals that leap into our minds when we first awake from
our nightly slumber, pockets of inspiration. We forget what we set </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">out
for, and we forget ourselves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.dance-london.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/setbacks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.dance-london.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/setbacks.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Moments of
heightened or even repressed emotions act like a stumble during a dance. We
lose our footing and the rest of ourselves come tumbling down like a messy
domino effect. With skill, we can learn to make the stumbling part of the dance
that is our lives.<br />
<br />
For these reasons, conscious breathing and proper
posture are so important to me.<br />
<br />
I want to be connected to my body. My body isn’t something
for me to ignore – <b>I’m living in it.</b> I want to treat it right, feed it
well, make it feel good, and enliven it. Holding healthy posture helps
keep myself anchored in my body so that I'm not stuck in my mind all the
time but present in all of me. At any given moment throughout a busy day,
I can call </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">my
attention back to my body and go through a quick inspection on how I’m feeling
and what all of me is doing. I can regroup myself, and then from that point
restart whatever it is I'm doing, be able to acknowledge the adjustments that
are necessary in my work now that I've made the necessary adjustments within
myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> If I’m
hunched forward, chin jutting out, creating the “turtle head”, I may be
restricting the flow of breath (and with that, of energy) coming in and moving
out of my body, restricting the flow of oxygen to my brain and my blood, and
all thus stilling the process of growth and transformation that is trying to
happen. Such posture can severely injure my spine in more ways than one, not to
mention the chronic pain that may ensue. My magic is not effective when I am in
constant pain. In fact, I find myself naturally aligning my position when doing
magical work because not only have I trained my body to do so when I am in the
midst of my work, but because my being knows that my magic is so much more
effective when my body isn’t all crooked. I don't want a crooked body, and I
don't want crooked magic. Aligned myself, I can further align my magic and
bring further alignment to the world. <br />
<br />
Sitting or standing upright, shoulders back and
relaxed, and spine erect with my skull evenly balanced upon it (which can be
achieved by tucking your chin back into a comfortable position) is great
posture for most any given situation. <br />
<br />
A single conscious breath can call my attention back
to my body. A single conscious breath can still my mind, my emotions, my whole
being. A single conscious breath can assist me in remembering what I set out to
do in my day, my life. It can assist in a call for justice, stilling my </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://mettarefuge.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/breathe-in.jpg?w=588" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://mettarefuge.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/breathe-in.jpg?w=588" width="211" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">anger
and directing it with due force, and help when holding the hand of a sobbing
friend. It can soothe my depressive complexes and bring me into a closer bond
with my lover. It can temper hopelessness and the feelings of loss. A single
conscious breath can do all these things for me, and more. <b>A single
conscious breath is strong magic.<br />
<br />
</b> Conscious breathing also assists in the work of
bearing presence. <b>You exist</b>. You are a constant existence in this world,
and it is evident through every breath you take. Being aware of your breath
leads to being aware of your space and of your being within it. The world need
not be so small. Let your space expand. Let yourself open up to the world
around you. Breathe. You are alive! Bright and beautiful. Stay in the moment of
the essence of your existence, stay in every moment, and never let
go. Don’t go back to sleep.<br />
<br />
So take a moment now as you read this to sit up and align
your body now if you haven’t already. Take a deep breath so that it fills your
whole being. Breathe into your still point, resting somewhere just below your
navel. Just breathe. Remember who you are, remember your work. Send out a
prayer for yourself in this moment, that you may stay in conscious presence,
connected to your body and your breath, wherever you go and whatever you
do. Blessed be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-12219535732621237242015-02-20T15:47:00.000-05:002017-10-31T20:49:09.895-04:00Soul Kin<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xqW3dZhq-ut2m_rwc0YfQnpa-lAGZYKJfmklo4u19avTy_BS8KH85VWlnTcVG_UfmMBjRlJrdn1MvYPYdOMtoEEDhuwWeHkpxIC_UJ191cqpIyDjyaqp__C-h-Tfvs2wtKzTN5N9tbg/s1600/IMG_6724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xqW3dZhq-ut2m_rwc0YfQnpa-lAGZYKJfmklo4u19avTy_BS8KH85VWlnTcVG_UfmMBjRlJrdn1MvYPYdOMtoEEDhuwWeHkpxIC_UJ191cqpIyDjyaqp__C-h-Tfvs2wtKzTN5N9tbg/s1600/IMG_6724.JPG" width="240" /></a> I lost my best friend yesterday. We don't know what happened to him, or how. My family called him Figaro. I didn't call him that; I didn't feel like that was his name. I gave him no name. To me, he was simply my greatest pal, my daily companion.<br />
<br />
Everyone agreed that he was the sweetest cat ever. I found him strange also. He let everyone and anyone pet him. He would let me pet his ears and his paw and his legs, without a care. That cat let you do anything to him. He'd just lay there and enjoy the physical attention.<br />
<br />
He and I had a connection that I've never had with anyone, human or otherwise. We clicked in such a natural way, as, often, words weren't even necessary for me to utter (as though he could understand me anyway). Our energies were similar, our characteristics were similar. We only ever had one common and repetitive disagreement, when he'd try "jumping" another female cat, even after she was evidently pregnant. But he was a cat and I a human. That was understandable. That cat never held a grudge; with him, neither did I.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
I miss him. When I step out the front door, he won't be sleeping on the chair. When I sit outside in his absence, wondering if he'll come by and sleep on my lap will be a wasted thought. No more resting my head on him when he takes a nap, no more endless petting, no more sweet sound of his purring. No more playing in the bushes. No more helping him chase lizards. I'll miss the excited look in his eyes when he sees me from a distance and runs towards me.<br />
<br />
Most of all, I'll miss the love we shared between us. Nothing will ever be able to replace that bond. I pray we see each other again one day. I pray he be there when my time comes to cross the River myself. I pray he finds his peace from tragedy, that the Gods bestow prosperity upon him, that his next life be more fortunate than his last. <br />
I'll miss you, baby. Best friends and brothers, infinitely ∞.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEG2pdHwxzZomir5VbhyCs4YOg-yLn2QYLWXW5IkZ5c-3hTqBG18E42-5k58pvR3JyMKFsOZqOms-L0WBLNK1QMRJ-YxowqgNX0aU7z7oENK1xxhz25-7eL50eZH-k1uxmee_FA3guXN4/s1600/IMG_6749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEG2pdHwxzZomir5VbhyCs4YOg-yLn2QYLWXW5IkZ5c-3hTqBG18E42-5k58pvR3JyMKFsOZqOms-L0WBLNK1QMRJ-YxowqgNX0aU7z7oENK1xxhz25-7eL50eZH-k1uxmee_FA3guXN4/s1600/IMG_6749.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-31945074898234359242014-12-29T14:41:00.000-05:002014-12-29T15:01:46.466-05:00Star Piece, Star Peace<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We often lose
ourselves in our own lives. We don’t know which way to turn, which way to look.
We wonder what the right thing to do is. We wonder if we’ll be okay. We lose
sight of our goals in our anxiety, in our fear, in our self-destruction. We
lose ourselves.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who are you?
What makes you, you? Who is your authentic self?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within us all
resides this part of self that is self-sustaining. Outside layers ebb and flow,
and this </span><br />
<div style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://api.ning.com/files/sFaJhrw84oY8K8*ac0M3Gsvfs6bJg8H-o7cZ8GZd6WvlsbKoSVT-WrH5SGrpuuYS1fHafd*TlcBAjv7FrtFSUp5ZaaXdYVIV/introspection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://api.ning.com/files/sFaJhrw84oY8K8*ac0M3Gsvfs6bJg8H-o7cZ8GZd6WvlsbKoSVT-WrH5SGrpuuYS1fHafd*TlcBAjv7FrtFSUp5ZaaXdYVIV/introspection.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">shows in our personality. Personality isn’t all it’s cut out to be.
One day we’re upset, so we act snobby. Another day we’re hyperactive and vital, so we become jubilant. And yet in
another day comes sorrow, so we're labeled depressed, lazy, or a party-pooper. Personality becomes a flexible mask. It’s the dance to woo that special someone, the presentation
to seem likable or threatening. It’s temporary, a “you” to be outlived by time
and memory. They are all upheld by emotional shifts which are caused by our surrounding
environments. But we aren’t our personalities nor our emotions. We have them, but we aren’t them. I
am not sadness, though I may feel sad. I am not excitement, though I may feel
excited. </span><a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personality is
the outer layer of our being, which constantly changes form depending on the
moment. Personality is a tool. You are not a tool. You are a person, a being.
There is a part of you which vibrates like a note, a wonderfulness that sounds
off the essence which is you. That is your authentic self.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may also carry
unhealthy habits, patterns which keep us from integrity. You and Other argue,
and both are so eager to be seen that no one is doing the looking. We all want
to be seen. We call each other names and put one another down so that we appear
to be on top. We project our flaws into those around us, never seeing them for
who they truly are. We chisel away at our own personalities to be the jewel
within the crowd for all to gaze upon. We never get too far, appealing to the
people for a moment before the Sun sets and no light shines upon us. But
neither are we our habits. Habits can die out, and new ones birthed in their
place. The core of our being, who we really are, is eternal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I teach this
to any and all who are willing to listen: the ego is not bad. The ego is your
human identity, personality its voice. It’s what you show of yourself to the
world. Yes, many people’s egos are distorted. Childhoods may have left us scarred
from frightening events or unhealthy and dangerous living environments like
living in the ghetto. Egos become shields against intimacy or kindness. Personality
may appear rough and threatening in order not to be seen as weak and be taken
advantage of. Or we may have lived in an interactive suburb, yet may have been bullied by our peers, colleagues, or even our
own parents, so we grow up shifting our egos to seem successful or
loved, personalities reflecting this by being stuck-up or narcissistic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the ego
still isn’t bad. It’s injured. It needs healing. It wants to be heard, listened
to. We are all on this planet to become more human. So of course the spirit body of
our humanity, our egos, may seem all bent out of shape. Our human selves have
gone through a lot. Inspiring is the person who, through all the trials and
errors of life, still manages to project a kind personality and right-sized
ego. The ego is part of your humanness, and to chuck it away or ignore it as
though it does not exist or serves no purpose is throwing away a part of your
self, your humanity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Still, they are simply tools to be used to aid you in your quest for discovering who you are. Their work for you serves a greater purpose and a deeper part of self.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Imagine your personality like layers of clothing. For
each occasion, you typically wear a different outfit to reflect the mood of the
setting. It speaks to the gatherers, the friends, the party-goers. It’s </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://cdn.glamcheck.com/fashion/files/2011/01/How-to-Layer-Clothes-for-Winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.glamcheck.com/fashion/files/2011/01/How-to-Layer-Clothes-for-Winter.jpg" height="320" width="279" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">your
human self speaking to the world saying, “tonight I will be sexy” or “today I will be
proactive” or “in this moment, I will be healthy and fit”. Your ego, through
personality may be trying to say, “don't even <em>try</em> messing with me” or “I want someone
to pay attention to me” or “I want to make people laugh endlessly”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if you
took off those layers of clothing for a moment, those layers of personality and ego? What if
you took off the titles “sexy” and “tough” and “proactive” and “easy” and “fit”
and “successful” and “laid back”? What if you were no longer “doctor” or
“teacher” or “mother” or “lover” or “bus driver” or "dog walker” or “political
activist”? What would be left? Who is that naked self clothed in nothing but
its smooth skin of authenticity? Are you now love? Are you beauty? Are you ebb
of nurture, the flow of the spritely? Are you justice, the law of the worlds?
Are you passion, the deep knowing of everything in its dance? Are you words at
all? Are you a note, a melody, a song? Are you an embrace? Are you an offering?
Who are you? Know thyself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we knew who
we were, it wouldn’t matter how lost in our journey we became. It wouldn’t
matter whether we know what the right thing to do is, or which way to go. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">None
of that would matter because we’re no longer working to seem flawless or to please others. Knowing ourselves, being lost would be an adventure towards further discovery. We wouldn't be lost at all! We'd see that right and wrong are mere shadows of what's really important: acting according to our existence. We'd know that everything would be alright; worry and anxiety melt away like cotton candy. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We'd know who we truly are. We'd remember.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Spreading out from our authentic selves, we know what we stand for, and
our character is shaped. From there, we shape the morals we live by. Through
that, we work in the world in our shining egos, reflective of our true selves,
our personalities speaking in the language of authenticity in any given
situation. And though that voice will speak in different tongues from time to
time, each will come from the heart of who you really are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> So I ask you again: who are you?</span></div>
</div>
FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-23701302700480889992014-12-05T12:15:00.000-05:002014-12-09T14:45:43.470-05:00Containing a TideChange is inevitable.<br />
<br />
Just saying those three words is enough to shift anyone from their stance and core. But that it existential reality. If you exist, you will not only experience change; you <i>are</i> change. Many people don't realize that they are the very thing they fear.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/90/93390-004-FD1AB827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/90/93390-004-FD1AB827.jpg" height="320" width="118" /></a>I won't detail how many times my life has dramatically swirled so that I'm on the ground feeling like I have to start over again. But that's the best way to forge a blade. Break down particles in the heat of desire, mold it to your will. Cool things down; inspect your progress. Break it down again. Keep molding. Keep cooling. Feed the flames with the bellows of hope.<br />
<br />
This is tedious work. But this work of building, breaking down, and rebuilding is the work of Nature, and the work of us all, the work that <i>is</i> us all. It is our death and rebirth as humans, as beings of life and Spirit.<br />
<br />
If I could keep just one of my tools of the forge, it would be to retain the consciousness that is held in my breath. I can lose desire, I can lose faith, I can lose integrity. But I will always strive to hold conscious breathe, because not too long afterwards, all those aforementioned will be mine again. I can lose my sense of self, my identity. But if I can hold onto this moment in space for just a little bit longer, I know I have made a monumental breakthrough which can not only help me but help all existence. A big responsibility held in each of us, in all our actuality that is us, I know. But that is our Great Work. Again: change is inevitable, that is reality, and if you exist, you are a thread upon that web of change. Your breath is both the silk that holds the web together <i>and</i> the spaces in between.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
So breathe. Stop and just breathe. Amidst the chaos of your mind, breathe. Amidst the injustice in the human world, breathe. Amidst the battle your demons, breathe. Amidst what feels like a losing fight between you and your fears, breathe. Even if it hurts, and it might hurt. Breathe.<br />
<br />
We must have hope if we are to rebuild ourselves as human beings capable of empathy and integrity and connectivity with all things in our existence. We must hold our hard-working hands to our chests and feel the pulsation of life under our tissues, and remember that all things around us are beating with the fires of life, tied to the same web of change that is us.<br />
<br />
We must embrace this very moment. And it can start with a single intake of a breath.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-46998521876534921612014-08-18T15:08:00.001-04:002020-01-30T20:06:22.436-05:00Corpuscle's Partition <center>
Pull<br />
Push<br />
A beckon,<br />
a shove<br />
Such desire for the need to be washed<br />
by your salty liquid<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
What is a touch?<br />
The vibe of essence bumping atoms<br />
The static hue<br />
Embraced are we in the moment<br />
Together do we stare above,<br />
shouting to Gods of glory for this moment<br />
<br />
You surround me,<br />
hunting, groping me in all the right places<br />
I shudder, I shrivel, I shriek<br />
by your cool touch<br />
I extend my nurture as you hold me<br />
in your bowl of grateful adoration<br />
<br />
Surging build that cannot be contained!<br />
Filling, rising, deepening . . .<br />
Alas, the joy of sweet release!<br />
Back into the source from whence came this incipience<br />
<br />
What's this?<br />
A transmutation!<br />
What sorcery! What curse!<br />
The past is no more!<br />
Footing is gained, liquid wings befallen<br />
The scales have dropped,<br />
so do these tears<br />
Cruel preservation!<br />
<br />
Why cannot I hold <br />
the beauty you contain?<br />
Your kingdom of sacred jewels!<br />
The mysteries to which I will <br />
now never know<br />
Why must the pearl be extended from its core?<br />
<br />
Where can we go?<br />
The ground below is buzzing<br />
The palpitating ache of separation<br />
for the sake of union.<br />
Why cannot I bathe in your hue for<br />
eternity?<br />
<br />
Fear not!<br />
I walk down this stretch of dirt<br />
Distance is ever futile<br />
I extend beyond this flesh,<br />
and of my being you shall be<br />
touched once more<br />
<br />
In a place that has no space,<br />
in a time which does not climb.</center>
<center style="text-align: left;">
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FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-5040122568570527272014-08-04T17:40:00.000-04:002014-08-04T17:57:58.565-04:00Core Dust<a href="http://www.gardenponds.com/media/3392L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.gardenponds.com/media/3392L.jpg" height="198" width="200" /></a> Often, when our work gets difficult to the point where procession is no longer undergoing, basics can be a dear friend.<br />
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I've fallen off my horse, the gallop having come to an immediate stop after a bad breakup four months ago. But now, the fires are rekindled, the bellows breathing, and the waters cool and clean once more. The fourge is once again up and running!<br />
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Many times, we overlook the basics. We think, "But that's easy work. Anyone can do that. Show me the advanced stuff! Show me that pretzel yoga move! Teach me how to cast spells to turn my life around here and now! Tell me the secret to not thinking anything at all while meditating! Tell me the occult secrets!"<br />
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To me, that sounds similar to wanting to learn how to walk and talk in life without knowing what life your living, what condition it's in, where you are standing, here, now. Where is your center?<br />
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Even if we are aware of our lives, our environment, and who and what we are and are becoming, the basics only enhance our current work. Connect with the Earth, connect with the symphony of your lively breath and the beating of your heart. Notice the posture of your body. Are you slanting sideways? Is your head jutting out, giving yourself the "turtle head"? Can you sit tall, spine straight as you tuck in your chin to align your skull? Does breathing deeply feel easier now? Does it cause some tension at the base of your back after awhile? Can you spare a few more moments of practicing healthy body posture so that the energies within your body can further assist your Work in this world, tying breath, will, and desire as they kiss the holy divine?<br />
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Cleansing is, again, another basic that we mentally bypass. After a long and tiring day, taking a shower can feel quite rejuvenating. Waking up in the morning and splashing cool water on your face is awakening. Washing your hands before eating feels like preparation for a (ful)filling job. The same goes with any spiritual practice and the arts of working magic.<br />
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Take a shower before your work. If you're short on time, wet your hands and your face. Anoint yourself with some oils. Remember to ground and to center yourself. Align all your parts with your divine self. Do some cleansing work such as smudging or burning some other incense and wafting with hands or a feather. Breathe your problems into a cup of water and imagine the water transmutating to clear, brightly shining liquid, an elixir. Sit in silence for five minutes minimum, deepening in your stillness, its center stationed below your navel.<br />
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Make sure your space is clean and clear, too. Author Brad Gooch wrote in his book, "Finding the Boyfriend Within" about how he wouldn't have someone over his very messy apartment. So why would he invite himself to such a messy environment, he thought? After he cleaned his place, he put on some nice music, lit some candles, and had a warm drink.<br />
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That night he slept like a baby.<br />
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So do the favor; in respect to yourself, and to the Spirits, Fey, or other Otherworldly beings you may be sharing your space with, clean up. Tidy things around your altar, your meditation cushion or <br />
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bench. Empty and wash those icky-watered cups, and throw away those dangling leftover incense sticks. Wash or replace the cloth. If your space is surrounded by everyday things, tidy that, too. Make your bed and put shoes away. Dirty clothes in one place, clean in another. And trash in the trash.<br />
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Is your space feeling better? Try it out. Does your mind feel clear, too? Might your practice feel more effective and integrated now that you've connected with your sacred space? Because that is what it is, sacred space. The lives we occupy are sacred spaces. Let's attend to our sacred places and sacred lives with gratitude and respect.<br />
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Readying ourselves by way of cleaning, cleansing, and aligning are today's most essential basics to beginning our spiritual work. Let us do ourselves a big favor a do it in great love by starting out with acts of great love.<br />
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The few methods I shared here for clearing, cleansing, and grounding are only a few grains of rice within a very large, and sometimes contemporary, bowl. If you follow a certain spiritual lineage or tradition, be certain of conducting in the ways of your people. If you are new to spiritual practice, the practices I have offered are simple, yet effective. I am no official teacher, simply another Seeker upon the path of growing. I encourage you to seek your way as well, as my way may not work for you. Seek. Investigate. Learn. If you are presented with options such as mine, and they aren't the greatest, tweak them to your suiting. The greatest teacher you could ever have is your body and yourself.<br />
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May we engage and open further. Blessings upon us all.FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-74830644608294193182013-08-30T18:29:00.000-04:002020-01-30T20:06:59.269-05:00Half a Jewel's Twirl<div style="text-align: center;">
Love.</div>
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Dove above.</div>
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A treasure trove.</div>
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A shift, this incessant move.</div>
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Walk.</div>
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Erect stalk.</div>
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Please, talk.</div>
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A child with green chalk.</div>
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Breathe.</div>
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A sword outside sheath.</div>
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Ethical Warrior embraced by diligent wreath.</div>
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Be.</div>
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Willingly see.</div>
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The Torment and the Free.</div>
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Undersea, I will not flee</div>
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the Seeker and his curious Me.</div>
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Send.</div>
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This flow will bend.</div>
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Holy lance to lend for inquiry to attend</div>
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to matters of no pleasant end . . .</div>
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The rock, a cove, ancestral friend!<br />
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Girth.</div>
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Cool rebirth.</div>
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A spreading of smooth mirth,</div>
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reclaiming ancient worth.</div>
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Requited tend in midnight's hearth.</div>
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Remember.</div>
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You temperate Bender.</div>
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Gaze into the embers</div>
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for you are a member,</div>
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a number,</div>
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you lumber this timber,</div>
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no longer somber.</div>
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The Tumbler,</div>
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the Rumbler,</div>
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the Weaver of climacteric nexus.<br />
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FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-91062269684704836912013-08-12T14:22:00.000-04:002013-08-12T15:22:49.740-04:00The Cycle of Great Work<a href="http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/28/2877/RXGPD00Z/posters/raul-touzon-a-beam-of-sunlight-illuminates-an-underwater-cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/28/2877/RXGPD00Z/posters/raul-touzon-a-beam-of-sunlight-illuminates-an-underwater-cave.jpg" width="238" /></a> We are all set out to do work in this world. Whatever work we do, whether it is healing work, building work, physical work, inspirational work, ecstatic work, or any work otherwise or inclusively . . . though this work may be for others, the work we do for community is inherently for ourselves. This sounds selfish at first. I pray you dig deeper and swim within the pool of cooled meaning to my statement. As humans, we are thinkers. As thinkers, we walk out into the world and find as may ways in which we can identify ourselves with the surrounding world. (Thus was born the poetic artistry of personification!) And in striving to identify ourselves through our surroundings, the work we fall upon doing somehow is<br />
<a name='more'></a>the work our innate selves set out to do because somewhere deep inside us our work is identifying with our deep selves and bringing us even deeper within the caves of self mystery.<br />
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We may heal people, but the healing is primarily for us. We may building homes to support the lives of others, but that work is really the work of building our own lives, stable upon the ground. We may encourage others to be physically fit and train people to live more healthy and productive lives, but this work is just as much for ourselves as it is for the people we do it for. Wellness for us, through the wellness we teach others; foundation for us, by way of the foundation we build for others; healing that we so deeply need, by healing the people in our lives and in our communities and around the world. As dancers, we shift and move for the world, our own souls who need the flame of Salsa, the giddiness of the jitterbug, or the slow, hypotically passionate flow whilst embracing a lover.<br />
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A wise woman once spoke to a group of my fellow pupils and I during a club meting back in high school. She told us how she wasn't able to accept her daughter being Lesbian. Not at first at least. She said, "I realized that in order to accept my daughter, I first needed to accept myself." Many of us hear that often and in many different ways, and it's important that we do because this here describes the process of the all the <br />
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work we have ever done and continue to do in our lives, all of it interconnected with the work of our surrounding kin and the natural world(s). In order to love others, you first need to love yourself; in order to strengthen or heal or teach others, you must first strengthen yourself, heal yourself, teach yourself, or at least be open to the flow of knowledge to be taught. You cannot provide outside of you if you cannot first provide for yourself. Otherwise, doing so would be equivalent to sitting on a chair with missing legs; no support. Once you do the work on yourself, you can further do the work outside of yourself.<br />
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But this isn't enough. This isn't the end of the work. More inner work is required. We do the work from the inside-out. Shaping ourselves, we shape the world around us. Then, it is time for the world we've surrounded ourselves in to shape us, reform us, working from the outside-in. The work we do for others becomes us, <i>is</i> us in extension. It's like extending our self out into unseen realms, then retracting our self and bringing this newly refined piece of us within our own being, to once again be transformed into a different yet still gorgeous being.<br />
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So do remember that the work we do on self does help the world, and that that isn't the end of the work of our lives, for we are still constantly growing, even after mastery of our destined work.<br />
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<i>May our work transform the world into beauty; may our beauteous world transform us and our work.</i>FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-5598983091693454652013-07-22T10:19:00.002-04:002013-07-22T10:55:44.362-04:00Raining Shards Inflamed<i>I am angry. I am enraged. Life force fills me in the guise of action. Heated, I am. Inflamed I break down matter, that new life may be born from the ashes.</i><i><br /><br />But what's this? I have no guidance! Where is my center of being? Where is my still point? Where am I in this space and what I am doing?</i><br />
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If only I had asked those questions before chaos ensued in my kitchen.<br />
<a name='more'></a>If only I had stopped and taken a deep breath and aligned myself so that the actions I made in my anger would liberate me. Yes, anger can liberate. We can take our anger and curve the flow into an act towards liberation.<br />
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Yell! Let your voice tell of the tale of injustice! Shout! Tell the world how you have been hurt. Scream! Bellow your frustration and remind all that you will not submit your life force, for you have the power to make things right again and be whole unto yourself.<br />
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<b>But you must be centered.</b></div>
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Without centering, without finding the place of stillness within your being and acting from that still place, anger will not only ensue, but consume, like a Colorado wildfire cutting through the many homes of its residents and burning all their hearts in the most hurtful of ways; you are prone to hurting people, hurting yourself. Without my centering, I am a chaotic force of life with no connection to the order of life, dangerous, unyielding. Without being rooted in our center, we don't have access to the voice within that helps us make the right choices, healthy decisions, and without a center, we definitely are not working from a place of love, that universal flow which ultimately brings all things together, for the sake of (re)union.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYG8UbM2k1HXfLSv0IAIg2RRDuAaOWzPOO4HwC84plDit3XrGj1afn2jCTm0xN0M2OS3CucOruhH32_JzQtT_ERYi5SqurLZkIDyscs1YmJ7SDJlk8cWU2qJS1cxEb15VJodRvex_opyA/s320/Smashed-Glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYG8UbM2k1HXfLSv0IAIg2RRDuAaOWzPOO4HwC84plDit3XrGj1afn2jCTm0xN0M2OS3CucOruhH32_JzQtT_ERYi5SqurLZkIDyscs1YmJ7SDJlk8cWU2qJS1cxEb15VJodRvex_opyA/s320/Smashed-Glass.jpg" /></a><br />
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Uncentered anger showed me that my soul becomes splintered. I was shown this by the way it had me eradicated, my forceful movements in array as I put the dishes away from the dishwasher. A large and quite thick bowl I had, bigger than my head, came crashing down from the shelf accidentally, breaking into big chunks and the smallest, almost unnoticeable pieces of glass, spilling out to impressively far places.<br />
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I'm still angry for certain reasons. But having to be so careful about not getting glass in me, some big shards already having cut both my thighs, a beaded strip of rich red blood perfusing on one, a point on the other, I gave myself no other option but to center that anger enough to let me do my work without it interfering. And breathing into my stillness and into my heart, letting it soften, allowing in at least as much compassion as I was able to let pass through at that moment, I got minutely emotional. Anger settled at the edges. A space opened, and I did the meticulous work of cleaning up all the hundreds of shards in caution and in more understanding than I gave myself beforehand.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><br /></b></span><b>That's real magic right there.</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>Centering, breathing into ease, releasing tension, channeling built-up energy towards a certain goal, coming back into stillness, replenishing life with life. Not easy work. Like I said, I'm still angry. And know what? That's okay.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><i>It's okay to be angry.</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span>But you gotta be centered. Centered, you can channel that strong energy towards a goal aligned with your divine self and with divine Gods. Uncentered, you are unaligned. Unaligned means all the parts that make up your being are splintered, pieces falling into unimaginable and sometimes untraceable places. You are nowhere near your own freedom. You are far from it. You lose yourself. And no one likes to be lost.<br />
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If you never want to lose yourself or are already feeling lost, find your center of being. Breathe into it. Breathe into it always. As often as you can. As often as you remember. Be found. Use your innate power, the power you were given since before birth. Let this power liberate your being. Regroup. Feel free.<br />
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May you be liberated. May you liberate. May freedom truly ring.</div>
FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-36745772658460886662013-06-26T20:50:00.000-04:002013-06-26T20:58:55.175-04:00Heart-Diving, or Fishing for Desire "Water Shows the Hidden Heart" by Irish Singer Enya is a gorgeous song with ravishingly haunting words that move me. Even more, the name of the song moves me. Water shows the hidden heart.<br />
On the surface, water reflects our hearts. Many Witches use the surface of water for scrying and other forms of divining as a means to gaze upon past and future, asking for dreams to be revealed, or for the <br />
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power of All-That-Is to show the heart-deep Witch their true love. And then we take the plunge. Plunging the surface, we dive into ourselves, swimming in our own souls, our own divinities, and the emotions which lead us to it.<br />
As a 20 year old man, I face a time in my life where I am honoured to ask myself, What do I really want? As a Witch, I can no longer ignore this question. <b>This is my path now.</b> I was warned about becoming more myself. And yet this is the deepest human desire of all the race of humans. And why the warning, you may be asking? A warning was ensured because once you swim towards your desire, there is no swimming back upstream, even with all the wisdom of a salmon. Or perhaps the wisdom of the salmon is to go against our overculture and swim up your own passion-made stream. <br />
<a name='more'></a>Either way, it is a laborious, daunting, and yet liberating way to go, an offering of All-That-Is to each and every one of us in its own unique fashion. It is a precious gift to be able to tread towards the "want" and the "need" in their holy union, a gift we are granted through diligence, a gift we never want to let go of. Nor should we. The gift of a life with desire trod is something we should all cherish. And though sometimes we may decide to swim up or down a different stream, sooner or later our heart will yearn for that enlivening journey of swimming in the flow of passion.<br />
Knowing what we really want means asking our heart what it desires. For some, this is no easy task. It may feel overwhelming to admit to desire. It is a process of not only asking the question pertaining to our desire, but also of then descending into the metaphysical state of water (our emotions) and swimming around in it, submerged in our very real, very tangibly, humanistic sense of emotions, causing a stir within our very beings. Does it sound comfortable now?<br />
For others, this task is as easy as taking a conscious breath. <b>It takes practice.</b> And even then, the task <br />
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of asking our hearts what we truly desire whilst swimming at their depths still does not always invoke ease. Yet I have found that the product of this work is always long lost treasure much cherished.<br />
I recognize that my life tends to be more delivering when I ride the current of unveiling. Again, this is not easy. Work is accounted for. Sometimes we must offer the tides a sacrifice from parts of ourselves which no longer serve our will, releasing unneeded weight in order to swim through our passion. Sometimes we must release things in our lives which cause mass amounts of resistance against swimming along the flow of what it is we really want, the whirlpool that thrashes us here and about, and sucking us down.<br />
But this doesn't mean, "I want this and this other thing is getting in the way. I'll release it then -- goodbye!" This massive whirlpool is in the way for a reason. <b>Be your own maritime explorer!</b> Find out why. If you're going to be releasing anything in order to swim towards desire, first find out what makes the whirlpool whirl. <i>flow</i> more. Still, this practice is called practice for a reason, and so there will always be tough work to do, though the work may later be reshaped. Water does that. It reshapes form as it itself is constantly changing body and form.<br />
If there are weights attached to your being, find out what is weighing you down; only then can you release yourself. And do not worry; after some practice, you start to grow gills, you amphibian, you. Practicing the art of asking your heart what you desire and working through the many things that tend to pressurize you against getting there to that point does make the work <br />
<b>Gaze.</b> Gaze upon your blockages, your complexes. Feel your complexes floating amidst your desire, your desire surrounding it and under it, perhaps even <i>within </i>it. Do the healing work that is needed. If there is blockage, something may have hardened, rusted, or crusted when it should have not. Healing is the shaper of rock and pearl, and the dissolver of minerals and molecules. Swirl widdershins, like a whirlpool, dissolving, breaking down parts, dispelling into simplicity, simplicity later coming back together to the greater whole, nourished and helpful to your cause, the cause of your heart's desire. Drink down your heart's desire.<br />
And please, when the tides get too rough to handle or the surface of the water too murky or dark for your seeking heart too see, meet it head-on with compassion. Watch as the rains of ease fall in.<br />
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<i>Pour the water of compassion upon the heart.</i><br />
<i>Watch it unfold, no longer hidden.</i><br />
<i>What do you see?</i>FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-49942897368520478452013-05-18T21:05:00.000-04:002013-05-18T22:21:40.950-04:00The Song of the Living<br />
The modern Pagan path is unique in its sense of being Goddess-oriented. We are a people who acknowledge the presence and life of the beings of power in their female forms, along side with their fathers, brothers, male lovers and sons. Many of us acknowledge the feminine divine in what may be called the All, the One, the Great Spirit, the Universe, the Multiverse, the Infinite, the Limitless, God Hirself, etc.<br />
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<a href="http://tasteofmoongoddess.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/1054-star-goddess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://tasteofmoongoddess.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/1054-star-goddess.jpg" width="200" /></a>I'll sit here in front of this computer monitor and quite boldly say <br />
that all of us Pagans came to our present faiths because once upon a blue moon there was a Calling. We have all heard this calling to serve Goddess all in our own ways. I don't mean a Goddess entity, not a Deity (per se). But the Mother of all that lives and<br />
the Goddess of all that is. Having been raised around the secretive Witches in my family and having first started studying the Craft on my own eight years ago, I often like to look back now and reflect upon how I once heard my Calling to serve Goddess, and to serve myself. (See my <a href="http://attheanvil.blogspot.com/2013/05/legacy-of-pagan.html" target="_blank">last blog post</a> about how I came to the Craft!)<br />
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For those reading this who aren't Pagan, it is difficult to define or explain what the Calling is. <br />
<a name='more'></a>I suppose the Calling means something different to each Pagan, like the Bible does to every Christian and like the Bhaghavad Gita does to each Hindu. At its broadest, the Calling is like any other calling to do a specific something in your life, only this calling is a deeply rooted, spiritual one. This is a calling to follow the ebb and flow of the natural world in its entirety, to acknowledge all the natural processes that happen all around us, and to fully be a part of it in deep form. Many people are close to the natural and aren't Pagan, such as forest rangers, boy scouts and girl scouts, country folk, herbalists, and gardeners. Whereas the Gardener's approach to tending to his bed flower is one of love and adoration, the Pagan approach takes on a more spiritual spin to gardening, I would say.<br />
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<a href="http://truthworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/time-to-wake-up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://truthworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/time-to-wake-up.jpg" width="166" /></a>Each religion has its own Calling, each Calling unique in its own voice. G.I. Gurdjieff taught that all of us are "asleep" and must "wake up" in order to achieve a higher level of consciousness and evolve. This disciplinary work, he called "The Work". Each religion has its people who are ready to do "the Work", and it begins by the Calling to wake up. Once we hear the Calling to serve, our world is changed forever, as there is no denying the Calling to serve, to do the Work towards something greater than ourselves, once we've heard it, no matter how hard we may try to deny it.<br />
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Any sort of calling is a bidding to arise and make action. From the horns of war calling upon the strength of men to meet on the battle field with blade and honour, to the call in ceremony to the Gods of old to come to the presence of the Witches in attendance to bear witness to their rite and rejoice in love, to the calling of a mother to her children when dinner is ready. The Calling is a bidding to "wake up" and do "the Work of this God", as the brilliant Victor Anderson put it.<br />
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This greater Calling reminds me of my minor callings, minor not in importance but in pitch of voice. Sometimes I have a small calling to have orange juice instead of apple juice. Sometimes I have a calling to be in some certain place, whether I consciously know it or not.<br />
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A practice I use when I'm at a big store is to just start walking around aimlessly in order to get more in tune to listening to my intuition. My in-tuition, my inner sense of guardianship, helps me listen from inside me to a calling outside of me. I have found really nice things that I have incorporated into my magickal and spiritual practices. Other times, my intuition and I have followed a calling that has led us to some kind and sometimes interesting persons. The key: just let your feet walk! And when you have this eerie sense that you should turn down here or a pulling to go this way, do it. This is a joy when your at a big shopping mall and looking for a neat outfit or at a bar and want to make a new friend. Following a calling to act using my intuition has never led me astray.<br />
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Teacher and Poet, T. Thorn Coyle teaches how there is our will and how there is our Will. She teaches how our will, perhaps the will to exercise or have good and mutual sex or to sit outside and read a good book, serves our Will to get out there and make a difference, to be more involved in your life or with your family, or to connect to the people in your neighborhood or the people suffering in wars outside your country, or even suffering in wars inside themselves here at home. Our Will is a Calling that is usually greater than ourselves and, through some neat-o paradox, completely attainable. To kiss this Calling of Will usually means your life will change forever. If change is inevitable, perhaps we should all align our will to the Will of the Calling, for we all have and will have our own interpersonal Callings.<br />
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Do you have a calling, perhaps to be more conscious of what you say before you say it and how you say it when you do? Do you have a Calling rise to some cause in your life or in the lives of a people? Do you will to fight through your depression and seek help? Do you Will to know yourself in all your parts? To you have<br />
<a href="http://nicolearacki.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/a-light-in-the-darkness1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://nicolearacki.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/a-light-in-the-darkness1.jpg" width="320" /></a> a calling to hug your loved ones more often, to pick up the phone and call that person you know inside you should apologize to? Do have a Calling to become a part of a community you know you'd love and cherish? Do you Will to live in harmony and in union with the cycles of the natural world, in a state of personal evolution? Do you will to open to the heart of Love?<br />
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What is your Will? What is your calling? What is your will? What is your Calling?<br />
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May we seek out our answers, and may we embrace the treasures we find.<br />
<br />FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-53326156784360411392013-05-02T17:17:00.004-04:002015-11-29T16:51:49.533-05:00Legacy of a Pagan(In honor of International Pagan Coming Out Day, I write to you a story about the birth and youth of a modern Pagan.)<br />
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Once upon a time, I was a very quiet child. Being very kind, I made friends quite easily. The more I learned of the world, the more I stayed silent, inspecting it from my position. And though I'm still quite an introverted person, there are some things in this sacred world, in my beloved life, which cause passion to flow through so strongly that this mouth opens and a cry is heard.<br />
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I was born of magic. <br />
<a name='more'></a>The Pagan Way has been part of my being since before my inception. A ritualistic ceremony was done so that my mother would have a safe delivery, and that I would live. Though much of my family was Catholic, I was never influenced by it. My father would often tell me, "We're a family of Witches!"<br />
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At the age of nine, I experienced the world of Santeria, a magnificently gorgeous and sacred religion born first in Africa and adopted by the Caribbean. Though this is not my prime religion, it sits very near my heart, and always shall. (Maferefun Eleggua, baba mi!)<br />
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<i>Do you remember a time in your life when you first met a person, a place, or a simple object that changed your life forever?</i> That happened to met at about age twelve.<br />
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It was October, the month of ghouls and creatures of the dark, and the topic of the night was witches! Witches in flight, Witches in delight! I remembered my father showing me a book about Witches when I was younger. But back then I was too young to have any interest in reading grown-up books, so I didn't really read it. Big words I could never comprehend were being used. All I remembered were the black and white photos of naked men and women, some in groups, others out in a field. I learned later in life that this book was none other than the famous "A Witch's Bible", by Janet and Stewart Farrar.<br />
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I did my research. I read about Witches and their Witchcraft. Not much later, I came to the tradition of Wicca.<br />
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I found it odd when people asked, "How long have you been Wiccan?" I never woke up one day and decided, "Hey! I'm gonna be Wiccan! It's decided!" I suppose I'd been Wiccan since I started reading on about it. It had been a subconscious decision. I connected with the concepts of harming none and living in love with Earth and Goddess. I connected with the Horned God of the Witches during a time<br />
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<a href="https://bluestarowl.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/wicca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://bluestarowl.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/wicca.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
when puberty was blooming. When I had just come out of the closet as a Gay teen to a whole body of kids in junior high, harassed by so many people all at once and on a daily basis, I found my comfort in a world where I still felt connected to the land and its many inhabitants, of this world and the next, rather than escape to dangerous places like the world of the suicidal like so many Queer youths now so easily enter.<br />
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The Pagan Ways empowered me, made me more whole. Empowered and whole, I was safe.<br />
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<i>It brought me into this world safely, and then rocked me in its nourishment.</i><br />
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But my world of the Wicca was shortly lived. I found a deepening in my sexuality as I matured. As a Gay teen, I found myself not being able to connect to the Gods of fertility. Of course I could still impregnate a woman. I was very much male. But in a Tradition where men coupled with women in circle and in sex, I found myself excluded, exiled, and very betrayed. I fell into my own darkness for comfort then. Soon after that, I fell deeper inside myself, into a land without dreams and without belief as I came to meet a stranger called Atheism. And though Atheistic philosophy made much sense, I knew I could not deny the mounting of the Orishas as I experienced them in my youth, or the sporadic rush of energy I once felt walking down the sidewalk as I explained to my best friend who the Goddess was. I saw and felt beings that Atheists could not.<br />
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I spent many long hours of research, attempting to find my solace in some new world similar to my old one, yet still holding on to some psychological merging of the belief in the Gods with not believing they really existed. That's when I came to know the concept of archetypes. <em>This will be my new way of thinking from now on</em>, I thought.<br />
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But someone had been watching over me. Probably the Gods themselves shaking their fists at me saying, "We <i>are</i> real!"<br />
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Like a message sent from the heavens, I fell upon the Anderson Feri Tradition. I read the story of how the Star Goddess came to bear two Divine Twins into the world, and how sometimes, these Twins are both male.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lilithslantern.com/Images/newlyweds_sm-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.lilithslantern.com/Images/newlyweds_sm-1.jpg" height="320" width="184" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Victor and Cora Anderson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>My world changed before me once more.</i><br />
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I have certain lessons from beyond that I am specifically taught in life. My awareness has grown enough to see them when they come. This was one of my lessons. A specific sentence made it perfectly clear that this was another lesson. After days of adopting the concept of the Gods only being archetypes, I then came to the description of a beloved Tradition which educated against just that. "The Gods are very real."<br />
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I had read about the Feri Tradition earlier in my Wiccan days. I had been in search of some Wiccan Tradition I could be a part of. Seeing a pattern in my search, I knocked out all the Traditions that were oral. I was young; finding a respectable Tradition, I knew they would not teach someone young like myself for legal reasons. I remembered having read about the Star Goddess and her Twinned children some time ago. I remembered how intrigued I was at the Creation story of the Feri Tradition. But I knocked it aside as another oral tradition, unreachable.<br />
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Perhaps I was not ready then. Perhaps I needed something softer as I journeyed alone at twelve. But later being sixteen, going on seventeen, and knowing more, perhaps it was time my life deepened, religion and all. <br />
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Now, to no offense to you, Wiccan, but I was born with the help of a wild, ecstatic magic, the same magic that I experienced at nine years old, and the same deep magic that I then sought at sixteen and seventeen. Being Wiccan, I felt I floated on a cloud, always in awe of the natural world, friends with kindred spirits. But suddenly I felt a strong desire to dive off that cloud and make love.<br />
<i><br />My life called for wild, ecstatic magic. Feri could offer me that.</i><br />
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Reading more about the Tradition, I re-found what I had once come to know some years before -- it was an oral tradition. But this time I didn't care. I fell in love. That's all that mattered. My soul was being fed again, with nutrition that Wicca could no longer offer me. I began practicing the limited amount of Feri material that was offered online and in various books.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://nd03.jxs.cz/837/693/08b45e3f80_64930179_o2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://nd03.jxs.cz/837/693/08b45e3f80_64930179_o2.jpg" height="200" width="152" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art by Storm Faerywolf</td></tr>
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It is my dream to be taught by a Feri Tradition teacher and become initiated into this line of the Craft. Feri practice saved my life some years later when I was close to death. I am eternally grateful for the tradition's work.<br />
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As of this post, almost four years have passed since my spiritual crisis and regeneration. Surprisingly, it is only now, after 8 1/2 years of living Pagan that I have become a deeply practicing Pagan and Witch. Before, I lived on the gnosis of the Pagan life, with practice usually more engaged around the Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. Now, every day is a day of practice for me, with intervals at every moment of my life in which a conscious breath is taken.<br />
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As a teen, the only person I really came out of the Pagan closet to was my mother. She freaked out at first, but responsibly did her research and called Wicca "beautiful". I remember the fear and anxiety of asking her if I could erect an altar. I had her blessing since that day. In fact, I believe it was my different religion which began her own seeking, leading her to study things like Buddhist philosophy and Kabbalah.<br />
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Later, any friends and strangers who asked, I informed. That's all there was to it! The non-Christian half of my family knows I follow a different tradition than they do, and that is nowhere near problematic for them, least for my "Christo-Witchy" grandmother. I'm sure there would be some objection by a Catholic family member or two. But they would still love me nonetheless, I have no doubt. It isn't that I hide my faith from them; simply, that topic has never come up in the short time that I see them from year to year.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfET4dmWGSW5TvyKFYFD_vtvE5bzdsErXwJfenklUp3ZYA0rUR5Dm3N2ezI_g_NqgjUac70YTVus1V0InxfWoRFqDO9b4_Kb01ghYz7_Xq6E74KrDmI17AO3RsHyDAYEpqV1oKEikAlVTw/s1600/ManPraying-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfET4dmWGSW5TvyKFYFD_vtvE5bzdsErXwJfenklUp3ZYA0rUR5Dm3N2ezI_g_NqgjUac70YTVus1V0InxfWoRFqDO9b4_Kb01ghYz7_Xq6E74KrDmI17AO3RsHyDAYEpqV1oKEikAlVTw/s320/ManPraying-2.jpg" width="320" /></a>I am thankful to be able to live a life where I am not required by fear of isolation, rejection, or death to have to hide my religion, my spirituality, my faith, my heart, my rock from the world. In honor of today also being National Day of Prayer, and in honor of all our Pagan ancestors who came before us, I pray this sort of freedom for all my Brothers and Sisters of the Earth, for all those (Pagan and otherwise) facing and endangered by persecution, and for all those yet born who will one day reap of our success and continue to fight the good fight we struggle with, just as we do now, and just as our Mighty Dead did before us.<br />
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I was a seed watered by African magic, spreading roots in my rich and potted soil of British-born Witchcraft, suddenly uprooted and gasping for nourishment in my maturity and emptiness, and placed back into Iron earth so large and so deep, where my roots have grown and spread in ecstasy, my branches sprouting leaves and flowers that shall be my making for the rest of my lifetime and beyond.<br />
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<b>I am Pagan, and I am Proud!</b><br />
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To that, there is no end . . .FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977900317199063485.post-24058067742489476842013-04-24T18:50:00.000-04:002020-01-30T20:14:26.504-05:00The Dismount<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And here you be!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Stirring within me,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">waiting to pounce on some beautiful beast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yet when no such creature doth hum</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a throbbing tune, such menace creature do I become,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and alone do I have my feast.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You mount me,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">wild, untamed I am.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You ride me through luscious lands,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">disassembling the alignment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I do not hearken to the cries of sweet bliss,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and still you tug at me for that one and this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But one is that which is my heart's desire,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">you Being of heat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Not one to two or one to a seat,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">but that one which doth make me rider.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You yell and you moan,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">you yank and you press.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You dampen and you beckon,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">beckon to mighty forces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">that one or two or that on that seat</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">may dig their searing blade into velvety womb</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">where a pumping caress may deeply consume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Be jovial, innocent and young one!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Your trek to the breath has only just begun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Delight in the fresh and holy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Your brothers, sisters, siblings spring all around.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dismount and frolic! You are unbound</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">from dispassion and its folly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">No longer shall you dwell in the shadows,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">peering out unto these behemoths of glorious beauty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Walk onto the path of the gorgeous!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dance down it, making merry upon each falling leaf.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And weep no more,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for our time to embrace draws nearer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Your wish to touch and to kiss is just.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(Just ask the falling leaves.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But do remember what truly moves you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(Watch the swaying trees.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard;">© 2020 FOURGE NEXYST ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</span></span></div>
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FourgeNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962934750293876909noreply@blogger.com0