A Year and a Day

I’ve been studying Paganism for about a year now. I’ve only been loosely studying it though; Mostly just setting up an altar and celebrating the Sabbats. I’ve decided I wanted to get more focused on my studies. I also wanted to study more paths, I identify as Eclectic Pagan right now. I’ll probably still stay a Solitary Eclectic, but I find to see what else is out there first. That’s why I’ve decided to do a “Year and a Day” study. Usually you would only do a year and a day study before you get initiated into a coven, but I wanted to do one for myself to kind of stay on track and stick to a plan.

I was going to make a plan by the week, but as I was writing one up, I realized that some subjects will take longer than a week to cover and others not so much. I decided to just make a list of all the subjects I wanted to study and take as long as I need to and try to fit it into the year and a day. I know I can’t learn everything in that time, but I want to make learning a higher priority.

I picked today because it is the true Samhain or so I’ve read online. Some people say it is, so say it’s not. I’ll figure it out later, but I still just wanted to start today because I’m so anxious to start. I even went to the library and got some books. As I go along I want to get started on my Book of Shadows. I already have a little one going, but it’s too small for my liking. I want to be able to add pictures to my pages, but their to too small for that and it usually takes like 5 of the for one thing. For my current one I have also been just writing the first thing I find. I want to do more research on each subject for before I add to my B.O.S. I will keep a digital copy and not add it until I feel like I have a sufficient amount of info.

Well below is a list of the subjects I want to cover. I will also be putting together a reading list of the books I want to read.

Basics
Tools
Casting a Circle
Magic
Spells (later on when I’ve studied magic more.)

Different Paths(not all Pagan)
Wicca
Druidry
Hellenic
Romanian
Asatru
Kemetic
Buddhism
Hinduism
Shamanism

Divination
Tarot
Ogham
Pendulum
Runes
Scrying
Astrology

Sabbats
Yule
Imbolc
Beltane
Ostara
Litha
Lammas
Mabon
Samhain

Esbats
Phases
Moon Names
Drawing down the Moon

Healing
Gemtsones
Herbs
Plants
Oils
Chakras
Reiki

Other
Celtic Tree Months
Four Elements
Animal Totems
Symbols & Meanings
Auras
gods and goddesses (even though I still worship the Christian God, I still want to learn about other ones. Mostly the ones associated with the Sabbats or really well known ones.)

That’s all I could think of for now. If you have any other suggestions let me know. I will also be adding a reading list later this week.

Nine Years Apart

Do you believe that God puts people in your life when you need them? That (most) everyone you’ve encountered thus far are there for a certain reason or to teach you a lesson? This is what I believe.

I don’t feel this way about everyone, but most people. It’s like your life is a TV show. You and your family (maybe spouses) are the main characters. Friends and other partners are supporting characters. Everyone makes a cameo here and there. Then there are the characters that were main characters, but had to leave the show because of an event that happened. They went away for a few seasons (or years) and then suddenly show back up in a plot twist and become a main character again.

I have a friend that has come back into my life like a plot twist. It was a good plot twist though. We met about 9 years ago. We had the same college Sociology class together. On the first day of class, I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know where to sit. There were tables that sat only two people. When I came in most of the tables were already full except for a few at the front, because who likes sitting in the front? I sat in one of the empty ones. Right before class started an older gentleman sat down beside me and became my new table partner. Usually I’d be like whatever, but I was fresh out of high school and was thinking “I don’t want to sit by the old guy”. He was like 70. Like good for him for going back to school at that age, but back then shallow and ‘too cool’ me didn’t want to sit by him. I wasn’t about to get up at that moment though because class was about to start so I made the decision to wait until the next day.

The next day I come in, wearing my green plaid shorts, and decided to sit in the back row this time. My future bestie had an empty spot open next to them. They seemed cool enough so I went for it. I sat down next to him and first thing he says is “I have a pair of shorts exactly like those.” We instantly became best friends. He became a main character in my life.  We hung out all the time. He had come into my life when I really needed someone. Like I said I was fresh out of high school and didn’t really have any friends because everyone had moved on. Just about all of my friends were either still in high school or gone to college out-of-state.

Fast forward to a year later. He ended up leaving my life (for personal reasons that I won’t get into). Our lives went separate ways. He moved to Miami, I moved to the other side of the country to Utah. The years went on and we had completely lost contact. I had tried a few times to find him online, but would only come up with dead ends. I found his account on Facebook but it was an old one that hadn’t been used in a couple of years. I tried to look up some family members, but either couldn’t find them or couldn’t remember their names. I always thought of him though. I mean he had been my best friend. I also felt a little hurt for the way he left my life.

Then one day a few weeks ago, out of nowhere he added me on Facebook. I couldn’t believe it. The reason I couldn’t find a current Facebook account was because he had changed his last name. But there he was adding me on Facebook. This friend a request had come at a time when I really needed someone again. I didn’t have anyone else. I added him and immediately got a message to exchange numbers. We started texted that night to catch up on the 9 years we had lost. We were able to pick back up where we left off so many years ago. Things are different now and we’re kind of different people now, but our friendship is pretty much the same. He came back into my life when I was struggling the most, when I really needed someone who understood what I’m going through. He understands what I’m going through and has been able to help me because he has gone through something similar. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that he came back into my life right now, at this point in my life. I think it was meant to be. He was meant to be a supporting character in my life again. I believe that God sent him because I was struggling. I didn’t have anyone else to turn to. I needed my best friend again and he found me. For that I am thankful.

Thyroid Thursday [11/5/15]

 

I still haven’t gotten an earlier appointment with my new Endo. My current appointment is December 14th. It’s only a month away now so I’m not even going to try to change my appointment now. The rheumatologist called the other day. I have an appointment with him on December 9th. My general doctor wanted me to see him because my rheumatoid levels are low and I’ve been having pain in my bones. Hopefully I’ll get some answers from my rheumatologist.

I’m still not getting support from my family except for my dad. He’s the only one that believes I’m still in pain. At least I have support from one person. It’s better than no one.

Well those are my only thyroid updates for now.

Witchy Wednesday [11/4/15]

It’s a little late in the day, but the day isn’t over so it still counts.

I wanted to share the ritual oil I made for Samhain. I used one of my little bottles I found at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago.

For my Samhain ritual I focused on my New year’s resolutions. My main resolution is to work on healing myself so I made my oil to help with that. Even though this is mostly an anointing oil, I still wanted to focus mostly on healing because a lot of my rituals revolve around that.

It’s a simple recipe.
I used Virgin Sunflower Oil, lavender, peppermint (dried from my own garden), a clear quartz, and some tea tree oil.

I will post more about what I did on Samhain later. Only had time for a short post tonight.