Wednesday, December 24, 2003

 
Overall, life has seemed better for the last few weeks. Something very liberating came with the haircut. and the Iron Pentacle work was just amazing, and continues to be. I've been learning a lot of great new songs. Last night's sing was truly centering for me.

I got some lovely presents for Yule, and will open my presents from my parents tonight. Tomorrow we leave for a couple of days in Maryland. We decided to go down once we found out my aunt and uncle are driving up from Georgia. Hopefully it will be nice. We finally found a present for my parents, so I can breathe a sigh of relief over that now. They are not easy, let me tell you. And I might still make truffles.

Some other things are bubbling as wonderful possibilities in the future, and I'm waiting to see how those play out.

My other two cats are back home with me now - the whole family is back together.

But some other things have been hard too. The Yule ritual was OK, but not what I would have liked it to be. I've been having a lot of computer problems, although bolowolf has been working pretty hard to stay on top of them. I set my favorite sweater on fire today. And there are still some real challenges going on in my circle - as evidenced by another dump-and-run email today as a member took off for vacation.

Waiting to see what reveals itself next....

soulspirals 1:44 PM

Monday, December 22, 2003

 
Saddam was held by Kurdish forces, drugged and left for US troops
AFP
Sat Dec 20,11:00 PM ET

LONDON, (AFP) - Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was captured by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British Sunday newspaper said.

Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud, reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British military intelligence officer.

The newspaper said the full story of events leading up to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq (news - web sites), "exposes the version peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete".

A former Iraqi intelligence officer, whom the Express did not name, told the paper that Saddam was held prisoner by a leader of the Kurdish Patriotic Front, which fought alongside US forces during the Iraq war, until he negotiated a deal.

The deal apparently involved the group gaining political advantage in the region.

An unnamed Western intelligence source in the Middle East told the Express: "Saddam was not captured as a result of any American or British intelligence. We knew that someone would eventually take their revenge, it was just a matter of time."
soulspirals 4:45 PM

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

 
Report Links Women's Health to Civil Conflict Risk

Includes an interesting quote from Robert Engelman - Vice President of Research at Population Action:

"What the evidence indicates very strongly is that when the status of women improves, when women's circumstances improve, it benefits society tremendously. It also has a positive impact on security."

soulspirals 1:18 PM

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

 
About eight months ago, I sat down and worked through a short book and wrote out a working mission statement for my life. It was:
Heal, create and teach sacredness to all those around me.

I also completed a long exercise about visioning my future. Some of the things that I wrote still seem right on, and some of them I'm already really doing the work of achieving. A few others seem to have morphed. For example, when I originally did this work, I really seemed to want to paint again on a fairly regular basis and I'm sure if I really feel that way. I have a sense that my relationship to painting is really tied up in a lot of rust pentacle issues, and I'm not sure whether I need to resolve them or not. Startlingly, I found that my vision from eight months ago didn't include much about being an activist - which is something I've done for about a decade, and one of the things I really feel most passionate about.

It seems like it would be a good idea to revisit some of this work. It also seems it would make the most sense to do so after I do some more Iron and Rust pentacle work. Note to self.

One of the things that was really clear to me in this visioning was that I really want to be doing priestessing work. I had visioned myself essentially doing that full time in what is now a little over four years. And this is what struck me this morning. I'm really clearly on that path. I spent hours yesterday on priestessing work. All of my spare money is going to train myself to do priestessing work. Most of my work at actions has been about doing priestessing work.

Yesterday, I toured the UU church and finalized the room reservations for the Yule ritual. I spent about an hour revisiting some thoughts about how that ritual would work. I spent half an hour on the phone with a long-distance mentor, and started working on the plans to bring an Elements of Magic intensive here to Ithaca in a couple of months. I spent another half hour on the phone with a community member laying out some possible logistics for that intensive. I did some research about some other training opportunities for myself. I thought about what would be the most effective use of seed money for my local Reclaiming circle. I thought about what I need to do to get involved in Dandelion Gathering - both going and working in the fire/programming group. I worked on committing some new chants to body memory. I worked on a mental list of songs to introduce to the repetoire of the new threshold choir I'm singing in (sining for folks in transition, primarily those who are dieing). I need to follow up on the E-cell proposal I submitted a week or two ago. I need to make some choices about which upcoming political actions I should be a part of, so that I can start laying some ground work. I need to follow up with some folks about collecting and writing some documents to help organize future pagan cluster events. I need to pitch in some money for a recognition of another priestess'services, and see if I can make the presentation event. I'm still choosing what the best Third Degree gift is for a friend for his ritual on Saturday. I've also been thinking about a couple of creative projects I'd like to begin.

That was just yesterday.

I'm doing it.

And I'm trying to figure out what to do with the reality that I've just got to start bringing in a cash flow. What would full-time work do to this work? Part-time work? How do I mesh the various goals that seem to be conflicting right now? Can I do that and stay living in this town for a while? Do I really just need to pick up and take off? Are there other jobs out there that will really allow me to do the work that's important to me in a supported way? I've had them before. I've applied for some others. That position at the Fellowship of Reconcilitation would have kicked ass, but it didn't work out. I'm not sure if there is any place in Ithaca that's doing work I care about. I have one possibility on the horizon, but I'm not sure how many more are out there.

Anyone know of other good organizations who are doing interfaith work around social justice issues? Moving is always an option.
soulspirals 11:32 AM

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

 
Bolowolf and I got back late last night from taking the Iron Pentacle Intensive in Chicago. We drove 22 hours for 16 hours of class and 2 hours of dinner bonding with other folks from the class. It was totally worth it.

I also got to have a different dinner with one of my oldest friends, which was really wonderful. The food was good, the company was great.

And we stayed with a wonderful man who I worked with in the Pagan Cluster in Miami at the FTAA demonstrations. He made us breakfast in the morning and everything.

It was good to actually be around people who make sense again. In some ways, that's the best part about going to Reclaiming events. The opportunity to actually be around folks who make sense. People who actually take personal responsibility for things, who own their own emotions, don't blame other people for stuff, don't cause a lot of drama (yeah, I know Reclaiming folks aren't perfect either), actually go out and live their lives instead of watching other people's lives on TV and places like this. Folks who are brave and courageous and willing to deal with their own shit as best they can.

Those are really the only people I want to be around.

And I was, and it was good.

I prepared myself for the weekend by cutting my hair off - or at least 24" of it. I needed to get out from somethings I've been hiding under, and that was part of my work to do that. So that work is done. And I look great!

Thanks to Chicago for the warm welcome, and to River and Ana and Web for creating such a great weekend ass-kicking!
soulspirals 9:26 AM

Thursday, December 04, 2003

 
Rumor has it that I'm in the midst of my Saturn return. This explains a lot of things.

As for the current life-changing matters...I leave tomorrow morning to go to Chicago to take the Iron Pentacle class:
"Using our magical skills, moving and shaping energy, transforming ourselves through trance to explore the five points of our inner pentacle: Sex (primal energy), Self, Passion, Pride (self-esteem), and Power (effectiveness in the worlds)."

The other issue is the haircut. Stay tuned.

soulspirals 8:11 AM

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

 
Yahoo! News - Canada's View on Social Issues Is Opening Rifts With the U.S.


TORONTO, Dec. 1 Canadians and Americans still dress alike, talk alike, like the same books, television shows and movies, and trade more goods and services than ever before. But from gay marriage to drug use to church attendance, a chasm has opened up on social issues that go to the heart of fundamental values.
soulspirals 9:11 AM

Monday, December 01, 2003

 
I'm reading an article on Common Dreams about the police state in Miami. They mention the fact I've heard several times already - that Congress authorized 8.5 million dollars to pay for security at the FTAA meetings. This article also estimates that there were 8,000 demonstrators in Miami. I've seen some other estimates that are higher than that, but for the sake of this argument, lets say there were only 8,000 of us. That means that $1062.50 of our tax dollars was spent to protect 747 registrants at the ministerial from ME. That's $3187.50 of our tax dollars to protect these folks from the three of us who went together in my car. That's $63,750 to protect these registrants from 60 folks in the Pagan Cluster who drummed, sang, carried a beautiful blue gauze river and wove magic in support of the earth and her inhabitants.
soulspirals 11:03 AM