Meditation Monday: Hollow Words

Meditation Monday came and went....and with it I went to work at the apex of dawn after nine days off, came home, changed and went and visited a friend that needed some quality time with me to destress about the issues in our lives. So...here we are on Tuesday doing a make-up post. But this one is a good one....enjoy.

Sutra: Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace. ~The Dhammapada of Gautama the Buddha. 500 BC~

Which word is luminous? Which word is really full of fragrance? The word that brings peace. And that word never comes from the outside -- it is the still, small voice of your own heart. It is heard at the deepest recesses of your being; it is the sound of your own being, it is the song of your own life.

It is not to be found in scriptures and it is not to be found in learned discourses. It is to be found only if you go in; it is to be found only in meditation, in deep silence. When all borrowed knowledge has left you and you are alone, when all the scriptures have burned and your are left alone, when you don't know a thing, when you function from a state of not-knowing, then it is heard.

Wordless Wednesday: Mr. Depp

Tea Time Tuesday: Attunement Teas for Ostara

In keeping with the spirit of the Equinox...I'm going to list the Attunement Teas that can be used during this holiday.

~Dandelion Tea
~Egg Drinks
~Hyssop
~Linden

Now...you may look at this and say..."Egg Drinks? WTF?" I did....lol. Apparently, there are quite a few classic drinks that actually call for an egg to be used. A well known example, of course is Egg Nog.

Personally....I don't care for Egg Nog. Never have, probably never will. It's a texture thing :) A list of other drink recipies that call for the ever humble egg can be found here.

Enjoy!!!

**Attunement Tea list found in "Sabbats: A Witch's Approach to Living the Old Ways" by Edain McCoy**

Ostara Ignition Party

Well....Spring is officially here. And it's flippin fantastic :)

The weather, both yesterday and today, is cooperative and absolutely wonderful. Granted...I haven't much left the house today. The kidlet wasn't feeling all that hot last night and asked for a down day. So here we are.....voluntarily house bound, watching tv, playing on the computers, reading, drinking tea and just generally hanging out. It's nice since we've (well...I) been running around like chickens w/ our heads cut off for days.

Yesterday A and I got together (w/ K and the kiddo) and worked on our lists of what we were prepared to let go of and what we would like to drawn in in its place. We both came up with 14 items (one to focus on each month and 2 bonus...lol) and had it all written/printed out on a piece of paper in order to burn. We went and had a nice dinner together at Freddy's (awesome patty melts by the way) and then proceeded to go out to the lake where we usually go to be magickal.

K and the kiddo went off to the playground so that A and I could do our "thing". We scoped out a decent spot and decended the rocks to get there. Now....I've been going to this lake and playing around on the rocks for the better part of 6 years without incident. Last night however, I fell off an unstable rock and hit my right shoulder and jammed my right middle finger pretty good. We didn't let it stop us....but I wonder what about last night was different than any other time we've gone out there. Granted....it was just her and I instead of a group of people and we were actually going out there to perform a ritual not just engage in meditation. **Longest sentence ever...lol** Maybe that was the difference though.....I'm chalking it up to a small lesson in humility and a necessary sacrifice for our ritual. Yup...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We created a circle out of the rocks that were in the immediate area, lit some incense (that stayed lit for all of 15 seconds before our 30mph winds extinguished them), invited in the elements, read our lists, and then attempted to burn them (thus the ignition part). Well....let me tell you how that worked. Hahahahaha...it didn't. We couldn't get those papers lit to save our lives. So...we meditated on our reason to be out there and tried again. Nope...not happening. So we figured that maybe we were supposed to do something a little different. We thought about it, talked outloud to the Goddess and the elements and we felt that we were supposed to turn our lists over to the water. After some deliberation and us telling each other "This way!", "No...that way!"; we went our seperate ways (seperate but unified), did our own things and released all the stuff that's been holding us back and made welcome room for the new.

It was an awesome experience and we promised each other and the Goddess that we would pay more attention to Her and observe more than what we have been (in fact that was on each of our lists). Speaking of lists....I am going to share mine here. So...here goes:

Goals for Ostara Ritual 2011:

~ I release my feelings of anger towards those that have wronged me in my life. I draw in the ability to forgive and find peace so that I may move on and become a better person.

~ I release my feelings of doubt and draw in feelings of confidence and self-assuredness.

~ I release my fear of success and draw in an "I-CAN-DO-IT!" attitude so that I can no longer stop myself from achieving my own goals.

~ I release my tendency towards procrastination and laziness so that I can complete daily tasks and creative endeavors.

~ I release my addiction to fast food and draw in the ability to make healthier choices about food.

~ I release my constant negligence and aim to cultivate a stronger relationship with my Goddess and God.

~ I release the hold that nicotine has on me so that I am able to quit smoking in order to improve my health.

~ I aim to make time every day to meditate and focus on finding my inner Zen/Buddha.

~ I aim to purge my home of items that are no longer necessary in order to increase the flow of positivity.

~ I release the negativity I hold towards myself and my own image and draw in love and positive thoughts in order to improve my self-esteem.

~ I draw in the ability to start each day with a smile and to see the positive in every day.

~ I draw in the ability to see the sacred in everyday tasks (work, cleaning, etc.) and to appreciate the fact that I am able to do these seemingly mundane things.

~ I aim to be more active in my spiritual beliefs in order not to become a "Play-gan".

~ I aim to be more aware of my Goddess-given gifts and take steps in actually using them.

So there you have it.....a good working goal list, an up close and personal experience with Earth (my finger is the worst for wear), time spent with my best friends, my daughter, and an experience with the Goddess and the Elements that I will never forget. It was an awesome night....I only hope that each of you were able to celebrate how you wanted to.

Meditation Monday: Sammasati

Sutra: Sammasati. ~The Dhammapada of Gautama the Buddha. C.A. 500BC

The last words of Gautam Buddha were Sammasati -- "Remember." In a single word, everything significant is contained. Sammasati: Remeber what is your inner space. Just remember.

There is nothing to achieve, and there is nothing to become. You are already that which you have been seeking in all your lives in different ways, on different paths. But you have never looked inwards.

Just for a few secods sit down with closed eyes to remember, to make note of where you have been, to what depth you have been able to reach; what is the taste of silence, peace, what is the taste of disappearing into the ultimate ... Look in. Ad whenever you have time, you know the path. Just go again and again to the inner space so that your fear of disappearing is dropped, and you start remembering the forgotten language. Sammasati ....

Be silent. Close your eyes.
Look inwards as deeply as possible.
This is the way.
At the very end of the way, you are buddha.

And the journey is very short -- a single step.
Just total urgency and absolute honesty is needed
to look straight into your own being.
There is a mirror; the mirror is the buddha.
It is your eternal nature.
Deeper and deeper, you have to go in
until you find yourself.
Don't hesitate. There is no fear.
Of course you are alone,
but this aloneness is a great, beautiful experience.
And on this path you will not meet anyone except yourself.

Relax, and just be a watchful, witnessing mirror,
reflecting everything.
Neither do those things have any intentions to be reflected,
nor do you have any intention to catch their reflections.
Just be a silent lake, reflecting, and all bliss is yours.
This present moment becomes no-mind, no-time,
just a purity, a space unbounded.
This is your freedom.

And unless you are buddha, you are not free.
You know nothing of freedom.
Let this experience sink deep
in every fiber of your being.
Get soaked, drenched.
When you come back, come back drenched
with the mist of your buddha nature.
And remember this space, this way,
because you have to carry it out twenty-four hours
in all your actions.
Sitting, standing, walking, sleeping,
you have to remain a buddha.
Then the whole existence becomes an ecstasy.

Vacation!!!!

I'm free....for the next nine days I am absolutely free :) I got out of work about 9:30 this evening and will not have to grace the doors (in uniform) until Monday the 28th.

I will be going to New Mexico to pick up the kidlet for her Spring Break.....I'm driving over tomorrow and will be back on Saturday eve. Then she's all mine for a week and I'll be taking her back to New Mexico on the 26th.

Since we will have all this time together there are sure to be some pretty interesting, comical, poignant and picture heavy posts :)

We're gonna have a blast.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday.

Time Warp

So this past week has been a not so very good one. I've had two friends suffer tragedies this week, another friend had to go visit family because a family member ended up in ICU, and my car decided that it didn't like it's front driver side tire anymore.

Work has been work......they've got me doing something new and my body has decided that it doesn't like that very much. Combine that with the weight gain that occured over the past few weeks and we're talking a serious blow to my self-esteem.

The soon to be ex is still being a jackwagon. I tried to strike up a friendly convo one day this past week and he cut me off and rushed to get off the phone. Again.....blow to the self-esteem. Even though I should know that he's gonna be a giant douche about all this. From what I've heard from friends of mine.....this is typical behavior from him when he decides he's done with someone. And that's fine.....I'll get over it soon enough. It's easier to stay angry at him right now than to acknowledge the pain I feel when I have to talk to him.

I'm convinced I will end up being single for the rest of my life.....please understand that this is a passing thing and I will get through this one too. I work in a field that gives me lots of exposure to the public and I have the opportunity to see many attractive men. And 99.9% of these men are married. The other 0.1% act like they don't even see me. *sigh* Oh well.....it's way too soon to even be considering anything like that. But I did have a friend of mine tell me the sweetest thing....he told me one of the reasons that he's dating the girl he's with is because she reminds him of me. I damn near cried when he said that. Like I said...sweet :)

Yes...I realize that I missed this weeks posts. Actually...it didn't dawn on me until last night. And I'm still trying to find something decent for my first giveaway. My brain is like scrambled eggs lately....so bear with me.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday and an awesome weekend!

It's Friday

And what I would really like to do is crawl back in bed and stay there. But I have things I need to get done today.

I'm cramping like I used to in high school, I'm all bloated, I've gained more weight (update on my other blog), I spilled coffee all over my laptop this morning (thankfully I saved it from frying) and I think I killed my computer mouse. I can click and stuff....but the roller ball is not responding to me. I need my roller ball....it's my friend :( Looks like I might have to go buy a new one. Ugh.

Yesterday was a crap day.....I was in a ridiculous amount of pain, we were crazy busy at work, I didn't get a lunch and then I found out that I'm only scheduled 24 freakin hours next week. What the hell is that??? I haven't worked that little since I first started there. I'm gonna go talk to the manager today and see if there's any way I can get more hours. It's no bueno people, no bueno.

I hope you all have a better Friday than mine has started out to be.
Peace and love to you all!!

Wordless Wednesday: Oatmeal

Tea Time Tuesday: Ummm...oops??

*shuffles feet sheepishly** Ahem....yeah, it's Wednesday isn't it??

As you've noticed there was no tea post yesterday and I'm not going to make up for it this week. I'm in the process of attempting to get my head straight. I've become the most ridiculously scatter brained individual lately, peppered with spouts of insane obssessive-compulsive behavior. I don't even know.

I'm trying very hard to get my act together and find my center again. Balance baby....I need my balance.

Off to Wordless Wednesday.