It’s not Lust, it’s…… sacred sexuality using tantra.

It’s not Gluttony, it’s….just my natural Earth Mother Goddess body.

It’s not Greed, it’s… my Goddess given right to do money spells.

It’s not Sloth, it’s….being too busy finding enlightenment online, to do the dishes and feed the kids.

It’s not Wrath, it’s…just Dark God/dess energy.

It’s not Envy, it’s…”The Secret” to Success.

It’s not Pride, it’s… “Being a Celt” (or Norse, or High Priestess, or…)

Yup; Seven Deadly Sins. And in case you might think I’m only picking on pagans here, I’m not. It was, after all, Christians who defined them. Actually, we’ve gotten really good at sinning; we just don’t use our religion as an excuse for sinning. All too often it seems pagans, do.

But ya know, when you’re surrounded by people all doing the same thing, you don’t really see it. After awhile it becomes the norm. When everyone around you eats too much, it’s easy for you to eat too much. When everyone you know is sleeping with everyone else, it’s easy to believe that’s a good and normal thing to do.

The problem arises when you start having to pay the price.

Forget the word “Sin” for a minute. Think about what is HEALTHY. What you KNOW is good and healthy for your body, for your mind, for your soul. Takes you right back to those ol’ Puritanical values, doesn’t it?

Let’s take lust for example.
(more…)

Pagans like to keep watch on the planet Mercury.

Every time that wee little planet appears to be moving away from us, it’s called a “retrograde,” and all sorts of things seem to happen. Since it’s the planet of “Communication” (think of Mercury, the messenger god)  - communications seem to go haywire. People misunderstand each other. Computers fry. You hit “reply to ALL” instead of “reply TO” and just basically, the cosmic doo-doo hits the fan.

When one turns away from the pagan path, and turns back home towards Christianity, one would kinda expect that the affects of Mercury would no longer apply.

But ya know what? It kinda sorta DOES. Or at least it seems that way.
(more…)

Well, not really. Been doing pretty good, actually.

Whilst others are beating their chests, wailing on CNN, or blogging about the collapse of our economy/society/political system, I’ve just been bee-bopping along here. No worries.

It’s not that I’m not aware of what’s going on, or that I’m not concerned. I am; I just know that whatever happens, I’ll be ok. Chaos whirls around me, but my center is stable and I am at peace.

There’s a phrase our deacon has said a couple of times in RCIA class that I’ve found extremely reasurring. He’s said “Catholics are FOR this world, we aren’t OF this world.” It all seems to tie into the view of personhood; yes, our personhood does include our bodies, but it also includes our spiritual selves. They’re united. Since we aren’t OF this world, we’re pretty much immune from what goes on within it.

I really wasn’t that way when I was pagan. (more…)

Knock-knock

Who’s there?

Jesus.

Jesus who?

(more cat pictures)

Yesterday was a bad day to be a mom.

You see, my daughter was SUPPOSED to graduate from FSU. She actually finished college a couple of months ago, but FSU has two summer sessions, and only one summer graduation. So even though she’s done with classes, has a J.O.B. even, she hadn’t done “the walk.”

She never really wanted to walk in the first place; but I really wanted her to. Consider it selfish, but yeah, I sacrificed a lot to help get her through college, and I wanted to see her in her cap and gown and get her diploma. So we made a deal; I would give her an extra month of allowance, would pay for the gown rental, buy her a new dress, pay for a new haircut, and she would walk the walk.

I was SO looking forward to it, too. I even bought myself a new dress. And it was to be a family celebration as well, her dad was going to take us all out for a nice lunch, after.

But something happened, and I got a phone call at 6:30 yesterday morning, and it was her,telling me she wasn’t going to walk.
(more…)

Current Mood: Happy

One of my nurse co-workers is going to India and Nepal in October for two weeks, on a medical missionary trip. I’m so jealous I could just spit my teeth out.

As I typed that I had to laugh at myself - yes, I really am jealous of someone who will be living in a tin hut, freezing her patootie off, and working 12 - 16 hours a day during her vacation. And paying $2,500 to do it, too!

It seems that there is a common misconception amongst (some) pagans that All Christians Are Alike, All Christians Are Judgemental Assholes, that they really aren’t sincere in their beliefs, are sheeplike in their mentality, the list goes on and on. I guess if Christians are pigeonholed and stereotyped, it’s just easier to maintain a prejudice against them. Works with any group of people, I guess.

It’s always amusing when those stereotypes get blown out of the water and people have to face the truth: that well, yes, SOME Christians actually DO live their beliefs, we AREN’T just all mindless followers, and that in fact - we actually, really do acts of kindness. Such was the case recently, when a pagan friend of mine on LiveJournal recounted accidently witnessing a Christian co-worker giving his lunch away to a homeless person, and how that affected him.

I gotta tell you folks - Christians do that sort of thing ALL THE TIME. We just don’t go around making it public; to do so would be to lessen the gift of charity. It would be pridefull to brag about being charitable.

And really and truly? It’s one of the many things that brought me back home to Christianity.

Lemme give you a couple of “for instances.”

(more…)

Current Mood: Happy

One of the sweetest sounds I’ll ever hear, is the sound of one of my “little old lady” patients,whom I love dearly, singing Gospel songs in the hallway at work.

She knows “Amazing Grace” is my favorite, so everytime she sees me, she starts singing it. Her CNA said to me - “She must be planning on going home soon, she’s been singing all day.” “Going home” is a southern euphemism for dying, and going to heaven. I told her, I couldn’t think of a better way to go home, than to go home singing.

This afternoon, as she was singing “Amazing Grace,” one more time, another “little old lady” came out of her room, and started singing it with her. It truly, brought tears to my eyes.

Edwin, one of our transport guys who’s really a preacher man - and whom has some idea of the struggles I’ve gone through, was walking through the hall, and caught it all.

“You know they’re carrying that tune for you.”

I nodded. Yes. I knew. And promptly fled to the bathroom so I wouldn’t be caught bawling at the desk.

Amazing Grace, indeed.

So, it’s Father’s Day, and as my dad has passed, there’s not much I can do for him besides say a prayer, which is what I did. I also sent my ex-husband some mayhaw jelly, via our daughter, to wish him a Happy Father’s Day.

But while I was watching the mass on EWTN this morning, I saw something that brought me to tears.

There was a woman there, who looked very much like my mother. Or rather, how my mother looked when she was in her fifties. Same auburn hair color, same hair cut, same profile, she even walked like my mother, and wore the same type of dress my mother would wear.

This woman who looked like my mother, walked up to the priest and received communion, and that’s what brought me to tears.

(more…)

Well, I just came back from a Tridentine (Latin) mass. I’m reaaaally really tired - had to get up at 3 am to get to work by 5 am so I could leave early to attend the 2 pm mass - so I probably won’t make much sense. In addition, I’m still integrating a lot of it, too. So here’s first impressions.

I had difficulty keeping up of course, not so much because I couldn’t read the latin, but because it was a low mass, the missal was for the high mass, so some parts were skipped.

The mass itself -
interesting
powerful
humbling

I can honestly say, it’s the first time I’ve ever felt that Christ really was present in the Eucharist. That accounts for a good deal of the humbling part.

But there was also something else…. (more…)

There’s been one gentleman that I have chatted online with, for years. Let’s call him… David.

David’s a pilot, and flies for one of the major airlines. David’s one of the sweetest, kinkiest, sexiest men I’ve had the pleasure to chat with. David’s Jewish, and also - very married.

Several months ago, that wouldn’t have made any difference to me. Now that I’m all Christian and trying to be good and converting to Catholicism and everything, David’s pulling his hair out.

“Sorry hon,” I told him. “You could have had me years ago, but ya threw me down. I already fell in love with another Jewish guy.”

“I know! I know! don’t rub it in,” says he.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t keep trying to get into my skirt, on occasion. If I were to be completely honest, I would have to say that sure, a part of me does enjoy it. It is nice to be desired, after all.

But would I actually go further than just being flattered by it?
(more…)

Earthquakes in China. Cyclones in Burma. Wildfires in Florida. Tornados in the midwest. Explosions in Jaipur. War in the Middle East. Having a day off and watching CNN is enough to raise your blood pressure.

One thing that surprises me the most about converting to Christianity, is the sense of inner peace I have. It’s something that is associated most I think, with Buddhism; that sense of calm amidst a swirling chaos.

I’ve certainly had my fair share of chaos and disasters in my personal life; at times it’s been overwhelming. When you’re pagan, you search for so many ways to “fix it” - spells, talismans, feng shui’ing your living quarters, teas, astrology, divinations, cleansings, purifications, shieldings, wardings, anything and everything we can think to do to make things better.

But ya know what? most of the time - those things don’t really help at all. At most, they’re pallative bandaids, at worst, they make things worse.

Now I’m a self-admitted control freak; I enjoy being in control of a situation, I’m a natural leader, and I’m good at it. When I was pagan, I was always running around, tweaking this part of my life, diminishing this, promoting that. Since I’ve become a Christian? not so much!

The difference, I think, comes from the accepting of my submission to God.
(more…)