Hello, loyal readers! I assume you’re loyal, since you’re still here even though I haven’t written for a while. October was insanely busy. I had said “yes” to a whole bunch of (admittedly fun) social events, we still had lots of soccer games, our car situation remained…interesting, and by the end of the month, I was done. I was tired and burned out. After a car accident (Quester hurt his arm, but he’s okay now) and a sudden illness in BlackLion’s side of the family, we canceled most of our Halloween plans and stayed in, honoring Samhain quietly (the kids did get to go trick-or-treating with their friends, though).
The first weekend in November was set aside for a two-day workshop that BlackLion and I were very excited to attend. It had been scheduled for last fall, then spring, and for various reasons had been delayed. It was well worth the wait! The workshop is from the Reclaiming Pagan tradition, and is called the Iron Pentacle. I learned SO much about myself, discovered new tools for my path, and met some wonderful folks.
As you can tell, I love to explore my spirituality, and I often (as a Virgo) have a plan – I outline goals, next steps, and practices for myself. Yet at the end of the second day of Iron Pentacle, one of the questions we answered was “what will you take away from this workshop?” In other words, what are your next steps? And I was delighted to not have an answer. I have so many rich, deep, challenging and delightful new concepts to contemplate that I just don’t know yet where they will lead me. As I’m setting aside much of the rest of November for introspection, creativity, and inner work, it’s great to have so much material to focus on.
After the second day of the workshop, we went to New Hampshire with some friends to see Michael Franti and Spearhead in concert. What a perfect show to close out our magickal weekend! Their music is uplifting and positive but not syrupy. It’s about real people, struggling, growing, and loving as best they can. And Michael Franti is full of energy and glows with power-from-within. Everyone in the place was up and dancing! After the show, he hung around to meet his fans. I went up front to shake his hand and thank him for the show. I said “blessed be,” and he replied with a kiss on the cheek and a friendly “and you.” I love how he blurs the line between performer and audience. For the final song, he invited all the young kids and adults age 60 and up to come up on stage and dance. It was a very cool experience, and next time we plan to invite Dryst and ElvenTiger to come with us.
One of the things that came from the workshop was a renewed focus on my passions. Meaning the things that I love to do, that I find exciting, that I choose to do given infinite time. So I came up with the idea of only doing the things that are a passionate “yes” to me, and transforming things that are an intrinsic part of life into things I can also be passionate about. Like, being passionate about housework because I love to have a clean house.
Yesterday, I had a half-hour before we were going to leave for my parents’ for dinner. I was hungry, and the kids were sitting down to have a snack and watch the Halloween episode of The Simpsons. So I joined them. I don’t watch many TV shows, and certainly wouldn’t have put that particular show on the list. But the “yes” was about connecting with my kids, and sharing their passions. And sure enough, Dryst started telling me about why this show was particularly interesting, and how it included parodies of several movies, and ElvenTiger and I laughed together, and we had a fun time. I like where I am right now, and can see all the amazing things I have yet to learn.
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