Author: Boneweaver (aka pjvj)

Reclaiming Pittsburgh – an open group of the religious witchcraft tradition

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An open group in Pittsburgh area practicing in the Reclaiming and Feri traditions of witchcraft.

From the http://www.reclaiming.org website:
“Our vision is rooted in the religion and magic of the Goddess, the Immanent Life Force. We see our work as teaching and making magic; the art of empowering ourselves and each other. In our classes, workshops, and public rituals, we train our voices, bodies, energy, intuition, and minds. We use the skills we learn to deepen our strength, both as individuals and as community, to voice our concerns about the world in which we live, and bring to birth a vision of a new culture.”

Elements of Magic Workshop

By Art, we deepen our vision, focus our will, and empower ourselves to act in the world. In this class we begin the practice of Magic, Witchcraft, and goddess/god/mysterious ones spirituality by working with the Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. Techniques include: visualization, sensing and projecting energy, chanting, trance, creating magical space, spellcraft, and structuring rituals. Group experience follows feminist consensus process. This class is the first of the core Reclaiming classes.

PREREQUISITE: Read the first six chapters of The Spiral Dance by Starhawk
WHERE: Pittsburgh area, PA
WHEN: Saturday June 13 and Sunday June 14
COST: $150-$90, sliding scale.

The Great God Pan in the Bone Yard of Trees

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REBLOG – I swoon with Great Love at this post.

Labrys's avatarSub-Rosa

We arrived at our second favorite beach on the Olympic coast on Thursday afternoon around four o’clock.  It was a glorious day, sunny and clear and not too warm…as a few cooling evening clouds began to wisp in just in time to make the sunset a glory.  We started to walk to the pathway down to the beach, and then realized we had only four hours till sunset.  Clearly not enough time to enjoy Kalaloch Beach adequately and still get to Ruby Beach before sunset.  Also, the tide was clearly in, and I feared I could not get to my favorite seastack at Ruby if it was surrounded with incoming waves.  The tide would not be out till late in the night.  We turned on our heels and went back to the Lodge to inquire about vacancies in the cabins.  We got one at half the normal price! We went…

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I’ve added deity oil blends to my Etsy shop

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I didn’t post about The Poseidon/Olokun Under-the-sea blend, nor the Yemaya/Poseidon Over-the-sea blend that went into my shop a couple of weeks ago. Hhhmmmm, I don’t thinkI even posted about the thee-as-deity focused blend, Godself. Odin, Hel, Kuan Yin, and Freya blends are coming soon with more after that.

I really should do one post a week about my shop because I don’t now and how are folks to remember it exists? Anyway, I am so excited to be adding these blends, created here in my home. Meditation and deep listening inform me as to which ingredients go in each. I adore creating oil blends. **squee** 

So, today’s creation had the assistance of Magnolia’s nose because I am easily converting her to loving the blending as much as I do. *grin* The two newest blends:

Star Goddess

2015-05-11 17.30.28

 

Peacock God

peacock god

 

 

The Pagan Experience blog project; May wk 2; Time

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Wk 2- May 11 – Time – How do you measure time? How do you make use of linear time in sacred space?

I will toss in the all space is sacred space, so what I do is treat Time as sacred, also, and as friend, not enemy.  As I was falling asleep last week I had a thought about “Live today as if it were last!” So I wrote a post. Then I saw it fit the prompt about time. So I saved it for today.

The saying is to live each day as if it were your last, but I disagree. I say live each day as if yesterday had been your last.

If today is your last day you try to fit in All The Things™ that a last day would want. Sure, the saying is meant to help you not live with regrets, and add a sense of urgency to what you deem important so that you will do the things, but it invites a “what if I miss out!?!” aspect that I find mood dampening and ultimately counter-productive to living in the moment. Instead I end up looking at a list of got-to-do’s.

What if yesterday was your last day?

If that were true then today the pressure is off.  There is nothing left to do. No new loves to find, no new jobs to hunt down, no new skills to perfect. Sound awful? I don’t think so. I see it as opportunity for joy in what is.

Love the person standing in front of you as if they are your soul mate.

Sing, dance, paint, and run as if there is no room for improvement.

Work with the abandon as if the job you are doing right this minute is your calling.

View your friends as if they are your final allies.

………………………………….

Aahhhhh …. this, this day after my last day – this is freedom.

The Pagan Experience blog project; May wk 1; Fire

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WK 1- May 4 – Fire –  What ignites your passionate fires? What fuels your spiritual fires? What rages in fire’s destructive wake within you? And, what has healed from the cauterizing flames? How do you honor fire? How will you embrace its transformative powers?

I won’t be answering all of those today. Today I want to speak of the passionate fires that are part of my calling, part of my Work in the world. Weaving. Weaving between the Here and There, this world and the otherworld, and weaving the transition energy on the space in-between. Carrying of souls, cleansing, and supporting the prep for what is next. It is part of my spiritual midwife package. And part of the “why” behind my name, Boneweaver.

It is a thing that fuels that fire within me, this Work. On days like today when I engage in this work – gently guiding a tender soul, supporting the loved one still incarnate – is when I am filled with purpose, certain of my place and usefulness in this world. I am humbled. I am grateful. I am Me in my purest form.

Hail All That Is. I get to be a part of it.

Gods help me to be concise – Pagan Experience project; Apr; wk 4

Published on by Boneweaver (aka pjvj)5 Comments

The letter G or H. I chose G for Gods and H for Help.

This post inspired by the level of SJW (Social Justice Work) terminology that appears to be needed in this country.

The institutionalized systems in this country are set up to favour some over others and this is what is meant by having (institutionalized) privilege. The people favoured the most are male, white, hetero, able-bodied folks. Everyone else is not as high up the helping ladder of society as they are. We all can be privileged in one area and not in another. This is called intersectionality. This does not erase the privilege we have. Dismantling these systems so everyone truly starts on a level paying is the ideal. But we’re dealing with humans here, so the second level ideal is mitigating as much as possible the effects of privilege in our everyday lives, from the micro-aggressions to the macro-aggressions. See the handy links below for longer explanations of terms I have used. Use the comments sections to tell me how wrong you think I am without having read the links.

Basic and clear definition of privilege and male privilege

Why an Ally’s job is to Listen

Christian Privilege

White feminism (yep, it’s a thing)

Intersectionality

Microaggressions

Please refrain from usage of the popular memes around this topic, including, but not limited to: #notallmen #notallwhitepeople #notallcops. For an explanation of why see this public Facebook post.

Whoo Hoo Witchcamp!

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REBLOG – this is pretty much how I feel, too. I’ve been to Spiralheart three times and going again this year. I love this camp model.

Amoret's avatara m o r e t

spiralheart

It’s getting to be that time of year again, the time when I’m super pumped to go to SpiralHeartWitchcamp.

My first SpiralHeart camp was last year – I had been to one other Reclaiming witchcamp ages ago, and had done a lot of larger group rituals at Diana’s Grove, but I had never been to a “camper led camp” before, and had no idea what to expect. I wondered if it would be like the witchcamp I had been to before, a camp that used a traditional Reclaiming teaching team model. In 95% of the ways it could have been different, it was the same – just as moving, just as magical, just as full of love and trust and challenge. For that other 5%, it was different – more like my experiences at Diana’s Grove.

I love that SpiralHeart supports everyone being involved, testing their skills, trying on new roles…

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Sonnet on the Final Hour

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Reblog!

John Emerson's avatarHaquelebac

Vinicius de Moraes Saravá,
Gedichte und Lieder,
Serie Piper, 1989

It will be like this, dear friend — one day
we’ll be watching the sunset
when we suddenly feel on our faces
a light kiss of cold air.

You’ll look at me silently
and I’ll do the same,  remembering….
then dazzled with poetry, we’ll pass through
the door open before us, to the darkness.

Crossing the border of the Secret
I will softly say, “Don’t be afraid”
And you will say, “Be strong”.

And like two ancient lovers
mournfully entwined in the night
together we’ll enter the gardens of death.

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Rioting, Oppression, and Compassion

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REBLOG: Crystal Blanton is quoted, fears and fake mind constructs challenged, mental gymnastics exposed, truth told.

Shauna Aura Knight's avatarPagan Activist

11088338_10155471106475258_2351112835899069216_nWhat would you do if a Pagan was being murdered by the police once a month? What about once a week? What about more frequently than that? What if a bunch of Pagans in some cities started protesting, but nobody else cared? What if a riot broke out? Would you stand there blaming those Pagans for being too violent?

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