Pheonix Rysen

 We all get "bad seed" in life. What you do about the "bad seed" is the most important thing you can do for yourself. The first part of dealing with bad seed is determining what type of bad seed is it. Was the seed mislabeled and as a result you ended up with a harvest that was unexpected or with an invasive or undesirable outcome. Was the seed spoiled in a possible good manner, such as we ferment food stuffs thus retendering it only capable of supporting ourselves for the time that it is around but unable to propagate it further without further knowledge of the steps and materials needed. Was the seed spoiled by the introduction of poisonous items? Of these outcomes, only one really stands out as an actual time to get rid of the seed outcome and that is if there were poisonous items introduced. However, while that seems like an obvious outcome, it may not be. After all much of modern medicine involves the careful application of potent chemicals in a controlled mann

 One the hardest things after a life altering event is living with the "I was somebody ..." But it is not just life altering events that can cause this, as it is a normal part of the growing and aging process. It is also the lesson of the Harvest. The seed could say it was the child or offspring of somebody, but that does not mean the seed will grow into the same somebody or yield the same. Although repeatedly harvesting the seeds of the best adapted plants tends to increase the chances of similar or better yields.  A plant that is flowering as well as starting to produce could claim to be somebody's offspring and promise great yields. But the yield of the plant will not be known at this time. It is not until the end of the plant's life cycle that one can truly know the yield of that plant and if it lived up to its promise. Funny thing is the seeds produced at the end of a plant's life cycle are not always the best either as the most fruit is normally produced on

 Imbolc so named because that is when things give birth and are in milk or so I have been taught. The other reason for the season is cause the days are getting noticeably longer. This time is celebrated as a returning to light, often with candle masses and everything light not to mention white. Honestly, I don't know why you would want an animal to be pregnant during winter. You have to provide that much more nutrition to the animal to keep it alive and in my mind run a higher chance of the not born yet animal being naturally aborted due to stress from the weather. Then you have the snow issues, most places that get snow this is the heaviest time of year. So you want to now worry about the newly born animal freezing? But what do I know? I haven't run food production animal husbandry farm in any place that has freezing weather. For me Imbolc or I should say the Month of February is a time of preparation, hope and a bit of anxiety. Around mid-month, aka about right now, I am look

Being a witch is about celebrating the seasons and the changes that come with them.  It is also about celebrating the shorter cycles of the moon.  My mentor Cronos tends to call witchcraft the original stepped self-help program. What better self-help than that of self-care and self-maintenance practices? Those things that make you smile or that you need to do to maintain your physical self. We all, or well I have, a bad habit of looking for big rituals or shows as being signs that we are witches. But being a witch also means seeing the little rituals that make us, well us. The woman who always presents a "together" image, the man who manages that "rough" but always refined look. Each of these are appearance-based rituals and go through their own cycles in order to create and maintain them. Those appearances would not have been created if they were meaningless, if they did not serve some purpose.  The advantage of being an independent witch who no one creed holds my

 There was a time when I had to read all the newest blog posts from all the bloggers out there, that time is not now. There was a time when I would chase new information and fall into every rabbit hole out there for paganism, that time is not now. There was a time when I would write mini books on various topics, that time is not now. There was a time when the ultimate vacation was a pagan festival, that time is not now. So what is it time for? I can honestly say I do not know. My expectations for people and my tolerance for things has changed. No longer do I care if a group accepts me. No longer do I ponder big lofty ideals.  Character, it was something that was a huge campaign done by the school system I grew up in. They even had cartoon characters to represent the different aspects of character. For the life of me, I cant remember a one. But character is what I care about. Do you do you best to do right by others? Even if you dislike a person do you give a moment of time to jump star

 Arrogant  - having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities As with the opposite chief feature of self-deprecation, arrogance is a way of manipulating others’ perceptions of yourself in order to avoid taking a “hit” to your self-esteem. In this case, however, the basic strategy is to get others to see you as special, perfect or flawless — diverting attention from your ordinary imperfections, weaknesses and failings — and thereby keeping your self-esteem artificially inflated. ["Arrogance" published on Personality & Spirituality.net] Components of Arrogance:  ["Arrogance" published on Personality & Spirituality.net] In the case of arrogance, the early negative experiences typically consist of disapproval or outright criticism from significant others, especially the parents but also siblings and others. From such experiences of competition, disapproval and conditional love, the [individual] comes to perceive their well-being