Pheonix Rysen

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 ...

 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 ...

 A new thing I am trying is a weekly Tarot Reading on myself. Please note that the imagines are not mine, but are from the tarot deck I use. What to Expect:  10 of Swords - Ruin, Misery, and Sorrow. What to Release: The Lovers - Love, Passon, Romance, and Harmony What to Focus on: Reversed 4 of Wands - Releasing insecure home life and Unstable Partnerships Overall Guidance: Reversed Knight of Swords - Bully, Troublemaker, Impulsive Something Unexpected: Reversed The Star - Doubting one's ability and Stagnate creativity

 So someone ran it by my nose Again, which got me thinking about it Again. That Required to be near orgasmic happy about the mention of initiation Ridiculousness. Why by all that is holy and unholy in this world do covens require you to get to a demonstrative near orgasmic emotional state before they will get serious about (setting a date) having you initiated? About the only other life event that has this culture of expectation for this level of emotion is marriage. Even then it doesn't always have to be demonstrative and in fact in some places being overly demonstrative is frowned on. Why do I bring this up? Because it involves Emotional Validation or the lack there of. Not setting a date for initiation unless an individual is in a demonstratively near orgasmic emotional state at the mention of it is an invalidation of that person. Choosing to have no outward emotional state is an emotional state. Having the opposite expected emotional state is a valid emotional response. Bu...

August's Full Moon is in the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius prioritizes community over self and loathes convention. Meanwhile, their opposite, or sister, sign, Leo, has no shame taking selfies, dedicating quality time to self-care, embracing what's popular, and presenting it in a way that earns them lots of applause (hello, countless pop stars — from Madonna to Dua Lipa — born under the fire sign). And while this full moon is happening in the sign of the Water Bearer, it opposes the sun in its last degree of Leo. When a planet is hanging out at 29 degrees of any sign, also referred to as the Anaretic degree, you can expect to experience the most intense, peak energy of that sign — as well as a sense of urgency. So with the sun at 29 degrees Leo, this full moon could stir up peak regal energy. You could feel truly comfortable in your skin, at the top of your game, craving recognition, and driven to do whatever you need to do to make sure you see your desires fulfilled — because you...

Change is Pain  Prior to my motorcycle accident you could say that I subscribed to the "pain is weakness leaving the body" or the "no pain no gain" philosophy. Even now you probably wouldn't recognize much of a difference, but I have come to a new understanding of Pain. Those philosophies are in my mind not quite complete or at least not worded just quite right. You see, or well you will hopefully see by the time I am done writing. Those philosophies are saying just about the same thing and will lead you to what they mean if you sit and think about them.  The above is a piece of propaganda used by the US Marine Recruiting office to get more people to join the marines. Its also figuratively true, and very effective in their commercials. Pain is weakness leaving the body. If you punch a tree over and over again every day for a few years your hand wont be broken (unless you punched TOO hard). Instead, it will be toughed, and calloused, and you will be able to take ...