Time Off

Hi and Merry Meet,
I'm sorry that I've been gone for so long! I needed some time away from my computer. I felt like I was just taking up too much time sitting here playing on it and not plugging into my real life. So, I've taken time to reconnect with real life and get my computer use back into balance.

Some of things that I've been working on in my mini-time out were reading up on astrology. I've always been interested in my horoscope but never really got into depth with it. I bought a great beginner book on and started to read about it. I found a website that would make up my natal chart so that I could really look into it. I'm fascinated by it! I've also started looking into palm reading. My husband has even taken an interest in this. I keep asking to see his hands so I have something to compare to besides my own. I've been explaining what I'm looking at and now he keeps looking at his hands and has asked to look at mine so we can compare our thoughts. It's kind of cool that he is interested in something that I'm learning.

Since I've stepped away from the computer I feel like my daily meditations are taking the extra time that I have in my day without the computer filling my time. I'm happy with that! I enjoy it and it is very relaxing to me. I'm working on tarot meditations. I pick a card randomly from the deck and then focus on that cards energy. I find that it is helping my with my readings and it is strengthening my relationship with individual cards. I've been using my Mystic Farey deck for this work. I am in love with the art on the cards and the colors of the cards. I have had a hard time reading these cards for others, but for myself I find it is no problem. I use this deck in my rituals since it seems partial to workings and not public readings.

Another thing that I've been working on is my definition and feelings about Samhain. Since this is my first Samhain I have a lot of thoughts about, but they are not very organized yet. I want to explore more about this in another post. I also want to look back at my thoughts on elements in my life.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend!
Blessed be,
Autumn

Meditations + Rabbits

Hi and Merry Meet,

I got up nice and early today to go for a run only to find it is raining out. Perfect weather to sit on my front patio and sand my altar legs! My hands are really sore, but the effort is so worth it. I am really pleased with the progress I've made on that project!

Anyway, today's topic is meditations and my rabbits. I've noticed a trend that two of my rabbits have been showing up in my meditations. In my sacred space meditation my rex rabbit Chanel showed up when she was sick. She isn't in them anymore and is now healthy and happy. I was surprised by this as she hadn't been there before. I was happy to have her there with me even if she was eating all my plants in my meditations.... Here is Chanel:

Then, last night I tried some new work with the Gates of Light. After I went though the Gate of Healing, my English Spot Nesquick was there. I wasn't surprised to see him there. We have a very special bond. Nes came to us from a shelter. He had been returned to the shelter four times. The last time he was there the man who had him was abusing him. He was baiting his dogs with him to teach the dogs to be more aggressive. Nes is terrified of everything (really, can you blame him?) and it took a lot of work to gain his trust. He has a very gentle soul and I just love him to bits! We got him two days before my birthday four years ago. I was so happy to have him with me and it really comforted me to have him there. I don't know if this is normal (pets showing up in meditations). It was my first time with this meditation and I hope that he is there next time I do it. This is my opera loving rabbit Nesquick:

I hope you have a great Saturday!

Blessed be,

Autumn

Garden Meditations

Hi and Merry Meet,

Today was a perfect day to be outside! Not too hot, not raining, or anything that could keep me from being out there! :)

I love being in my garden. It is a happy place for me. How could I not love it when I am surrounded by things like this:

The top two are my Black Eyed Susan's and the bottom one is one of my roses. I sat out and had some afternoon meditation time. It was so peaceful. Today's meditation was again in my sacred space. I'm spending a lot of time on this since it seems to relax me and make me feel a lot calmer. I need some calm right now in this crazy time of year!

What do you do to relax?

Blessed be,

Autumn

Sacred Space Meditations

Hi and Merry Meet,
For the past two weeks I have been working on a sacred space meditation. I have been working on creating the perfect place in the astral plane.

As first it was very vague and I could only see green grass around me where I was sitting. Now I have a walled garden with a gazebo. In the gazebo it is always set for tea. If I could find this place in this plane I'd never leave!! There is something about a walled garden that makes me think of the book The Secret Garden. It really is a magical place!

I find that after working with this meditation I find that I can get to this space faster and faster when I focus on it. My visualization skills are improving and I feel like I can hold them longer. I'm excited about my progress, yet, I know I have a lot more work to do.

Today was crazy hot here, so I made some spicy curry for dinner. I know this sounds crazy, but when I lived in Japan eating curry on a hot day was normal. The thought was that by heating up your insides with hot curry, when you leave the air conditioned shop, you would feel cooler because you were so hot from the curry.... at least that's what my students told me! :)
Blessed be,
Autumn

Learning and Running

Hi and Merry Meet,
Last night I finished reading Green Witchcraft II by Ann Moura. I enjoyed her ideas and thoughts. I have done the recommended meditations and I am waiting to do the Dark Moon ritual.

I thought a lot about the balance of Life and Death in doing these meditations. You can not have one without the other. That's the way it is. It's like have a pancake (hang in there with me, this should make sense in a second or two.). Pancakes have two sides. One side is always more burnt (well, when I cook, it is) and one side is always less burnt or more golden brown. You butter the pretty side, put your syrup on it and eat it. However, the butter and the syrup soak down though it to the other side. So, you get both sweet and butter and burnt all in one bite. Just like life and death. One side is sweet and butter, and the other is burnt, but the syrup is soaking though it make it as much an adventure as the other side was. Does that make any sense or only to me??

Anyway, I've started the third Green Witchcraft book and I really like it. It is using the first book as a textbook to work though. There are quizzes and assignments to complete. I love things like this because it makes my reading more interactive! Just like my Silver RavenWolf books. I am more motivated to do the work and readings if I know there is a quiz or something coming up. Although, her books are very easy reads and I have enjoyed them a lot!

In other news, I have decided to run a half marathon this September in honor of my mom. I have been running for about a year now. I started because I wanted to run a 5K before my 30th birthday. I made that goal and have been running ever since. This half supports the Arthritis Foundation. My mom has it really badly in her hands and feet. She is talking about giving up skiing because it is getting too painful for her. She is getting help medical, and so this is something that I can do publicly to show her my support. It has become very important to me and I started training seriously for it last month. Please send me your positive thoughts as I train so that I can reach my goal of being able to run the whole thing and cross that finish line still running.... it's only 13.1 miles to the end of the race. I'm gonna need some support! ;^)

Hope you all are having a wonderful Monday!
Blessed be,
Autumn

Meditations On Fears

Hi and Merry Meet,
Last night I did some meditation work on what I fear and my thoughts on the shadow side of the Craft. I know that all nature has this side and so in this meditation I faced mine.

I got the frame work from Ann Moura's Green Witchcraft II book. She talks about a secluded cave and how to face your fears so that you grow and are more open to both sides of nature. I did cast a circle for this and found guidance waiting for me in my meditation. It was very enlightening and I learned a lot about myself. I also saw a different face of the Goddess than I have seen before. This was very moving and exciting! Some of the fears I faced were not ones that I thought I would see. It was interesting to see what things I have suppressed and which ones I think I'm scared of. Over all, facing my fears was very positive and spiritual. I know I will do this again in the future when I have fears I need to overcome.

Each step I take feels huge and I am so excited to see what I will learn next!
Blessed be,
Autumn

Meditations

Hi and Merry Meet,

One thing that I was doing before my dedication ceremony was trying to meditate. However, I wasn't very focused, so that didn't go very well. Also, I didn't really have any ideas about how to get started. I used some yoga relaxation but I wasn't able to clear my mind. Like I said, I was trying...

One thing that I am working on now is using meditations to help me focus and ground myself more. I've been reading To Ride A Silver Broomstick by Silver RavenWolf and I like her ideas about meditation. I am working on visualizing a waterfall around me and it being in perpetual motion. I really like this idea and I'm finding that the more I work on it the better I'm getting at it. I did try to skip ahead and work on the meditations with the chakras...however, I wasn't able to focus long enough on it. I could focus on the first and second chakras, but after that it more or less fell apart. After realizing that I should start simple, I went back to the waterfall. It's good for me to know that I should start simple and not jump ahead because I think I can. This is something that I need to work on.

Here's my copy of To Ride:She's a bit battered with love, and she was also picked up from Half by my husband for me.

Enjoy this wonderful day!

Blessed be,

Autumn