May 22, 2009

  • WCFQ 48a: Alone in a crowd

    Where/when are you most uncomfortable and why?
    myraj

    It's safe to say that the more people are in any given place, the less I want to be there. When I first started working, it was nearly unbearable. I used to get panic attacks all the time and wanted to find a dark corner to hide in. I worked in a convenience store at one point and would volunteer to stock the cooler, just to get away from people. I was extremely agoraphobic after my experiences in school. Though I love books and dream of opening my own bookstore, my dream job would actually be one which secluded me from the public for hours or days on end. If not for my allergies, forestry or environmental science would be more of my ideal job. For a long time, I couldn't even go to a movie theater alone. If no one in my family wanted to go with me, I didn't go.

    People make me uncomfortable. I don't like amusement parks because of the crowds. I don't attend Pagan gatherings because of the crowds. I work in retail, so you can imagine how I feel about holidays... Unless I know the people I am with, I rarely volunteer any information or opinions. You'd think I was two different people. I do force myself to be more social, but I'm often disappointed in the results. People in my life (friends and family) often take me for granted, take advantage, or simply neglect me. I hate that. lol I am extremely shy and sensitive, but I hide it well. Most of the time, I am virtually invisible. I've learned not to draw attention to myself, especially when I am in unfamiliar territory. Being an empath is both a blessing and a curse. Forwarned is forarmed, but other people's negative emotions are as physically oppressive as standing in front of an open oven in the summer.

    I am particularly uncomfortable in social situations where one or more people are being negative, arguing, or express bigoted views. It's one of the reasons I can't stand talking to my stepdad or his family about politics or religion and one of the reasons I'll leave the room if they bring up race. I loathe ignorance. I loathe ignorant people. And you know the old saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. That's my stepdad and his relatives. I could talk till I lose my voice and they'd dismiss everything I said because I'm only a woman. Blegh. They can't understand why I haven't found someone to marry me yet.... o.O

    It's really people like my stepdad's family that keep me from being more open in the RW. I don't communicate with people because what I have to say isn't important or of interest to them. I'm only me and no one special to them. I'm really not anyone special to anyone. My brother told me once that I am the most arrogant person he knows. It really shocked me because I equate arrogance with superficiality. I don't think I'm arrogant or superficial. I just keep to myself and perhaps he sees my reticence as judgmental. Maybe it's just that he knows I generally don't like people and he sees that as arrogance. It's not that I hate people, but I don't trust them. They lie and make excuses for how they treat one another.

    People make me more uncomfortable than anything else. Our civilization is so very uncivilized. People don't act with respect. They aren't conscious of how they present themselves, how their actions and words define them. What my brother sees as arrogance is maybe just disappointment. People certainly disappoint me more often than not. Sometimes it's just better to be alone.
    May 22nd

    Ragnar Lodbrok, a Viking leader, was honored with this day. After being captured in Northumbria, he was tortured and killed by being thrown into a pit of poisonous snakes.

    In East Anglia, this day was chosen for collection of dandelions for dandelion wine.
    • 3 qts dandelion flowers
    • 1 lb golden raisins
    • 1 gallon water
    • 3 lbs granulated sugar
    • 2 lemons
    • 1 orange
    • yeast and nutrient
    Pick flowers around midday just before starting, so they're fresh. You do not need to pick the petals off the flower heads, but the heads should be trimmed of any stalk. Put the flowers in a large bowl. Set aside 1 pint of water and bring the remainder to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the dandelion flowers and cover tightly with cloth or plastic wrap. Leave for maximum two days, stirring twice daily. Pour flowers and water in large pot and bring to a low boil. Add the sugar and the lemon and orange zest (the peel without any white pith). Boil for one hour, then pour into a crock or plastic pail. Add the juice and pulp of the lemons and orange. Allow to stand until cool (70-75 degrees F.). Add yeast and yeast nutrient, cover, and put in a warm place for three days. Strain and pour into a secondary fermentation vessel (bottle or jug). Add the raisins and fit a fermentation trap to the vessel. Strain and rack after wine clears, adding reserved pint of water and any additional required to top up. Leave until fermentation ceases completely, then rack again. Set aside 2 months and rack and bottle. This wine must age six months in the bottle before tasting, but will improve remarkably if allowed a year.

    The Earth Religion Anti-Abuse Act was adopted in 1988.
    We, the undersigned, as adherents of Pagan and Neo-Pagan Earth Religions, including Wicca, or Neo-Pagan Witchcraft, practice a variety of positive, life-affirming faiths that are dedicated to healing, both of ourselves and of the Earth. As such, we do not advocate or condone any acts that victimize others, including those proscribed by law. As one of our most widely-accepted precepts is the Wiccan Rede's injunction to "harm none", we absolutely condemn the practices of child abuse, sexual abuse, and any other form of abuse that does harm to the bodies, minds or spirits of such abusees. We recognize and revere the divinity of Nature in our Mother the Earth, and we conduct our rites of worship in a manner that is ethical, compassionate and constitutionally protected. We neither acknowledge nor worship the Christian devil, "Satan", who is not in our Pagan pantheons. We will not tolerate slander or libel against our churches, clergy or congregations, and we are prepared to defend our civil rights with such legal action as we deem necessary and appropriate.




May 21, 2009

  • WCFQ 48e: The Eye of the Beholder

    Do you consider yourself crazy?
    two_days_until_forever

    Yes, yes I do... though mostly because compared to other people, I am. Do I feel out of control and dangerous? Not at all. But the way people react to me and criticize my behavior makes me acutely aware that I am not "normal."

    Normal of course is vastly overrated. Aside from being a statistical illusion, it's boring to be that conformist. Normal equates to invisible in so far as you'll be noticed. While that can be a good thing if you happen to have enemies, it also means you'll make no friends, be passed over for promotion, and generally fall through the cracks of society. Normal is something no one should ever strive to be, no matter what the prescription drug pushing commercials say. Providing you are not a danger to yourself or others, it's perfectly acceptable to be different from the person next to you.

    Unfortunately, society doesn't judge its constituents based on the bell curve. You either adhere to the cultural norms of your socio-economic sphere of influence or you vacate to the fringe where you will not be judged so harshly by those who consider themselves your peers. Whether or not I consider myself crazy, I have others to pass judgment for me. Whatever... the feeling's mutual. I think "normalcy" is crazy. Attempts to "fit in" rather than "stand out" in a crowd may be an evolutionary benefit in some cases, but it hardly ensures the long term existence of your genes. For one thing, you'll be passed up more often by potential mates if they can't see you. If, like me, procreation is not high on your agenda, there is still the propagation of your memes to consider. Ideas, like genes, are important to pass on to the next generation. Biting your tongue may increase your chances of survival from day to day, but when the day does come that you do pass on,  your ideas will die with you.

    I don't know. You tell me. Am I crazy? Are you? Is it better to be an abnormal, true-to-yourself, fringe dweller or barely a blip on the radar of society? Who benefits more from perceived insanity, the crazy person or the normal one? If you ask me, the crazy person is usually the happier one because they're not worrying about fitting in. Maybe it's time to adjust our definitions. "Normal" people seem crazy to me.
    May 21st

    Plato was born in 429BC.


    The 7th day of Epipi commemorates the Sailing of the netjers after Hathor. This is the Egyptian holy day of Tefnut.


    In 1911, Peter Hurkos was born in the Netherlands. Developing astonishing psychic powers after recovering from a coma, he became world-famous for solving crimes though psychometry. He passed away in Los Angeles on May 25, 1988.


    Gwydion Pendderwen was born in Berkeley, California in 1946. He was a Celtic Bard, a cofounder of the Faery Tradition of Witchcraft, and the founder of a Neo-Pagan networking organization called Nemeton. He died in the Autumn of 1982 as a result of a tragic automobile accident.



May 20, 2009

  • Featured Grownups: Undeserved... School Daze

    Featured Grownups Topic 2 for May:

    Write a post about a time you received
    something you didn't deserve.
    ____________

    Throughout my childhood I was ridiculed by my peers. I didn't have friends. I had "bullies" and "everyone else." I wasn't an unpleasant child or ugly. I was just... shy and a bit odd, and it was pretty easy to make me cry. Things quieted down in third grade after one of my bullies got the entire class to harass me while a teacher was out of the room, and I broke her nose with a thrown book. She never picked on me again, but once I got to Jr high school, it started all over again with new people and culminated in a "lynching" in sixth grade.

    Obviously this wasn't a typical lynching since I wasn't hanged. But a group of my worst bullies followed me for two blocks, spitting on me, calling me names, and throwing garbage from the street at me. They followed me for two blocks before the principal caught up and dispersed the mob. My parents called the cops and I named names, but when everyone was gathered in the principal's office the next day, everyone denied they had been there. You'd think the principal would have spoken up and pointed out who he had seen there, but he didn't. My family wasn't and still isn't well off, but all of their families were. So when they told the police it wasn't them, the police believed them, not me. I was put into counseling, not them. I was made to feel even more like an outsider, while they were practically given a pat on the back for singling the freak out. The abuse was completely unwarranted, but because no one but me was "punished" for it, the administration might as well have held a rally to announce that bullying was now a school sport.

    It was a few years before my family moved away, but after that, I missed more days than I went. I attended up to the first year of high school and even then the school didn't want to pass me because of my low attendance. Despite the fact that I aced all the tests and the finals, they still wanted to kick me out. Maybe it rankled them just a little bit that I didn't need their curriculum to learn what was required of me. If they had been doing their jobs, I would have been in gifted classes where I would have been safe from the people who wanted to hurt me. Even when I wasn't in school, I had to worry about people tracking me down and attacking me (like when I had to do a bug collection and some bullies chased me down on their bikes). Aside from being sick from the stress of worrying every day if someone was going to abuse me, I just didn't see a reason to go to school. Not when I could learn just as well on my own by going to the library.

    We moved the summer after my first year of high school. Apparently, I'm in a high school year book with the caption, "the myth, the legend." No one could figure out what happened to me. So far as I was concerned, there was no reason to say good bye to anyone. There was no one to miss me, and no one I would miss. Apparently there were people who thought of themselves as my friends who never bothered to make the fact known to me.

    I wish I could say that things got better at the new school, but I ended up quitting in 11th grade. It was the same thing, people picking on me because I was a little different. People assumed I was a snob because I kept to myself. Boys made sexual comments that completely disgusted me and then wondered why I wanted nothing to do with them. Out of the blue one day, a girl said to me, "I don't know why no one likes you. You seem pretty nice to me." It didn't make us friends or anything though. That was pretty much the first and last time we had a conversation. I just happened to sit behind her in history class, and she took it upon herself to chime in on my lack of popularity.

    If anything, I missed more school once we moved. And despite my grades, this school wanted to suspend me too. I mean, if I was pulling A's on my tests, who knows how well I would have done if I'd actually had academic support (or protection). Maybe I was making them look bad by doing so well without them? It was a huge relief to finally quit when I turned 17 and get away from that stress. For the most part, the constant headaches and stomach pain cleared up virtually over night.

    I still tell people that I am a master of the snappy comeback thanks to the public school system, and though I can make fun of my experiences, the thought of my nephew having to go through that fills me with dread. Of course, my sister has him in Catholic school which bothers me in completely different ways (they seem to be hypercritical and tell my sister that he's been bad when he hasn't). If I had the time and my sister's blessings, I'd home school him.

    It's a good thing I don't intend to breed because nothing could make me send a child of mine to a public school.
    May 20th

    A sacred festival called the Plynteria was celebrated annually in ancient Greece in honor of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle, and the patroness of the city of Athens (which was named after her). It included the ritual cleansing of her statue, followed by prayers in the Parthenon and feasting.



May 19, 2009

  • WCFQ 48c: It's not lady-like

    Does virginity really matters?
    meoowwww

    I guess it depends upon who you ask and how the person you ask defines "virginity." Currently, a virgin is defined as someone who has engaged in sexual activities, and even that is debatable... I saw a sensationalized news report about teens and, um, oral sex. (Ewwww. More than I ever wanted to know about it, whether it's true or not.) Other older definitions had to do with whether the woman in question had given birth or was currently "attached" to anyone.

    The value placed on virginity is really a rather modern thing. In ancient Greece for instance, the loss of virginity was much more desirable. There was more of a stigma placed on virginity, and more specifically the blood lost when a virgin is... deflowered. In fact, there was a Greek god who existed expressly to deflower virgins. Seriously, his name is Priapus and there were temples dedicated to him containing phalli of wood and stone for the, um, deed. In other cultures, a stranger was often paid to deflower a woman before her wedding night because it was considered unlucky (and in some cases unclean) to be the (un)lucky guy. So the value placed on virginity is questionable at best, and in some cultures, not at all desirable.

    I happen to be a virgin though. What value do I place on it? Not much actually, I'm just not inclined to lose it to someone with whom I'm not emotionally invested. So since I've never been so much as out on a date or kissed, the possibility of me losing my virginity are about as likely as me looking up a temple in Greece or paying some guy. haha

    Of course, in our modern culture, the value placed on virginity is a bit hypocritical. What's good for the goose is not so good for the gander. A woman is not a "lady" unless she retains her virginity until she's married, but a man is not a "man" unless he's slept around. The divide is not quite so bad is it was, say, fifty years ago, but there's still that standard. A "lady" doesn't do things like that, right? I don't think of my virginity as something to be kept in order to be considered lady-like; I just don't care. I mean, if I cared, I could probably walk into any bar across the country and "pick up" some guy. But nice girls don't. lol
    May 19th

    Apollon was the sacred day of Apollo, god of music, poetry, divination, and sunlight.


    In the year 1780, a strange and unexplained darkness draped over most of New England, turning daytime into night. Many folks believed that a Salem Witch's curse was responsible for the day of darkness, since no other explanation for the phenomenon has ever been found.


    On the 5th day of Epipi, Hathor returns to Punt, and the Netjers are saddened.



May 17, 2009

  • Writers Choice Featured Questions Week 48

    Writing prompts for discerning writers with more to say
    than Xanga's Featured Questions gives them credit for.

    five questions for this week

    Where/when are you most uncomfortable and why?
    myraj

    How do you feel about arranged marriages?
    MormonizeMeCapn

    Is it important to care about what others think of you?
    Jolteus33

    Does virginity really matters?
    meoowwww

    Do you consider yourself crazy?
    two_days_until_forever

    Answer any one or all of these questions in the coming week. I try to mix the whimsical with the serious here, so hopefully there is at least one question here for everyone.
    May 16th
    (yesterday)

    On this night it is customary to pay homage to the fairy guardians of blackthorn trees. They are wizened little stick figures with long arms and fingers for climbing between the thorns. According to one legend, they only leave their trees during full moons.



    The famous Italian spiritualist-medium, Eusapia Palladino passed away in 1918. She is most famous for her ability to enter a state of trance and levitate during seances.



    According to the ancient Egyptian Calendar, the Netjerts (Goddesses) feast in their temples.



    The Savitu-Vrata is an Indian festival.
    May 17th
    (today)

    Dea Dia was honored today in her aspect as the cosmos, mother of everything.



    Childless couples in Obando town in the Philippines dance at a special fertility festival today.




    May 18th
    (tomorrow)

    The Yoruba tribe of Nigeria revere twins who are honored with special dinners today. If one of the twins has died, a special doll is made to take its place so that the living twin is not drawn into death as well.



    This is Greek the Feast of Pan.



May 15, 2009

  • WCFQ 47d: Growth

    Do you actively seek new things to learn and grow?

    Despite the amount of fiction I collection, specific authors and genres, my nonfiction outnumbers my fiction probably two to one. While some people might object that the type of non-fiction I collect is not worthy of learning and not designed for growth, I think that everyone has the right to choose the direction of their progress, and mine is spirituality and the occult. I have collections of mythology, of divination, of herbs and stones, of different religions, philosophies, and magic, of history and long dead cultures, and of many subjects which defy classification. I also collect books on crafting, though between work, writing, and the internet, I don't have much time to craft. Still, about a fifth of my collection are crafting books, just as about a fifth of my collection are books to help me be a better writer, either for clarification or spelling and rules of grammar.

    I find that interaction with my peers is also a path to growth. Nothing grows in a vacuum, so it's important to seek out people who's opinion matters to you. So I post my blog and receive feedback on my ideas from people who will either agree or disagree with my thoughts. Both kinds of feedback are equally agreeable. I'm not one of those people who gets offended by a difference of opinion. It will either give me the opportunity to think in new directions or the chance to further clarify my stance and perhaps discover new angles from which I can examine my beliefs and/or perceptions. Arguments are fun so long as the other person doesn't break down and start slinging insults. There's nothing worse than a debater who doesn't know how to disown their personal attachments to their side of the discussion.

    I must admit that my time on the internet, aside from reading blogs and occasional news articles, is not spent in searching out new knowledge aside from what I need for my writing. The internet is mostly entertainment for me, though from my post yesterday, you know I spend most of my time even online reading.

    An overlooked path to growth is my writing of fiction. It allows me to explore ideas in a context of what-if.  It allows me to endorse philosophies which might not be that popular with certain groups. I rise to the defense of the underdog, even when the underdog isn't considered human. For instance, I take the idea of racism to it's extreme... xenophobia... make it absurd and then knock it down. In my fiction writing, I think the best vehicle for the destruction of ignorance is absurdity. I have an absolute loathing of ignorance that drives much of my writing, fiction or non. One way or the other, I try to help people see things that they might otherwise dismiss.
    May 15

    "Saint" Cold Sophie is honored today and extra cold weather was expected.

    The Argei Rites of the Vestal virgins were held in the argeorum sacraria, twenty-seven shrines located through out the city. These shrines were consecrated by the early Roman king Numa. The procession to each shrine was led by the Vestal virgins, the Pontifex Maximus, and a few magistrates. At each Argei, paraders paused to pick up a straw puppet made to resemble an old man. All twenty-seven puppets were carried to the Pons Sublicus, Rome's oldest bridge, and thrown into the Tiber River. It is thought this rite regulated the water supply for the coming year.

    Maiae inuict is a festival in honor of Maia and Mercury. Maia is a daughter of Atlas and Pleione and one of the seven Pleiades. She is a goddess of the Full Moon. She is honored on the inauguration of his temple.

    The ancient Egyptian month of Epipi begins. The Netjer (Egyptian "deity") of the month is Wadjet. There were festivals of Hathor and Bast and the great feast of the Southern heavens.




May 14, 2009

  • WCFQ 47c: Internet and Literacy

    Are you a reader? Do you use the internet for audio/visual recreation, or do you spend most of your time online reading? If you mostly use the internet to read, are you an avid reader of books/magazines as well?

    In certain circles, I am known as The Bibliophile. I work in a bookstore. I have eight bookshelves in my bedroom and several different collections. My comic book collection takes up an entire corner of my room (and serves as a buffer against my noisy neighbors).

    I suppose if I had a faster internet connection, I would spend more time looking at videos on YouTube or music. As it is, I am an avid collector of webcomics and webnovels. I read several blogs a day and belong to a half dozen different message boards. I am a master of various search engines, and my "favorites" are so extensive I have to make time once a year to go through my links and make sure they are all still valid.

    Have you heard the "study" done on internet users that suggests the intelligence of internet users declines based on the amount of time spent online? Poppycock! IMO, they probably only studied people who's promary mode of communication was "netspeak." I couldn't tell you how many times I've corrected someone's grammar and spelling in a chat. Like anything else, what you put into something is what you get out of it, so if you use the internet primarily to relax your intellect (by playing games, engaging in netspeak, and looking at porn), then maybe the internet will make you stupid.

    I would say reading online occupies nearly all my time. The internet is the balm against the stupidity that defines my day. For the most part, I think my job decreases my intelligence. My life in the RW is no challenge at all. At least online, I can find things to occupy my mind and test my reason. The only thing the RW tests is my patience.
    May 13th
    (yesterday)

    This is the third day of Lemuria.

    "Saint" Servatius is honored.

    On this day in the year 1917, the Goddess in the guise of the Virgin Mary appeared to three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal. The event, which was one of six divine appearances from May 13 to October 13, drew worldwide attention.
    May 14th
    (today)
    "Saint" Bonifatius is honored.

    The Festival of the Midnight Sun is celebrated annually by pagans in Norway. The festival, which pays homage to the ancient Norse goddess of the sun, begins at sunrise, marking the beginning of ten consecutive weeks without the darkness of night.

    Widow Robinson of Kidderminster, England, and her two daughters arrested for using magic to try to prevent the return of Charles II from exile, 1660.

    This is the 30th day of Payni in the Egyptian calendar. Thoth appears with Shu to bring back Tefnut. This is also the Panegyric of Isis. Osiris was found and Isis rejoiced.




May 12, 2009

  • Are you less equal than others?

    Most people are probably familiar with the opening line of the preamble of the Declaration of Independence... "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal." I found myself thinking today that I don't believe it. Or rather, people may be created equal, but the way they choose to live, to act, to treat others, creates in time groups which are less equal than others. I don't believe this has anything to do with race, religion, or creed, though it can as these groups sometimes idealize or monopolize certain behaviors. It has nothing to do with intelligence. I think that the "mentally challenged" are in their own way better than certain folk who think much of themselves.

    "Actions speak louder than words," is another equally famous English idiom. Right from the get go, people who choose to discriminate against others for the superficial reasons of race, religion, creed, intelligence or any other nonsense reason become less equal in comparison to others. In demoting others, they demote themselves to a subclass. In thinking themselves superior, they become inferior to the those who value basic human compassion. In treating others as less human, they become less themselves.

    It's a touchy subject, the concept of equality.

    The concept of race is a misnomer. If we were of different races based on color or eye-shape or what have you, we would not be able to interbreed. Genetically speaking, when two different species get together, they create infertile young if they can create young at all. Therefore, the idea that there is more than one race of human is patently absurd. Racism is absurd. Race in humans is a superficial and cultural illusion. There is no reasonable basis for racism beyond ignorance.

    Bias based on religion or creed is also based on ignorance. No one is without belief in something. Even atheists and agnostics have their personal or group philosophies by which their actions and perspectives are dictated. Isn't it enough that we all believe in something? To treat someone with disrespect based on their beliefs, or your perception of their beliefs, is to drag your own beliefs through the mud. If you cannot show respect to others, you do not deserve respect for yourself. As a representative of your beliefs, you do your fellows a disservice whenever you persecute or snub someone based on their beliefs. Whenever you represent yourself as a member of a faith and then use your faith as a weapon against others, you give the larger community an excuse to mistrust your faith as a whole. You become the bad apple that spoils the bunch.

    Bigotry based on any socio-economic or intellectual value is still bigotry, and it doesn't devalue the people you discriminate against, it devalues you. You become less human when you make fun of someone who is "stupid" or "colored" or "poor" or "rich" or Muslim or what have you. Equality is something you're born with, but by your actions, by labeling people and treating them as things, you relinquish that intrinsic right. When you deny the humanity of others, you abandon the right to be treated as human yourself. Of course, those who value life and civility will continue to treat you with respect (and no small amount of pity), but only you can make yourself worthy of your birthright.
    May 11th
    (yesterday)

    This is the second night of Lemuria.


    In 1659, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned all celebrations of Christmas in the New World after declaring the event to be a Pagan festival of superstition and "a great dishonor [sic] of God." In England, Christmas festivities had been banned by the Puritans seven years earlier. It was one year later, when Charles II was restored to the throne, that the law banning the celebration of Christmas was repealed.


    The Eisheilige, or "Ice Saints," are noted from May 11th through the 15th in southern Germany. These "Strong Lords" bring unseasonably cold and/or wet weather. Their names, Mamertius, Pancratius (or Pancras), Servatius, Bonifatius, and Cold Sophie, are Christianized forms of the Swabian presiding spirits of the days. "Saint" Mamertius is honored today.


    On the Isle of Man, Witches and Fairies are considered especially active. In Ireland, the Lunantishees are the fairy tribes that guard the blackthorn trees or sloes. No stick may be cut on the eleventh of November or May.


    Today is the Guatemalan Rain Ceremony.
    May 12th
    (today)

    "Saint" Pancras is honored.


    The annual Belgium Cat Parade is celebrated in honor of the furry feline, an animal sacred to the ancient Egyptians and often used as a familiar of Witches.


    Aranya Shashti, a god of the woodlands, is honored in India with an annual festival. He is identified with the Pagan horned deities Pan and Cernunnos.



May 10, 2009

  • Writers Choice Featured Questions Week 47

    Writing prompts for discerning writers with more to say
    than Xanga's Featured Questions gives them credit for.

    five questions for this week

    Last week, did you notice? I submitted five questions to the featured questions chatboard and one of them was featured... when they were doing the maintenance. Nice, huh? It wasn't even the best of them, IMO. Ah well. Not sure if I should be flattered they finally featured one of mine or insulted by their question choice and timing. On the other hand, it got 367 views, more than any other question from last week.

    For a little change of pace, here are the questions I submitted, including the one that was featured. Use any or all of them as writing prompts this week.

    *Is anyone ever really satisfied with their job? Have you ever loved a job initially and then down the road come to hate it?

    *What is your most unusual interest? Is it a secret?

    *Are you a reader? Do you use the internet for audio/visual recreation, or do you spend most of your time online reading? If you mostly use the internet to read, are you an avid reader of books/magazines as well?

    *Do you actively seek new things to learn and grow?

    *Does everyone need a purpose? If you live without purpose, can you really claim that you are living, or are you really just existing?

    Answer any one or all of these questions in the coming week. I try to mix the whimsical with the serious here, so hopefully there is at least one question here for everyone.
    May 10th


    The sacred marriage of the God Shiva to the goddess Meenakshi is celebrated by faithful followers in Madurai, India. Sacred hymns are sung and offerings of incense and white flower petals are made at all the temples dedicated to Shiva.


    Tin Hau, the Chinese goddess of the North Star and the sea, is honored with a festival in Hong Kong. Chinese legend says Tin Hau, the daughter of a fisherman in China's Fujian Province, had visions that enabled her to predict storms. On one occasion she saved her father's boat from a terrible storm and in other stories she saved people from drowning. Chinese fishermen regard her as their protector and Tin Hau temples dot China's coastline wherever there are fishing communities. Her birthday is celebrated to bring safety, security, fine weather and full nets during the coming year. Seafarers adorn with their boats with colorful ribbons praising the goddess for past protection and praying for future luck. The boats are loaded with symbols of devotion and with offerings to the goddess.


    Neith goes forth along the river on the 26th day of Payni.



May 9, 2009

  • WCFQ 46c: The Betrayer and the Betrayed

    What is the most difficult thing to forgive?
    Lalizka

    Betrayal, I think, is the hardest thing to forgive because betrayal is so... personal. We take it personally, even if the other person never cared and we know they never cared. Betrayal is a denial of one's importance, either in your own eyes or the betrayer's. When you are betrayed, it feels as if the betrayer has rejected the very essence of who you are.

    Betrayal assumes a connection, a foundation of trust. No one asks for trust; it is given and only sometimes earned. Usually people don't know that they have given their trust until it is betrayed in some small or large way. Say you have a friend whose company you enjoy and who seems to enjoy yours, but they are only ever around when they need a shoulder to cry on. One day, you realize that whenever you need someone, they have excuses as to why they can't help "this time." Or say you have plans to hang out with someone and they cancel every time, even at the last minute after they have made absolutely certain of the time and place. So you realize that you trusted that person, or at least trusted that the person was a friend, but that doesn't sound very much like a friend, does it? And sure the excuses always sound valid, but the person is your friend, you expect that you won't always be the only one who compromises, right? The one who says, of course I understand, it's life. Oh well. But it stings your pride that this person whose company you enjoy doesn't enjoy yours quite as much.

    In case you haven't guessed, the scenarios above match two different friends I had/have. It takes two for betrayal I guess, in order to feel betrayed you have to feel like the other person either takes you for granted or has maliciously attacked something you hold dear. While I've never encountered the latter from some whose opinion matters to me, I've often experienced the former. It just seems like I am not the kind of person others want to "hang out with." Something about me is "not fun" maybe. Oh, I'm not whining, but for the sake of this question, I'm answering honestly. I'm not the kind of person to inflict myself on others, especially people I consider friends. Of course, once they make it clear by their actions (or lack thereof) that they don't want my company, I guess our friendship is over. It's one of the reasons the internet is so important to me. I may have to wait for others to respond to my words, but at least I know that there are people who will make the effort to let me know how they feel about how I feel. Obviously, if they didn't feel like it, they wouldn't respond at all. So I know who my friends are online and most of them are better friends than the ones I've had in the RW.
    May 9th

    During Lemuria, Romans thought the gates between this world and the next opened on the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth, allowing restless lemures to pour through into our world. At midnight, when all things are sleeping and silent, worshipers brought gifts to the dead and made the la fica or mano fica (fig) sign against the evil eye (made by closing all the fingers into a fist, and thrusting the thumb between the first and second fingers).

    The male head of every household performed a midnight ritual on each of the three nights of the festival. After washing his hands three times, he would walk through the house, spitting or tossing black beans behind for the ghosts. Washing his hands again, he would strike a brass vessel and call out nine times, "Shades of my father, depart" or "These I cast; with these beans I redeem me and mine." The ghost is thought to gather the beans, following unseen behind.

    On the 25th day of Payni, The Akhet Eye pleases Ra.