Manah Manah!

You're welcome ;)

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  This is a music blog, after all, and "Manah Manah!" is one of my favorite songs.  

I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday, and that your workday goes quickly.  I'm looking forward to heading over to Piratz Tavern tonight for my friend's pre-birthday celebration (the real party is tomorrow night).  What are you doing to celebrate the start of the weekend?

30 before 31: A Year in Review

Last year I made a 30 before 31 list - a list of 30 reasonably-sized goals or projects I wanted to complete before I turned 31.  My 31st birthday is almost upon me, so I thought it would be good to look at how I did with completing the goals I set for myself.

Completed //  In Progress  //  Not Completed

1. Make my blog more awesome and increase readership - I moved to a better blogging platform, started a weekly feature to share pagan music, and I've now found a focus for my blog that most inspires me.  I participated in Bloggiesta in March & September, which was super helpful.  I also tried my hand at reviewing an album, which had mixed results.  I am still really proud of myself for doing that, because it was rather out of my comfort zone!
2. Get my 1^st degree initiation - As it turns out, I was denied initiation and I was released from my coven as of March 24.  I'm still regrouping from that and mostly avoiding public rituals for awhile.  I'm still proud of myself for completing the work, though.
3. Clean out my old room at my parents’ house - I made a big dent when I visited them earlier this year, and found some interesting treasures in the process, like an envelope full of letters from my pen-pals.  I still need to tackle the rest of the boxes.
4. Get a tattoo to commemorate finishing my 1^st degree of the mark given to me by Gwynn Ap Nudd - I contacted a tattoo shop recommended by many friends, but failed to follow up on that after the degree kerfluffle.  I really need to contact them again to set up an appointment - I've been getting lots of pokes from Gwynn about that.
5. Take a real vacation with Jack (even if it’s only a weekend getaway)
6. Get a new primary care physician - I've had 2 appointments since July.  She's really nice, as are her staff, though they are not all as competent as I would like.
7. Get a rheumatologist - I'm hemming and hawing about this one.  There wasn't much my last rheumatologist could do, other than prescribe drugs that didn't work and repeat the same old nonsense about exercise.  However, my fibromyalgia is getting progressively worse, so I need to do something.
8. Get back on migraine meds
9. Talk to a doctor about getting on anxiety meds
10. Take at least one creative writing class - I looked into creative writing classes at the local community college, but I don't have the energy to take classes on top of a full-time job right now.
11. Break into freelance writing and/or editing
12. Create a kick-ass writing portfolio
13. Get a better, more fulfilling job
14. Meet Jack’s parents
15. Sell/donate more of my unwanted books, clothes, etc. - Man there was a great deal of purging during the move, including donations.
16. Finish my British Columbia scrapbook
17. Look into acupuncture - I found out my health insurance covers it now.  Score!  Now to find an acupuncturist who is in my network.
18. Get my college diploma framed
19. Visit Gettysburg again
20. Visit a museum that I’ve never visited before
21. Organize a reunion for high school classmates in the DC area
22. Sit down to cross-stitch once a week - Expecting myself to cross-stitch once a week was far too lofty a goal.  The last time I picked up a cross-stitch project was in the summer, when I sorted the thread from a new kit.  I miss the zen of putting needle and thread to fabric, though.
23. Learn a new craft
24. Cook Thai-style chicken curry from scratch - I've decided to just let the professionals make it for me, since Thai restaurants are generally not all that expensive.  That doesn't change the fact that I want all the curries.
25. Get back into yoga
26. Learn how to use my new camera to take better photos - My skills are still VERY amateur, but I've been playing around with my camera a lot and I think I'm starting to get a handle on better photo taking.
27. Grow my hair long again - I did grow it out to about halfway down my back.  But it started looking scraggly and feeling too heavy with negative emotions, so I ended up cutting it a month ago to right below my shoulders.  (The Barbed Pentacle has an interesting article about hair and energy/magick - careful, it is NSFW!)
28. Learn new hairstyles for said long hair (other than braided or in a ponytail)
29. Start an indoor herb garden - I had a kit and planted it earlier this year, but all the plants died a slow, sad death after they sprouted.  Maybe I should stick to succulents.
30. Go on a photoshoot in the park with Sha-na-na

Man, that's a lot of incomplete goals.  Some of them I've decided to abandon on for various reasons (like being released from my coven, or cutting my hair).  There's a few that I still want to maintain as goals in the coming year.

It was a fun exercise, but I don't think I will do a 31 before 32.  30 goals was a lot, and some were not really feasible or were too "big" for the purposes of the exercise.  Maybe next year I will set just 5-10 goals/projects for myself.  That seems more reasonable, and it will be more likely that I attain everything I set out to do with my year.

The Most Important Harvest

Happy Thanksgiving!  I have a chant to share with you all.  It is both a Samhain chant and a Thanksgiving chant that I wrote it several years ago as part of a Sabbat series.

Nom nom pumpkin bread!  It's a traditional part of Thanksgiving dinner in our family.

The words for this chant came straight out of a dream, in which I was saying the mealtime prayer at Thanksgiving dinner with my family - because, you know, my traditional Catholic family would ask a female neopagan to say the mealtime prayer :)  The idea of family and its love being the "most important harvest" was key to the dream.  Samhain is the last harvest - my dream (and, I am sure, Hecate, who gave me a serious chant-writing kick in the butt at that year's Hecate ritual) was telling me that all the crops and other things we harvest in the autumn are not nearly as important as the love and fellowship we "harvest" in our family (however we choose to define that family).  Since Samhain, for me and seemingly for many others, seems to be about ancestors/family, this kind of chant seemed very appropriate for the holiday as well as for Thanksgiving.




Most Important Harvest

Look around,
Holding hands - feel the connection between you.
We are all bound by blood and by choice.
This family is the most important "season,"

And its love is the most important "harvest."

Please let me know what you think!

You are free to share my post and use my chants in ritual - and I would love to know that you do!  But please do not reproduce my chants in any way without permission. 

Monday Music Break: Arkona

It's Monday, which means it's time for another Monday Music Break!

I've been listening to a lot of hard rock and metal lately, so when I tried to think of what song to post this week, I immediately thought of all the European pagan metal bands I recently discovered via the wonders of the internet.  (Okay, actually I thought first of Cassandra Syndrome, but I've already posted their music twice :)  One of those European bands is Arkona, a Russian group fronted by lead singer Masha Scream that combines elements of metal and folk in their music.

Photo by Acid Pix via Wikimedia Commons

This song by Arkona is called "Liki Bessmertnykh Bogov."  I don't have a translation of the lyrics (if you have one please post them in the comments!), but from the video description, the basic idea is that she is singing about Russian legends and traditions.

Kick-ass, right?  I might just post some more pagan metal next week :)

For all my American readers, I hope you have a happy, thanks-filled Thanksgiving!

I bust into gigglefits every time I look at this

Just dropping in to post a quick Doctor Who-themed giggle for Friday for ya'll:

You may have seen this posted up on my Pinterest board a little while ago.  Seriously, I can't stop laughing at it!  Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, indeed!  Hope you enjoyed the giggle too.

Monday Music Break: Dead Can Dance

Hey folks, happy Monday!  Apologies for the radio silence last week - real life got in the way!  I was at my work's annual conference, so I was massively busy with that.  And then I spent the weekend in recovery mode, as I was physically and mentally wiped.  Fortunately I'm (mostly) all rejuvenated now and ready to bring you some more fabulous pagan music :)

Photo by GothEric via Wikipedia

I was in need of some chill, darkish music tonight.  I recalled the group Dead Can Dance from a number of episodes of A Darker Shade of Pagan, and their music - and "Opium" especially - suits my temperament perfectly this eve.

Blessed Samhain

I hope everyone has a blessed Samhain.  As I do every year, I will share a shot of whiskey (or possibly a glass of wine) with my ancestors and light a candle to help them find a way.  I think I will also journey to speak to my patron, Gwynn ap Nudd, as he is Lord of the Dead.  He's been poking me to do that.

What are you doing for Samhain this year?

Monday Music Break: Frankenstorm Edition

Oh my goodness, it is quite wet and windy out there!  I hope everyone on the east coast is safe, warm, and dry, and stocked with all the supplies they desire to ride this storm out.  I am thankful I still have power and internet right now, and I'm hoping it stays that way!

And I don't know about the rest of you, but I know I am enjoying all of the goofy memes and videos that have cropped up.

For today's music break, I was going to post S.J. Tucker's "Storm" - it seems fitting, don't you think? -  before I remembered that I shared that song with you all rather recently, for my 1st bloggiversary.

Then I found this hilarious Hurricane Sandy playlist, so instead I'm going to share my favorite song from that list: "Hurricane Drunk" by Florence + the Machine.  (And with all of the hurricane parties I keep hearing about, it also seems quite apt!)  I have this album and listen to it all the time - her voice is just so powerful and interesting.  And from a neopagan perspective, I love all of the metaphysical imagery she uses in her lyrics and videos, including The Raven in this video.

And because Samhain is almost here (and I love ya'll), I'm going to post another Halloweeny song as a  bonus.  This is a gorgeous song by Damh the Bard called "Samhain Eve."  I'm not always a fan of his music, but I give him major props for being a long-standing, prolific presence in the neopagan musical community,  with a fairly significant fan base from what I can gather. 

Edit: sorry for the missing song!  I guess between Monday and Tuesday, much of Damh's music was changed to no longer playable or shareable on his bandcamp website.  Here is a video with lyrics instead:

Stay dry!  And remember, if the power goes out, being neopagan has its benefits - you always have plenty of candles around! ;)

Blog Awards

I've been nominated for several blog awards over the last few months.  I've been terribly lax in posting about it to thank those who nominated me for the awards.  So a very belated thank you to the three fabulous women who nominated me for these awards!

The Domestic Pagan nominated me for two blog awards, the One Lovely Blog Award and the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.  Thanks chica!

Kourtney over at The Multifaceted Experience nominated me for the Sunshine Award back in August.  Muchas gracias!

And Brenda over at Pibbles & Me nominated me for the Fabulous Blog Ribbon.  Mwah, thanks!

Some of the awards require you to provide interesting facts about yourself.  They all asked for different numbers, so I picked my favorite number, 7.  So here's 7 interesting fact about me:

1. I am a big sci-fi geek.
2. On that note, my favorite show of all time is Doctor Who.
3. Generally, when choosing where to go out to eat, I will choose Thai food.  I want all the curries.  ALL THE CURRIES.
4. My favorite flower is lilac.  So gorgeous, smells amazing, so fleeting.
5. I love football.  My team is the Philadelphia Eagles, although I live in Maryland and can't always watch them on Sundays.  My local "alterna-team" is the Baltimore Ravens (it's okay, they're in different conferences).
6. One of the things I do "for fun" is pulling invasive plants.  It's a great stress reliever!  And it benefits local ecology by removing an invader that would otherwise take over and provide no value to the native animals.  To that end, I volunteer with Montgomery County Parks as a Weed Warrior.
7. The older I've gotten, the more honesty has become a deeply-held value.

And now I'm going to break the rules for all those awards and not nominate anybody, because goodness that would exhaust my blogroll, and probably annoy everyone in the process. 

Monday Music Break: I Put a Spell On You

Happy Monday!  I hope you all enjoyed my review of Kellianna's latest album last week.

This past weekend was really rough on me.  I'm not going to bog you all down with my problems - I'll stick to being emo in a more private journal.  Let's just say that I feel the need for some silly Halloweeny goodness in what I share today.  My favorite Halloween movie of all time is Hocus Pocus.  Even though the witches are the bad guys (I mean, they suck out children's life force, that's pretty dark), there's a lot to love about that movie - great costumes and art direction, great songs, several great actors, and delightful campy-ness.  Also, a smart-alek talking cat who totally steals the show.

Now listen to the three sister witches singing "I Put a Spell on You" - then dance, dance until you die, mwa ha ha ha!!