Monday Music Break: Godsmack

I was poking through my Facebook newsfeed today and I ran across this picture of Sully Erna, the lead singer of Godsmack:

 

By the way, if you haven't seen his tumblr, you should - so much eye candy ;)  

Anywho, can you believe I had no idea that anyone in Godsmack is pagan?  This makes me really excited to see that the lead singer of a well-known and popular hard rock band is openly pagan!  Hell yeah!

Source: musicianphotojournal.com

And as it so happens, I've been really feeling the hard rock/metal vibe lately.  I just got Cassandra Syndrome's newest album, Satire X, so I've been listening to that a lot.  I was also really rocking out to groups like Drowning Pool and Institute during my endless hours of driving around the Mid-Atlantic region last week.

So, you lucky darlings, enjoy some delicious, delicious Godsmack.  Here's "Awake," which has always been one of my favorites.  Strong lyrics, driving guitar rhythms, and such delightfully aggressive vocals.  Yum yum yum! 

Monday Music Break: Shores of Avalon

Hi folks.  I apologize for the radio silence lately, but things have been really rough for me over the last few weeks.  Among other things, my family has been dealing with the loss of my Grandmom.

Last week my 92-year-old Grandmom, Alma Beaty, was moved into hospice care, and was refusing food and liquids.  Her health deteriorated quickly after that, and she passed away on Friday morning.  She had dementia for many years (over a decade, I think), and was nearly blind and deaf.  My Dad said she never really recovered from the surgery she had to repair a broken femur a couple months ago, which I guess was just too much for her body to handle on top of everything else.

I wasn't really close to Grandmom, due to living far away and having difficulty connecting to her through her dementia.  But I am still sad that she died.  At the same time, my parents and I have taken comfort in the fact that she is finally released her from all the pain, suffering, and confusion.
 
Here's a photo of the last time I saw her, on Mother's Day last year.  That's my Dad on the left, me, Grandmom, and my Aunt Kathy.  I think my Mom was taking the photo.

I wanted to dedicate today's Monday Music Break to my Grandmom, and to everyone who has lost someone lately.  It is a sad but very beautiful song by Tina Malia called "Shores of Avalon," about how we'll all meet our loved ones again in the Summerland.

Peace on, Grandmom. 

Monday Music Break: P!nk

Did you guys see that article on The Wild Hunt the other day about how more people are identifying as spiritual, but not religious?  In it, pop musician P!nk was quoted as saying she love Native American spirituality, Buddhism, and paganism?  (You can see the full 5-minute interview on BBC - I definitely recommend watching it, very entertaining!)

Photo by Corbuzon, from Wikipedia

I've been feeling a strong need for images of powerful, independent women in my life right now, so this couldn't come at a more perfect time.  I was super excited to read that a powerful feminist artist like P!nk draws from paganism as part of her spirituality.

So for today's Monday Music Break I'm going to share my favorite Pink song, "Raise Your Glass."  For all of us pagans who live on the fringes of society, all of us freaks and geeks, and my fellow pirates, cheers!

Who do you look to as an image of a powerful, independent woman?

Remember, the Minions Love You

It seems I've come down with the nasty cold/flu thing that's going around lately, and I'm feeling pretty cruddy. So, in lieu of real content I bring you some awesome things I've found on Pinterest lately! I guess we'll make this sort of like a Five on Friday.

Source: daystyledesigns.com via Stormy Heart on Pinterest

Hot Cast Goddess Quilt. Oooo. The fire and the roots are within you!

Source: elenadudina.deviantart.com via Stormy Heart on Pinterest

I am completely in love with the neopagan and fantasy art by Elena Dudina.

Source: ellix730.tumblr.com via Stormy Heart on Pinterest

Jack Harkness meets sexy lady. If someone can find out where I can buy this coat, I will love you forever.

Source: piccsy.com via Stormy Heart on Pinterest

Pretty much like that, yep.

And finally...

Source: tasteofawesome.com via Stormy Heart on Pinterest

D'awww, you have to love the minions. So adorable. Ba-na-naaaaah, po-ta-tooooooh naaaah!

Happy pinning! :)

2012 in Review

I started my blog last year, but I only posted haphazardly.  2012 was really the year I figured out what I really wanted to do with my blog, and started using my blog as a way to feature some of the super neopagan music out there.  I'm still loving that direction, and will keep on going through 2013!

In my Monday Music Break feature, I posted some really fantastic music by and for the neopagan community this year.  The two most popular MMB posts in number of views were Solas and Happy Llamas.  Some of my other favorite MMB posts from this year include Arkona, Frenchy & the Punk, Revel Moon, Bill Laswell, Kiva, and Acacia Sears.

Over the summer I celebrated my 1st bloggiversary with some of my favorite songs by pagan musicians.

I participated in the Fall 2012 edition of Bloggiesta.  This time around I learned more new tricks for making my blog more awesome, and the process I had a great time!

I reviewed Kellianna's new album, The Ancient Ones, and although I had fun, I realized that reviewing music is more difficult than I anticipated.

I took a look back at which of my 30 before 31 goals I was able to accomplish.



And finally, I used my blog as a way to share the music I myself write for the neopagan community - ritual chants.  Over the year I've been posting my Sabbat series that I completed a couple of years ago, and right now all but my Brighid chant is up (that will be posted later this month).  Go check them out:

Ostara // Beltane // Litha // Lammas // Mabon // Samhain // Yule

 

Monday Music Break: Dar Williams

So the world didn't end on Friday like so many people were predicting.  Was anyone else just a little bit disappointed?  I mean, all that hype and hoopla leading up to the 21st, and then nothing happened except the sun rose and set.  What a let down! ;-)

Since today is Christmas Eve and we've just celebrated the Winter Solstice, I decided that today's MMB should be Dar Williams' "The Christians and the Pagans."  It's about family Christmas dinner where both the Christians and the witches learned to get along. 

I'm off to spend a few days with my family for the holiday.  There's going to be the annual Christmas Eve party with my Dad's lifelong friends, and Christmas dinner with my Mom's side of the family.  Then I'll be back home and have the rest of the week off to do as I please.  Bliss!

Sing of the Light

Blessed Yule!  If you're reading this then that means the world hasn't ended ;)

I wanted to share my Winter Solstice chant with you all.  I wrote this chant several years ago as part of a Sabbat series.  While I wrote this chant, I was strongly channeling the Goddess of Reflections, who I also sometimes call the Veiled Goddess.  I had worked with her for my then-coven's Yule ritual, and ended up drawing her down unintentionally during the ritual, so by the time I wrote this chant a week or so later we were on quite familiar terms.

My altar candle for the Veiled Goddess.  It smells like honeysuckle :)

I still don't know her name, and she hasn't been showing up much lately.  Perhaps it was just one of those things where a god or goddess shows up for a while to help fill a void or give you a prod in the right direction.




Sing of the Light

In the darkness hold out your hand
Receive the light, and fan the flame 
Pass it on to your brothers and sisters 
Open your heart and listen to it sing!

It sings of the light in all of it forms 
It sings of the sun, and the moon, and stars 
It sings of their light reflecting 
And it sings with joy of love - the most beautiful light of them all.

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 record or otherwise reproduce my chants in any other way without permission. 

Stars

Source: poster-street.com

I was really shocked and saddened to hear about what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary.  I watched the news unfold over the course of the day, and just couldn't believe that someone would open fire on innocent little kids and their teachers.  Just wow.  I send my prayers to the gods that they find peace in the afterlife and that their families find healing.

On a more musical note, I'll be posting the chant I wrote for Yule later this week.  Keep an eye out :)

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Sorry for the dearth of Monday Music Break posts lately, folks.  November and December have turned out to be pretty rough on me, both at home and at work.  Hopefully January will be less stressful and I'll have the energy to work more on this blog.

I did just learn that I will be taking on some new and exciting responsibilities at my job, which should hopefully make work less stressful and more interesting.  It will give me the chance to flex my writing and editing skills some more and work on social media stuff.  I'm pretty stoked about it.

In the meantime, please check out what some of these other awesome pagan bloggers are posting about:

* Jason Pitzl-Waters just posted the Best of 2012 Show for his podcast, A Darker Shade of Pagan.  If you don't subscribe to that podcast, by the way, you should - the music he plays is kick-ass.

* My dear friend Awenydd has been writing some lovely poetry over on Stories from the Cauldron

* Teo wrote a really powerful post about cleaning up ritual space as a way to find stillness and renewal.

* Lonely Coyote wrote a neat post about working with rosemary.

* This post is few months old, but I wanted to draw attention to it: Finally the hurdles were overcome, and Literata (one of the local pagan leaders in the DC metro region) was recognized by the Arlington County Court as a clergy member, and thus able to perform marriages.  Awesome victory for the local pagan community!


Also, I have had this song stuck in my head for the last couple of days.  HALP.

Birthday Music Break!

Today is my birthday!  Two of my good friends treated me to Thai food and chocolate decadence cake last night, which was so much fun and soooo yummy.  I didn't really do much today, as it's the middle of the week and no one is available.  So I'm enjoying a quiet night in, drinking a winter ale and catching up on my DVR.

I just wanted to pop in before I go to bed to share a little music that I've been digging lately.  I've been listening to a lot of Bonnie Raitt over the last week or so.  She's one of my favorite artists, and while she's not pagan, DAMN does her music have soul!

Here is one of her songs that has a real roadhouse blues feel, "Love Me Like a Man."  Enjoy!