Solitary confinement

Life is one big busy schedule! I have clinic now, 12 hours a week. On top of my 15 hours of classes. Throw in izzy's classes and online classes, and vincent's preschool, AND our room mates two jobs and school and clinic, and you realize you forgot to schedule time to breathe.
I'm really enjoying the fast pace of everything though. its challenging and fulfilling and setting me one step closer to my dream. and also to a more open schedule lol!
Our new place has a fire pit along with a giant back yard. I am excited to use it, perhaps for yule? I also have space now to have all my "Pagan stuff" out, and not stuffed into a giant bin(s). While i don't have much time to do anything or finish reading any books, I do manage to meditate on occasion, which helps me to stay focused on the main goal: graduating. I also get a few prayers in here and there, and practice with energy work gets thrown in there too! Unfortunately its all been solitary. I miss being with a group. It seems the gods just don't have that in the plan right now. I emailed a friend of mine last night, the high priestess for a coven i have been interested in working with, to let her know I just didn't have time. She told me that was alright and I could still take part when i had time. I was excited, then she posted that coven activities are now post-poned til further notice as she has some personal issues going on.
I also tried to join 2 different groups in my area, and even tried to start one. One group has pretty much ignored me, and another had not so great planning and then shut down. The group I tried to start never got further than an idea really.
Oh well, perhaps this is just meant to be a time for me to work by myself. Perhaps there is some lesson I can learn before joining with a group? Or perhaps time is just against me right now?
No matter what, I know if i stick to whats important and graduate, life will get MUCH better :)

School and Moving

I am finally through the first 16 weeks of massage school! My massage theory and practice practical, where i had to massage an LMT (Licensed massage therapist), was passed with a 97! I would have had a 98 but I need to practice more with my SOAP notes. My LMT said she will be coming back to see me once I'm on the clinic floor, which of course has me grinning from ear to ear. I also passd my Anatomy and Physiology final with a 158/157. I got the extra credit lol. I'm very proud of myself. Next classes start November 1st. Refresher math and Kinesiology. I also get to start my clinic hours then. I need 180 hours of massage to graduate. That seems like a lot but time will fly by.
This set of classes actually ends tuesday. And wednesday I will be moving! Closer to college and farther from negative family. This weekend is being spent packing rather than celebrating my wonderful test scores lol. But its all for the better! I have a few things I want to post about but no promises. Life has certainly been busy since starting school!

New books

I'm still making an attempt to post. I know, I know, its been a month since my last post. I still have plenty I want to post about, just rarely do I get the time to. Luckily I think I have gotten the hang of things and everything has begun to slow down a bit. Our oldest is in preschool now and loving every minute of it. Izzy and I are getting A's and B's and have managed to get some sort of schedule down, however hectic it may be.
I've also taken on two new books to read, Wicca the Complete Craft by D.J. Conway and The Element Encyclopedia of Birthdays by Theresa Cheung. I have heard a lot of great things about D.J. Conway's books and so I look forward to reading this one. As I have said before, I am not wiccan. That doesn't mean I don't wish to learn all I can about different pagan paths. It's always better to study a wide variety and decide your own beliefs than to read one book and decide its your new bible!
So far the Element encyclopedia has been very interesting. I enjoyed reading about my birthday and various family and friends, and Izzy and our friends all had fun looking up their own birthdays. There's also a nice introductory section.
Border's is currently going out of business, so the stores all over the country are having huge sales. Now is the time to buy books if you have always been unable to due to the high cost of some books. I believe the end of september is when they close their doors for good, the closer it gets to that day the better the sales get. But remember, the selection will be pretty sparse the closer that day gets too!
Hope everyone still has some interest in this blog. And good luck to all those of you who are back in school now or will be starting school very soon!

My guilty pleasure



Blue, gold, red, gold tigers eyes

In class the other day we were talking about things people tend to blow money on. That one thing, that you just have to buy even though you don't really need it. That cup of coffee from starbucks every morning (No, you do not NEED it), going out to eat more than occasionaly, buying shoes even though you have twenty pairs at home. At the time, I couldn't think of anything. I like to spend money on my kids, when i have money that is. Though I can tell myself no because I don't want them to be spoiled (They have grandparents for that).
Then I went to The Next Millenium, the pagan shop in town. Now, I strongly believe that you do not need fancy tools to cast a solid spell. You do not have to have a 300 dollar robe, 100 dollar wand, and every essential oil imaginable to "be somebody" in the pagan community. With that said, I still can't resist wanting every crystal/rock/gem in that store.

Blue lace agate. moonstone at side

I have all kinds of stones. Blue tigers eye, red tigers eye, gold tigers eye, amethyst, rose quartz, rutilated quartz, bloodstone, jasper, red goldstone, blue goldstone, pyrite, howlite, onyx... Maybe I shouldn't list everything. I'm no expert on the subject, but it is a subject very close to my heart. Over the years I have gathered a nice little collection. Friends and family know that a rock is a great gift. Especially if its one i dont already have!
Walking into that store, and seeing the huge selection of stones always makes my pockets burn. There are just so many uses for them. Meditation, spells, charms, jewelry, etc.. I love wearing different stones as a necklace. The different properties come in handy for different situations. Like quartz for healing, or pyrite for luck.

Stones have so many uses and properties. I won't share them all here as that would take a while. You can find some good books on the subject though. Or look online for crystal properties.

Snowflake obsidian

If you want to get some stones but don't have a lot of money to spend, head down to the water and look at rocks around there. Go hiking and pick up a few that call out to you. Explore a cave or two. You may just end up finding something you never thought you would. And If you don't know what you found, look it up. What color is it? where did you find it? Ask someone or look in a book or online. There are some jewelry stores that may be able to tell you what you have, though they tend to be the smaller stores. Think outside the box and be open to things. You find a dirty blackish blue rock and think its probably nothing. You rinse it off and notice there are sparkles on it! You may have just found a blue goldstone. Congratulations!

-Lynx

What a week!

So i have survived my first week of massage classes! I absolutely love everything about being back in school. Its fast paced, fun, everyone is so friendly, and I love that I'm finally doing what I've always wanted too.
Despite having a migraine for the last two days, I toughed it out. nothing is gonna stop me from being in class everyday, especially since if i miss more than two classes its an automatic fail. I also have my portable massage table now so everyone in my house is being spoiled as my practice dummys. I'm sure that once I start to get more of a time plan worked out I'll be able to keep up with this more.

So I'll end this post with a question, How do you keep up with hectic schedules?

Time passes by

Vincent with sparklers

Been a while since my last post, and by awhile I mean like a week or so. Sorry for the time lapse folks, life has gotten rather busy for me. There was the fourth of july which is more of a weekend event, and once that was said and done, I had orientation and school stuff to take care of before monday. YAY monday!! That's when my classes will be starting!

But now to the nitty gritty.

Fireworks! Izzy took this picture.

Writing a blog like this requires a few things. First, a good main topic. My main topic is just my everyday pagan life. Things I found useful, articles I stumbled across that I felt like sharing, recipes and spells I think would come in handy. I also throw some posts about my family and LGBT issues in there too, as these are important things to me. My blog has variety, a wide range of topics, without being completely scattered, at least I like to think so!

I took this. It looks like a dragon.

Second, it needs flavor. I'm talking humor and fun. I dunno about you guys but I can't stand reading something that is just: here are the facts. done. I want to make my readers smile, maybe even chuckle a little. We pagans tend to have interesting lives, why not bring out that color in what I write?

Finally, it needs readers. While I have gathered quite a few readers in just a short amount of time, I like to have some interaction and hope to gain more readers. So don't forget that this blog has a page on facebook! The more likes the page gets, the more I can do with the blog. I want to start doing giveaways and contests. I'd like to have discussions about topics my readers find interesting. I'm also going to start doing tarot readings for anyone that asks, of course this might not last long because as the numbers rise, I wont be able to do readings as much. and yes the readings will be free! I need the practice and don't see a reason for charging money.

Izzy did this one too :)

So just reminder, share this with friends and family, plaster the link on walls!

Also, another reminder, My classes are monday-thursday in the afternoons. I won't be able to write as much, but I'm gonna try and keep up with this. If I don't get to post a blog, I'll at least try and post some links on the fb page so you'll have something to read til I can post again! Hope everyone enjoyed their fourth of july, and my firework pictures!

~Lynx

Tarot madness

Tuesday my aunt asked me to do a tarot reading for her over skype. We used to do readings all the time when I lived closer so I was happy to do it. The next day I felt like someone else needed a reading done. I often get these "feelings" and though i dont know exactly how to explain them, I just know things. So, i posted on my facebook that i was willing to do tarot readings for anyone who needed one.

The cosmic tarot deck. The deck I use!

Boy did I get what i asked for! Yesterday alone I did 9 readings. And every time the person would tell me how eerily accurate it was or how helpful it was. Well, I was on a roll, so this morning I offered to do more readings, bringing the tally to 14.

Normally, I don't put much stock into tarot. I always looked at it as simply a random drawing of cards that could pertain to any situation in ones life. Of course, i still loved doing readings. Its a great way to put thoughts in order and get some perspective. You may feel like you are making the wrong choice, so you do a traot reading and while reading the cards, whatever they may say, you focus on your issue and are able to solve it.
I didn't really believe that it was much more than that honestly. But after doing all those readings, and hearing from others, some even strangers, how exact it was. Well, im starting to think maybe there is more to it. I think I'll start studying more and try to learn the cards better so i dont have to glance at my book every so often anymore. Im also going to try and memorize the medicine cards as those are my favorite!

What are your experiences with tarot? Would you rather give a reading or recieve a reading?