Virtues are good. Virtues tend to be linked to morality, rather than ethics.* This entire Delphic Maxim series is based on what I consider virtues. I also think of virtues as strengths of character. As a parent this particular Maxim is doubly important. My son is 4 and 3/4 years. I don’t know if 4 was this hard for other parents (I’m hearing that yes it was/is), but in our house it has been the season of Dr. Jekyll and... Read more
Expansion, contraction, expansion, contraction. It would be nice if this was an easy, regular pattern for change and growth in our lives. Dependable like breathing, predictable intervals, clear pay-offs. But it’s not. Sometimes some parts of us are expanding, while other parts are contracting. Sometimes our expansion hits limitations or boundaries and we have to contract a little. Sometimes we resist one kind of expansion in favor of another kind. I’ve had a season of dramatic expansion. Parts of it... Read more
This weekend – every President’s day weekend – is Pantheacon, the largest indoor Pagan conference/gathering in the world, in San Jose, CA. I’ve been twice, and I’ve been itching to go back ever since. To me, PCon (as it’s known) is like a family reunion. I get to spend time with my fellow Feri students, meet other practitioners I’ve only known online, and share some magic together. There are rituals and workshops, lectures and panels, hospitality suites and parties, and... Read more
I got online yesterday morning and couldn’t figure out why so many people were talking about the Pope. I don’t have too many Catholic friends on Facebook. Was he dead? Many of my friends pay attention to religion in some form. What I found was even more surprising. At this point, you may be aware that Pope Benedict XVI is resigning. From what I understand it’s the first time in around 600 years that’s happened. The last time was during... Read more
Uh-oh. How is this maxim possible? Everybody has faults and everyone messes up from time to time. How are we supposed to not find faults with others? I actually tried to look this one up. I found a little commentary by Epictetus in The Enchiridion. It seems to be about not blaming others for things that we can control and not putting our responsibilities on those people or situations that we can’t control. In a way, this maxim is a... Read more
I didn’t get a tarot reading from some one until years after I started studying the tarot myself. It is very possible that my first reading wasn’t until 2009, in Daylesford, Australia, the one that suggested I’d be moving abroad – and soon. (She was right. We had decided to move to Wales the day prior, and 9 months later we were in Wales.) I still primarily read for myself. For the last year or two I’ve begun taking advantage... Read more
Andrew Bowen is an angry, self-righteous asshole. That’s probably why we get along so well, and why his book, Project Conversion: One Man, 12 Faiths, One Year, is so powerful. Full disclosure: Andrew’s blog, Project Conversion, began in 2011 and was one of the inspirations for me starting My Own Ashram. Through mutual blog reading and various discussions via Facebook he and I have become friends and allies in our spiritual journeys, though we’ve never met in person. When he asked me... Read more
Yes! A maxim I’m already good at! I am by nature very critical. Do you need some one to pick something apart? I’m your girl! On the flip side, if you need a cheerleader, if you need some one to get excited about you and what you’re doing, if you need some encouragement, I am equally your girl. I love to praise to what is good. So many people will gladly disparage those around them in an effort to build... Read more
Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, or sometime in the next week to ten days, depending on how you follow these sorts of things, is Imbolc, cross quarter Sabbat of Celtic origin and propagated via Wicca and various witchcraft traditions. I have tended not to observe this holiday very much. I resonate a lot with all things Celtic, but I admit I’ve been intimidated by the heavy academic bent to much of Celtic Reconstruction practice. Now, I’d like to expand... Read more
This one is easy. Long for wisdom? I’ve been yearning for it my whole life. Actually, I yearned for knowledge, confusing the two. When I was 11 wisdom and knowledge seemed like the same things. I distinctly remember spending hours looking through a family friend’s college viewbooks (remember those? from before the internet?). By 12 I had decided that I wanted to go to Bowdoin college in Maine and eventually get a PhD so I could be the smartest girl... Read more
A Witch's Ashram
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