{"id":1132,"date":"2017-03-01T10:02:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T00:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:30:58","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:30:58","slug":"coh-virtue-temperance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2017\/03\/coh-virtue-temperance.html","title":{"rendered":"The CoH Virtue of Temperance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Covenant of Hekate is guided by five virtues<\/a>, we are supposed to uphold these virtues for the Covenant and for Hekate, as well as for ourselves.\u00a0 When we find one lacking in ourselves, we are to try to work on the problem.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s expected that we will all be lacking in some of the virtues throughout our lives, we aren\u2019t perfect and probably never can be.\u00a0 The point isn\u2019t to be perfectly aligned to the virtues, just to try, to work on them, to better ourselves in whatever ways we need at various times.<\/p>\n

At the start of the year Sorita our Keybearer asked us which of the virtues we, as individuals, thought we need to work on the most this year.<\/p>\n

My answer was the same as the one I answered when I first joined the CoH last year.<\/p>\n

\"Sometimes
public domain via pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Temperance<\/h2>\n

Moderation and self-control are both acts of Temperance. A person attempting to develop the virtue of Temperance within their daily life and practise may choose to restrict some part of their life be that thought or action in an attempt to find a balance rather than choosing to allow extremes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this context, temperance can really refer to many different things.\u00a0 Any sort of excess and\/or addiction is pretty obvious here \u2013 whether it be food, shopping, drugs\/alcohol, or anything like that.\u00a0 But there are things that perhaps aren\u2019t quite so obvious.<\/p>\n

I have my normal addictions, such as to caffeine and nicotine \u2013 but these aren\u2019t really things that I find problematic right now, at least not within the scope of this virtue. My issues with this virtue stem from other areas.<\/p>\n

Shhhh! Be Quiet!<\/h2>\n

I am nosy and opinionated.\u00a0 Not unlike a lot of people, I enjoy getting into the thick of debates and having my say.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an unusual thing in this internet social media age, and I don\u2019t really suffer from the problem many others have.\u00a0 I can debate and attack the topic without attacking people.\u00a0 I am even pretty good at defending positions I don\u2019t particularly agree with.<\/p>\n

My problem here is actually the choice of when to speak\/write and when to just keep my mouth shut and fingers still.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gotten better over the past few years.\u00a0 Back in 2012 or so I had little control over my reactions to stupid statements and would jump into every debatable thing I saw.\u00a0 Over time I have realised this isn\u2019t really good for me \u2013 and it\u2019s generally pointless anyway. Jumping into too many debates and arguments, you end up pretty stressed \u2013 even when you don\u2019t really care about the topic, you still feel a tension in your body just from the act of debating.<\/p>\n

So for the most part this isn\u2019t a huge problem anymore.\u00a0 But, occasionally I don\u2019t realise that joining a simple discussion is going to end up going the wrong direction, and often it\u2019s because of something I say.\u00a0 A good example is a discussion from last year on Facebook, in one of the Hellenic groups I am in.<\/p>\n

Someone asked about the November Hekate festival, they just wanted to know about how to make an offering for the festival, simple question.\u00a0 Others asked about the festival itself, historical veracity etc.\u00a0 I, without thinking, answered that it has no history that we know of.\u00a0 And suddenly I and some others were told that we were judging people who celebrate modern festivals and we\u2019re purist traditionalists and all of that.<\/p>\n

I am still not entirely sure how I came across as being judgemental or purist \u2013 especially considering the fact that I am not traditionalist and actually do celebrate modern festivals, even creating my own region specific ones.\u00a0 But the fact does remain, I answered someone elses question on the history of the festival and completely ignored the first question that was asked \u2013 how to make offerings for that festival.<\/p>\n

It was not a good thing to do.\u00a0 I was at that time researching the November festival for a blog post here<\/a>, and when the topic came up on Facebook, I gave into the urge to show off my limited knowledge on the subject.<\/p>\n

And so, my struggle with temperance in this area continues.<\/p>\n

Finding the Balance<\/h2>\n

I like to talk about balance, it comes up in my posts a lot.\u00a0 At the start of the year I mentioned in one of my blog posts that one of my \u201cgoals\u201d for the year<\/a> was to strive to find a better balance between all the parts of me \u2013 all of my responsibilities and desires.\u00a0 To find a better way of giving time to my blogging, homeschooling, religious observances and everything else.<\/p>\n

I have not done well so far.<\/p>\n

To be fair, I didn\u2019t have a lot of control of what has happened and though I control how I react, the things that have happened did not really leave me room to just sit back and let things go as they may.<\/p>\n

So I began the year with trying to homeschool my kids, plus just be a mum, trying to blog here, trying to do my religious duties, trying to pack to move house and trying to fight the proposed changes to the homeschooling regulations in my state.\u00a0 These things were already too much to do all at once, there was no balance to be found in this.\u00a0 With the added fun of the Patheos contract debacle and the fact that I live in a terrible town, I was pretty much so far out of balance that the word held no meaning in my life.<\/p>\n

Obviously things had to give, and the blog here was one of those things.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t do as much packing as I should have, the homeschooling certainly fell down \u2013 at least the formal homeschooling, my kids have learnt a lot about politics through all this though.<\/p>\n

And yes, I have even missed a few important rituals over the past month.<\/p>\n

But through all this, I at least did have the good thought to say no to a whole bunch of other things that I would normally say yes to.\u00a0 Even when completely overwhelmed, I still would have said yes to these things and everything would\u2019ve tumbled down as I broke into so many pieces from the weight of it all.<\/p>\n

And so, my struggle with temperance in this area continues, but I have begun to show restraint in some things at least.<\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t know what will happen next nor how I will deal with it.\u00a0 But these are things that I really do need to get a handle on.\u00a0 I need to stop putting my hand in the air to volunteer for things that I really don\u2019t have the strength to handle in the moment.\u00a0 I need to make sure I don\u2019t volunteer for so many things that, even though I can handle them in the moment, it leaves me no room to deal with the things that will inevitably pop up later on.\u00a0 I need to stop talking when my voice isn\u2019t really needed.<\/p>\n

And sometimes I just need to stop.\u00a0 Everything, all at once and just do nothing.\u00a0 It\u2019s better to stop for a day or two and abandon nearly everything, than to burn yourself out and not be able to function properly for months.<\/p>\n

So, temperance.\u00a0 The virtue I really suck at.\u00a0 But I am working on it. I suspect I will always be working on this one.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Covenant of Hekate is guided by five virtues, we are supposed to uphold these virtues for the Covenant and for Hekate, as well as for ourselves. When we find one lacking in ourselves, we are to try to work on the problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":1133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,46],"tags":[139,113,8,32,19,140],"class_list":["post-1132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-personal","tag-covenant-of-hekate","tag-hecate","tag-hekate","tag-paganism","tag-personal","tag-virtues"],"yoast_head":"\nThe CoH Virtue of Temperance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Covenant of Hekate is guided by five virtues, we are supposed to uphold these virtues for the Covenant and for Hekate, as well as for ourselves. 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