Tag Archives: Priestess

You Fix You

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8. Your job is to fix you. If others learn from your example, great. If not? Move along.

 

I learned a thing from one of my mentors this summer. (If she knew that this was about her, she’d be VERY upset with me. HI PAM!) Here’s the thing:  A priestess or priest runs rituals, ceremonies and creates spiritual experiences for themselves. If anyone else, wants to come along, do the work and do the homework, that’s great. If not? Oh well.

Ya’ll……

YA’LL!!!!!

That very thought added a foundation to my ideas of what a priestess is, stuck a pin where I have my convictions and made the globe of “who am I?” stop spinning.

I stopped waiting for my community to formally recognize me as a priestess. I stopped fantasizing over a regal neck torc and elaborate ceremony to get it.  I realize now that I fully believed that the ceremony and the ‘thing’ of getting a torc were the end all and be all of a priestess.  Honestly, they just part of the window dressing. Those things are not what makes me a priestess.

NO Lia Fáil NEEDED.

Forget the super expensive brass or gold neck torc. I went out, got a functioning wrist one – made with copper and bullets – and got back to work.

Once my head stopped spinning, I took a look at my ritual archive. No, not of the ones I’ve done publically – the “other” one.  I have a scary impressive bank of ideas, rituals, thought processes and ceremonies that I’ve never felt I had the support to pull off.

I’ve got a full year long devotion made for my patron god.  (Don’t worry, I’m recovering the website.)

 

I’ve got a proposal for creating a new way to learn to be a bard by using what we have available.

I can travel with my own painted labyrinth when introspection is needed:

I can make a mean magic potion

I know what I am. I know who I am. I know what I want to do in my spiritual life. And, if ya’ll want to come along for the ride? Do the homework and get a helmet. Cuz I got this idea for a road opening ritual that will be pretty epic… along with a few more crazy ideas.

Who am I? You can call me Rev Terrie Mountain Fire

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Success is a choice.

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7. it’s not your job to fix anyone. Give them all the tools and encouragement –and walk away. If they won’t make the effort or fight for themselves, what’s the point?

We currently live in a strange spiritual ecosystem. Many new folks are running away from established and structured spiritual paths or religions only to find haphazard and stranger paths as a ‘pagan.’ One must be wary on the path as the idea of ‘new age’ spirituality (if not the name) creeps in and douses every action in ‘love and light.’

Those of you who have been on this path know that ‘love and light’ are only half of the equation.

As we find our way in this ‘new age’ flavoured pagan world, we see many who are broken and hurt in all kinds of ways from their own experiences. Those with more femme energy often get sucked into a trap of ‘tend and befriend.’  These femme energy people are caught in a dangerous loop. They proclaim that they want to love and help everyone and foolishly try to do so. They are frustrated when the people they help just don’t seem to ‘get’ that they have the tools they need to heal and move forward.

However, some just can’t walk away from the losing situation.

Let me be clear, there is a significant amount of people who have mental or physical issue. They are usually completely incapable of healing their trauma or body. They are not my focus.

I’m speaking to those who know darn well that doing this wrong and will not help themselves. These are the people that always ask for free readings to get clarity on their latest life drama. These are the people who, despite everything they are told, will go from reader to reader (and sometimes drop a lot of money) to get the answer they want. These are the people who will always ask for energy to help them through the day or daily issues that they create themselves.

Cue the losing situation.

A few of my colleagues will enjoy me saying this: Most people are not cursed or hexed. They just refuse to learn from their mistakes and continue to make bad decisions. THE END.

So for all the “love and light” people, there is no light that will illuminate all the darkness in people. When you take the magic user, witch, or magician approach, everyone has all the tools and energy they need to overcome everything. Success becomes a choice.

I’ll say it again: SUCCESS IS A CHOICE.

If you choose to help someone, anyone, and they don’t choose to take your advice or example? Who is the bigger fool? The one who keeps trying even though they know it won’t work? I’ll just stop you right there since we know that’s the answer.

Now some of us are hard wired to have a good heart. That makes this world a difficult place. If you’re looking for hard and fast rules, try baseball: three strikes, then you are out of there. Try your best three times and then move along.  “Pitching” to people who refuse to come up to “bat” is a waste of time and energy.

To level the playing field, I was one of those people who just didn’t “get” it for a long time. My “tend and befriend” folks quickly turned in to “fight and flight” folks. Inevitably, there would be an argument and a break up.  Don’t worry. I got my head out of my ass one day. Things are better now. However, the lesson stuck.

I can’t fix everyone. I can only fix myself. I’ll give everyone a shot and all the tools they need. After that? The choice is theirs.

Looking for more of me? Please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on RedBubble or a Paypal tip https://paypal.me/BMQRVT/5

Make Mistakes

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Make Mistakes

Yes, this post is late on purpose. SMILE AND NOD.

6. You will make mistakes. Once you’re done beating yourself up, go back to the first entry.

So. Why would I send you ALLL the way back to unlearning the “Don’t hate the playa, hate the game” post? It’s simple…..and it’s not.

Here’s the thing. We live in a ridiculous world that’s made even more terrifying with the addition of social media.  Whether we want to admit it or not, we’re in a horrible loop of looking for approval and validation. We’re drawn to other people’s drama. We’re quick to judge the train wrecks happening in the lives of others with thumbs up or some other emoji. It’s a human thing.

When we post to social media and our own little “court” of followers, we are looking for approval and validation for ourselves. We are constantly trying to: course correct our social lives by asking the “hive mind” questions we can google on our own; get validation for our feelings and mindsets if there are few people locally who “grok” us; and sometimes we need that touch of assurance that we did the right thing when drama goes down in our own lives.

Did you catch it?

Here let me single it out for you:

.…”and sometimes we need that touch of assurance that we did the right thing when drama goes down in our own lives.”

Yeah, we’re constantly looking to be “right” in our lives, to always do things the “right” way, and to always get a pat on the head and a cookie when we “win.”

HOWEVER!

Humans don’t work that way. We make mistakes. We mess up. We don’t do things right all the time. And in the Kangaroo Court of Social media? One “misstep” can spiral our already low self esteem filled minds right to the depths of whatever hell we’ve made for ourselves.

It’s even worse when you’re living a Witch Life.

Most of us are studying alone. We don’t know exactly when the Gods and Spirits are talking to us. We don’t know all the pitfalls that are around us… AND, the last “elder” or mentor we had was stark raving mad… Ahem.

For the solitary practitioner, we’re obsessed with doing things “right” so we don’t accidentally curse ourselves or burn down our houses (remember the first two rules of Fire/Candle Magick).

Guess what? We’re not going to be 100% right all the time. That’s why you use your “book of shadows” / grimoire / journal to track your work. From there you can learn what works and what doesn’t – and what fails spectacularly. Remind me to tell you about the time I: 1. Almost burned down my house; and 2. Nearly cursed myself into oblivion.

Good times.

Now, that you’ve gotten through all that? Here come the warnings:

  1. RESIST THE URGE TO SHARE YOUR FAILURE. Are you’re talking to a trusted colleague who won’t talk down to you? With they help you fix it? If the answer is “no” just stop. You’re just setting yourself up for ridicule. AND! Yes, people who you think are your friends will definitely say some crap like “well you should have known, blah blah blah,” and you will get your feelings hurt. Also?
  2. RESIST THE URGE TO COMMENT NEGATIVELY ON THE FAILURES OF OTHERS. Lookit, we know that we messed up. If we’re talking about it? We are looking for that virtual hug while we clean up the mess. No need for “I told you so” or “I hope you’ve learned your lesson.” We get enough crap from our haters. We don’t need it from our friends. Why? Because:
  3. TRACK YOUR RESULTS: Good, bad or ugly, you need to know what happened so you can see where things went sideways or wrong. That journal of yours will be your lifesaver, cherry flavor, after time.
  4. Lastly, DON’T GIVE UP! The reason why we humans go through this horrible cycle of shame is so that we can evolve. When the first humans ate berries, no one knew which ones were poisonous… soooo you can see how that worked out. As a species, we look to the failures of others to make sure we don’t make the same mistake. And yet, taking those chances made us better human beings.

 

So take chances, get messy, and make mistakes. Learn from them. Forgive yourself, and get busy making more magic.

Looking for more of me? Please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on RedBubble or a Paypal tip https://paypal.me/BMQRVT/5

 

 

No Shortcuts

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No Shortcuts

We skipped spring and went right into summer. As I look down at my pot belly and realise that I’m not going to fit in last year’s clothes, I’m reminded of the next lesson like a smack upside the head. Dieting and exercising now is too late.
5. There are no shortcuts to success or enlightenment. I’m not even sorry.
What does that mean? If I had a dollar for every time someone wanted a quick fix spell, stone, potion, oil or whatever to fix their life or their problems, we’d be having a much different conversation.
TL; DR: IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY!
OK here we go. Calling yourself a witch, wizard, magician or whatever title of the year and not actively practicing magic or energy work is pointless. That’s right, I’m calling ya’ll out. If you don’t do the work? The title doesn’t fricken matter. Know why people don’t practice? Because it’s work.
That’s right. Practicing magic takes work. It takes less work to quit smoking cold turkey than to use magic to empower stones, herbs and spells to quit smoking. Don’t believe me? Go ask your elders. I’ll wait. Mean while, enjoy this lovely quote.
 
And we’re back. Didn’t like those answers eh? Didn’t think so. So why do magic at all? It’s a way to regulate our own personal energy. Lemme say it again. It’s a way to regulate our OWN PERSONAL ENERGY – not the moon’s energy, not the sun’s energy, not the ocean’s energy, not the trees’ energy – OUR OWN.
Me? I got a Fire Moon, I got a lot a passion and rage boiling inside. Doing the energy work helps me regulate what I have and keep control of my flames. Why? I keep control so that in the event that I need to work fast and hard I can turn on my fire and power up almost any spell or candle in a moment’s notice.
 
Now, for those of you who are wondering about the shortcut angle, here it is. I’ve been a witch 14 years. The first ten years sucked. A LOT. Why? I tried to find shortcuts to everything. I desperately tried every spell that I didn’t have to use my own energy for because I was a lazy uneducated shortcut seeking witch.
 
What happened? I got real broke, real fast. It’s EXPENSIVE to keep trying spells, buying stones, getting jewelry and the like in an effort to make the magic *go*. Yeah, about that. It didn’t work. But something *did* work. I wanted big changes in my life and whoo boy did I get them. I also got a smack upside the head about what devotion to the gods, my community and my magic really meant.
 
The first thing? I had to take care of myself. That’s not right. First I had to learn discipline. I had to learn to not just take care of myself, but to KEEP taking care of myself. Yes, that meant going to bed at reasonable time, eating my vegetables, laying off the cheap booze and taking my medication. Stay with me on this, there is a point. After that? Laundry, making my bed and keeping the clutter out of the house. Those things are key just like taking care of myself. Like I said, it’s not just doing it once. It’s keeping the ball rolling and staying on top of things even when you’re sick, tired, drunk or otherwise not really thinking about things. There’s a point I swear.
Now if you’re picking up what I’m putting down, go with me a bit further. If you do all these things, then you’re ready to get on with the magic. DO THE DOGGONE ENERGETIC EXERCISES EVERYDAY. You can do it! How do I know? You’ve set yourself up for success. Migraine? No biggie. You’ve manage to take out the garbage and do laundry with a migraine. Visualization is a snap. Hungover? Whatever. You’ve managed to make groceries, make the bed and go to work hung over. Cleansing your energy and resetting your shield is no big thing.
NOW WE GET TO THE POINT!
So you’ve got the discipline down. No matter what happens, you’ve got your energy work down and under control. Then something happens. You get the phone call that something is going down and you need to work some mojo. Guess what? You won’t fly off the handle and half ass a spell. Why? FRICKEN DISCIPLINE. You got this. You know how to control your energy power through anything.
So here we are, it’s after you’ve just thrown the bones and thrown down. Guess what you’re going to feel like afterward? SICK AND HUNGOVER. Guess what else? You got this. You know how to take care of yourself sick and hungover. You know how to reset your own energy and work with it to get back on track.
It’s all making sense, yeah? So that was the good news. Here’s the bad news: This doesn’t happen over night. It takes lots of time. If you’re really adept at energy work? It will take six months to a year to completely get control. If you’re lazy like me? It will take longer.
 
Now? I can power up almost any time for almost anything. I can access the energy around me (we’ll teach that later, kids), in the event that I’m tapped out. If there is a ritual or magic working that I have to give my all and then some? I got it down. And when it’s all over? I have the energy cleansing rituals on auto pilot when I shower and go to bed. I’ll be able to feed myself and take my meds. I’ll be able to get to work next day and only be a bit grumpy.
No shortcuts. #NOTSORRY

Playa & Game

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As promised, here we go in depth for the things I’ve learned in the past few years. The first hurts the worst. Let’s rip the bandage off fast, yeah?

1. Unlearn the modern hip maxim “don’t hate the playa, hate the game.” Don’t bother hating unless you’re going to use that energy to get things done.

For those in the hip hop and subsequently hipster scene, ya’ll know this one. The translation is something like “all is fair in love and war” or “this is just business.” And it’s true. Not sorry. In the society we live it, we have a system. Sure, it’s broken. That’s the way it is.

 

For those are “spiritual,” you’ll run afoul of this system every damn day. Yup. Life ain’t fair. No country is perfect. Shit happens. Spells don’t seem to work, etc., ad nauseum. However, you don’t have to get used to it. Let’s talk about hate or rather getting angry that you can’t get what you want.

Emotions are energy. Read it again. Read it out loud. EMOTIONS ARE ENERGY.

You pay that spiritual hydro/energy bill in motivation and time. This is the same energy as love, happiness, success, power, desire, determination and the like. This is the stuff that gets you through bad times, and gives you a second wind when you got nothing left. The longer you spend any anger, hate, envy, and jealousy type emotions on a problem, person or situation? You are wasting precious energy that you can’t get back.

For those who have objections, depression and sadness are a whole other blog post. Bear with me.

So something went down in your life. Your spell didn’t seem to work. Someone sniped your EBay bidding war. Gossiping harpies got you fired from work. Insert the hate, anger, and frustration. You feel it. It’s vibrating under your skin. You can’t get that thing you spelled for (right now). The EBay listing was one of kind. The work harpies all got raises after you left. What good is your hate going to do?

My Chaos Magician friends and Alchemists will tell you to process that emotion. Break it down until the hate, anger, and frustration are in their purest form, which is simple energy. Now use it as fuel. Cast a new spell. Manifest that EBay listing for an item that is the same or better. Let the work harpies ruin their own lives while you move on to bigger and better things. Those who taunt you, throw curses at you, mock you and your failures, are simply trying to manipulate you. If you use all your energy getting mad? You can’t get even or ahead now can you?

Yeah it’s like that.

Now, this all sounds super easy in a blog post. It’s not. It’s hard. It’s exhausting. Know what? It’s also worth it. It’s worth every night of crying. It’s worth every bitten tongue when your failures are thrown in your face. It’s worth every second of meditation. Why? Once you’re done? You know every “playa.” You know what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. You will own the “game.” Sure, you’ll seem like a cold hearted ass at times. Yet it’s worth it.

It’s worth the hard work when you see the work harpies in the same position you left them years ago, while you’ve progressed and surpassed them. It’s worth the work to not only get a higher quality item from Ebay and to get it cheaper. It’s worth the work when you rework your spell and remove all the blockages to get more than you asked for AND have the original spell finally work.

Noli pati a scelestis opprimi

Don’t let the bastards grind you down

Palmam qui meruit ferat

Learn it and Earn it

Nihil boni sine labore

Nothing is earned without hard work

Laborare

GRIND!