The Chinese New Year began on January 23^rd and we have entered the Year of the Black (Water) Dragon.  Since that day some pretty major weather systems have moved around the Northern Hemisphere. If you have been watching the sky, then you know that there were major Solar Flares happening on January 23-24^th; some the greatest flares in recorded history.  In fact, the year of 2012 is the first year on record when there is not a single day that does not have solar flares; a very busy Sun this year.  So, pay attention, because the Dragon is awake and She is making herself felt.  Yes, feminine, Water!

This year, which many predict to be the end of the World, is going to be intense and all about change!  I have my doubts about the end of the World, but I don’t doubt that there is tremendous energy coming into our World that will change things, at a personal level and maybe even a global level.  The Dragon is all about change and good fortune, if you deserve good fortune.  She is also all about paying one’s debts.  The fact that this is a Water Dragon indicates that the changes and good fortune will come in mysterious ways, clothed in emotions.  That deep Water from which comes our greatest power.

As a Wiccan I attach the energy of Water to the Western Quarter.  That Quarter has many attributes, but one of the strongest is that it is the Quarter of Faith.  In our mythos the East is the place where dreams are born; the South is where you add belief to your dreams, the North is the Quarter where dreams become reality.  That leaves the Western Quarter.  It is the place where Faith is added.  For any dream to make it all the way around the Circle of reality, one must have Faith; Faith in the dream, Faith in your ability to make the dream into a reality, Faith that you are doing the right thing.

So, how does this apply to the Dragon?  If any of the Oriental Zodiac has the ability to turn dreams into reality, then it’s the Power of the Dragon.  Since this particular Dragon is a Water Dragon, then that power comes from the Heart, the place of Faith.  It is easy to have lots of dreams, even believe in those dreams as something that should happen, but how much harder is it to have Faith that the dreams can and will come true?  How hard is it to believe in your own ability to create the reality that you want?  And when everything around seems to be working against your turning the dreams into reality, how hard is it to keep the Faith going?  Those things are pretty hard for me, and I suspect pretty hard for you, as well.

So, here’s what I will do with the energy of the Water Dragon.  Whenever my Faith gets shaken, and that is a lot, I’m going draw down with my Heart all that incredible energy.  I’m applying that energy to my Faith in my dreams and myself.  When the good fortune arrives, and the dreams start coming to fruition, I will accept the energy into my Heart and let my Faith get even stronger.

Using the base of power, your emotions (not being emotional, but being strong in your Heart), have Faith that the Water Dragon stands with you and you can make your dreams come true.  Let the Dragon breathe on those dreams and make them real.  Don’t expect immediate good fortune, but watch as the year unfolds, and you might be really surprised.

And have FAITH.

I work in an academic environment, and you would think that environment would one of a Culture of Respect.   We are all trained researchers and as such should have a healthy respect for the quest for truths based on facts and data and honest, even if hard, questions.

Instead what goes on in my work place is a Culture of Fear where people are kept in their place by manipulating their fears.  What is a Culture of Fear?  Here, rather than ask questions and seek honest answers, gossip, assumptions, and sometimes, outright lies rule the day.  What that creates is a hostile work place that is controlled by fear.  What makes it that, and why does that work?  What do the people here fear?

Fear of losing a good office space, or having to share an office. (When I was offered my own office, it was under duress because some things were done very poorly in the division.  The office I was offered would have entailed throwing another full time geographer out of her office and taking the office away from her.  I declined to behave in such a dishonorable fashion, and was genuinely surprised that the powers that be could behave in such a dishonorable fashion.)

Fear of not being able to teach the classes you most love.

Fear of teaching classes in really uncomfortable rooms, or room locations.

Fear of teaching classes at really bad times, or in an uncomfortable way, like an 8:00 class and a 4:50 class on the same day, with nothing in-between.

(I’ve actually been threatened with the last two when I ask for some changes in my room assignments that would keep me from having to walk all over campus when I have a well-documented mobility issue.)

And the big one, at least on the surface:

Fear of not having your contract renewed.

But a much deeper fear, and the one I think really keeps most people under control, is the Fear that you will become the subject of hallway gossip.  It works because it can be devastating to find out that your personal business is being bandied around and made public knowledge.  Even more devastating is when you hear things said about you that are simply not true, yet no one has bothered to get any facts; the gossip is more fun.  It’s also painful.  It’s also a great way to keep people in their place because so many of us simply do not talk to anyone anymore.

So, rather than rule through respect for other people and their quest for knowledge, a handful of people have created a hostile and unhappy work place that has become Culture of Fear.  The person who could, and should, control this allows it to go on because her purposes are best served if everyone is afraid to question her authority.  She misses the point that those who lead best lead through respect, not fear.

What would be so much more effective is if all the academics were allowed to question, and get well researched and fact-based answers.  That work environment would be one of respect and create a well informed Culture of Respect in the very world where one should be the goal to be achieved, rather than the object to be avoided.

Ah, the times have changed.  I have been a loyal customer of the company Burt’s Bees for nearly 20 years.  I started buying the products back in the day when the company was new, the idea behind the product was revolutionary, and I was changing my life to match new ideals about the environment, animals, and the treatment of both.  Burt’s Bees was just starting out and needed every customer, and it had great products that matched both my needs and my ideals.

Several years ago Burt’s Bees was bought by Clorox, and I wondered what would happen.  Recently, I found out.  The product line is changing.  The very products that made me a loyal customer are now no longer being produced.  The new products are aimed at a much younger consumer.  The new products, of course, are aimed at those customers.  The very products that made me loyal are no longer being produced.  I am no longer the “target market” therefore my needs are not really important to the company; the very company that 20 years ago might not have survived without customers like me.  Now that all those early customers are 20 years older, we are not an important consumer group.

The irony is that my demographic is the one that is consistent, and has the money to back up our desires.  We might not spend the desired amount of money with each purchase, but we will always buy the product for which we have developed a loyalty.

So, now I have to find another product that matches my needs and my ideals, because Burt’s Bees has grown too big for my piddly little purchases.  I will buy from Burt’s Bees no longer since it has become a part of the very consumer culture that it once stood against.

And I caution all of you to look carefully at the ingredients list in any Burt’s Bees product.  The original product was animal friendly; no animal testing, and used no artificial ingredients.  That was the ideal that made them so strong.  Check carefully because that ideal might be changing, too.

That brings me to the Founding Fathers of the incredible country; they made a decision as they were drafting the Constitution that there would be no state religion; that instead there would be religious freedom.  In other words, they separated the Church from the State, and that was big news in the 18th century.  Guess what, in most of the World today it’s still big news.  Most of the World’s countries actually still have state religions.  Some of those countries practice religious freedom within that modality, but many are pure theocracies, and no other religion is tolerated in their state.

What scares me about this non-stop religious comparison at the level of a presidential campaign is that it introduces the idea that religion should play a role in the political character of this country; exactly what those Founding Fathers were trying to avoid. Countries where religious laws are the laws of the land are called theocracies, and before you jump in and say religion should rule the land, you’d better ask yourself, which religion?  And don’t assume that all Christians are the same, they are not.  If one Christian branch takes over the country, or one Protestant denomination, then will they be tolerant of ANYONE who is not exactly like them?  History has shown that the answer is an unqualified NO.

While I sincerely hope that anyone who winds up running our country at any level of government has deep ethical and moral convictions (and watching Congress’s behaviour lately, I have my doubts about that one); I still believe in Separation of Church and State, and a religious attack between candidates should never take place.

In fact, the candidate’s religion shouldn’t even be part of the conversation!

or

You Might Know It as Halloween

All Hallow’s Eve; that is the way it has come down to us since historical times in Northwest Europe.  For the Roman Catholic Church it became an abomination of what they considered unholy and downright evil; all those non-Christian pagans out there, celebrating death and darkness.  The Church actually tried to co-opt the rituals of the rural peoples by creating their own version, All Saints Day.  It was the Church’s hope that they could convert the pagans to the Church by adding a Christian element to what was clearly a pre-Christian celebration.  It had worked with Christmas after all.

However, through the centuries, Samhain has been the one pre-Christian celebration that has never been successfully co-opted.  Today, on Halloween, people still dress in scary costumes, go from door to door demanding treats, or suffer the consequences of tricks.  Then once the children go to bed, the adults will often stay up all night, drinking and carousing.  Horror stories get told and people get the creeps from things that go bump in the night.  Somewhere out there are subtle energies that play with the most rational minds on this night.  On the day after, especially in the Catholic world, many of them go to the cemetery to leave flowers on the graves of those who have already moved into a new reality.  Very few of those people out there celebrating realize what they are celebrating.  Many of the ones who do in the fundamentalist world are desperately, still, trying to get Halloween stopped.  Yet, year after year, this very spooky night remains a favorite.  Why do you think that is?

The Wiccans, and other pagans out there, know why Samhain can not be stopped.  It is the time of the year when the veil between the worlds is thin, as thin as it will be throughout the year.  You have heard it before, but what does that mean?  In the Wiccan world we believe in a God and Goddess.  Samhain is the time of the year when the Final Harvest takes place, and the God becomes a gateway to other realities, opening doorways for us to view the probabilities that surround us.  The Goddess opens the Door, and we can walk through.  Samhain is the time of the year when the veils that separate us from other realities is very thin, the Dark is overcoming the Light, and the Crone is in her Strength.  She wields the power to reach the Dark Lord and make the Door open so that we can look through.

Put yourself back in time to an agricultural village anywhere in northern Europe.  This was the time of the year when the last of Summer’s crops were gathered and stored for the coming Winter.  The pigs, cows, sheep, goats were slaughtered and prepared for storage.  Herbs were hung to be used during the dark times ahead.  This was the last outdoor celebration for a while.  It was not uncommon for several tribes or villages to come together at this time of year to conduct clan business and celebrate as a group because there was a knowledge that they would not be able to visit in the months ahead.  Sadly, not all would make it until Spring.  So the people came together one last time to visit and share and remember.

This time of year is for remembering, and dreaming, and foretelling.  Samhain is the New Year in the Celtic tradition.  It was the time to make final preparations for the Winter, and have one last feast before the snows locked the people in for the next few months.

So, how do Wiccans celebrate Samhain?  One of the ways we make preparations for the New Year in more modern times is to scry, or looking into the future so we can make plans for the coming year.  There are a multitude of ways to scry, and most are useful, if used properly.  One thing most people do not know is that the scrying should only take place on Samhain.  The day before is the Day of the Trickster, a day of misleadings and lies.  If you scry on that day, you will not get a truth, because the ancestors are not directing the action, the Trickster is.  The ancestors will not make themselves available until Samhain.  The doorway of the God is not yet open on the 30^th.

This is a celebration of the Dead.  Wiccans do not seek or embrace Death, instead we accept it as a natural transition into the next reality.  It is during this time that we take a few moments, or as long as we need, to mourn for those who have left us; or walked the bridge that the God and Goddess create into the reality on the other side of the Veil.  We mourn our losses as much as any other group; we just do not believe that Death is to be feared, simply accepted.  Samhain is the time that we visit with those who have are no longer with us in flesh.

Samhain is the one pre-Christian celebration that has never been fully incorporated into the Christian format.  It has been able to hang to more of the pagan beliefs than any other celebration.  For us it is the evening that matters, All Hallows Eve, Halloween, our night to howl, and the night that our ancestors howl.  The God has passed to the Death Lands, and He makes it possible for us to meet with, talk to, honor, and scry through our ancestors.  The Goddess, as the Crone, opens that Doorway as she takes her power in the night as the Hag.  The skies are filled with shades as the Great Hunt takes place, and we take part in the Dream as we dream our new reality.

In the midst of all the fun of Halloween, be sure to take a moment to remember those who have traveled ahead of you.  Invite them into your home and listen to their wisdom.  They still love you, and will give you valuable advice.  For a few minutes actually be a WITCH.  Celebrate the final Harvest, and cuddle up with a cup of chocolate, or cider, or tea in front of a fire.  Dream the dream that is you at your best, and prepare for the Winter.

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Forbidden cocktails in a swank pad.

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