Wednesday Musings

Tags

books, breathing, chakras, earthseed, elements, gardening, herbs, jacqueline carey, meditation, memoir, mermaids, mindfulness, Naamah, octavia butler, tea

Whats in my teapot: Mint Magic by Celestial Seasons. Its one of the few commercial blends I like (I also like Moroccoan Mint Green Tea by Stash, Zen by Tzao, and Constant Comment by Bigelow).

Quote of the Day:

…It’s true.
Each prayer is caught by seaweed on the floor
and anchors itself deep beneath the sand.
The mermaids dig them up to use as bricks
and laugh at humans’ meaningless demands.

From the poem Taking a Mermaid to Church by Sarah Fletcher

A time to pull up what is planted…

“If you plant green beans in the spring, you won’t be pullin’ up turnips come tomorrow,” she said.  “Sometimes you gotta shout at them clouds til they tremble at yer voice and rain just to shut you up.  Sometimes you cry because the sky stays blue after blue with not a cloud in sight.  That’s when you know you got a bad harvest coming in the fall.  Or maybe buggies are gnawing your field.  Seems something always happens to crops when you need ’em to grow.  But when you just want to give it all up, the rain falls and those little shoots pop up like you’ve never seen before.”  She stopped and considered her garden, “Sometimes they don’t though.  You always reap what you sow, you just never know how much your crop might be worth at the end.”

All I know about a backyard garden I learned from a neighbor.  To my nine-year-old self, she was pretty old.  Ancient.  She’d been born during WWI and the first third of her life on a farm before moving “into town” in the WWII era neighborhood where I would later arrive.  Wrinkly like creased paper and brown from the sun like old leather. Hunched over and wrapped in worn wool sweaters over vintage style dresses, her tiny feet encased in giant rubber boots.   But she never let that stop her.  Her kitchen smelled like cookies and violets, and she always had a pitcher of lemonade or iced tea ready.  In the spring time, her widow sills and counters and shelves were covered in egg cartons of dirt with little seedlings popping up.  Too many to plant in her postage stamp yard.  The best looking seedlings would find a new home from her stack of pots that she stored on her porch though the winter.  Some were carefully selected for the neighbors, based on what went with their yard.  The rest were destined for her yard after the last frost.  And the seedlings that didn’t make the cut got relegated to the “kitchen scrap pile” (compost pile) out back.

Mrs. Bloom (her real name) mourned the loss of “the little sprouts”, but she also understood that some of those plants just weren’t going to make it.  Not every sprout can find a home in the garden.  Sometimes “you just gotta pluck out the unlucky ones little girl, and hope you made the right choice.” Its not quite time yet, but soon before the growing season is truly upon us, we’ll have to pull up some of what has been planted so the rest can grow.

Things to do with herbs this growing season:
DIY Smudge Sticks
Simmer pots
Infused Water 
Infusing alcohols

 Moment of Zen: Breathing

The chestnut sidled and pranced beneath me. I soothed him once more, and forced myself to cycle through the Five Styles of Breathing.

The Breath of the Pulse of the Earth, drawn into the pit of the belly and the depths of the groin, inhaled and exhaled through the mouth.

The Breath of Ocean’s Rolling Waves, drawn in through the nostrils to the middle belly, out through the mouth.

The Breath of Trees Growing, circulating energy to the limbs, trading nourishment with the world.

The Breath of Embers Glowing, in and out through parted lips, quickening the heart and warming the blood.

The Breath of Wind’s Sigh, pulled and expelled through the nostrils into the space between my eyes, making my head light.

Jacqueline Carey, Naamah’s Curse

People, like all animals, need to breathe. Its necessary for cellular respiration–brings in oxygen and rids the body of carbon dioxide. Inhalation brings in air (and filters it using cilia and mucousal membranes), and exhalation takes it back out. Biomechanically speaking, breath travels in through our nose (or mouth), through our larynx (voice box), into the trachea, the bronchi, bronchioles, and into the aveoli (special blood vessels in the aveoli exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood cells). But when we focus on our breath meditatively, we can feel it traveling through out our body, beyond just our lungs. Anapanasati is a Buddhist meditative technique centered on the mindfulness of breathing. The goal is to feel the sensation of breath through the body as one breathes. To do this, I’ve adapted the Five Styles of Breathing from Jacqueline Carey’s Naamah series.

• 1) Breath of Ocean’s Rolling Waves–Breathe with a light but long inhale through the nose as the breath flows in and slides down along the central axis of the body (corresponding with the nadi for those familiar with chakra work) to the area of the solar plexus chakra, where it pools briefly before flowing back up and out through the throat with the mouth open in a way that feels almost like making the sound “huh”. Focus on clearing your self of burdensome emotions. Repeat until you feel calm and still (or as calm and still as you get).
• Breath of the Pulse of the Earth–Breath in slowly and deeply through the mouth, down through the belly, and into the groin. Circulate the breath between the Sacral and Root chakras and allow it to ground you, connecting you to the earth. As you exhale, purse your lips and slowly but strongly blow out your air. Repeat until you feel solid and seated in the earth.
• 3) Breath of Embers Glowing–Breathe with a naturally paced breath in and out through parted lips as if blowing on the embers of a fire to get it to relight. Allow your breath to ignite in the area of your heart chakra, warming the blood and spreading that warmth to the body as it travels into your muscles and organs. Focus on kindling your compassion until it permeates your entire being. Repeat until you have acknowledged and released any excess ego.
• 4) Breath of Tree’s Growing–Breathe in deeply but swiftly through the nose, holding the breath before exhaling through the mouth. Push your breath outwards on the exhale, down your limbs and past your fingers and toes, and draw it back along the same path, exchanging nourishment with the world. Focus on building the web of connections between you and the world. Repeat until you feel renewed.
• 5) Breath of Wind’s Sigh–Breathe swiftly and lightly in and out through the nose, up into the space between the eyes into the top of the head (the area of the Third Eye and Crown chakras). Focus it filling the space like a balloon and expanding your brain, your mind, your very thoughts. Repeat until you feel expansive and embracing.

What I’m reading now:
A (long) while back, I started reading a book called Shaman, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion by Brian Hayden.  I never got to finish it because it was a library book, and it was when we were in transition between Virginia to Illinois and back again, but I finally managed to snag a used copy online at a decent price. I’m also reading a newer book (via Kindle) called The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David W. Anthony. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be adding both to my big list of Recommended Reading for Paganism.

Parting thought (a quote from Octavia Butler’s Earthseed books):

“All that you touch
You Change.

All that you Change
Changes you.

The only lasting truth
is Change.

God
is Change.”

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Tuesday Musings

Tags

books, cookbook, Cora Anderson, fluff reading, gluten free cooking, Johnny Depp, tea, thank you, Wade Davis

FIRST OFF…Thank you everyone that commented on my Food for Friday post about going gluten free!  There is a lot there to digest (pun intended), and I really thank everyone for sharing their stories, and their advice.  I’m not sure I am equipped yet, mentally, to individually reply to everyone, since there is so much good advice and information…so I thought perhaps one big THANK YOU was in order!!!

I have found a brownie recipe to try, thanks to (as I was writing the post) my BFF, the Canoe Queen (I just made up her blog name, lol), which might interest some of you.  I’m thinking it might be about time for a GF brownie recipe round up & review…

After brownies, pizza dough is the next challenge!

Random “I thought this was really cool” Advice:

And, just because its tradition, my first pot o’ tea for the day: Holy basil, peppermint, and elderflower

Quote of the Week: 

There are four questions of value in life: What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? And what is worth dying for?

The answer to each is the same.

Only love.

~Johnny Depp

What I’m reading now (or about to read):

•  I was going to talk about the books I’m reading right now…but I’m totally digging this blog post.  I’m not a Hellenist, but Greek (and Roman mythology), religion, and philosophy play a supporting role in quite a bit of my spirituality…and the range of beliefs about the gods, about the earth, and about man that were present in ancient Greece are as varied as beliefs today…and, in some ways, shockingly “modern”.  This too, is a good read…I don’t qualify entirely, but in the continuum of Pagan beliefs, I’m fairly close to Naturalistic Paganism.
• I’m getting ready to read Cora Anderson’s Fifty Years in the Feri Tradition, but first, I have to finish Wade Davis’s Light at the Edge of the World: A Journey Through the Realm of Vanishing Cultures.  Next time I pick up a book by him (and it will be soon), I plan to read The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in a Modern World.  If you aren’t familiar with Wade Davis, you should be (particularly if you are Pagan, but even if you are not!)–he has two brilliant TED talks well worth checking out.
• I picked up a trio of steampunk books by an author named Cynthia Spencer Pape.  Haven’t read them yet, but they look entertaining.  Also in the realm of fluff reading, I nabbed 4 teen witchy sort of novels off of Kindle, which have been idly amusing me (they aren’t very good, but they are entertaining)–I probably would have enjoyed these about 20 years ago.
• Oh, my…total lol.  Now I need to read the study in question.
• And…I’m checking out some other Valentine’s Day blog posts, since I signed up for The Domestic Witch’s Valentine’s Day Blog Party, and need to get working on my V-day post!

What I’m watching now: Dinosaur Train, on the big TV…but I need to get my butt in gear and watch my Astrobiology class lectures to take my quizzes for this week.  Tomorrow I’m going to enjoy some Downton Abbey and NCIS, since its my day off!

Idle musings…there is a pretty good chance I might be MIA for a couple days.  I think I need to reset my computer to factory settings and redownload everything.  Its been acting a bit buggy and slow, and I’ve tried everything else. We’ll see–I really hate doing it.

Politi-Thal’s thoughts on Guns: This could probably be a rant of its own, but I’d prefer to avoid that.  Never mind…after trying to keep it to a paragraph, and having determined how impossible that is, I’ll be making a post on the subject.  In the mean time, a thought provoking article.  And I will leave you to ponder what my position on this is–it might just surprise you (or it might not).

Kitchen Witch Book Recommendation of the Week: If you can find it (used on Amazon, prices start at $.01 plus $3.99 shipping), I totally suggest getting the Complete Guide to Food and Cooking from Better Homes and Gardens.  Its basically a food and food preparation dictionary, with pictures, charts of cooking times and techniques, and occasional recipes.  If you aren’t someone that already knows how to cook first order foods, the book is a godsend.  And even if you are its still pretty darn informative as a reference–for example, the entry on fennel give you a picture, a verbal description of the appearance and flavor, and tells you what parts are usable, how to choose a fennel at the store, how to store it and how long it lasts, and how to cook it.  Combined with this website, its pretty much my standby for food information, when I’m not looking for a recipe.

Herb of the Week: Black Pepper
Peppercorns for black pepper come from the plant Piper nigrum. In ancient Rome pepper was worth its weight in gold, and it has been part of the spice trade ever since.  In Ayurvedic medicine it is used to improve circulation and digestion, to reduce fevers, and to help respiratory and chest infections.  In aromatherapy, the essential oil of pepper can be used in massage to improve circulation and for muscle aches.  Magically, pepper is a masculine herb ruled by the planet Mars and associated with the element of fire. It is useful in spells and rituals for protection and exorcism, specifically to dispel negativity.

Parting thought:

Oh, crap…I’m going to be late for work if I don’t leave now!!

Friday Musings

Tags

bangs, john muir, kale, sierra club, tea, women in combat

First tea of the day: None.  Today was a day without tea.  And it was a rough start.

#firstthrityone pics: I mentioned the rough start for the day without tea, right?  Part of that rough start included losing my good SD card which had the past week of pictures.  Needless to say, I had to get out the not-so-good SD card for Mom & Chickadee Day Out today.

This picture would be better for tomorrow, but our weather is totally uncooperative to this challenge

26-Chill
(a day early)

:

Kale Fail:  Kale chips hate me.  Seriously…I either burn Kale chips or over salt them.  Or both.  Mostly both.

I love them enough that I keep eating them anyhow.  Which apparently is why I’m in such a good mood, even when I eff up the kale.

Organized blogging…I recently (like last week) went through my “drafts” folder.  It was a mess.  I have several posts in there from last year (and by last year, I mean last January) and before (one was from 2010).  So, I’ve been inspired by one of the bloggers I follow (I forgot whom and where, because it was a post from a while back, and I forgot to save the link) to try to be more organized and scheduled and stuff.  If I remember correctly (since I didn’t save the darn link), she has a low tech solution since she’s not always at the computer (which is so me, no matter how it might seem), and uses a planner to plan topics and a notebook to sort of plot outlines and stuff ahead. Or something like that.

Anyhow, check out my organized awesomeness (and my bangs):

Yup I know, I’m a dork!

BTW, I have bangs: So…I have bangs.  And I did not do it because the First Lady had bangs on Monday!  I swear!  Although, I don’t doubt that when I thought to myself “Gee, I wish I had the money for a hair cut right now!” the fact that I just saw bangs on the First Lady contributed to my subsequent thought of, “hey, I can cut my own bangs!!).

I’m not sure if I like them or not.  The ladies at work seem to–I was told that I looked about 10 years younger than I really am (they weren’t suffering from hat hair at the time).  But…there is part of me that looks at them (even after I’ve done them and they are cute) and feels like a kindergartner whose mom just trimmed her bangs too short right before picture day.

Moment of Zen: Sauntering, not hiking

There are always some people in the mountains who are known as “hikers.” They rush over the trail at high speed and take great delight in being the first to reach camp and in covering the greatest number of miles in the least possible time. they measure the trail in terms of speed and distance.

One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me on the trail and began to chat in that friendly way in which he delights to talk with everyone he meets. I said to him: “Mr. Muir, someone told me you did not approve of the word ‘hike.’ Is that so?” His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied: “I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike!

“Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, “A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”

John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the last man to reach camp. He never hurried. He stopped to get acquainted with individual trees along the way. He would hail people passing by and make them get down on hands and knees if necessary to see the beauty of some little bed of almost microscopic flowers. Usually he appeared at camp with some new flowers in his hat and a little piece of fir bough in his buttonhole.

Now, whether the derivation of saunter Muir gave me is scientific or fanciful, is there not in it another parable? There are people who “hike” through life. They measure life in terms of money and amusement; they rush along the trail of life feverishly seeking to make a dollar or gratify an appetite. How much better to “saunter” along this trail of life, to measure it in terms of beauty and love and friendship! How much finer to take time to know and understand the men and women along the way, to stop a while and let the beauty of the sunset possess the soul, to listen to what the trees are saying and the songs of the birds, and to gather the fragrant little flowers that bloom all along the trail of life for those who have eyes to see!

~~by Albert Palmer, from The Mountain Trail and Its Message(source)

Parting Thought: Sometimes (rarely), the news makes me smile.

Hoo-effing-RAH!  Its about time! (or how and when I might get arrested and live up to my senior superlative of “girl most likely to get arrested for chaining self to tree”)

And…Hoo-effing-RAH! Its about time, #2! (its nice of them to finally make it official, since we’ve been doing it since 1776)

a pot of tea (part two)

Tags

magic, mindfulness, pagan ritual, tea, tea meditation

A couple days ago, we talked about learning to experiment with brewing herbal teas.  Today we are going to talk about making teas (herbal and non) magical…

“Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world.” ~T’ien Yiheng “Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.”

~Kakuzō Okakura, author of The Book of Tea**

Lets start with what teas are, and where the idea of drinking them comes from. It would not surprise me that early man, having discovered fire and cooking, figured out that twigs and roots and leaves in hot water made for a tasty drink.  Archaeologists put the first recorded accounts of (real) tea-drinking back to the 10th century, BC in China.  Undoubtedly, mankind has been drinking plants in water for much longer.  All it would have taken is a windy day, blowing a few random leaves into a pot for a revolutionary beverage to be born.  And indeed, one of the Chinese legends of Shennong and the invention of tea has the leaves of the tea plant falling into a pot of boiling water being prepared for the emperor’s consumption (Shennong apparently mandated the consumption of boiling water for health and hygiene reasons).  Overtime, tea*–the act of making it and drinking it, has become a ritual for cultures around the world.

“Tea…is a religion of the art of life.”

~Kakuzō Okakura, author of The Book of Tea**

We can make tea (whether it be real tea or not), the making and drinking, into our own rituals and part of our own religion of the art of life.  For tea to be a ritual, we need to lay down the same tracks in mind and our bodies, over and over, until they become deeply embedded in our psyche.  Those rituals start with the tools involved in making and drinking.  Start at your tea cup.  Do you like it?  Because if you hate it…you should probably get another one.  What about the place where you have chosen to drink the tea?  How does it make you feel? If it makes you depressed or reeks of negativity, its probably a bad spot.  What about the stuff you make your tea with?  Does it function efficiently, without altering the flavor or aroma of the tea?

We had a kettle; we let it leak:
Our not repairing made it worse.
We haven’t had any tea for a week…
The bottom is out of the Universe.

~Rudyard Kipling

This does not need to be an expensive enterprise.  My favorite tea cup and my tea kettle came from a Goodwill (my other favorite tea cup came from a potter at a farmer’s market and was a bit pricier), and my french press was a discount store purchase.  But get stuff that you like, stuff that has aesthetic value to you, and that speaks to the witchy part of your soul…or for the creative part, the spunky part, the sexy beast part, the calm guru part, etc–heck, you might even have a one of each, for different days and times of your life!  Colors and textures and materials can be of incredible (and powerful) symbolism, both traditional and personal.  When you choose your tea pot, or kettle, or cup/mug, or tea tray, choose something that is empowering and inspiring (or choose something you can make empowering and inspiring***).

Once we’ve considered our reusable accouterments for tea-making, its time to consider what tea is, and what makes it synergistic.  Tea is more than just plants in hot water–it is the marriage of the elements held in your hands and taken into your soul.  Elementally, the cup that we drink from is earth, the water it is made from is (obviously) water, the heat that prepares the water is fire, and even air makes an appearance, twice–in the aeration of the water by boiling, and in the steam from the cup that communicates its aroma and determines its taste.

“And the plants”, you might be wondering, “what about them?”  The plants are the spirit of tea–the life force of the plant, imprinted into the water, served in the cup, inhaled and consumed.

“Each preparation of the leaves has its individuality, its special affinity with water and heat, its own method of telling a story.”

~Kakuzō Okakura, author of The Book of Tea**

When we choose which plants to brew and consume, we are not just picking flavors to tickle the tongue (though that is good too), we are choosing which plant spirits to let make tracks in our psyche.  Don’t worry, the effects are temporary if you choose something that doesn’t work how you envisioned.  But, when you choose something that works for you, repetition can lengthen and strengthen the effects of the plants to affect long term positive change.  Or as my momma says, “Its okay to have habits, as long as they are good habits!”

While you are choosing individual herbs for your tea, look at both their magical and their medicinal properties and evaluate both together, and when you are choosing multiple herbs, look at the overall profile of the entire concoction, and test it out a time or two.  If this seems like a heck of a lot of preparatory work, its only that way at first.  Once you get the hang of you herbs and have an established set of combinations for different end states (whether they be moods, or seasons, or states of mind, or goals, etc) it becomes pretty effortless, unless you are trying out a new brew.

“When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment?”

“The tea ritual: such a precise repetition of the same gestures and the same tastes; accession to simple, authentic and refined sensations, a license given to all, at little cost, to become aristocrats of taste, because tea is the beverage of the wealthy and the poor; the tea ritual, therefore, has the extraordinary virtue of introducing into the absurdity of our lives an aperture of serene harmony. Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us. Then let us drink a cup of tea. Silence descends, one hears the wind outside, autumn leaves rustle and take flight, the cat sleeps in a warm pool of light. And, with each swallow, time is sublimed.”

~Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

It is possible to make every moment of the act of making and drinking tea into a ritual, from filling the pot to rinsing the cup.  It is possible, yes…but the act of making each and every moment into a ritual act is not necessarily preferable.  What counts is that “I know what to do: I know where to stand, how to move, what actions to take at specific times, and what words to say. Because of all these things, I can actually focus on the ritual itself. You may think this is funny, but because I’ve got the these physical things down and don’t have to think about them, I can actually get my mind into a ritual mindset, ignore the details of the mundane world and focus on what I am doing spiritually and magically.” (I couldn’t have said this better, so I’m just quoting it wholesale…be sure to read the rest of her post).  And that means finding the ritual elements that work for you, so that you can repeat them until you could do it with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back (okay, so maybe that’s a bit much), and focus on what you are doing spiritually and magically.

Your tea ritual might be a simple mindfulness meditation as you sip your cup of tea, or it could be some grand and elaborate affair where you charging and/or blessing your herbs, your water, and your tea set as part of the ritual preparations.  Personally, that’s a bit long and drawn out for me as a mom, so I go with the short and simple, no more than 10-15 minutes (which is about as long as a cup of tea stays nice and hot for drinking anyhow). You might choose to make tea time an act of devotion to a particular deity, or a time of thankfulness and reflection, or ritual for grounding and centering, or a time for divination.

“I read the tea leaves as if they were words left over from a conversation between two cups.”
~Kenny Knight, The Honicknowle Book of the Dead

I combine mindfulness meditation with grounding and centering on a regular (almost, but not quite daily) basis, usually to start the day out, and/or end of a rough day.  On some days I use the ritual to clear my mind an set the mood before divination, or before spell work and other magics.  On other days, I just use the ritual time to keep from pulling my hair out!  By using the act of mindfully enjoying my tea (breathing in the aroma and drinking in the flavor), I can ground and center myself into alignment  with the energy of the plants themselves.  The herbs I choose act as a sort of focus and aid to altering the state of my mind for whatever purpose I’m aiming for…almost like a prism can be used to separate the individual colors of light from a beam of white light.****  The benefit of doing this regularly is that on the days that I only have time to have a sip of tea, because scent and memory are tightly interwoven, I can more easily enter the desired state of minds that I have achieved in ritual, without the act of ritual.

“If you are cold, tea will warm you;
if you are too heated, it will cool you;
If you are depressed, it will cheer you;
If you are excited, it will calm you.”
~William Ewart Gladstone

Additional Thoughts:
*When I use the word tea, I am meaning both the tea plant and other herbal infusions and decoctions (aka tisanes)…but I’m lazy about the lingo…so sometimes I’m meaning the tea of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis.  My apologies if it offends anyone’s sense of proper verbiage, but I trust that we can all figure out which is which!
**I really, really recommend reading the The Book of Tea for a better understanding of the aesthetic of the Japanses tea ceremony, and how it is more than just a ceremony.  It is an excellent introductory idea for creating tea time as a time for meditation and ritual, even if the methodology is different.
***If you can sew or knit/crochet, you can whip up a cozy for an ugly tea pot, if your tea tray is boring (like mine) you can decoupage the heck out of it, and if your tea cup is plain, there are some awesome things you can do with food safe paint pens for china.
****As with most topics in magic and energy this, it is difficult to explain what is going on in plain language.  If you are wondering, perhaps, why I have chosen not to include an actual ritual, part of the reason is that this is already gotten darn long.  The other part of the reason is because I believe very strongly that personal rituals are exactly that, and need to be written primarily by the person performing them for their own purposes.  Even so, I do plan to get around to posting it, eventually!

Wordless Wednesday: My Book of Tea

Tags

herbal tea, herbs, tea, tea diary