Month: May 2013

Dancing In The Moonlight

On By SibylleIn Hag15 Comments

You’ve recently seen a picture of my Tracey, so I thought I’d post one of the other three this week. From left, Tia, Titus, and Talion! See how Titus closes his eyes? That’s our “game” we play whenever I’m in front of the cage. I close my eyes, and they close their eyes – at least, they do when they’re relaxed. Apparently Titus was, whilst Tia and Talion were still checking out the potentially scary iPhone in my hand.
It’s less than a month to the start of the “13 Moons – A Goddess Journey Through The Year” e-course for the Southern hemisphere (i.e., Australia, New Zealand, the South of South America and Africa, and parts of Asia)! I haven’t had much feedback from people in “Down Under” so I’d love to hear from you folks. Are you considering the course? Any further questions? Do drop me a line or comment on this blog post, your feedback means a lot.
I took a little trip down memory lane this week and I thought I’d share some of that with you. It’s about my inspirations for the 13 Moons course, because I didn’t just dream it all up on my own! This particular concept is mine but I have taken ideas from other people. One of them is Marian Green who suggests a 13-moon journey towards becoming a witch in her book “A Witch Alone”. I followed much of that structure in the year leading up to my Dedication and found I resonated naturally with the 13-moons concept.
The other, stronger influence was German writer and sorceress Luisa Francia whose book “Mond, Tanz, Magie” (“Moon, Dance, Magic”) was one of my earliest contacts with paganism. The book suggests a different goddess for each of the 13 moons of a year, and a dance connected with her. It’s thoroughly magical and has stayed with me throughout the years, like most of Luisa Francia’s writings – she is quite an amazing woman, a true Wise One.
I like the concept of one goddess per moon so I’ve incoporated that into my course. But that was just the basic concept and I expanded from there. My “13 Moons” ecourse is a year-long journey with four email lessons per moon cycle, and once every month the lesson contains information about a moon goddess from somewhere around the world, and a practical assignment associated with that goddess. The other three lessons of that moon cycle will contain other information and more practical assignments, which can take the shape of meditations, walks in nature, dances, crafting, and lots more.
All of it is in tune with the current moon phase at the time you receive the lesson so that over the year, you will more and more live with the cycles of nature and the moon. That’s the basic idea, and so far my “Northern” course seems to enjoy the journey!
Will you be on board this time around?
News From The Tribe
I do love synchronicity! Shận posted a blog about Walking Your Talk just as I wrote about consistency too. It’s amazing and very in-depths, warmly recommended.
Helena and Laurie both miss Bray, and I thought how awesome it would be to have them both here! Laurie’s blog is always worth visiting; this week she wrote about being “out” as a witch.
Have a beautiful week, everyone!

Magical Consistency

On By SibylleIn Hag11 Comments

I thought I’d show you the house I live in! My flat may look like it’s part of the main house, but it’s actually fully self-contained with no connection to my landlord’s family and their living space. My entrance is to the side, behind that black wooden door. Mine are the window with the blue curtains and the one above. And that’s really all there is to it, the back of the house is not part of it. My door leads directly into the living room/kitchen, which has a small flight of stairs on the other end, leading to the bedroom with en-suite bathroom. It’s all very small and cramped, but so pretty!

But that’s not what I wanted to write about today. I have been thinking about magic and the way I try to explain it to people who are not familiar with the witchy approach. My own magic is essentially shaping reality, by means of energy that I direct or project. In order to work this kind of magic, it is necessary to be truthful: As Starhawk said, magic basically means: “It is so because I say so”, and to pull this off you need to completely believe your own words. If you are a liar elsewhere in your life, you will lack the necessary conviction; you will know you can’t be trusted and the universe takes its lead from you.

It reminds me of one of my favourite things T. Harv Eker is fond of saying, one of my “success coaches”: “How you do anything, is how you do everything.” Incidentally, this is exactly the main principle of my kind of magic. I’m often amazed at how people cheat in some parts of their lives and think that it doesn’t matter. Don’t get me wrong, please: I’m not here to judge anyone morally. What I’m saying is that it does matter, whatever part of your life is concerned, it affects the whole, just as you can’t hit your finger with a hammer and say it doesn’t matter because after all your toes are still alright.

The same goes for what kind of person you are. If you would like to attract abundance and fairness, it helps to be an abundant and decent person. Every afternoon as I stand in the very long tailback of cars on the lane for the turn-off towards the motorway, many people get out of that queue, fly past it on the less busy middle lane (which goes straight ahead after the traffic light), and then just before the traffic light, they indicate and are invariably let in by friendly people. They skipped 25+ cars which were ahead of them, and each one of these people now has an even longer queue ahead.

Doesn’t matter? Trivial? I bet if you talked to any of those drivers, or at least most of them, they’d vehemently deny being inconsiderate and selfish. Yet their actions speak a different language.

How you do anything, is how you do everything.

I learned from a wise person to look at my own actions when something untoward happens to me. Life is unfair? Check how you have been unfair (by skipping a traffic queue, perhaps?). Someone cheated on you? Maybe you cheated on your last tax returns. And no, “everyone does it”, “oh come on” doesn’t work. It’s not me you need to convince. It’s not about morals, either. It’s about your life and how YOU magically create every part of it.

It’s such an eye-opener to think that way. I keep catching myself acting in ways that I certainly don’t want to attract back to myself. It’s a constant process of growth and I don’t think any person alive is perfect. But we can try, and we must, as long as happiness and spiritual growth are among our goals.


News From The Tribe

Charissa has posted some amazing new illustrations bursting with life and colour recently – I’m just in awe!

And to continue the theme of last week’s post: Sarah has this beautiful blog called “Gorgeously Full Fat”about body size and perception, witty, often funny, always wise, and definitely worth reading.

Peace At Last

On By SibylleIn Hag24 Comments
Here’s a picture of my pretty Tracey. Isn’t she sooooo cute with the white spots on her cheeks? I was going to post a picture of my budgies eating, since this blog is about food, but I didn’t have very good photos. I’m often too busy to take a picture, as I’ll sit there and eat my part of an apple or cucumber or whatever, while they nibble their piece. We share meals that way, in our household!

So, food. I was going to tell you about my new freedom. It’s really rather remarkable that after decades of learning and growing, starting with an eating disorder that first manifested at age 17, I have arrived at peace. Those of you who read this blog regularly, will know about it, for the rest of you I’ll quickly summarise: I’ve not had compulsive eating behaviour since I was around 30, and I never did fad diets, but I did watch my food and there’s no denying I was always happier when I lost weight than when I gained it.

All in all, my weight was stable until three years ago, when I suddenly put on quite a lot over a relatively short time, and without compulsive eating. You’ve also read about my speculations as to why this has happened. I have once again introduced healthier food, mostly organic, as little as possible processed, but the weight hasn’t shifted.

Now, to set this straight: I’m not overweight in any medical definition. I used to be a lot slimmer, although I was never model-skinny; I always had curves. Now I’ve gone up about two clothes sizes and people who didn’t know me before 2010, think of me as fairly normal-sized. For me, the issue has been that I KNEW my body slimmer, and my clothes don’t fit anymore (sigh at those skinny jeans). So I kept on trying.

And now, quite simply, I’ve had enough. I’ve decided that life’s too short and that while I’m healthy, I may as well just enjoy my food. I also decided that I LIKE not feeling bad or thinking of the extra pound I might put on when I eat something rich. Almost symbolically, my bathroom scales broke a few months ago and I haven’t replaced them.

This is not about healthy eating, or getting into shape, or advice of any kind. It’s my personal journey and the point I’ve arrived at is pure enjoyment. I eat what I like. Thankfully I like a lot of things that are good for me; plain, whole food. Sometimes I eat something processed if I fancy it. For the very first time in my entire life, I don’t judge it or feel anything other than pleasure.

At the same time, I’ve stopped looking at my body with a critical eye. I’ve instead replaced the words I used to think with “lush”, “curvy”, and “voluptuous”, and you know what? I love my body. It’s pretty much the most awesome body ever. It works, it makes me feel good, it carries me through my life, day by day, without fail.

How long has it taken me to arrive at this? Just over 25 years. That might not sound very encouraging for those struggling with their relationship with food and their bodies, but think of it this way: Most people struggle their entire lives, and compared to that, 25 years doesn’t sound so bad. Also, I have felt pretty happy for most of that time. My compulsive eating behaviour disappeared about 15 years ago. I’ve been able to enjoy food. It’s the total freedom of eating what I like and not even wondering what I might weigh, that’s new these days.

So, that’s my journey, and it turns out it made for a rather long blog post. I hope with all my heart that it’s encouraging to those who still struggle, rather than off-putting. The journey is beautiful too, but the arrival, I have to say, is blissful. Yay!

News From The Tribe

Sue wrote this incredible post about surrendering last week. It’s so full of wisdom in a world where we’re often encouraged to do, do more, try harder, push forward… I truly recommend you read it.

Crystal blogs about green living. I particularly loved this article about criteria you might not have thought about which make a place to live greener. Check it out!

13 Moons in Down Under!

On By SibylleIn Hag10 Comments

Check out this pretty little tree in all its spring-y splendour – it’s just behind the building I work in and I pass it by every day on my way to and from the car. I just had to take this picture while the blossoms are still there, they’re so beautiful!
It’s undeniably May, and that means that the “13 Moons – A Goddess Journey Through The Year” course for the Southern half of the planet is on its way. It’ll start on the 23rd of June and it’s ready for sign-up as of now! The prices displayed are in Australian Dollars and US Dollars, and once again there’s an option to pay in 3 monthly installments instead of all at once. If your currency is not there, simply use the US Dollars button and PayPal will automatically convert to your currency.
The reason why I’m splitting the course into a “Southern” and “Northern” half is that it is very much about living with the rhythms of nature, the cycles of the moon, and the seasons. As you know, when it’s winter here in the Northern Hemisphere (Europe, North America, North Asia…), it’s summer “down under” in Australia, New Zealand and some parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The course starting next month is for the Southern Hemisphere, so if that’s where you hail from, you can sign up now!
If you have any questions about the course, email me and I’ll get back to you pronto. The Northern course is still running in the meantime and I have had some lovely feedback from the participants. I have to say that the course is tremendous good value, with 4 x 13 lessons in the course of a year and personal support from me at any point you choose. It’s a very intense experience, and I hope with all my heart that those “down under” are going to enjoy it as much as their sisters in the Northern Hemisphere.
Did I mention I’m very excited at the thought of another 13 Moons course starting? Dumdedum!
In other news, I am continuing my personal “carpe diem” program! Long-term dreams are definitely a part of it, but so is everyday enjoyment. I will simply plop down on the sofa some evenings and do nothing but read, or I’ll sit at the computer and laugh with my friends from World of Warcraft as I’m exploring my virtual world. I’ll go for walks and ice cream (yes, I did that again this weekend – it was 16 degrees which is almost tropical for Ireland and I just had to make use of that!) and have extended chats with my budgies. Did I mention that they’re the cutest in the world? They really really are. How anyone can be so fluffy and feathery and adorable and get away with it, I do not know.
If all this sounds like “simple pleasures”, then keep in mind that I’ve been doing nothing but create and study, and create and study some more over the past six months or so. These days I still work on my business, but only for about an hour or so every day, and a little more at the weekend. It’s fun again, my heart’s work instead of a chore, and I aim to keep it that way.
I hope this new approach comes through in what I put out. One of the latest things is a video I made yesterday – check it out on the Monday Sparkles page(just scroll past the sign-up form) and if you like it, by all means leave a comment there. I love, love, love hearing from you beautiful people, I guess you know that by now!
News From The Tribe
Today I have a really important, urgent appeal to all of you who either live in Ireland or know anyone who does. My friend James – you might remember his guest post here a few months back (“The Celt Who Killed The Cow“) has started a Facebook page for the cause which could use a lot more “Like”s and shares.
The cause is a beautiful, sweet 4-year-old dog called Chubbs whose owner is terminally ill and cannot keep him. He is currently in foster care but cannot stay there and if a new owner isn’t found for him soon, he’ll have to be put to sleep. Please, please, please ask everyone you know anywhere in the country – this is a well-behaved, much loved dog who’ll make no trouble, he just needs to be loved after losing his owner!