On Balance (again)

In the previous post, Madeline mentions that balance is essential... something that I completely and wholeheartedly agree with, based on all of the experience this transient existence has given me. How strange, sometimes, that you can be such a spiritual person... and then get hit with a spiritual two by four. If you will. ;D

I pushed myself too much, recently - too much was going on, and I was too overwhelmed, and though I am *very* good at dealing with stress - I'm human, and - as such - far from perfect. I knew I was pushing myself too much, and I know what happens when I do... my immune system caved, and I got a very nasty cold.

I spent Ostara in bed, sniffling and feeling generally miserable - so miserable in fact that the coven Madeline and myself founded had to push back the Ostara celebration from last Saturday to this Sunday! I felt miserable and guilty and generally horrible about it all...

Until I realized I was helping no one - least of all myself. And hey! It didn't matter to the people closest to me... the ones who mattered.

I firmly believe that I am a Priestess of the Goddess in all the things I do - and I know that the Goddess does not want me pushing myself to the very ends of my ropes. After all, She only gives me what I can deal with - nothing more... and then She lays the pieces of the puzzle before me. And I can be evolved and solve it instantaneously... or need that spiritual two by four.

Could I have had lessons taught to me if I hadn't gotten sick? Probably. Would they have been as long lasting...? Probably not. Everything happens for a reason - everyone and everything continues to evolve and change... everything is mutable - everything is shifting and growing... just like the coming spring.

So I stand at the threshold of the season - both feet planted firmly beneath me... balanced. :)

~Sarah

Balance

As an artist, mundane activities are rarely mundane for me. Always, there is poetry in the glint of light off of a windshield, or the splatter of unknown liquids on the pavements; music in the muffled sounds in the stairwell of my apartment building, or the honking of seals in the zoo across the road. And yet, sometimes, contrary to my Taurean nature, weekly routine and a well laid path can drive me crazy. The seeds of my frustration are buried in schoolwork and classes, in buraucracy and poor communication, all of which are obstacles in the way of all that I really want: time, to write, and to make art.

I found myself in a particularly vicious pit of frustration this weekend, as unexpected free time could have afforded me an opportunity to write. But, the problem was that I could not decide what to write. I could not decide because I was afraid that I was not ready to work on one project or another, and if I began that I would ruin it straight off. So, unable to decide, I accomplished nothing. Already, in the midst of the holiday weekend, I was forgetting the equinox just recently passed and the lesson it was supposed to remind me of: balance. I slept that day, sleep that I desperately needed. Could I see that at the time? No. I was so intent on constantly moving forward that rest was not even an option.

Balance is essential, even in the stubbornly, aggressively driven (such as I can be on occasion). Having a dream and manifesting that dream is a sacred pursuit, and deserves attention and energy, but not so much that you begin to lose focus on the rest of your world. We are spiritual beings having a physical experience, but the body and brain are physical things that must be cared for, not exhausted.


So, this season of Ostara, I will be sure to keep its lessons in mind. While fertility abounds, it is only after a long (in Buffalo, loooooooong) winter during which the natural world has slumbered deeply. I can't keep pushing forward, from one novel to the next, all the while living a second life as a student with completely different responsibilities and priorities. I need time for myself, and for sacred moments, and for divine play.

Daily meditation would be a good idea... only who has time for that? ;p

~Madeline

Merry Ostara~!

On this day of days there is equal light and equal darkness... today is the Vernal Equinox, the first day of spring. Peoples since the dawn of time have celebrated in this span of twenty-four hours; a balance that rings true to our bones, and a joy that is unbound. Winter is gone, long live spring!

Where I am now, two inches of snow fell last night. This morning, I awoke and walked the dogs in a silvery light of white and cold and breath frozen in the air. Yet all around me, I heard the birds and the "drip, drip, drip" of melting snows, and the rush of sap in all our trees, and - beneath my feet - the wick running clean and true into every plant. They are waiting - waiting to spring from the earth into the golden, glorious sunlight.

Today, I celebrate renewal in all things - I celebrate the burgeoning life in the world all around me, and within my heart. Gone are the days of darkness, come are the days of light... the sun is returning to the world, and she brings laughter and joy with her.

I am Persephone, stepping up from the ground, leaving behind the bones of the earth in order to embrace her skin. There is green in and on and all around me, and I am flush with the excitement of new beginnings. Listen to the birds, voices raised exultant to sun and stars, listen to the world, turning to the new season. Listen to your heart as it beats - sure and strong.

Welcome, spring!

~Sarah

Ars Cultus

A new path has unfolded before me, one that has been taking shape for the past two years. I have always believed that an act of creation, anything that involves using the talents that you have been given, especially to make art, is like an act of worship. The gods create, the Universe creates, and so to imitate the Divine is the surest way to flatter it. Offering your work to the divine energy that inspired it is far more powerful than offering sacrifices. Why would this Universe, showering perpetual blessings upon us, while we must deal with our own problems... why would it ever ask for a sacrifice? What use do the cosmos have for physical things?

Art transcends its physical representation. It is inspired by and appreciated by the higher self. This is why art and all acts of creation are my way of living my faith, of worshiping without sacrifice, but yet still pouring my heart out and crafting beautiful things for the divine grace that offers their shapes to me.

The Art of Worship.

I am excited, now that I have fully awakened this sleepy idea inside of me, to see how I live it.

~Madeline

Merry Ye Meet~

Madeline started off this blog with a bang... and here I come, a few posts in - ever forgetful, notes spilling out of folders, mis-matched socks. Late. ;p

My name is Sarah~ I have been a Pagan for eight years - but you know how it goes! "Born a Pagan," right? ;) I was Pagan for so long that I didn't even think there *was* a word for it. Then, when I was fifteen, I was proven wrong. There were more people in the world like me~ It was a comforting thought.

I believe in the wind in the trees and the firm rock beneath our feet - in the yipping of puppies, meowing of kittens and that very insistent nicker from horses when they *know* you have a treat on you (somewhere). My creeds are kindness and compassion, and my divinity is a Great Mother who watches over us all~ (I also deeply love Ganesh - I consider him like a Guardian Angel... with a trunk. XD)

Strangely enough, I have been blogging since I was fifteen - so when my best friend brought up the idea of doing a joint one... on spirituality... it seemed to have come full circle~

I look forward to spilling my thoughts of glitter and gold, here~ Stars and fields and the first hints of spring fill my senses, now - I would love to put them into words. So I shall. :)

Much love and light,
~Sarah