By Raymond Buckland
Weiser Books, 2010  $16.95 US
ISBN 978-157863-467-5

Review by Erin

Rating:  

I like most of Raymond Buckland’s works.  Some of his work that cause concern and I have questioned the authenticity of those works.  I have spoken to the author many times about my issues. Each time, I’ve been reassured by Mr. Buckland.

This book, Gypsy Magic, gave me few reservations about the contents.

Understand; there are passages I do have to question. Most concern the history of the Romani. It’s discussed very briefly in this work.

They are a people who are persecuted to this day. I find it horrific that any feeling/thinking human being is involved on either side.

There is no reason for a person to look down upon, or mentally, emotionally, spiritually abuse another person, not for any reason.  So to find out that it still happens now, is distressing to me personally.  (And let’s leave out the whole discussion about how America is still doing this same thing to their indigenous population, that’s another rant…)

But the magick at the center of this book may or may not be authentic Romani magic.  But it IS magick, and it will work, and it seems to be one of those things that is a good resource for how others do their Work.  I found many sections and spells that, reading through the process, the how’s and the preparations, made me believe that it would work given the way of doing things outlined in the book.

As I said I can’t say for sure if this is genuine Roma magic or not.  But it struck me that it doesn’t matter.  Many of us aren’t part of that culture, we are never going to be accepted into that culture, and if it is genuine passed from mouth to mouth magic of the Rom, then that’s good.  If it isn’t then there’s no real harm done.

As a pragmatist magickian, I find there are times when I use this.  There are going to be as many times that I won’t, and it’s personally a choice of what will work when I need it to.

If Buckland found all this and all these Roma who would part with these secrets, good for him.  Glad that some of this is going to be preserved, just in case of a new pogrom.  If not, then the spells still look like they will work given the way they’re are laid out.

I’m giving this book 4 stars out of 5 for the contents.  As I can’t be sure of some of the accuracy of the historical items, I’m not giving it higher.  But for the spell contents, the magical workings, yes, this would be an item of interest for anyone who is curious about how this group does magick.

Erin

Mirrored from Erin's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

Okay, given the whole kerfluffle over Z Budapesht’s transphobia and the similar blow up with the Temple of the Goddess I’ve come to a decision.

I’m going to start a new Temple that is trans-inclusive. One that not only welcomes Trans women and Trans men, but one that works with them to celebrate their new sex and their needs in a spiritual sense. This group won’t ignore the Intersexed, the Genderfluid or the Asexual person either, I just need to figure out ways to incorporate their unique energies into the overall format.

Now, this is going to be a hell of a task. I’m going to need everyone who is a reader of this website to help.

1. I’m going to need publicity.
2. I’m going to need rituals.
3. I’m going to need those who want to head up local chapters to come forward.
4. I’m going to be doing ceremonies to advance this idea and temple in the Astral world, and I need energies to do so
5. I’m going to need your ideas for things that would bring on inclusiveness.

While there are many out there who don’t need another group “helping” them in their self discovery, or in the spiritual implications of that discovery, there are MANY who will need it. Not the least of which is the people who have already been traumatized by those groups named above, the ones who have shunned and humiliated the QUILTBAG of sexes because the equipment is missing or they don’t bleed.

Now, please say you are with me on this? And let me know if this is something that would be of use to you and the people you know in your circle?

Mirrored from Erin's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

I know I’ve spoken at length about going out and finding the idiots in Paganism and Wicca, and exposing them for the idiots they are.  But now I want to talk about the other side of that for a while.

While I have been out of the hunting business for a while now, there are those I’m friends with who are still out there in the communities, looking and reporting on trends in the groups of the new seekers, and the responses that the older and more experienced generations are having toward them.

This is where the downside of the hunting comes in.  There is a HUGE temptation to slather ALL new people with the same “bunny brush”.  To label the sincere and genuine seeker with the “fluffbunny” title, which makes it impossible for them to thereafter find real help in their spiritual journey.

So I want to talk about this trap in this essay.

Always remember the golden rule of bunnyhunting:  “THE NEW ARE NOT ALL BUNNIES.”  Certainly the possibility is there for the new seeker, the person who found Wicca and Paganism last week to be a bunny.  The “One book and I’m a witch!” crowd is one that we always have to be on the look out for, since they can do so much damage if left without those who are concerned with keep facts out there.  They tend to be the worst when taking something they read out of context, and without subjective verification (through research in the case of facts, through meditation and experimentation in the case of non scientific items) and repeat it ad neausium to anyone who will hear.  I could go on for days on all of those, but the two most common I will give here as examples; “Wicca goes unbroken back to prehistoric mankind” and “All witches are Wiccan because they have to be.”

Anyone who has been around the block a few times just let out a huge groan of frustration, and believe me I feel your pain.  I have spent probably a year or so (if you put all the scattered bits together) of my life trying to purge only one of those from the collective Wiccan mind.

But does the repeating of one of these rotten chestnuts automatically warrant a sign of “FLUFFBUNNY” to be on the speaker?

I am telling you now, it does not.

Just having read that in one of the many MANY bad volumes of Wicca instructional manuals and classes does not mean the person in question is someone who is an idiot and fluff.  Remember, a fluffbunny has a very specific definition and set of behaviors.  It is someone who is unrepentantly ignorant, willfully turning aside from and denying anything that makes their little mental universe change.  When they (metaphorically) stick their fingers in their ears and begin making random noises to drown out your information, and go blithely out and teach this “fact”, which can be refuted about two dozen ways, to anyone who will listen, from the new student to the fundamentalist Christian, then it’s a pretty safe bet that they are a fluff.

But someone who is asking for references and help finding information, is, by that definition, NOT a fluffbunny.  They are someone who is asking for a starting place.

Yes, you may feel that it is your duty to follow in the steps of Elfwreck and try to drive them away from our faith, and that is your choice.  But don’t do it thinking that you are keeping a fluff from being created.  It is shutting down a seeker from finding a pathway, finding information.

I’ll admit that this is a judgment call.  It’s a hard call in most cases, trying to figure out if this is the first symptom of someone who just wants to fling poo all over Wicca and Paganism, or if this person is sincere in their quest for knowledge.  Thankfully it’s something you can take to your Gods, to your Teachers, to those who are allies and your own mind and conscience as to if you are going to help or not.

And, by all the Gods living and dead, it’s so tempting to to just ignore the request and go your merry way, but I want you to remember something…. you started out in the same place at one time.  You too were lost and overwhelmed with a lack of resources and a lot of people who were talking in circles around your understanding.  So, now that I reminded you about this, what would you tell yourself in that long ago time when you desperately wanted what you now have?

If you had the chance to go back in time, as you are now, what would you say to yourself back then to encourage them to investigate and what hints would you drop?

Why not do that now.  It doesn’t have to be blatantly obvious, but it shouldn’t be a Chinese Puzzle Box either.  Understand and sculpt the lesson to the student, give hints and give tools to find more.  Feed the hunger to know, instead of stomping on the embers.

Remember, the seeker now, will be the teacher of your grandchildren.

Mirrored from Erin's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

A conversation that happened years ago, that I thought was funny as hell, and still think is great:

Parts of the conversation sorted by color….

 

By the way, do you even know what the Nine sacred woods are? No fair peeking.

Oh, wait, I know this one…

1. Morning wood
2. Afternoon wood
3. Evening wood
4. Midnight wood
5. “I gotta pee, dammit” wood
6. Embarassing first-date wood
7. New Britney Spears video wood
8. Yeah, I guess Orlando Bloom really is hot wood
9. Kids are coming up the stairs let’s finish this *quick* wood

I guess the “10. No reason just random wood” wood isn’t in th ere, but what about the “11. Embarrasing called to the blackboard wood” wood? Where does it go?

Not all woods are sacred woods.

 

Mirrored from Erin's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

Okay, been doing some research here.

1. I can change my name pretty easily. I go to the Chancery Court of Davidson County, then fill out a form. I pay a fee, go upstairs to the court, I stand in front of the judge, I raise my hand and he cracks the gavel. *BOOM* I am now named someone else.

2. I get two certified copies of my order, take one to the post office, add a peition for birth certificate amendment, send it off to Illinois, and get a new birth certificate (with amended sex) returned to me.

Easy, huh? It really is.

BUT, the nominal fee? $157.50. So I'm going to be begging for money/selling things....

Floggers: $70
Card readings: $30
Donations: Gratefully accepted

Since I don't know how much the fees and so on are going to be on the birth certificate, all the donations/fees/donations will go to the whole kitty of the name/birth change.

But that is not what I set this post for. It was to go "HEY!!! It's moving forward!!!"

Should be a fun ride.

So far everyone at work is okay with this whole thing, I've had NO problems. Which in and of itself is amazing. As I keep tellign people, I don't care if they accept me, if they like it or if they hate me and thing I'm going to hell. All I care about is that they can get past it long enough to be able to work with me on the project/campaign we are working on. That's it.

First posted at http://daven.dreamwidth.org/780392.html. There's been thoughts shared with OpenID. Leave your 2¢!

By Alferian Gwydion MacLir
Llewellyn 2011, $18.95 US
ISBN13: 978-0-7387-2002-9


Review by Daven

Rating:  

When I requested this book I was expecting something somewhat different. I was expecting construction methods, information for Wiccans, and a lot of information from Harry Potter and so on.

Instead, I got a non-fluffy book with a lot of good info in it.

One of the first things you will learn, this book was written by a Druid of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. Keep that in mind since this information is written from a Druidic point of view. There is a lot of discussion about the trees themselves, the way the plants feel and more. This is all to the good in my opinion. The chapters discussing the qualities of different woods are almost the first thing you read.

Then there are discussions about stones, minerals, metals and all the items of needed to craft a wand.

Included are designs, their meanings, the various letters that can be carved on the wands. You’ll find out how construct them, what tools are needed and how to actually craft the finished product.

I didn’t see any “shortcuts” using pre-made dowels or pipes of any kind. The author assumes you actually want to carve it with a knife and use a wild-crafted branch for your wand. To truly create something in tune with you in a way an artificial or “bought” wand cannot. To me, this is the whole purpose of making a magical tool.

There are some points of concern for me, but I understand why the author included them.

In the section about the magic behind wand crafting, he includes a significant section on “magical cores”, the center of the wand, as in Harry Potter cores. Included in there are things like Dragon Scales, Phoenix Feathers, Griffon and Hippogriff feathers and so on. He spends time explaining how to insert these cores into your wand. This was my first “WHAT” moment.

The author goes on to explain that he included these not to seem “fluffy” or to try to capitalize on the Harry Potter craze (like so many other authors have tried to do). Instead, it’s to bring the essence of these mythical creatures into the wand, to help them operate.

He’s not saying that the Unicorn Hair needs or can be bought from a store here on this Earth. Rather, he urges the crafter to do a vision quest and talk to the Unicorn, Hippogriff, or other symbolic animal, in question and ask them to contribute a part of themselves to your wand, to help the wand and the wielder better express the qualities that the being has.

This was of interest to me since I do a lot of work on the Astral Plane myself. I could see what the author was after and how it should work in a properly crafted wand. I could understand how it was supposed to work and why it could be done. The author also says that it is not necessary for the wand to have this in order to work properly.

These revelations alone had me revising my review of this book several times. He acknowledges when he gets into territory that is “out there”, but he takes the time to explain these esoteric aspects in a way that make sense. In that alone, he is ahead of a lot of the people who write books like this.

I should point out to my readers that the author is a teacher at the Grey School of Wizardry. Long time readers will understand why I point this out, but for those of you who are new, let me explain this for a bit.

Since the Harry Potter books came out, there have been a lot of people trying to capitalize on that franchise, and it has caused a slow downward spiral in the quality of books dealing with esoteric topics.

The head of the Grey School has stated that I do a hatchet job on books that come out from that school, out of some vendetta I have towards him. I have told him multiple times that if he sent me good books, no matter if they were of use in the School, I would review them highly.

This is that book.

I am giving this book four and a half stars out of five. This is a book that I think could be very useful to many in the metaphysical community, and it doesn’t matter that it is associated with the Grey School.

It stands as a very good “how to” book. There is very little information in here that I think could have been omitted, and all the information I would have expected to see is here as well.

So, congratulations Mr. MacLir. You have produced something which most Pagans and those who will be making staffs and wands should have.

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

This is a list of questions I got in an email. Apparently the person had sent this several times trying to get them answered. I don’t know if they got it in response, but here are the questions and my answers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

Well, I am finally in a position where I can talk to you all about where the H*LL I’ve been these last several weeks and what has been happening.

1. I have a job. It’s not a permanent job (not yet), but it is a 33 week contract that is temp to hire. It’s doing phone support at Dell. So, most of my time has been being spent taking their training classes at the Dell Campus here to learn how they want me to do things, and what I’m going to be supporting. The kicker is that I will be making nearly as much as I was when I was full time employed at Direct, and that means that my paycheck should be able to support the family again.

To say I’m totally over the moon about this is to minimize just how happy about it I am. Yes, I have to get used to a new sleep schedule again, shifting to daytime, but I should be able to pick my schedule once I actually get on the floor and start doing the support. I think I’m going to like this job, but I do have to see it and do it before I actually can say so definitely.

2. Magickally, I’ve been dealing with a lot of shit from Japan and the whole earthquake/tsunami and such. It’s taken up the majority of my sleeping times having to deal with it. But, that is slowing a lot since I started the job. Everyone knows I need my sleep so I can concentrate at work, so that’s backed down a lot. There’s still some things I have to deal with, but they tend to be minor.

Right now I’m helping out another in their lands, coaching and trying to help them deal with their people and various problems they are having. The dead just have no real respect for someone that’s still alive, you know?

3. I’ve been a bit ill lately. Probably the crud you get whenever you have 40+ people in one room and talking/breathing the same air.

4. On the transgender front: Fate is conspiring to keep me moving forward with no excuses. Turns out there is a guy I’ve made friends with at work who is engaged to a transgirl, whom, coincidentally enough, rides the bus I take to get to work. They are both active in the trans community and have kinda latched on to me as a friend they can both help and associate with since so many of our likes/dislikes are damned near the same. I mean, how many trans people do you meet that are into to tech, play tabletop RPGs, like Doctor Who and Criminal Minds, and so on? Not a lot, but that’s what has happened.

I’m out of my hormones, but that should be taken care of when I get my first paycheck. It will be only two weeks without them, so I don’t think that will be a huge killer of the progress I made, but you never know. When I get insurance again at the first of the month, I can go to doctors and start getting healthy again.

5. I’m actually losing weight again. When I lost my membership to the Y, I gained all the weight I had lost back. But right now I’m walking home from one point in the trip home from work. It’s not that far, just about a mile, but it is definitely having an effect on my waistline. That and the subliminal program I started with my mp3′s that I listen to.

It wasn’t that hard to do either. I got Audacity, found a microphone, wrote a list of affirmations I wanted to listen to. Then I recorded them all into one audio track, edited it down so that they were sounding nice. Then I copied that track over and over, shifting them a bit so that they didn’t have the same words starting and stopping all at once. Once I had 40 repetitions of the same stuff layered into one gabble of sound, I copied it and placed THAT on the other ear, so now I have 40 in the left ear, the same 40 in the right ear. Then I reversed the track so that I had 40 going forward and 40 going backward in the left ear, the same in the right ear. I combined them all into the “master subliminal track”, reduced the volume to where I could barely hear it as garble static, then added them to my MP3′s that I listen to in my player. Been listening to JUST them any time I leave the house to go anyplace. I think they are working since I’m wanting to eat less, exercise more, and I’m having a better outlook on my life and so on.

6. I went out last night in Joy’s clothes, made up and so on. Had a good time too. It was just a bit of “interesting” in my internal reactions. At first I was nervous, but then I got calmed down since the only people who would be seeing me were other transpeople. That was nice. To be able to just be myself for once.

So what’s next? Keep going on the job. Keep working and earning money (which is a hell of a relief in and of itself). Then get my paychecks, pay bills to get them off our backs, pay back my family who has loaned us money to keep going. THEN go shopping for more golf shirt tops for me, since that’s the “standard” at Dell. It’s more casual than that, but I don’t want to go more casual than that. Maybe in a couple weeks start going to stores and getting Joy clothing, and at least I’d have someone to go with.

Once I get into a routine with work and being off, I’ll probably have more spare time to socialize on DW and LJ, Tumblr and Twitter. That’ll be nice. They won’t let me do any of that at work for some reason. Yes, I can go on the Internet, but only WORK RELATED, no social networks, not even G-Mail. I set it so that I can forward all my gmail to my work email, and I can at least SEE it even if I can’t reply.

It’s just going to take some time.

I do want to say that for those of you NOT reading me on Daven’s Journal or on the RSS feed, you can come and comment to ANY post I have on Daven’s Journal by signing in with your OpenID from Dreamwidth, Livejournal, Twitter or many other places. Or you can even sign up for an account on the Journal, and you can have your own icon here.

So that’s it for now, I have to go and do some chores in the kitchen.

—————-
Now playing: The Painter
via FoxyTunes

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

This will be a comprehensive course in Magick, from so-called Low Magick to Ceremonial Magick (also referred to as High Magick). The course will cover Willpower, Visualization, the Basics of the Kaballah, Basics of Ceremonial Magick, other magickal systems to include “Night Magick” and Shamanistic and Druidic.

Mostly this course will focus on such things as Ceremony in magick, tools and “props”, cultivating a Magickal attitude, Wiccan Magick and Witchcraft, Candle Magick, off the cuff spells for emergencies, Magick and the Otherworlds. This will NOT be a course in spells, but spellcrafting (writing of spells) will be part of some of the discussions.

The major thrust of this course will be willpower. That is the key, and we will show you those keys and how to have them for yourself. Added to that will be some theoretical discussions on Otherworlds, allies, astral beings, how to will something into your life, and Magick in everyday settings. The goal of this course will be to enable you to live a magickal existence, no props required.

General outline for the course will be (subject to change without notice):

(All these files are PDF files, so you have to have some sort of PDF file reader to view them. I would suggest downloading them to your system and reading them there. That way you can read them when you aren’t online.)

1. Introduction (About me, Definitions, Basics, Assignments, etc.) 
2. The Path of the Magician 
3. Tools and Props
4. Visualization and Meditation
5. Magickal Attitude
6. Wiccan Magick (including cord, sex and poppet magick) 
7. Elementals and energy work
8. Kitchen Witchery 
9. Hedge Witchcraft
10. Shamanistic Magick
11. Druidic Magick
12. Christian Magick
13. Ritual
14. EXAM

Other articles that are related to this course

• Sex Magick Commentary
• Tools and Magick
• The Magickal Use of Names
• Affecting People on the Internet

There will be required course materials, and in every case, those materials will be available for download and study prior to the class starting. This will be a forum held in email discussion with the possibility of message boards being added. There will be assignments and an exam at the end of the course, with a certificate available upon completion.

This course will be an advanced course in Magick and all of it’s applications. No one “style” or “Tradition” or “School” of magick will be used, but will cover the range of these and will be more focused on familiarizing the student with what is available and tools to go into a more in depth study of one system. This course will require thought and work, and will not be easy for the practitioner. Dedication and determination will dictate the success of the student in this course.

I look forward to seeing you all!

Originally posted 2009-12-14 23:01:00.

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

http://marika-kailaya.dreamwidth.org/944099.html

This is an entry asking for money to be donated to a family. The insurance company denied payment for a LIFE SAVING PROCEDURE. Without this procedure, the person will die. And they said "no".

Reboost this signal too. I"ve seen it on Tumblr and now DW. Adding LJ to the mix.

First posted at http://daven.dreamwidth.org/773645.html. There's been thoughts shared with OpenID. Leave your 2¢!

Anyone know of some D&D 4th or 2nd edition games that I could join? I'm really wanting to play.

I can do webcam, I've got a decent one and can set it up pretty quick. IRC would be nice for the flow, I'd like to avoid the MMORPG D&D games, mainly because of the cost and I don't want to start over again.

Please repost this to boost the signal.

I went looking for this today because I didn’t remember it all, but it is so perfect that I wanted to share here again, just so that you can all remember along with me and enjoy it again.

So, I’m standing at a bus stop and they pull up. A car load of well meaning, bible thumping nut cases that are just frantic! The middle aged professionally dressed woman rushes forward…She takes my arm and with trembling voices she asks….”Have you found Jesus?” Her eyes plead with an urgency that is out of proportion to a bus stop.

Now normally I just politely decline the sermon, and free religious paperwork that such folk pawn off on unsuspecting by-standers. But, unfortunately for her, she is the fourth car to accost me in the last 9 minutes. So by now I’m beginning to wonder what the heck is wrong with these people. I mean if its not Christians it is the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Read the rest of the article...

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

Okay, I'm making this a public post and reposting it on both DreamWidth and LiveJournal. I'm going to do my best to make sure you can comment on either entry.

Those of you who have been reading my blogs for some time may want to skip down to the section labeled "TODAY" to bypass the backstory explanation here.

****BACKSTORY****

I lost my job February 18, 2007. I had the job for 7.5 years, making about $35,000 a year. It was working in Information Technology as a tech who came to your desk and fixed your computer right there. I worked for Direct Insurance in their corporate headquarters here in Nashville. I was the only person doing this job. I took care of 210 computers and had personally replaced every one of them at least twice. We bought a house.

Somewhere along the line I had made an enemy in the management and they wanted me gone. They had no cause to fire me, so they started a campaign to get rid of me. Over the course of 5 years, they pulled every stupid, ugly and mean trick they could think of to stress me out and make me walk away from my job. Two things kept me there: 1) the paycheck and 2) the insurance. I finally lost my temper at the wrong time, and they had cause to fire me, WITHOUT unemployment benefits. I have not had a permanent job since, despite sending out about 20 resumes a week to various places advertising job opportunities. I have applied at places like Kroger (chain grocery store), McDonalds, WalMart and more. Most times now I don't even get a "thank you for your interest" brush off.

All that said, I have never had to pay taxes. Every year, from the beginning of my work career, I have had refunds. Some times I didn't claim them and let the Gov't keep those refunds (they obviously need it more than I do), but I have never owed money.

When I lost my job of 7+ years, my wife's job became the sole income in the family. She is a person who talks on the phone professionally to men who want to get their rocks off. This is a polite way of saying she is a Phone Sex Operator. When you call into those porn lines, those singles lines, you don't get the girls on the TV, you get my wife, or someone very much like her. She gives good story.

She has worked this job, which is intended to be a supplementary income for the last 5 years. She's an independent contractor, who has to pay her own way. She gets $0.50 per minute that she is talking to people on the phone. She can be available for calls 24 hours a day, but if she only talks to these people on the phone for 10 minutes, total, then she only gets $5.00. With the downturn in the national economy, entertainment like this was one of the first things to go.

When she started this, the income range was approx $8000 to $10,000 per year. Not much, but enough to allow us to pay for things like the occasional meal out at a restaurant, and not the kind where the food comes in a paper bag. When that became the sole income, we went from "Struggling Middle Class" to "Poor" nearly overnight. We lost our house, our car, all of our savings, a lot of "friends" (who abandoned ship when we couldn't provide for them too), and in many ways our family (who got tired of us asking for handouts).

Federal Poverty Line for a three person family in 2010 was $18,310 (depending on which chart you use¹). Note that the maximum income that she made was below that level, and this was every year.

I was occasionally able to get a temp job, $50 here, $200 there, just enough to keep our nose above water, but not always. Our expenses (trimmed to the bone) outweighed our income. Power was always about $100 or so. Phone (a requirement) was always about $90. Rent was always about $100 in government subsidized housing. Note that it doesn't quite cover all the bills, so creative financing had to occur. This does NOT include medication we both need to live, nor does it cover ANY food (thank the Gods for Food Stamps).

Last year in 2010, three things happened which impacted all this: 1) our rent went down to $92 on recalculation of our income, 2) my daughter turned 18, 3) my wife only made $5000 TOTAL for the year. We got a prize from a company valued at $1150, and I didn't work a day because no one would hire me, not for the lack of trying. Oh, and because our daughter turned 18, we lost her section of Food Stamps even though we are still supporting her AND paying for nearly everything she needs. We lost a third of the money we used to eat on.

****TODAY****

We go to get our taxes done. The delay was so that we could make sure all the W2's and 1099's were in. They were, all 2 of them (one for my wife, one for the prize). Last year we made $8,000 and we got back $2500 in our return. We were expecting that to happen again. Had most of it spent too, on things like pillows, bills and restocking the pantry with things like spaghetti and staples of that type. No Sushi, no wine or beer, no gourmet mushrooms, nothing that couldn't be used fifteen different ways. Chicken, hamburger, flour, eggs, milk. Average grocery bill for us for a week is about $80 or so.

We sit around for three hours, finally get to the preparer. We give her all the stuff, we wait while it is all filled out and she gives us the total:

WE OWE $52.

Yes, that's right. We made the least amount of money EVER in our history as a family, hell, in my ENTIRE working life, and we owe money in taxes.

We freak. M'love is near to tears. We go through everything, and we try to find where we might get more money back. Through a combination of things:

• We can no longer count our daughter as a deduction, even though the majority of the year she was younger than 18. That loses us nearly $7000 in deduction right there (earned income tax credit).


• Wifey poo, having been counted as a independent contractor, is responsible for her own Withholding, SSI and other government taxes. We have not paid in, so it comes out now.


• Me, not having worked, paid nothing in to the system

all came together to take every deduction we had away, and then take all the credits away, and leave us owing money.

Want to know the real topper on this? We have to make payment arrangements to pay that $52 off. We don't have it. We can't pay it all at once. The last paycheck she got was $110, which we had to spend mostly on food because our food stamps hadn't hit until the 10th of the month. So now, we have next to nothing in our bank account, we owe rent, both bills, and now another fee to the Government.

The "tl;dr" version: This past year we have made less than we EVER have EVER in our working life, and we, for the first time ever, owe money to the government. We talked to the IRS, and there's nothing we can do except pay. The poorest of the poor has the Government sticking their hand in our pocket. Why? Because we obviously owe them money.

Right.

So when you read about the Banks getting $780 billion, the billionaires getting tax breaks worth the same amount, remember who are paying that $11 Trillion National Debt, people who make less than $10,000 per year.

Hell, most people spent more on their plasma screen TV and cable than we MADE in the whole year.

So, yeah, that's rich.





¹ This is according to the LIHEAP Clearinghouse at http://liheap.ncat.org/profiles/povertytables/FY2010/popstate.htm

First posted at http://daven.dreamwidth.org/769014.html. There's been thoughts shared with OpenID. Leave your 2¢!

Edited to add: I really would like to hear your opinions on this movie.

Well, it’s been a while since there was some original news here, so I’m going to try to rectify that with this post.

First off, “no new news”. Some have noticed that the Journal here has been recycling old posts. That’s on purpose. I’ve had little new to say here, so I’ve found a WordPress plugin called Old Post Promoter which finds old posts and makes them new again. This is deliberate so that those who just found this site can see what is out there. Plus, there’s nearly 500 posts here, and I could recycle an old post a day for almost two years. I have it set so that every three days an old post is pulled up. I’m pretty sure that those who are regulars here haven’t read everything either. So it’s a boon for everyone.

I do promise as the Muse or the Gods strike me, I will put up a new post or an article. So absolutely new content will not be a stranger, but I do want you all to be entertained here and not bored by seeing weeks/months of no posts. I figure old posts are better than no posts.

I would suggest subscribing to the RSS feed since that will get you the posts that are put up, and if you recognize them, you don’t have to come here and read.

Now, for what I was putting this post up for. I’ve made another movie. Yeah, you get to see my ugly mug. On this movie, I talk about my Druid’s Staff. I had mentioned that I would make this to show you what I had on my staff, and here it is.

I make mention of “The Sage” from “Groo the Wanderer”. Here’s a picture of him that inspired the bottle:

Anyhow, I get my ideas all over, and this is the one that I thought was cool enough to be incorporated into a Druid’s staff. Use it or not.

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

On Livejournal and Dreamwidth there is a Pagan Meme going around. I’m going to fill it out but it’s not going to be exactly like what the author anticipated. There are some of these questions that are invasive and not relevant to anything other than me.  My answers are in red and comments are in green.  But I have comments in the regular answers too.

But the rest is interesting. So, take a look.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

My friend Lupa (whom if she was closer I'd be a lot more involved with) has some beautiful artwork that she does using reclaimed animal parts.

http://lupabitch.dreamwidth.org/77554.html

This is her most recent evolution of her art, single runes as pendants. But I have a lot of her pieces and I can tell you that they are absolutely wonderful, useful, beautiful and well made. (let's see, there's the offering bowl, a bone/antler athame, a set of antler runes, several necklaces and multiple pouches...)

So if you want things made from leather/bone, as many do in the various pagan communities do, check out her post which will lead you to her Etsy shop, her website and more.

Pass this around to everyone.

First posted at http://daven.dreamwidth.org/763684.html. There's been thoughts shared with OpenID. Leave your 2¢!

While this sheet is of my authorship, I can’t claim responsibility for developing the information on this sheet. I cribbed from “The Practical Guide to the Runes” by Lisa Perchel to assemble this. However, the names have been changed to reflect a consistent language, not the polyglot that was in that book.

Letter	Rune	Name	Interpretation meaning	Magickal Meaning
F		Fehu (fay-hoo)	Material gain – Fulfillment – Uncontrolled (primal) fire	Increase Money – Protection of Valuables – Sending – Hasten Affairs
U,V		Uruz (or-rooz)	Wild Ox – Vitality – Male – True Will – Changes – Good Health	New Situations – New Circumstances – Healing
TH		Thurisaz (thoor-ee-saz)	Protection – Luck	New Beginnings – Luck – Protection – Push Love – Get rid of opposition
A		Ansuz (ahn-sooz)	Mouth – Spoken Word – Taking Advice – Gaining of Wisdom – Examinations	Gain Wisdom – Confidence – Increase in Magick – “Silver Tongue”
R		Raidho (rye-ee-doe)	Travel – Journey of Discovery	Gain Justice – Safe Travel
C,K,Q,X		Kenaz (can-aaz)	Fire (controlled) – Positive Attitude – Opening up – Creativity	Strengthen Runes – Healing – Love – Stability – Fresh Start – Protect Valuables
G		Gebo (geh-boe)	Gift – Partnership	Love & Sex – Increase Magick – Partnership – Mind & Body Equilibrium
V,W		Wunjo (voon-yoe)	Joy – Success	Fulfillment – Success in Travel
H		Hagalaz (hah-gah-laz)	Hail – Limitations & Delays – All forces outside your control	Protection – Luck – Positive Result
N		Nauthiz (now-theez)	Patience – Passing through a difficult learning situation – Think twice – Failure – Needs	Overcoming Distress – Achieve Goals – Protection – Find Love – Get relationship going
I,J		Isa (ee-sa)	Cessation of activities – Relationship cooling	Freeze Situation – Develop Will – Halt unwanted forces
J,Y		Jera (yer-ah)	Harvest – Reaping of rewards – Justice	Tangible Result – Bring event to pass – Legal matters – Fertility
I		Eihwaz (eye-vahz)	Yew Tree – Protection	Protection – Increase Power – Remove Obstacles
P		Perthro (pear-throw)	Mystery – Hidden things, secrets, occult – Unexpected gains & surprises	Evolve Magick – Investment – Find lost things – Good Health
Z		Algiz (ahl-giz)	New good influence – Instincts – Friendship – Protection	Protection – Friendships – Strength Luck & Life Forces
S,X,Z		Sowelo (so-vel-oe)	Victory – Great power – Great Health	Victory – Healing – Strength & Self Confidence
T		Tiewaz (tee-vaz)	Success – Extreme motivation – Increase in money or power – Masculine	Victory – Competition – Quick Recovery – Ardent Male
B		Berkana (bear-cah-nah)	Birth – Family – Home you made	Fertility – Protection – Family – Fruition – Female (nurturing)
E		Ehwaz (eh-vaz)	Physical Movement – New Dwelling – Physical shift – Gradual development & progress	Swift change – Safe Travel
M		Mannaz (man-az)	Humankind – Independence	Gain Assistance – Increase memory and mental powers
L		Laguz (lah-gooz)	Intuitive Knowledge – Female – Memory – Success in learning	Contact Intuition – Increase Vitality – Gather Energy
NG		Inguz (ing-ooz)	Successful conclusion – Relief	Fertility – Release Energy – Satisfactory End – “Fix” Outcome
D		Dagaz (dah-gaz)	Increase or Growth	Financial Increase – Change in Attitude – New Beginnings
O		Othala (oe-thah-lah)	Possessions – Ideal or Visions – Inherited traits	Monetary Gain – Health of Elderly – Protection of Possessions

These rune interpretations are taken from the book “The Practical Guide to the Runes” by Lisa Perchel, published by Llewellyn Publications.

Mirrored from Daven's Journal. Please leave all comments there since you can even log in with your Livejournal or Dreamwidth account with OpenID!

Please watch this video.

http://youtu.be/cfRSDbV8Adw

Every person who watches it will cause the sponsor to donate 10 cents to find a cure for breast cancer.

This entry was originally posted at http://daven.dreamwidth.org/756936.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

S T E P . O N E
Make a post to your journal. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related (fics, picspams, fanmixes) to medium (dvds, books, bracelets, etc) to really big (a new computer, a car, etc).

The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want. - If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your e-mail address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

S T E P . T W O
Surf around your reading list to see who has posted their list.

And now here's the important part: If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use - or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free - do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call. There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just... wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.


Hurr's my list:

( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://daven.dreamwidth.org/752835.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

There are some holidays I detest, right to the core of my being. The general time from Oct 1 to about March 18 or so, and sometimes on into May 6th, make me generally sick to my stomach. The main reason is bad associations with past holidays.

Let's forget for a moment the rampant commercialism associated with EVERY one of those holidays (with the exception of my birthday [Jan 12] because it gets rolled into Christmas), and lets forget the whole "The Christians stole their holidays from us" wangst. Just the "get together with the family on the holidays" crap makes me want to vomit. I'm pretty sure that everyone reading this understands why I say that. But time has fixed a lot of it, and I have gotten better. Therapy helps too.

Memorial and Veteran's Days both make me really ... embarrassed. Why? ( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://daven.dreamwidth.org/751616.html. Please comment there using OpenID.