Censer and Smoke

Books Read Meme

2008-06-23T16:27:39Z

From romandruid

I don't believe the average adult has only read 6.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ

According to The Big Read, the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books on their list.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Explorations

2008-06-05T18:30:48Z

I've been distracted from my DP for sometime, due to both life duties and some obstacles in my practice. I've been working within the framework of ADF's Roman Kin and have run into some challenges. ADFhas allowed me to learn, experiment, and finally be able to clarify them better.

For example, did the Roman's value Nature? With their cities, conquests of other cultures, and belief to be the descendents of Greeks would lead me to think otherwise. I see them to be quite "Urban", as far as pagan cultures go.

I seek a pagan practice that is effective, experiential and resonates with me culturally. I do feel that being historically accurate is something that is important to me. ADF's liturgy is very humbling before the Gods, Land and Ancestors. I've had to change my thinking about ADF ritual, to learn not only to speak the words but feel them - to feel the gates open, to build that tunnelling connection spiraling upwards and downwards to the other realms.

I find myself concerned with how farmers within more remote regions around Rome would have practiced their religion. Surely they didn't travel into the city to go to temple. I was reminissing upon a custom of my Grandmother, an immigrant from Italy. Throughout November she'd keep a candle lit in memory of the dead, i defunti - she'd lay out photos of all those she'd known who'd passed away. I wondered about these traditions, steeped in Roman-Catholic customs but uniquely Italian. Many of these "superstitions" can translate remarkably well into neo-paganism.

My family, they were farmers. I feel like I'm denying myself of something essential while using The Pillar instead of The Tree, even though it's brilliant in regards to Rome. It feels wrong that the Gatekeeper should open the gates so I might speak through them, pass offering through them, without myself passing through to experience those mysteries. (Perhaps this sort of shamanistic approach is something taught to ADF Clergy?)

I have been exploring writings about Northern European Cunning Craft, of which my favourites would largely be considered "unverified personal gnosis". This UPG, however, contains symbols, concepts, and methods that are quite relatable to ADF's liturgy, which I find strikingly odd and inspiring. I've also been looking into Italian Folk Magic called Benedicaria or Stregoneria (not to be confused with Grimassi's "Stregheria"), customs and superstitions that have become intertwined with Roman Catholicism. I propose that they are customs that have evolved from something much older, the result of assimilation into Christianity.

Here are some links that I'm drawing from right now. With some more work, I intend to write something more definitive and descriptive soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedicaria

http://www.rueskitchen.com/index.php/weblog1/entry/tribal_paganism_stregheria_and_vernacular_magic_in_italy_a_comparison

http://home.comcast.net/~bichaunt/diana.html

manacarousel @ 2008-03-22T17:11:00

2008-03-22T21:13:14Z

I have been quite busy with things, but everything is nicely winding down. On moving to new projects, and catching back up on my DP work. Right now, that happens to be a fair bit of reading - I'm working through Puhvel's Comparitive Mythology.

First Devotional to Dis Pater

2008-02-08T03:42:15Z

I'm sorry if this is a little hastily written - I'm still thinking it all over.

I've just completed my first devotional to Dis Pater, and I feel quite satisfied with it. I haven't done a ritual since Yule. Things have improved since then - my back is no longer hurting me, I've meditated more frequently. I wanted to do one before my Menlis Februarius ritual, a ritual that in many ways will resemble Imbolc which I'll develop upon later.

The ritual lasted just over twenty minutes. I've drafted what I feel if a fairly complete devotional, with different offerings to the nature spirits, the ancestors, my pantheon and a 'focus deity'. A patron of sorts, since I've never felt one to have selected me specifically. Dis Pater has helped me before when sought, I thought it right for my first real devotional to be to him.

My offerings were flax seeds to the land spirits, red wine to the ancestors, salt for the Old Ones, and special fragrance oil for Dis Pater. Initially, I placed the offering of oil in the burner, but then also added a few drops to the well - He is an underworld deity. The spell of the oil makes me feel a greater connection, but I think that the well is the right vehicle for the offering.

For my Yule ritual, for the omen, I asked for guidance. In reply to my post, myrdynna suggested i read the omen as just that - a response to the ritual itself. I had erred in my approach to it. I changed my way for this devotional, drawing three tarot cards to reflect if the offerings had been accepted, what guidance could be offered to my mundane life, and what guidance was offered to my spiritual pursuits.

I take the 3 of Pentacles to mean that I'm off to a good start, that my efforts are noted.

I drew the Judgement card in reference to mundane matters. I've been putting into effect some study and career changes. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

In spiritual matters, I drew Tempereace reversed. I took this to mean hesitance, care, and understanding - maybe the slightest bit of caution. I've actually had the opportunity to maybe work with a local coven, something I'd enjoy but feel a wee bit nervous about. There are so many things I want to learn, to seek and understand. I'll have to be careful to not get involved with too many things at once.

For this complete of a devotional, I'd like to work my way to committing around 40 minutes and doing it once or twice a week.
I'm planning a simpler devotional, a shorter one with simpler offerings to be done daily.

Imbolc: Cleansing (Draft)

2008-01-25T17:21:19Z

Imbolc

Imbolc has always been a special time to me, as it's Patron Goddess has always been an inrtiguing force to me. Brighid is a very complex, a figure whom I have great repect for. Unfortunately, because of my experience in multiple pagan pathes, I feel like my opinion of this High Day, of how it should be celebrated, is at odds with many other pagans.

A Wiccan Approach to Imbolc

Wicca has it's own cosmology that runs through the wheel of the year - times of peaked strength for the God and the Goddess. EachSabbat (High Day) represents a different point in their growth as well as in their relationship.

Brighid is this maiden, who is to become The Bride. Traditions include making crafts from straw, Brighid's crosses, corn dollies. Rites of cleansing and purification are performed, putting out and re-lighting the hearth fire, and placing the besom (sacred broom) buy the door to represent the sweeping out the old and stagnant from the home.

This is a time, to Wiccans, reserved for the Virgin Maiden. The myth of the return of Persephone might be considered to conform this. (1)

ADF's Approach to Imbolc

In it's celebration of Imbolc, ADF attempts to be very traditional and historically accurate. They also see Imbolc as a time of purification and share many customs with Wicca in the emphasis sweeping as purifying, rites connected to promoting growth and fertility.Imbolc was the time when animals began to lactate.

Personal Approach to Brighid and Imbolc

Brigid plays three roles - Healer, Poet and Smith.* She is a Goddess with both bright and dark aspects, the latter I feel are often not acknowledged.

I cannot picture Brighid in my mind as a maiden, as the “bride.” This is the Goddess who shed the first tears of Ireland, mourning the loss of her son. *(Reference) As Poet, She creates. As Smith, she destroys and re-creates. As Healer, she nurtures. Through and through, to me, she is The Mother and this therefore creates a conflict between my beliefs and those of many other Neo-Pagans.

For Imbolc, I do not celebrate the beginnings of spring . In my region, February happens to be the dreariest, coldest month of year. We are tired, tense, and impatient.Imbolc has become to me a rite of purification and initiation - a time for beginnings. My rituals center around the cleansing and purifying the home (both mundanely and spiritually) and the self, by use of fire, incense, smudging and steam. I purify andsonsecrate new candles. I reconnect with other tools I use.

I then follow this by asking that my home and hearth be blessed, requests for inspiration, to nurture creativity in me. I enjoy leaving baked goods toBrighid, spices, Cinnamon Schnapps.

And then, I look forward to spring. I enjoy the anticipation, I pray that the struggle of winter storms, slushy streets and endless sniffles will come to an end.

My ADF Approach

Within ADF, I'm working with a Etruscan/Roman hearth culture and so at this time of year I honour Februus. The ADF website refers to Menlis Februarius, his sacred festival which would involve acts of purification as well as offerings to the dead. February was the last month of the year.

This coming February will be my first rite of this kind. As Februus is a God of the Underworld, I plan to work with salt and stones throughout the ritual.
I have worked with Him before and intend to make thanks for that working.

I also intend to explore his role within the Dii Inferni - the ADF pages suggest they could be considered as 'Outdwellers'. I currently disagree - their not 'Shining Ones', Bright Gods and Goddesses, but powerful deities they are, serving the roles they are meant to.

Notes

(1) I would disagree , as I believe that Persephone could no longer be considered pure of mind not innocent of body in her emergence from the underworld.

(2) A favourite author of mine, Arin Murphy-Hiscock, aligned these functions with life stages. The Healer represented her maiden aspect, perhaps referencing the purity and good intentions of youth. The Poet represents the mother aspect, she who created. Finally, with it’s dark elements, the Smith represents the crone, she who ends, transforms, creates something new. While I disagree that a youth best represents a healer, I do find this to be an interesting organisation ofBrighid’s attributes within the context of Wicca. I do disagree, however, feeling that they are all aspects of The Mother. I typically feel that the 'Maiden, Mother and Crone' structure isromanticization and unique to Wicca. To me it holds value only in relation to the relationship between Persephone, Demeter and Hecate.

About omens and piacular offerings.

2008-01-22T01:25:17Z

The process of writing and planning my daily (weekly? Tri-weekly?) devotionals. i made quite a bit of progress yesterday and felt pretty pleased. I was incorporated some elements of ADF's Roman liturgy. I will end up being quite different from either, I imagine. I'll let you know how it goes.

Is it necessary to do omens during daily devotionals? I theorize that since they're simply devotional, the answer is no.
I'm not asking for anything, I'm paying my respects.

Jenni Hunt, in her Roman liturgical writings, makes use of piacular offerings in her rituals. These are final offerings done towards the end of the rite, just before the omen, to please the Old Ones in case anything has been done wrong. If the omen is negative, she would give another piacular offering until the omen is good. (She mentioned in her article she's never had to do it more than once.)

This bothers me quite a bit. Why would They be displeased with a ritual? More importantly, if They were displeased, why would extra "just in case" offerings make it better? I think I'd make use of this extra offering if I did receive a particularly negative offering. I don't feel it's right to receive a second omen.

Regardless, I probably won't be seeking omen for my devotionals either. (Does anyone else?)

Vision

2008-01-16T16:36:43Z

At its simplest definition, vision is the ability to see.

As Druids, however, we must do more than simply be aware of our surroundings by use of our eyes. We must be able to see and understand why things are the way they appear: His home is cluttered because of emotion attatchment, not simply because he is messy. She is not trying to be rude, she is actually just shy. This virtue gives us the ability to walk in someone else's shoes, to empathise. This virtue puts one in the state of being open, a listener, receptive.

Continuing along those lines, avision can also be a premonition, a prediction, the result of divination. Recognising omens, receiving messages from loved ones in dreams - both require the openness and understanding involved with Vision.

Finally, the virtue of Vision is manifested in the fire of inspiration. It is the completed project we see in our minds that encourages us to begin and persevere. Artistic vision. Without that initial vision, what goals, ideas, improvements would we have to aspire to?

Belief-O-Matic Results

2008-01-03T19:06:04Z

It is always fun to do this once in a while - however, I always feel as if there's never a perfect answer for the question.

1.	Neo-Pagan (100%)
2.	Mahayana Buddhism (94%)
3.	New Age (82%)
4.	Unitarian Universalism (81%)
5.	Hinduism (81%)
6.	Liberal Quakers (70%)
7.	Theravada Buddhism (69%)
8.	Sikhism (66%)
9.	Jainism (60%)
10.	Reform Judaism (57%)
11.	Taoism (56%)

My "meditation" background.

2007-11-11T19:32:34Z

Cross-posted. originally posted at http://mana.covenspace.com, 5 November 2007.

An essay or journal covering the Dedicant's personal experience of building mental discipline, through the use of meditation, trance, or other systematic techniques on a regular basis. The experiences in the essay or journal should cover at least a five months period. (800 words min.)

I've decided to opt for journal entries, so I can look back and see what stages and changes I've gone through. Meditation has always been something I've enjoyed but never been able to commit to.

I likely began in mid-late 2005, when I first began studying Paganism. I began with visualization excercises, which weren't very difficult. I'm a chronic daydreamer and have quite a decent visual memory. Manipulating an image in my mind wasn't at all a challenge.

This was when I was around 16. It wasn't long before I wanted to try something different. An attempt at moving at the "astral plane" - spontaneous visualization to communicate with other forces. I'm not quite sure how to define it yet. All I know is that I did encounter someone. In high-grass plains, she suddenly appeared, like a barrier. It frightened me with a jolt and I ran downstairs with my mother.

A few years later I was discussing this sort of astral journeying witha group, and the organiser mentioned that sometimes we create natural barriers for ourselves - stone walls, locked gates - when we journey as a natural safeguard against what we're not prepared for. I don't know if the being I saw was my own mind or someone else, but I understand that I obviously wasn't ready for that yet.

It was some time before I tried that again.

For a while I also worked with Zen or No-Mind meditation. i like to think it not in terms of "Focus on not thinking" but "Don't focus on any thoughts you have." The images come and go, you don't even register them.

Up until I began with ADF, my meditation working with my chakras. I'd envision a solid colour - ranging from red to ultra-violet to white on the rainbow spectrum - and feel energy move it's way up my spine, colour corresponding to the chakra. By the time it reach my crown, I fall into what I refer to as a sort of euphoric trance state. I haven't been able to maintain it for a whole ritual, but I'm experimenting.

I really understood Jenni Hunt's article "Meditation for the Type A Personality." I don't really consider myself a chronic thinker or busy multi-tasker, but her "zoning out" explanations are spot on. I'm a public transit user, I'm often tired, I often space out.

I've had it that I was so focused on drawing once that I didn't notice a whole room of people calling my name. I did, but much later, only to respond as if I had been asked the second before.

Sometimes I play pool and I have what I calla "Zen moment" -an instant of perfect concentration where I know I will sink that ball. Kind of silly, but related.

Today, I began by starting up the Krishna Das playlist. I experimented with breathing, swaying to one song, singing to the next - focusing on whatever dominant action I was doing, and just lketting any thought-images come and go. Effective all in all, I'd say.

As for breathing, I found it frustrating to always have to count. For the most part I maintained a 4second inhale, 3 second hold, 4 second exhale, 5 second hold, more or less. I find it very easy to start taking shallower breaths at a regular pace and entering more of a trance like state. I was out for around 15 minutes.

First Oath

2007-11-11T19:29:52Z

This is a draft of what I'm considering for my first oath.
It's written under the assumption that I will declare it first alone - I may adapt it for declaration before a Grove (probably for Imbolc 2008.)

I, Mana, born Amanda Giovanna,
Descended of families Mancini, DeGroot, Teoli and Stoter,
Do declare myself, before the world and the Otherworld, a keeper of the Old Ways.

With this sacred oath I set my foot upon the path and vow to make my dedication plain.

I commit myself to the study of the ways of old.
I vow to seek virtue in my life and be true to myself.
I assure I will do right by my kin, my friends and my community.
I promise to honour my ancestors, the land, and the Gods.

Before the Gods and Spirits, and before these witnesses, these things I swear.

I want my oath to reflect my commitments to

self-improvement
specifically developing a connection to my ancestors
study and learning, which I have always found fulfilling and pleasurable.
to improve myself as a person, by being virtuous.

I specified 'land' and not nature spirits specifically. You'll have to forgive me - I don't actually believe in "nature spirits ' - the Sidhe, gnomes and fairies and things. I do believe that natural areas have their own... means of perception, memories of experiences, expressions, but I don't have enough experience yet to define this as "nature spirits." I'm sure I will learn more about this as I go on, but in the meanwhile I don't find it appropriate to refer to this uncertain element.

An Introduction

2007-11-10T18:03:29Z

My name is Mana and I'm from Montreal, Canada. I began the DP at Samhain 2007, when a the Island Willow Protogrove emerged nearby and I would have the opportunity to study with others in person.

I've actually wanted to be a part of ADF since back when I was too young to be purchasing memberships online. That was around 2002, and I had trouble finding good sources for practicing solitary Druidry. Sure, books like Stuart Piggot's The Druids were historically informative, but not complete in offering a spiritual practice. Then of course there were books like Sirona Knight's Guide to Celtic Druidism, which even at sixteen I came to figure out was NOT right at all.

Quite some years have passed, and I've a lot more personal experience on a pagan path behind me. I'm somewhat involved with the Montreal Pagan Community. My personal practice has developed to incorporate the structure of Wicca, a personal relationship with deities of of the Celtic and Etruscan pantheons. My current interests, ADF aside, are the study of chakras and the Kabbalah.

My goal, in learning with ADF, is developing a way of practice that will allow me to become closer with the Etruscan pantheon. I'm complementing my DP study with some rather serious study into their history and art. naturally, I will also be studying Roman mythology and culture, into which they were absorbed.

I also want to create a more pious practice with a closer connection to the land and the ancestors.

I've already started work on the DP, and have some article drafts posted:
http://mana.covenspace.com.

I'll likely transfer them here eventually after giving them a polish.

I hadn't initially wanted to use LiveJournal - I had varying accounts on this site since 2002.
The fact is that it's replying/post discussion system is far superior to many other services.
The ADF communities on LJ also look very supportive and helpful!