It has been just over a year since we have all been stuck in Pandemic Land - Please pass the Dramamine and I'd like to get off the rides now.   It crash landed right before my birthday and ruined a lot to say the least.  Is there light in the Covid Tunnel? Perhaps. But I still miss my friends terribly and our yearly lunch gathering to celebrate our awesomeness was postponed again.

BUT! As I went out to get the mail I tripped over several boxes of birthday love and that totally cheered me up!  

1: Tom Novy painted this crow for me - after one I had in a dream - Perfect!!
2: Jan Novy gifted me a Titanic book and I LOVE it - goes with my treasure chest of Titanic memorabilia 
3: From my friend Audrey - some Harry Potter love, LOTR leather journal that smells divine love and Neil Gaiman love - also a gift card.
4: From my friend Sue - a super soft plush HIPPO blanket, black note paper Hippo Journal and metallic markers and OMG I do not know how she finds the best HIPPO stuff  but she wins the prize!

Then today I ventured to the one place I scarfed food at any and all occasions in high school, Naugles. I LOVED Naugles and it did not disappoint.  I maybe got TOO much food? Nah, leftovers!  But the Taco salad with White Sauce was just how I remembered it. Tastyyyyyyyyy.

I also ventured to Kohls as I have not bought any new clothes since before Covid and after trying Target was highly disappointed in the weird baggy pastel prairie dresses? And way too cropped cropped tops?   That is not fashion.   Kohl's did not disappoint - got some comfy tee shirts and a few dressier shirts plus some lounging cotton shorts and a pajama set that I plan on turning into lounging shorts.  Happy Happy.

 And then there was my parents card.  My Dad added exactly two words to it and I about fell over laughing so hard because I don't care how old I am or get to be, I will NEVER live down the Green Grapes Incident.

What is the Green Grapes Incident you ask?

Ok, first I was like 6?  So not entirely responsible for my actions - also my mom was literally 2 feet away from me cooking something so she could have stopped this at any time but she didn't. So, not all my fault. 

I guess I was eating green grapes, (obviously?)  in the kitchen while my mom cooked something on the stove. I dunno how many Iate - enough.   Then I decided I was thirsty. I LOVED our Sparklett's Water dispenser thingy - remember those? The Sparklett's man would come and give us full bottles and take the empties away? Yeah, anyway - I liked that so I had a cup - I don't think it was a big cup but I had a cup -  then another. Then.... another..... (again Mom could have said that was enough water stop now but no.)

To be honest I have no idea how many cups of water I added to the Green Grapes but more than three.  Do we see where this is heading?

So, after I am done guzzling water I walk out of the kitchen towards the living room where my Dad is sitting on the sofa. At the end of the hall I stop walking and immediately, with no warning that I am aware of, turn into the Gushing Fire Hose of Green Grapes and Water - (I honestly don't recall feeling sick LOL)   I do recall my Dad running full speed at me, grabbing me from behind and lugging me into the bathroom which was luckily RIGHT THERE and setting me in the tub.  I think I was done by then and felt fine but was given a stern DO NOT MOVE FROM THE TUB.

Snorttttt.  I cannot imagine the horror of that scene even though I had a starring role. And that is why I will never live that down.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I don't often do Magic. Not in the ritual sense anyway.  By that I mean, busting out items in a ritualistic manner and sitting down to focus on them. Usually, I am content to let my prayers/hopes/wishes fly out into the Universe and go from there.

BUT!  Something was coming up that was really badly timed and incredibly inconvenient and I NEEDED to be sure I wouldn't be needing to attend.  So. Magic.

First, let me say that I LOVE me some ritual items. Colored candles and oils and crystals and special paper etc?  I just love those things because they are those things.  But, here is the important part. They aren't necessary. At. All.  

Since I don't do rituals much I don't have all the colors and all the things and once upon a time I thought I had to have those to make magic work.  No. You don't.

Magic is concentrated thought. It is visualizing what you want and sending that concentrated thought out into the world.   Much like when we were kids and played in our imaginations, that is how this work.

In this ritual, I wanted a candle (for focus) and I happened to have a few white tea candles.  A lot of spell casters say you need a specific color for a specific spell.  Don't have a green candle for money? Imagine the candle you are holding is Green. Don't have a candle? Imagine you do. That simple, really.

For me, I wrote out my request and folded it up, making sure to be clear on what I needed to happen. Then I folded it up and set it down under a coaster, then set my candle glass on top of it. Then I took my candle and held it while concentrating all my thoughts to what I needed to have happen. When I felt I had charged my candle up, I set my spell/thoughts free and lit the candle. Set it on top of my spell and let it go.

Because I set my intention, twice, once in word and once in thought, I then left it ALONE. Once the candle burned out, I left it all sitting in place until after the time passed of the "event."  For me, my belief is once I set my spell out in the world, I don't want to think about it and twist my intention or the spell out of shape. I guess it's like sigil magic to me. Once it's done, I don't want or need to keep thinking about it.

And it worked.  I knew it would though, the minute I set it free. I could feel it. I think when we are properly aligned with the Universe and our wish/hope/spell aligns with it as well, it works.

Also, it probably doesn't hurt to have a Grogru with his little hand hovering over the spell either. Extra Jedi magic LOLOL I honestly didn't even realize he was posed like that for a day or so.

Magic is thought /desire made real.   And it works.

Having another dream that led to answers I wasn't even aware I needed made me very happy today.  I am fizzing with energy again and oddly, joy LOL  Not that I am not happy often, but this kind of joy is unusual for me first thing in the AM - when I turned my PC on, that was the screen photo - appropriate LOL Made me laugh loudly!

Anway, the dream.

Recurring type dreams annoy me when I can't figure out WHY I am having them. This one was driving me nuts - old BF and I are back together and I am always looking for clothes I have left behind so I can shower/change?  Drives me insane to keep having it and then today, I figured it out. Bolt out of the blue LOL

I don't think I would have but because of my studying the psychopomp/shamanistic/dream world, I have been reading a lot of using time in the Other world/Spirit world - to do a soul retrieval for someone.  I never thought it would be ME though.    Not a full soul, but a bit, something I think I lost along the way.

I actually thought that after I had moved on from a relationship, that I moved on. Totally - end of sentence.    I had no feelings - emotionally - that I was aware of, tying me to that time or person so having ex dreams can be frustrating until you figure out why.

In this case though, after being open to the idea of cords still attaching me to a time or person - I looked more deeply into this time and realized that after we broke up, or really, even when we had still been together - I was starting to become VERY INTROVERTED*.

*side note - I wasn't always introverted. I was never super extroverted but I never minded a lot of people or crowds or what have you.  The thought of Going Out was never an anxiety producing thought until about this time.

Interesting yes?  I think so.

Now I am looking further into this time so I can get to the nitty gritty of what I may have lost of myself (the clothes I am looking for in the dream)  Because I want that bit back.  If cutting the cord doesn't work in regular meditation or deep visualization, then I have a goal for my first few trips into the Shamanic state.  This excites me very much!

N = New - otherwise it's a reread.

February Books: (8) - Yes, it's totally embarrassing but I was/am reading a handful of books all at the same time, so I finished only a few - March should be a big one though.  Also, I pretty much re-re-re-re- read all of my favorites - It's a comfort thing.

Brigid's Charge - Cynthia Lamb 

A Scattered Life - Karen McQuestion

The Long Way Home - Karen McQuestion

11/22/63 - Stephen King

The Institute - Stephen King

The Passage - Justin Cronin

Dreamgates - Robert Moss   N - and a fabulous book to add to my dreamwork/psychopomp collection

A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness