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Most of my Brighid's Fire (the actual ritual part) was short, sweet and to the point. I lit a candle, said a few prayers, did a bit of healing work. The "prep work" took the majority of my evening. I started at about 3.30 or so...painting a bottle to go on my shrine (it's sitting next to it as it's too big to go ON the shrine, it looks silly and easily tipped over.) Then I spent...close to two hours painting my legs with indigo. The indigo painting, for me, is part art, part therapy, and part religious observance. Some people might think it's crazy to spend hours painting something just to have it gradually disappear over the next week...but it's impermanence means I get to do it all over again!!! :yay: Feet: Left leg: Right leg: I'm glad Brighid seems to encourage displaying work done in her honor!

Prayer for Imbolc Our Lady of Spring Your fire melts the frost Your water is the rain that falls Your sun warms the earth And seeds beneath the farmers' fields Give us life! As you give life Let us grow! We're born anew May your fire warm our hearts And your water wash our souls Let your sun draw forth the seeds Of life and growth within us Your fire drives us! Your water carries us! Let us be strong And grow vibrant in your hands. My writing is really taking off!! When inspiration hits, it hits like a ton of bricks lol. I joined a writing forum called Toasted Cheese. My friend kept linking me, and I kept forgetting to join, so I finally did. That will hopefully keep me on track with my writing.

A member of a pagan forum I frequent asked us to "rewrite" the Ten Commandments as they would be for our beliefs, if we had "commandments". This, of course, was an opportunity that I could not pass up. I have twelve just to be different It made me think anyay. My Twelve Commandments:

::glances around this poor, neglected catagory:: Just yesterday I have started a blog for various religious essays. This will not be for "everyday stuff", but only for things about my personal path. I had started out with the intention of "starting a religion" but I realized that by believing as I do, and practicing as I do, I am effectively creating the path simply by walking it. I was inspired by someone else's religious essays, and decided to write my own. I figure it will help me to learn more about myself, which is my intention. And it may prove entertaining or helpful to others, which is an added bonus My blog is here: Love, Hope and Life I was inspired by this blog: Flamekeeping

A girl kneels by the bedside of her dying lover. Her tattered wings spread out behind her, the feathers unkempt and dirty. She is crying pitifully. The only one who can save her lover, and therefore herself, stands behind her, scowling at her weakness. He is the reason her lover is dying. She would be lost without the one she loves. The voice of Justice echos like thunder throughout the room. I've watched your helpless fall from grace And the agony in your face If every cut were one less pain you had to bear; I'd cut myself a thousand times to save you And as I watch you slip away And this is justice done? But I was young! The loss of innocence that you hate was caused by you in a time of rage Those that died were no longer pure Because you stole their purity Look at her; she is the last, crying for the one you would not save If every cut were one less pain you had to bear; I'd cut myself a thousand times to save you Will you not help her? Will you turn away and let her die by the suffering you caused to save her kind? I am the cause of all I hate a thousand times Tell me now! Is it not too late to save her? It is never too late Copyright 2006 KMcJ

Silence. The silence that lives inside of us. The calm after battle...before a storm...that little space inside of us that is so often forgotten, ignored, but never leaves. That space inside where joy, love, and hope go when fear takes over...pandora's box...that little space is the one good thing left at the bottom...listen to that silence inside you...it speaks without words...it knows nothing of words...the language of the soul is silence...it knows only one thing: "I am"...and knows no definition...just be...pure existance...and you will find the answers you didn't even realize you sought... Forgotten. Too much is forgotten these days...when our laughter has been replaced by electronic beeps, our voices lost in the hum of machines...even our music is electronic, mechanical. You turn on the radio...and hear electronic beeps, keyboards and synthesizers...open the window. You'll hear the birds sing, the wind in the trees...music is life...life has music... Color...does sound have color? Some say it does...I've been told my voice is blue...what does that mean? I don't know...I always thought of it as round... Sight, and sound, touch, and laughter...are they one in the same...to see sound and hear color...blue is clear...the sky is clear and bright...there's no way to prove that of course...there is no way to capture an audio recording of color...I suppose its like trying to explain "blue" to a blind person...they can never truely know...and neither can we...sometimes I feel like that...like I can never know...because I've never known...and don't know where to begin. Blah...shallow people...I listen to my friends talk and all I hear is sports, or boys, or fashion, or schoolwork...just once I'd like to hear someone my own age ask "what do you want out of life?"..."what do you value?"..."what's most important to you?"...I may not be able to answer these questions myself...but at least I can understand them...do you know how you would answer those questions? I want freedom in life...maybe not freedom in the traditional sense...but freedom from the constraints so many try to place on us all...I want knowledge...maybe knowledge isnt the right word...I want to know what's inside myself...how to listen to that little voice...I want prosperity...and I don't mean money. I want the satisfaction of knowing that I accomplished something...fullfillment...health...love...How many people want "a good job, a nice house, a car and a family"? I value honesty, duty, honor, love...I value kindness and mercy...but not giving in...acceptance is not surrender, someone once said and I'm inclined to agree...What's most important to me? LIFE...life is important to me...noticing the little things... No one seems to ask these questions anymore...although they'll ask "does my hair look ok?"...language has become shallow...just words...collections of syllables when put together matching a definition in a book...words that only really mean other words....what happened to the days when words carried a piece of the essence of that which they described? When words *were* the idea, instead of simply describing it? Poetry...rythm to words...the ideas in poetry lies not in the words, but between them...in the barely perceptible spaces between the words...in the flow of it, the music of it...the overall effect far greater than the sum of its parts....similes...metaphors...alone these words mean nothing...together they mean the world... There is life in the rustle of leaves, the glint of sun on the water...music in the raindrops, in the dripping, melting snow and cracking ice...music that in autumn bids farewell to the sun...and haralds its return as new life begins... Belief...I don't have belief...I have knowledge...people ask me if I believe in God...I don't believe. I KNOW. When there is no doubt in your mind, it is not belief...when you wake up and look out the window and feel the presence...the leaves, in the sun, in the moon...feel the magic...and know its there...anything is possible...my home feels empty without my Gods...it is not my home without them, only a house...I carry them with me wherever I go...I've no need of a church or a temple...because they are there with me...everywhere I go is sacred...

Like flowers in the springtime Or the warmth of a summer breeze I know you

Fall is here. You can see it in the trees, feel it in the air. You can smell it in the morning dew. It rained today, it was the kind of rain that smells like snow. The wind is blowing through the trees. I love days like this. It isn't stormy, but there's a certain energy in the air that isn't there at any other time. Only in the fall and occasionally in winter. It's beautiful. I feel so alive when the weather is like this... This week promises to be much better than last week.

Lift my eyes to bright sunriseStretch my silver wingsSoaring on the crystal breezeAnd my spirit singsTo close to the blinding lightI am unpreparedToo much truth and all too soon Why am I so scared?What it was that once I soughtIs the death of meTruth is not what I believedHow can this thing be?Falling now these shredded wingsBent and broken, flimsy thingsPlunged into darkness, all hope fadesSunset on my glory daysLoss of innocence

As I sleep Wrapped in silver wings Dreaming of simpler things Of days gone by And how time flies Of life, and love And joys denied And as I wish Not to wake To stay forever In this state Where birds all sing And joy abounds And true love always To be found And as I wake To new sunrise And look around With sleepy eyes Try not to be caught By surprise When life stares me in the face And I want nothing more Than to go back to that place

What goes on when we close our eyes? What are we doing when we think we are asleep? Those knights and dragons, warriors and faraway lands on worlds beond the sun are real. If they aren't real here, physically, they are real only in that they are real to us. What is the significance, to us, of these lands of our dreams? Are they simply an escape from the waking world of biting reality or are they something more? Do our lives of faraway lands only seen in the night through sleeping eyes matter as much to us as do the lives we know, have grown accustomed to? They should. Some cultures believe that when you sleep your soul leaves your body. I do not think this is so for the soul can never leave. But a part of you can, and often does. Are you aware? Do you know? How do dreams affect us, and we don't even know it. Often I wake feeling the pain of wounds gained in dreams. Are they real to me? Yes. I don't know where I go, but I know that it's real. To me at least. For it exists in my own mind, and that space between my ears is space. It's real. They exist somewhere. I exist. Somewhere. Maybe I'm just someone elses dream. Maybe life is a dream, and I will wake. When I do, where will I be? Will I be in the faraway lands that so many dream of? Is this a dream? When I go to sleep at night am I really waking up? It's possible. But how will I know, if I am asleep or awake. How will I know if it's day or night. Is it day? The sun is just rising. Or is that the moon in the land of dreams?

Glitter tears on porcelain skinScarlet drops of shameUnbreakable bonds;BetrayalYou left me to wilt;Wither and dieWith scarlet tears on my porcelain skinShame in my eyes;Too much to hold insideGlistening scarlet runneth overCut by these unbreakable bonds I lieYou left me to dieBetrayalI called for youBetrayalI cry for youBetrayalScarlet tears of shame Left to dieUnbreakable bondsOnly you can break these bondsDry these scarlet tearsI called for youYou left me to dieThese unbreakable bonds my shameDisgraceBetrayal

I

O valiant one who rose to free your peopleThrough conquests far and wideActs of valor unparalleledTo stand the tests of timeIt is you to whom I give my lifeMy victories are yoursYour will is my dutyI can have no otherYour love and your causes are mineO fateful dayThe ultimate betrayalTrusted friends and RomansSpilled your bloodAnd took what you spent so long to buildRipping it in twoThey turned friend against friendBrother against brotherAll for the powerThey deserve not to holdAnd for you I weepI can do no otherAs my love, my cause, my dutyStain the ground redWith your blood they spilledIn a last valiant effort to serve youMy blood is spilled on the streets of RomeThe city you loved will forever remember youIn the hearts and minds of her peopleFor you are a legend