On Monday, we went to the Orange Peel Morris annual Wassailing at Spirit Tree Cidery, Ontario.
Books I read in January
January 2020. The last two books of the Axiom trilogy; the last book in the Winternight trilogy; started, but did not finish, Kafka on the Shore; re-reading The Living of These Days, by Harry Emerson Fosdick. Continue reading
A Queer Pagan Reading List (2020)
A message from Brighid
We are in the northern part of Turtle Island. We start every circle with a land acknowledgment and a blessing for the First Nations of this land. Today we invoked Brighid, goddess of smith-craft, poetry and healing. This is her message. She wanted me to put it on the Internet. Even if you don’t believe in channeling and goddesses: her message is truthful.
The ‘Mpa-lu ‘Mpa
I am Nahuatl, the shaman of the ‘Mpa-lu ‘Mpa. I was away in the high mountains gathering plants when the sorcerer came who enslaved my people. This is the story of how the ‘Mpa-lu ‘Mpa rose up and defeated the sorcerer.
Being yourself online
Nimue Brown has written a great article on various types of online performance, and how to remain authentic even while curating your online persona.
I try to keep my online persona as close to the real me as possible. But obviously you’re getting an edited version.
Theriomorphic deities
The revelation of the restored version of the Mystic Lamb from the Ghent Altarpiece got me thinking about theriomorphic deities.
The scary goggly eyes of the restored version attracted quite a lot of comment and even a scary meme of the Lamb winking.
Before you go and have a look at the pictures, I have to warn you that what has been seen cannot be unseen.
Avoiding spiritual burn-out
Ask Grace: What are the symptoms of spiritual burnout and how to avoid psychic burnout
Spiritual burn-out is a real risk for spiritual leaders, counsellors, caregivers, healers and psychics. Grace, a psychic, gives advice on how to avoid it (and she should know because she has suffered from it). I have suffered from this myself (in 2011), and have found in the past that if I was getting nurtured by others, and receiving energy from the universe, it didn’t happen, whereas if you fail to do these things, you will get burn-out, and the symptoms can be quite nasty.
She first identifies the symptoms of spiritual burn-out, and then identifies how to avoid it, or how to recover from it if you already have it.
The symptoms of spiritual burnout or psychic burnout can include exhaustion, depression, dread before or after working, feelings of unbearable responsibility, feeling overwhelmed, crying for no reason, crying often, being overtired, insomnia, difficulty getting out of bed, restlessness, procrastination, avoidance, constant illness, problems with the heart, difficulty breathing, anxiety and panic attacks, extreme weight loss or weight gain, hair loss, irritability, and a desire to avoid people.
Grace’s advice can be summed up in six key points:
- Take a break and rest – Grace says “take a sabbatical from everyone and everything, and really nurture yourself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually”.
- Make sure your needs are met – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Breathe properly.
- Draw your energy from the universe – don’t use up all your personal energy; make sure to be replenished from the source.
- Charge for your services – either in money or in kind – Grace says “there always has to be an exchange of energy, which is what money is – it is the energy of worth and value given in exchange for the service received.”
See my article on Pagans and money for a discussion of when charging for spiritual services is appropriate and when it’s not. Most Wiccans agree that it’s inappropriate to charge for training because you received your training for free, it’s a continuing relationship, and you get as much out of it as your coveners. But it’s okay to charge for services where you don’t receive energy in return, like Tarot readings.
- Maintain strong boundaries – visualise yourself surrounded by white light; set aside a special room for your clients; set fixed working hours. If there’s an emergency, calm the client down first. Have a website which answers all the obvious questions about what you do.
- Only work when you can give 100% – don’t deplete yourself by working when you are ill, distracted, etc.
It’s well worth reading the whole article, which gives more examples and some excellent techniques and advice.
If you think you are suffering spiritual burn-out, get help – don’t leave it until you are absolutely exhausted.
(This article was originally published on UK Spirituality)
Related articles
If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy my books, Dark Mirror: the inner work of witchcraft and The Night Journey: witchcraft as transformation.
Causality and ethics in Wicca
There are many people who will tell you that Wicca abides by the Threefold Law. If someone tells you this, the first thing you should ask is which version of Wicca they’re talking about, and the second thing you should ask is what version of the Threefold Law they’re talking about.
Books I read in 2019
Here’s an overview of the books I read in 2019.
