Blended Paths

As an update to my previous blog, I am not getting a turntable. Our tax money was gone before we got it after planning to pay bills, buy Jess a mattress and go to New Orleans. So. That was that. However, Spotify is still working out just fine and there is zero house clutter involved.

Website update: Be sure to check out the gallery. I've added a new album for my Instagram photos, and I'm actually working on setting up this deal with Flickr where the post automatically post as a blog here at this site. I'm posting TONS of photos via this iPhone app so check it!! I'll be uploading tons of photos soon (when I get them off my phone and onto my computer!)!!

Speaking of Spotify, if you have tried it - YOU SHOULD. I'm not sure how the free version works at this point - I think you can listen to anything but can't make playlists...I've had the paid version for what seems like forever and I LOVE IT. I am <i>tempted</i> to back up my music collection on my laptop and just delete it from the machine at this point, but I don't always have an Internet connection (hey, I'm in Alabama, people!) when I take my laptop with me and I also sync my iPod and my iPhone to keep random music available offline......... Random train of thought: Spotify does allow you to save playlists for offline play.... Hmmm....

Alas, seriously - give Spotify a try. It's awesome and there's a platform for almost any device. If you do try it and like it enough to sign up for the premium service, be sure to also check out two of my favorite pre-made playlist sites: Spotify Playlists and Share My Playlist.  Moving on...

Spring has arrived (actually, it feels more like summer here) and I've started planting things in our raised beds. Last year we didn't do any gardening because we'd just moved in when spring arrived and there was a LOT to clean up. The raised beds weren't a priority at the time. Now, though, Jesse's older and he's a good helper, and I have time to tend the things. We have two fairly large raised beds to use for food, and so far I've planted romaine lettuce, sweet banana pepper plants, and chocolate mint. That's right. Chocolate mint. I love that stuff - especially crushed up (fresh with juices) and put in my coffee. I'm weird, right? Next on the list is to plant my okra seed and get some tomato plants, as well as some bell pepper, squash, zucchini, and cucumber plants. Those are the veggies we eat the most (actually, a tomato is a fruit - just sayin') and other things, like potatoes, onions, and such take a LOT more room than we have to grow. ;-) I hope we find success this year - I'm really working hard and babying the beds - I've even bought and used blood and bone meals. I've never done much more than manure and random fertilizer. LOL

Something else that has been keeping me in happy spirits along with the spring sunshine are all the AMAZING, yet still free!!, books I've been getting for the Kindle app on my iPhone. Wow. It's amazing what you can get for free in the eBook section of the Amazon website. I'm currently reading a book called Live Free or Die, by Jessie Crockett. What an amazing story it is, and I'm only up to chapter four! It's a mystery/drama but it's written in such a fun and sarcastic style from the voice of the main character. I love it - she reminds me a lot of myself, only much more quick witted. So, if you're into reading, Kindle or not, check the web for free eBooks and don't judge them "by the cover," as the old saying goes. It's really amazing what kind of world you can find yourself lost in without spending $10 or $15 for the latest "blockbuster" eBook.

Life in general is pretty cool for us right now. Money is extremely tight and we're still struggling to deal with that second (our first) house we have yet to sell/rent but I'm working hard to at least get someone in it until I can do something else. I'm seriously considering just listing it and taking a small loss just to get rid of the problem of having to deal with it and pay for it. We're just a day to day family and we're really happy. I think that when times are tight and things are quasi-uncertain, we are all much happier because we take the time to appreciate what we have and how blessed/lucky we are to have what we do, even if half of it is more a problem for us than a blessing. For example, how many people don't have a home where we technically have two? How many of those people would like to have that second house of ours, but can't afford even the small amount of rent we are going to be asking? Exactly. A lot more than we might realize... So yeah, we're pretty stoked for life right now. Plus, we'll have free food in our yard soon (the Gods willing).

Hope all is well with everyone out there! Y'all take care!

I began a new (well, used) book last night called The Path of a Christian Witch,  by Adelina St. Clair. Adelina was raised Catholic and this book walks the reader through her experiences from childhood throughout her life and shows how she melded the paths of Christianity and Paganism to create her own fulfilling and complete spiritual path.

I've never practiced spell casting (technically - only if you want to consider certain prayers and Christian ceremonies such, which could easily be done, and Adelina shows how similar the two are. It's all about faith, energy, and what you can manifest through your faith and what God or the Goddess can manifest through you.

At first, I was amazed that even though the above statements are true, I had so much in common with this author; at least, based on what I'd read so far. I posted yesterday on Tumblr (I believe) that I'd seen my first tree aura and what a fascinating experience that was. And all that I really saw was seeing beyond what what there and through to the energy that creates and sustains what is there. It's not magic, in the sense of what most people would consider magic - it's simply relaxing your eyes, giving a soft gaze, thinking about the energy and the purpose of the tree, and radiating your own energy of gratefulness and awe at the majesty of what God or the Universe or that all-powerful being has created.

It's uncanny, and always shocking - to me, at least - how closely related Paganism and Christianity really are; how they draw from each other as religions to do ultimately one thing: help a person in practice find peace, learn, live in harmony with themselves and the spirits (angels, God/Gods, the Trinity, the spirits of loved ones gone on, and all life - from butterflies to trees to bunnies scurrying across the yard.

It's true that some people have gifts. I had never considered openly sharing this here but hey - it's a site about blended paths, so...yeah! I'm a bit sensitive to things. I'm sensitive to the emotions of people - to the extreme that I can't really spend time in large chain stores like Wal-Mart of malls...even to the depths of driving down the road. Getting stopped at a redlight beside someone who is having a bad day is like being stuck in the car with them - their energy fills my being; fills, in fact, my mind and thoughts, and I sometimes feel physical pain and emotional pain on a level I can not realistically describe or even understand.

I've been told it's a gift and if I learn how to use it properly, and control it's negative effects on me, it can be a wonderful tool for helping people - and in some cases it has been. But in general, I have tried for the last two years to shut it off - shut it out - get rid of it...it's TOO painful. I didn't ask for this trait, it's just always been there, as long as I can remember, from the time I was entering grade school I really noticed it amongst the other children, but I blocked it out as nervousness or insecurity, and that's what I've done all my life.

Alas, this book is amazing in giving definition to what I have experienced and to what my heart has always told me about what it really out there. It goes beyond defining religions and dogmas and reaches into the core - the core of what Christ and the Angels, and the spirits of life around us, want us to do and see - and the ultimate and final goal that they have for us is peace and love for ourselves and for others.

I am excited to once again find myself open to understanding these "things" that I deal with and to once again exploring, without fear of condemnation or care of judgment of others or want of pleasing anyone but God and myself, whatever paths lie in front of me. In fact, I think tomorrow I will go explore a path I haven't explored for quite sometime - my spiritual connection with my love - with my husband.

I feel very confident in watching my child that he has either inherited or simply has, because he is so innocent, open, and ready  to take everything in, some sort of gift for communication on a level that requires no words. When I watch him with the trees, it's as though they carry on some conversation, and I can remember doing the same when I was a child, older than him, of course, but I wonder to myself, "what are they saying to each other? What is the wind speaking to my son that makes him simple and wave back and find contentment immediate after or during a crying spell or a painful tooth breaking through moment? It's more than mere infant fascination with something new - he's been watching and obsessing over the wind and the leaves and the trees since he was able to see properly at 3 or 4 months of age.

In my heart of hearts, I know there is something more there than church and the good book and what the preacher says on Sunday morning - and in my heart of hearts, I know that one doesn't have to reach very far to touch it and to have it completely transform their life and their being.

I'll let you know how that goes for me.