Going Clean

At this point I can't exactly remember how far back it was when I was struck by spirit to go vegetarian. I do however remember feeling pretty damn good. Now I know to most that seems a bit obvious that going clean would result in better overall health, but as I was coming from a completely inexperienced place. I have an understanding that in order for optimal human health, we need a combination of both animal products and plant based products. Granted, I am also aware that there are plenty of substitutes for animal nutrients, but I guess for me it boiled down to the fact that I love me a nice juicy steak and didn't ever really feel compelled to remove animal products from my diet.
I feel the need to say at this point that, in all honesty going vegetarian or even vegan for me wouldn't really bother me too much. I much rather prefer my plant based goodies to my animal friends. My family is pretty meat-centric, but I can do without it no problem. Sometimes people making the switch often have a hard time finding satisfaction in plant substitutes, but I being the individual that I am, fucking love them! I love algae, quinoa, tofu, raw veggies, rice cakes, naked juice, kombucha, leafy greens, fruits, and meat substitutes are pretty good. I remember that when I started over with my new diet, I decided with my limited diet, I was going to do a vegetarian diet. Honestly, the only reason for that was because I felt that leaving cheese and yogurt in my diet would allow me to be able to eat something if I happened to be at a guests house and there being a barbeque happening. Also, the other reason being that I suffer from migraines every so often so I didn't want to shock my body to much with a large change. I will make the argument that while on my vegetarian diet, I suffered no migraines(big surprise).
I recently began thinking about making the switch again and I seems a bit easier now as I was introduced to a wonderous herbal remedy for treating migraines. I figure after the winter season, I will switch over and try to keep strong into the fall. So this way I will spend half the year vegetarian and the other half meat balanced. I plan on doing more research in order to broaden my knowledge base and be able to take full advantage of the benefits. Also, I really need to get into better physical shape. I think I'll leave that for another post...

Book of Shadows

I have gathered a good deal of artwork for my book of shadows. It actually takes a really long time finding the right image in the right style. So far all my images are relatively similar in style. Leave it to me to get ahead of myself and start planning out my book before it actually arrives. I really hope all this hype doesn't fade when the book arrives and I have to start filling it. On a related note, I will be starting the transfer of information to my personal book of shadows tonight. I have a notebook I am currently using, but most of that will need to be transferred. I will continue to use the journal when I'm out and about with the circle or at a class to take notes and collect the silvery spheres of wisdom to add to my personal collection. Some people would argue copying information from a book into your personal journal. I have to disagree. I understand that if the information is present and I own the book, it will be available to me, but having the important stuff noted somewhere else, makes it a hell of a lot easier to find the information. Books have a lot of fluff and sometimes it's necessary to skim the top and remove the fat. I'm after the lean and can't be bothered with digging. Also, as I said before, the purpose of this book of shadows is to have a heirloom book I can pass down and use well into my elder years. I wanted something decorated and nice that I could have for display in my altar room. That's also the reason I will also be keeping a personal book of shadows. That will contain mostly spells, recipes and more practical information. An example for those who don't get it is: the large book will have things like the rede, charge, the witches rune, formal circle casting etc... The personal journal will have spells I constructed, rituals, recipes for incense, natural home remedies, personal thoughts, songs and chants etc.... Hopefully that will give you a better understanding of it all.
It's so interesting to see how excited I get thinking about how all this unfolding. Just the thought of being able to pass down all the wisdom I have/will collect(ed) over the years, makes me feel so happy. I can actually picture my grandchildren pulling my book of shadows out of the cabinet and eagerly flipping through the pages and staring in awe at all the history and knowledge within it. I know to some of you this may seem like a bit of a silly fantasy, but you have to understand that as people, we all have the desire to leave our mark on the world. Being a witch, I am already do just that. My drive is leaving a legacy for my children. I want to be remembered as a great chef who was an amazing witch. Yeah sounds a bit cocky, but most of the people in my family are kinda on the not so awesome side, so the fact that I have the success I have now, really shines bright in their eyes. I want that light to never fade. Continuing on the cocky express, I also think to myself, dang my kids and future generations will be able to say my grand/father is/was a witch! Alright the train ride was short lived. I end with this, "I am a witch and no one can take that power away from me" Also, never mix espresso and sugar, the resulting rush is super intoxicating. =-)

Quick recap

I thought I would have had a chance to update this thing before the new month but, honestly I have been one busy witch the past week. For one, I was blessed with the experience of sharing Samhain with some fellow witches. A group of us had gotten together and had an amazing weekend in the woods up in the mountains. The workshops held were beyond amazing and the experiences from those will be with me for the rest of my life. I met some wonderful people who shared my passion for Paganism. It was really nice to have a little witches retreat and just let our selves be free and open. They say if you get a bunch of witches together in one place, great magick will erupt. And boy did we make some magick! We connected with nature, our ancestors, and the great divine in a way the words would not be able to describe. It also amazed me how many of us there actually are in such a small place. I had this little joke within myself about how I must be the only witch in my area and boy was I wrong! I'm going to have to cut this a bit short as I am once again flooded with emotions and thoughts from the weekend and I just want to enjoy my high....

You're Grounded!

I'm going to keep saying this probably until the day I move on from this life, but really sometimes I really love magick! Once again the goddess has answered my call and gave me exactly what I was asking for. I especially appreciate that even when my requests are sometimes frivolous, the divine has a way of working just so that it is answered in a way that is most beneficial for me at that time. On another topic, I attended my first full moon esbat with a local coven. I had previously attended a Mabon celebration with this coven and after having a wondrous connection, I sought to experience more. It took place on a beach in Malibu and it was truly a magickal experience. Although I have to admit, I may have miscalculated my energy levels. I tend to feel super energized after ritual into the next day, but yesterday during some of our workings when we were offering healing and transferring energy, I did not ground myself properly to replenish my energy levels and that lead to a sluggish morning. I literally had to take my tigers eye with me to work in order to keep up. At the same time, I am glad that the energy that was built up was put to good use. Most of the time when I hold a ritual by myself I raise more energy then I need so I end up super energized and essentially  restless the rest of the night. My grounding techniques definitely need some work. I may try the coven's method of just dancing around and singing until the energy is spent. It would sure make for a good time! This is turning into a relatively short post as I am essentially trying to kill time as my iPhone updates. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Mabon

Mabon this year was truly magickal. Goddess, this year has been really amazing. I've done and seen so many things that I can honestly say I feel good about everything so far. The year started off with my 21st birthday and followed a trip to one of my favorite places here in CA, Solvang. The tiny little village stuck in old world Scandinavia is truly an inspiring place to be. The balance of the quaint little town with the beauty of the natural forests made for a magickal trip. Later in the year brought the beginning of what I am now going to call my concert junkie days. So far I've been to two concerts and three free shows. And I have yet another coming at the end of October. More recently, I had the pleasure of getting together with a group of Pagans to celebrate the Fall Equinox known as Mabon. Along with this wonderful experience, a new meeting occurred. It was a wonderful experience to be able to finally meet someone who shares similar beliefs and be able to physically meet someone from the online community. The Mabon experience reminded me how much I yearn for a "living Wiccan" lifestyle. It felt so comfortable to be so open among those who share similar beliefs and experiences. I mean there is plenty I do at the moment to make everyday more magickal, but sometimes you just want to lay your wand/athame down and relax over a bubbling cauldron(LOL) with someone. Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to spending more time with that particular group. The year is almost at an end and its time to take stock of everything and tie up any loose ends to ready ourselves for the coming year. I wanted to keep this fairly short because I like most others, have a few loose ends that need to be tied.
 ~Blessed Be
HG

INC'd

I dont think a lot of you guys know so I thought I'd take the time to talk about something that almost everyone thinks about at some point in their life. I'm talking of course about tattoos. I personally think they are amazing pieces of art(for the most part). They are a permanent expression of yourself. Shit, I find tattoos on girls a turn on(hint hint ;-) . Even though I think they are really nice and cool, I dont think I could ever bring myself to get one. For some reason the whole permanent thing bugs me. Granted, if I were to get one, it would be thought out and it'd be something I am willing to live with for the rest of my life. It would obviously have great significance to me personally. Oh I forgot the other reason I hesitate to get one, I'm afraid when I get old, the skin is going to get all saggy and the tattoo is gonna look like some weird smear on my body. I kind of thought recently that I could maybe get a Henna or airbrush tattoo. That way its not permanent and it would serve the same purpose. Plus, it would be kind of fun moving it around different places on my body. It's interesting that with all this I actually sat down recently and came up with a few ideas for tattoos I would get. The main one I would get would definitely be a pentagram no questions asked. Then I thought, I dont really want just a plain old pentagram so I came up with one that would be the triple moon symbol and horned god symbol combined with the pentagram in the center(I'll add pictures to the bottom of this point of what I'm talking about.) The other one I would get would be a Phoenix. Now, this one I haven't been able to find one I really like. I mean I have a image in mind, but I've yet to see it.  Other than that, the only other thing I may get is the wiccan symbol for air which is a triangle point upwards with a line across the top portion. Anyways enough of that, I'd love to hear everyone's opinions on the subject or better yet lets see those tattoos!
Message me on twitter! @hgfreak   =-)

My Beliefs

Okay so I had done this once before in a video that I posted up on YouTube and I thought I'd take another swing at it and post it up on my blog. Here it goes:
First off let me start off by saying that I am a Wiccan. I follow the Pagan nature based religion called Wicca. Now I'm going to put it all together for everyone so that it is easily understandable. Anyways, in Wicca we believe in a God and Goddess. Now most Wiccans follow a specific pantheon such as Greek, Egyptian, or Celtic. I personally haven't connected with a specific God or Goddess yet so I mainly focus on the Sun and Moon as my God and Goddess. Besides that, I also use the Phoenix and Turtle as sort of personifications for my God and Goddess. To me the Phoenix fits perfectly with the God because of the rebirth aspect. Also ,the Phoenix is both fire and air elementally; both of which I consider masculine energies. Now the turtle I use as my Goddess representation because I see the turtle as the great mother. If you look at the Turtle in nature, when a female lays her eggs, she does so in a place she feels safe in. After she lays the eggs, she heads back into the ocean. When the eggs hatch, they instinctively know to head into the ocean and are able to find their way back to their mother. This almost mirrors the Goddess as in the Charge of the Goddess in which it states that "For I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return."  As far as core beliefs, I follow the Wiccan Rede. I also follow logic and science just like any normal educated individual would. I guess another way to put it would be that if I can see it I'll believe it. Reality is perception as a fellow Pagan friend of mine puts it. Now, I think at this time I'm going to stop and direct you all to my YouTube channel under the username Tempestwitch90 . I will be re-posting a video I had done a few months back explaining my beliefs. I want to apologize that this post seemed kind of short and a bit rushed to be honest I'm kinda hungry and I want to grab a bite to eat and have a bit of fun..

Blessed Be~