Merry Meet fellow Witches-

I have been thinking about how to quit smoking.  I have tried many different ways in the past, cold turkey , Gum worked for a day or so then I just craved more nicotine, the patches worked for a long time until I came off them then it was right back to smoking with more need of nicotine.  I do feel I need more help but nicotine replacement aids I feel make you more addicted to the drug.  I was thinking of asking for divine help, casting for help .. I don't know if  this is morally acceptable though.. to ask for something for my self seems ... selfish and don't want to be greedy with my magick and do my own workings....  what are your feelings on this issue?

I am avoiding doing the medication for stop smoking.. I feel the chemicals in the medications out there are not good for the boidy.. i mean it alters your mind to stop your cravings.. how right and safe is that? 

I had a recent dream I didn't  know was directed to this question in my life after researching what was going on it made me wonder if the Goddess  or a message was relayed to me.. in the dream i was shoppingin a casino.. not sure why it was a casino but it was andthen i was looking at rocks in jars and a very wise old women came up to me and took my arm nd said none of those will help you but you need these two.. and showed me Ametrine and Flourite... purple flourite to be exact... I wasnt sure what to think after I woke up and let it go for a few days and after a while it kept coming up that I need to find out about those rocks and so I grabbed my books and hit the websites and from what i can tell those two stones are good for healing and Flourite is also specifically stated for stopping smoking... not to mention helping me gain more powers in my own healing for others.   So I am thinking of looking to get some of those also.  

Has anyone had experience with stopping smoking with a spell?  you did on your own? and are there any suggestions my fellow witches can offer me?  herbs, teas or anything you all can think of.   I DO want to quit and I know that is a good thing that the need has to be there but as far as a addiction goes.. I am weak... and afraid I will be mean from the withdrawl.. I am not a mean person and HATE myself when I have quit in the past for how I acted and how I talked to people,  I snapped snarled and was not myself at all. I am a loving caring person.. not to mention I can not be mean at work i will get fired if I snap and snarl at the drs and pharmacists I work with.. LOL the last thing I need is to loose my job over stopping smoking!  =-)

Questions? Comments? Help? Concerns?  All is welcome my friends!

Blessed be and Merry Part!

Artimus Rowan aka Don

Hello my friends and Merry Meet-

My mood today is slightly grey,  I maybe just drained from the third shift job.. I seem to sleep enough BUT is it the sleep i need.  I am questioning whether or not to keep this job or continue to look for another one.  I have been here for a long time almost 6 years and almost 4 years on third shift and I am TIRED.    I think my circadian rythms are way out of wack. I have gained lots of wieght since i started third shift I can not seem to focus  on my days off during the day.  I am a happy person for the most part but i do feel i am losing a bit of my self in this process of sleep and work and sleep and work.  Maybe its just that time of year for me or something.. I just feel off...  We all go through those moments I am sure .

I had been a heavy drinker in the past and when I quit drinking I almost in the same breathe found a new purpose in life with my Boyfriend Ron... But then I also developed a blood sugar issue.. that i have to eat or I get very disconnected dizzy and so forth. I am in the habit of having candy with me at all times but i am not seeming to manage that very well i am having to use the candy more than I used to.  Which is also another reason i am gaining wieght i am sure..   I also then decided to change my diet.. I am now and have been a Vegetarian for about 6 months and at first i felt fine and the blood sugar issues seem to even have corrected its self for a while.  Now the dizzy spells are back and the lack of energy.     It maybe time i seek the drs to see what maybe going on with me.  i almost am certain it is my bio rythm is just off when you throw your circadian rythms for a loop for long periods of time I know that it can cause wierd things to occur.. maybe a change of job is in the cards for me.   I am going to meditate on it for a bit and also even have a reading done.  I am not proficient enough with the tarot cards yet to do my own readings.

Sorry this is such a downer of a blog post its a reflection of my inner thoughts and i guess thats what blogging is about but our inner selves. 

On a good note i have been reading Drawing Down the Moon By Margot Adler... i have been studying basic craft now for coming close to 9 months or so and this book has given me insights i have never known about... The origins of the craft I am studying and the history and connections are astounding.  If anyone is looking to read a book that is eye opening it is certainly that. It has changed some of my view points in regards to the craft and strengthened many points I already felt strongly about.  The structures and ceremonies The coven i belong to are hinted to and thier origins or who wrote them and how they came about the information...i just dont know what to say.. I am shocked by what i now know.. BUT it doesnt change a single thing I believe in.  i still Love the Goddess and all she has brought into my life. 

            As a gay man though.. I can see how in the Craft we are left to the way side, we are accepted...but not included in the structures and formalities of the craft as we know it.  I am going to do more reseach on that aspect of my gay life in regards to Wicca. How do I fit in since i don't procreate, how do i fit in since i dont have only masculine qualities BUt femine qualities as well?  Can i become the Goddess when invoking Diety and the God? are gay men and women unique in thier duality in this regard?  I do feel that the Goddess isnt over looking me... or my kind in any regard but the structures of ritual and the messages written by Men and Women in the craft do not adress this issue formally.  

       The first book of craft i have read is Solitary witch By Silver Ravenwolf the second was Bucklands blue book of Witchcraft.   Ravenwolf and Buckland have extremly different views on the craft.  Ritual and ceremony set up the same but... still very Different. i am for one glad I do not take part in a skyclad coven and would never consider that an option.  After reading Drawing down the moon I also have to say Silver has a evolved sense towards the craft from the original structures.  Now i have been told that she is to be regarded as Wishcraft.. not true Witchcraft... but I do have to say I have done some spells with great sucess from her book and don't think  it to have been wishful.. I full on acted and did what I set out to do for the people in my life.. I am not praising her as the all knowing one.. but I am saying out of the two books i have studied Hers is the more helpful of the two...as a comparrison.  Buckland had a strictness in his writing... i got a feeling that he was very.... set in his view point,  and From ravenwolf I got a sense of this is a basic instruction.. this worked for me but dont worry if you dont do it right adopt what you feel is right and it will still work for you....  the feelings in the way the craft is presented is different for sure... Silver has adressed her books to a younger crowd than me So I had to over look the fact she was catering her book to a teenager for the most part they MAY be the ones that need her guidance more than me.. I did over look that and still feel that i learned more from her that i did Bucklands strict and i will dare say midevil approach. 

           NOW I am not saying he is a bad man and maybe his view point didnt fully match mine or his writing style didnt appeal to my senses.  What is good for me is not always good for others.  This is just me voicing my opinion.  after reading drawing down the moon I have a better out look as to where i am going with my magick and studies.  You personalize your ritual, your craft, your life.  Do what suits you no one makes these decisions for you.  My coven matches me its ecclectic,  the people are warm and real and relaxed.  No one critizes and forces structure.  There is no memorizing lines and we fumble we laugh and carry on like it is all great fun... but there is no doubt in my mind that everyone of us truly believes in our Power.  In our Goddess. In US...   we all are growing and learning... every single one of us.. just because something is written down.. doesnt mean it is set in stone.. I have written my own circle cast and quarter calls that i use for my personal magick.  they address all the "basics" of the structure but the words are mine and the meaning is mine.   Does that make my magick not work?  I say NO it doesn't... I work my magick... I have worked it without a circle even.. Just a few words and concentration and a moment of silence.. I have worked magick just fine.   

I am not here to promote myself.. just making a point... structure is fine for those that need it...in the beggining we all need it. I still will use structured spells.. and rituals... but I also KNOW I don't have to. ...  This is what i LOVE about Wicca and Witchcraft.. I am right to use the basics.. I am right to not... You are right to believe what i dont.. and i am right to believe that we can disagree... and in the end we all are right... HOW freaking awesome is a religion that allows THAT!  Witches and nature religions ROCK!

Okay i cheered my self up getting all of that off my chest...whew who knew maybe thats why I been feeling off... naw its still there just i focused elsewhere for a bit...

If you made it this far in this rambling of mine...thank you for listening... i hope i offended no one with my view points.. that is not my intention but maybe you can see a little bit more into who i am from reading about what i think and feel.

 Please also disregard any mispellings and grammar issues in this blog or any blog i put out i dont use spell check and I don't punctuate properly or many other bad habits i have adopted over the years. 

Merry Part everyone

Blessed BE

Artimus Rowan

Howdy All-

Merry Meet- sorry I havent been blogging much life gets in the way sometimes.  Just a quick note Im doing well and surviving the midwest heat with humidity trying not to melt like the poor witch on wizard of oz ...  LOL anways you all haev a good holiday and blessed be my friends!

Merry Part

Artimus

I was asked recently.. what do you want for your birthday... from a close friend.

Want? what could I want? why.... Nothing for myself thank you!  How sweet people even ask what we want for anything.   But I do wish for a few things.

I wish that everyone that is hurt and in trouble gets the help that they need.

I wish that everyone reads this has a blessed long life full of learning and Love.

I wish that hatred would fall off this earth and peace and understanding fill in its place.

I wish that we could all hang out, sit for a spell, relax, drink tea, enjoy laughter and harmony and dirty jokes till our sides split and we almost pee ourselves.

My wish for my birthday, is for Peace and Happiness and Laughter and Joy!

I hope you all Do get these things in your life  and if you are missing any ONE of them that they come to you soon.  Life is too short to sweat the crap like cars breaking down, over sleeping alarms , mowing the lawn, friends that dont call, long lines at stores.  Rush rush rush... Do do do... Blah blah blah I say!

Take time for yourselves and your friends and loved ones. Gather and Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to me if any of these things happen for any one of you.. Happy birthday to me for even thinking of them for you.  To think a thing and have it happen? I know this to be true, May all my wishes come from me and land there upon you!

I love you all

Artimus Rowan

Hello my fellow Witches and Merry Meet-

My Dedication went very well other than I fubbed some words during the ceremony,  Its not about the words we say but the intent of what we are doing I'm told, as far as Ceremony goes,  I was hugged and kissed and welcomed by the coven members at the end and I felt the Love and Acceptance that I was not aware i was going to feel, It was touching and sweet.

For a few days afterwards I had a fluttering in my chest I at first was scared was a palpatation, but soon i realized i was in balance and I was feeling well,  not short of breathe or anything and i seemed in "tune" with everything, I was told it might be the Quickening, It has past but I am still filled with elated Joy on my new path and I know i made the right decision.  My studying has been halted though.. I have been too excited to read and write, I am going on Vacation finally next week and have been doing nothing much else but thinking of it.  

Oh and Another thing to mention in my life when i decided to be Witch, I have taken up being a vegetarian,  Its not required i know but I couldn't be apart of the chain of possible neglect and abuse... So far i have been doing well I have lost wieght and slimmed a bit, I am a bit on the Heafty  side {in other words im fat LOL} so a diet change was in order anyways,  BUt a cool thing has happened since I started the change, I don't have blood sugar issues anymore, or atleast not that have noticed.  I am or was diagnosed with Low blood sugar i forget Hyper, hypo, glycemia and have battled the dizzy spells and near passing out at times but now after making the switch in my diet I haven't been having the dizzy episodes I get A little shaky still and a slight headache when its time to eat but thats about it... If i would have known or been told that a Vegetarian diet would help with that i would have made a switch years ago.  Its a pleasant side effect to say the least of what I am doing with my life...  Yay  me and a  good Decision   Hahahah!

Well again I ramble on, I could go into all the bad things that have also happened... But i don't need to dredge them up we take the good and bad in life and i like to focus on the good things so the bad are paled in comparrison,  NOt saying if i have a crisis i wont come here to vent sometime,  you know to bend a ear or two hahah... Just trying to keep the positive flowing here is all don't give the bad things energy and they don't always effect you as bad,  I wasn't taught that by the way,  its something I have always known..the way i was raised I should be on meds and crying... something in me refused to lay down and take it I guess, and in my head the rainbows are much prettier than the gray clouds and storms.

I hope everyone out there is seeing the rainbows in their life also, Lifes hard enough as it is... we might as well be happy through most of it! 

Thanx for taking the time to read this if you got this far,  I am really new to blogging so sometimes  I wander in my writing,  Just jotting down things in my head sometimes I think helps clear space, Possibly, or im just scattered brained .... either way I am the best Me I can Be and thats all anyone can be or do for themselves.

Merry Part my Friends and Blessed Be

Artimus Rowan

Don