Eating Organic

I was raised by a health food guru of sorts. Her reasoning behind eating healthy was to stay healthy and live longer. Though I agree eating healthy can make your body healthy, I can't agree with that it will make us live longer.

I have a friend making a life style choice to be vegan. This friend started it for health reasons to help with diabetes. In making this choice, the benefits are out weighing the struggles. All the excess weight has fallen off and my friend is feeling healthy. Is this going to make my friends life longer? I dont know. Moderate diet change and exercise might do the same thing. Who knows.

I believe that when we die we die. We cant stop death. The important thing about living on this planet is to be a part of it. What will you leave behind? I dont want to leave behind a body that will pollute the ground if I am put in it, or left on it. All these preservatives and chemicals I have ingested over the years might prolong my life and prolong my body after death but at what cost?

Most people want to eat healthy. Some people just want to eat what tastes good. I want to eat what I was meant to eat so that this earth will be balanced and the cycle will continue in a more healthy way.

after all isnt that what it is all about

how did you get named

I was named by my sister. My sister who I love soul to soul, but on the outside I have no contact with. Do I accept my name? Do I accept what it means? Should I? My last name is a name that isnt of my blood either. How complicated can it be? Who would I be if I wasnt me? My given name means "beloved" and middle name means "defender of honor" My Maiden name means "of the village" and holds a lot of military valor.

All in all that is a right honest and dignified name. My question is, Is it me? Am I beloved? if I am then by whom? am I defender of honor? only if I think its an honor worth defending. Do I have a right to keep my maiden name if it wasnt the name by blood I was supposed to have?

My biological fathers name means "of the oak grove" southern Michigan is not known for its oaks. I was born in Royal Oak and lived on Acorn street. Now I live in a land of oaks so so so far away from where I was born I almost feel lost..

My friends call ma Val. Val is a name meaning "of good health" However the name was shortened to Val from Valkyris. My husband gave me the name because he said his life was like a war I rescued him from death and despair.

During a vision quest a guide gave me a name I feel truly suits me. I wish I could change my name to that. it means, a song sung by one in a room of thirteen. But now that I am married would that be the right name for me to take?

for now I feel as if I could take all of them. I am a beloved defender of honor from a village and the oaks whos fathers and sons fight for my country and I sing alone my own song called life to rescue those i love in this world I call home.

TO MY SON

Do you know that your soul is of my soul such part,
That you seem to be fibre and cord of my heart?
None other can pain me as you, dear,can do,
None other can please me or praise me as you.

Remember the world will be quick with its blame,
If shadow or stain ever darken your name.
"Like mother, like son" is a saying so true,
The world will judge largely of "mother" by you.

Be yours then the task, if task it shall be,
To force the proud world to do homage to me.
Be sure it will say when it's verdict you've won,
" She reaped what she sowed, Lo! this is her son".

Margaret Johnston Griffin

10 ways

Someone sent me a rather funny little list of ways to piss of a pagan. I got to thinking about different ways people have offended me because of me not being of the same faith. I can laugh now but then it wasnt so funny then.

10 ways to piss of "this" Alternative spiritual practitioner

assume I wont accept a prayer because I dont follow your religion.

tell me Im going to hell

assume I know nothing about Christianity

tell me what I do is garbage

assume Im Wiccan

tell me I need mental help for talking to spirits

tell me I cant be what I am because I dont own a cat

come into my kitchen and ask for newt tails

be a man, and tell me "You must be casting a spell on me because I think Im am falling in love you."

confuse bitch with witch


yeah pretty funny huh? yes they all have been said to me LOL newt tails in the kitchen HAHAHAHA really.... the lizards and toads I keep in the altar cabinet. No self respecting cook keeps them in the kitchen. *bats eyelashes coyly* WEG

Katrina 5 years later

The question was asked to me, How did Katrina change me. This was my replay.

"I came to Louisiana to start a new life just 30 days before "she" hit. I was in a motel room west of the city and looking for an apartment. The storm was bad but our motel suffered no real damage that I could see.

The aftermath was the worst thing I have ever endured. I listened to people on the radio begging anyone to help other people stuck in their attics or stranded on roofs who were dying of dehydration. Everyone in the motel I was in was left crying and trying to find lost loved ones for weeks. Then weeks turned to months. I saw violence from people who were supposed to be helping. I saw people taking advantage of the stranded and helpless. I saw the worst in people that I never knew could happen.

I saw some good though. Local stores donating food that would have otherwise rotted. Motel owners doing everything they could to accommodate anyone looking for a place to rest a weary head.

How it all affected me is rather odd. High winds panic me. I now have several different friends in several different states that I can use for evacuation destinations. I dont trust any insurance company. But I have also made a more positive turn in behavior too. I try to understand people instead of blowing them off. I take the non-expressway roads to where I want to go hoping I will see something I can cherish. I take better care of the people I love and make sure they know I love them no matter what. I have learned that things can be replaced and not to sweat the small stuff. My heart is still breaking for those who lost and are still in turmoil over the trauma and drama the storm caused. May I never forget it either. I never want to be numb or indifferent to it. I want to remember what it is like to see a mothers face the day she found her child searching the shelters out of state, using my laptop . Her gratitude was over whelming. I never want to forget letting the children, who were staying at the motel, help me put up Christmas lights, and I was gently reminded about Kwanzaa and then Hanukkah and Yule. By the time my window was decorated it was so beautiful I cried. It made me realize "this is how its supposed to be".

I suppose I can say it changed me for the better."

epiphany

I was just sitting here looking at things I have collected over time. Little things that seem to have noting in common with each other. An arrowhead I found while gardening in Alabama, a basket made of birch, a little plaque that says "I am not African because I was born in Africa, I am African because Africa was born in me", a brass replica of a Viking ship, candles, an acorn, a poetry book and so many other little things like that.

I began to wonder why I have them, other than the simple reason I love them. What could they all mean? How do all these things speak as a whole conversation in a single topic other than "Val loves us". Munching on my bowl of barley cereal it came to me.
They all speak of things past. The beloved sense of old being made new in my life. They all connect to a time when nature was or is God and of wonder and growth. They speak of life and death and life again. They sound of poetry and meaning in all that is basic instinct and tribal. Not one piece says "I am modern and cold"

Could this be the story of me and my path? A loving connection to all that is old all that is of earth, of sky, of water and fire? What a cycle to learn rom only to find its been in my soul from the beginning.

for Isaac Bonewits R.I.P.

Blessed was your life on earth
Many of us felt your insights worth
Forgetting never the works you've done
With the Oaks you are now as one

Journey well teacher and friend
To you a message Id like to send
For all of those on the other side
Teach from beyond and do not hide

Roar like a lion for all to hear
Let us know that you are near
For when you do some will learn
What it means to adjourn.