Thursday, October 25, 2012

My altar, my tiny besom, & thoughts on my spirituality.

Look what arrived in the mail on Friday! My winning prize from Elegantly Enchanting flew in! I had such a busy weekend and week that I never found time to post about this, and I wanted my little lovely to settle into home on my altar.

It's kind of funny. I've always been a believer in good and bad energies that can be transmitted from people to things and back again, and the good vibes coming from this mini besom were just awesome! I've never felt anything like that before. It's like I could sense how much love and passion goes into Eliora's creations :)

Here it is in comparison to my hand. As stated on Elegantly Enchanting, not only are these tiny besoms decorative, but they are also real altar tools and may be consecrated for ritual use.

Check out the pattern the wrapped ribbons make! The ribbons are tied in three knots (Rule of Three). And I love the little charm. Eliora's got a mini besom for almost every Sabbat, all of them fabulously themed to their respective seasons. I NEED to get them all! :)


Ostara


Yule


Beltane

I showed you the awesome elemental-themed altar set before, which unfortunately doesn't ship to Canada. Sometimes I really miss living in the US! :) Eliora's got some really gorgeous athames too. I would love to have this one:


Pink and Silver Hearts Athame

Here's a look at my altar. This is where I pray, meditate, banish negativity, and more. I'm just a newborn in my spiritual journey. I'm sure this doesn't look like a classic altar, but every piece is there because I felt drawn to it esthetically or soulfully.

The fabric I bought at Value Village because the colours really drew me in and seemed joyous to me. There are candles in white, black, red, dark blue, light blue, and pink. The black candle is a taper and is on the far right, out of frame.

The little glow-in-the-dark celestial things are sitting there awaiting being stuck to the wall above :)

The soft satin bag gently carries all the crystals I have acquired here (as most of mine I forgot to pack in my suitcase when I flew back here, so they're still in Virginia!), and they have been cleansed in fresh clean soil and will be charged under the full moon on the 29th.

The branch and the little leaf tart are part of autumn and nature, the former of which I love and the latter of which I can't go a day without.

The tiny green cabinet I picked up at our cat rescue's yard sale last month. It has a shelf inside, and I'm using it to place special trinkets or crystals in. Right now there are four very wee glass vials with cork lids in there, just waiting to be filled with just about anything. Same thing with the neat brown glass bottle to the left, beside my blue celestial candle holder!

My leatherbound journal with cotton paper is for writing down inspiration, prayers, or just about anything. The little butterfly signifies freedom and positive change, and I have my box of medicine balls there as well. There's my besom, sage incense for cleansing, little affirmations that I had printed out from Kind Over Matter. There's the wee wooden drawers to the right that I painted in dark purple and black and with a full moon and lavender-leafed tree.

And yes, there is my "Hope" cross.

I'm sure that I will get a lot of flack through my spiritual journey for crossing two entirely different worlds that have despised one another for endless centuries. Christianity and Paganism are really not remotely compatible, and is a Christian-Pagan even a legit position of faith? I'm sure that many Christians will tell me I'm going to hell, and I'm sure that many folks of the old religions will tell me that I'm sullying Paganism. I'm sure that both sides will tell me that I'm a phony. And that's okay. I'm doing this because it's what feels right at this time. Not because Paganism is "cool" or "trendy" to me. In my heart and my soul, it's what I feel is right for me.

Right now, I mainly describe myself as a Christian Spiritualist who participates in the Unity and Brethren of Christ fellowships, which are very simple and are not devoted to religion, but faith and spirituality. And Unity is very special in its own right and is what inspired me to step onto this path without fear.

And now, so that this whole post isn't about a subject that makes a lot of folks uncomfortable, here are some autumn photos from the past couple of days! :)

The last two pictures were taken on Tuesday, which was a very rainy, chilly day. I was walking back from my doctor's office when I decided to go to Canadian Tire. My MIL had passed through there recently and said the Christmas stuff was starting to go up, so I thought I'd peep in.


AAAAHHHHHH!!!!


AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

LOL. That's all for now! I've got some Beauty from the Earth eyeshadows to swatch for you makeup lovers, and more Samhain's Sirens giveaways to share! I can't believe Hallowe'en is in less than a week!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are not alone. Actually, I know quite a few people who see the value in both paths. It is like the Irish that even though they converted after St. Patrick, they still had much of the old ways in their lives. I know some who are in my own church. How one relates to the divine, in my opinion, is an individual journey anyway. We make seek others who feel like we do for the most part. However, it is a unique experience for every individual. I fall under the umbrella of Christian, because I follow Christ and treasure his ways as they plainly said, but not so often followed. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do under you. Judge, not, etc. That said, I have respect for other paths...I see the wisdom in not just paganism, but buddhism and other paths. I am not going to take on the role of the divine and judge...but I believe God is love and that love can be found in diverse places.

Debbie said...

Beautiful post. For me, it is a beautiful thing to see faith co-mingled with religion -- hold on to your beliefs and your faith. They are all connected just as we are all connected. Intent is pretty darn powerful:) Love you.