Thank you
I just realised I haven’t said thank you for all of the lovely comments and emails I get from you.
I have a very tiny audience here at Dark Purple Moon and your encouragement is wonderful, so a very big thank you for all of your support and thoughts.
My blog has very deliberately not been a day to day diary type place, but one where I can put my many thoughts about topics into a (hopefully) coherent piece which makes me think, as much as sharing my thoughts with other people.
At the moment I feel I am very much ‘preaching to the choir’, but I hope that there are some readers who I have made to think about things in a different way.
Now, enough procrastination, I have an essay to write!
Pay it forward
I’ve just been reading the lady beetle patch. The lady beetle is joining in with the pay it forward fun and I’ve decided to join in too.
So here’s what happens:
I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 interested people who comment on this post.
•I have 365 days to do it in…
•What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise!
The catch is that you must participate as well:
•you must have a blog
•and before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Just cut and paste this one if you like, which I did!
Looking forward to seeing who wants to pay it forward with me!
I guess this is kind of like a nice version of the horrid chain letters, except you get to opt in!
Stepping back and cutting down
My life has become extremely busy of late – trying to balance working for money, studying for my teaching qualification, teaching and preparing for teaching, as well as normal life things. Its been a big change for me from nine months of working a couple of days a week.
I have a tendancy to getting myself into an extremley stressed state, which can develop into depression if I am not careful.
So, I have decided to step back and cut down. I have loved reading blogs – all sorts – green, crafty, feminist, pagan and everything in between. But recently my RSS feeder has been a source of stress for me – it had 6 subject tabs with loads of blogs on each, making me feel guilty for not reading them all. So I have cut them down – to just a few which I read now and even then not every day. It has been strangely freeing to do so.
I have also stepped back from making all of the Christmas presents I had planned to do. I realise from a green or frugal perspective this is not great, but I just cannot do it all and I have to look after myself. Next year, I will make presents in my summer holidays!
Although I have high ideological stadards I would like to attain I have to realise that I am only human and I cannot do everything at once. I cannot compare myself to people who are retired, or have children, live in America or Australia with huge grounds, or have a different life to me. We are all in our own place and we have to make the choices which are right for us right now.
Being Pagan isn’t about escapism, it is about being part of the world which surrounds us and interacting with it in reality. For me, this means being true to myself, including admitting that I have limitations, and sometimes I have to step back and cut down in order for me to remain my best.
Pagan normality
As usual I have been late to the party on this. I saw them in Pagan Dawn and then I heard an interview with the author on OBOD’s Druidcast. What am I talking about?
The Stonewylde series of books, written by Kit Berry.
They are set in a closed Pagan community in Dorset and it is about the way their live their lives there, focusing primarily on the leader, Magus, Yul, a young woodsman and Sylvie, a girl who has just joined the (normally closed) community from London and the way their relationships are interlinked.
It is wonderful that the backdrop to all of this is Pagan rituals, day-to-day greetings of ‘Blessings’ and phrases like “Goddess knows” and “Altar stone” as a place the young protagonist visits on a daily basis to his fill of the earth magic and the pub is called “Jack on the Green”.
It is so nice that this is the Pagan normality – just part of day-to-day life. Not where people have to watch what they say just because their vocabulary and frame of reference is so different to everyone else’s and although for the most part people are curious rather than nasty you end up having to explain everything.
I bought all 3 books which are currently out and I devoured 2 of them in a couple of days and now I am reluctant to start the 3rd as, according to Kit’s interview on Druidcast, the 4th will not be out till summer next year and the 5th sometime after that. I just can’t wait!
I have even been talking in my sleep about this it has effected me so much.
Magus is a nasty piece of work and there are many characters who are not very nice – just like in the real world, it is not some hippy utopia, but realistic and grounded (within its context).
In the first book I occasionally felt the writing was a little stilted, but for the most part this is a highly entertaining, thrilling and deeply fulfilling series to read and I want the next book to come out now so I can read the 3rd.
It is my understanding that Kit Berry set up a publishing company as she struggled to get anyone to take this and I hope all of the hard work has paid off for her. She and her partner have to do all of the work marketing this book, as well as her writing it. I really hope this is the start of a long and successful publishing career for Kit she deserves it – she has even given talks to the Women’s Institute about these books!
On the Stonewylde website Kit Berry says
It’s a strange thing, but many people who’ve read Stonewylde become just a little obsessed
I can really believe that!
Trouble on Twitter
I really didn’t want my blog to become just a reposting of others’ posts and news and I realise this is the third time that I have done this, but I feel outraged enough to do so (interestingly, these three posts are all about feminsit issues).
Penelope Trunk has written an article for The Guardian’s Comment is Free (CiF). You can read it for yourself but her tweet which has caused all the problem was:
I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a fucked-up three-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin.
Personally I wouldn’t tweet that because I am really quite a private person (I know I have a blog, but I talk about issues in my life, rather than my personal life per say), but the response has been horrific!
This really got me
I was even interviewed on CNN where the news anchor asked me, “Young lady, do you have no shame?” My boyfriend’s extended family called to make sure he was dumping me
Shame for having a miscarriage? Or shame at wanting an abortion? Why should she feel shame and for what part of it? I can’t really understand this. On CiF the amount of deleted comments is staggering.
Jenga72 said in the comments section
Let men have babies, let men have periods, abortions, misscarraige, pregnancy, childbirth. Then let us condone them for their thoughts and actions on the subject (how often is the partner judged for his girlfriends unplanned pregnancy or abortion???), let us force them through unwanted pregnancies, let us criticize and blame them for their carelessness, let us make them loose [sic] their jobs and accept lower salaries, let them work night shifts at 8.5 months and lets not allow them to talk to anyone about it, for fear they might offend.
This sums up what I feel about this, along with the extremely marvellous Penny Red, who blogs this in her own vociferous way, who altered me to this issue.
I realise this is contentious and many of my readers are green, rather than feminist, but what do you think?
Mr Spock vs Homer Simpson
I have recently read “Nudge” – a book about ‘liberal paternalism’, as the authors put it. This is where we are guided towards the better option for us, but not cutting out other choices, nor making it hard to take other options.
For example – the food in school canteens have to be laid out in someway. Liberal paternalism would have the healthy food at the front, in the eye line and easy grab-ability of students. The unhealthy food is still there, they still have the choice to take it and it is not difficult to do so, it’s just easier to get the healthy food.
They apply this principle to a whole range of topics, including the environment and being green.
They also talk about Mr Spock vs Homer Simpson, your logical side vs your irrational, easily led side. You may plan logically to get out of bed early and do some exercise, your Mr Spock will set the alarm, in the morning your inner Homer will turn off the alarm and continue to snooze. Needless to say Homer is responsible for a lot of what is wrong with my life and I am sure you can think of some examples in your life too.
Nudging is all about helping people to control their Homer.
The authors raise some good points and provide some very good case studies and examples of how this can be used to cut traffic accidents, help people save more money, get the right health care and make the right choices for them, without descending into a nanny state which impinges our free choice. More often than not in the examples they give someone has to make a default choice for everyone and this book talks about making it easier for people to make the best decisions for themselves, the country and the environment.
I realise that sounds very grandiose, but I really think that if more politicians were to read this book and put its theories into play then we would start to live in a better society.
I dont want to give any of the book away – for an economics book it is highly interesting, engaging and thought-provoking. The strapline for their website is
improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness.
So, if you have read it – what do you think, if you havent – are you going to now? If so, let me know!
Normalisation of cosmetic surgery
This article in the Times today really highlights one of the issues which I feel really strongly about. There is such a normalisation of cosmetic surgery today and I find it really upsetting.
The study found that 46 per cent of girls aged 11 to 16, and 50 per cent of girls aged 16 to 21 would consider cosmetic surgery to make themselves thinner or prettier. The figures are even higher among under-16s who are not doing well at school. Only 19 per cent of girls whose performance was satisfactory or poor said that they would never have invasive surgery to improve their appearance.
I frequently get cross and ‘ranty’ about the multiple adverts for cosmetic surgery on the roadside, in the back of magazines, newspapers and the run of them in the shopping centre. My OH always tells me not to get ranty, if people want to have cosmetic surgery that is their choice. But this survey proves my point (which I have difficulty articulating) young girls (and I am sure boys too) feel pressured into having surgery – they are not happy with how they are. There have always been people who feel like that, but now there are options to get it fixed. And it is being pushed on us as a normal thing. There are television programmes offering cosmetic surgery as if it was the same as have a facial at the beautician. And this doesn’t even cover the general pressure to conform with the general beauty standard of what is in the media and how this can change young women’s perspective of what is acceptable and the extremes they have to go to attain this – eating disorders and cosmetic surgery.
It [the survey] found that dieting is prevalent, with girls as young as 11 saying that they have cut down on what they eat to stay thin. Almost half (42 per cent) of 11 to 16-year-old girls said that they cut out certain foods or control “to excess” what they eat, rising to 66 per cent of the 16 to 21 age group.
Wow, so nearly half of girls surveyed are on a diet. Not eating plentiful amounts of healthy, natural food, with a small percent of whatever they like (the eat well 80% of the time and whatever you want 20% of the time). If they are focusing on this now, I am fairly sure they will be focusing on food for the rest of their lives. They will never reach the standard they will want to get to – partly because nearly all images of women in the public eye have been manipulated beyond belief to an unrealistic standard.
I am very much of the opinion this is a form of oppression – this obsession with dieting. If you are obsessing about food you are unable to focus your energy on questioning why the world is working the way it is and if there is better ways we can do things. I just feel so sorry for girls growing up today, the pressure is beyond belief for them. I can say: fine I won’t read women’s magazines, skip adverts, not go to the shopping centre and not watch mainstream television. When I was working in an office this cut me out of a huge amount of conversations – I didn’t really care. But I can see for teenage girls not knowing who the latest X-Factor contestant is and how they are doing would be a social death.
I don’t have any answers. I can just rant and hopefully get others to change how they think. I’m not brave enough to do what Penny Red does with her big red pen, but maybe one day I will be.
Fallen art
Tomorrow is Samhain, which, along with Beltaine, is my favourite festival of the year. It was just after Samhain last year that my life changed totally after losing my job and pushing me onto this path that I follow. Ironically enough just before Samhain a friend did a tarot reading for me saying massive change was coming soon (the cards of Death and Tower gave that away) and within 3 days that change had started to happen.
This year how I celebrate has changed, in that I am now part of a grove of Druids I celebrate each festival with and I wanted to create an offering which is especially relevant to me at this point in time.
Part of my life now is trying to be in my in touch with my creative side and allowing myself to be creative and more to the point allowing myself not to have to create everything perfectly. The striving for perfection has been a massive block to my creativity – my ego not allowing me to do anything unless I am going to be the best or perfect. To be honest this doesn’t just interfer with being creative, but a lot of my life!
So, I wanted to create an offering using natural mediums and not get hung up on it being perfect.
Leaves are symbolic for me at this time of year, so I created a wreath out of fallen leaves
Wreath of leaves (sorry about the carpet!)
As I have to take it to my ritual tomorrow night it is one complete item, I have sewn it together using cotton, so it is all biodegradable.
Different view
Sorry about the light in these photos and they are not entirely clear what it is.
It is three rings of leaves painstakingly sewn together! It took over an hour and had to be done rather gently to stop the leaves tearing. So I can carry it to my ritual and leave it as an offering, which will rot away in the not too distant future.I think it would have looked better with different colours of leaves, but they are all brown around here, rather than magnificent reds or oranges. This is the first year I have spent here, so I am not sure if that is normal, I am used to beautiful hues!
While I was at it I made a couple of small bunches to go around my house.
Natural festive decorations
So, Samhain blessings to you all.
Sorry for the lack of posting
Apologies for the lack of posting, I have been extremely busy with uni and college stuff, as well as getting going with some serious spiritual things as a result of a Druid discussion group this Saturday (for lack of a better turn of phrase!).
I don’t want this blog to turn into a day to day what I did type of blog and my brain isn’t in the right place for thinking of anything at the moment.
So I will probably be back in a few days or so. For some spiritual inspiration head on over to Shamanic Druidry for some excellent reflections on becoming endarkened, rather than enlightened.
Why is this not on the news?
I received a mailer from Friends of the Earth on Friday talking about climate change and asking for some money to support their campaign to attend the UN Conference on Climate Change at Copenhagen in December.
Reading I came across this horrible fact:
Please help us to promote the voices of people who are being totally ignored. Take Maria Tiimon from the Kiribati Islands in the Pacific – the eastern-most point in the world that was the first to welcome in the new millennium… Now her beautiful homeland is facing complete destruction. Sea levels are already rising to engulf the island, with high tides flooding the capital, contaminating water supplies and killing crops. It’s likely the islands will soon be submerged and more than 100,000 people will have to evacuate. If climate change continues, this is likely to be the first of many mass migrations across the world.
Why on earth are we not hearing about this in the news every day? 100,000 people are going to lose their homes, livelihoods and communities. And this will not be the last of it, but just the beginning.
Why is the mainstream media not discussing this on the main headlines?
Why is everyone not aware of this and trying to do something about it?
Well, I know at least one answer on why they are not covering this in the media. There are no horrific images to grab our attention. There isnt an easy soundbite which can be used by every station from some poor wretch who has lost everything now. It doesn’t tie in with our short attention spans and instant gratification which we need to have now and so they wont tell it to us. People aren’t aware of it because they don’t want to be and are more interested in the latest X-factor/Pop Idol/Football/other opium of the masses.
I don’t know what the answer is, I have signed their petition and donated a small amount of money on top of my usual monthly donation, but what else can I do? This comes back to my previous post about taking action but where do we focus our action in the most effective way? Do any of you take a more active role and how do you do it?
RSS - Posts