Being a Pagan

Greetings my dears,

In my last article I spoke about going back to the foundation of my practice, not only to regain clarity for moving forward, but as a means of setting my path for the following year. 

I made a handy little list for myself as these things often come to me at once and like everyone else, I have a myriad of life distractions, so this topic of Going Back to Basics may become a series of some sort. I have no intentions for it to specifically go in that direction, but we'll let it unfold on it's own. 

In the mean time, I spent some time over the last day or so wondering what exactly would be the most sensible place to begin such a discussion. Then it occurred to me, more than anything else, shouldn't I know and understand what exactly this path means to me?

For the past couple of years I felt myself moving away from connecting with the title of pagan and what that really meant for me. I felt more connected to the Universe as a whole and considered myself more of a 'spiritualist' if you will.

Not that I am moving away from that title either, but I am trying to define some sort of structure that I feel like I have been lacking, which I believe has played a part in feeling disconnected all around. As I am attempting to go back the the roots of my beliefs, let's start with identifying as a pagan.

But what does being a pagan mean to me?

For me personally, it does not mean giving power to stereotypes, nor does it give me free license to rebel against my family members who don't view the world as I do. It doesn't mean that I am against men and solely support women. It doesn't mean that I don't respect current law or that I resent the restrictions of my previous beliefs.

Being a pagan means that I honor myself in all things. It means that I listen to my heart and follow my intuition even if it might lead me down a difficult path. It means that I don't shy away from the parts of myself that create challenges, it means that I show just as much patience and compassion to myself as I show to others.

It means not rushing through a lesson just because it makes me uncomfortable.

Being a pagan means that I do my best to take the time to see myself in all things, and all things in me.

To me, being a pagan means that I also see the divine in all things, and seeing the divine within myself. Being a pagan means that I honor and respect the Earth because without it, we would not be here, we would not be the us that we are now, today.

Being a pagan means taking ownership of my actions and responsibility for my mistakes. Being pagan means, that I understand that I have a duty to myself to never stop learning or growing. Being a pagan means that I allow myself mistakes so that I can keep learning and growing.

I understand that every one who identifies as a pagan is going to have their own answers, and I think that in and of itself is so beautiful. It provides contrast and space for different perceptions. It may provide something to aspire to, to work towards, to grow into.

It only seemed right to me to start in this place of exploration. To be honest I had a different topic in mind to begin with, but I think it will be a good second step.

I would love to hear from you and to know what being a pagan means to you. I also want to extend the invitation to our Facebook group, Shakti's Circle which serves as a virtual temple space and community for spiritually inclined individuals, regardless of your path or where you might be on it.

Be sure to take good care dear ones,

Until next time,

~Thealynn

©2013-2017 Thealynn Oceanna Rosewolf

My Full Moon in Capricorn

Hey there loves,

How has this full moon been treating you? Have you been feeling it the last few days as the moon as reached her fullness?

Image from monderndayastrologer.com

As some of you might already know, I am a Capricorn (sun), so this full moon holds some very serious energy for me. And possibly for you too! Are you ready for it?

One of the things that I love the most when the moon is full, is that I feel like I have the opportunity to really clean off my energetic plate. I get to drop all the stuff that I've been carrying around for the last month that just needs to go. It's a good time to reset, re-energize, reevaluate. It's also a good time to be super honest with ourselves.

Something that I think gets glossed over during the Full Moon, is the opportunity to see things in our lives with a fresh perspective, a different lens depending on what sign the moon is in. In this case, it's Capricorn.

For those who are unfamiliar with Capricorn, this sign is ruled by Saturn which is considered the Father of the zodiac; just as the Moon is considered the Mother of the zodiac which rules the sign of Cancer. As these signs are opposite each other, there is a call for balance when these two meet.

Capricorn is considered the 'hard knocks' planet, as Saturn is also known as the Karma Keeper, it's no surprise that Capricorns often wind up settling all sorts of karmic debt (positive and negative) during their life time. Because of the masculine energy surrounding Capricorn, they are often described as structured, practical, goal oriented, focused, etc.

The other side of that coin however can be viewed as: rigid, strict, obsessive, workaholic, etc.  Capricorns are known for being stubborn, rivaling other signs in the zodiac, because once they set their minds on something, it's nigh impossible to get them off course.

Capricorns can also suffer from tunnel vision and expect everyone to be on board with their plans and ideas, which isn't always practical or possible. When this doesn't happen, they can be come agitated and continue about their way, even if they do so alone. Which could explain why Capricorns have a tendency to take on SO MUCH on their own, even to the point of burning themselves out.

We Caps can be of the mindset, "It's all me or it's nothing." So much focus goes into the how, and where to, and what next that we can become detached from the emotion that sparked our dreams and goals in the first place.

So when our masculine sign visits the opposite sign of Cancer we have an opportunity get back in touch with our softer, feminine side. We get a chance to put our project(s) down for a minute and remember why we're so passionate about it in the first place. We can take off our shoes and dip our feet into the deep dream space where the love and desire for this goal was born.

When the moon is full, she is shining brightly and showing us what needs love and attention from us. You have probably heard the phrase along the lines of 'people get crazy during the full moon'. While it could hold some level of truth, the reality is that when the moon is full, there is a higher vibration of energy. Emotions, wounds, desires all come up to the surface and are being show to us because they are the things that require acknowledgement.

For me it was frustration with my work place. I came home angry last night, I wanted to throw up some fingers and tell them where they could go. So today before heading in I could feel that anger rising again and so I gave myself a nice smudge before I walked out the door. Today ended up being a much easier and a more pleasant day, and as I took my salt bath I realized what this full moon was showing me.

My frustration was being brought to my attention because I was getting frustrated with circumstances that I cannot control and I did not feel supported. I took a deeper look and was able to see that it was being reflected in one of my coworkers.

Let me just say I'm glad that I was sitting down because I was FLOORED. Literally FOR MONTHS, I have been trying to pinpoint why exactly this was manifesting in my life, and it all came to me. With the light of this full moon, I can see a part of myself reflected in this individual. I see patterns and behaviors that I myself have been guilty off. For such long time I could only see the flaws and mistakes this person was making, and all it did was make me angrier.

As all of this was dawning on me (no pun intended) I asked Spirit, I asked the Moon; What can I do to help heal this part of myself? The answer I received was so simple.

I could forgive myself.

As I tapped into the beautiful milky divine feminine, I asked to be shown more. We as humans are flawed by nature, because we are here to learn and to grow and the only way to do so is to make mistakes. I needed to be reminded that people, including myself, are allowed to make mistakes; that I have and that I will continue to do so. And that regardless of how many, or for how long, it should not, and does not lessen the value and worthiness of any individual.

We are able to go so far because of the mistakes that we make, not in spite of, but because of. Mistakes can be opportunities to launch us forward, or they can hold us captive, in one place for as long as we harbor the guilt and shame that we fabricate.

I can only speak for myself, but I am so thankful for every mistake that I have made because it helped me become who I am. Even now I find myself grateful to this person because they have shown me such a deep truth and have provided me with a chance to own that truth.

This is what my full moon in Capricorn is asking me to see, to acknowledge, to love and show compassion to, and then to finally send it with love and gratitude back to Source Energy, until the next lesson comes forward.

What is the Full Moon in Capricorn showing you?

Live freely and love fiercely,

 ~Thealynn

©2013-2017 Thealynn Oceanna Rosewolf

A Shot in the Dark

Hey there loves,

There has been a topic of conversation and study that has been at the forefront for me recently that I thought I might share with you. When it was first brought to my attention I didn't think it was something that I personally needed to work through and even thought that I had done all of the work that needed to be done in this particular area.

I can't say that this will be the last time I talk about this subject, because like most things in life and spirituality, it's ever evolving.

This is something that I have been curious about, have kind of wandered around but never getting too close, something I've had a pull towards for a long time but never really felt comfortable exploring and it can be reduced to one single word: Darkness.

Photo from joryfisher.com

Usually at this point is where people start becoming nervous and wondering what the hell I am going to say next and is it even worth hearing?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say yes. I am willing to wager that there are those who like me have struggled with deconstructing the demonization of darkness. I find more often than not that so many of us come to a path of spiritual freedom because we have fought for it through oppression, rejection, denial of worth, hypocrisy, and archaic beliefs.

I've spoken before about how I was raised in a Christian family, and how I have even spent different parts of my life attempting to swallow the blue pill only to come to find myself resentful at their attempts of conformity and their blindness when it came to the cavern separating fear and love.

By walking along this path of Spiritual freedom and embracing my inner voice I thought that to some extent there would be a blanket affect when it came to releasing the fear of the dark and the oogie boogies that might live there. But as I have developed more in my path and allowed myself to be more honest, I've realized how that wasn't quite true.

I might not be afraid of the dark any more, but that doesn't automatically translate to embracing the dark. From the time that I have spent attempting to learn and grow, what I have found to be the most consistent practice is to focus on the light, maintain a high vibration, focus solely on the positive.

Not to say that there is anything wrong with those things, aside to say that it's not entirely realistic. We are here to have a human experience, and that means facing challenges and hardships as often as we experience the things that bring us joy.

There also seems to be this preconception that the dark is something to avoid, that it holds less value than the light, when in fact the light and the dark need each other. Call it balance, two halves of a whole, yin and yang, any of these names are accurate.

Just as the Universe is everything including the dark and the light, so too do we possess both the light and the dark. We may have a tendency towards one or the other, but that doesn't justify completely shutting out the other side of ourselves.

What is becoming more and more apparent to me is that there are some of us that connect more easily to darker energies. And it really has nothing to do with not being able or not wanting to connect with more sunny or light deities, but rather that not everyone is going to mesh as well with one form of spirit to the next.

I also thought about the expression 'the Shadowself', I have written about it myself and am beginning to understand on a deeper level how the Shadowself is really the aspects of ourselves that perhaps take more effort to work with and appreciate, the parts of ourselves that we find more difficult to love; but that doesn't meant that we should completely ignore it.

Light and darkness cannot exist without the other, and in multiple creation stories it is described how before the light, there was darkness, and how the light is birthed from the darkness, just as we are. When we enter this world we are exiting a place of darkness, the womb. We come into a world of light that we have to adjust to and grow into.

I think we owe it to ourselves to explore and be willing to expand our understanding of what the dark really is. Even in pop culture we are still being fed that the dark is something to fear, something sinister, something to defeat, to conquer.

Like most spiritual endeavors it might not be the most comfortable, and it might take some time, but it's the journeys such as these that often hold the most value. It is when we step outside of our comfort zone that can bring us the most growth and in turn hold profound meaning to us, what's more it may turn out to be exactly what we've been looking for.

In the future I hope dive a bit deeper into this topic as there really is so much that can be discussed. For now I really just wanted to express the thoughts that have been accumulating, a bit of a starting place. Pieces and ideas to jump off of, perhaps even start some conversations.

I look forward to see where this journey goes, it feels like a long time coming.

Wishing you comfort and clarity,

~Thealynn

©2013-2017 Thealynn Oceanna Rosewolf