Writing anything with the words, “Kathy Lee Gifford” included in the mix is bound to raise the question of what she said or did this time. In this case, we have been called nasty...bad Pagans according to a comment she made during a broadcast of The Today Show. Actually “we” were not called anything. The nasty bad Pagans of pre-Christian history…yes...and who knows what they were like collectively? Maybe they stole candy from babies…who knows?

I do know it has singed the fur off of the Fluff Bunnies and it has called for boycotts and petitions to be written against The Today Show by Pagans who are “just trying to live their lives in peace”. Actually, I already boycott The Today Show because it sucks and I hate daytime TV. I boycott Kathy Lee Gifford out of sheer principle because she’s a D-List celebrity working on a second-rate television show. That thing with the clothing line and the kids in slavery not withstanding. I don’t do it because I’m Pagan because I know, like my mom says, anytime you publically talk about religion, you’re bound to piss off someone in the process. You have to be prepared for the worst, especially if you’re Pagan...although you could come up with ten good criticisms about any spiritual viewpoint.

I would rather say, “keep up the good work by turning off the TV and reading a book or a good blog” because that’s the best political statement you can make to people like Kathy and the corporate-owned television networks. Better yet, support your public broadcasting stations where you’re more likely to find some good music by the Boston Pops or information on the familial habits of Lowland Gorillas.

My flame tending shift continues with small devotionals and private thoughts. I’m not always fancy because at the end of the day, time and money don’t allow me the fancy druid rites - sometimes it’s just a little milk offering and a little poem. My communication with Brighid is often filled with riddles and additional questions, but in the end things seem to work out.

I drew ogam feda. I asked about work because I am a little anxious about the changes. I drew N-Gétal . At first I thought, “great, the healing fid” and its’ relationship to the healing profession I want to be a part of. When I meditated on it, I found that I also had to learn to close the door on my previous job and the negative connotations of the executive staff that went with it. Once I let go of that, and I think I have, I can move on to become a part of other people’s recovery process.

I know if I did the full, Three Cauldrons reading I would end up with Lus in the mix so I'm not even going to go there. I told erynn999 that I felt like I used my feda as a Magic 8-Ball for yes/no questions about relationships, work, finances and the like. To most of those questions i got things like "Onn" which is the "things are in motion" answer. It reminds me of the 8-Ball's "Try Again Later" message.

It’s crazy - not working and waiting to get going on this support counseling training. I had two anxiety attacks because I didn’t like all the drastic changes that were occurring. Being home and doing nothing drives me nuts. I know I’m supposed to keep busy, but I like to do that naturally. I don’t like having a list of things to do because it never eases my mind. Not only that it’s really hot out right now. It lasts about a week just before the monsoon hits. I don’t see myself being too active while the inferno rages outside my front door. I think this is called being stir-crazy.

In the mean time I put up the invitations on Witchvox for all Pagans near and far to come see Erynn. I expect a nice little turnout for her at the Irish Cultural Center. I don’t know what will happen at Usery Mountain Park but I think whatever happens, it will be nice to get outside of town with my friends and just relax on the park grounds.

The Irish Cultural Center confirmed Erynn’s workshop for Saturday, November 15 at 7pm. I’m doing a lot of word-spreading. I’m also putting the information in the Arizona Irish Music Society and the Irish Cultural Center newsletter when it’s closer to the date.

I was reminded of an experience I had over ten years ago that occurred online. I met a mambo via a website - a priestess of the Haitian Voodoo tradition who I struck up an email/chat conversation with back in the late 90’s. She knew little of me except what I shared. I was still interested in Irish culture and mythology while she revealed a little-known “Mama Bridgette” who was the French equivalant of Saint Brighid who was worshipped in Haitian Voodoo and Roman Catholic traditions. So our conversations were of a comparative nature, and I learned a lot of interesting things about her culture.

One day, she did some sort of a reading on me for some deeper insight. I didn’t ask. She did it as a psychic background check I would assume. In the reading she insisted that I should devote myself to Chango, the Sky Father and an Orisha of Thunder in the Yoruba tradition. I kept thinking “That’s nice” but she was a little more insistent about it than your average mystic making a suggestion to a client. She suggested I do some research and learn about him on my own…so I did.

What creeped me out more than anything was his feast day; December 4th. My birthday is December 4th. There were other things; his association with drums and pipes, and my association with music (my father was a professional drummer), and some of the more Sagittarian traits that occur between the two of us. We’re both “thunder and lightning” people.

I never erected an altar in Chango’s honor. I was afraid.

I’m not sure why I’m sharing this now except I have had some conversations with friends about my spiritual choices; that maybe some forms of Neo-Paganism are the “safe” approach to spirituality because there is so much control over what you choose to do. The life of Vodouisants includes a deep relationship with their deities and it’s not always wrapped up in a pretty little box and placed on an altar.

That’s why Filidecht is attractive to me. The relationship I have with the Déithe is one of mutual respect, but the relationship can go either way at any time. You have to learn to adjust to the way the wind is blowing at the moment. It’s not a situation, like some views of Neo-Paganism, where you take what you want and dispose of what you don’t like.

I think there is a greater commitment in creating and maintaining a cultural tradition where challenges can and will appear. It will include mystical experiences that go beyond general psychic premonitions and into worlds of sometimes dark and uncomfortable places - but they exist for good reasons.

I still often wonder what would have happened to me if I had accepted the offer and attended a Kanzo under the guidance of the Bon Mambo.

Gas is teh sucky because it’s keeping some of our west side people from attending the Fibber Magee’s seisiun as often as they want. Most of our folks are East Side but the other side is spending about $12 to get to the seisiun - and many just can’t afford to do that anymore.

Last night I attended a house concert at Anita’s. Randal Bays performed Irish fiddle and guitar. I have heard the name before and he is a frequent visitor to Arizona, but I had yet to hear him play until last night. I really enjoyed it. After the concert he asked about having a seisiun. A few people had to borrow instruments from the host or rush out to their cars to get them because we weren’t sure if he wanted to have a seisiun or not. I didn’t bring my harp, but Anita let me borrow this $25K concert grand. Playing folk harp music on it is quite the stretch but I didn’t have too hard a time operating the pedals.

Here is a YouTube of Randal with accompaniment by Dave Marshall- not at the house I went to but it gives you a taste of his playing style.

It was a bittersweet moment saying goodbye to Megan Metheney at her house concert this evening, but I’m always amazed on how she can stay focused on her ambitions as a musician. She’s a very good harpist, and she has a lot of fun - you can tell in her playing style. She’ll be leaving for Odessa for a teaching job. I gave her my harp medallion for luck - hope it brings her all the best. It was good having ebonyharp as my guest, too. Prior to the concert we got in some harp practice time at my place.

Working on some poetry submissions for my website. Hope you enjoy.

We have a ramada for Sunday, November 16th from 1pm-6pm at Usery Mountain Park for the round-table social. Still waiting on a response from the Irish Cultural Center on the ogam/fili talk but I expect that will be approved. I'm doing a follow-up call to the center at the end of the week to get the lowdown.

I think the biggest surprise of the Democratic political campaign has been the homilies of Father Michael Pfleger and Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ; not to mention Pastor John Hagee on the Republican side. All three pastors have violated the rights of others and no one seems to care. If I’m not mistaken, persuading congregations to feel one way or another about a politician while preaching behind the pulpit violates the agreement of separation of Church and State. It also violates the non-profit status of their respective churches, so I don’t understand why the IRS hasn’t launched any investigations.

News said that pot shrinks the brain. I comment want that majrwana don’t’ shrinke brainage. It veryvyervery good for youand don’t hurt nothing as longas u don’t unhail two muched or uze the bong whith sprite innit instead of water. Pot alsso make Grateful Ded music sound good cuz if you r not high on the pot the music suks.

I was playing insomnia with erynn999. We had a conversation about the Intl. Harp Therapy Program which has its good and questionable elements. It's not accredited but it is supported by the director of the Music Therapy department at Arizona State. Some of the elements of the program are New Age, but if you pass up the fluff then you're left with a very solid training program for therapeutic music.

So I drew a fid. I drew Luis once again. I shook the bag and mixed them up pretty nicely but still managed to draw Luis...again...like every other reading I've ever done since working with Erynn's system of Ogam divination. This is Brighid's mark, and it represents inspiration and healing among other things. I've never really drew anything related to music, like Saille, so i looked on this as keeping my mind open to new approaches to training in a healing profession. - including the non-accredited world where the IHTP belongs. I'm going to mix it up with accredited courses in the music healing professions such as psychology, music theory, and so forth.

Christina Tourin’s workshop in harp therapy was surprisingly better than what I expected. It helped me realize that harp therapy might be a realistic profession. I don’t know if I could call it a full-time profession, but it is something that allows me to help people. I am concerned about the fees, which are sometimes unreasonably high…although the production costs must be pretty expensive, too. The training is very well-rounded, and the curriculum would be acceptable to any hospital or care center who felt therapy harp would be good for their patients.

I think the most frustrating thing about being a musician is that it just doesn’t pay very well; otherwise you would do it all the time. I sometimes envy people whose passions are academically or mechanically motivated. Engineers, for instance, I wish I had the passions of an engineer so I’m not always “struggling for my art”.

I guess I’m thinking about this because I struck up a conversation with a friend about the severely competitive nature of harpists, and even Irish musicians in this area. This friend is a harpist as well, both therapy and performance harp. While others are complaining, she’s booked constantly because of her well-developed network and willingness to keep things fun.

I’m not sure why it is that when you meet with other harpists, it turns into a battle of repertoire knowledge, number of performance requests, and the likelihood that he or she who hasn’t shown up is probably doing a gig at cut rate and leaving out the other performer’s opportunity to offer their services at whatever rate they charge. My friend, however, doesn’t care about the politics, and I’m happy she can go past it. Whenever I talk to her she’s laughing about one thing or another. She’s having fun, and she credits her faith in God for giving her a gift that should be shared…it’s as simple as that. No anger, no frustration…just fun with what she is doing and making a living to boot.

There’s a book I read once that said one of the best tricks of success is to find someone in your line of work that is successful and them emulate them; do whatever they do. So I’m going to emulate this friend of mine and see where I end up, which should be in a substantially better place than where I've been for the past year.

I called Magellan to ask about the required WRAP and WELL classes that are required for peer support services positions. They told me classes began today if I wanted to come in. It’ll take about two weeks, and then I go through an orientation in Phoenix. After that there’s an application process and they’ll see about placing me.

I drew feda tonight to determine the outcome of any career choices and recent changes. I wanted to know what causes the stress in my work life, because I usually choose opportunities that are in line with my passions. I came up with the following based on the Cauldron and Tree layout. I was so struck by the accuracy of this that I took a photo to remember the layout and the things the Déithe are telling me: ( reading under the cut )

I’ve been removed as the office guy from the organization where I worked. Instead I am in charge of the media work (websites, graphics, etc.). The difference is that instead of a regular check, I work based on projects. I decided to take the training and apply for the peer support counseling position at Magellen. This includes opportunities to help people and learn a little about me. I will continue designing websites and doing graphics, but I’d like to move forward in the care and welfare professions.

I made the new James Joyce LJ icon to remind me that I can’t think about the time I didn’t go to college…that I have to focus on the fact that I can do college now and just enjoy the adventure without worrying about a degree.

However, I’m in a jam. I have to make a couple of major decisions. Recently, I was offered an opportunity to train for a peer support counseling position. So there’s a choice between continuing with the work I’m currently doing in the non-profit world versus doing something new and unexplored in the mental health world. The second choice is school. I don’t know if a practical curriculum of web development technologies or a more intensive pursuit of psychology and music is the better choice. I don’t suspect one will be harder than the other for me…and I’m not really afraid of hard work.

I updated the personal website again with a little explanation on therapeutic harp.