The Woods. Summer weekends meant the family would escape the Phoenix heat. In the fall Dad insisted we come to watch the aspen turn. In the winter we would come to play in the snow. After the stepsibs moved away and it was just teenage me with the folks, we'd still come to enjoy the woods. I will always be the desert guy who Visits The Woods.

Tags: woods & red sandstone & fall & Walker & Wheel & Arizona & desert & fall & winter & Phoenix & green & aspen & pine & shadows & sun & family & snow & National Park & National Forest & lightning & new growth & circles with cycles & Walker & Christian & goodbye & honor & hiding from sorrow & harmony & I. Was. Different. & loss & stepdad & classic & mom & stepsib

No matter what the inspiration, you still have to come down off the mountain. Living in the Here & Now helps make you human.

Tags: Wild Hunt Blog & experts & masters & Celtic & living faith & classic & Celtic Reconstructionism & Here&Now & triad & faith & Story & connections & Divine & link & dynamic tension & balance & Ro3

At some point you come back from the mountain and across the wilderness.

Tags: manifest & Story & Journey & discovery & ecstatic states & classic

Going beyond the 101 and even beyond the tradition

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & magickal theory & thoughtforms & knotwork & symbols & tools & tool box & hammer & carpenter & mason & smith & Wiccan & five primal elements & four cardinal directions & Lord and Lady & trad & binding & Knot

When things are messy, actions and answers aren't clear cut. That is when you need faith in yourself.

Tags: blessings & bless list & ethics & price & honor & classic & 3rd Yearnings

Here are some physical parts of a spell I improvised last night and used this morning. It's one of the better "booster" spells I've come up with in a while. It takes a bit of prep time and you need to greet the sun, but it works.

Tags: dry ingredients & mortar & mineral salt base & sigil & wood chips & sealing wax & classic & 3rd Yearnings

Opening yourself

Tags: pay attention & world & modern life & moon phase & solstice & bats & rabbits & owls & city noises & stars shine & soil & cedar & small birds & sunrise & sun beat & animal trails & classic & 3rd Yearnings

One of my (suitably edited) Dark Moon rites

Tags: dark moon & scry & augury & meditation focus & settling exercise & twilight & ritual space & moon-blessed salt & candle & black bowl & moonbathing & consecrate & classic & 3rd Yearnings

We're made of stars

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & lyrics & stars & Moon & Court of Stars & Pagan & fly & Earthbound & sunlight & starlight & moonlight & Elder Relatives & mathematics & Mystery & crossroads

Speaking of the way that one idea links to another, I can’t help but notice a conflict. And a song.

Tags: classic & Do Be & label & experts & masters & lyrics & Neil Diamond & neighbors & 4PM

Could it be the biology?

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & Old Breed & skimmed & short & altruism & fairness & reciprocity & tolerance & forgiveness & canids & play & trust & four-foot & biology

From classic philosophy to classic virtue, Paganism's best hope depends on what we choose to put out in the World

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & Old Breed & prisoner's dilemma & Bill Whittle & reputation & honor & paganism & fringe movement & exaggerated extremes & Lois McMaster Bujold & cherish honor & take advantage & reputation & Corporate Clone & reward virtue & Warrior Path

Pagan isn't the important part

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & community & Pagan & Old Breed & character & honor & trust & pagan community

We have the future we make, nothing more and nothing less

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & Tolkien & LOTR & blind faith & Old Breed & Predecessors Knew Better & special people & Utopian

Another look at one of my common topics

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & pagan community & ritual garb & freak the mundanes & Public Pagan & Proper Causes & paranoid & spectacle & inspire & Save the Planet® & ugh-politics & weird clothes & victimhood & solitary & circus & SCA & Gay Pride Day & Log Cabin Republicans & "repair crew" & Greater Pagan Community & healing circle & "group magick" & Those Who Want To Be Noticed

The decline of the written language

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & written language & McGuffey Readers & linearly & sequentially & systemize the language & Diné/Navajo & Noah Webster & Chriron & sharing & technopagan & language & bibliophile & Gnosis magazine & grammar errors

Public face of Paganism

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & pagan community & pagan laity & voices of reason & stepdad & common sense & face of Paganism & Dominionism & Those Who Want To Be Noticed & Story People & fundamental & global warming & Wren's Nest & neocons

Refuge

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & Arizona & desert & refuge & front yards & wild heart & NeoDen & sanctum & backyards & touchstone & privacy fence & sun patio & outdoor ritual area & secret heart & vegetable patch & mask & sunbathing & moonbathing

Another reason why the peace-love-freedom-happiness bit annoys me

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & Northern Hemisphere & sweetness and light and virtue & save the world & Winter Realm & balance & wheel of the year & munched & claws that rip & left hand path & prey & bright and dark passions & depression & scarification & intensity & predator

…and your Journey

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & lyrics & Journey & Story & peak experience & Nature & active & Bright & Dark Blessings

When I'm stressed, I remember

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & desert & horizon & Monument Valley & Grand Canyon & Bryce Canyon & Zion Canyon & Petrified Forest & Canyon de Chelly & chants

Just a fast one today, I'm packing

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & Ro3 & victimhood & books & signposts & question & label & like calls to like & dreams & know & TANSTAAFL

Wading through the mess

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & cross posted & Earth Day & environmental sins & green products

Some days I want to stay in and never come out

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & sad bear & mecha & picture & Robot & depression & wistful & companion & Luke Cheuh & toy

It's what brings us together

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & pillow talk problem & love & eros & agape & philos & philosopher & storge & philanthropia & Christian & Christianity

Thoughts and feelings

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & balance & experts & masters & Zed Shaw & Divine & religion & faith & classic

Yes, it's short. And yes, it's free.

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & experience & classic

Essays on writing have me thinking and remembering

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & watch list & redemption & restitution & Jason Pitzl-Waters & Lupa & e•friend & ego & Divine & classic & vaudeville & TV & Big Name Pagan & Christians & stepdad & mom & Christian & Wiccan Crusaders & pagan community & Arizona & Utah & New Mexico & California & Colorado & shadows & borders & fringes & borders & shadows & Wild Hunt Blog & Cat Chapin Bishop & Quaker Pagan Reflections & Maggie Stiefvater & Christian Evangelical & Southern Baptist & United Methodist & witchwar & Excite Clubs & Back to the Future

Fiction and nonfiction collide and spawn in my semi-fevered brain

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Diety & Proteus Coven & fiction & nonfiction & fantasy & Astarte & Aprhodite & persona & archetype & classic

The dire wound that never heals

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & funerals & wounded master & Chiron & Odin & Christian story & Christian & classic & Fisher King & Grail Lord & wounding & dire wound & Dionysus & Osiris & Jesus & Inner & Outer Mysteries & price

An excuse to embrace victimhood, or a reason to seize our own power?

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & victimhood & Wicca & OCRT & classic & Great Christian Crusade & codswallop & intolerance & social power & human right & Divine right & culture war

Look before you leap

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & eclectic & discipline & mastery & paganism & internet & research & coven & filters & borrowing knowledge & Apollo & fluffy bunny & road signs & classic

Moon phases and sabbats on a rainy night

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Story is Not the Journey & Story & Journey & experience & Moon & High Holidays & Solar Festivals & honor the magick & honor the gods & Mike Nichols & Inner & Outer Mysteries & initiation & manifest & WebTree & classic

Accept or not as you choose, that doesn't make it less true

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & orgone & wyrd & colony & magick & life & social power & energy moves & Modern Man/Modern People & humantic principles & classic

❝Morality ought to be filed under Philosophy, not Religion.❞
     — Chas S. Clifton, How to Ruin the Mysteries, or Religion is not Moral

Tags: leadership & character & Chas S. Clifton & crusader & classic & Christian & Christianity

I'm willing to start at mutual respect. Not everyone is. That creates a problem.

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & respect & leadership & Jason Pitzl-Waters & ugh-politics & PC & Brenden Meyers & solitary & character & pagan community & mutual respect & classic

Build them up

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Juliaki & leadership & classic & pagan groups & project & long term development & faith & pursuade & honor & blood sweat & tears & effective & flexible & inspirational & amazing & like calls to like & character & allies not servants

Juliaki wrote an pretty good piece on teachers and students in the Craft

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & HPS & HP & coven & Juliaki & e•friend & teacher & student & classic & teenage & year & a day & craftsman & degree & history & lineage & Isaac Bonewits & ABCDEF & solitary & self-initation & self-dedication & character & paranoid

A rare political rant on my Pagan blog

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & evangelism & pullback & social power & Starhawk & Isaac Bonewits & True Believer™ & PC & ugh-politics & classic & pagan community & us vs. them & morality

I answer my email indirectly

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & 3% & Ro3 & today & fellow-feeling & golden rule & silver rule & iron rule & active listening & pertinent magick & classic & t

I don't bow unless I respect

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Blessed & Methodist & family & talking not begging & classic & iron rule & Bishop Golden & Divinity & allies not servants & offering my loyality & honor & godmask & Elder Relatives & fear vs. love

Emotional vs Rational Discussions

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & emotional vs. rational & Gerald Gardner & classic & AARAD & True Believer™ & crusader & Christians & Greens & Christian & Pagans & radical & puritanical & liberal & SRW & Dianic & Terry Goodkind & passion rules reason & ethics

Why some fail all the time and how they can start to turn it around, with a little help from Stan and Ollie

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & passions & truthful & Stan & Ollie & magick & wyrd & WebTree & classic & Wilhelm Reich & orgone & like calls to like & RAW & mindfuck & Pagan & Christian & orgasm

Another wandering meditation, this time on the crowd that lives inside of you

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & mask & behavioral maps & useful fiction & Corporate Clone & Wild Man & Wild People & Talespinner & paranoid & Carl Jung & Joseph Campbell & Napoleon Hill & Wilson & higher self & lower self & archetype & chakra & Tarot & meditation & Story is Not the Journey & classic

Pulling together the bits on the mind that I have touched on before

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & most popular & Colin Wilson & Joseph Campbell & Napoleon Hill & thoughtforms & Stan & Ollie & Carl Jung & Robert Shea & RAW & world tree & wyrd & labyrinth & fate & magick & psychology & ladder of consciousness & archetype & higher self & lower self & lower elementals & Tarot & Kabbala

Rambling on moods and modernity

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & today & classic & most popular & depression & winter blues & Asperger syndrome & poor little me & family & victimhood & addiction & suicide & mask & passions & Coyote's gift & you are not alone & SAD & lyrics & stepdad & collecting pelts

The roles of faith and rationality

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Ro3 & tool group & sexual metaphor & Divine & chaos magick & assumptions & faith & methodology & Journey & Story & classic

Feeling the energy

Read More...

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & desert & Arizona & life & classic & energy moves & Divine & mundane & seperation & WebTree & orgone & wyrd & Plato & connections & Nature & Gaia & "authentic" & monotheism 1st sin & monotheism 2nd sin

Comments

Frustrated by unspoken expecations

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & family & Great Unspoken Southern Rules & Eldest Son & stepsib & stepdad & classic & character & expectation & evangelism & Christianity & pullback & Christian & monotheism 2nd sin

Fundamental principles

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & character & family & fundy & proselytize & Christian & Christians & stepdad & social behavior & culture war & classic & evangelism

Places on the Wheel

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Nature & today & Arizona & stepdad & Phoenix AZ & Tucson & Colorado River & high desert & low desert & family & passing & classic

Patterns and flow

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Christian & wheel of the year & WebTree & pentagram & wheel cross & paganism & Greenwich Meridian Time & Corporate Clone & classic

The perils of using what we aren't to define what we are

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Earth & Greater Pagan Community & magick & classic & Pagan & exclusionist & Christians & Jews & Christian & Muslim & magick & Juliaki & self-initation

❝ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX IV: I mean what exactly are you doing with your life?

ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX: I'm being attacked by a Vogon Fleet.

ZB IV: Doesn't surprise me in the least.
     —The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio series, Fit the Ninth

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Ordeal & protection & classic & Dweller issues & Pagans & spiritual attack & understanding & Untamed & Zaphod Beeblebrox

My response to a question about being skyclad. Taken from Wicca: General Chat from the Timerift Forums

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & nudity & protection & classic & varmints

What I believe and what I think is accepted in the larger "pagan community"

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & same sex & polyamory & most popular & collecting pelts & classic & group marriage & nudity & Gerald Gardner & Aleister Crowley & Christian & year marriage & Great Rite

❝The main thing I noticed about the experts I’ve encountered is they are into impressing you with their abilities. They are usually incredibly good, but their need for recognition gets in the way of mastery. Everything they do is an attempt to prove themselves and in order to do this they must perform like an actor on stage. There’s nothing wrong with this, and I don’t think the expert can become a master without going through this stage in life. At some point though, the expert becomes comfortable with themselves or fed up with impressing everyone and starts to look inward to the core of their art.❞
     — Zed Shaw,The Master, The Expert, The Programmer

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & experts & masters & near-universal & classic & Zed Shaw & skimmed & skill&effort

Hopefully the first article under the NeoWayland byline

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & character & harassment & classic & bless list & job & curse & PagaNet News & the Craft & Christianity & Christian bash & coworkers & management & unofficially & live & let live & aunts&grandmothers & thank you cards & connections & broom closet & mostly normal & quiet power & freak the mundanes & answer honestly & sloppy history & be proud & Christian & Wicca & Wiccan

❝I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.❞
     — Frank Lloyd Wright

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Divine & solitary & faith & celebrant & broom closet & Utopian & eclectic & groupthink & architecture & house & garden & PC & solitary & ugh-politics & classic

Most of the "self-initiated" aren't. We need to find ways to recognize that.

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Juliaki & initiation & classic & Inner & Outer Mysteries & dedicant & ace factor & Roman Republic & Elders

My personal view

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Divine & "spiritual" & Christianity & Christian & polytheistic & classic

How I think paganism works for me

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Divine & anthropic principle & godmask & Lord & Lady & semi-shaman & allies & classic & NW maxims

Where you live and how it shapes you

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & classic & ethics & perception & experience & idenity & Spark of Inspiration & Divine

An absolutely serious and scholarly discussion on the details of Pagan belief

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & humor & most popular & lyrics & short & classic & Isaac Bonewits & Christian & dirty jokes & share fruit & cuddling & greet the sun & better human

Before and after

Tags: 3rd Yearnings & Divine & classic & can't hoard & manifest & reincarnation & Other Side & This Side & godmask & southern lady & hospitality & bear song & magick & Hestia