You and I have memories, longer than the road that stretches out ahead..

I am sure many of you have noticed that as time has gone on I have posted less and less.  Things that we commit too like Blogs become just one more thing to do, like a pile of laundry sometimes rather than a "fun thing" when you work, and work and work.  This is why I am writing this to let you know that sometimes I find myself just work, work, working, and when I was not work, work, working it seemed like I had to fill my time up!  So apparently if I stay at home I feel it necessary to fill up every spare moment; and if I am working a job I fill it is necessary to complain about it...:)

I have met, and counseled many women who just cannot "stand being alone"  I have never been one of those people. I always have wanted to be more alone, so I could listen to my thoughts, the universe, and find some peace and quite...but it seems the Universe has always had other plans for me.  Once it seemed like I was finally going to get a home alone (since my oldest child was graduating from Highschool) I got excited and started to plan out my life as a single woman who traveled and was carefree.  Of course, right when I started making plans and putting money aside just for that dream...I met somebody.  Not a somebody that I could go out and listen to bands too and then just go home, No...a somebody that made my heart do flip-flops and made me blush like a teenager.  Damn it!  I fell in love!

No, that was not supposed to happen!  Oh well, then I decided after we got married we would move to New Mexico thus the reason why we drove all the way there and explored all four corners of it on our honeymoon.  But NO, the Gods had another plan for me...Dah dah dah dah!  I was to stay in Memphis, Tennessee and help co-found a Wiccan Church.  F#*#@!!!!~~~  I think you get the idea (that is my best cuss word on this blog).  So we co-founded a Wiccan Church, and it still seemed I wasn't too tied down; I still had options...then Tada!  I was pregnant!  About one month after a "Birthing ritual" for a New Pagan community ritual my husband and I did I found out...yep, I was pregnant.

Now, I have a home, a husband, my twenty one year old has still not left the nest, and a toddler.  Oh and did I mention I am full time Clergy, full time hair stylist/manager of a salon, and a wife, mother, and daughter?  Yeah, something just whammied me!  Seriously, I had plans! 

I am smiling while writing this, because I should have realized that just like writing this blog You cannot plan anything...not really.  Look how much better my life is because of my husband Brian, and baby Cayden.  I like having my 21 year old living at home; I am in no hurry to have him fly the coop.  I love having a Pagan community and teaching students, and pushing myself spiritually like I have never ever done before.  My job as a hair stylist is the best one I think I have ever had; it is loose, full of possibilities and the work environment is gorgeous.

BUT  I cannot just sit outside alone and listen to spirit longer than maybe thirty (If noone is up yet) minutes.  I can hardly find time to write my thoughts down anymore.  I really want to teach an online class and the only thing I can find to budge in my list of things that constantly pile up is this blog...and just when I think I might drop it all together....Ten more people join.  I find, that I cannot seem to let that many people down.

Yep, the lady who said she "wanted freedom" and "no responsibilities" really did not know herself very well did she?  Maybe the Gods don't have such a sense of humor as a way of Grace.  They looked down at my silly stubborn scarred heart, and balmed it with love, and filled my life so full to the brim that it pours over and flows to everyone....and that is EXACTLY what I needed but never realized I was capable of receiving or worthy of. 

I will never be the catlady like my Mamaw with a garden surrounding her house, chicken pens and wild trees and vines.  I will not be like my great Aunts who died with mink coats and diamonds and wild stories for us all to find out after they crossed over.  I will never ever play the Grand ole Opry, or record a Gold record like my Uncle Leon or my Papaw Clifton...I will just be whatever unfolds.

Yes maam' or Yes sir my plan is to really have no plan!  To just take it a day at a time, and see where the next turn in the road leads me....hopefully it leads me back home.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings, and standing here with me chasing paper....

Wanted: 9 muses for inspiration please!

Today we at the Temple of the Sacred Gift-ATC (where I worship and Clergy) we will have a ritual to the Muse Thalia.  One does not hear that word used often anymore "MUSE".  It sounds awkward to our Western ears; and does not flow from the tongue; but it should.  After all where would this world be without music, poetry, dancing, jokes, drama, theater, costumes, reverlry, festivals, ballads, etc.  In short the world would be a dull dullard place!

So, I had to go to the bones of what a Muse was to understand really the phenomenon of NINE women being worshipped that had these skills to pray to them.  What are they?  Muses, are people who inspire us!  It could be your mother who worked two jobs so you could have a roof over your head and become successful like Kanye West.  It could be your father was just a coal miner like Loretta Lynn or Dolly Parton (they both had hit songs about their poor upbringing).  It could be that you are in love and what to share with us why it is you are love like Emily Dickinson, or Shakespeare....

SONNET 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
   As any she belied with false compare. 



Paintings are the most obvious examples of Muses, my favorite being Frida Kahlo who obviously saw herself as her own muse since she painted herself so much!  How fabulous and much richer our world is because of this though...she has influenced how we see beauty, and re-directed our ideas about color, texture, and what is interesting just from a few brush strokes. It is said that the Mona Lisa is really just Leonardo Davinci because it looks so much like him, but does it really make the painting any less beautiful?  I personally like believing he was inspired by a woman that looked alot like him but obviously whomever the "Mona Lisa" is; she was his muse. Pablo Picasso is notorious for painting the women he was involved with in all of his paintings and thus it begs the question...without inspiration, where would we be?  Furthermore without the magic of Muses there would be no art!

So who are the Muses?  The Muses are the daughters of Zeus and the Titan Mnemosyne, whose name means 'memory'  she spent 9 nights with Zeus and produced her wonderful offspring. Mnemosyne's sacred site was established at Lebadeia, a spring dedicated to memory.  Originally the Muses only sang of the deeds of Zeus, and only lived in Mt. Olympus standing near his throne.  How annoying huh?  Eventually they started singing and writing painting about other Gods and Goddesses,  then they started to branch out realizing that they could inspire humans to write, draw, paint, sing about Gods and Goddesses.  It is said that they literally created dialogues, and better forms of communication (I guess Ugh Ugh a Bugg Bugg didn't translate well) and it seems that before you could say Thalia or Melpomene the Theater was created....and there we all gathered to hear Comedies or Tragedies and learn from the plays while being entertained! ( Friedrich Nietzche claimed that all of life could be condensed to comedy and tragedies spiraling in and out and was obsessed with Apollo and the Muses)  It seems the Muses were not only Godly and beautiful but smart and go-getters also...sounds alike like women today huh?

They eventually stopped following their father around you know, and hooked on to Apollo whom not only was gorgeous but they had alot more in common with.  He became re-named because of this as "Apollon Musegetes" and was the official "director of their choir".  They were not his followers though, because you see he became romantically involved with Thalia and had nine children with her...the Corbyantes. These sons of her inspired ritualistic dancing, trances, heavy drumming, and were associated with the "dark mysteries".  


There are so many poems in literature that start off being prayers to muses that if you were to type in a search engine it would explode (lol) and so many ending with a thanks to them that it would be the same.  It was really a classical style of writing until the modern twentieth century!  Common citizens, and I am sure most artists used to put out offerings and beg for their assistance all the time; and many artists would become bitter when they felt the "muses" had forsaken them or moved on.  But how much like a woman eh?  "SING IN ME OH MUSE" is one of the first lines in the movie "Oh brother where art thou?"  seems even a director needs help from the muses every now and then. Okay, so now I have shared why they are important, where they came from, so why don't I give you a list of their names and what they are good at so you can pray to your very own MUSE?  

Calliope Beautiful voice
Chief of the nine Muses. She was the patron of epic poetry. Her symbol is the writing tablet. (Ipad anyone?)

 Clio Proclaimer
  She was the patron of history, and inventor of historical and heroic poetry. Her symbol was the scroll. (Once again a laptop or Ipad would be a great modern translation)

 Erato Passionate or Lovely
The Muse of lyric poetry about love and eroticism, and mimicry! (can anyone say erotic literature?)

Euterpe Rejoicing Well or Pleasure Giver
The Muse of lyric poetry and music. Known as the cheerful one, who always played a flute! It is rumored she invented the double flute. Jethro Tull and her must have been gettin'g it on.

Polyhymnia Many Songs
Okay, Polyhymia is the somber and beautiful one. She was the Muse of Sacred Hymn, and of Eloquence. She is portrayed in serious thought with a finger to her lips...but meditation is associated with her.  Yoga, or contemplation the brainstorming period before you create...this is HER time.

Melpomene Songstress
She carried a club, or a knife and was only associated with Tragedy in writing.  Watching a sad love story movie where everyone falls in love but cannot have each other?  That is Melpomene's area of expertise!

Terpsichore Rejoicing in the Dance or Whirling
She is the Muse of dancing and choral singing.  It is said she gave birth to the Sirens.  She is always portrayed dancing or with a lyre in her hand.  Are you a belly dancer?  Do you dance alone in your room?  Well take that energy and offer it to Terpsichore!

Thalia Festive or Flourishing
She presides over comedy and pastoral poetry which explains why she holds a comic mask. But Thalia is the "country girl" of the group. She loves to traipse about meadows and forests and rural places that a city girl like me wouldn't know about. That's why she carries the shepherd's crook, as well.  Want to get in touch with Thalia?  Watch the Blue collar comedy tours or Roseanne re-runs and you have it all in a nutshell...she likes to make us laugh!

Urania Mountain Queen
 Muse of astronomy and astrology , her feet rest on a turtle and she holds a globe in her hands and a pair of compasses.  It is said she inspires Chaste love!  The kind you yearn for but never act on!  So if you want to get in touch with Urania, ask for directions with a compass, look at the stars, have a crush on someone you know you will never act on...but while you are feeling all of this...thank Urania!



Lastly, look around you!  See who give you inspiration!  I love Vidal Sassoon and and John Masters when it comes to hair techniques and stories.  When it comes to my Spiritual life I look to Starhawk, or Selena Fox, or Pete Pathfinder, even some of my local elders....when I need to feel inspired; I read their words and I vibrate! 

I am sharing these wonderful Goddesses with you because once I started diving into them I found that I had taken so much of my life for granted, and how much knowledge and fun I was missing out on as a Pagan, Witch, Wiccan, and human being.  I hope these ladies inspire you also...and you find yourself using their names; because they deserve it...and it is fun!

Thank you for the gift of your time.