Remembering the Departed

I have to admit, I still am afraid of death despite all the wisdom teachings that tell me I shouldn't be. I think fear of death comes with the survival instinct implanted by Mother Nature herself and it would just be unnatural not to be afraid of it. While not having fear may mean transcending my lowly animalistic self and my attachments to the mundane world, being afraid on the other hand means I am still finding reasons to live in this world despite all its faults, and it also makes me focus on what's really important and "live my life to the full" as the cliché goes. My fear of death must have its roots from the fear of the unknown. I always say that death does not mean an end but rather a transition from one form to another....

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The Lights of Diwali

Somehow I find myself always having an affinity with the goddesses of the arts and beauty. Yeye Oshun has been for me a symbol of gaiety and elegance. Brighid of the Gaels provides me with artistic inspiration and the energy to turn it into craft. Now I pray to Maha Lakshmi, the lotus goddess of wealth, for material providence and sustenance - because the reality nowadays is that art and beauty often costs money. I was also feeling a need to get acquainted with the vedic gods being that the Philippines is a part of Greater India. The feast of Diwali is traditionally a time to make puja to Lakshmi. Being my first time to do puja I made a  research on the internet, and gods, the information was very overwhelming. Aside from...

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Welcome to My New Elemental Blog

The four elements It's simpler, sleeker, and the best thing of all - the photos are bigger. Now it is easier to skip my prattle and just look at the photos - sometimes they tell the stories much better than my writing. Also, one of the more important changes is that the categories have been streamlined and divided into four themes corresponding to the elements. Fire for matters of the spirit, Air for the study of magic, Earth for mundane pursuits of pleasure and Water for my emo-moments. Not only does it make my posts easier to classify but with this I might be able to see which of my four elements - body, mind, spirit and emotion - has been taking too much a big slice of the elemental cake. This is, after all, primarily a personal journal. Have...

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Earth Dance Manila 2011

After last year's memorable Earth Dance, the event has been much awaited by many people in the Pagan community. This year's Earth Dance though  is a lot less Pagan-ish. The location was in the posh Bonifacio Global City which was nice enough, but I found it quite difficult to find and to get to. There were a lot less people who were able to attend than before, and much of the non-Pagan crowd were seemingly of the "upper class" type. Frankly I was missing last year's larger venue, as well as the Pagan Pride day, the Incan shamans and priestesses, the giant bonfire, the prayer tent, the overnighter, the globally synchronized prayer, etcetera. That is not to say this Earth Dance isn't cool though. Dancing under the sky, barefoot, and...

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Before Blogging was Invented

I just got a very nice reward for cleaning my own room. I found my old journal from 15 years ago - written entirely in French. Ok, not entirely. The proper names are encoded in Cyrillic. Even though my French has gotten a bit rusty now, I could see some grammatical errors. But wow, even now I couldn't believe at myself (yet feeling smug at the same time) for recording an entire school year of my life in a foreign language. It's really strange and interesting - and sometimes embarrassing - to read about what happened in your life more than a decade ago, even the seemingly insignificant events: my thoughts as I had my first taste of Dairy Queen's Blizzard, the happiest moments with friends I am no longer seeing now, my three consecutive strikes...

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Money, Money, Maneki Neko

 Nothing says "money, money, come to me" like a golden magical beckoning cat. I was walking along a flea market when I saw a bunch of maneki nekos looking so cute waving at me. Not being able to resist their charm, I grabbed myself a small one and decided that I would pimp it up when I get home. I have made many magical charms in the past but none have been as kitschy as this. The first thing I did was to find some flat container to put the cat on. Whilst scouring the supermarket I found a red plate with a polka dot pattern. It looks tacky but I think it’s very appropriate. Red is an auspicious color in China, and polka dots has always been associated with money among Pinoys. Along the border of the plate I glued some powerful magnets...

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A Feast for Hekate of the Storms

Last year Aldrin, Pol, Ish and I came together to celebrate the feast of one of neopaganism’s most important deities. We honored Hekate as the lady of the underworld, and now we honor Her as queen of heaven. This time the intentions were less personal, the theme more significant, and on a superficial level, the ritual was less “darker” – no burning pharmakos, no chicken hearts; in broad daylight and incidentally under some threatening rain clouds. “We ask of You to defend us now as you did then, to guard and watch over our land and our grain from ravaging storms and raping gales, from the terrible onslaught of heaven’s spears. ” Khairete Hekate Ouranie! Pol performs  a traditional babaylan ritual to appease the indigenous spirits Offerings...

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