There is Ethics in requesting Energy

Beware of the psychic vampire

     There is a limit, really, to how many times one should ask for 'energy works' from their mentors, circles, friends, and or coven/church in the Pagan community. However, most people don't know this, or do not understand, or respect, that the amount of 'help' that they are asking for drains the community down. Don't get me wrong here, you should ask when needing help, but not in the way that I have been seeing it done more and more lately. Remember; 'Heal thyself, witch!' is a good place to start.

     Step one; if there is something in your life that has gotten you down, drained you of energy, or you do not have the knowledge or personal ability to deal with it on your own, yes, ask for help. To do so isn't the issue, it is how you do it that can become an issue. Instead of asking for random energy lending, prepare a ritual or spell, or have someone who can help you write the spell, and invite your network of assistants ( you know, all those people that you keep asking to lend you some energy) to assist you in performing the ritual/spell to deal with the issue at hand.

     Step two; just like in any other ritual, be prepared to offer cakes and ale to those who have joined in the spell-work. Yes, that is the key in our magical rites, to replenish that which was used in spell-work. (There is the number one thing missing when you ask others for help, you do not help them replenish!) This way, you have been granted that extra energy, have worked the magic, and have replenished the source that you drew from. Now the group of energy workers are not being fed on by your requests.

     Step three; If you are so down and cannot make it to a gathering or circle, please for the sake of humble respect, don't make it an issue and claim you need that circles energy for yourself. Yes. I have had these requests and have read them as well. You need to be in that circle if you want anything from that circle. You only receive from ritual what you bring into it, and if your request is to have energy from a circle, then you have taken from them what they have built. Kinda sounds like theft does it not?

     We have all been taught, one way or another, about building personal power, or raising energy within ourselves. We all know that in doing so, we must replenish that energy within ourselves. Most of us also know that when we 'borrow' energy from other things, natural and metaphysical alike, we have to offer something in return to help replenish that which we use, and return that which we do not use. We all do this in personal rites and spell-work, and in group circles. This is a BIG part in 'living with and with-in Nature', knowing and keeping a 'balance' within ourselves and our environment. If you do not know this, then you need to find a better teacher. This is energy working 101, basics, yet I have come across many 'newbies' and a few veterans who just don't get this at all.

     I have no issue with assisting those in need, and have spent two decades doing so, but I cannot offer assistance to those who have breached the trust of the laws of Hospitality according to my traditional beliefs. Let me explain that a bit further for you;

 'Hospitality is to be given freely to all that should ask, without payment demanded nor to be expected to repay in kind, nor without record of debt. To all save those who are gluttons, sloths, and criminals of the people or the laws.'

      Here, gluttons are those who take and take and take as they can because they can rather than do it so for themselves and take due to greed above their needs. And here, sloths are those who take from hospitality because they can rather than try to provide for themselves when they can. The part about criminals is pretty self explanatory. 

However, from my point of view, all those who take rather than do for themselves and those who take out of greed rather than need, are just as much criminal as any other. A psychic crime is no less sever toward it's victims than one of physical nature. And after a while, one such psychic criminal (psychic vampire) can devastate a community in moral, and in magical workings. I have seen this happen, and have learned how to avoid it in my community and groups.

    As a practitioner of the magical arts, of a Nature based religion, or one who teaches such things, we need to refocus on this matter a bit more intently and make sure our community members know the proper way to come and ask for help, if and when they truly need it.

   We are a Circle, within a Circle, with no beginning, and never ending: Just as long as we keep that flow of energy alive and balanced. So share when you can, ask when you need, but above all, 

Heal Thy Self!

Blessed Be.

An Understanding of Belief.

The importance you place on people, things, or ideas, are first and foremost yours.

     When we expect others to believe in these items as we do, then we are at fault, not they. It is our ideas, our ideals and our goals that we strive for, and we tend to try and justify them or vindicate them to and for others as well. True they might be of general or specific benefit to others, and others might join along side to promote and build these things to be, however, these are ours.

     When we adopt into our belief or integrate into our understanding things that are not originally ours, then we are promoting things that we, ourselves, want. It becomes a desire to 'own' or to create or to 'make real' or make 'happen'. We change our lives to fit those ideals and concepts, we base our actions to coincide with our beliefs. That makes them no less than any original concept that we ourselves had conceived.

     Belief, is a strong idea that is fueled by emotion and supported by either facts or testament. There will not always be facts or evidence in direct support of our many beliefs. There will be supposition, estimation, educated guesses, theory, and emotional and intellectual argument. Belief falls under the great labels of Philosophy, Religion, Psychology, and Imagination. All of which make-up the entity we know and understand as ourselves. Facts play an important roll in science and law, but it is in our belief, that facts are only play a supporting roll and are often overruled.

     When dealing with emotion and intellect, we oftentimes break into factions that retain bits and pieces of facts and feeling. We disagree on concepts or appearances of truth or lie. We diversify the original thoughts or ideals into other, newer things. That is the nature of evolution, to survive by creating a better mode of transportation and sustainability in our current environment. The original thought or ideal is still present, it now hold different aspects of itself current in its application.

     All things are subject to two concepts within science and philosophy; they must be temporal and corporeal. That they will exist in a statement of time, and that they will exist in a form that can be measured in mass or capacity. Time affect, adjusts, matures and eradicates all things. Not Time itself, but our observation of it. Under the Universal Law of 'Transmutation of Radiant Energy', all things change through the course (time) of its existence. None of us can change that, even plastic will break down given enough time.

     This is relevant because thoughts are things. You can kill any living thing, or wait till it dies; however, thoughts are almost immortal in their existence, more so when they are diversified to continue their existence. However, our concept of immortality is a bit flawed as we can not imagine with any certainty an infinite concept with our finite reasoning and limitations. The point is, thought will out live the thinker. And each adaptation will continue to relay the original thought.

     That, my fellows, is the power of belief.

Sean ( Shadar) Bigham

Druid Adept

Seasonal Decorations...or so it seems.

After reading one blog, then a few other blogs and articles, I decided to add this one in, on the subject of 'alters' and tools or items upon them. I have been reading, practicing an teaching Pagan religious practices since 1993, and have come across many different alters and many unique tools within the practice and among the practitioners, both of religious and ceremonial in Pagan and Arcane lore. (No, I am not talking D&D, LARP or any other 'roll playing game') I am talking the varied traditions and practices of Nature worshiping religions and magical practice in 'true' form.

Shown here is a 'teaching alter' used in my classes on Pagan traditions. It is almost fully covered to show many items and prove a few points, as symmetry, balance of energy, flow of energy and representations of elements and Gods. This is obviously NOT a 'working' alter as it is too cluttered, but the layout carries the information of why we need to have balance in our works.



At home, our living room alter seems to be the place to focus a lot of our time and thoughts, and rightly so. It is a modest table that has acquired the various items of our beliefs and through out the year, subtle changes are made to it, almost unconsciously. We have noticed this, but only after friends have pointed out the changes that they have observed. Our Alter changes as the seasons declare, with items added and removed as the Sabbats come and go. Our home alter isn't one we actively 'work magic'  at, yet it is used by us to reflect the days work, meditate in front of about the goings on in our lives and commune with our Gods.

Currently, this is what is on our living room alter. Being after Lugnasadh and before Mabon, the transition is slowly showing the changes in types of energy and the direction of masculine to feminism in flow. Mind you that in our household, there are Druids, one Egyptian practitioner and an eclectic Pagan with Wiccan (Celtic and Norse) influences. So our living room alter reflects all these aspects, and we all share in it's decor.
  Each of us have certain Deity and or Pantheon that we serve and worship. So there is more than a few statues and imagery that symbolize those  for us. Also there are the collections that are sacred to us in our practice, gargoyles, dragons, fairy kind, and not to exclude our books, both ours we have written and those purchased to glean knowledge from. Actually, above the living room alter is the Fae Alter, dedicated to the wee folk that interact in our day to day living.

There we find peace in the fae, the elements revealed to us and our 'grandmotherly Fae Queen' looking about the room. She also represents one of our 'crones' in our lives and we address her often for insight and advise.
(And yes, we provide dish service to the tea set for them) Here is another simple alter that we find common among Pagan households, it appears more to be a simple shelf of collective items, but the is always more that the eye see's when it comes to Pagans in general. Through out the house, one will find staves in the corner along with a besom upstairs and one downstairs. All of our 'ritual' wear we keep hung up in the closets and separated from our mundane wear. There are items of antiquity and magic all about in our home, blending in with the bookshelves, the the cabinets and counters and along with the furniture, yet, even to our non-Pagan friends and family, it isn't overly Pagan nor sinister in appearance nor 'feel'. You are greeted at our house by more than a dog, or the slinking black cat, you are greeted by the whole house.

There are many things that we 'require' in our magical works, and on our sacred alters while preforming rituals, but many of us have these little home alters that we seldom see listed along side of those circle alters, shrines and magical or sacred spaces. I wanted to share that with you, and encourage you to think about the one(s) you might have set up, and regard them in the same manner of our grander or more public sacred spaces set aside for our Gods.

Well, I must go for now, animals to tend too and fae kind too. May the Gods look upon you with blessings, and may they keep you safe, as we keep their memories alive.

Tragic Fire at Scarborough Renaissance Festival Site Takes a Life

Caretaker's body found in the ashes

Will Ross, the Pickle man
A fire broke out on the site of the Scarborough Renaissance Festival on August 22nd just after 10:30pm. By the time firefighters arrived seven structures were engulfed including a small cabin where caretaker, Will Ross lived on the property. The fire burned a portion of the park known as Holly Field.
Festival spokesman Orvis Melvin says investigators are trying to determine what started the blaze Monday night at the complex near Waxahachie. Melvin said about seven other workers were on the property when it happened and they used the water from the Renaissance fair water trucks to spray the nearby structures and trees until the firefighters arrived. Six fire departments responded to the scene. One firefighter was injured and treated for heat exhaustion.
"It took a while to get the fire cooled down enough to be able to go in to do any searching," said Lt. James Saulter, Ellis County Sheriff's Office. "Once they got it down, it took them about five minutes before they located the victim who was inside."
"We lost seven shoppes including the Holly Field privies and the Holly Field Souvenir Shoppe," Melvin says "The entire upper lane, from the privies to the Legendary Candle Booth, burned to the ground."
Melvin says the 2012 Scarborough Renaissance Festival, set for April 7 through May 28, will be held as planned. "Fortunately, we don't have to do Scarborough Renaissance Festival until next April. We should have all these buildings replaced by then," said Melvin. "There was no significant damage to the Crown Meadow, so Screams® will not be affected." Screams is a Halloween festival held in October on the site.

View more video at NBC DFW: http://nbcdfw.com.
A Memorial service was held on Tuesday, August 30th for Will Ross, also known as the Pickle Man, since he sold pickles at he fair. Friends and family gathered before dusk on one of the park stages to share their memories of this gentle man. The eulogies were followed by a potluck dinner.
After the Memorial Kataz Trophe wrote, "I think Will's family was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Will. I spoke to his Dad for a few minutes, he told me a story, and concluded by saying 'For 10 years before Will started here, he was a lost and troubled man. This place—and all the people in it—saved Will's life and his Soul.'"
(Click for more links to local news.)
Scarborough Renaissance Festival, located about 25 miles south of Dallas was established in 1981 on a 35-acre site near Waxahachie. It attracts 200,000 people a year. The festival runs for eight weekends each spring, according to its Web site. The property is also open each fall as a Halloween theme park.
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Growth of business for Mountain Breeze sees new web domain - Mountain Breeze Massage and Aromatherapy Idaho Falls Idaho

Growth of business for Mountain Breeze sees new web domain - Mountain Breeze Massage and Aromatherapy Idaho Falls Idaho

Wow, in less than six months we actually outgrew our domain on the web. Free site hosting is great, to start-up, but limits what we can do for our customers, specifically in our online store and forum submission and bandwidth, so we were faceing a delema! Lucky for us, our loyal customers and the run of new clients, brought in the business for us to be able to 'jump up' and purchase our new domain!

That's right folks, idahomassage.webs.com will now be mountainbreeze.net !

Don't worry, the transition should be smooth and all traffic requests are to be automatically forwarded to the new domain address. And we plan on a big run through our listings to be able to manually inout the new domain addy everywhere we can so than none of you great people get lost in the shuffle.

We will keep the look and feel of the website the same as we have all grown accustomed to it and are familiar with how it looks and feels. The placement of store items will be the biggest change and the most frequently updated, but we want fresh material every now and agin, so keep visiting our website for these things as well.

Thanks once again to our customers, new and old, who have helped us so much over the years to continue to grow and allow us to continue to serve you in your massage and aromatherapy needs

A WORLD OF WORDS...

  In one of my well taught classes, I cover the trap that mankind has laid out so wonderfully, that of language and more precisely, words. Words have many meanings now, especially in the English language, but at one time, many many years ago, this was not so. A word held a solid image in one's mind and was easily conveyed into the mind of others. We developed multiple uses and definitions of simple words as well as developed multiple words that held similar meanings. This should not have developed into a entrapping situation, right? But it has, and to add to this confusion, we decided about ten years ago, to become 'politically correct'. Which limited free form expression by removing certain words which held definite meanings to substitute other words that were similar in content yet defines objects differently in context.
  Thus, in my studies of History (yes a long love of mine) I developed a study of words (etymology for you technical types) and discovered a lot about my own language (that being English) and just how far our words have evolved and have been redefined. In ritual and spell work, I teach my students the importance of vocabulary and how it affects our imagery, our vibrations, and our outcomes.  There are three basic types of speech in spell work or in ritual, and each has its designated place and use.
  First, and most common, is modern word; that native language of yours, which ever that may be. Modern tongue is what You know best, and understand easiest, and can convey many things and images to others most frequently. It has evolved though and has lost a bit of it's clarity at times, and in ritual and spell work, it is best not to let any inside your circle to become confused.
  Second is the ancient tongue; the old languages of our ancestors handed down to provoke certain images and definite thought processes by a cultural or educated link into our vocabulary. Certain names. places or things can clearly be understood and not mistaken by using the ancient tongue, and the imagery pulls from our sub conscience and our history and shared imagination.
  Third would be arcane speak;  this would be the 'root' language(s) of our ancestors, simple vocabulary deep in imagery and definite definition of action, place, people and things. That which is arcane is of two houses. The first being well understood by any who hear it, the second being the utter confusion by the listener. So one must use this type carefully in group work, and be well educated in it even for personal work.
  Next is the importance of vibration of sound, resonance of word. Being versed in the Bardic training and understanding the science of vibration and density, our words have to not only convey exacting imagery, but allow us to resonate that physically in our workings. I utilize much song-spell in my works, the act of song rhythmic verse and chants, while building energy and directing imagery. The notes, the words, the rhythm, all tie together to create a specific level of vibration in the physical, and can be felt by all involved.

  Now why am I going through all this? Because our words are so important to us, in mundane life and our spiritual paths. The unspoken word is sometimes much more effective than what is said, and words cannot be inhaled back into the mouth of the speaker once spoken. And the written word, the drawing out of sounds to create a picture for the mind, is also ever more important today. (yes I come from a traditional 'verbal' or 'oral' tradition, Druidry) But what are we 'drawing' out for our generation in our writings? What have we taught our children, our students, or even shared with our mentors by our works?
  Again I will mention the importance of Tradition, yet I do not want anyone to follow a 'tradition' that they do not understand nor can apply, or even adapt, for that would be useless to the reason of the tradition. But here, tradition plays the biggest part. Through or cultural and spiritual history, our traditions were given birth. Through our languages, sciences, and cultural interactions, our imagination and imagery was developed. A good example: EVERY CULTURE IN THE WORLD RECOGNIZES A SACRED TREE IN ITS SPIRITUAL HISTORY, every culture also recognizes what a Dragon is, AND, the most recognizable symbol on the planet today is.... the McDonald's Golden Arches!
  It is our responsibility to not only be guarded of our words, but how we express our imagery to others by their use and definition. A good way to gauge what you say and how you speak, look to the books you read and the certain words you choose when describing things. Build your vocabulary in the mundane world by the same guidelines of your magical speaking and your spiritual language. This will help you when working with others in your spell work or in ritual.
  With a world of words to choose from, and these little bits of information, I bet you will never see any conversation ever the same way....

Prophecies and Nightmares

I went to bed early...too early it seems. As my mind slowed down from it's normal 'break-neck' pace, I laid restless, trying to focus on some bit of interest to settle my thoughts before sleep came and dreams began. That was my first mistake. I was setting myself up for things yet to come. But I lay there and drifted off to sleep...


It was day, late afternoon so the sun would have me believe. I sat in my chair in front of my workbench like so many other times. I was working on a mask, one of black cloth, leather, clay and feathers. A ravens head, to fit half the face, with golden eyes of some material that I could see through. It was...remarkable! Life size (for a man) and detailed, a real work of wearable art. I sat admiring it, reveling it it's likeness of the creature that it was.


"Shadar." the gentle voice crept into my ears, "Shadar, Druid!"


I knew it came from the mask, yet I tried not to look at it. I wanted so badly that the voice, soft yet like rough gravel on the ear, would be coming from somewhere, anywhere, else.


" Hear me Druid, and know me once more!", it cried out. " You are not yet here, nor asleep even. You lay in my doorway, between now and forever. Your time is soon that you will seek me, and serve me, and behold your future is here, walking the gateways."


Now it is dark, the light only dimly shimmers in short flashes of pale blues and grays. Only a gimps here and there of archways, of arbors, of gated cave openings. I feel damp, yet not cold, and look at myself in a passing reflective mist... I am not old, yet not as young as I know myself to be. My hair all but wisps of what it once was, long though and ghostly white. My beard just a straggle of long gray and white, over skin transparent showing a luminous skull. My eyes sharp and gray, brightly shining in deep set sockets. Gods I am a sight! But I am not afraid of my image, only for what it represents.


I look out into the darkness. " Raven! Raven!", I shout. " Hear me bird! I did not choose this path! This is not my way, this is not how I will be! I am not death, nor do I walk as His companion! I will not serve this gateway as keeper nor guide."


"But my Druid, you have been so kind as to teach others of the gateway that now you WILL become a keeper of it's ways. It is not my choice, though you would be on my lists of names IF I had made one. It is the Goddess who wants you. You who know her well, to show others how to find her arms after they have left your world. So here you WILL walk, and be guide to those who are lost." His voice echos through the darkness, from every direction, and from none. The voice pains my ears and I cringe from it praying he speaks no more.


"Please Raven, I am a teacher, an historian, and a believer in the Ways, but I do not want to be a gate keeper. Not even for Her! I want Her embrace so that I may return anew." Knowing my plea would only bring on that cold laughter even before I said it. And laugh it did, if you could call that cold cackle-cry of the blackest of birds a laugh!I screamed in agony from the laughter, tears rolling down my all but invisible cheeks. Not from fear nor sadness, but from the pain of the coldness it its terrible cry of laughter!


" Hush! Hush now my hard gambit!", this voice was soft and commanding. A woman's voice, yet more powerful, more...everything. "See now what you have done, and disturbed him deeply, his night will be long now, and his thoughts troubled at your visions."


I opened my eyes, stinging from the wash of tears held back for years. She stood there, shrouded in the blackest of black, yet glowing at the same time. I knew at once it was Danu who came to my aide, and standing not to far behind, watching me intently, was Hern, son and lover, hunter and king here. I trembled as She approached me, yet tried to still myself under Hern's watchful gaze. I knew that my safety was not guaranteed by Her being here and defending me, for here was the 'world between' and I was subject to be kept here by a whim of the Goddess, or worse, as prey for the Hunt! I let fear dissolve into something deeper, my love, my respect, my honor of the Gods that were there.


"You see my child, Ravens play nasty games when allowed to, but harmless to you and your kind. You have been a child of mine, so your dreams sometimes are not yours, even when you might think they are." Her voice calmed me even more. "You named yourself as a walker between the worlds, and you have visited here more than most, yet you allowed yourself to be a plaything for such an old bird!" She laughed now, but not too kindly.


And suddenly, without any indication...I lay there awake.