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In this episode we talk a little bit about where I’ve been and what’s happening with me on my spiritual journey. We also have an extensive interview with Tameika and Fox of Spirits of the Earth Festival (among many other pagan centered events).

Just a quick note: The audio in this episode is not as good as I’d like. The first thirty seconds of the interview with Tameika and Fox is quite loud, but it improves a lot after that point.

News Of Note

Spirits of the Earth Festival (http://spiritsfest.com) is gearing up! The fest takes place between July 7th and 12th about 45 minutes from London, Ontario. I picked up camping gear a couple of weeks ago, and I registered today and took advantage of the Early Bird Special. It’s only $100.00 for the entire week!

Dragon Ritual Drummers will be there, along with Castalia, Gypsy Nomads, Themis, AND author Christopher Penczak. I can’t wait!

Thanks to those of you who voted, and sent donations through the months of April and May. We’re going to draw for a signed copy of The Way of The Hedge Witch by Arin Murphy Hiscock during the next show! Sponsors will be eligible for this fantastic prize, so please consider sponsoring the show?

Music this episode was:

Untie the Wind by Telling the Bees
Elemental Chant by Spiral Rhythm

Stay tuned for upcoming interviews with Arin Murphy Hiscock, Brendan Myers and Christopher Penczak!

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

A lot of people I’ve known through the years are more likely to reach out to their understanding of the divine when they are in a crisis. They lean hard on their deities when they need support or some sense that things will come out all right. I do the absolute opposite. In times of grace (with grace being defined by me as goodness, plain and simple) I am all over the divine with praise and ritual and votive offerings. When times get tough, I clam up. I stop doing the Work. I find it nearly impossible to think straight let alone plan and execute a ritual of the simplest variety.

It occurred to me last night that when I most need to feel the benevolence of the Universe, I shut out all possibility of sensing it. I go inward, throw up all sorts of walls, and do not even think to reach out for support. I become near feral in my efforts to self-protect and I find it hard to soften, to surrender to loving care.

Last night I did a very simple water purification that I found in Kissing The Limitless by T. Thorn Coyle. It wasn’t elaborate, and required no more preparation than filling a glass of water and lighting a candle on my beside altar. It took all of ten minutes to perform, and despite my curmudgeonly attitude, it helped. A lot.

Faking it till you make it is something I’ve encouraged other pagans to do in times of spiritual dryness. “Just keep doing it” I tell them. “You’ll be glad you kept up your practice even if you aren’t feeling it.”

Humbling to know I give great advice, but don’t take it myself.

Today I’m leaning hard on the divine. Times are tough, parenting wise, and I am completely exhausted. I’m in physical pain all the time (thank you, mechanical low back injury that won’t heal) and it occurred to me last night that all the effort I put into seeming rough and tough and stoic about it all is really draining. Enough is enough. I’m going to be over here whimpering a little and asking for the support I need to get through what has been a very difficult time.

***

You may have noticed that my posts at darklyfey.com are getting more personal. I think it’s about honesty. I want you to know where I am in my journey so that when I do put out a show, you know I’m not bullshitting you. You have a sense of the person talking to you. You have a sense of who I am and what I’m doing in my life between shows. I think this can build community. I think when people are honest with one another, it gives us all permission to be real.

I want to be real with you. How about you? Do you want to be real with me?

Show is coming soon. I’m just waiting on Tameika and Fox to send me the files from the interview we did last weekend. Come hell or high water, I will record in the next few days.

Love to all,

Fey

It’s been a while since I’ve been in touch. Things have been interesting around here, to say the least. Life is plodding along as it should, but I have been struggling with a couple of things that prevents posting and podcasting. The first was a longstanding technical issue – my display on my laptop died, and so did the fan. This prevented me from coming to you live from the red leather couch, and finding my groove again while sitting in front of a desk was really not conducive to getting a podcast out. The fan works now after a full reformat, but the display is dead, dead, dead. Sigh! Alas! Alack!

However, my spousal unit recently brought me home a beautiful monitor (LCD), so the laptop functions as long it’s jacked in to an external display. He also brought me home a little Acer notebook that *might* be powerful enough to handle recording. If not, I’ll have to learn to sit at a desk and record, but I’m determined to do it. I miss you guys, I miss recording the show, and I miss my pagan podcasterly guise very much.

Another thing that’s been going on is in relation to the topics we’ve been covering. The goals are challenging when they aren’t just read and forgotten. I have found myself working them between shows, and until I have some level of understanding and even mastery, I just don’t feel comfortable sharing my thoughts with my listenership. I don’t want to create crappy content and if I’m talking about keeping my thoughts in good order while being bossed around by mean internal voices, and finding it impossible to remain optimistic thanks to negative tape that comes from an abusive childhood, well, who the frak am I to talk to you about keeping your thoughts in good order? This goal, of all the others, has kicked me in the teeth, but I’m really getting it lately. As soon as I figure out how to tone down the volume on the microphone, I will sit down to record, whether it be at the desk or on the red leather couch.

Parenting has been less than joyful of late. We have three teenagers living in these here parts, and one teeny bopper who lives with her mom, but comes over on weekends. These lovely beings have the capacity to keep us frazzled and feeling a little on the overwhelmed side. School is letting out late June, so things promise to get chaotic around here. Finding the hutzpah to record is going to take some serious spiritual work. Please consider lending me your energy. I would appreciate it greatly.

Fest season is approaching, and this year I’ll be attending The Spirits of the Earth Festival, and Kaleidoscope Gathering. I’m incredibly excited about both and feel so blessed to have not only the time but the financial wherewithal to manage registration for both festivals. I can’t wait to bring you coverage from both, and I hope with all my heart to see some of you there!

With Love and Many Blessings,

Deep Peace!

Fey

From The Wild Hunt Blog:

I think that I was more surprised than anyone when I was invited to participate in envisioning and shaping the future of the preeminent Pagan distance education institution as a member of their board of directors. While there are many online schools, colleges, and seminaries that claim to provide higher education and advanced training to the Pagan community, only Cherry Hill Seminary backs up those claims with a robust and serious-minded curriculum. Their faculty are not only experienced practitioners and clergy, but the majority hold advanced academic degrees in the fields they teach. The school is now engaged in a multi-year plan that will not only see the school start to provide Master’s degrees in Divinity, Counseling, Ministry, and Pagan Studies, but achieve accreditation through the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Their achievements and goals paint a portrait of a school that is avoiding easy shortcuts, or becoming a money-making degree/diploma mill, and is instead heavily invested in making sure our future is filled with well-trained and accomplished leaders.

Naturally, an endeavor like this doesn’t come cheap. We have staff and faculty to pay, infrastructure to build and maintain, and certain benchmarks to meet if we are to achieve our goals. Tuition from students only covers a portion of these costs, and like all higher learning institutions we rely on donors to meet the ever-rising costs of running a learning institution of this type. When I joined the board at Cherry Hill, it was expected that I would take part in fund-raising efforts to show my personal commitment towards making the school as success. While I have no secret contact list of wealthy donors or rich relatives, I do have something of a bully pulpit here at The Wild Hunt. So in this one instance I’m going to briefly stray from news-gathering and editorial pontificating, and ask the thousands of people who read my blog and are invested in institutions like Cherry Hill Seminary succeeding and growing to consider giving a donation during our annual appeal. I understand that times are hard, and that many of you can’t spare much, but if you do have some disposable income, and are interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to help us succeed now is the time.

Like many of you, I’m always deeply skeptical of online endeavours that claim to advance our community. I have aligned myself with Cherry Hill because I trust the people running it, and I respect the people teaching for it. If my goals in life were a bit different, I would not hesitate to pick Cherry Hill as a place to receive advanced skills that would prepare me for a future in aiding and guiding my coreligionists towards a better future. If you agree with my assessment, please choose this time to make a donation, small or large, towards our future. If and when you do, please let them know that The Wild Hunt sent you. You may also, if you want to support this mission but have nothing to give at this time, re-post my message on your own blog or journal. We always ask where the advanced material is, and when we are going to advance beyond “101″ lessons, well here is where that need is answered and fulfilled. I hope you’ll join me in helping Cherry Hill shape our collective future.

Cheers,

Jason Pitzl-Waters
The Wild Hunt
Cherry Hill Seminary B.O.D.

Here’s a link to a review of Brendan Myers’ book “The Other Side of Virtue”. If you’ve been put off by the title, or haven’t felt all that interested in reading this awesome book, I’d suggest reading this review and seeing if it doesn’t change your mind.

http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2009/04/30/living-la-vida-virtuosa/

Click for more information!

Subscribe in iTunes
(or click to post a review in iTunes!)

Listen in your browser
(or right click to ’save as’ to your computer)

Use our handy widget in the right hand side bar!

Don’t forget to VOTE!

In this episode we talk a little about keeping your words in good order, and Beltaine.

Spirits of the Earth Festival (http://spiritsfest.com) is gearing up! The fest takes place between July 7th and 12th about 45 minutes from London, Ontario. I picked up camping gear a couple of weeks ago, and I registered today and took advantage of the Early Bird Special. It’s only $100.00 for the entire week!

Dragon Ritual Drummers will be there, along with Castalia, AND author Christopher Penczak. I can’t wait!

Thanks to those of you who voted, and sent donations through the months of March. We’re going to draw for a signed copy of The Way of The Hedge Witch by Arin Murphy Hiscock at the end of May! Sponsors will be eligible for this fantastic prize, so please consider sponsoring the show?

Music this episode was:

Damh the Bard with Learning to Fly
Omnia with Tine Bealtinne
Sarah Stockwell with Raven in the Storm

Join the forum discussion on this post - (5) Posts Fey on April 26th, 2009 | File Under Show Notes | 1 Comment -