Plans for 2019

First of all, happy new year!

I didn't make any new years' resolutions/goals this year (a break from a long personal tradition of mine). I wanted to try something different. Deep down inside though, I still have that urge to change, to be better than I was last year. To learn more, study harder, do more. But also to relax more, worry less, have more fun. Sometimes it seems impossible to do all of these things at once!

On my other blog, I talked about how, instead of setting goals for the year, I'm trying a different system. Instead, I have a cycle runs for 6 months, from equinox to equinox. The idea came to me after experiencing the semester system at the Grey School. The seasons are important to me, and there are many activities I only do in Summer or Winter, so I thought, why not try setting up my plans and goals around the seasons?

I divided up all the activities of my life (both fun/voluntary and obligations) into seven categories. Spirituality is a whole category to itself. At first I was surprised at myself for this, but instinctively I must have realised that my spirituality is a very important part of my life, and it deserves its own category!

For this cycle (which is already more than half over!), my spiritual goals are:

★ finish 2 classes at Grey School of Wizardry (1/2)
★ continue Rune studies
★ work 3 magicks (2/3)
★ do divination 4 times (2/4)
★ meditate 10 times (1/10)
★ Spring/Summer altar refresh (done)

Most of these goals are underway: I've already refreshed my altar, which I posted about here. I've also pledged to blog more, both here and my other blog. I'd like to write more about what I'm learning. I'd also like to do write-ups of spells I've done, but I don't like to do that until after the effects have become known, which can take several months. Look out for them in future.

Until then, a teaser:

Fake Oracle Decks and a Message from Beyond!

I recently bought two oracle decks, and when they arrived, I realised they were fake. I bought them from Wish for about half the price I would normally expect to pay for an oracle deck. I should have known there wasn't something right about it, but I bought them anyway. It's something I'm not proud of, but I want to share my experience and hopefully it won't happen to others.

When the decks arrived, the first thing that alerted me that something was wrong was their size. They seemed to be no bigger than normal playing cards. While this isn't particularly unusual for oracle cards, I wanted to investigate.

According to Aeclectic Tarot, the goddess cards should be 12.7cm (5in) tall, but as you can see from the photo, they are only slightly larger than the standard playing card which I've used for comparison, which is 8.9cm (3.5 in) tall.

They should also be edged in gold, which they are not. The box was very plain with no images and only generic text. I couldn't help noticing too, that the images on the cards weren't as sharp as I felt they should be. Not only that, but the guidebook wasn't included.

The other deck had similar issues: small size, fuzzy images, box plain on the back, and missing guidebook.

Also, why would there be a $1 coupon offered on the box at such a random site? The QR Code supposedly leads to an electronic version of the guidebook, but I wouldn't trust it. The caption says 'tarot', not 'oracle'.

And as for the message from beyond?

When doing my research on the goddess cards, I read that the creator of the cards, who has created many decks, has recently changed her spiritual beliefs and has disavowed everything she created before. I won't mention any names, but the information is readily available online with a little searching. I have to admit, I thought to myself: knowing that the creator doesn't even want the profits from the cards, maybe it would be all right to use them after all?

I put them with my other oracle cards, which I keep in a box on a high shelf in my bedroom.

As you can see, the box isn't very deep, but the sides are high enough to stop anything from falling out. A few weeks after putting the cards in the box, however, I heard a crashing noise from the bedroom and went to investigate. I found the deck of cards on the floor!

I don't have any rational explanation of how the cards would have fallen to the floor. I concluded that it must be a sign. I mustn't use the cards. From now on, I'll be more wary, buy quality products, and if something seems too cheap to be true, it probably is!

Grey School Summary :: October 2018

I renewed my tuition with the Grey School of Wizardry on the 9th of October, so technically this wasn't a full month. I was pleasantly surprised however, to find that I was closer to finishing off some assignments than I'd remembered. I had the satisfaction of completing a whole class as well! This brought my credit count to 8. I need 24 to finish Level 1, so I have quite a long way to go, but I'm not feeling discouraged.

The next thing I want to focus on is finishing the meditation assignment for Core Energy Practices 102. I've read the lesson and it involves trying several forms of meditation over a number of weeks. I'm looking forward to trying different types in a more formal way, but also a bit nervous as I still have that little voice inside me that tells me I'm 'no good' at meditation. But I'm willing to give it a try.


Classes In Progress:
✷ Core Energy Practices 102
✷ Basic Divination
✷ Wizards Don't Whine

Assignments in Progress:
✷ Meditation (Core Energy Practices 102)
✷ Exploring Basic Oracles (Basic Divination)


Classes Completed:
✷ Online Communication


Assignments Completed:
✷ The Power of Thought (Wizards Don't Whine)
✷ Communications Essay Questions (Online Communication)
✷ Exam (Online Communication)
✷ Shielding (Core Energy Practices 102)


Credits:
✷ This month: 1 Total: 8



T.O.R.C.H. Award Progress:
✷ Classes completed: 1 of 4
✷ Forum Monthly Check-Ins: 1 of 2
✷ Forum Conversations Participated in: 0 of 1 (not for a couple of months but I hope to change that)
✷ Take initiation oath -- NOT YET

Spring/Summer Altar Refresh

I like to change my altar according to the seasons, changing it every 6 months (at minimum!). It's spiritually refreshing to change the way it looks to align better with the seasons, and on a practical level, it's good to clean off the dust and remove anything that's gone off. To start with, here's a photo of my Autumn/Winter altar ... the 'before' photo:

(Apologies for the poor photography -- I don't seem to have a photo of the full altar!)

And here is the 'after' photo:

I removed the fuzzy winter cloth and replaced it with a placemat that I bought at an Op Shop. Even though it's a darker colour, the florals remind me of Spring. Unfortunately it wasn't quite wide enough to cover the entire shelf, but it's not too bad. I swapped some of the crystals, stones and natural things for ones that felt more 'right' for the season.

I recently found some things that I'd had/made since I was a teenager, and I decided to add them. There's a painted stone with a happy face, and some candles I made. Yes, I made my own hand-dipped candles when I was 15! I chose a group of three. Unfortunately I couldn't get the two taller ones to light no matter what I tried, but I don't mind too much.

And here are a couple of shots with the fairy lights on:

I think it looks lovely!

I've started creating altars in other parts of my house too, for specific purposes. I'll share them in a future post soon.

Grey School of Wizardry Hiatus (It's Over!)

Hello! It's been a while since I last posted, so you may have guessed that I've taken a break from Grey School of Wizardry.

It was a mostly accidental hiatus. At the end of June my first year of tuition ran out, and I decided to take a break before re-enrolling. It was partly because I had so many other sources of learning that I'd just discovered which were taking up my time, and partly to align with the school year. The Grey School semesters run from equinox to equinox, and I felt like I preferred my tuition to begin and end with the seasons, too. I've recently decided to base my goals and plans around the seasons rather than the calendar year, so I decided to wait until Spring to re-enrol.

So, I re-enrolled today. Technically, it's now 3 weeks past the equinox, I know! I deliberately waited a bit longer because I thought that at the end of the year, it would be nice to have some extra time after the end of the semester to tie things up, just in case I can't re-enrol for my third year straight away.

I've started working on my assignments again, specifically the shielding assignment for Core Energy Practices 201. It's the last compulsory class for Level 1, and it will be a milestone when I finish it.

In other news, I've bought a few new books, been learning about hoodoo and done a big spell. I've also planted some plants in my garden and I'm looking forward to sharing it all!

Grey School Summary :: June 2018

My last 'monthly' update was in March, so I guess this is really an April/May/June update!

I took an unintentional break from my studies for a few months. Grey School is self-paced, which is great for people with busy lives, but on the other hand with no deadlines it can be hard to find motivation to complete assignments. Work has been very busy and I've had other personal projects that I've been working on. Some of them have been spiritual, some related to art and craft. I've studied most days -- mainly watching speakers YouTube -- but not had the capacity to write much.

The last few weeks I've been feeling very motivated again. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because it's Winter here and I want to stay indoors and read/write more. Perhaps because I've had some physical injuries which have confined me to my house and desk. Perhaps because the end of my first year at Grey School of Wizardry is looming, and I'm very aware of being nowhere near finishing Level 1 yet!

In fact, today marks one year at GSW for me. I have to admit, for a while I was considering taking a break and not renewing my membership until I was feeling more motivated again. But motivation appeared just at the right time and I want to continue straight away. Here is where I'm at right now:


Classes In Progress:
✷ Core Energy Practices 102
✷ Basic Divination
✷ Wizards Don't Whine
✷ Colours of Magick

Assignments in Progress:
✷ Shielding (Core Energy Practices 102)
✷ Exploring Basic Oracles (Basic Divination)
✷ The Power of Thought (Wizards Don't Whine)

Classes Completed:
[None.]

Assignments Completed:
✷ Believing Equals Receiving (Wizards Don't Whine)
✷ Other Oracles (Basic Divination)

Credits:
✷ This month: 0 Total: 7


T.O.R.C.H. Award Progress:
✷ Classes completed: 0 of 4
✷ Forum Monthly Check-Ins: 1 of 2
✷ Forum Conversations Participated in: 1 of 1 (not for a couple of months but I hope to change that)
✷ Take initiation oath -- NOT YET

Spiritual Goals

Recently on my other blog, I wrote about having a list of 101 Things to do in 1,001 Days. (That's two-and-and-three-quarter years, to give it some perspective!) I've just finished my first 1,001 days and am starting my second one. I wrote about why I enjoyed it so much and how I felt about only having achieved one-third of the goals. (Honesty, always!) The post is here if you'd like to read about that. The list has all sorts of different things on it, from art and craft to fixing up the house. In this post however, I'm going to focus on the spiritual goals only.

In the last list, I kept most of my spiritual goals private, and for that reason I won't go over them. (Aside from that, I didn't finish most of them!) I want to be more open this time though, so I've decided to share all of them. The whole purpose of this blog is to share my spiritual experiences, and if doing that helps anyone else out there in the blogosphere, then I will have achieved one of my aims.

Without further ado, here is my list of spiritual goals for the next nearly-three-years:

✦ continue my Rune studies
✦ do Violet's Witchcraft 30-day challenge & blog it
✦ write a suburban wheel of the year
✦ celebrate my traditions properly
✦ learn more about crystals
✦ do 20 divinations
✦ experiment with working with the moon
✦ read the Tao Te Ching completely at least once a year
✦ create an oracle deck
✦ do Gordon White's sigils course

If some of the goals seem quite vague at the moment, don't worry! I am planning on mapping them out when the right time comes. I will endeavour to do my best to share my journey with you here!