DIY Debunking: Plants Don’t Always Heal
Detoxing my home and beauty regime has been an eye-opening experience. The notion of “living naturally‖a typical-part of the DIY detox, has a lot of people talking about the dangers of modern chemistry and the health and environmental benefits of using more natural products. For the most part, I agree with this. But I’ve also...
Retro-Pagan Living: Patience, Young Padawan*
Last week when I discussed perseverance, a commenter sympathized with my welding frustration by telling me of her own frustration learning how to sew. Her comment got me thinking about the difference between daily skills and what I’ll call apprentice skills. In the past, people did far more for themselves than we do now, and...
Nine Noble Virtues: Perseverance
I started welding classes this week. Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I turned up the pressure on oxygen and acetylene tanks, cracked the acetylene on the torch, and lit it with a striker. For me, sticking my hand that close to an instrument that was about to shoot a 6000 degree Fahrenheit...
A Disciplined Goddess
**My apologies for the late post! I’ve been having some technical difficulties. The irony that I’m late with a post about discipline is not lost on me…** It might be hard to tell from my spotty posting in April, but in my on-blog life, I’ve been pretty disciplined! I’ve submitted a book, gotten my taxes...
Orange is the New Black has Jax Thinking About Punishment and the US Prison System
I was visiting my sister last week (hence GG graciously filling in for me<LINK>), and we binge watched the Netflix Original series Orange is the New Black. Have you seen it? If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a thirteen episode TV series inspired by Piper Kerman’s memoir about her year incarcerated in a minimum security prison. I...
The Nine Noble Virtues: Discipline
Last week I said I was going to focus on discipline (one of the Nine Noble Virtues (NNV) of Heathenry) for the month of April, and as I’ve got a lot of changes coming up on the horizon, I think it’s going to be a really good one to start with. Discipline is a challenging...
Jump-starting Religion
I haven’t been a very good Pagan lately. Not like I’ve been doing anti-Pagan things, I just haven’t felt the spirit. I haven’t been thinking about Pagan issues. I haven’t been celebrating seasons or spending time with my ancestors. I’m certain this is tied into my grief over the crappy year TheScott and I have...
Acxiom Corporation Knows You. Do you Know Them?
A good friend who’s a choir director introduced me to Vienna Teng’s “The Hymn of Acxiom†because it’s creepy, artistic, and amazing. Read the lyrics while you listen, and see if you don’t get chills and possibly a tick or two when the electronic chords morph into dissonance as the lyrics subtly change. Teng named...
The (un)Sacredness of Birthdays
Today is my birthday. (The day that I’m writing this is, anyway. You’re probably not reading it on my birthday.) It’s started out awesome! My DH brought me breakfast in bed and I fended off the cats from stealing my bacon. I got an email telling me I got an interview for a part time...
Understanding Labels: Preservatives, Why We Need ’em and What to Watch Out For
Everything natural decomposes. It rots and/or grows mold, and eventually returns to the earth in the universe’s greatest recycling plan. This is awesome for long-term sustainability, but not so great when you want to make something now and use it later or kill something now (plant or animal) and eat it later. Hence humans have...
Understanding the Ingredients on a Soap Label
If you haven’t read last week’s distinction between soap and detergent, you might want to do that first  as this will make more sense! Before I get started explaining the ingredients, here are three important but not related things. I’m not a chemist or a doctor. I’m a romance novelist who runs a Pagan blog...
Soap Labels: The Good, the Bad and the Dirty
Before soap labels can make sense, the distinction between soap and detergent must be made. Soap and detergent are the two main category of cleaners we use, both in home cleaning products and on our bodies. I have a natural “soap good, detergent bad!†prejudice when it comes to my skin. I decided to do...
