STEP TWELVE, a found poem

Spiritual joy is here!

Distress lives in implication--
the price dubious.

Awakening the common strength,
consciousness, being. That
source-love is the gift.

This poem was found in the words on pp. 106-107 of the book
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions published by
Alocholics Anonymous World Services Inc.
located in New York, New York.

~ sober sapphoq

AND A HOPPY EASTER TO YOU TOO

Easter too was stolen from my pagan ancestors and co-opted into the new religion. Pinning easter to immediately after the jewish passover and in particular the tradition of eating ham by some christians on that day seems to me to be a subtle thumbing of the nose at the jewish people.

Little christian kids are given the opportunity to hunt eggs, wait for the easter bunny, and rot their teeth out with the proverbial "more candy, please." Christians, do you know what the eggs and bunny rabbits are really all about? Oestre has its' roots in an ancient celtic pagan fertility holiday and is named after a goddess whose worship you despise.

The real witch holy day that I associate with eggs and rabbits and the celebration of fertility and hot pagan sex is Beltaine and Beltaine happens to fall at the end of April. Remember that please as the little christian kids are running around hyperactively this evening from an overdose of sugar. And tomorrow morning as they return to school with sugar high hangovers.

Christians, you do not have the monopoly on a resurrected savior. Did you know that? In the universal mythos, there have been other messiahs who were crucified and returned from the dead. The legends are there for your reading pleasure if you were to seek them out.

Teach your children about your beliefs. Take them to your place of worship. Explain why it is that your christmas without easter is like a sandwich without a pickle.

Give us back the eggs, the bunnies, and the true reason for this season. And as you put away your easter hats and remmants of your dinner of something that Jesus as a jew would not eat, know one thing: our holy day is more fun than your holy day.

I'm off now for my own pre-celebration of Beltaine with my beloved!

~sapphoq one cross pagan

GARFIELD SAYS

We all get heavier as we get older because there's a lot more information in our heads. So I'm not fat, I'm just really intelligent and my head couldn't hold any more so it started filling up the rest of me! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!...


thanks to portly irishman for sending this and the garfield pic in an e-mail.

~sapphoq

PATRIOTISM 4/9/06

"The vested interests - if we explain the situation by their influence - can only get the public to act as they wish by manipulating public opinion, by playing either upon the public's indifference, confusions, prejudices, pugnacities or fears. And the only way in which the power of the interests can be undermined and their maneuvers defeated is by bringing home to the public the danger of its indifference, the absurdity of its prejudices, or the hollowness of its fears; by showing that it is indifferent to danger where real danger exists; frightened by dangers which are nonexistent."
~Sir Norman Angell 1872 - 1967


"The ideal setup by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering - a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons - a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face."
~George Orwell, from the book 1984


"Patriotism in its simplest, clearest and most indubitable signification is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, conscience, and a slavish enthralment to those in power."
~ Leo Toystoy


"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." Plato (427-347 B.C.)

I KNEW...

I KNEW I WAS IN RECOVERY WHEN...
-Coffee became a sacrament.
-I introduced myself to new people at work by saying, "My name is spike q and I'm an ad--oh, never mind."
-Bartenders stopped me on the street and congratulated me for quitting.
-I get nervous when current drug dealers say hello.
-I know how to meet people quickly in a new city.
-I know that in some cities 'going out for coffee' is actually 'going out for coffee and a burger.'
-I stopped skipping the steps.
-I didn't throw up on walls anymore.
-I only threw up when I had the flu.
-I realized that I am really enjoying life.

I KNEW I WAS A PAGAN WHEN...
-I found the salt in the bathroom.
-My roommates ask me, "where's the salt?" and they don't find it weird that it is in the bathroom.
-They retrieve the salt from the bathroom without asking.
-I burn a pot of boiling herbs on the stove. [paganhood plus traumatic brain injury]
-I know what the 'broom closet' is and why some folks have to live in it.
-I stop buying overpriced crap at weird shops and make or find my own.
-I have e-mail addys at iamawitch and at pagancollege.
-I know what 'fluffybunnies' are and I know that I'm not one.
-My pets begin having strange-sounding names.
-Not everyone can see all of 'my pets.'

I KNEW I WASN'T HETEROSEXUAL WHEN...
-I got on a bus and went down to the glbt pride parade in the city with no excuses.
-I started telling people that they may be practicing, but I'm proficient.
-I defend my friends in sexual outlaw communities with vigor.
-Pat Califa is on my nightstand.
-I know who really won the Virginia Slims "best legs" contest.
-I stopped laughing at THOSE jokes.
-I spoke up when people around me were telling THOSE jokes.
-I have a tee shirt that says "Some of my best friends are straight."
-"straight" no longer equals "clean."
-My dog and my cat have a same-gender interspecies relationship and I don't panic.


~sapphoq

LOVE VS. SPIRITUAL PROMISCUITY

Kitten asked me to define "love" and so I shall attempt to do so. Here are some things that LOVE is not: (1). Love is not loose. I don't 'love everyone.' I don't have to 'love everyone.' I refuse to 'love everyone.' I am not a love-whore. Love is therefore not the same as expressing goodwill. (2). Love is not indicriminate adoration. My crushes in the past have been just that-- crushes. How can I claim to 'love' someone when actually I am refusing to look past their public personna? (3). Love does not 'fill up the empty spaces' in those who are lacking sufficient self-esteem.

So then, what is love? (1). Love is specific. Love involves specific relationships with specific people. (2). Love is admiration PLUS a meeting of the minds if you will-- two people who meet find that they have certain values in common as well as appreciation for each other's qualities. (3). Love is an interconnection between two people who possess sufficient self-esteem and thus are able to use the love-relationship as a diving board from which they can dive into the depths rather than doing 'bellyflops.'

Nathaniel Branden: Valuing Love is the article from which I derive my definition of and my experiences with romantic love. Nathaniel Branden has written many books on self-esteem and many of his ideas have been useful in my life. It was through the reading of Nathaniel Branden books AND doing his fill-in programs in the back of most of his books AND embracing the six practices of self-esteem that I was able to increase my own self-esteem. I do not agree with all of his ideas [for instance: he glorifies heterosexuality] but I certainly have found a spiritual kindred with many of his views. If yous don't want to read his books, at least check out the article.

WHO DO I LOVE? I love my husband.

WHO DO I LOVE? [non-romantic]. I love my dad, my half-sister Kim, and some of my friends. I love my gram even though she is dead. I love ME. I have a sentence written in lipstick on my mirror. It says: this is a woman you can love and trust today.

WHO DON'T I LOVE? "Everyone."

~sapphoq

BLESSED BE! SPRING HAS SPRUNG! 4/2/06

BLESSED BE! SPRING HAS SPRUNG! The trees are budding and the northern hemisphere is returning to life. The soil shakes off the chilling frost. Birds are seeking birthing chambers. The incubation of the long dark is over. Ideas, like seedlings, seek nourishment.

It is time now to cross the threshold from winter into gentle internal action.

Wishing us all peace.

~sapphoq