[New Year, New You] Glamour and You

The New Year, New You Project is an experiment in Magical Radical Transformation.  Please see here for how to participate! 

Please remember to leave a link here to your blog entry with your response to this prompt or an update on your own Experiment.


Okay, so I know I totes promised that I'd start doing moon phases, etc. again but the truth of the matter is that a lot of my correspondence and blog writing is now being done during nap times (I'm a nanny by day) on (kindly lent) borrowed computers so I can't really save images, access my links, etc. (I know I could if I really wanted to but nap time is a finite period, Charmers)

We're drawing to a close on the first part of the Experiment, though there will be an eCourse offered right after this ends.  I just signed my copy editor for it so that it will be more polished than my blogging and it will be done as an automated email.  What that means is that you'll sign up and be able to get each lesson straight to your email box.  I will also have a Google group for people who are continuing with the Experiment to share their work with each other as we have been on the blogosphere.  If you're behind a few weeks, don't worry!  You can start the eCourse any time you want and share your thoughts on the list whenever you wanted.   We'll get into the nuts and bolts of that however once we start the next phase.

This week, I would like you to think about how you're presenting yourself to the world and how that's affecting your own personal goals.  The old cliche about looking your best helps you feel your best does have some merit, especially if you have love or job related goals.  It doesn't mean that you need to fit anyone else's mold of looking your best but your own.  If you don't like wearing makeup, don't.  If you don't like wearing a tie, don't.  This is about being the best personal you you can be and about feeling good in your own skin.

Some suggestions:

* If you would like to wear make up but have never really learned how, going to the MAC counter can be a good place to start (or asking a friend for help!) as 99% of the people (boys too) who work there are non judgemental as it's a safe haven for freaks on a leash who need a day job.

* Do your clothes fit you as well as they could?  If not, consider repairing them yourself if you can or taking them to be tailored.  That's a big celeb secret, they buy clothes that are as big as the biggest part of their bodies and then get the rest tailored.  Getting dress pants or a dress or your winter coat tailored can make a big difference in your wardrobe.

* Is your wardrobe missing something or you're in low supply of something?  Shoes, socks, outer wear, undergarments (if you wear a bra, you should get remeasured for one every six months) and accessories can make a big difference on how polished you look.

* Are you taking care of your skin, hair, teeth and nails?

* Are you drinking enough water, eating food that's kind to your body and getting some exercise in (even if it's housekeeping or a short walk)?

* Write a love letter to your body to tell it how much it rocks

* If you have trouble with self image, consider doing a magical work to make you feel better about yourself


Our physical selves often get neglected in magical workings, give your physical self some love and magic this week!

[New Year New You] My Response to Maps

The New Year, New You Project is an experiment in Magical Radical Transformation.  Please see here for how to participate! 

Please remember to leave a link here to your blog entry with your response to this prompt or an update on your own Experiment.


I've been thinking about where I wanted to go for this particular experiment, and Jow was hopeful that we would maybe take a trip to New Hope but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to work on Spare Oom as it's really been more a disaster/storage space since the holidaze.  I had ordered all the craft supplies I would need for the coming season which sounds awesome until you realize it all has to live somewhere which will require a lot of Jenga'ing because you don't live in a chateau, you live in a Parisian sized pied-a-terre (with no first bigger house but whatev I'm American).

Acquiring things for Spare Oom has been fun as it means I can pretend to be fancy and French (my Amazon wish list is now full of French aspirational books.  I think I have a better chance pretending to be French than I do Mormon) and I've been selecting things slowly and carefully with Jow.   A black lace shrug to go over my black chiffon dress that I'll use for rituals only.  Candle holders.  Element jars.  Buying the table and shelves.  

But now the time for acquiring has passed and it's time for the less fun part, organizing everything.  We put up our Sarah Lawless print a bit ago and framing it was challenging but I got it done.  We need an extension cord so chandelier with its soft pink bulb can be the main source of lighting.  We hung up the collage I made of my family pictures in the hall and then proceeded to unpack all of my supplies and parceled them out (14 parcels of roving waiting to become skeins, eight pounds of beeswax waiting to become candles, and so on) and put them away.

We still need to set up our altar and shelving and finish setting things up but we should be ready to do our first ritual within a week or two.  We've also been doing a good job with keeping up with keeping the house neat which is super important since we're both working so much.  It's nice coming home to our hearth.

Feeling warm and cozy in our home as well as keeping up with our magical duties has become v. important to me in my own cosmogram.  Which . . .as today is my birthday it's still startling feeling more Mother than Maiden as I spent a lot more time as Maiden than Mother.

Banana Oat Almond Butter Smoothie

There's nothing like eating half a baby cow/veal, two pounds of mozzarella (half fried naturally), a pound of pasta, half a pound of spumoni ice cream and a gallon of aperitif in celebration of one's birthday to make one want to eat salad and smoothies for a day and a half after in an attempt to digest all of that mess.

My actual birthday is tomorrow, but I was *supposed* to be eating fried mac and cheese at a rockabilly roadhouse with all my besties but it snowed and I didn't want heavy food and heavy guilt in me due to someone getting into a car accident so instead, Jow and my bff April and I went to a v. local Italian place where I consoled myself in the way of my people. What kills me is what I ate used to just be like a Friday night for me (hence why I'm fat now) but now the next day (. . .and the day after) was just a total food hang over.  Penance smoothies and salads were our only hope for digestion.  So I bring you. . .





Banana Oat Almond Butter Smoothie



Ingredients

1/2 cup quick oatmeal
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 banana, cut into thirds
1 cup fat-free milk
4 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons almond butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 packet protein powder (we used hemp protein powder)
1 teaspoon flax seeds
4 ice cubes

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.

White Scarves and Frozen Toes

It's seriously January in New Jersey and there's me, showing
common sense is for suckers.

As many of you know, one of my patron deities is Yemaya.  Ten years ago I was a v. young twentysomething with stars in my eyes and fanaticism in my blood.  I don't know how it came up at the time, but somehow I managed to talk my ADF Grove into giving the traditional New Year's Day ritual to Yemaya a go.  Naturally we don't do it on New Year's Day proper as I would have been far too hung over to drive an hour down to the beach.

Somehow, despite the complete lack of appropriately similar climate and the fact that Yemaya is neither Indo nor European (as are the traditional ADF deities - all our main eight holidays are I-E), this ritual has managed to stick for our grove for ten years this year.  Sometimes it's a lot of people joining us, sometimes it's just a few.  Sometimes when the weather is good, it's a longer rit.  Sometimes when there's say snow on the beach it's more of what we have called "chuck and run" style ritual.  Every year though, even though the weather is no where near the Caribbean, our usually gray/green Atlantic manages to be a soft blue with a lacy pink and blue sky to match.

It's become so second nature to me at this point that it's hard for me to realize how much ritual goes into the ritual.  I always try to wear as much as white and blue as possible, usually a sweater and underthings as well as a scarf.  I always wear Uggs.  I always wear my BPAL Yemaya oil.  I always wear peals or some sort of seashell or other sealife jewelry.  I try to remember to bring an extra pair of socks and a towel.  I always go shopping for some of her favorite things - melons, flowers, soaps, french pastries, rum.

We always start at E. and N.'s house where we cut open the melons to act as boat vessels for our wishes for the new year.  We decorate them with flowers and candles and other sweet things and write our wishes on joss paper and tuck them into the boats while I tell some of Her stories.  We drive down to Point Pleasant, stopping on the way at a Dunkin Donuts for hot chocolates and coffees and donuts.  When we get to Point Pleasant, I always get excited when I smell the beach.  We tromp out with our boats and I make the invocation, spilling rum (this year Black Heart) out for Her as I speak.  I take off my socks and shoes and roll up my pants, partly because it's a traditional thing to do and partly just because I know I'll wind up in the ocean because if you're really invested in seeing your wishes come true, it's good luck for your boat to go out with the first wave which means you need to wade in to make that happen.  We hang out on the beach, floating our melon boats out to sea and watch to see what She does with them.  Depending on how cold it is, I may dip in and out of the ocean a few times during this time.  It's always v. v. v. cold as it's January but some years are far colder than others.  Then we feed the seagulls and I put on new socks and shoes back on and try to get feeling back into my feet. We may play some Skeeball because even God likes that now and again to relax.

We've had some interesting omens through the years, but the most telling one was after Katerina when a family from New Orleans was staying with family in New Jersey and knew exactly what we were doing and asked for boats.

It's not a Jersey rite though unless it concludes at a round table at The Atlantis Diner where I always get  a Taylor Ham sandwich on a hard roll with fries and gravy on the side in deference to the Lady as She favors pork.  We talk about Pagany things over a late lunch and then make the trek back home.

Every year, like clockwork.

Omio Yemaya!

Was I My Best?

So as you all know, I've been struggling to attend a BarreAmped dance class as I bought it through Groupon but after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I've figured out that it's causing me more harm than good.  The times for the classes are difficult for me to make and it's a couple towns over making it more complicated.  Because I've been so focused on trying to get my ass there, I haven't been going to the gym which is all of two minutes from my house and open 24/7.  With the new hours I'm working, I'm worried that this class may cause me more harm than good as I need to be v. careful with my spoons because if I overdo and flare up and need to take off of work, so do the women I work for.

Part of making goals (imo) is also figuring out which goals aren't so possible and recalibrating accordingly.  So the new plan is to (hopefully*) go to the gym on Sat and Monday which will be my gym schedule in general as I feel that's something I can do indefinitely and it's a better spoon balance.  I got some yoga classes and the times are a much better fit for my current schedule and it's a little closer to me.

So there is my full disclosure for the Experiment :)

* It's my first year nannying so it's germ farm a-go-go, whenever one of the kids is sick so am I.  Baby #2 is sick right now and I'm feeling a little blech but I'm hoping to 'Quil it away.

[New Year, New Year] The Year of the Hustle: Let's Make Our Own Luck

This is my personal update in general and in response to the Enchanting prompt.
For my response to Enchanting, I made sure to feed everything that needs to be fed (dessert roses, lodestones, high John, honey jar, mojo bags, etc) which I suck at as I have a the-world-is-my-tank-of-seamonkeys view point.  I did some divination and asked my husbands (Jow and Gordon) what they thought and basically they reinforced what I suspected - my wheel is spinning too fast and there are too many variables to get a good bead on what's going to happen because it's changing too quickly.  But.  When I get overwhelmed, my natural inclination is to drop to the ground limp toddler style like Lilo does in Lilo and Stitch and just ignore everything and freak out.  Which . . .I no longer have the luxury to do.  So if I can keep focused and not give in to these inclinations, I can get a lot of shit done.  I also did another ritual that I will be blogging about tomorrow.

Right now, I am so tired I feel like I'm almost in a trance state.  Gearing up for the Year of the Hustle (you can thank Jow for that) and dipping my toes in is v. different than now being thrown into the deep end head first which is where I am now.   Monday I had a total meltdown as I was convinced of my complete inability to get this shit done on top of working way more hours than I have in my day job in years as well as the added bonus of now needing to wake up at 6:15a two days a week.   At the same time, having less time to fuck around with has made me much more focused.

Things I have been doing for my goals this week:
* Tracking my calories
* Made a dr. appt for Monday for fibro med check
* Cleaned/cleaned the house
* Kept up with everyone's NY NY entries
* Put out a query for an editor for the eCourse (and got three proposals from copyeditors already!)
* Reviewed and updated my credit card bills.  I am now 2/3 paid off which is really good.  My goal is to be completely paid off by the end of this year and to start savings.
* Left a message at the church re: the chapel for our wedding and got my stag/hen party date set.
* Kept up with writing the prompts
* Received all my crafting supplies for stock for the coming year/booked my first show (second will be booked later today)
* I will book my first dance class a little later today

Housekeeping Notes

1. Previously I had a button for donations to go towards furthering my own Occult/Pagan education but that money will now be allocated for the costs associated with running this website and the impending free eCourse.  If you've been getting something out of New Year, New You: An Experiment in Radical Magical Transformation, my website in general and/or are planning to take the free eCourse, consider donating a dollar or two.

2. I've been in such a daze from being sick since Christmas and starting additional hours with my day job that I haven't realized that I hadn't been using the moon phases, deity suggestions, etc for the prompts for the last couple weeks.  I apologize, I will endevour to remember them for future weeks during NYNY.