Adventure Thursday.

Typically, on Thursdays, I like to create a little adventure for myself (and, sometimes, others around me ;) Just
yesterday morning I got an email from the site findagrave requesting that I find, and photograph 3 headstones in a local cemetery. So I grab my friend Colette, who is also a joyful adventurer . We headed in our festive finery to the Holy Ghost Cemetery to snap pics, take a quiet stroll and muse over the obscene amount of nettles and other stinging/stabbing plants in this cemetery.

You see, this cemetery

has always been a target for mischief and midnight marauders. Headstones are moved and pushed over, some are completely destroyed and some, you find, have been lovingly handmade, with painted Mother Marys, Angels and/or Saints bought at the Garden store, and names carved in tiles to remember those buried here. Cactus, Nettle and thistles are ABUNDANT. I assume they where planted on purpose, to make sure people who come to the cemetery, pay attention and watch their step.

Colette and I are brainstorming ways to clean up the place a bit, maybe have a garbage pick up,

or pull some of the more obtrusive weeds. Then Colette suggests we head to the Holy Spirit Church to talk to the caretaker of the place, after all, someone does come here every morning to open the gates, and at dusk to lock them up. So two witches find their way to Holy Spirit Church.

We ask questions, how do we find out where someone I know is buried (my great Grandmother is buried

here) and if we can volunteer for a cemetery clean up. The woman at the counter tells us a few stories of headstones completely removed and how they would get calls from the police about a random headstone in a park, or backyard. It seems that stealing headstones for pranks is pretty funny to someone out there, but I can't image in the bad juju that could fall on that someone because of it.

Colette and I ramble on about the beauty and tranquility of walking in the cemetery and the Guy in charge gives us a a little bit of an odd look, but overall he was very polite and he got our information for future reference :P I think we know a bit too much about local cemeteries and other odd bits of local info, that we came off as a bit, um, suspicious- but who knows, I try not to assume. Maybe he will call us.

They certainly need some help. I would be willing to offer hands and any assistance to the cemetery if they need me to. I am pretty sure Colette is with me on this one.

We eventually found our way to the Pioneer Cemetery where, we found a very interesting person, but that might have to be for another blog, at another time that Rachel Chooses to visit.

The adventure never ends! May you have a blessed one yourself, today and everyday ~

Dakini

This is part 2 of My Legacy of the year. Yeshe Rabbit suggested this year long Legacy project to me and I thought it was a great idea. Basically what it means is that I commit to recording 9 videos of me performing a Sacred Dance with the general idea being related to honoring Goddess, Ancestress and/or Feminine figures or their energy. I had the feeling this next dance was going to be completely improvised and I was hoping so. I took the opportunity of our annual retreat in the beautiful and secluded Santa Cruz Mountains to find the perfect time and place for this to come together. I told Rabbit my feeling on this dance, celebrating the great change within our coven, the sacrifice of our beloved name (within the Amazon Tribe), and the feeling of knowing you are truly free to do what you want, and need to do for your spiritual well being. Rabbit knew of this chant, which maybe she can explain some time, but it worked out wonderfully for the energy I wanted. The Magnolia tree proved to be the perfect setting for this dance, it had always been a great place to sit under and admire the beauty within and around.

And now, for the dance! Thanks to everyone who helped.

Sky Dancer

Love,

Madame Hummingbird

Making Change.

Real change comes through evolution, it comes with hard work, and sacrifice. In my own growth as a High Priestess and person, I set the stage for my growth within community.

This will be hard for me to write out, so forgive me if it makes absolutely no sense at all to the casual reader.

There have been low points in my life that I often attributed to me deserving it. Being told throughout my life that all of the pain and suffering of the world is because of Eve and now I will suffer for it because, somehow; I deserve to suffer. I menstruate, I give birth, I have breasts and a Vagina. All of the beautiful parts of me have been demoralized and perverted. And somehow, this is all My fault. When I went into the hospital to give birth, alone, scared and young. I was not treated with compassion or respect. I was asked right away to show my proof of insurance, they assumed, I had none. I was interrogated, "you might as well tell me what drugs you are on because we will test you!". They injected me and prodded me, all "standard procedure" of course, though I don't know how the hurtful words come into standard procedure. Once my doctor confirmed that I was her patient for the last 3 years the staff changed (I had asked they be removed from my room, and I was moved to a nicer room anyway). I was soon wheeled off to surgery to have my son cut out of my belly. I felt very alone and I cried the whole time. When my son cried for the first time I laughed, it sounded like he cried "Maamaaa!". It was the best and worst moment of my life. I had no one there to comfort me or be my council. no one there to tell me "it's going to be Ok" Instead the people I had put my trust in, had hurt me in a way that was life-changing.

I know they were wrong for treating me this way, but the pain is still there, and when I think of that time, I still cry like I was on that table being cut open again.

Flash forward to me meeting up with Rabbit and becoming a High Priestess. I was not really that interested in "women-only naked ritual". I thought that would just set me up for disaster! I had been a Priestess in The Wildflower tradition for a few years before I decided to train to become an Amazon Priestess. It was not an easy decision for me to make. But the Change was good. I sat and shared stories with my sisters of heartache and success in the world, of what its like to be a mother and even discuss menstruation in all of its details. This does not make us who we are, but it is a part of us.

Now, I invite change, I wish for it. I enjoy the light of the moon and when the tide pulls back, I look for all the new treasures in the sand. My painful experiences are not all my fault, they are not any one persons fault, but I can grow from them. This Tribe of women will continue to evolve and create healing for the World.