E is for the Emperor & Empress

OK, so today's post focuses on two very well-known tarot cards: The Empress and the Emperor. These cards are the Mom and Dad of the tarot, and traditionally they break down along gender lines.

The Empress is a card of anything related to the feminine Divine, nurturing, and just feeling comfortable where you are right now. The ideas of fertility and abundance--both of which can be either physical or metaphorical--can also be themes that are explored with this card. On the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) tarot decks, you'll see the Empress with a symbol of Venus, and astrologically this card can represent a Venus-ruled person (Taurus or Libra). She can also represent any strong female role model in your life, especially your mother; again, this can be biological or someone who has or is trying to assert a "mothering" or nurturing role in your life, whether you want it or not.

One possible related meaning I have seen is that for health, the female reproductive system may be in play when this card comes up. I remember doing one reading where a woman wanted another baby but was physically unable to have one. Another possible interpretation is a spiritual one: This card may fall for someone who is interested in walking a Pagan/Wiccan spiritual path, or who wants to learn more about it. Finally, this also includes pregnancy; many of my female clients kind of gasp when they see her come up. :)

Before I forget, with the Empress "abundance" is not necessarily a good thing. Anyone who has had an abundance of bills or an abundance of health problems will tell you that.

The Emperor is her male equal, and he represents Dad.  He's the father but he's more stern and motivates with a kick in the ass sometimes.

For me he has a much harder edge than she does. He's the organizer and the structure guy. He tells us to get focused and start putting one foot in front of the other, to begin to move forward with our lives. He counsels us to be careful with our money and to really know where it is going; a very common meaning for him is "Make a budget and stick to it!"

Like the Empress, the Emperor can represent any strong male figure in our lives, not just our fathers, but oftentimes issues related to our fathers will appear. 

Astrologically, the RWS version of the Emperor has several ram's heads on the card to symbolize the sign of Aries, the Ram. Now if you're thinking that it should be "Mars" since men are from Mars and women are from Venus, you would be correct. Mars is the ruling planet of Rams. 

Of course he also represents the masculine Divine in all of us as well. This is especially important for those who are following Wiccan/Witchcraft paths, because many of us come to the Craft from all-male pantheon. We discover the Goddess and are so enamored with being in her embrace that we forget about the God entirely, which is not the point. There needs to be balance between them.

For the most part, I've seen the Emperor tell us to stop screwing around and get everything squared away. The Emperor has a plan, and when he arrives that is your signal to put your plan in place and then take action to implement it.

Thanks again for stopping in...tune in tomorrow for my "F" post!

D is for (Mercury) Direct, Divorce, and Demons

OK...so at 6:11am EDT, Mercury resumed its direct motion. It is finally out of retrograde! AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING! YAAAAAAAAAY! You'll need to be on your guard for the next week or so as Mercury returns to full speed--called the storm--but there is light at the end of the tunnel! This is good; for me personally, this Merc retrograde has been a total bitch kitty. I lost this blog once and had to re-type it, and while some of it is likely what I call the ID10T error, or a PEBCAK--problem exists between chair and keyboard--I'm sure Merc didn't help me. Hopefully things will ease over the next week.

Father Irish's next prouncement of the Alphabet of Sin: "D is for DIVORCE!" Again, not a surprise, but most of us were still laughing about condoms. [Please see my "B" post for the full backgroun on Father Irish. I do not in any way espouse his views; they are the opinions of a crusty old Jesuit math teaching priest, and they just got funnier toward the end.]

While it seems like an odd way to end things today, the subject of demons occasionally rears its ugly head--assuming demons have them, of course--into my life. I've heard of people fighting them and trapping them in soda bottles, talking to them, and wanting to conjure them. I've also heard that demons have thrown people down flights of stairs. We have a rule at 13 Magickal moons that says, "No, you cannot bring your demon here!" There's only a rule if we need one, folks...I'll pull a Forrest Gump and say, "And that's all I have to say about that!"

Metaphysically, I know there are spirits that do negative things, but personally, I don't believe in demons. I feel similarly about curses; likely your problem is not caused by one. The only difference is that curses are real. So please stop watching reruns of "Charmed", "Buffy", and "Angel" and come back to reality; we like you anyway, especially if you're a little weird, but demons...?

Tune in tomorrow for "E"! :)  

C is for Catholic and Condoms

In the realm of "things you might not expect from a Wiccan minister", I was raised Catholic. If you read my last post, you might have guessed it. I was Catholic from the day I was born until I left for college in the fall of 1989, and was baptized and confirmed.

While I haven't been a practicing Catholic for many, many years, I learned so much about spirituality and just plain faith from my Catholic upbringing, especially my mother. I have nothing but respect for the spiritual path, and have seen very few faiths with such devoted followers. 

Sadly, it appears that I'm not alone in having left the Catholic Church. According to a recent study by the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova's School of Business, one in ten Americans is an ex-Catholic. The article goes on to talk about why 300 former Catholics have left the faith; I found it very interesting overall.

Speaking personally, I left because it just wasn't for me. No spiritual path is bad; you just have to find the one that works for you. And it is my firm belief that no spiritual path is better than any other. 

As a high school senior at a Jesuit institution, I got into trouble once for expressing my views publicly. The first female Baptist bishop was ordained in Boston at the time, and the school newspaper took my picture for one of those "man on the street" articles and asked me what I thought. I decided I wasn't going to hold back. I said that it was fantastic that the Baptist Church was finally recognizing the role of women on the altar, and finished with, "And I think the Catholic Church should do the same."

I might have gotten away with just the first part, but the second part got me ostracized to a certain extent. I had several priests for teachers that year, and they didn't call on me or even look at me for a whole week at least. What surprised me, though, was that a few of the female faculty members--we didn't have any nuns so they were all lay faculty--took me aside to tell me how brave I was to say what I said. I didn't understand how significant it was. Let's be clear...I was the furthest thing from a rabble-rouser and had no intention of doing anything contrary to order and discipline. But I guess this was the right thing for me to say at the right time. 

Today, I'm a proud, passionate, out of the broom closet Witch, but I'm happy I had such a solid base of Catholic theology to work from. I still draw on it today sometimes when working with clients, and as an interfaith minister, I help people of all faiths, so that knowledge will never go to waste.

With all of that said, and with no intention to criticize Catholics or Catholicism, I do wonder about the future of the Catholic faith in the United States. "Cafeteria Catholic" is a term that many use in a derogatory way, but my opinion is that if you're getting what you need spiritually, what does it matter? 

With the amount of American Catholics who seem to disagree with Rome on so many vital issues, it wouldn't surprise me if American Catholics broke away from Rome eventually to create their own church to address many of the issues raised in the article above. If I had to list a few, they would be ordaining women; allowing male priests to marry; ordaining gay men and women; permitting male and female altar servers; encouraging the use of all forms of birth control; and promptly and effectively dealing with any allegations of sexual abuse while fully cooperating with law enforcement.

Honestly, I truly would hate to see such an amazing, powerful faith diminished even further. 

With Holy Week upon us, I wish all Catholics and other Christians a very blessed Easter. 

Oh...and before I forget...Father Irish's proclamation for "C" in the Alphabet of Sin was that "C is for CONDOMS!" No surprises here. [NOTE: See my "B" post for the full story on the Alphabet of Sin. As usual, none of the views of my crusty old algebra teacher are my own, and I saw his rant as more of a joke than anything else. And yes, it really did happen.]

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post with "D". :)

B is for Boston and Birth Control

OK, so I've got two topics in for today's blogging challenge. We'll start with the one that's undoubtedly less controversial, but I guess that depends entirely on who you ask. Sports fans may disagree. :)


I was born and raised in the suburbs around Boston, Massachusetts. Not many people know this about me...I've moved around so much since then and I haven't lived in MA for more than three months since I left home to go to college in August 1989. 


It's funny that a few people don't believe me when I tell them where I'm from. Those of you who know me in person have figured out that I don't have an accent anymore. I used to have one--a fairly thick one at that--but I shed it when I went away to school because a linguist can't really have a Boston accent, or any accent, except one of the language he's speaking or risk looking stupid. Those who have known me for a while know that I can use it whenever necessary to blend in. 


Anyway, I am a huge fan of many things Boston. I love the sports teams; I'm a lifelong New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox fan. My dad used to take me to Patriots games growing up--when they were only $10 to get in, if you can believe that--and at that time they truly SUCKED. Going to the games was always awesome but those 2-14 seasons were rough. It makes me appreciate these days a lot more because I know what it's like to be sitting at home watching the playoffs while your team does the same. As for the Red Sox, well...I didn't get to many of their games but I feel very connected to Fenway Pahk and the Green Monstah. And yeah, I love Dunkin' Donuts, too. I've even been to the first one EVAH. 


Here are a few Boston tibdits for you:


1) We don't call it "Beantown". 
2) We are famous for our role in the Revolutionary War. I've been to the Old North Church, you know..."one if by land and two if by sea". Incidentally, the Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breed's Hill. :)
3) There is only ONE kind of chowdah, and it's the white kind. There is no other chowdah. 
4) If you visit, go to the North End for fantastic Italian food and pastries, and to the Gahden if you want to see the Bruins or the Celtics. Good luck getting tickets, though. 
5) The inspiration for "Cheers" is a pub in Dorchester, a suburb near South Boston. A "Cheers" was constructed in the heart of downtown for tourists. No self-respecting Bostonian would ever be seen in there. 
6) If you fly in, don't look down...Logan Airport is built on an isthmus, an "island" connected by one strip of land to the coast. It reached its capacity years ago and has about 50% more flights coming in a day than it should. You have to fly over the water to get there and you won't see the runway until you're about 100 feet off the ground. You have been warned. 


I also went to high school in Boston. This brings me to the second part of my post. 


Before you continue, please understand that what comes next is a joke, something that really happened to me during high school. I do not in any way espouse the views to follow expressed by my former teacher. I hope to make that clear as we go on. 


Anyway, here's the background: In my junior year I had a math teacher who I'll call "Father Irish". He was a crusty, 70+ year old Jesuit priest who taught me Algebra 2. He was supposed to be teaching me math, but sometimes Father Irish decided he would educate us in other areas. His prayers before class were offered to "the Communists", "those who are mentally and physically ill" (he was annoyed with a classmate and looked directly at the young man as he said it one day!), and other groups who were not necessarily unfortunate as looked on as inferior. He also was not a fan of Italian kids...so I was far from his favorite. (My friend Luigi had it the worst, I think.)


One day after our prayer he decided to share with us his thoughts on sin; specifically, he had written a document he called "The Alphabet of Sin", and wanted to share it with us. Keep in mind that he's addressing 15- and 16-year-old boys; sadly, my high school had no women. When he started to speak, ahead of me in the row, a fellow classmate had an enormous pile of Doritos hidden under his book, and was receiving a two-liter bottle of soda from the guy in front of him. Father Irish had lost more than a step or two in his old age, but with this proclamation he had everyone's attention. 


While I didn't mention this in yesterday's post, he declared that, "A is for abortion and AIDS." I was stunned. He was really doing this! I knew the Catholic Church THOUGHT abortion was a sin, but I never believed it then, and I still don't. (As a man, my opinion on this issue is irrelevant, except to say that if my opinion mattered I am very staunchly pro-choice.) And the idea that AIDS was a sin? I thought...this is a disease that is killing people, and somehow it's a SIN? BULLSHIT. I was pretty upset, but at 15 in a Catholic high school, you shut up and keep your seat. 


"B is for BIRTH CONTROL!" he continued at a dull roar, and received a warm round of applause from the entire class. Birth control may have been the only control he knew about, because the laughter, catcalls, and jeers began, like, "What would you know about it, Fatha?" Despite feeling really uncomfortable, I started to laugh. I just hoped we all weren't going to get our collective asses kicked for being so disrespectful. It just became a complete joke. 


This is where the "alphabet" began, and he went through every letter "except for some like Q and Z". While I can't remember them all, as I go through this month, I'll be continuing the story...so keep returning to the blog for more pieces. 


One final word: Just so there's no misunderstanding, neither abortion nor AIDS is a sin for me; since "sin" is not a concept that I believe in, they can't be, anyway. And I'm a huge fan of birth control as well. So there! :)

The A to Z Challenge, Day 1: A is for Astrology

Hi everyone! I've signed up for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing one blog a day for most of April, one whose topic begins with each letter of the alphabet. 

Today's topic is astrology, a fascinating subject area that has intrigued man for centuries. Merriam Webster's Web site (www.merriam-webster.com) defines it this way: 

"The divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects."

In my case, I'd just take "supposed" out of the definition, because I believe it is a living, breathing subject area that has practical application in everyday life. It's one of the subjects I'm most passionate about, and I couldn't imagine my life without it. 

Often, I'm asked for astrology book recommendations, and my shelf is FILLED with books for those of all experience levels, from "I think I may be a Cancer, but I'm not sure," to "Here's an in-depth analysis of the horoscope chart of Ted Kennedy." So I'll list a few of each from my shelf

For beginners, I'd recommend:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Astrology by Madeline Gerwick-Brodeur

Linda Goodman's Sun Signs by Linda Goodman

The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need by Joanna Martine Woolfolk

The Only Way to Learn Astrology, Vol. 1: Basic Principles by Marion D. March and Joan McEvers

If you're a little more experienced, I'd recommend:

Alan Oken's Complete Astrology by Alan Oken

A Student's Text-Book on Astrology by Vivian Robson

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Astrology by Kris Brandt Riske

The Only Way to Learn Astrology, Vol. 3: Horoscope Analysis by Marion D. March and Joan McEvers

For true astrology aficionados who are looking for more advanced or professional-level works, or who are interested in a very specific area of astrology:

The Astrological Moon by Hadyn Paul

The 12 Houses by Howard Sasportas

Synthesis and Counseling in Astrology by Noel Tyl (this one is VERY advanced!)

If you are interested in astrology and its relationship to the tarot, I'd recommend:

Tarot Decoded by Elizabeth Hazel

Tarot and Astrology by Corrine Kenner

Finally, astrology and love/sex/compatibility, there are a number of great books, including:

Sextrology: The Astrology of Sex and the Sexes and Cosmic Coupling by Starsky and Cox

Love on a Rotten Day by Hazel Dixon-Cooper

Linda Goodman's Love Signs by Linda Goodman

NOTE: Starsky and Cox's books are AMAZING, but they are extremely explicit. That doesn't bother me--I am true to my Scorpio sun sign in that respect--but I did actually start some unexpected female attention reading it on the subway one day... :)

Hope some of these find a way to your shelves. A number of the books I've mentioned I have reviewed either here or on Goodreads. 

Tune in tomorrow for "B"!