Favorite Stories: Ugly

This story always makes me think of the battle-scarred, feral kitty that I named Myrddin, back in the early 90’s, he was a precious kitty very much like the one in the story.

Requiesce in pace, sweet Myrddin, the first.

Noblesse Oblige: Is it Dead or Just M. I. A.?

Perhaps it comes from being born in and growing up in the United States of America. Perhaps it comes from being told that you are the most fortunate of people in the entire world due to the honor of being born as a citizen of a country where, if you can dream it, you can achieve it; a citizen of a country whose “American Dream” concept has been shared with the entire world. Yet, in the current times, I am not “Proud to be an American”, indeed… I am disappointed.

As a citizen who was born and raised for decades on the lie that if you work hard, are a loyal “company man” or “company woman”, and do your very best for the company… that the company will reward your years of service, loyalty and dedication to their needs by retaining you as an employee, giving you a living wage,(at the very least) and allowing you to retire with dignity, honor and celebration. Instead, I am not disappointed, I am outraged that companies are allowed, by law, to under pay you for your efforts, over work you, sometimes without additional pay, and terminate you with “no fault” declared on them” without your having done a single thing wrong.

This is not the American Dream as advertised.

Meanwhile, the “Fat Cats”, the boards of directors, upper managements, business owners, and stockholders who have raked in record breaking profits from the labor of millions of workers world-wide, sit back on their massive piles of cash, paying the actual workers as little as possible, smirking as the Middle Class dwindles away, watching as the hard working people take on multiple jobs to care for themselves, their children, sometimes even their elderly parents. What do the “Fat Cats” do as the other 99% of humans work themselves, literally to death? They use their massive wealth to purchase politicians to stack the laws in their favor, of course.

This is not worthy of any nation.

Noblesse oblige has become a foreign concept to the “Fat Cats” in businesses and governments around the globe. Gone are the days, when being a person of great wealth, power, and privilege were honorable, indeed noble lives. The ideals that were worthy of aspiration, that in addition to having great wealth, great power and great privilege one was responsible for living up to those honors nobly. One was expected to feel a sense of duty to improve the lives of the less fortunate. One was expected to give back to their community, to make certain that the world was better for their existence in it. Instead, studies show that the opposite has become true. Those with the most, give the least, while those with the least give more than ever before. In every major nation around the globe, there is an ever increasing abundance of monetary wealth in the top one-percent of the citizens, while there is also an increasing dearth of nobility in these same people.

All nations are not created equally.

I have a friend who set out, a couple of decades ago, with the concept of creating a new micronation, the Empire of Lemuria, where there is still a primary focus on the belief of noblesse oblige. If one has the ability to support oneself, one is duty-bound to help those who are in need in their community and around the globe. The more personal wealth one has accrued, the more one is required, by honor, to do for those who cannot do for themselves. This is one of his reasons for the founding of the Empire of Lemuria. They want to show other nations, and other micronations, what it should mean to be a citizen of this world.

I am not a member of this micronation, yet, but the more I learn about it, the more I consider it from the standpoint of being a good role model for other nations, just as I try to be a good role model for my children, the more I am impressed by it.

Is it just me, or is forming a micronation founded on “doing the right thing”, its own form of nobility?

 

Witches’ Spell: Safe Traveling Spell/Hiding from the Police Spell

One of the best things about being a witch is the extra level of support I have when tending to our family’s needs. For example, when I am traveling with my sons in our beloved Ashitaka, I tend to cast magick spells for various and assorted reasons as I feel the need arises. The way I look at it is, since the magick is there, since I am a witch; why not take a minute or two before we get on the road to set a spell to protect the trip from unexpected dangers.

Sometimes, I must admit, my use of this particular magick spell is not as ethically pure as my other spells. I must admit that I have forgotten to renew license tags or (more often) forgot the danged vehicle inspection tags on a few occasions. As such, spelling the car to be invisible to the police earns me a “Bad Mommy! You should be ashamed of yourself!” lecture any time my sons catch me spelling the car for it.

You have to understand, I love Arlington, I really do, and our police department has been wonderful to me and mine. However, being like a half mile tops from one of the main police stations has its downfall for forgetful people like me. Sadly, the boys all know the gestures for my car blessings and they know the difference between a “going several states away on vacation spell”, “crossing the state line to visit family spell” and the variations when mom has forgotten to pay the tags. 😛 Hence the “bad mommy” comments, the boys make as they laugh and wag their fingers at me.

Granted, it is merely a variation of my “Safe Car Spell” that I use when we are traveling long distances, when we go visiting family, or when I get “that feeling” when I get in the car. Last time I got “that feeling” was back a few years ago when we barely missed a head-on collision in bad weather during a high-speed chase on Beach Street, by a low rider slipping into our oncoming traffic lane, out of control and the Fort Worth PD car on his tail doing the same. Now, when I go through that area, I always spell the car just as a habit.

Basics: I use hand gestures and call on deity for the four sides, of the vehicle as I draw Holy/Power symbols, the sides drawn in the “Sacred Hands Coven” purple, as I think of it. The top and bottom drawn in a shade called “Perfect Blue” and while all four sides are one power symbol, top and bottom are a second symbol. I visualize ivy beginning at the center of the top power symbol and growing down ward, twining over around and through all the parts of the magickal symbols and creating a perfect inner bubble of protection. I use ivy for good luck, for its protective properties and its ability to prevent disaster and negativity. Once the ivy has formed a perfect ball around our car, even extending into the earth under our vehicle, I visualize it as transparent, invisible to any eyes, thus we are invisible inside the bubble of protection.

For protection from the Police, I visualize it growing down I call upon my chosen deities and recite:

As it starts over the top and winds down into the ground,
Weaving in and out of the power/holy symbols I placed.
It protects us from their vision; it blocks us from their sight.
They do not see us, they do not stop us, they do not ticket us.
They do not know we are here. We pass invisible.
Nothing is harmed by our passing, nothing animate or inanimate,
As we go over, under, around, and through all things are safe in our passing.
Through my power and the power of (deities) and make it so, so mote it be.

For the protection from harm, it is much the same:

As it starts over the top and winds down into the ground,
Weaving in and out of the power/holy symbols I placed.
It protects us from all danger; it protects us from all harm.
No harm can find us, no harm befalls us, we are tucked inside.
It blocks all that would try to harm us. We travel in safety.
Nothing is harmed by our passing, nothing animate or inanimate,
As we go over, under, around, and through all things are safe around us.
Through my power and the power of (deities) and make it so, so mote it be.

One of my favorite things about witchcraft is that when using energy work, nothing else is needed. Only the energy is needed when combined with focus and intent. Yes, I call on deity. Yes, I choose to use hand gestures. Neither of them are truly needed for the spell to work. I have friends who have spelled their vehicles so that all they need is the snap of their fingers to activate the safe travel spell they have placed on their car.

Why is mine so much more complex? Why does mine require so much more of me than his requires of him? Because, quite frankly, I enjoy the ritual and the ornate manner of my spell. I enjoy the feel of the spell as the energy is directed into the symbols. It pleases me to have an elegant drawing of power symbols, it pleases me to wind my fingers through the air as I see the ivy winding, through the symbols, and I enjoy the smoothness of the hand movements required as I speak the “over, under, around, and through”. It tickles my fancy and my fancy likes tickling. What can I say, it is a witch thing.