I found a lump in my right breast on the 28th of February, saw my GP on the 3rd of March, was referred to the breast clinic at the hospital where had a biopsy on the 11th, and got the biopsy results back yesterday afternoon. I have breast cancer, and cancer in one of the … Continue reading So, I have cancer.
Petrol and amphitheatres
Last year I wrote a post about how I was offered this amazing opportunity to work on an unexcavated Roman amphitheatre, why I turned it down, and how I was given a second chance after I realised I’d made one of the stupidest and dumbest mistakes of my life - and no, I’m not exaggerating. … Continue reading Petrol and amphitheatres
I’ve fallen off the radar again…
I could probably write a whole post about why I haven't written a whole post (not counting intros on reblogs) in... shiiit, nearly nine months, but as it would mostly be a list of bad excuses masquerading as reasons, I won't. I've kept up with my Reader, but I've been terrible at writing the comments … Continue reading I’ve fallen off the radar again…
Reblog: Help Nicole Cover Emergency Expenses – EmberVoices: Listening for the Vanir
While I haven’t been writing posts here for far too long, for many reasons (most of which are actually bad excuses), I have been keeping up with my WordPress Reader. Hence this reblog and the one previously.
When Freyja came abruptly into my life I relied heavily on Ember, both on her blog posts and on the lovely replies to the flailing emails I sent. And I’ve utilised her blog many times since then as a source of inspiration and guidance. For that alone I’d help boost this signal, but it’s not the main reason – not by a long shot.
This is very much a personal thing for me, even though I don’t know the unnamed friend, or Nicole, and I’m only acquainted with Ember through blogging and emails. It’s not the people – it’s the situation. I was in an abusive relationship for a year and a half, and while I was lucky that it never got this bad, it has left me with a lot of issues and unhealthy coping mechanisms. It’s why I’ve donated to Ember’s appeal for help, and why I donate monthly to Refuge, a UK charity that helps women and children escape abusive relationships of all kinds. It’s a ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ situation twice over for me – what with the abusive relationship in my mid-twenties, and my father being an alcoholic until I started high school when he went into rehab. Because if Dad had been a violent drunk as opposed to an uncoordinated, incoherent, melancholy one…
So yes, this appeal hit home. And while it is a request for funds to repay money already spent, had circumsatnces not been rushed this would have been to raise money to help someone escape an incredibly abusive situation, which is what I still see it as.
And as Ember said, if you can spare even a couple of dollars (or equivalent local currency) that would be awesome, if you can’t but can signal-boost that would also be awesome, and if you can do both that would be awesome too. Awesomeness all round!
EmberVoices: Listening for the Vanir
Hello everyone!
It’s been an absolutely exhausting trial of a year-plus for everyone I know. My households shared a bubble for 14 months of lockdown, which we are cautiously emerging from one step at a time. Everyone I know is facing some kind of personal trial or other, myself absolutely included.
I want to ask your help with one of them, today, please – if you can’t contribute directly, at least share the link along:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-nicole-cover-emergency-expenses
My friend Nicole and I, along with others in Treebridge coven, helped a mutual friend out of an abusive situation. It was handled on very short notice. I handled much of the logistical wrangling, while Nicole dove directly into the fray, hopping on a plane to collect our friend and drive her and her two cats across several states to live in the safer place we found for her.
Nicole floated the cost of…
View original post 147 more words
Reblog: So, Neech died. – Strip Me Back to the Bone
Reblogging because Jo and Beth are lovely people, and because personalised story from a wonderful writer, and because I had to have my cat put down when he suffered a stroke so know what they’re going through.
Neech died. This isn’t Ode to Neech — that’s coming, really, but I want to get pictures to go along with it, and looking at the pictures right now is that sort of painful that I just can’t bare to share yet. I’m here asking for help in offsetting the cost of the emergency vet visit ($349) and the end of life emergency vet visit ($350) (priority #1, because I want those remains back stat.) Am I nervous about having just relocated across the country, become unemployed, and then have unexpected vet bills crop up? I mean, what’s scary about $700 in vet bills when you’re out of work? Hooray adventure!
ahem
(This was not the adventure I was hoping for.)
So I’m here asking for help, and offering my favorite thing of value, something I love, and something I’m fairly good at: stories. Want a story? Cuz I’ll write…
View original post 143 more words
Hallowtide 2020
As I've mentioned before, in my personal practice I consider that the Wheel of the Year 'starts' at Yule, partly because it marks the waxing of the sun in the same way the New Moon marks the end of the waning phase and the beginning of the waxing, and partly because by Samhain autumn is … Continue reading Hallowtide 2020
Summertime Christmas
Melissa and I have a thing where we never manage to send out parcels to each other on time. The last parcel I sent her was meant to be for Christmas/Yule 2019 and only got posted several months later, which then took about another month to arrive what with 2020 being the Year of Plague. … Continue reading Summertime Christmas
Belated belated Imbolc
I finally got around to doing my Imbolc ritual yesterday. I say ‘finally’ not because it’s about two and a half months late, which it is, but because I had meant to do it several days ago. But what with my sleep schedule being out of whack and me being amazing about procrastination it turned … Continue reading Belated belated Imbolc
Lent 2020
This has been an unusual year in many ways, and this year's Lenten season has been marked by two things for me - coronavirus, and dieting. Ash Wednesday, when Lent starts, fell on February 26th this year, around the time when the virus had really rolled up its sleeves and got to work. So as … Continue reading Lent 2020
Happy spring…?
Oh what a year this is shaping up to be. Still, I'm trying to look on as much of a positive side as I can considering the circumstances. So far it seems me and mine have remained uninfected, and while I'm still waiting to hear back from my previous employer as to whether they'll be … Continue reading Happy spring…?
Sometimes you get divine intervention, and sometimes shit happens
Today I was supposed to be starting on one of the best sites of my career. Today I was supposed to be starting two and a half months of away work down in Kent, and staying in a holiday chalet with a sea view and a private beach. Today I was supposed to be meeting … Continue reading Sometimes you get divine intervention, and sometimes shit happens
Regarding Freyja, the Eight of Coins, and putting in the hard work.
What with Fridays being Freyja's Day, I try and do something for/with Her on that day. Emphasis on the word 'try', because most weeks I seem to fail miserably at either doing a tarot reading or using one of my sets of Freyja-related devotional beads. I know I can do things like that on other … Continue reading Regarding Freyja, the Eight of Coins, and putting in the hard work.
Valentine’s Day again
Or as I prefer to think of it these past few years, Vanadis' Day. Well I think of it as both really, what with Valentine being an early Christian saint and Vanadis being one of the epithets of Freyja, but for the last several years I haven't really paid much attention to the commercialised pink-fest … Continue reading Valentine’s Day again
A penny prosperity charm, UK version
This is taken pretty much wholesale from Melissa Zupan's post of the same name, but with the coin information given for GBP rather than USD. As Melissa says in her post: According to the entry on copper in Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopeida of Crystal, Gem, and Metal Magic, copper can be used to draw money to … Continue reading A penny prosperity charm, UK version
New Year 2020
Usually I would say 'happy New Year', but alas I can't really bring myself to. Not because this year has been particularly dreadful thus far or because I don't wish for my readers to have a happy new year, but because I've really not been looking forward to 2020 starting. I hope those reading this … Continue reading New Year 2020
Change of name
Not of the blog itself, but the author. Since I started Church and Circle back in late 2014 I've used 'Vixxia' as a first name pseudonym, but despite it being the internet handle I've used on nearly every online church/metaphysical/Pagan/tarot forum I've been part of, I was never really happy with it as my nom … Continue reading Change of name
Snoozing and record-keeping
Me, every morning for the whole of last week: Granted, there's times I end up hitting the snooze button because work has worn me out more than usual the previous day, such as digging through dump layers during the heatwave last year, or when my brain just won't shut down for whatever reason and I … Continue reading Snoozing and record-keeping
Sidmouth follow-up post
So I was planning on writing this last night, but I got distracted reading Thorn Mooney's blog over at Thorn the Witch and ended up going to bed half an hour later than I should have. Oops. Thing is I've only just started reading Ms. Mooney's work, having devoured her book Traditional Wicca: A Seeker's … Continue reading Sidmouth follow-up post
The power of folk
I'm at Sidmouth Folk Festival this week, my seventeenth consecutive year of attending. And while it's the annual family holiday, I don't see a huge amount of my parents while we're here - we all have different shifts as volunteer Stewards (free season ticket!) and don't always want to attend the same concerts or workshops … Continue reading The power of folk
Tarot deck dilemma
Ever since I started being interested in tarot I've been debating whether or not to get a Universal Waite deck, and now after a decade and a half I've ended up with two. Problem is, I only need one and can't work out which to keep. Talk about first-world divinatory problems... By now I've re-read … Continue reading Tarot deck dilemma