Ethics

I am participating in a distance learning group for a coven. It is that time that we start talking about the why we are doing magic among other things.

I have been struggling this week with an infection that most people just take penicillin for and recover. Nope, had to do it the hard way and go through 6 days of ivs. 

Most of us Wiccan ' s know by heart An it harm none do as you will We are also all very quick to point out that it means as long as I am not causing harm (directly) I can do whatever I want.

I am reminded at this point of something from the Christian mysteries that just because all things are permissible does not mean all things are beneficial.

I find myself being very tempted to go and hide from the world for a long while. Join a Buddhist monastery or otherwise until particular forces stop being a part of my life. Mainly because they don't think through how their actions  really effect other people.
Yet I know that wouldn't be completely viable either because I do have a responsibility to my job and my community and family.
Tricky business emotional abuse and ethics. Best to give it to the Lord's of Karma and let them decide.

Dancing with Oya

The blood moon has been an interesting time of reflection and action. I have been working a lot with the goddess Oya. Orisha of tornadoes, change, keeper of the cemetery and oddly enough Queen of the market place. She is an interesting Lady to work with. I am focusing on her because of my own anger issues at the moment, the tornado that can be my life, my oracular skills and the changes that have been happening at both my job and home life.

I like working with the orishas because their mythology is very rich and active and relevant, at least to me. I also like working with the orisha because their relationships are messy, like mine. I have recently run across two congruent stories of Oya that involve her first husband, Ogun and her second husband Shango.

Ogun and Shango were rivals at everything. Shango knew that he could very easily get under Ogun's skin and usually did. Ogun fell madly in love with Oya and married her.  Shortly after their marriage, Shango waited patiently for a time when Ogun was away on one of his trips and Oya was alone. He seduced Oya and Oya fell in love with him. He took her back with him to his kingdom in Oyo. When Ogun came home he realized where Oya was and went to win her back. When Oya was confronted by Ogun she said that Now that she had been with Shango, she would never go back with him again. Oya became one of Shango's favorite wives and frequently rode into battle with him.

At one time, Shango was celebrating away from his palace. His enemies decided to come and kidnap the king. Oya had stayed behind in the palace but was getting nervous that the king had not returned. She was informed that he had been kidnapped. Oya knew where Shango kept his thunder and lightening. She grabbed the lightening and rode in her tornado to rescue him. While Shango was relieved to see his wife he was upset and bewildered that she could use lightening. Since then Oya is always the first to use the lightening.

(Note, I am not an initiate so some of the details could be lost in translation.)

I bring the stories up because I am learning to accept some of the limitations I have because of my own choices. However, unlike last fall when I was feeling much more like Oba and shelved I am choosing to ride forth in my own power and authority. At one point I was having a lot of dreams that involved tornadoes and a messy spring season. While I still think weather wise we are in for a time, I am choosing to dance with the storms and be transformed by them instead of destroyed by them