Midway through the journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood, wandering, for the straight way had been lost. — Dante
When Dante’s Divine Comedy opens in 1300 with those famous lines, the narrator himself is about 35, or–for a lifespan of 70 years–half-way through his life. But I’m not in my 30’s. I’m no longer even in my 40’s, as I have just turned 50 this year.
But I am also no longer in my dark wood, wandering. And my straight way that was lost–if I ever had it–has become remarkably clear in the last few years.
Now, half-way through my projected lifespan of a century–I come from a long-lived bunch–I am taking time out for a major pilgrimage. I will be walking Spain’s thousand-year-old El Camino de Santiago de Compostelo or The Way of Saint James, one of the most important pilgrimages of medieval times.
So much of pilgrimage is about Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: camino de santiago, journey, pilgrimage
Not the Abraham-Hicks’ “grid,” but my rope lights around my beautiful patio at twilight. — copyright by Lorna Tedder
Today, I finally understood the new Abraham-Hicks’ term, the grid. I first heard it a couple of months ago when listening to an mp3 from, I believe, late fall 2011 or perhaps very early in 2012. I had to listen to the session again and kinda-sorta thought I understood it. When my 19-year-old and I attended the live workshop in Orlando in late March, we listened to more talk of the grid and thought we understood but it still wasn’t clear. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: abraham-hicks
Through the month of May, all the ebooks below are on sale for $2.99 or less, even the $19.95 non-fiction guides. Why? Well, I’m celebrating and want to share that with you. Price goes back up in June, by the way–we’ll celebrate something else then, some other way…probably the first couple of episodes of The Secret Lives of Librarians. Read the rest of this entry »
“We have a quantum entanglement.”
– Tarzan from SURVIVOR
On the 11th Episode of Survivor One World, 2 May 2012, they brought in the contestants’ family/friends after they’d been away for a month. We got a chance to see some emotional reunions, even among the most hardass of the players. Something Tarzan, the last man standing, had to say caught my attention. He told Jeff Probst that he felt his wife’s presence on the island.
Whoa. I understood what he meant. This is what I mean when I talk about energetic connections and the empathic bonds I have with loved ones across the miles. Then again, maybe it was just a fluke that he said that. At least, that’s what I told myself until he said of his wife,
“We have a quantum entanglement.”
Yes. He understands empathic bonds, energetic connections, and quantum entanglement.
I’m glad that more press is being given to empaths. Check out this page and the video where these connections are described as an invisible umbilical cord across distance. Yes, that is exactly how it feels to an empath.
Exactly.
Tags: empaths, energetic connections, Survivor
I have always loved the cover art process with book covers. Whether they’re new books or old books with new covers or new books I just got rights back to from their original publisher and now they have new covers, the art always excites me.
Here are two previously published books that have been released as ebooks:
And…here are 3 covers I’m working on for some of my more popular non-fiction guides:
Tags: Books
Is an oath an oath if it’s sworn in the name of someone else’s god?
You’d think that jury duty and court cases would remember the premise of separation of Church and State. What if the defendant is an atheist? Or Muslim? Or Wiccan? Does this mean only Christians can sit in judgment? Will a non-Christian get a fair trial?
The last time I gave a deposition was at least 15 years ago. I was Christian at the time and still didn’t particularly care for either the idea of swearing on a Bible (“What if some people don’t believe in the Bible?” I’d asked…to incredulous looks) or swearing in general. I was told that all that had changed, that the legal system was more observant of separating Church and State, that I would no longer be asked to put my hand on a Bible or swear to the Father of Jesus. That’s not entirely true. The Bible may be gone from the courtroom but God is not.
At this point in my spiritual journey, swearing means nothing to me but an insult. Read the rest of this entry »
That you all been waiting for (and emailing me about!): the final results of my cleanse. This is Days 5-7 of this product review series on Renew Life’s Total Body Rapid Cleanse and the summary of the results. Read the rest of this entry »
Herb garden meets Stonehenge. Photo by Lorna Tedder.
From a young age, I was taught not to judge others, even though the people who preached did little to practice it. Not judging was one of the earliest lessons I was taught in church…a church that did not allow anyone of another race, religion, or “alternative lifestyle” to darken its doors, and was quite adamant about a woman’s place as well. Judging not has always seemed to be a spiritual lesson, even among other spiritualities, that we should aspire to, yet fail at daily.
People LIKE to judge. Especially when they feel superior to the person they are judging!
And suddenly, Read the rest of this entry »
This is Day 4 of this product review series on Renew Life’s Total Body Rapid Cleanse. For those of you who were concerned that I didn’t post Day 4 right away, no worries–it didn’t kill me! Simply, I’m under multiple deadlines. Read the rest of this entry »
Though the term get over it has been used as early as 1839, it’s been a useful and oft-used buzzword since the early 90’s. As part of my spiritual practice, I will be using it more.
I can be the politest and most compassionate person in the world, but at times when I am truly stressed, those things will fall away and I’ll go into survival mode. I cannot at those times afford the extra weight of anyone pulling at me with mundane, non-urgent affairs. I can try to keep carrying everyone–as I’ve learned on my spiritual path–or I can shuck off the excess, like shrugging out of heavy mantels or dense rucksacks. There was a time when I insisted on lugging all that extra weight along with me instead of taking care of myself first. It’s a lesson that re-asserts itself on occasion when I am stressed, though I am rarely stressed in the ways I used to be. Sometimes, Read the rest of this entry »
Continued from Day 2:
This is Day 3 of this product review series on Renew Life’s Total Body Rapid Cleanse. For those of you who were concerned that I didn’t post Day 3 right away, I was under deadline with The Secret Lives of Librarians…only a couple more chapters to go! The cleanse had nothing to do with my delay in continuing this series.
Day 3 Tips:
1. Drink water. Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink! No matter that you already drink 100 ounces a day already. Drinking 64 ounces a day is a bare minimum during the entire cleanse, I found, but for Read the rest of this entry »
Lorna’s highly emotional pagan love story is free on kindle 19-21 March to celebrate the first day of Spring. Enjoy!
A Reverence for Trees: A Pagan Love Story
by Lorna Tedder
Published by Spilled Candy Books
Lorna Tedder’s critically acclaimed novelette of sacred marriage, healing, and forgiveness. Originally published by Berkley Books.
*******
Download the ebook from Amazon Kindle now.
Over the course of two weeks back in 2009, three strangers on separate blogs and articles referred to me as “the Mother of the Spiritual Eclectic Movement” or “the Mother of Eclectic Spirituality.” I was stunned. I had never thought of myself that way before, mainly because I don’t believe I Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Christianity, Eclectic Spirituality, experimentation, Wicca
Continued from Day 1:
This is Day 2 of this product review series on Renew Life’s Total Body Rapid Cleanse.
Day 2 Tips:
1. The morning and evening fiber drink can be pretty nasty if you toss one scoop of fiber-powder into a glass of cold water. Here’s a better way:
Put 1 scoop of fiber into a glass. Take one coffee cup of hot (and I mean hot, not warm) water–or a kettle of hot water if you prefer–and pour about half a cup over the fiber. Stir so that it dissolves. Fill the rest of the glass. If you don’t like the taste (bland, but not bad), then add a little lemon juice. Stir well. Tastes like drinking hot lemon water for a sore throat. The hot water and the stirring will keep the fiber from clumping up and it’s so much easier to swallow.
2. Drink lots of water. No kidding. Even if you normally drink 100 ounces a day like I do…drink more. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: total body rapid cleanse
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree of Separation.
Maybe it was too many Southern Baptist ministers who preached that women must “submit” and “obey” their husbands. Maybe it was having big brothers so much older than me who would tickle-torture me if I didn’t do comply with their bellowed orders to “Obey me!” In any case, something turned me against the idea of “obedience” and testing when I was very young. Read the rest of this entry »
Okay, I promise this review isn’t about poop! Hmmm, maybe a little, but that’s just one of the results some people look for when they “do a cleanse.” Since I write quite a bit about health products as part of my mind-body-spirit news and this is the first time I’ve tried one of these quickie cleanses, I thought I’d share the experience and the results, as well as tips for making it a better experience now that I’m done.
I’ve used Renew Life’s vitamins and supplements and have found them to be above average. My nutritionist recommends this particular product line and highly recommends cleanses for everyone, not just her junk food junkies (of which I am not one). This particular product, the Total Body Rapid Cleanse, is a 7-day regimen. You take 2 capsules in the morning (bottle #1) on an empty stomach, wait 30 minutes, and then take the fiber (bottle #2) drink (or eat, then wait 2 hours to take your morning dose). The morning dose starts the detoxification process and the fiber drink binds with the toxins. The evening dose is 2 pills from bottle #3 to assist with elimination and another dose of the fiber drink. You can read the rest from the package or any online store selling the product.
I found the product at my local indie health food store but I’ve seen it in my local Vitamin Shoppe. I like to support the locals where I can because the staff readily talks to me about issues and recommendations, but if money is an issue, I’ll tell you that I found it cheaper on Amazon by as much as $5.
Day 1 Tips: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: health, renew life, total body rapid cleanse
Not that it’s a bad book.
If I’d done more academic research into empathy, narcissism, and evil before beginning my novel, I might have tried to fit Lilah Burns into the framework of this book instead of READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE on the Ninth Gate series website.
Full Moon rising beneath an American flag, while I’mout for an early evening walk and communion with Nature. Below, at work at twilight.
Here I am in the heart of the Bible Belt. You can’t throw a stick without doing it in Jesus’ name.
This is still the area of the country where you meet someone for the first time and they have 2 immediate questions: 1. What’s your name? 2. Which church do you belong to?
One of the biggest changes for me when I migrated from the private sector to the public sector in 1987, taking a job then as an intern on an Air Force Base, was that I was no longer patted on the head for being female, downgraded in pay for being single, or downgraded in pay for being married. I earned the same as the guy hired to do that same job instead of 40% less as I was accustomed to in private industry. I also noticed that the Government teams on my side of the negotiation table were usually multi-generational, male and female, and 2-3 different ethnicities while the private industry side of the table was usually comprised of white men over 45 with an occasional white or Asian male mathematical genius around 35. Oh, yes–the stereotypes were alive and well. “Who’s on the other side of the table?” became a game to me after a couple of years, and I was very proud of the diversity on my side of the table. For the most part, though, my very diverse side of the table was still all Christian, but I thought we were diverse because we had a Mormon and a Catholic among all of us Baptists.
Yes, those were the days when I was a devout Christian, and like most of my fellow “churched’ employees, I complained so often about being discriminated against…when really what I saw as discrimination was simply not being allowed to force my personal brand of spirituality onto everyone else. I’d never been denied anything at work because I was Southern Baptist–all professional organizations still blessed every work-related meal in Jesus’ name, retirement ceremonies were opportunities to deliver Christian sermons to a sometimes mandated (and captive) audience, extra points were given on annual awards write-ups and promotion resumes that included community involvement such as singing in the choir at the Methodist Church or teaching Sunday School, no one lectured me publicly on my spiritual beliefs, and no one ever told me my career could not progress because of my personal relationship with Jesus.
When I converted to Wicca in 1997, I was the only Wiccan I knew at work, so I kept it a secret for a while, except from a non-Wiccan colleague in another career field who helped me where he could. I didn’t know how many pagans were on the same military installation, all in the broom closet, most scared of losing their jobs or losing promotions, of being harrassed or run off the road (as I was twice) or of losing custody of their kids or of public ridicule.
And yes, there was public ridicule. About the time my co-workers were convinced I wasn’t crazy after all, I attended a 75-person mandatory suicide prevention class in which Read the rest of this entry »
Photo copyright by Lorna Tedder, self-portrait with mirrors.
It’s been 15 years since I’ve worn heels. In 2004, upon ordering me to physical therapy just to be able to walk without tears, my physician declared that I’d be a “flats girl” for the rest of my life. My dates have seen me wear high heels only when I’m sitting and swinging legs and trying to look sexy–and NOT walking across a restaurant or standing around cocktail parties.
In the last 18 months, I’ve regained the strength and flexibility in my knees that I had 15 years ago. Okay, they’re not as good as they were at, say 21 (when I didn’t appreciate my knees!), but I’m happy to say that I’m wearing heels again…comfortably.
The first change was 18 months ago when Read the rest of this entry »
As you may have figured out already, I like to experiment. Experimenting means not becoming stagnant in my spiritual practice. It means learning more, going deeper, taking my connection to Deity one step higher.
Here are 3 ideas for experimenting with the standard “Four Directions” to see if you get a better result, a closer connection with the energies, etc. You will probably find that the energy is mildly to radically different in each experiment and that you want to alter your usual procedures for healing rituals vs protection rituals vs prosperity rituals, for example.
1. Begin your circle in a different direction. If you normally begin in the North, as i do, try it in the South or West. If you begin in the East, try the North. Because each direction has a different meaning and different “feel” to me, I find that the entire feel of the circle and ritual is different if I begin, for example, in the South, which I associate with passion and creativity or the West, which I associate with healing and emotion. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: pagan blog projects, Rituals
Aren’t those all-day candle spells great?
If you can stay home with it all day, which I can’t.
Or if you can burn a candle at work, which in my case is highly frowned upon at my workplace.
So here’s an alternative I tested out and found it worked quite delightfully. Not fire magick but water magick–tea magick to be exact.
Instead of leaving a candle to burn all day while I was at work, I bought a special tea cup and a box of tea. Every morning, before I leave for work, I drop a tea bag into a cup of hot water and say a little blessing or prayer or set my intentions. It’s usually something small, just a thought to let steep all day long while I go about my day.
I’ts a small but beautiful daily ritual now, and as valid as any candle magick.
Okay, I cannot eat spinach! No matter how it’s cooked or tossed in a salad, I just cannot do it.
But…I’ve found that I can drink it.
I’ve started throwing a handful or two of fresh spinach into my protein shakes. Once I turn on the blender, I don’t even taste the spinach in the shake.
So what else is in the blender? 1.5 scoops of Jay Robb Strawberry Whey Protein Powder (my current fav because it’s sugar-free and doesn’t clot in my almond milk when I use almond milk), 2 cups of frozen blueberries, a little water, and …well, that’s it this time. I decided to forgo the strawberries, pineapple, or raspberries this time and the organic cocoa powder to make it into yummy chocolate.
This blender pitcher full made 3 glasses, for a total of 344 calories and 41 grams of protein. Very filling and delish!
Tags: Recipes
When I was growing up in a Southern Baptist church, we called it “holier than thou.” These were the people who were quick to let others know that they had a better, closer relationship to Jesus than the other church members. Sorta like Christian name-droppers: “I was just talking to Jesus, and He told me I was was praying better than anyone else in my Sunday School class.”
When my path changed to Wicca, I noted quite a few of my Christian friends were “tolerant” of my beliefs–tolerant not being the same thing as supportive–but they also let me know that my beliefs were second class to theirs. These were all variations on a theme: my religion is better than your religion.
Unfortunately, it’s no different among my fellow pagans. There still seems to be a need to compete. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Pagan Blog Project
Most people hear the term channeling and immediately think either fraud or nutcase. Or maybe both. Sometimes they think possession, which is probably the scariest impression.
Channeling, from what I’ve observed, is a way of tapping into deeper insights, whether the person doing the channeling interprets them as being from the Higher Self, a dark but highly evolved corner of the brain, a spirit guide, or some sort of alien entity. Honestly, I don’t care so much about how the person perceives the insights they share as I do the message they have to offer.
I’ll include of few of my favorites in this post, by the way. RuneHealing’s new channeling videos are now up on Youtube, though you may already be familiar with his meditations to clear negativity and his energy work videos.
As an observer, I’ve noted a few things about people who channel that have helped me distinguish real from fraud. Read the rest of this entry »
Continued from Behaving Yourself in Circle (Part 1 of 2 Parts)(Pagan Blog Project #3)
Solstice ritual circle set-up. Fire pit in the center of the circle, holiday lights around the circle and path.
Now for the rest of Lorna’s Rules to Behaving Yourself in Circle, and while it’s a long and painful list of don’ts, it’s most painful because of the need to ask people to behave.
#6. Don’t make sex part of the event unless it’s supposed to be. When the group leader schedules the Great Rite as part of the event, no problem. When distracted members are going at it like bunnies in the closet, it’s time for them to get a room…elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »
