Beauty of Moths

Few people understand the beauty of moths,
ghost-like they drink upon our sorrows
sipping the nectar of the moonlight,
messengers of Morpheus they carry dreams
and nightmares.

Storm Heart

There is a storm within my heart,
it rages through my bloodstream
and I can feel the dark clouds rolling in,
you know the look in my eyes when
the squall is about to rise,
the air hangs with static,
only you can quiet it,
your touch ebbs away the growing force
building to break,
your love is a torrent that sweeps
through because you know
my passions can be dark and violent,
they consume me,
but you are the sanctuary
that allows my tempest to disperse,
you can bare the full brunt of it,
slowly it recedes once more
while your arms hold me close,
keep me from bursting apart.

When Man Had Wings

I remember when I taught birds how to fly,
it was a whisper of a memory from a time
when man had wings (though this was long before he bore that name),
watching their floundering efforts to master our lost gifts
I feel no regret for the day that man fell from the skies
and was born anew as the worm of the Earth
nude, half-blind, ill equipped.

And when I am with you
all I recall is how strangely beautiful
the gracelessness of the birds was,
such a rare moment I was invited however unintended
into this ritual of trial and error,
to know they are not inherently born as flawless
ambassadors of the wind.

We remind each other that even the gods cannot take
what belongs to the soul,
though earth bound our wings have not been severed
only rendered invisible, and within your eyes
I can see the reflection of my wings,
and I can almost feel yours brush against me,
the caress of the wind through phantom feathers.

In time the birds find mastery over our former gift
and we watch them rise as messengers,
though I know from this moment the birds and I
must once more become strangers
I will carry the name of Prometheus
within their own fast beating hearts.

People Are Afraid To Merge

I have recently started reading Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis (who wrote American Pyscho, which I loved). In the first parpage of the book one of the main characaters Clay is picked up at the airport in LA by his friend Blair and as they are driving down the road Blair says “People are afraid to merge in L.A.

Thinking about that statement, it is really what this whole book is truly all about. The way in which people are afraid to merge. The book is a satirical and darkly comical novel about the 80s and particularly this generation of rich entitled kids living in LA and one of the things which makes the book hysterical and so brilliant to me is how accurately the author nails this culture both that of the 80s and LA, he does exaggerate certain things but the sad and ridiculous thing is that his exaggeration really aren’t exaggerated by that much.  And there are all these individuals who are so self-absorbed, or narcissistic, wrapped up into their own little worlds, and yet with no real goals or aspirations, and they are all so isolated within each because they are afraid to really make a meaningful genuine connection with another person.

They are like flotsam and jetsam which sometimes brush up against each other but don’t know how to just grab on and try and pull each other out of the current. They let themselves just be swept along and are almost oblivious to the brushes they have with each other.

That statement “People are afraid to merge” just resonates within my mind, because I do have a couple of friends who are really like that in a way. In fact I have one friend in particular who in reading this book I think in some ways this book really is about him. Like me he was a product of the 80s, and he actually does live in L.A. and in someways this book is so him, though he is not as bad as the characters portrayed in the story but he is afraid to really try and make a serious meaningful connection and he does just kind of move from one person to the next and doesn’t really let anyone get that close.

Whenever I am on the road now those words will come into my mind, it is such a simple statement, but it is also just such a true summery of both the 20th and 21st century. And particularly living in this new age of technology where we have all these new ways to connect that we never had before, we can reach out to millions of people instantly from all over the world, but at the same time, we don’t really truly connect. And in some ways we can use these devices to in fact avoid really having to connect.

 

 

Why All the Hate For Animal Rights?

My last post got me thinking about this issue.

One thing I have noticed that has always baffled me, and I have seen it pop up a lot on the Internet but also I have come across on TV and on the Radio as well, is the fact that for some reason I do not quite understand there is this contingency of people who get really angry at people who express a concern for animal rights. And while I grant there are some Animal Rights groups out there that can be rather extreme and I myself do not always agree with everything they do, but it seems like any time anyone brings up an issue with animals rights there is a certain percentage of people who seem almost offended as if somehow they are being attacked.

I will read a post someone wrote addressing a concern with some issue relating to animals and scanning the comments it is strange and baffling how many are negative, and angry, and attacking the poster. A lot of the time they are just hecklers and trolls and people intentionally trying to get a reaction as such that can be found pretty much anywhere, but there also seems to be this very strange mentally a lot of people have that a person has to choose between caring about animals and caring about people, and they get really mad if someone writes about an issue relating to animal abuse because human’s are also sometimes ill treated.

To give a recent example there was an article posted in which a person was expressing concern regaining the movie the Hobbit and allegations that some of the animals used in the film where neglected and treated badly and some of the animals died because of neglect. and a lot of people posted really angry at the poster because there are people who also die sometimes on working on movies to. And if said person cares so much about human lives lost in movie making instead of yelling at someone (who has nothing do with it)  about it, why not write your own article addressing the problem you think is more important?

It is this really strange idea that people have that there is this competition or war between these two different issues/groups,  or it is this strange nonsensical mentality that since humans are abused, ill-treated, and bad things do happen to people by default means that we shouldn’t care if it happens to animals.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around that concept. I am a very strong supporter of animal rights, and I will admit I am also rather anti-social and a misanthrope, but if I saw someone writing an article addressing an injustice done against human beings I wouldn’t be angry at them for it because bad things happen to animals too and I do happen to like animals more than I like most people.

I don’t understand why people cannot just accept the fact that it is wrong for either humans or animals to be abused, and you don’t really have to choose sides and only care about one thing or the other, you can care about both. There are some groups that dedicate themselves to trying to improve the lives of human beings and there are some people that dedicate themselves to trying to improve the lives of animals, and it is good to work on both those problems and ignoring one of those issues isn’t going to make the other go away faster.

Because there are still injustices and inhumanities against humans and that those things are wrong, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care when it happens to animals, or doesn’t mean it is ok to happen to animals because it also happens to people. Both are equally wrong. And if a person’s passion might be towed solving the issue with ill treatment in animals doesn’t meant they don’t believe that issues regaining human injustice should not also be addressed and resolved.

 

An Animal-Rights Activist and Pagan’s Defense for Eating Meat

This is a topic that I have been wanting to address for a while now, and so well now that I have this shiny (or not so shiny) new blog it seemed the best time to finally get the thoughts down and a good way to start this blog off, even though I know it is officially not the first post.

Before I delve into the discussion to much there are some things that perhaps should be explained first of which I think will be relevant to what I have to say here and might better help explain where I am coming from. As you have inferred already no doubt from the title of this post. I a am Pagan.

That is a very broad term of which includes a great many different spiritual paths, so I will give a general idea of what being a Pagan means to me, as such that I think will be important to this discussion. For starters I think it is important to clarify I am not a Wiccan (nothing wrong with those who chose the Wiccan path) but so many people make the automatic assumption that because I am a Pagan than I am a Wicca, but that is not the case. I am a Traditional Pagan. Basically that means that as much as his possible within the modern world (and with what information we have on Pre-Chrsiaitain beliefs as many where oral cultured without written language) I try and follow the traditional Pagan beliefs as closely as possible.

The idea of balance is very important to me within my spirituality. This means balance in all things in life. Recognizing the importance of both dark and light, life and death, god and goddess (and as such also male and female, masculine and feminine). Living in harmony with nature as much as possible in the world of today is also very important to me. I also accept and embrace the fact that humans are still just animals and I do not believe in the idea of humans being superior to any other life form or the idea that human live is inherently more valuable the life of any other living creature. All living things have souls, and all life is of equal worth.

Needless to say because Paganism is a very nature-based religion and believes in honoring and respecting all of Mother Earth’s creatures it is common that mot Pagans are also active animal rights activists and environmentalists.  I do not believe in the unnecessary taking of life, or cruelty to animals. I don’t believe in using pesticides, or herbicides, I live in what is known as a No Kill Zone critters who find their way in the house are humanely caught and released back outside.

But I am not against killing for sustainability (which predominately means killing for food or other reasons directly linked to ones survival) is morally wrong, and I am not against the eating of meat, as I myself am not a vegetarian.  One of the things which prompted me to want to address this topic is the fact that I have been accused of being a hypocrite before on account of this, and while generally I do not care of what others think of me and my personal choices I thought I would explain my point of view on this.

Here are the reasons why my choice to eat meat is not contradictory to my beliefs.

To start with, as  I said I am a traditional Pagan, and my Pagan ancestors did in fact eat meat. They had great reverence and respect for the life that they killed, and they acknowledged the sacrifice that animal was giving so they may continue to live. They prayed to the souls of the animal which they killed and it did not bring them pleasure to take the life, but they acknowledged the necessity of doing so.

I do think the biggest travesty of today’s world (in regards to animals and the eating of meat) is the way in which we treat the animals that we eat. Most people who eat meat while obviously they know it comes from a an animal they don’t want to truly acknowledge the life that was taken and of course with supermarkets and fast food and the fact that most people don’t hunt for their own food they are distanced from the truth of the death of the animal that is giving them the meat. They have become desensitized to  the life that is lost. There is also this idea that since the animals are being raised as food anyway means they do not need/deserve a good quality of life.

The second point in my argument is the fact that I believe in living in harmony with nature. It was by Mother Nature’s own design that humans are omnivores. It was nature’s intention for human beings to feast upon meat. Thus by eating of meat I am acting according to my natural state as intended by Mother Nature herself. The world is made up of predators and prey, and all life feeds upon life. To live in harmony with nature it is my role to act within my proper place within the food chain. The animals that are intended to eat meat know they are meant to eat meat, and the animals of which are the ones to be eaten known they are to be eaten in the wild.  There is nothing wrong with people who make the choice to be vegetarians, I respect that personal choice, but if Mother Nature did not desire us to feed upon the flesh of animals, than our bodies would not be deigned with the ability to process meat (nor created with the need of proteins which we get from meat.)

In addition there is the fact that I do view ALL life as being equal and I do not believe that any one living thing inherently is of more value or more worth than any other living thing.  Even herbivores and vegetarians are responsible for taking the life of another living thing in order to sustain their own life. To make the judgement that eating meat is morally wrong, and choose to be a vegetarian is also making the determination that the life of the cow, or chicken or pig (or whatever) is than of more worth than the life of the plants which are being consumed.  I personally do not feel it is my place to determine that one life form has more value than another.  So if I am going to accept the idea of the killing and eating of plants than it would be hypocritical of not to also accept the eating of animals.

I value all life equally but I also understand that as part of the balance of life in order for my body to continue to life life must be sacrificed to it, and such is true for all other living things. It is not my place to determine what life is more or less deserving of this sacrifice but to accept and trust in nature’s design for me and her creatures.

As an animal Rights Activist I do not demand nor ask anyone to give up eating meat, nor do I judge anyone for doing so, but I would implore you to eat least consider the value of the life that was sacrificed on your behalf and consider how humanely that animal lived and died for your sake, and not to take that life for granted.

Apps Should be Refunded

One of the biggest problems I have with the idea of buying apps and what really makes me leery about spending my money upon and why I avoid doing so as much as possible usually preferring to find a free option is the fact that that I think one of the greatest disadvantages of apps is the fact that once you purchase an app if you then decide that app isn’t really what it promised to be, well that is too bad, you are shit out of luck. Yes you can delete the app but your money was completely wasted.

I know there have been many times with free apps, after carefully reading the description of the app, and all of its features and looking at the screen shots provided of the different feature of the apps, and reading reviews, I will think an app sounds good and download it, only to find when I open it up it really isn’t what I thought it would be, or it has problems, and I don’t like the way it works or the format of it etc..

While many paid apps do offer a free version which does allow one to preview the app before deciding to purchase the full version this is not the case with all apps. And people might just see it as just a small risk to take, or no big deal since most apps are not that expensive. But in most anything else you purchase (including ordaining things online) if you don’t like the produce after you bought it you have the chance to return and get your money back or get store credit, or something to that effect.

Now  this may be more difficult with digital content as one cannot really “return” an app, but with all of our technology I don’t see why their cannot be an option where you can hit a button that says refund if you decide you do not like the app or if it does not function the way you were lead to believe, which would basically allow you of unpurchase the app so that your account would be credited the money and if you ever decided you wanted that app again you would have to repurchase it. Yes I know there are people who might try to take advantage of such a system and buy apps to use for free until they get bored of them and then want to be refunded, but I am sure some sort of time limit could be placed upon is where you would have within 3 days (or something) to refund after downloading.

Of course I know the reason why they don’t do this is probably not due to lack of technological ability but plain and simply because they want your money and are not going to give it back if they don’t have to and figure it is just your own risk if you buy an app and than find it not to your liking.

But if I knew I did have the option of getting my money back if I was dissatisfied with an app I would be a lot more willing to spend money on apps rather than contenting myself with free versions which may not have all the same capabilities, but will still serve my basic needs, and of which won’t cost me anything if indeed I don’t find that they work the way I had expected or wanted.

 

Resurrected

Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a woman of wealth and taste
I’ve been around for a long long year
stole many a man’s sole and faith….

Just could not not help myself.

This is my effort to resurrect an old blog of mine of which I did start many a long long year ago, but the site upon which I originally began it started to turn into a ghost town and all those I had met over there began to fade away into the ether, so I abandoned the blog and could not find a satisfactory new home. Tried revamping it a few times was never fully satisfied. But after having a few other blogs here on wordpress I am starting to like it quite a bit, so I thought I would try again to bring this one down from the attic. I was always rather found of it.

What can you expect to find here?

Everything and anything. It is simply a place for my rants, vents, random thoughts,  whatever pops into my head which I feel the need to voice out.

I don’t know how frequently it will be updated as well it will depend purely upon my whim of when I am compelled to write about something.