Chicken Totem

I never knew there was a chicken totem, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'm not sure what my deal is about chickens, I love 'em! They're both tasty and entertaining.

As a child I was often found bonding with chickens either at Knott's Berry Farm or while in the Philippines. I was also born in the year of the chicken. I know it's usually referred to as Rooster, Cockerel, or Cock, but I prefer to say Chicken.

Today, as I was doing some looking about on the net, I found a site dedicated to animal totems. As a lark I checked to see if they had one for chicken... and they do! I was even more surprised to see how similar to me it is.

The Chicken

Chickens descended from the wild red jungle fowl of India and belong to the species Gallus gallus. Raised for the production of eggs and meat since the early 1930's the chicken symbolizes nourishment. They keep bugs and weeds under control and provide fertilizer for gardens. Chickens are prone to heat stroke and need plenty of water to maintain optimum health. Those with this medicine benefit by living in an environment where water is plentiful.

The chicken has an exploratory inquisitive nature. They love to scratch around in lush vegetation uncovering every pebble, leaf or blade of grass always looking for a hidden treasure. Extremely attuned to what lies beneath the surface the chicken holds the teachings of observation, reflection and knowledge.

Personal space is important to the chicken. It requires open space in which to roam. If confined they can become aggressive with a tendency to pick on each other. A low ranking hen may be cornered and cannibalized.

Chickens have an uncanny ability to remove obstacles by pecking away tirelessly at anything that gets in their way. The skills of patience and determination seen in the chicken are often reflected in the personalities of those who hold this medicine. Although able to cooperate in groups chickens have a strong independent character and when the mood strikes they will demand their space, sometimes aggressively. Those with this medicine need occasional retreat and isolation from others. This need can come about unexpectedly at any time without warning.

Chicken medicine people are true teachers within the structure of relationships. They remind us not to become too needy of our partners, family or friends. They show us how to maintain a sense of independence in groups and ask us to take appropriate time for inner reflection. Those associated with chicken medicine people must respect that individuals need for personal space or feathers will ruffle!

Known for their hardiness chickens will run quickly and frantically away from danger. When danger is close they take off with a loud explosion which startles their predator. They are mindful creatures that have extreme sensitivity. Chickens feel the vibrations of mother earth and all life forms that inhabit her. This indicate its empathic abilities. Because empaths literally absorb the energy of everything around them a high strung nervous system can develop. If nervous energy isn't expressed in a balanced way sporadic unpredictable behavior can occur. Yoga or any other form of meditative movement can help those with this medicine acquire balance.

Those with this medicine are natural born empaths. They "feel" their way through life. Their feelings are always right and they need to honor and abide by them in everything they think, do and say.

Vampire Dim Sum

Dim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. It is usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day. Dishes come in small portions and may include meat, seafood, and vegetables, as well as desserts and fruit. The items are usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate. Yum cha (literally "tea drinking") is the term used to describe the dining session, especially in contemporary Cantonese.

Today I joined the OC Vampire Meetup at their monthly Dim Sum gathering. For me its akin to brunch with my family... since most of them are considered family to me.

I know... you're thinking, Vampires? In the daytime? Wha haha? Yeah, a bunch of daywalkers... just barely. Though some of them are so white they practically burn walking from the car to the front door, they're pretty nice people.

I arrived "fashionably" late only to discover we took up two large round tables and there were a cluster of individuals I did not recognize who were not eating, but sitting at the table.

They were students. No, not vampire students! College students, from a local art college and conducting interviews with the members to write a paper. I never found out what the paper was about though. In fact, they informed me they were students in a product design class. I began to wonder if they were attempting to get a leg up in the tough marketing industry by obtaining experience in new, fairly untapped niche markets like the vampire consumers. I'm fairly certain if they were to design some vampire product it would look great for their resume, provided they did a good job.

So I got to thinking about that niche market. With True Blood and Twilight being so heavily talked about, I wondered if anyone thought about gearing more products specifically for the vampire community. But then I remembered I live in Southern California which can tend to be a bit of a marketing bubble. We're unique in too many ways compared to the rest of the country, but we are also pioneers for trends.

Melissa and I got to talking about True Blood as a potential energy drink. We're both rather surprised no one has latched onto that idea and genuinely run with it. I could totally see it. And instead of regular flavor names they'd have to be A+, O+ and all the different blood types. Wouldn't that be fun?

I apparently missed it, but they did a huge marketing campaign for the drink in the tv show. It was geared to be a viral marketing campaign and worked so well that some folks thought it was for real and were asking for it!

In the tv show TruBlood is a synthetic blood the real vampires can drink instead of feasting on people.

It seems that enough momentum from the marketing campaign and the tv show seems there to help promote an actual drink product. I'm just sayin'...

But then I began to think about the stupid people and thought about why we have so many warning labels on things. I was thinking about some idiot trying to give themselves a blood transfusion using the drink. Of course, then that would put them in the running for a Darwin Award!

I also pictured more ignorant idiots, like the folks picketing for Yes on 8, protesting the drink saying its making people (insert stupid behavior here).

After we finished we did as is custom with all Meetup groups, we hung out in the parking lot and talked more. However, as I mentioned before, we have a few really pale people in the group so a couple of the girls brought out their parasols. It was cute.

Our conversations range from silly, to obscene, to highly political. I guess that was kind of redundant, huh? Anyway, we began talking about someone's mom saying she was supporting Yes on 8 and her reason was... ignorant, and totally incorrect. She thought a yes on 8 means the government won't be able to define what a marriage is and keeps it properly Christian. Lemme tell ya, a few of us got irritated right away.

Following on the heels of that story came another regarding the overall ignorance of many Americans who think we live in a Christian nation. Uh, hello? Folks, did you ever really read your history books in school? I guess not. A good place to start... read the Treaty of Tripoli.

The first treaty is cited as historical evidence in the contemporary controversy over whether there was religious intent by the founders of the United States government. Article 11 of the first treaty (1796) has been interpreted as an official denial of a Christian basis for the U.S. government.

Eventually the sun became too much for us so we dispersed. Most went to the Library... a place with lots and lots of books that clearly, many of Americans don't bother going to... and I came home to bug Sean, who went and bought himself a new computer. Lucky bastard.

It was a delightful afternoon with good friends.

My Interview with Rev. Don Lewis of Witch School

Back in February of this year I attended Pantheacon. I was surprised to be approached by Rev. Lewis and his crew as they asked to schedule me for an interview sometime during the convention. I was fit between big witch names like Amber K and Azrael K, Christopher Penzack, Macha Nightmare, Issac Bonewitz, Margot Adler and many others who's names I recognized.

I'm not sure who or how it happened, but upon entering the convention they told me they had heard from several individuals that they needed to interview me. They were actually more interested in my Meetups, than the work I do for CoG.

Not sure what delayed things, but my interview was added to their account today. It's a bummer it wasn't up sooner, it was also advertising Merry Meet, which was held in August. *shrug* Oh well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D8sgvoqjeA