New Beginnings

I think I opened this account about two and a half years ago. I actually have several online blogs for a variety of reasons, but tend to post on my MySpace profile where I have a fair following of readers. However, aside from the fact that MySpace holds very little relevance to keep my interest as a website, they've also changed their website format, making things painfully annoying for me when I make a blog post there.

So here I am today, posting on Blogger instead. This will be my new main blog. :)

There's a lot going on right now. I'm gearing up to begin teaching a new class. I'll be teaching what I've labeled an "Eclectic Pagan Studies" class. I've had a list of people waiting for me to teach a class on Wicca. However, I've been in the midst of my own studies for the last 4 years with a new coven in a secret tradition of Wicca. I will graduate come this Candlemas (Feb 2nd - Yes, that's Groundhog's Day to the non-pagan types) as an Elder High Priestess of this tradition. I'm an ordained priestess in 2 other traditions of Wicca and as my current coven's tradition takes 4 years I was not ready to teach anyone this year in that particular tradition. I also wasn't particularly enthusiastic to teach the other two traditions. Not that I don't like them, I just didn't feel a strong pull to teach only one tradition. I did, however, have a great desire to teach a variety of pagan traditions that I've incorporated into my own personal spiritual practice over the last 28 years.

Upon deeper reflection I decided to teach a pagan class that incorporated learning about a variety of pagan religions, traditions, histories, mythologies, rituals, various divination practices, energy work, healing modalities, etc. We'll be going on field trips to experience different group's rituals, lectures, exhibitions, and festivals. I have people coming in to speak on various topics of which they are more experienced in than myself. To be sure, the class will be extensive. The entire point is to expand knowledge.

I was planning to start with a small group as this class in it's topic and structure are new and different, but I now have 13 students. I have another handful of potential students waiting for the next round of classes to begin and we haven't even started this round yet.

I'm positively excited about starting these classes in January! It seems that just before I finish one journey, I'll begin a new one.

On the flip side of new beginnings, I have a less than happy new beginning. Last week I took Big Boy kitty to the vet. He'd been loosing weight. He was a ginormous, but sturdy, 30 lbs. He dropped down to 21 lbs in a rather short period of time. Turns out he'd been having a mild respiratory ailment and just recently developed diabetes. I had to give him a liquid antibiotic, eye ointment, and insulin shots every 12 hours. He didn't seem too bothered by the shot, did not care for the liquid, but absolutely did not like the eye ointment. His antibiotic and eye ointment treatment is complete and he's noticably better, but of course I need to continue on his insulin shots.

Understand, BBk doesn't camp out at the food dish, and I'm very particular about what they, he and his siblings, eat. He and his brother are both very large structured cats. His brother, Edmund, is 20 lbs. BBk's front paws are as wide as 3 of my fingers across.

The vet said that we caught his condition pretty early on and that if we get his weight down that it is possible he can naturally reverse his condition. She seemed very optimistic about it. :)

She also prescribed a food change. Low fat, high fiber Science Hills prescription diet. Stuff's not cheap! A 10 lb. bag is $28. Currently the kids all eat a turkey and oatmeal diet because I took them off of corn. It seemed to help greatly with some skin issues they were having and my allergies to them. However, the new SH food, the first ingredient is chicken-by-product, then corn. I'm not too happy about that, but I'm going to give it a try to see how they do. I've been slowly mixing the food ratio between the two from the turkey/oatmeal to the SH over the last week. In a few more days it will shift to all SH. I noticed all of the cats are now eating less. Much like humans, cats don't like diet food either. *bleah*

Tomorrow I'm going to take BBk into the vet to get his blood work done and see if the insulin has been helping or if they need to adjust the dosage. *fingers crossed*

There's also been a slew of recent drama going on all around me. To be honest, I don't feel like blasting it across the intarwebs even though it might be entertaining to those not directly involved. Hehe. In the end, it's just not worth the hassle. If people want to be silly, cause conflict, stir shit up, and create ridiculous and unnecessary drama, they can go do it elsewhere. I'm totally bored with it.

Otherwise, all is moving along, just as it should be, and the world keeps on spinning...