Taking it to the Next Level

ISSN 2159-9939 2159-9890

To Be Happy Witch Hazel Life’s Wit The Call by Ankolie The Unmotivated Heathen Reaching for Unknown Heavens The Small-Town Pagan’s Survival Guide Confessions of a Reformed Cynic

“Taking It to the Next Level” January 2012 Volume 3 • Issue 1 ™• January 2012 • Volume 3

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PUBLISHER EXECUTIVE EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER LAYOUT WEBSITE ADVERTISING

Eberhardt, Personal Visions jess*ca mae Tootie Marie Faelin Wolf Mya Om Lucille M Rose Ankolie Amina Racozy S. J. Drew Sister Nariel Natasha Francis Dawn Francis Nina Pak, www.ninapak.com Refraction Design & Creative Services Personal Visions Eberhardt, Wendy Beth

Our goal at Pagan Edge is to provide readers a high quality, timely magazine with content relevant to modern pagans’ lifestyle and passions.

Our publication is a lifestyle magazine so while we may publish spells, rituals, and some magick how-to; we aim to focus on ways that pagans, wiccans, earth-based-spiritualists, and those of like mind can incorporate their values and beliefs into their everyday living.

Pagan Edge Magazine & paganedge.com exist solely to offer information to our readers. The publisher, editor, and the entire personnel of Pagan Edge, Pagan Edge Magazine, Personal Visions, Refraction Design and paganedge.com cannot be held responsible for misuse of any information provided. The views expressed in the articles and ads are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Pagan Edge Magazine.

Product descriptions, recipes & any how-to information: While we, and our affiliates, attempt to provide accurate information in the magazine and on the site, we do not warrant that the content on this site will be accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free. It is your sole responsibility for the use of the content of this Magazine or web site. For additional details please see www.paganedge.com ™•

January 2012 • Volume 3 3

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contents 6 Finding Your Edge Eye Candy for the Pagan Heart

8 Elders Corner The Goal:

To Be Happy

9 Plant Vibes Witch Hazel ...She’s a Chilling Beauty

On The Cover:

by Melania Marabilo EvanescentAngel666.

DeviantArt.com

10 Keeping the Edge Confessions of a Reformed Cynic

11 Life’s Wit “Bark!”

12 Divine Mind Reaching for

Unknown Heavens

13 PE Book Review The Small-Town

Pagan’s Survival Guide

14 The Call graphic story

by Ankolie

16 The Unmotivated Heathen 20 Art & Poetry featuring Nikki Ashendorf

VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 1 • JANUARY 2012 “TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL” PAGAN EDGE™ IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY

BY PERSONAL VISIONS ADMIN@PAGANEDGE.COM ™•

January 2012 • Volume 3 5

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Something caught your eye? Share it with PE readers! submit to chief-editor@paganedge.com 6

™• January 2012 • Volume 3

Bridget's Cross Pendant http://gryphonsmoon.com $24

Call for Writers Getting published in Pagan Edge is a great way to express yourself, keep connected to the pagan community, and get some pieces for your portfolio. We are currently looking for pagans to writer on pop culture and lifestyle topics: music, cooking, humor, art, advice, and more.

Contact jess*ca at

chief-editor@paganedge.com For more information & column descriptions

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January 2012 • Volume 3 7

From the Elders Corner

by Lucille M Rose

The Goal: To Be Happy A goal is defined as ambition or desire.

8

Years ago I met someone and we became quite good friends. She told me one of her goals in life had been to sell her property and purchase property that was off the grid.

“Off the grid” means one has no access to electricity, running water, telephone, cell phone and “gasp” the Internet. She was thrilled when she found the property she had been seeking. She promptly sold her house and established a new residence on this property she had purchased. She had wood heat, wood cook stove, hand pump, sheep and chickens.

Her intention for living off the grid was to someday be able to provide a place where people could come to get away from the every day stress of the mundane world, meditate in total silence, or be able to feel safe.

rituals and drumming. “We” could provide a place where people could connect with their spirituality. As time went on she talked more and more about her goal.

And one day she asked my opinion as to whether or not it I thought it could be accomplished. Actually the idea did sound good to me because there was not much offered to Pagans in my area.

We needed to discuss how this could all be accomplished. A small admission fee for the four day event would pay for entertainment (drummers), port-a-potties and basics.

Very rustic camping and clean water would be provided at no charge. She discussed this idea with other people and we soon had a small group of people who were willing to work on an event for our community.

We had the talent, skills and knowledge within the group to accomplish this goal.

One day she started talking to me about hosting a yearly event. “We” could have classes, workshops, meditations,

Over the years it seemed we needed more and more funds to cover costs of the event. This meant we needed

™• January 2012 • Volume 3

to do fund raising if we were going to keep admission fees to a minimal amount.

More and more calendar days were filled with things to be accomplished for the event and meetings to attend. More and more miles were added to my automobile odometer.

Money came out of my husband’s paycheck to cover my expenses for gas, printer ink, paper and whatever else I needed. I was not paid for my time. I now had to coordinate weekend visits with my son and grandchildren. I started declining invitations to events

Happy continued on page 19

Plant Vibes

by Dawn Sherwood

WITCH HAZEL She’s a Chilling Beauty

Peel Mike t y b h el.ne grap Photoww.mikepe w

Wouldn’t it be great if you could enchant your winterweary garden, and soul, with bursts of color in January, building into a full display of blooms by the end of February? Well you can my pretty, with the shrubby cousins Spring Witch Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis), also called Ozark Witch Hazel in its native southern states, and Hybrid Witch Hazel (H. x intermedia). Their spidery, bad hair-day blooms of red, orange or yellow open on sunny days and close when they get chilly, thus they can last for a month or more. In addition witch hazel shrubs offer richly textured, graygreen foliage throughout spring and summer that takes on shades of yellow, apricot or orange in autumn. Witch hazel bark has been used for centuries in medicines and skincare treatments and the shrub’s brazen, snow defying floral display will surely cure the winter blahs.

H. vernalis is hardy to USDA Zone 4 and H. x intermedia to Zone 5. Both prefer sun to partial shade in moist, slightly acidic soil. Depending on variety, they range in mature

height from 8-20 feet tall, and are often pruned to grow as small trees. As shrubs, these slow to moderate growers can be easily kept in the 8 foot range with proper pruning. Let them go with just minimal pruning for size or removal of dead branches to achieve a more natural look. Leafhoppers can be an issue for all witch hazels, but they are otherwise worryfree. If left untreated, the hoppers cause leaf spotting and leave behind sticky, honeydew excrement. In the home landscape they can be dealt with using insecticidal soap, pyrethrum or neem.

Spring witch hazel is the easiest to grow overall with reliable, fragrant blooms varying from yellow to orange to red and reaching about 8 feet as a landscape shrub. More named varieties of Hamamelis x intermedia, however are commonly found at garden centers.

Look for ‘Jolena’ ( sometimes found as ‘Copper Beauty’ or ‘Jelena’) with coppery blooms tipped with yellow, reaching approximately 15 feet tall and wide or ’Arnold’s Promise’, which blooms later, with

yellow flowers tinged red at the base, and is similar in size.

‘Pallida’ labeled alternately as H. x intermedia or H. mollis, is another popular yellowflowered variety averaging 10 feet overall in size and said to have excellent fragrance.

Some x intermedia varieties may have their blooms partially obscured by retained foliage, so you should plant them where they can be easily viewed up close or be willing to take a few moments in December to coax the clinging, dead leaves off the plant for a clear view. Two such varieties worth this extra effort are ‘Sunburst’, offering profusions of intense yellow blooms on a 10 x 8 foot plant and ‘Diane’ with coppery red blooms and an overall size of 20 x 10 feet.

A fun late December or early January option for any of the spring blooming witch hazels is to bring some branches inside for forcing. Slit the bottoms of the cut stems and place them immediately in water, then keep them misted or humidified, and not too warm, for about a week. Enjoy your bewitchingly fresh bouquet while the snow flies outside!

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January 2012 • Volume 3 9

Original Photography by Nina Pak ©2011 Model: Rachael Kileen, Hair & Make Up Artist: Lauren Marler

Confessions of a Reformed Cynic

Keeping the Edge

by Mya Om

Today I’m one of those annoyingly happy perky people. I have a wide smile and a can do attitude.

Nothing can keep me down for long. But I wasn’t always like that, for years I was a caustic, bitter cynic. If there was a cloud in a clear blue sky I could find it. Today I look for the ray of sunshine in the darkest sky. Why the difference?

A few years ago, after some very hard times, I realized that is so much simpler to be happy than angry, to be optimistic instead of a cynic –

it’s also better for my blood pressure and peace of mind. It was not an easy transformation, nothing worth doing ever is.

Transforming your attitude requires mastery over self and the understanding of transformation as a process. Last year we talked about the Witches’ Pyramid (a.k.a. the Four Pillars of Witchcraft) – to know, will, dare and keep silent. Just as learning the art of magick takes time, effort and Confessions continued on page 18

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Life’s Wit

by S.J. Drew

a ” r B ! k “ The elevator ride was very uncomfortable. Sami and his bicycle were jammed in with three of his neighbors, all of whom were attractive, extroverted women his own age, and none of whom were talking to him. He felt invisible, and not for the first time. The elevator doors open and he extracted himself and his bicycle with some mumbled apologies and went to his apartment.

He made dinner, alone, and watched TV, alone, and wondered again how to make any friends. He liked the neighborhood. It was located in what used to be a bad part of the city but through tax breaks and cheap rent, it was now full of artists and college students. He’d been there for three months and none of his neighbors even knew his name.

“I wish I was brave enough to just go say hello to everyone,” he thought.

When Sami got home the next day, he saw a medium-sized black dog wandering around the complex. Having a soft spot for animals, he knelt down and snapped his fingers.

The dog walked up to him, wagging its tail.

“Bark,” said the dog. It was skinny with long legs, a whip-like tail, and looked kind of like a jackal except it had floppy ears.

“Do you belong to someone?”

Sami asked, checking for a collar.

There was one, and a dog-tag, but

“Bark!” continued on page 21 ™•

January 2012 • Volume 3 11

Making the Divine Mind, Mine

by Sister Nariel, Contemplative Order of Anam Cara

Reaching for Unknown Heavens The running is over, the decorations are stored away for another year and for many of us, the cold days of winter are beginning to take their toll. Post-holiday blues tug at our heart strings and drive us towards the left over cookies that we swore on New Year’s to avoid.

We’re at the threshold of opportunity. So why does it feel like we’ve been drop kicked through the goal posts?

Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the past and move towards the future. The past somehow seems so very comfy to us.

It’s not that the past didn’t have its share of difficulty, trial and pain, but we got through it didn’t we? We paddled that creek, climbed that mountain and walked that path. Uphill.

Both ways. In the snow.

Yes, it’s true that we have our share of scars to show for it, too. Perhaps we are a bit more cynical then we once were. We cut our eye teeth on adversity and learned how to make ‘Helper’ when the hamburger was too expensive to buy. We were hurt by the carelessness of others or became victim to our own deflated valuation of ourselves. We learned not

to trust our own voice. We silenced it and hid it away until we could no longer find it anymore.

Yet, still... here we are, aren’t we? We’re at the brilliant yet baffling doorway between today and tomorrow. Even when we want to make the changes that we are certain we need to make, we tend to stick with our old behaviors. They are those “old friends” that tell us: “I’m a nobody. I’ll always be a nobody.” “ I’m no good. I’ll never be any good.” “I can’t do it. I don’t know how.” “I won’t succeed. I always fail.” These “old friends” are comfortably Reaching continued on page 23

™• January 2012 • Volume 3

The PaganEdge

Book Review

by Faelin Wolf

whether you’re a solitary practitioner or prefer to practice with others. Forbes offers advice on how and when to come out of the broom closet, how to approach meeting other pagans in your area, how to meet your pagan material needs (think altars!) in a small town, how to connect with others online, and how to start your own groups or covens. She speaks from experience, having lived in both small towns and urban areas and having started several groups and covens over the years. She also supports her suggestions with advice from others. She collected surveys from other pagans living in small towns and offers their ideas as well as her own on various topics.

The Small-Town Pagan’s Survival Guide:

How to Thrive in Any Community

by Bronwen Forbes, 2011 ISBN: 9789738726229

How many of you out there live in small towns where you don’t have access to any pagan events, groups, or shops? Do you know anyone else who is pagan that you can connect with?

Once you find them, how do you connect with them? Where do you to connect when you don’t know anyone else? How do you tell others about your religion and/or spirituality?

Bronwen Forbes has some ideas for you!

This is a great book for everyone, whether you live in a small town or not, whether you’re experienced or inexperienced in your path, and

I appreciated Forbes’ approach to the topics in this book. They’ve come out of her experiences as well as others’ experiences living in small towns or making the transition to small towns.

She doesn’t offer her ideas as the “right” or “only” way to do things, but offers them as they are, suggestions. When she doesn’t know or isn’t sure, she will admit it and offer the information she has, from her research or her survey respondents. You know what else I like about The Small-Town Pagan’s Survival Guide?

It’s realistic. Forbes doesn’t sugar-coat things: she offers the pros and cons and lets the reader make his/her own choices. She acknowledges the good things about starting your own coven, but also acknowledges the challenges. I love her down to earth attitude.

This is definitely worth the read. Join Bronwen at her Yahoo Group smalltownpagans to continue the conversation, ask questions, or ask for advice. ™•

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January 2012 • Volume 3 15

The Unmotivated Heathen

by PE Staff

Every day is a rush. We work on getting up on time, find something to eat to break our fast, commute to work, spend the day being a cog in the wheel of corporate life and finally come home to a house full of chores and family. We try sitting down in front of a giant screen to relax and be entertained, or going out to do the same. Rinse and repeat.

Does this sound familiar? Is some variation of this theme one you’re living every day?

There does not seem to be a lot of time for meaningful connections, spiritual exploration, or just being present.

For those of us who are nonChristian and living in an urban, setting it can be daily struggle to find any lifestyle that has not been molded either by Christian culture or it’s secular off shoots. We are products of our environment

without even being aware of the depth to which this affects us. This is not a unique or even uncommon problem in the world as any smaller groups or individuals that are not in the “majority” find themselves reshaping their life, faith, and personal habits to minimize the friction of being different.

Alternatively, we may not even see on a daily basis that the core of our beliefs are not in tune with the Western culture in which we participate until we experience an alternative culture or a transformative experience like a Pagan Summer Festival. To have the paradigm shift our beliefs, the first task is to acknowledge and accept that the current state of cultural affairs is not our ideal.

What is ideal?

Heathens of any stripe have another set of choices to make.

Do we wish to make the world a better place? (sustainable living, environmental renewal, etc.) Or is finding spiritual peace via inward exploration the answer? Is our personal change going to be immediate and profound, or a gradual more evolutionary approach?

The answer of course is “it depends”. With these choices, some of which feel like they could be a substantial burden, many may become unmotivated and world weary.

Books and online interaction have been staples for both solitary and group-based Pagans. These tools have made it possible to construct some form of culture closer to being free of other religions’ social pressures. However, the ability of these tools to make us feel at “home” reach their limit once we get beyond the initiate level. This actually creates a major road block to growth because neither provides a Unmotivated continued on page 27

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Unmotivated continued from page 16 clear path to establishing intra-personal connections or further learning to open the way to continued selfenrichment.

How then do we develop and live a lifestyle in sync with our beliefs? How can we be culturally and personally pagan?

The first, and perhaps the easiest, step to take is to brainstorm a list of all the things you could do in your daily life to celebrate your path.

From here, if the list is not very long, ask yourself

as routine so you do not have to use your active attention.

In the long term, this is a more successful way to ensure changes are transformed into daily practice.

Along with the actual physical changes in your habits should come a greater awareness of the seasons, their durations, natures, and how the sun and the moon tie the cycles together.

when and where you can fit these things into your life.

It may be a challenge at first to squeeze these practices into your busy schedule, but a partial solution is to make a list of what aggravates you or you feel is in need of change. Then look for opportunities to swap out one activity for another.

Start your morning with enough time to be able to lie about and enjoy being alive, after all — that is one of the most important things you can do. The key to adopting new elements into your life is to do so with moderation.

Doing one thing for 21 days to a month helps establish it

However, if you are one who has embraced “pagan time” as one of your behavior models you may want to incorporate a calendar and alarm into you collection of tools. Especially if you are solitary — having a reminder of “when” you are in the year can really deepen you opportunities for understanding and for communicating with the Gods at their pace. If you are part of a group, being aware of your “when” will also strengthen your bonds

and the possibilities for more consistent ritual and energyraising.

The fact still remains: we live in a public culture based in a faith not ours, while at the same time having echoes of an older classical age. This sets us all up for times when we choose whether or not to participate in a public spiritual event or holiday. While there can be no clear generic advice for these occasions, ask yourself if it furthers your own life and spiritual goals. If not, then do you really have to be involved? It should be a point where you only compromise for people or other things that rank equally for you.

Why? Because the dominant faiths of the land expect everyone to fall into rank so their systems can be perpetuated smoothly.

One of the lessons that we can learn again from the “99%” movement is that

sincere change does have to be won.

This is true both at the personal and the public level. If it is our place to pressure others into our beliefs, which is as it should be, and then we should not shy from displaying our pride and our points of view whenever we can.

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January 2012 • Volume 3 17

Confessions continued from page 10

Pick the biggest goal that you could ever have in your life. What have you done to reach it? will power; so too does changing your life – in fact the two are inextricably linked.

I began my own transformation because I realized my attitude was the biggest barrier I had to getting what I wanted from life – both magically and mundanely. I wanted respect, but I didn’t know how to earn it.

I wanted mastery of my craft, but I didn’t understand what it took to get it. It wasn’t until I understood how everything in life is connected, that I understood what I needed to do.

In The Witch of Portobello, by Paulo Coelho, a girl named Athena discovers her own ability to transform her life. It starts with her discovery of her ability to reach spiritual ecstasy or a trance state through dance – a dance that she shared with her coworkers and resulted in the change she desired, it was kismet. The story ends with Athena’s discovery of the divine feminine or the Goddess and her understanding that she was given a glimpse into the transformative force which created the world. Athena’s transformation occurs in stages – as all transformations do. Bit by bit she puts the pieces of herself together until the woman that she is at the end of the story bears no resemblance to the girl she was; and yet at the same time she is more quintessentially herself.

Of course real life is not fiction, but the principle is the same. Transformation is a gift of the goddess; it is the gift of magic. Every spell, every chant, every act of will, is a nascent transformation. If you want it to stick you have to follow it through. Those who understand a bit 18

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about witchcraft will tell you: you can’t doubt the success of your working because doubt negates will — and will is the driving force of magic.

Take the idea of will to its ultimate conclusion, and you quickly realize that to be the most successful witch you cannot have doubt, either in your mundane or your magical life. So how does that lead to me giving up cynicism?

Cynicism encompasses a long list of behaviors; including pessimism, skepticism, and the belief that everyone is out for his/her own self interest.

All of these attitudes alone can kill a working; together they can destroy a life.

Pick the biggest goal that you could ever have in your life.

What have you done to reach it? What set back(s) hold you back? What is stopping you from reaching your goals?

Every single obstacle is a cloud in the blue sky of your life. How you choose to deal with that is up to you. Personally, I prefer to walk in the sun, rather than hide behind a cloud. I am not an especially gifted person, nor have I any unique talent.

I just decided I wasn’t going to live a life filled with no(s). “No, I didn’t do this.” “No, I couldn’t accomplish that.” “No, it’s just too hard.” If the word “no” is holding you back, why are you letting it?

Take a few minutes and look at the goal you picked, what is the smallest step you could take towards reaching it? That small step is the little ray of sunshine in your cloudy sky. It is the first step toward ever-increasing transformation. Try it, what do you have to lose?

✪

Happy continued from page 8 event.

3. A fundraiser was scheduled every single month from May to September. We are not including the fundraisers that were scheduled in the other months.

and visits with friends and family who were hearing the same excuses and comments…

“I am busy this weekend, that weekend and oh that weekend too!... I am so sorry summer is already over and I was unable to find the time to accept your invitation to visit... Would next year work for you?”

Then one day I realized several things (an epiphany!): 1. It had been several years since I had visited family who did not live in the area.

My annual visit back home in October was one thing important enough to be written in black ink into my datebook. And it was not going to be cancelled. I am RETIRED! So why did I not have time to visit friends and family? Why could I not visit for a week or two if I so desired? One day would come when invitations were no longer offered. Or I would be too old to visit!

2. Every single month of the year was now connected in some way or another with the

4. Conversations with some people revolved totally around the event.

5. My goals, projects and things I enjoyed doing had been set aside.

6. My personal to-do list was turning into a journal!

7. My husband, son, grandchildren, other family members, close friends and my home-based business were no longer at the top of the list.

8. And most importantly, I realized I was at the point where I was resenting all the time I was devoting to someone else’s goal.

attended a leadership-training course. One of the things we had to do was write ourselves a mission statement, which I did.

A few days after my epiphany, the Goddess decided to help me see my situation more clearly. In reorganizing one of the closets, I came across the course material for the leadership program. I flipped through the material and came across my mission statement.

Just out of curiosity I asked my husband when he came home from work what his mission statement in life would be if he had to decide on one. Without blinking an eye his reply was, “to be happy in life”. What a novel concept. It was simple, direct, to the point and it involved no drama.

When you decide on a goal in your life. Ask yourself some basic questions. Who is important in your life? What is important to you? And most of all is this YOUR goal and not someone else’s goal.

✪

I needed to be honest with myself. I needed to give some serious thought about how and why I had made someone else’s goal the number one priority in my life. Who was most important in my life?

How was it affecting them?

How was it affecting my mental and physical health?

Several

years

ago

I

had ™•

January 2012 • Volume 3 19

Art and Poetry

by Nikki Ashendorf

Luna Mystique My name is Luna Mystique I offer it to the God and Goddess I am confusing, cryptic and arcane A conundrum wrapped in an enigma A lady of magick and mystery A Medium to the God and Goddess They are with me I hear them now The guide my hand leading me through the mysteries of old I follow willingly What will come next?

It is a mystery.

Goddess of the Moon She lifts her arms up to the moon “Earth, Air, Fire, Water, protect me on this summer moon The Earth, it quacks... The Air, it twirls... The Fire, it burns... The Water, it swirls...

Magick dances round and round The full moon comes down and down She is the Goddess of the Moon.

Faery Dance Faery folk play hide and seek “Come and find me, in the ferns I peek!”

The Gentry dance to a tune but a whisper Gossamer wings, they flutter “Come in, come in.” They whisper in my mind.

I think I’ll go... and magick the day away.

Nikki Ashendorf is a writer, poet, artist, and regular contributor to Crow Calls newsletter.

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“Bark!” continued from page 11

it was so scratched he couldn’t read it. “Well, you do belong to someone. If you’re here, maybe you belong to a neighbor, but I don’t remember anyone missing a dog.”

“Bark,” said the dog.

“I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Sami used his laptop bag shoulder strap as a makeshift leash. The dog didn’t seem to mind. “Come on. I need to put up my bike and then I’ll take you around the neighborhood.” The dog obediently trotted after him.

Somehow having a purpose in talking to everyone in the neighborhood made it easier for Sami to go out and actually meet people. At the end of the expedition, no one claimed the dog, but everyone knew who Sami

was. He’d spent quite a bit of time at apartment 3G in particular, which housed the three women he’d shared the awkward elevator ride with the day before. The conversation about the dog was pleasant and ended with an invitation to an apartment complex party.

“Well,” Sami said when he returned to his apartment, “I still don’t know who you belong to. I guess I’ll put up some flyers. But if no one claims you, would you like to stay with me?”

“Bark,” said the dog, wagging its tail.

The next day after work he made some flyers and called up the local animal shelters, but no one claimed the dog. He didn’t mind; the dog was very well behaved and it was nice to have some company. He even took the dog to the apartment complex party, which again made a nice conversation starter with his neighbors.

“Okay, I think you’re officially my dog now,” Sami said after

the party. “I should thank you. Now everyone knows my name and I’ve got a date with Abigail from 3G next Friday.

Everyone says you look like a jackal, so I’m going to call you Jack. How do you like that?”

“Bark,” said the dog.

“Good boy. Hey, wait a sec.

Did you just say, ‘bark?’”

Jack stuffed his nose in Sami’s shoes.

Sami shook his head. “I must just be imagining things.

You’re a good boy.”

The dog barked happily.

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J

January 2012 • Volume 3 21

Your Community • Your Connection

Upcoming Themes & Deadlines February 2012: Matters of the Heart Deadline: January 5th, 2012 March 2012: Hearth & Home Deadline: February 5th, 2012 April 2012: Keeping It Green Deadline: March 5th, 2012

paganedge.com 22

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Reaching continued from page 12

enmeshed in our fabric of being. They keep us from being truly alone, from trying and failing—because they remind us in their niggling way, that we will indeed, fail.

Epic failure. Huge.

powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

Remarkably this very threshold offers an opportunity for us to relinquish our known hell and to take hold of our unknown heaven.

The only thing that holds us in a known hell is our inability to see and take hold of an unknown heaven. We are terrified of falling flat on our faces with everyone looking on. We are horrified by the possibility of failure. Our “old friends” mock us with our own excuses and self-deprecating mantras.

It can be scary to close our eyes and imagine what our heaven might look like. A better job?

A healthier relationship?

Perhaps that unknown heaven is a trip we’ve longed to take or an art or talent we have wished to try or develop. Maybe it’s going back to school to pursue our degree or making amends with the person that we had the falling out with.

That’s the brilliant thing about our unknown heaven — it is unknown. We can’t possibly see or fathom how wonderful it might be!

Marianne Williamson once said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are

Behind the door of your present, there is indeed an unknown heaven. You alone hold the key to that door. It is your choice if you will turn the lock, cross the threshold and take hold of your heaven.

Peace to you and peace to your sense of possibility. Peace to your past and peace to your present. Peace to your future, because it will come — ready or not. Believe in yourself as I believe in you. You are amazing! You are nothing less than beautiful.

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