Monthly Archive: August 2009

I have posted the last of my articles, “Door to the Beyond: Paganism and Mental Health” (written for PaganPages.org) to my personal website. You can get to it by going to Hippo Haven, clicking “My Writings (Prose)” on the menu, selecting “Door to the Beyond”, and then selecting “Part XXIV”.

This is probably the most significant article in the series, and was a good place to stop, at least until I learned the lesson. The subject is Toxic Friendships — how to identify them, deal with them, remove them. Please read and enjoy.

Hugs,
Moss

Many of you know I used to (until just a few months ago) write an article for PaganPages.org on Paganism and Mental Health.  They invited me to continue writing that, but I feel I’ve covered enough in three years.

I wrote them last month and asked if they would be interested in having me write a column on IndoPaganism.  I have the first 7 articles outlined already, tying Hinduism directly to Wicca through the use of phrases from a section of the Gardnerian Initiation Ritual.

I have not heard back from them.  Which is strange, as they used to get back to me in minutes, not weeks.

So today I cast about trying to find another online zine I could offer this to.  Rather than using the shotgun approach (write everybody and see who picks it up first), I looked at several and wrote to one, the Wiccan/Pagan Times.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Here is the text of my letter:

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Dear Editor,

I have been writing an article on Paganism and Mental Health for PaganPages.org for the past 3 years, regularly and on schedule.  I ended this series a couple of months ago, with an offer to pick it up at any time.

It is my wish to begin a new series, on connecting Paganism with our Hindu roots.  As you may have seen in the Spring 2007 PanGaia Magazine, IndoPaganism has gotten some coverage already (and I was quoted quite a bit in that article).  I have the first 7 articles outlined, using a series of phrases from the Gardnerian Initiation Ritual to introduce the wisdom available in Hinduism.

I have been writing on Wicca since 1987, with many of my early articles preserved in the Sacred Texts Internet Archive.  I have been a member of the IndoPaganPaths Yahoogroup since its beginning, as well as being a Moderator, and also am a Moderator on the companion site at http://IndoPaganPaths.ning.com .  Therefore, I’m confident in my writing ability, my knowledge of the subject, and have sufficient reason to believe that people will want to read it.

There has been some controversy surrounding my person that comes up every now and again, from an action I took — and paid for — over 30 years ago, which is well before Goddess found me as Her Witch.  I have used this to strengthen myself and others, to show all that, indeed, She changes EVERYTHING She touches, but I did not want to hide this from you and have you blindsided by criticism.  The few articles that still exist on the Internet about this are FAR from accurate, but will show you how far people will go to slander others.  I have no hatred toward these people, and wish they would get to know me, but there you have it.

If you would be interested in running my articles, please let me know and I’ll get started on them.

In service,
Moss Bliss

Well, maybe…

Life has been more hectic.  Marc, a man trying to set up a produce program in Asheville to benefit MANNA Food Bank, Asheville Homeless Network, and Asheville residents in general, has come to town with a trivial budget, mostly eaten up by the $1150 plane ticket (round trip) from Warsaw, Poland.  He spent two nights in a local motel, and is spending the next 2, 3, 4, or whatever on my couch.  I’m getting some good meals out of this, and sometimes he rents a car which helps my transportation for a moment.  I just hope the program hits the ground running, and is not just another batch of hot air like so many things we’ve tried to do are.

I’ve been getting more exercise, mostly riding my bike (which is going much better now, I seem to be beginning to get my “legs” back).  For the first time since my foot surgery, I’m under 260 lbs.  Not MUCH under yet, but I’m working on it.

I got a bug bite on my right arm just below the elbow last week, and it swelled up like an allergic reaction.  I’m having to rotate treatments for it — everything I have tried (of 3 treatment possibilities) has worked once, then acted like a 1st degree burn when reapplied later… but one of the other two remedies works, then fails.  I think it’s better… just not sure what’s making it better and what worse, as they each seem to help once and the make it worse.

I almost did Open Mic at the Courtyard Gallery for the third consecutive week, haven’t done that for years… but petered out, as the morning prior saw a repairman come out for my dryer.  He fixed it, but I had to get up at 9:30 am to do that, and that threw me off my schedule.

All my groups are going well, almost on autopilot, which is a good thing because I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed here at home.  I still haven’t made the Perfect Loaf of Bread… made some pretty good ones, but now it’s not rising all the way and the bread comes out more cake-like.  Tastes good… and then the weather is hot and muggy, so it molds before I can finish eating it.

I got more of my music recorded, and split up the past couple live performances into individual songs.  I currently have 10 songs posted to my MySpace page, including 8 from the new project.  I have decided to pay for postage, discs, and envelopes by selling subscriptions.  $100 for a lifetime subscription (should be well over 400 songs, so less than 4c per song), or $8 for every two discs.  I’m not getting licenses for these, so I’m not selling the music (except for my own songs), just paying for discs, envelopes and postage.  This keeps your cost low, so order yours now!  LOL  but really, I’m serious, just am not the best salesman.  Note to those already signed up before I set the price:  Most of you will get yours free, some will be asked to pay.  The main impetus for this project is to make sure my grandchildren get to hear me sing, as they are in Denver and I have no transportation.

Hugs,
Me

AUGUST NEW RELEASES

Today at the Asheville Homeless Network meeting, we were visited by a cameraman and news reporter from WLOS-13 TV (ABC).  They didn’t just send a reporter, they sent their News Director.

I sat down and got my bearings.  I then got up and did the interview.  It was nice having a large turnout at the meeting, made for a nice backdrop for the interview.  I think I did well, the others at the meeting agreed… and nobody I know got to see the final report on TV.  (I no longer pay for cable, so I couldn’t see it…)

I suppose somebody will eventually tell me they saw it, so we can order the DVD.

Hugs,
Me

TOP TEN REASONS WHY WITCHES DON’T WORSHIP SATAN

10- Scorch marks on the furniture whenever Satan manifests.
9- Not even Lysol can mask the smell of brimstone.
8- Hard to keep flaming goat’s skulls lit.
7- Decreased availability of blonde virgins.
6- Blood stains from the sacrifices are *impossible* to get out of the carpet.
5- Wailing of the damned souls in hell keeps the neighbors awake.
4- The cats keep attacking Satan’s tail, which annoys him.
3- Repeated stooping motions for administering the Kiss of Shame (is difficult on the older coven members).
2- Demons smell even worse than brimstone

AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY WITCHES DON’T WORSHIP SATAN……..
1- Impossible to worship something that doesn’t exist!!

From http://www.fabrisia.com/humor.htm

It has been a while since I posted a dream… because it has been a while since I remembered one.  I don’t try to remember dreams, just let them remember themselves.

In this one, I was living in a high class neighborhood.  I was going to college, it was MidTerm day and I felt I had botched both of my morning classes’ tests.  I went home and was depressed, ready to drop out of school altogether.  Somehow I convinced myself to go back for the third test.  We had a really cool teacher, it turns out (didn’t remember anything prior to going to the class), who didn’t believe in MidTerms, so we were just sitting the chilling out and he was keeping us laughing.  Someone from Administration came in and was trying to berate him for this, but it didn’t phase him.  Somehow, things looked better for continuing.  I went home after this, as it was my last class.

I started taking care of (watering, etc.) my neighbor’s yard, just because I felt like it.  Apparently I did this whenever I felt like it, and it was understood between us.  Her cousin thought I was hired help and haughtily asked me when I was to be there next.  Between myself and my neighbor we explained the situation.  I commented to her on how there was one patch of perfect dichondra and the rest was just regular grass, although there was another patch on the other side of the house near the front which also had some dichondra mixed in.  I wondered why she had worked to hard (dichondra isn’t easy) to get that one patch without doing the whole lawn.  The partial patch also had some mushrooms growing in it.

Except the situation was changing.  Turns out my neighbor was married to a criminal of some kind (the high class kind, but dangerous), and I was there finding out how to get her out.  It really got weird in here, and eventually it seemed that I was running a phony gigolo agency to get several of these wives out of these abusive relationships with criminals.  I did not get the idea I was working for anyone.  I think one or two of their daughters were also in on the scheme.  There was some stuff around cell phones being traced… one of the criminals got a hint about my operation and tried to call my cellphone to locate me but had the number wrong by one number… somehow I knew about that, and turned my phone off while he was checking the records to get the number right.  I remember doing something intelligent, cagey, etc. to keep from being caught, but I don’t remember what happened next.  (I need a co-author for my dreams?)

Apparently I was successful, there was no more sense of danger in the dream.  In the last scene, I was talking with one of the women and some man, totally unidentified and not threatening, about, believe it or not, Uncle Bonsai.  Some music was on the radio, and eventually I noticed it was Andrew Ratshin of Uncle Bonsai doing this song… although it was rock with him singing lead, but with good harmonies backing him (not Ashley and Arni though).  The lyrics I remember were “Desperate lovers, under covers…”  slow melody line on top of high energy background, sort of like some of Bruce Cockburn’s songs but not with his voice.

Upon waking, I still had most of the chorus in my mind, and unlike most songs in my dreams, it was still sounding good.  Right now I’m doing a search on LimeWire to see if it’s a real song… of course, you can’t find everything there, but hey…

Hugs,
Me