Wicca

Wicca and the specifics of my spirituality are something that I don't often get a chance to talk about with though outside my Circle (aka Coven) and my very very very close friends.

Like many witches, my path has been very eclectic and until recently very informal in my "training".  In mid-2009 just as I was ending a serious relationship I found a wonderful local Circle that was beginning it's third year.  Over the first year and a half I would attend rituals and take classes as my schedule and budget allowed.  Then all of a sudden this past year my spiritual growth took off and in the span of one year I have completed the spiritual work of three years.

Let me take a step back.  The Circle holds regular rituals open to all members and has a five year Priestess training program for those who would like to pursue it.  Each year of the Priestess training program is considered a Degree.

Over the course of my first year and a half with the Circle I completed my First Degree.  Over this past year I have completed enough work to account for my Second, Third and Fourth Degrees which fully catches me up with the founding members of the Circle.  I was never really trying to catch up to everyone else, but as the events of the last year have unfolded my jet-propulsion thru my spiritual work has kept going.

An additional requirement for my final Degree is to study a healing modality.  My High Priestess teaches Reiki.  I had had some Reiki session and like it, but never had  any interest to actually learn it.  As I moved thru all the spiritual work I actual opened myself up to Reiki and have now completed my first two Reiki Degrees and am in the process of obtaining my Reiki Master/Teacher Degree.

If you told me a year ago that I would not only have completed 3 years worth of Priestess training but that I would actually be taking Reiki I would have told you that you were blowing smoke (apparently that was sage you were blowing at me).

Vinyasas

One of my favorite things about yoga is that you don't have to Gumby to enjoy it.  As a non-normally-abled person the initial though of yoga scared the bejesus out of me; I'm pretty sure the first time someone suggested to me I looked at them like they had three heads.  But after taking several classes and talking with several instructors about how to adapt yoga to my abilities I've really grown to love it.

Sadly as my battle with fatigue has been worse this year and consequently I've fallen out of my yoga practice, which included two- and three-minute mini-office-yoga breaks, a short morning vinyasa for stretching and the occasional course of Sun Salutations.  So as I had my annual check up with my primary care doctor she reminded me of how great yoga is and got me thinking about ways to try and work it back into my daily life.

In an attempt to gently ease back into my practice I've decided to share with you my current morning vinyasa:

Warm Up:

Cow and Cat Poses

Vinyasa:

Dolphin

Child's Pose

Cobra

New Year (a little late)

Well, this Radioactive Duck has been swamped (and stressed) with work. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say that even with insomnia there has been little room for anything more than work and family drama. So as I try to reintegrate myself into blogging, the post may be short and more sporadic.

For the winter holidays I received a new custom corset that fits me even better than my first custom corset. There is definitely a learning curb in figuring out the measuring and fit, and even more so when your corsetière is not local. My new burgundy and lavender corset upgraded the front busk to a spoon busk and I'm very happy for this splurge. Currently I'm only wearing it 1-2 times a week, but can go about 9 hours with a 3-4" reduction. I hope to be feeling up to wearing it more during the week as 2012 progresses.