Well-Mannered Frivolity

My day

I had a really bad day today. I cried. I ranted. I raved. Then I topped if off with a migraine headache.
Even this didn't make me feel any better. Well maybe a little.

Weird Al Wednesday

<3 Wendy

This one is for my dad, the eBay guru. Although, he is mostly a seller.

Snugwow

The Fairfull kid's latest video

This is how I feel sometimes

As I'm sure you can tell from my posts from the last few days I'm in a bad place. I feel really separate from God. I would appreciate your prayers and suggestions.

 <3 Wendy

I think I've found my problem

I am currently reading Confessions of a Pagan Nun: A Novel by Kate Horsley. The premise of the book is that it follows the life of Gwynneve, I woman raised in traditional Celtic religion who later becomes a Christian nun. It is fascinating to read about the conversion from Druidism to Christianity in 500 AD Ireland. The author uses the Gaelic terminology where there is not clear English translations, instead giving an approximate English translation through numerous foot notes. A passage in Confessions really struck a chord with me. It's a longish quote, but I wanted to make sure it is read in context

"The People who listened to the tonsured men (monks) asked many questions, and the druids who attended to chieftains in those places debated with the monks. They asked,"On what kind of tree was this hero Jesus sacrificed?" And the monks often answered, "It was the yew tree," which they knew was sacred to the druids, who made their staffs and wands from the yew tree. Now the make the ancient wells and standing stones into Christian relics, attributing their powers to saints. I do not quarrel with this practice, for I believe that which is sacred does not care by what name it is called. But I often wish that I did not know history so well so that I could believe more thoroughly in the Christian rendition of our landscape. Knowledge often spoils devotion"

Knowledge often spoils devotion. That phrase speaks volumes to me I have a hard time accepting things on blind faith. It is my struggle. I often wonder about how the goddess Brigid became Saint Brigid etc. Did the early church fathers incorporate the local myths in order to convert the people to Christianity, or were these gods/goddesses/traditions precursors to Christianity? It's like asking which came first: the chicken or the egg.

Yes, knowledge can indeed spoil devotion. Welcome to my world.

<3
Wendy

Weird Al Wednesday

Feeling better today

Thank you for putting up with my blasphemous post yesterday. I feel much more in control today. Bill took me to the doctor, and he changed my meds around a little. I have learned to recognize that when I start wanting to change religions that means I'm on a manic upswing. This time it just so happened by be goddess worship. Some of you who read my post must have been praying for me, because I feel like a whole new creature today.

On another note, I have been reading a lot of book/reading blogs lately. I now have a TBR pile that is threatening to take over the house. If I live to be 100 and no more books are ever published I just might be get to the end of my stack.

I've practically turned this blog into a book blog. I've decided to stick with Library Loot and The Sunday Salon. The rest of my blogging time will be spent on zany antics with the occasional crazy rant.

<3
Wendy

Keeping it real to the point where I will offend most of my readers

For many years I have struggled with the idea of patriarchy. For a while I really threw myself into the idea of living a life dominated by patriarchy. I desperately wanted Bill to be the spiritual head of the household. I wanted to be completely submissive to him. Luckily for me Bill didn't buy into my ideal.

Most of my life as a teenager and an adult I have been drawn to the Sacred Feminine. I have tried desperately to suppress my feelings. I can't hold back any longer. There has to be equality and balance between the divine male and the divine female.

I've been reading Sue Monk Kidd's memoir The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (Plus)and she has put into words exactly how I feel.

"A woman in Deep Sleep is one who goes about in an unconscious state. She seems unaware or unfazed by the truth  of her own female life, the truth about women in general, the way women and the feminine have been wounded, devalued, and limited within culture, churches, and families. She cannot see the wound or feel the pain. She has not acknowledged, much less confronted, sexism within the church, biblical interpretations, or Christian doctrine. Okay, so women have been largely missing from positions of church power, we've been silenced and relegated to positions of subordination by biblical interpretations and doctrine, and God has been represented to us as exclusively male. So what? The woman in Deep Sleep is oblivious to the psychological and spiritual impact this has had on her. Or maybe she has some awareness of it all but keeps it sequestered nicely in her head, rarely allowing it to move down into her heart of into the politics of her spirituality."

and "In Christianity God came in a male body. Within the history and traditions of patriarchy, women's bodies did not belong to themselves bu to their husbands. We learned to hate our bodies if they didn't conform to an ideal, to despise the cycles of menstruation-"the curse,"--it was called. Our experience of our body has been immersed in shame."

Did you know that the early church fathers debated whether or not women had souls, and if they did indeed have souls, could they be saved.

I in now way doubt the divinity of Jesus or His saving grace. What I am sick of is 2000+ years of male dominance.

<3

Wendy

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Alessandra that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Book 1)by Charlaine Harris
"Aurora Teegarden, Lawerencton, Georgia, librarian and member of a club devoted to the study of famous crimes, has prepared what she thinks ought to be a riveting speech for the Real Murders Society . But a playful murderer steals the show with a real-life re-enactment of the case Aurora has chosen, casting one of the club members as victim."

Mystic Riverby Dennis Lehane "When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened-something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever."

Confessions of a Pagan Nun: A Novel  by Kate Horsley "Kate Horsley's moving and subtle historical novel both embodies and confirms the enduring power of language. Cloistered in a stone cell at the monastery of Saint Brigit, a sixth-century Irish nun secretly records the memories of her Pagan youth, interrupting her assigned task of transcribing Augustine and Patrick."

Damosel: In Which the Lady of the Lake Renders a Frank and Often Startling Account of her Wondrous Life and Times by Stephanie Spinner

Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays by David Sedaris "In David Sedaris's world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz, and the National Enquirer, Sedaris's collection of essays is a rollicking tour through the national Zeitgeist: a do-it-yourself suburban dad saves money by performing home surgery; a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenage suicide tries to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; a bitter Santa abuses the elves."

 

Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank: A Slightly Tarnished Southern Belle's Words of Wisdom
by Celia Rivenbark  "Celia Rivenbark is a master at summing up the South in all its glorious excesses and contradictions. Rivenbark is an intrepid explorer and acid commentator on the land south of the Mason-Dixon line."