Magic

This is my treatment altar. Every piece on this altar has deeply personal meaning, from the










three sisters figure to the driftwood that represents my Uncle Ronald, who died 10 years ago this Thanksgiving. Ronald dealt with a lot of the same things I do, but he couldn't see a way out.





My great-grandmother's linen hankie and pieces from my folks and sisters complete the offering to the ancestors, both living and dead.


My homies from Georgia are represented: Celeste, Wendy, Joni, Melinda and Steve. Pam House.


The people I know from Montana, friends both past and present are represented. Claudia, Julie, Jan, Ben, Shawn, Marsha, Barbara, Bill, Robert, Roberta, Lynn, Bob Mc., Phyllis, Judith, Karen, Bobbi, Peggy, Tracy, Brent.


My power animal - a giant midnight panther with vivid green eyes is represented. He comes to me in the night and assures me that all is well; all is as it should be; all is actually quite perfect.



My very best blogging friends are represented: Olivia, Chani, Mary Louise, VR, Anybeth, Julie, Gabriella, Dorothy, AngelP. (See side bar for links)

My LSR friends.


I could write an entire very long post (and I tried to) about the astrology we're experiencing. Strong personally for me. Strong collectively for us as a society. But, nobody does it like Eric Frances and his excellent team at Planet Waves so if you're interested, visit him there.


My tarot cards have been freaky in their accuracy. I read several people's cards in detox and they were all pretty surprised with how well they fit their circumstances. I just do either a five card spread on a situation or a 3 Major, 5 Minor spread. I find it much more effective than some of the longer spreads.



I'm leaving for the Montana Chemical Dependency Center in Butte, MT, USA at 9 am sharp. The rest of the evening for me is about self-care, ritual, prayer and connection. Packing, cleaning and last-minute phone calls. I feel pretty overwhelmed but I know I'm going to a good place and I believe they can help me get over the experiences of the past few year and provide a good foundation for the sobriety to follow. I know without a doubt this is what I need to do and I'm ready and I'm taking lots of love and support with me. Good ancestry. Good friends.



The address where I will be is: MCDC, 2500 Continental Drive, Butte, MT 59701 Attn: Angela Nolan. I would appreciate any communication by mail, especially as I am going to be there through the holidays.

I love you all.

The Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel is an ancient healing/living modality created by Native American and other indigenous peoples throughout the world. It's a way of moving through life which is closely infromed by our connection to the earth; earth as mother, nurturer, healer. Earth as home and hearth. Earth now as victim who requires our assistance and cooperation to help her return to balance. I believe recovery is dependent on this connection and on our willingness to begin to treat the Earth, and ourselves, with respect.

Our physical bodies are part of earth, part of this dense matter, but our spirit - through our consciousness - is not, and exploring that frontier is also part of the Medicine Wheel. Freedom of consciousness is encouraged through intention, ritual and celebration. Acquiring even a small amount of freedom of consciousness requires some level of purification and so purification is also part of the Medicine Wheel.

The Medicine Wheel is a circular and organic process wherein each direction offers specific lessons that bring about balance, joy in living, respect for self and others, understanding and growth. Many of the processes I've previously explored and continue to explore: archetypes, meditation, ritual, mindfulness, self-examination, tarot, astrology and writing have their place within the wheel. The Medicine Wheel is a framework with tremendous room for individual expression and the freedom to customize what is chosen to place within that framework.

Of course, the most important thing about the Medicine Wheel for me is that I'm attracted to it. One of the principles of AA is that it is based on attraction rather than promotion, but in my experience AA was, and continues to be, promoted as the best if not the only way to recover from addiction. It wasn't intended to be that way, but the treatment industry (I think especially here in the west, but I'm not sure about that) basically grabbed onto the 12 steps and for years made it the only available option. When other programs began to spring up, they were mostly secular in nature, touting the rational road to recovery and these programs work well for many people. But the spiritual aspect of AA is not what bothers me at all. I want my recovery to inform my spirituality and vice versa so the secular programs left me feeling like something was missing as well.

I'm excited about exploring this framework here at Eclectic Recovery.

Tarot Thursday on Wednesday

I'm starting an in-depth study of the tarot. I've had my own cards for a few years, but the cards don't work if the student is not spiritually centered and I haven't exactly been spiritually centered for awhile. I've been amazed at how differently the cards are speaking to me now that I am sober and committed to staying that way. The Univerise is opening itself in so many ways and I am humbled and awed.

So, Elena at Lunar Musings is doing a tarot study group and what she has done is wonderful and gorgeous! I am so looking forward to going through the cards this way. Elena has a strong intuitive grasp of the cards, is able to write about them in a clear and easy-to-understand way and has done an incredible job with setting up this project. Look at the right-hand page of her blog to see the link to Tarot Thursday. I had trouble downloading the badge, but will try again later.

In the meantime, I've been spending quite a bit of time with the cards and have begun journaling with them. Yesterday I chose one major arcana card and one minor arcana card to spend a few days with - these are my two cards:

The Chariot: Adversity, possibly already overcome. Conflicting influences. Turmoil. Vengeance. Success. Possibly a voyage or journey. Escape. Rushing to a decision. Need to pay attention to details. Urgency to gain control of one's emotions.

Queen of Wands: A sympathetic and understanding person. Friendly. Loving. Chaste. Practical. Charm and grace. Gracious hostess. Sincere interest in others.

One really interesting thing about these two cards is that the figure in each card is the exact same figure - only one is a man and one is a woman.

Adversity. Possibly already overcome. Success. Conflucting influences. Friendly, loving, practical.

Let me say now that I'm terrible about keeping up with a project where I need to post weekly. This week I have a friend visiting from out of town and will probably be away from the computer for a few days. So when I feel the cards have something to say about my recovery, I will post about it here, but up front I'm not going to try and post every Thursday. However, I did want to post about it and link to it because Elena has done such a beautiful job and I think it's going to be a fantastic learning process and a great addition to my recovery work.