Sheelah's Day

Final Resting Place

This is a picture of my grandmother's final resting place.  My maternal grandmother died in August 2012, and her ashes were scattered today, 22 December 2012. 

Her picture is now the main focus of my ancestral space in my home, as my grandmother has had more influence on me in later life than any other person.  My gran will live on - in my heart.

Home

I have recently returned from a trip to Australia, a country I can no longer call "home". Even flying over the Northern Territory (the first point of contact) I felt alienated. Don't get me wrong, as a land Australia has a unique, fascinating and beautiful quality, but it's not one to which I can relate.

Within hours of arriving, after the drive from the airport to my sister's place of residence, I longed to be back in the UK. The sounds, the smells, the spirits of the place I found myself in were now alien to me. I even found the energy a little hard to "tune into" and quickly tuned out. Given I was born there, I should have attuned better, but I didn't. In fact, I did nothing even remotely pagan whilst I was there. No little rituals, no meditations, nothing. I didn't feel comfortable practising my faith in that country. Even being by the ocean offered no comfort to me and the ocean was always my saviour in low times when I was younger.

So, now I am back in the British Isles and I feel I truly am home. I understand and connect with this landscape, more so in the north, but, where I am now is comfortable for me.

Every time I travel to Australia, I feel more and more alienated from that country. It's a shame, but I know now that I could never return permanently; my faith is rooted here.

Six (Not So) Random Things About Me

I have been tagged by The Shepton Witch and Bee-Leaf.

The guidelines are:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

As this blog is specific to my pagan path, I will endeavour to keep my revelations relevant to posts I've made here.

1. I was raised Catholic, but renounced that religion at age 19. I had known for quite a while I didn't hold with any of the tenets of the church. Actually, I was seven when I starting asking awkward questions of my parents and my primary school's nuns and priest.

2. I was born in Australia, a country with which I have little affinity. I always felt like a stranger in that land, but I never knew how much until I emigrated.

3. My ultimate goal is to move to Scotland, which I feel is my "true" home. I had never been there until four years ago, but the country stole my heart.

4. I am attempting to learn to speak Scots Gaelic. I was going to learn Irish, but when I discovered Scotland, I changed my mind. Now all I need to do is find a local tutor.

5. The gods bypassed me when they were doling out creativity: I have none whatsoever. I have several family members who are artistic, being musicians, painters, dancers, cake decorators, seamstresses (my uncles can all sew), leadworkers, and so on.

6. I have a sneaking suspicion the god of the Christians/Muslims/Jewish exists; its just I've never encountered him, in any way, shape or form. I have a feeling he's hiding from all those people pleading with him to solve their problems in the (mistaken?) belief he is all powerful. Just one of the many gods who cause me to consider myself a hard polytheist.

So, here are the six bloggers I'm tagging.

Beirn;
Caroline Hardy;
Hermit Life;
Kit Berry;
Sara Macha; and
Wendy Mewes.