Maritzia’s Thoughts

My sister-in-law is just an amazing individual.  She’s one of those people with so much energy, you get tired just being in the same room with her!  But she puts all of that fabulous energy to good use.  She does management consulting in the video games industry, which, as we all know, is not exactly the bastion of feminism.  She does a huge amount of charity work (she was President of the Board of Directors for Room to Read Canada), and she is extremely active in the sport of Ultimate.  She has been on several championship teams, and last year in Finland, her team (the Canadian National Team) won the gold medal at the World Ultimate Championships.  And this was at the age of 41!

Anja has been working in England for the last year or so, and while there she has been active, of course, in the Ultimate scene there.  Well, I just heard that Anja has been asked to coach the British National team!  Hooray for Anja!

Ladies, if you want a female role model for your children, Anja is you gal.  She’s smart, funny, caring, energetic, fit, and never gives up.  She works in a male dominated industry and gets ahead not by being catty and petty, but just by being really fabulous at her job.  Anja, this one’s for you, hon!

I know, I know, I’m writing a lot today. But for some reason I feel inspired. I don’t want to do the same old things I do every weekend, so I’m stretching myself a bit, and that alone tends to inspire me.

The January card was King of Wands. I figure since January is mostly over, I’ll go ahead and take a whack at this one. I’ve been reading various references for the King of wands. Most of what I’m reading shows him as the passionate leader, the charismatic one that inspires. Well, I’ve never really considered myself terribly charismatic, nor inspiring. I’m usually in search of inspiration myself. I’ve felt myself a little rootless this month, wandering, needing something to fire me up in one direction or another. Wavering is a good word to describe me this month. I haven’t been unhappy, just trying to figure out which path I should be taking. I haven’t had a charismatic leader guiding me one way or another, so I’m a little at a loss as to where this card is leading. Of course, I’ve always *wanted* to be the person described by this card, but I fear I am far, far from ever being that person.

So, I finally got around to doing a tarot reading for the coming year. I pulled a card for each month and one for the year. I’m still working on the interpretations (I’m now and a bit slow), so I’ll add those later. For now, here’s the draw:

January - King of Wands

February - Princess of Hearts

March - Ten of Pentacles

April - Ten of Wands

May - Four of Swords

June - Nine of Hearts

July - The Hanged Man

August - Four of Hearts

September - Ten of Swords

October - The Hermit

November - Ace of Hearts

December - The Devil

And the card for 2007 - The Star

That’s an interesting one for the year. I earlier looked up my number for the year (I think it was 3), but the meaning was close to the same. It was a year of anticipation, the year when things would fall into place and great things can happen if I’m willing to do the work. I’m struggling with what exactly I’m supposed to be working on *laughs*. Is it my writing? I wrote my first novel for NaNoWriMo. I want to get it rewritten and possibly submit it to some publishers, not necessarily in the hope that it will be published, but to get the submission experience in case I ever write anything good enough to be published.

Then again, work is going terrifically well. My boss and coworkers like me. I’m good at the work. I have lots of ideas and abilities that can really make a difference there. Is that where I should be directing my energy?

Or is it going back to school? Should I direct my energy at finishing my degree and moving forward professionally?

There’s not much I need in my personal life. My relationship with my husband is great. I continue to build a friendship with my sister. I love the dogs and the life that we lead. It’s more in the professional development arena that I feel called to work. But work at what, that’s the question?  *laughs again* I think I need to do another reading just around that!

I found this over at The Witch Within. It was too good to not share it with all my female friends here. I hope you post it on your sites. I have been unable to find an attribution, other than it is by an Australian girl. It’s been around the net for a while, but it can’t be repeated too much

I Fight Like A Girl

I fight like a girl who refuses to be a victim.
I fight like a girl who is tired of being
IGNORED and HUMORED and BEATEN and RAPED.
I fight like a girl who’s sick
of not being taken seriously.
I fight like a girl who’s been pushed too far.
I fight like a girl who OFFERS and
DEMANDS RESPECT.
I fight like a girl who has a lifetime of
ANGER and STRENGTH and PRIDE
pent up in her girly body.
I fight like a girl who doesn’t believe in
FEAR and SUBMISSION.
I fight like a girl who knows that
THIS BODY and THIS MIND are mine.
I fight like a girl who knows that

YOU ONLY HAVE AS MUCH POWER
AS I GRANT YOU.

I fight like a girl who will never allow you
to take more than I offer.
I fight like a girl who FIGHTS BACK.

So next time you think you can distract
yourself
from your insecurities by victimizing a girl,
THINK AGAIN.
She may be ME and

I FIGHT LIKE A GIRL.

See, nothing irritates me more than to have people trying to define what is and isn’t pagan. Pagans have to be nature centered. Pagans of to be polytheists. Blah…blah…blah….

I feel the same way about Christians who try to define who is and isn’t Christian. If I want to say I’m Christian, who gives a damn. If I want to say I’m Pagan, what the heck does it have to do with you? Pagan is a *very* broad umbrella. There’s lots of us folks who have very eclectic belief systems who self-identify as pagan. Why? Because it’s the closest we can come to an easy statement to give people a basic idea of our general beliefs. What irritates me more than anything else is this idea that somehow Pagan means Wicca. And while I share some beliefs with Wicca, I am not a Wiccan. I share some beliefs with Christianity, but I’m not really a Christian. Heck, I have beliefs that fit in with a lot of other belief systems, but none of my beliefs fit wholly within any defined, organized religion. (Although it’s a stretch to call Wicca defined. It’s about as defined as Christianity. The are some general items that most will agree to, but pretty much, Wicca practiioners tend to be a pretty eclectic group.) So, I identify as generically pagan, because more of my beliefs fit into that structure than any other. And that hurts you how? Why is it that you only feel good about your religion by categorizing and defining in order to exclude others?

*shrugs* What can I say, I spent the morning reading blogs by people who call themselves pagan (although you tend to actually find very little about their spirituality in their so-called pagan blogs), and that always tends to make me annoyed. I should stick to those blogs that I know interest me, but sometimes I want to reach out, hear new voices, find different inspirations. It just such a hard process of wading through the chaff to find the kernels of wheat.

Yay….two updates in a months time.  Am I awesome or what *laughs uproariously*

I’m back on the study meds (milnacipran for those interested) and back up to the full dose, so I’m once again feeling well.  Well enough, as a matter of fact, to make a 3.5 mile hike on Saturday!  Of course, I was done in for the rest of the day, but that’s okay.  Besides, it gave me a good excuse for losing miserably at Canasta that night!  I do love playing Canasta, and luckily Mark’s mom and sister don’t mind that I’m such an incredribly poor loser.

We had a quiet New Years.  Mark’s aforementioned mom and sister came up on Thursday and stayed until Sunday morning.  We had a great time with them here.  Mark made a nice roast and a huge pot of potato soup, which we just finished off last night.  Anja, the sister, brought some wine, which we all enjoyed, and a nice bottle of Bailey’s, which we haven’t opened yet.  We like to have the Baileys in a nice cup of hot chocolate, but it hasn’t really been cold enough for that yet.  We walked, we talked, we laughed and played with the dogs.  All in all, it was a great visit.  We were sorry to see them leave.

New Year’s Eve was quiet except for a brief sprut of fireworks.  Luckily though, it was wet out, so we didn’t get the sustained racket that we’ve had in years past.  Mark played EQ most of the weekend and I watched several Law and Order marathons.  I actually saw a few episodes I haven’t seen before.

I’m now working on some research for the rewrite of the book.  Wiebke and Anja have read it, and I know Wiebke plans on letting some friends read it, but I’m going to limit it there until I do the rewrite, because I know I can make it better.  I’ll still have to take a bit of license with the history of the West Coast Trail, where part of it is set, but that’s okay.  I doubt most people will even notice it.  And it’s not like more than a handful of people will ever read it.  I just want to make it as good as I can.  In addition, next years NaNoWriMo is already percolating in my head.  It feels good to be really creative again.  I’m really enjoying the process of writing.  I’m really glad I came across NaNoWriMo.  It helped me with the discipline I needed to actually write something.

Work is good, but just a bit stressful at the moment.  We had to let two people go, so we’re very short handed.  But I’m still loving the job and a little hard work never killed anyone *grins*.  At least I don’t think it has.  You never know.  It’s a good thing I enjoy the work, though.

That’s about all that’s fit to print.  I know, I know…I live a very boring life.  But at least it’s a life I enjoy *laughs*.