This is way too neat! I want one, but too bad it’s not for sale.

I may have to make me one on my own time.

Originally posted 2007-07-13 03:40:29.

Astute readers of my Journal will have already noticed that the name has changed.  That’s what should be.  But let me tell you why.

As you may have read in earlier entries, I’m transitioning from Male to Female.  Well, in recent months I’ve made some major strides forward in that regard, namely I’ve come out to everyone I know that I’m transitioning, and I’ve legally changed my name from my male moniker to a more female name.

With this change came a LOT of soul searching, a lot of meditation and a lot of discussion with the Gods.  Finally after a long time, we all determined that I am Their daughter just as much as I was Their son.  I am Their Priestess and still Their Priest.

Confusing?  You bet you.  About as confusing as being female, dressing as female, being called “She” and “Her” and “Miss” and still being called “Dad” by my daughter.  But that’s okay, things take time, and I’m only partway through the hormone treatment.

So, with the new name, new gender and the acknowledgment of the world at large, I rededicated myself one morning near Samhain.  I abandoned the name Daven and took the name Erin to be my magickal working name.

You may be able to see some of the changes.

Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

So, the name of the Journal is changing to Erin’s Journal.  But the content is not.  It will still have the same content as any you have come to expect.  The look and feel will be the same.  It may have more personal focus and changes based on crossing gender lines and still being a representative of the Gods.

I am going to be taking time over the next months to find and change all references to Daven’s Journal and replace them with Erin’s Journal.  I am going to do this gradually since it will take some time for you, the reader, to adjust to this change too.  Everyone knows Daven’s Journal, but it will take time to realize that it is the same site as Erin’s Journal.  Thus the “new and improved” logo upstairs.  Hopefully by keeping something the same, it can become normal, then we gradually phase out the various elements of Daven and replace them with Erin.

But also, like the Shattered Tower, this is a change that has happened and cannot be undone.  But also like Death, it’s one that has been a long time in coming.

All of the information on this site is what I have found valuable to me, and only me.  If you find it of value as well, well and good.  But I must stress that this is what has either worked for me, or these articles are what has prompted my thinking along different lines. I do not have all the answers, I’m looking for answers.  These are the answers I have found that work for me, and only me.  If you learn something, wonderful.  I’m not perfect, nor is what I say the only way to be.  I am only sharing the paths that I tread to get to where I am now.

DISCLAIMER: Let me be perfectly clear here, and I know I have said this before, but for those who can’t read I need to repeat myself. I am NOT saying that what I say is right and everyone else is wrong. In fact, I am saying that the information contained in this site is one of many ways of doing things. It is ONE way, not THE way. I don’t know it all, I only know what I have learned. I am sharing this with all of you in the hopes that my blood, sweat and tears can be of use to someone else who is just starting, or that it can make those who have been traveling this path for some time think of different things. Everything in this site could be wrong and I know it. If it helps you, well and good. If not, that’s fine too. I hope that is clear enough for the nay-sayers. If not, learn to read what is written, not what you think is written.

For those of you who found me through Something Positive I need to share my disclaimer with you:  NO, I am not Davan McIntyre, I am not a cartoon character, I am not based on the cartoon character, the cartoon character is NOT based on me, I am not Randy (the author of that comic), I don’t know Randy, and other than the fact that I advertise on his site, there is no connection (besides serendipity) between Randy and Myself.  This is a serious site, not a satire, and I am very serious about my spirituality.  Capiche?

I also see this site as a location where one can come to learn deeper aspects of Wicca and Druidism, in fact, just about any spiritual Pagan path.  I try not to discriminate with any of this information.  Things like deeper discussions on ethics, Magick, teachings on Astral Projection, and so on.  In many ways I see this site as a “Wicca 201″ site, and in some cases a “Wicca 301″ site.  which means that there is Intermediate and Advanced information here, rather than the basics that everyone else seems to be throwing up and forgetting.  There is some of this basic information as well, but only enough so that you can reference it in case you need some part of this site defined in more basic terms without having to go to another 50 sites.

You can navigate this site via the frame to the left. I have tried to have series of articles linked in a ring so that you can read from one page to another.  All of the hyperlinks, regardless of the page, are in Green or Brown if you have visited it and will have an underline when you put your mouse cursor over top of it.  As a lifeline, the “Daven’s Journal” graphic, the top frame up above, will not change, no matter how deep you go into this site.  Clicking on that will bring you to the Home.

Originally posted 2009-11-06 22:07:15.

It’s hard living in the grown-up world of life like this. Compromises and times when your pride and honor are called into question, you are assaulted and insulted and there are times when a self-evaluation will make you truly believe that you are a coward.

There is a hope however. There are many kinds of courage.

It’s easy to yell and scream at some one who calls you a coward and implies that you are a gutless spineless good-for-nothing. It is one kind of courage, the courage of a stung pride. But it takes an entirely different kind of courage to stay right where you are, take the abuse because it means you will be able to retain your job and
bring home another paycheck and save your home and allow your family to eat.

I call that the Courage of Consequences.

The impulse in the human being is that you retract and hit back when attacked. It is the ability of a reasoning person to be able to look forward to the future and see the results of actions. Logic is not something that an animal is able to do and they may be able to understand that there are consequences after having them occur multiple times, but that’s simple learning. But to be able to notice that your family may be affected by your actions and to allow someone to demean you to prevent your family from coming to harm, that’s real coruage.

There is the courage to stay silent when you are in pain or ill because there is nothing that anyone can do about it, but you don’t want to mess up other’s enjoyment of whatever activity is going on. Like when Grandma doesn’t talk about how much the winter weather is hurting her joints while the family is gathered together for the Thanksgiving meal. That’s a very different kind of courage as well.

Just becuase you don’t run ito situations that angels would avoid does not mean you lack courage or that you are spineless and a wimp. So don’t think that again. You HAVE courage, it is simply determining which kind you have.

Originally posted 2005-12-23 15:25:44.

Welcome my friends to my Sitemap!

Here you will find an alphabetical index of all the pages on my site, including all the blog posts. There are a lot, so I hope you aren’t using this as your primary means of navigating my site.

If you want to navigate this site by topic, the index to the left is where you need to be. THAT group is broken down by category, where as this is just an alphabetical listing. So if you know the name of the article you want to read, this is probably the place for you.

If you want to jump to a specific page, without doing the “Next Page/Previous Page” thing, in the address bar in the top, add /[number] to the address, and it will “warp” you to that page.

The way this sitemap is displayed is that all the pages are listed first, the articles. The WordPress posts are listed last and they are broken down by category. Thankfully any additional posts/pages will be added here without much ado.

Regardless, take a look. I hope you can find what you are looking for. Lord and Lady know I’ve needed it before.

Originally posted 2009-11-23 09:33:39.

It’s starting again, the debate about the term “Wicca” between the Traditionals and the Solitaries/Eclectics.

I’m so sick and tired of seeing this debate.

I’m writing an article on it.

Originally posted 2005-11-21 12:57:29.

Okay, in an attempt to raise money, I’m going to be offering a service for sale.

Ask me your questions, any questions.  I’ll do a tarot reading and tell you what you need to know and do.

What are my qualifications you may ask?  Well, I’ve been doing tarot readings for the last 14 years.  I became Wiccan and started studying the Tarot, my wife taught me everything I know about it and she should know since she’s been doing this for the last 40 years and taught three other tarot readers that I know of, possibly more.  Since then, I have worked as a professional Tarot reader with Kabrina’s Psychic Answer (a phone in TV Psychic service) which is now defunct, leaving there because of not enough calls for when I could work.

I was able to support my family on what I made as a TV Psychic.  So I do know what I’m doing.

Finally, I went to private practice, doing readings for myself, my wife, friends and those I know in various forums.  Generally I didn’t charge money for those readings, but there was a quid pro quo exchange of energy and effort to those readings.  I’ve even had good reviews on these.

Now I offer you the chance to get your reading done by me.

I use the Robin Wood deck to do these readings since it’s the one I have been working with since I began.

I have three levels of readings, one that is $15 for one question and answer, using a five card yes/no or a ten card Celtic Cross spread depending on how complex the question is.  One is a reading (spread of my choice) answering one complex question.  That’s $30.  The last is answering two complex questions for $50.

I have one more spread that I can do but it has never taken less than an hour, but it is a thorough life reading called an Astrological Spread.  Given that it will be even more complex with having to interpret EVERY card in the deck, I’m not even going to consider doing that one for less than $90.  But it is a very good spread to understand what is going on around you and in various aspects of your life.

I also have one unique reading I do.  It’s called “The Bondage Spread” in which you are shown what is holding you back and how to get free of this.  It takes an hour to do and costs $25.  But hopefully with it you will see what you need to do to get free.

So, click below to get these readings.

Be warned that I may contact you for additional information, so your email address HAS to be correct and I do need your name.  A picture of yourself would be very helpful as well.  All readings and additional information are shredded upon completion so you don’t have to worry about that.

Testimonials

Some testimonials with contact information. These clients have kindly consented to have their names and contact information listed for you to ask about the readings they received from me. Hopefully this and any questions that they answer will allow you to feel more comfortable in purchasing a reading. Please do contact them if you have questions you feel uncomfortable asking me about the reading.

“A few months ago I had Daven do a generalized reading for me, just to see what another reader could find that I’d overlooked; I’ve been reading for a decade and I’m pretty good on my own, but sometimes it’s best to get a second opinion. What I got from Daven was an excellent (though sometimes surprising) assortment of cards and his interpretations thereof that really pinpointed some areas I’d missed, and made a few situations I’d been wondering about more clear. The details are personal, but I’ll say this–I highly, highly recommend Daven as a reader.”

Lupa
Author of “Fang and Fur, Blood and Bone: A Primal Guide to Animal Magic” and
“A Field Guide to Otherkin
chaohippie (at) excite (dot) com
http://www.thegreenwolf.com

“I found Daven’s readings to be well done. He is very concise and clear in his presentation. He isn’t one for mincing words- and he won’t cater to the ego. He’s straightforward and professional. I would recommend him to other people for readings with no hesitation.”

Hope Jackson
hcjaxn (at) yahoo (dot) com

Keep checking back here for other information. I plan to have a sample reading up on one of my spreads so you can see for yourself just what the reading consists of and how I interpret the cards for you.

Originally posted 2009-11-06 22:53:30.

Daven’s Note: This article is reproduced here to give context and to preserve the vents. The original article is no longer on the Indianapolis Star’s website. Thus a rant I put up complaining about this makes no sense. You can go and find information on it, but I had to look for a while to get the original article. To give context, this was posted back in 2005 when it originally happened.

www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050526/NEWS01/505260481#

Judge: Parents can’t teach pagan beliefs

Father appeals order in divorce decree that prevents couple from exposing son to Wicca.

By Kevin Corcoran
kevin.corcoran@indystar.com

An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge’s unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to “non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.”

The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.

Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple’s divorce decree last year over their fierce objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream religion.

Bradford refused to remove the provision after the 9-year-old boy’s outraged parents, Thomas E. Jones Jr. and his ex-wife, Tammie U. Bristol, protested last fall.

Through a court spokeswoman, Bradford said Wednesday he could not discuss the pending legal dispute.

The parents’ Wiccan beliefs came to Bradford’s attention in a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights. Jones’ son attends a local Catholic school.

“There is a discrepancy between Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones’ lifestyle and the belief system adhered to by the parochial school. . . . Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon (the boy) as he ages,” the bureau said in its report.

But Jones, 37, Indianapolis, disputes the bureau’s findings, saying he attended Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis as a non-Christian.

Jones has brought the case before the Indiana Court of Appeals, with help from the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. They filed their request for the appeals court to strike the one-paragraph clause in January.

“This was done without either of us requesting it and at the judge’s whim,” said Jones, who has organized Pagan Pride Day events in Indianapolis. “It is upsetting to our son that he cannot celebrate holidays with us, including Yule, which is winter solstice, and Ostara, which is the spring equinox.”

The ICLU and Jones assert the judge’s order tramples on the parents’ constitutional right to expose their son to a religion of their choice. Both say the court failed to explain how exposing the boy to Wicca’s beliefs and practices would harm him.

Bristol is not involved in the appeal and could not be reached for comment. She and Jones have joint custody, and the boy lives with the father on the Northside.

Jones and the ICLU also argue the order is so vague that it could lead to Jones being found in contempt and losing custody of his son.

“When they read the order to me, I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ ” said Alisa G. Cohen, an Indianapolis attorney representing Jones. “Didn’t the judge get the memo that it’s not up to him what constitutes a valid religion?”

Some people have preconceived notions about Wicca, which has some rituals involving nudity but mostly would be inoffensive to children, said Philip Goff, director of the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“Wiccans use the language of witchcraft, but it has a different meaning to them,” Goff said. “Their practices tend to be rather pacifistic. They tend to revolve around the old pagan holidays. There’s not really a church of Wicca. Practices vary from region to region.”

Even the U.S. military accommodates Wiccans and educates chaplains about their beliefs, said Lawrence W. Snyder, an associate professor of religious studies at Western Kentucky University.

“The federal government has given Wiccans protection under the First Amendment,” Snyder said. “Unless this judge has some very specific information about activities involving the child that are harmful, the law is not on his side.”

At times, divorcing parents might battle in the courts over the religion of their children. But Kenneth J. Falk, the ICLU’s legal director, said he knows of no such order issued before by an Indiana court. He said his research also did not turn up such a case nationally.

“Religion comes up most frequently when there are disputes between the parents. There are lots of cases where a mom and dad are of different faiths, and they’re having a tug of war over the kids,” Falk said. “This is different: Their dispute is with the judge. When the government is attempting to tell people they’re not allowed to engage in non-mainstream activities, that raises concerns.”

Indiana law generally allows parents who are awarded physical custody of children to determine their religious training; courts step in only when the children’s physical or emotional health would be endangered.

Getting the judge’s religious restriction lifted should be a slam-dunk, said David Orentlicher, an Indiana University law professor and Democratic state representative from Indianapolis.

“That’s blatantly unconstitutional,” Orentlicher said. “Obviously, the judge can order them not to expose the child to drugs or other inappropriate conduct, but it sounds like this order was confusing or could be misconstrued.”

The couple married in February 1995, and their divorce was final in February 2004.

As Wiccans, the boy’s parents believe in nature-based deities and engage in worship rituals that include guided meditation that Jones says improved his son’s concentration. Wicca “is an understanding that we’re all connected, and respecting that,” said Jones, who is a computer Web designer.

Jones said he does not consider himself a witch or practice anything resembling witchcraft.

During the divorce, he told a court official that Wiccans are not devil worshippers. And he said he does not practice a form of Wicca that involves nudity.

“I celebrate life as a duality. There’s a male and female force to everything,” Jones said. “I feel the Earth is a living creature. I don’t believe in Satan or any creature of infinite evil.”

Call Star reporter Kevin Corcoran at (317) 444-2770.

“Life without Death (or Everlasting Life) is called ‘Cancer’”.

Originally posted 2010-04-03 19:30:03.

Well, I am finally in a position where I can talk to you all about where the H*LL I’ve been these last several weeks and what has been happening.

1. I have a job. It’s not a permanent job (not yet), but it is a 33 week contract that is temp to hire. It’s doing phone support at Dell. So, most of my time has been being spent taking their training classes at the Dell Campus here to learn how they want me to do things, and what I’m going to be supporting. The kicker is that I will be making nearly as much as I was when I was full time employed at Direct, and that means that my paycheck should be able to support the family again.

To say I’m totally over the moon about this is to minimize just how happy about it I am. Yes, I have to get used to a new sleep schedule again, shifting to daytime, but I should be able to pick my schedule once I actually get on the floor and start doing the support. I think I’m going to like this job, but I do have to see it and do it before I actually can say so definitely.

2. Magickally, I’ve been dealing with a lot of shit from Japan and the whole earthquake/tsunami and such. It’s taken up the majority of my sleeping times having to deal with it. But, that is slowing a lot since I started the job. Everyone knows I need my sleep so I can concentrate at work, so that’s backed down a lot. There’s still some things I have to deal with, but they tend to be minor.

Right now I’m helping out another in their lands, coaching and trying to help them deal with their people and various problems they are having. The dead just have no real respect for someone that’s still alive, you know?

3. I’ve been a bit ill lately. Probably the crud you get whenever you have 40+ people in one room and talking/breathing the same air.

4. On the transgender front: Fate is conspiring to keep me moving forward with no excuses. Turns out there is a guy I’ve made friends with at work who is engaged to a transgirl, whom, coincidentally enough, rides the bus I take to get to work. They are both active in the trans community and have kinda latched on to me as a friend they can both help and associate with since so many of our likes/dislikes are damned near the same. I mean, how many trans people do you meet that are into to tech, play tabletop RPGs, like Doctor Who and Criminal Minds, and so on? Not a lot, but that’s what has happened.

I’m out of my hormones, but that should be taken care of when I get my first paycheck. It will be only two weeks without them, so I don’t think that will be a huge killer of the progress I made, but you never know. When I get insurance again at the first of the month, I can go to doctors and start getting healthy again.

5. I’m actually losing weight again. When I lost my membership to the Y, I gained all the weight I had lost back. But right now I’m walking home from one point in the trip home from work. It’s not that far, just about a mile, but it is definitely having an effect on my waistline. That and the subliminal program I started with my mp3′s that I listen to.

It wasn’t that hard to do either. I got Audacity, found a microphone, wrote a list of affirmations I wanted to listen to. Then I recorded them all into one audio track, edited it down so that they were sounding nice. Then I copied that track over and over, shifting them a bit so that they didn’t have the same words starting and stopping all at once. Once I had 40 repetitions of the same stuff layered into one gabble of sound, I copied it and placed THAT on the other ear, so now I have 40 in the left ear, the same 40 in the right ear. Then I reversed the track so that I had 40 going forward and 40 going backward in the left ear, the same in the right ear. I combined them all into the “master subliminal track”, reduced the volume to where I could barely hear it as garble static, then added them to my MP3′s that I listen to in my player. Been listening to JUST them any time I leave the house to go anyplace. I think they are working since I’m wanting to eat less, exercise more, and I’m having a better outlook on my life and so on.

6. I went out last night in Joy’s clothes, made up and so on. Had a good time too. It was just a bit of “interesting” in my internal reactions. At first I was nervous, but then I got calmed down since the only people who would be seeing me were other transpeople. That was nice. To be able to just be myself for once.

So what’s next? Keep going on the job. Keep working and earning money (which is a hell of a relief in and of itself). Then get my paychecks, pay bills to get them off our backs, pay back my family who has loaned us money to keep going. THEN go shopping for more golf shirt tops for me, since that’s the “standard” at Dell. It’s more casual than that, but I don’t want to go more casual than that. Maybe in a couple weeks start going to stores and getting Joy clothing, and at least I’d have someone to go with.

Once I get into a routine with work and being off, I’ll probably have more spare time to socialize on DW and LJ, Tumblr and Twitter. That’ll be nice. They won’t let me do any of that at work for some reason. Yes, I can go on the Internet, but only WORK RELATED, no social networks, not even G-Mail. I set it so that I can forward all my gmail to my work email, and I can at least SEE it even if I can’t reply.

It’s just going to take some time.

I do want to say that for those of you NOT reading me on Daven’s Journal or on the RSS feed, you can come and comment to ANY post I have on Daven’s Journal by signing in with your OpenID from Dreamwidth, Livejournal, Twitter or many other places. Or you can even sign up for an account on the Journal, and you can have your own icon here.

So that’s it for now, I have to go and do some chores in the kitchen.

—————-
Now playing: The Painter
via FoxyTunes