SeaHeart

So, we've been in Florida for over a week! We just got home yesterday. :) Right before we left, I got horrific food poisoning (about five hours after I finished the Fable Tribe's first update--at least it let me finish it! ;D), so I feel like I have eighty bazmillion things to catch up on/emails to respond to, AND I DO, along with eleven thousand posts of Sparkle! to make. But, until then, have a picture of pink and purple ladies, taken in Florida. <333333333333

I finally got my pink hair. <3333333333 I feel so not-like-myself without it.



At the airport on the way to Florida!! <3333333


(Notes: I left the dye on for MUCH less time than you're supposed to, because I needed to dye it back to blonde yesterday (basically, I was only pink haired for eight days), so when I'm finally ETERNALLY a pink-haired-sparkle-princess, it will be much more vibrant than what you see here. I used N'Rage's Bubblegum Pink, and loved the coloration [I also love that you can get it at Sally's Beauty Supply, which is where we get Jenn's purple], so will probably keep that when I can be eternally pink~ <3)

...in no particular order:

Florida
Our Florida pictures are on Flickr, Jenn posted about our trip here and Rachel posted about our vacation here, and every single time I try to write up a post, I draw a blank. I can't articulate it...I simply can't, and I'm going to stop trying. It was one of the most amazing sets of days of our lives. The magic, the purification and loving embrace of the ocean and our soul family...honestly, every single time I think of what was experienced, the ritual that Rachel and I had on the beach that full moon night...I begin to cry. I've written about it in my paper journal, and that's the record I'll keep, close to my heart. There are universal truths...if you are a witch, and you go the sea, everything changes, and you are healed, always, forever. Healed.



The Fairie Festival
Jenn and I have been going to the Spoutwood May Day Fairie Festival since 2004 (it's actually where I proposed to Jenn~ <3). In the beginning, it was a second honeymoon type thing for us. We simply cavorted on the land for three holy days and nights, and it was just us. Over time, we developed incredible friendships with some of the amazing people who go there or are a part of it, and then were able to introduce our friends to it, too. To us, it's still holy and sacred, but now we share it with those wonderful people who come with us, who are there, too...so it's evolved and changed from a honeymoon type atmosphere to one of love and community, and the circle comes around again. The more fairy magic in the world, I think, the better~ To those new on my friends list, I start posting about said fairy costuming MONTHS IN ADVANCE. Expect costuming posts in...oh say, a day or two. XD There is NOTHING better in the world than any excuse to wear fairy wings. Jenn and I talk about the Fairie Festival every day lately, knowing that it is the sentinel between winter and the beauty and bounty of spring...we CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!

Diana's Grove
I'm halfway through my second year of the Sisterhood of the Silver Branch, and...along with that spiritual work this year...I am lucky enough to experience Diana's Grove again. Diana's Grove was where I first met Rachel, actually, many years ago~ :) To be able to experience the land again, the sheer magick of it all...I am humbled and eternally grateful. This is the last year of Diana's Grove in this incarnation...and the perfect year is, of course, the story of Persephone. What is Diana's Grove, and why am I doing it? Diana's Grove is sacred community...it's myth within our lives. It's sacred land, it's sacred people...it's an experience that is once in a lifetime, and that I'm actually able to be there for the final year, working with my matron Goddess and Her journey...wow, wow, wow.

What Would You Give?
...The reason I brought it up now, instead of a post all of its own (of which there will be plenty this year), is because one of the questions asked of us in January's work really touched me, changed me...meant something to me, in Florida, and continues to here. Rachel and I were sitting on the beach, and we began to talk about this month's work, when she brought up a question I hadn't yet seen. Right now, we're dealing with the part of the myth of Persephone's disappearance (there's more to it than that, but I digress), and Demeter's reaction to it...including roaming the earth, weeping and searching for Her daughter. A question asked was this: if the Goddess, in Her guise as Demeter, came to you...how would you help Her...what would you give? The question shook me to my core, and immediately my heart rose up with a response, and there was so much more that was unearthed and came to fruition and showed me magic...On the beach, in the full moon, Rachel and I discussed it once again, and something else came to light. If you were in Demeter's shoes instead...wandering the earth, and you came to the Goddess' door...what would She give you? The paradox of it, the giving and receiving (especially the receiving), and all of the implications and the way the world has been shifting lately to bring these awarenesses to me...beautiful. I had to share that question with you. :) What are your own answers? And if the Goddess gave to you...do you love yourself enough, have compassion to yourself enough, to receive it?

I Am a Priestess
I keep writing things here, and then erasing them, because nothing holds the passion and joy and rampant tides in my own heart for what happened to change things on the beach that night, and why I now call myself a Priestess in my faith, to and for my Goddess. So we'll save that for another day~ <3

- We're back from our perfect, beautiful, rejeuvanating, magical, completely-and-utterly-wonderful vacation in Florida~ I will write everything out, in all its happiness, hopefully later today or tomorrow. As always, any time spent with Rachel is that blessed, physical reminder of our soul family, the joy and hearts we share together...the complete happiness~

- And OH. MY GODS. YOU GUYS. The ritual on Saturday was the most magical I have ever done. I know I always say that, but it was--I can't wait to share~ <33333

- Sadly, I got a bit sick towards the end of vacation, and am now plunged headlong into a rather icky sickness. I took today off from work, like yesterday, to try to recoup...here's hoping~

- As a side note...every year, I make this sort of declaration, and I'm making it again this year. XD I always forget that Oceanid.org expires on January 30th, and did again this time around. This means that all of my emails to oceanid@oceanid.org that were new were probably lost. I get an obscene amount of email, both regular and spam alike, while on vacation, and I'm so unhappy that I might have lost something important from you! If you emailed me, please re-email it to sarah.e.diemer@gmail.com. I renewed the domain today, but my hosting is a bit slow [notoriously so], so it should be a day or two until I can access my oceanid.org email again, so if you have anything to email, please send it to the GMail address. Thank ye kindly~ <33333

- Suffice it to say that I have a week's worth of catching up to do...but not right now. I'm retiring to bed with L. J. Smith's The Secret Circle: The Initiation based on Rachel's witchy recommendation, and my wife's singular awesomeness (of getting a book pressie for me last night because I didn't feel good. ;-; I love you, baby~). I finished the second half of Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Choice, and read all of Trickster's Queen yesterday...the best thing in the world, I think, is a day curled up in bed with kitties, a rather sleepy Collie pup, tea and books~ Which is exactly how I'm going to spend today. With hopefully a perk-up later this evening for an Imbolc ritual~ <3

Love to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And to those who celebrate, blessed, beautiful Imbolc! <333

Me, at the water's edge at Blowing Rocks--taken by Rachel~ <33333

- In a very few short hours, we will be on a plane headed for Florida. I CAN. NOT. WAIT!!!!!!!!!

- To be reunited with one of my best friends in the cosmos, our Goddess son, the sea...it's too much. My heart is too full to speak.

- On January 30th, there's a full moon...and on the beach, Rachel and I will do a most perfect ritual~ I can't stop smiling when I think about it. Think of me when the full moon dances overhead. I'll be at wave's edge, reborn, seaborn.

- So, I'll leave you with the lyrics of a song that's not leaving my head. I've recently become obsessed with "Seussical," the Dr. Seuss musical. Jenn and I both grew up obsessed with Dr. Seuss (I in love with Horton~), and this culminated in deep love for this incredible story. There are so many songs and parts of it that mirror what's happening in our own lives and journies right now...and some that just made us cry for how lovely they were. "A person's a person, no matter how small..."

There are secrets on a leaf,
In the water, in the air,
Hidden planets, tiny worlds,
All invisible!

...I've found magic but they don't see it...

'Cause I have wings.
Yes, I can fly
Around the moon
And far beyond the sky
And one day soon
I know there you'll be...
One small voice in the universe,
One true friend in the universe,
Who believes in me...