I listened to Barack Obama speak last night and I felt something that up to that point I had only heard people describe. Something akin to the comfort that Franklin Roosevelt brought to a poor and frightened nation with his fireside chats and to the renewed sense of optimism that John F. Kennedy brought to a nation plagued by conflict. It was a feeling of awe, a dawning awareness that grew with every word that I was witnessing a truly historical moment, a promise of hope and connection that was capable of piercing even the hardest shell of cynicism. While paying tribute to a man who stood up 45 years ago to the day and talked about a dream, Barack Obama talked about his dreams for all of us, and I couldn't help but thinking that some day we might be quoting words from this speech and remembering how this man came along when we needed him most and helped to change our lives for the better.

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party.  I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain.  The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag.  They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.  The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.  I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.  Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.  This too is part of America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

. . .history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington.  Change comes to Washington.  Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich.  We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong.  Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

The full text of the speech is here.

After listening to Barack Obama last night I was filled with an overwhelming sense of relief because here is a man others will truly hear. Over the fear mongering and the smears of the radical right, over the obfuscation and sensationalist hype of the erstwhile fourth estate, over the self-defeating insistence that liberals are the source of everyone's problems. I was filled with an overwhelming sense of hope because here is a man others will recognize as the man truly best for the job.

In recent years I have become more politically active than I was when I was young but no politician has ever really inspired me until last night. Barack Obama moved me to tears but he also moved me to act. I will do whatever I can to make sure that this man is our next president.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:41 AM | Comments (5)

Did you know that architecture could be uppity? Me neither.

Yet this is what Republicans are whining about today, according to this post at the Daily Kos. It seems that someone has taken issue over the fact that Barack Obama will be speaking tonight in front of a backdrop that features something so heinous, so threatening, so foreign that it offends all reasonable people everywhere. It is . . .

wait

for

it

A temple. With PILLARS!!!!!!!!!

Oh horrors no! Someone should tell them that temples are Pagan. That would really make their heads explode.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 6:39 PM | Comments (1)

This may be apropos of absolutely nothing, but it tickles me when the totally tubular trunkulence of my favorite deity turns up in the unlikeliest of places. Yes, folks, Ganesh has been hanging out at Neiman Marcus, courtesy of Judith Leiber. What sort of obstacles do you think he was evoked to remove there? Maxed out credit cards? Bouts of better judgement?

While I have generally appreciated Ms. Leiber's designs for their fun factor, fussy jeweled clutches are not exactly my taste. Even if I could afford to buy one, I'd more likely spend the money on something at least large enough to hold a book. But if Mr. Big were to give this to me not only would I be a good sport and carry it to the party I also would march right out to find some Indian-inspired boho couture to wear with it. I have bought clothes to match lesser accessories.

Ganesh (aka Ganesha, Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar), is one of the "best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon" (Wikipedia). One of the five prime Hindu deities (alongside Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga) Ganesh is invoked at the start of every Hindu ritual. His devotees are known as Ganapatyas and the festival to celebrate and glorify him is Ganesh Chaturthi, this year on September 3rd. Ganesh is the Lord of Beginnings and is worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, intellect, wisdom and wealth. Starting a writing project? Ganesh, the patron saint of arts and letters, is your guy.

I have quite a soft spot for Ganesh. He is the first deity to whom I have felt any real devotion and he is the only one of whom I actually have statuary. He takes center place on any significant altar I keep and I find myself invoking him a lot. I suppose that is only natural for a woman who lives by her wits, but as someone who also has an annoying tendency to get in the way of her own success, I am ever grateful for his benevolence.

Is it blasphemous to use the Lord's likeness to create an object destined to contain lipstick and cash for cab fare? I don't think so. There are lots of ways to display our reverence. This one just happens to be portable and sparkly.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:32 AM | Comments (1)

Hillary Clinton rocked! "Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our President."

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)

The fact that I can't remember where I first found a link to this site is testament to the fact that I spend too much time online. But I was delighted to discover Blue Pagans at the DNC.

I guess I'm what you could call a party Democrat - I'll vote for Obama because he is our candidate and his choice of running mate would not have affected my vote. Even so, the fact that Obama has been piling on the bandwagon to pander to the Christian right has induced me to reach for the Pepto on more than one occasion. I couldn't make it to the end of the "Obama-as-savior" video My American Prayer (thanks to Hecate for the link). It is encouraging, therefore, that Blue Pagans are reporting some signs of inclusivity on the part of the DNC.

On yesterday's "interfaith" service, led by Convention CEO Rev. Leah Daughtry (WTF? nevermind), Rita Moran wrote:

The high point for me, where Rev. Daughtry proved how inclusive she had planned the service to be, came when she stated, "We are created in the image of our Creator, whatever we call Him or Her."

I guess it's a start.

It will be interesting to follow this group as they continue their convention coverage and "share thoughts about pagan political involvement, and about our place in partisan politics."

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:47 AM | Comments (0)

see more puppies

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:43 PM | Comments (2)

One of the reasons I decided to redesign the site was because, after nearly three years, I thought it was time for a change. Something completely new and different - as much to amuse myself as to create a new face for the content. Because I really wanted to expand my writing on other topics and to challenge myself to produce better work, and this new direction seemed to call for a new look.

My intention is to make my writing on magickal and spiritual topics more in depth, perhaps to go in journalistic and scholarly directions. I hope to start writing fiction and personal essays again. I want to write social and cultural commentary on subjects ranging from art and literature to politics and the environment. All of which I'd like to share with the lovely people who've read my blog over the years and who will find their way here from new places.

Ultimately, it finally dawned on me that what I was trying to do was to create a way for me to offer something of higher value through my writing. To give Blogickal a higher purpose. So, here is Blogickal's new mission:

I am a witch. Do I fly a broom or wiggle my nose to make annoying people disappear? Alas, no. Do I believe in divine immanence and that it is possible to effect change by creating a shift in energy? Yes. If you use my definition - that of shifting energy - then anyone is capable of working magick, at any moment, even if they don't know they're doing it. That means that I'm not really all that different from any other woman with a thing for shoes and pink cupcakes who crosses her fingers and hopes she can still fit into her favorite jeans.

When I was a relative newcomer to witchcraft as part of a spiritual path, I began writing about my experiences studying, practicing and setting off the fire alarm burning paper in a wok doing double duty as a makeshift cauldron. For a while, this blog focused almost exclusively on that part of my life. Occasionally I offered glimpses into other realms of my personality and blessed be those who continued to read!

My hope for the current iteration of Blogickal is that by sharing rants, musings and personal essays on a broader range of topics I can help to dispel the notion that witches are any different from anybody else. In a time when it has never been easier for people and ideas to travel great distances, awareness of our differences seems to be keeping us apart rather than bringing us together as cohabitants on this small planet. To paraphrase Gandhi, I am trying to be the change I hope to see in the world, one blog post at a time.

If you are not a witch yourself, I'm sure you know one, even if you don't realize it.

The text above now appears in About Blogickal.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:27 AM | Comments (5)

I'd like to see a picture of my brain. It must be some crazy-assed, habitrail-for-rabid-hamster-resembling jumble of neural pathways to produce some of the things that pop into my head.

It wasn't until I got to the end of Gail Collins' pithy column, Digging Ourselves a Black Hole, that I realized that she was talking about a physics-defying COLLIDER that accelerates particles and not an enormous kitchen implement.

Perhaps I've been spending too much time in front of my computer.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)

During the run-up to the last Presidential election, I spent so much time reading and commenting at the Daily Kos that I became obsessed and the whole thing became unhealthy. Since then, I have largely stayed away. Until this morning. Knowing that Kos has been a staunch Obama supporter all along, I figured his site would be a good source for commentary on the choice of Biden as Democratic running mate. It was, and there was plenty to absorb, but I really got interested when I started reading the diaries.

One in particular, titled McCain: Housing important to you? don't vote for me, caught my attention. I had heard about McCain's gaffe over not knowing how many houses he owns but this seemed a bit extreme, even for McCain. Nope, he really said this.

Pulling a quote from the Washington Post's coverage of Florida Governor Charlie Crist's endorsement of John McCain, the diary focused on this statement:

Even if the economy is the, quote, number one issue, the real issue will remain America's security," [McCain] said. "If it's not the most important issue in the minds of many voters, America's security will remain the number one issue with me. And if they choose to say, 'Look, I do not need this guy because he's not as good on home loan mortgages,' or whatever it is, I understand that. I will accept that verdict. I am running because of the transcendent challenge of the twenty-first century, which is radical Islamic extremism, as you know."

Okay, that's insane and scary. I think the real crux of this whole issue was summed up very tidily by a commenter whose nick is We Shall Overcome:

the issue is not about how many homes the McCains own, how much money they have, etc., but the fact that their wealth insulates them from the realities of average Americans.

---

The McCains live in a bubble where private jets, beachfront condos, mountain estates, $500 loafers, wining and dining are the NORM. And, there is nothing wrong with that if that is what you aspire to.

BUT IF YOU ASPIRE TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND WANT TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL ECONOMY IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD YOU HAD BETTER CARE ABOUT HOW THAT ECONOMY AFFECTS YOUR CONSTITUENTS!!!

I'm not sure what the national statistics on home foreclosures are, but there was a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle that said that one third of all resale home purchases in the Bay Area were foreclosure sales. In some counties the rate was as high as two thirds. That was shocking to me. And this particular statistic doesn't even cover the foreclosed properties that weren't resold. When people are losing their homes at an alarming rate, it seems like a no-brainer to me that housing would be a matter of concern to a Presidential candidate. I guess not to one who doesn't even know how many houses (plural) he himself owns. It makes me want to vomit.

Nothing like the taste of a little outrage in the morning.

The people who post at the Daily Kos are better informed than most of the journalists out there and are sticklers for accuracy. If one is brave enough to opine in a diary thread at the Daily Kos, you better have your facts straight because those folks have sharp teeth and they're not afraid to use them. That's why the site got the nickname "the shark pool" from a number of frequent participants. But it's also what makes the Daily Kos such a great place to get information. While it is unapologetically biased toward the Democratic point of view - and the site's founder has always been very clear about this - all of the site's contributors do a great job of bringing attention to things that barely, if ever, get covered by "mainstream media."

I forgot how much I enjoyed reading the Daily Kos, increases to my blood pressure notwithstanding. I think I'm ready to dip my toe in the shark pool again.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

I was walking down the street toward my neighborhood cafe this morning when I noticed a ladybug flying toward me, wings aflutter in full buzz mode. I stepped aside to let her pass. And then it occurred to me - maybe she was aiming at me and I should have let her land. You see, cultures the world over believe that ladybugs are lucky and having one land on you is very auspicious indeed. Maybe she was intending to bring me some luck (goddess knows I could use a little) and by avoiding her, as well intentioned as I was being, I dodged the luck that was coming my way.

Common wisdom tells us to face life head on. Popular colloquialisms like "it hit me like a ton of bricks" and "like a slap in face" are generally associated with moments when life forces us to recognize something. Well, ladybugs are way smaller than bricks and don't hurt like slaps. (I had a point but I forget what it was.)

Did you know that the ladybug is the State Bug of Massachusetts? Neither did I, until I stumbled across this tidbit whilst Googling for photos of ladybugs. (Why do we need a State Bug?) I also learned that ladybugs, as a totem animal, represent resurrection. Cool.

Anyway, the lesson, young grasshoppers (while I'm on the insect thing why not), is this: DON'T DODGE LADYBUGS

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 4:21 PM | Comments (0)

Recently mentioned in the New York Times, Heather B. Armstrong deserves every penny she makes with her blog.

How To Cook and Eat Edamame from blurb on Vimeo.

Must to read Dooce.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:21 AM | Comments (0)

When I was a little kid, for me the harbingers of Autumn were the purchase of new school supplies and television trailers for the coming season's program lineup. Now, it's the arrival of September Vogue.

A behemoth of over a thousand glossy pages, this issue of Vogue is like no other. Beside the fact that it weighs as much as a college textbook, it promises to afford a deliciously satisfying sensory overload. That its page count is largely due to a profusion of advertising does nothing to detract from the pleasure factor. In fact, the ads will facilitate my experience of imagining the ideal Autumn wardrobe as I flip through the magazine gazing longingly at beautiful clothes. I am as giddy as I remember being as I laid out shiny new notebooks in ecstatic anticipation of school.

September's Vogue is full of images that a true fashionista would have seen before several months ago, but no matter. I revisit with fondness Luella Bartley's witchy frocks and snicker at the thought that the short-sighted editors at Bazaar were woefully misinformed when they said in July that big bags were out for Fall. You see, that's the fun just waiting to be had.

Eastern European boho couture. Futuristic shapes in neutral colors. Plaid and flowers. Chanel. Sigh.

So I am going to excuse myself to open a bottle of red wine and to get drunk on the bliss that Fashion brings. On the pages of Vogue.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:34 PM | Comments (0)

Well, after several weeks of trial and error as I wandered blindly through the world of blog design and programming, Blogickal is back online. Things are not quite the way I wanted them to be - as it turns out bunches of books and websites do not a programmer make - but I stubbornly refused to go backward.

I don't feel too bad about not being able to grasp the complexities of MT 4's syntax since plenty of bona fide programmers don't like working with it either. In the end I cobbled together the code for my new design by tinkering with Blogickal's old code. But I feel pretty silly that I spent days pulling my hair out in frustration over mysteriously reappearing CSS only to realize that the difference between "-" and "_" was keeping the site from rendering.

What you see is at least a close approximation of what I wanted within the limits of what I could do without paying someone else lots of money to build a new blog for me. There are a few oddities I'm still trying to figure out how to fix and I'm sure there will be some tweaking as I discover bits of code that I missed, so please be patient with me. I've missed a lot in the last few weeks of being offline and I was eager to get back to blogging.

It's good to be back. Thanks for missing me!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 2:02 PM | Comments (7)