Pagan Blog Prompts: A is for Altar

Perfect timing, I just finished the Altars class at the Magical Circle School. As part of this class I had to make several altars.
The first assignment for this class was a "permanent altar". As part of my research for this class, I found some good arguments for not leaving the altar up all the time. Not only do ritual tools left out start to acquire all the psychic garbage that builds up from ordinary life, but setting up the altar is part of preparing your mind for ritual. So, I do not have an altar sitting in a corner waiting for me to decide to cast a spell. I do have, I guess you could call it a focal point. On this I have a zen garden, a soapstone jewelry box that contains the spiritual jewelry I wear each day, a red candle, and an incense burner. I also have all of the components to a 7 day spell I am currently in the middle of.

Another assignment we did was a purposeful altar. I haven't decided if this idea does anything for me or not yet. Perhaps I'll do some experimentation, and update this later. I remember dutifully doing the assignment mostly thinking "this is really silly" so, probably, this won't be implemented into my spiritual path.

In the window I have a shrine to the goddess Brigid. On the shrine I have a jar candle with a picture of Brigid on it. A lot of tea lights, and a small pot that will hopefully grow into some flowers. The kitty is a plant murderer, so we shall see. Imbolc is one of my favorite Sabbats, because its a reminder that winter does not last forever. I have some pretty serious seasonal affective disorder, and about this time of year I want to go very dramatically mad.

There were a couple of other things in the class, but these I guess were the most interesting. 

The infuriating cycle

It seems most people, once they get diagnosed with EDS, are already on a permanent decline. Me.. I seem to be on a cycle. I feel good for a couple of days, so I do something ill advised, get injured, rest to get over the injury, then get hurt several times as soon as I am better. Eventually it levels out for a while, and then it repeats. Part of this is my fault, and why, even though its not a task, or work, or anything that falls in the category of service dog, I need a dog. Steadily getting just the right amount of easy exercise tends to keep me from feeling like a doll some kid pulled apart at the joints.

Now, I am worse than I have been before in my life, because I was on a bus that got rear ended. I screwed my back and neck up good. Plus, for even more fun I have a pretty severe case of the random faints. Not. Fun. At. All.

ADBC: (im)Perfect

Assistance Dog Blog Carnival

Past Perfect
My first assistance dog retired before his third birthday. I learned so much during the almost four years of our training and working life together. The first lesson I learned was never name a dog after a famous pot head. Marley had way more "wait.... what?" moments than I can count. He just regularly forgot he had a brain. Not everything I learned was positive. For example, Marley was a classic "bad" breed. And I got constantly harassed on the internet for it. Repeatedly told my dog was a ticking time bomb waiting to eat children. When he lost his vision, and I had to retire him, I was given no support. I gave up on connecting with other assistance dog partners.

This kitten demonstrates a stoner moment.

This Time Imperfect

Every time the assistance dog carnival rolled around, I wished I could participate. Yet, I did not want to bring the drama I experienced on assistance dog forums into my blog. Finally, this topic came up. I couldn't resist. Its okay to strive for perfection and not reach it. Its okay to not be the perfect handler, to not know every little thing. Sure, its not okay to work an untrained dog, or a dog who poses a direct threat.. I think most of us know the real big nono's. Most people who are trying to take this road *are* trying to do this right. Being told that you have to look and be perfect 100% of the time is not okay.  Nobody is perfect, and that's what makes us human. That's what makes our dogs, dogs. Its okay to be imperfect. 

Future Perfect.

About a year ago I began planning for Marley's successor. I started with nothing, but my requirements for the breeder I wanted my puppy to come from. You know, the usual things us owner trainers sometimes obsess over. Health tested parents, early neuro stimulation, early socialization, etc. Finally, the "perfect" breeder was found. Future, as I've taken to calling him in my head, will be a standard Poodle. In a lot of people's eyes, that's wrong, I guess. But I've decided, I'm not going to obsess over someone else's idea of Perfect. Its enough stress to obsess over mine.