Batten down the hatches!

The sylphs have been flexing their muscles today.  The winds were howling and blowing so hard that they were pushing me down the road when I was taking the dog for a walk.  It got me thinking . . . 

Do we see connections that are not really there because of our belief systems -- or do our belief systems allow us to recognize the inherent connections in our lives?

Now, you are probably sitting there thinking 'HUH?  How the he** did she come up with that from a bit of wind?'

Well, I do see things as being connected and one of the ways that I attempt to stay engaged with the world is to try to be aware of those connections.  So, I see the elements manifest in my life both in overt and subtle ways.  On the one hand, today the winds were blowing, carrying leaves and other items through the air.  Gusts would rattle the chimney flue and the garage door -- definitely not subtle!

Interestingly, today I also got a lovely package from some dear friends -- a belated Imbolc gift.  In addition to a beautiful note, there were some great items in that package sent from the East.  Now, Air is associated with the East, Spring, and communication, among other things.  On top of that, while the package was 'from' several people, the way it usually works is that everyone is in on the purchasing decisions, but one individual actually does the shopping, packaging, and mailing.  I find that, while most people have aspects of all the elements in them, there is usually one primary and one secondary element that shine through and Air is the element that I have always seen as primary in the lovely soul 'in charge' of the gift this time.  Just an example of several subtle manifestations of the element Air in my day today.

As you can see, I see the universe as one big mass of inherent connections.  One of my spiritual challenges is to recognize those connections.  Sometimes I am more successful than others -- today was a pretty successful day.  I thank you my lovely long-distance coven, as always you manage to help me flex my spiritual muscles.

I have met many who take the opposite position on this issue, some with a very strong spirituality . . .

How do you think one's perspective on this question shapes a person's spirituality -- or does a person's spirituality shape one's perspective on the question?  Thoughts?

Sylph image found here.

In the Beginning . . .

After spending some time 'lurking' around the blogosphere, I decided that it is time to move out of the shadows a bit.  The first step was to begin leaving comments on some of the blogs that I follow on a regular basis and now, the second step . . .  

Begin a 'pagan' blog of my own . . .

At the moment I am playing around with the layout and have no idea how it will develop -- but I quite like where it is heading at the moment.  Like the layout, I am going to allow the content of this blog to develop organically -- so it will be interesting to see how things grow. Now, a word or two about the title, subtitle, and me . . .

I have been drawn to both the moon and wolves for as long as I can remember, but it was only a few years ago that I was given the name Moonwolf.  I had struggled for years to learn my spirit name and when I finally heard it I felt that I had found a lost part of myself.  While I feel that the name truly embodies me, it was given to me by a person who knew little about me or my spiritual path at the time -- further convincing me (as if that was necessary) that this was an accurate naming.

When choosing a title for this blog, it was important to me that it have some relationship to both my spirit name and the potential content of the posts.  It took very little time for Howling at the Moon to come to mind.  Communication, spirituality, and daily experiences/thoughts are the preliminary foci of things right now -- so mundane musings with a spiritual bent.  My spiritual path, when taken as a whole, can only be described as eclectic, but for decades I have been comfortable with the term 'Witch' (in the broadest sense of the word).  Domestic Witch, Eclectic Pagan, HedgeWitch -- these, among others, are all labels that I would be comfortable with and have used at various points.


Well, not much of an introduction -- but as time goes on, I will reveal much about myself.  


So, until later . . .