A Holistic Approach to Pregnancy

When you are ready to start or expand your family, there are various ways to go about it.  With pregnancies, there are different approaches.  There is a holistic approach.  The typical considerations of a holistic approach involve the body, mind and spirit.  The body element deals with health and nutrition.  The mind aspect involves emotions and everyday responses (such as stress).  Also, relationships and the main people that you surround yourself with also play a role in the mind part.  The spiritual aspect is not as concrete as the others.  Thinking about values and beliefs that you have (whether religious or not) and how they impact you on a day to day basis.  Ask yourself what brings you peace?

Holistic approaches involve the concept of something being natural.  Having the baby naturally and with little interference or medications is ideal in terms of holistic pregnancies.  However, for maximum health, if a baby or mother requires other medical aid please seek it immediately.  I am not a doctor.  I am an English Major.  I just understand and research these topics (**that is my disclaimer).  It is important that the parents figure out what is the best planning and what are the best approaches from preconception until birth.

When it comes to preconception, there are so many options for women.  There are so many holistic approaches to getting pregnant.

Acupuncture is one option for women who are trying to get pregnant.  It will treat the whole body.  Someone who is an expert in this field may come to the conclusion that your fertility issues may be because of energy blockages or lack of balance within our body.  The specialist needs to know you are having fertility problems so the needles can be placed in the areas they deem appropriate.

There are homeopathic remedies that have a positive outcome on the hormones, reproductive organs, and sex drive.  Herbs such as Vitex agnus-castus (Chasteberry) can be used.  This herb stimulates the pituitary gland, which produces estrogen.  Another fertility herb is known as Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohosh – a traditional Chinese fertility herb) and may help better the hormone activity.  It has also been used to prevent miscarriage and help during menopause.  Other herbs such as Indian Ginseng and Horney Goat Weed have been known to increase chance of conception.  Maybe take a stroll to the local vitamin or organic store to see more options and what is available.  A major factor in taking herbs like this may also be to cleanse your body of bad things.  Maybe look into a fertility cleanse or healthy detox options.  There are many websites that promote healthy fertility and pregnancy options. I am not really into promoting products I know little about, but I am sure there are many other options out there.  Try looking up natural cleanses that won’t cause you to purchase an all inclusive kit. A good place to start is: http://www.naturallyknockedup.com/cleanse-whole-foods/

 

Some have also found that healing crystals have aided them in their pursuit to pregnancy.  There are so many options out there, and it is about finding what you believe in.  Find what creates a good connection between you and your body.  If gemstones and healing crystals interest you, give it a try.  I have healing crystals for stress that I feel really help.  A perfect website to check out for this topic is: http://www.natural-health-for-fertility.com/healing-crystals.html 

Reducing stress is big deal when trying to get pregnant.  It sounds impossible, but stress plays a role in fertility.  Yoga, meditation, reading and other leisure activities can help to reduce stress.  Find what works best for you.  Don’t try to cram in a yoga session and spend your mediation time planning what’s for dinner.  That defeats the purpose.  Along with reducing stress, focus on your day to day habits that deal with basic health.  Eating healthier, cutting back on smoking and alcohol, and just being more active are all natural ways to increase fertility.  There are various little things that you can do that will add up and could possibly do the trick.

Check out this website for some other homeopathic herbs and remedies for increasing fertility: http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/home-remedies-fertility.html

I wanted to give multiple website links so options are available in an easy manner. 

 

***Remember, I am not a doctor.  I am not a fertility specialist.  It is a good idea to speak to a doctor about this topic further.  As mentioned before, check out Acupuncture and visit your local organic store.  There are other options than expensive fertility treatments.  Lay everything out in front of you and take a deep breath. 

The Strengh Tarot Card

To really understand every aspect of this card, the imagery can be looked at first. There is a woman tempering a lion. The sky is clear and an infinity symbol is above her head. Strength can have varying degrees of meaning. There can be physical, emotional and mental strength. The woman (woman are not typically thought to have physical strength) has tempered a lion (an animal of brute physical strength). Because the lion is being gentle and calm with the woman, it is illustrating that to have strength does not mean you need just physical ability.  It also shows that one person is able to do a lot more than they realize.  The woman can be thought of as pure and good because of her white robe. The infinity symbol is seen in other cards such as the magician. The symbol shows the vast amount of knowledge that can be found in life.

This card really represents inner strength and the ability to push through situations that may be harking down on you. It takes a strong will that comes from inside to pursue to the other side. Compassion, patience and persistence are necessary when this card is seen. Those elements are needed to get yourself through the obstacle that is in your way.

You need to tolerate and respect others. You are capable of more than you realize. You need to pull from within to see what you are totally capable of. This card shows balance that is in your life already or could result based on pushing through. It also gives the promise of things will get better.

This is the "take a break and breathe" card because it will get better because of the strength you have. It can assure any doubts you have and make you more confident.

Festival of Light

The 14th annual Festival of Light went quite well. I was unable to post on the blog for a while because of some technical issues with the website, but I am back.

The festival was great as always with vendors dealing in jewelry, tarot, angel cards, stones and crystals, reiki, and other healing/psychic elements. I read tarot cards just as last year. It was a pleasure to meet so many fascinating people from varying areas.

Some vendors to look forward next year are:

Candie Hess and Debbie Wright - They do a fabulous job in reiki and alternate healing.

Amanda Garland - She is a wonderful woman who does reflexology.

Michelle Wright - She handcrafts jewelry and ornaments. Visit her Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/theenlightenedgarden

As always, the Festival of Light has so many things to do, see and purchase. It is an amazing environment with amazing people. Look for updates on next year's festival.

Ode to Psyche

I was in my British Literature class the other day, and we were going over John Keats and his odes.  There is one that stuck out the most.  It was not only beautiful, but it had a Greek mythology embedded into it.  This made my morning because not only did my day start with literature, but it started with mythology, as well.  First, I want to start by talking about the myth.  Then, I will get to the ode and the analysis.

The story of Psyche and Cupid (Eros) is probably one of the most beautiful tales in Greek mythology.  It is very popular and has been retold in a multitude of ways.  Many aesthetics of this story are found in movies today.

Myth of Psyche and Cupid:

Psyche is the youngest of three sisters.  She is born with extreme beauty and grace.  People worship her to the point of forgetting about the goddess Venus.  Venus is the actual goddess of beauty, and Psyche causes her great jealousy.  The angry goddess sets out to create a plot of ruin Psyche.  She hatches the idea that her son Cupid (Eros) should shoot Psyche with an arrow.  The arrow will make her fall in love.  Venus does not just want the beautiful maiden to fall in love; she wants her to fall in love with a hideous man.  Cupid sees how glorious Psyche is and falls in love with her and her beauty.  He shoots himself with his own arrow.  During this, Psyche's father worries she will never find a husband.  Men find her beautiful, but she has yet to find a suitor to take her hand in marriage.  Her father decides he should pray to Apollo.  The god tells them that Psyche should go to the top of a hill where she will marry a serpent and not a man.  She listens.  She falls asleep on this hill and wakes up to a beautiful mansion.  However, she has yet to see her husband.  At night she falls in love with her husband, but she still does not see him.  She is content and happy with their love though.  Psyche asks her husband if her sisters can visit.  He advises that it's not a good idea but follows the wishes of his bride.  Her sisters arrive and are already jealous of her living quarters.  They wonder why Psyche has never seen her husband.  One night they talk her into turning on a light to see him.  She finds Cupid next to her in bed.  When she sees him, she loses her faith, and Cupid flees.  He leaves her because he says a marriage cannot lack trust.  Cupid goes back to his mother, Venus.  Psyche realizes she was wrong and searches for her true love.  She ends up going to Venus and begging for Cupid to return.  Venus wants revenge, so she makes Psyche sort a large pile of seeds in the night.  The tasks seems impossible, but ants help her sort and succeed. Venus commands her to retrieve a golden fleece from the river. She almost drowns herself in the river because she is so depressed, but a reed speaks to her and tells her that she should collect the golden pieces of fleece from the thorny briar that catches it.  She accomplishes the task yet again. The amazed Venus now orders Psyche to fill a flask from the mouth of the River Styx. When Psyche reaches the head of the river, she realizes that this task seems impossible because the rocks are so dangerous. This time, an eagle helps her and fills the flask.  Venus then challenges Psyche to go to the Underworld and have Persephone but some of her beauty into a box.  Somehow, she succeeds again.  Psyche gets curious before giving the box to Venus.  She opens it and immediately falls asleep.  There was actually a sleeping spell inside.  Cupid finds her and takes her to Zeus.  He begs for her to be granted immortality.  Zeus agrees to make Psyche a goddess.  Once she becomes a goddess, Cupid and Psyche's marriage is now approved by his mother.  She decides that because Psyche is a goddess and married to cupid, mortal men will no longer be distracted by her beauty, and they will once again worship Venus. 

Despite all of the challenges thrown at Psyche she beats every one even though she is a mortal.  Cupid's love runs deep, and it ends happily.  Psyche is an unusal character because she conquers her goals as if she were a male character.  It's also rare that she begins as a mortal and ends divine.  The story continues to explore the distinction between humans and gods.  The reconciliation of opposites is a major theme in this myth.  It is a similar theme in the ode. 

The "Ode to Psyche":

O GODDESS! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung
By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung
Even into thine own soft-conchèd ear:
Surely I dream'd to-day, or did I see
The wingèd Psyche with awaken'd eyes?
I wander'd in a forest thoughtlessly,
And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,
Saw two fair creatures, couchèd side by side
In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof
Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran
A brooklet, scarce espied:
'Mid hush'd, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,
Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian
They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass;
Their arms embracèd, and their pinions too;
Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu,
As if disjoinèd by soft-handed slumber,
And ready still past kisses to outnumber
At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love:
The wingèd boy I knew;
But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?
His Psyche true!
O latest-born and loveliest vision far
Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!
Fairer than Phoe<! oelig>be's sapphire-region'd star,
Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;
Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,
Nor altar heap'd with flowers;
Nor Virgin-choir to make delicious moan
Upon the midnight hours;
No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet
From chain-swung censer teeming;
No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat
Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.
O brightest! though too late for antique vows,
Too, too late for the fond believing lyre,
When holy were the haunted forest boughs,
Holy the air, the water, and the fire;
Yet even in these days so far retired
From happy pieties, thy lucent fans,
Fluttering among the faint Olympians,
I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired.
So let me be thy choir, and make a moan
Upon the midnight hours;
Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet
From swingèd censer teeming:
Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat
Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.
Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of my mind,
Where branchèd thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,
Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind:
Far, far around shall those dark-cluster'd trees
Fledge the wild-ridgèd mountains steep by steep;
And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees,
The moss-lain Dryads shall be lull'd to sleep;
And in the midst of this wide quietness
A rosy sanctuary will I dress
With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain,
With buds, and bells, and stars without a name,
With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign,
Who breeding flowers, will never breed the same;
And there shall be for thee all soft delight
That shadowy thought can win,
A bright torch, and a casement ope at night,
To let the warm Love in!     The poem is immediately addressed to Psyche.  The ode does not actually retell the myth.  The elements of the myth are just within the lines.  The poet imagines that he has either seen or dreamed that he has seen the winged goddess, Psyche, while he was wandering in a forest. Although she is fairer than all other goddesses, there is no temple to her. The speaker wants to pay homage to Psyche.  He says he will be her choir, alter, and music.  In the fourth stanza, he continues with these declarations, saying he will become Psyche’s priest and build her a temple in a region of his mind.  He uses elements of imagination and insight and relies on them to become experience.  He also says that her love (Cupid/Eros) can come in.  In the poem it mentions Psyche's wings.  In Greek Psyche means soul or butterfly.  The reader gives his self to understand the goddess.  The lyrical voice is a symbol of giving up his own voice to create a deeper connection with her.  This ode is an example of a romantic poet which John Keats is the master of creating.   

Misconceptions and Superstitions of Wicca and Paganism

There are misconceptions about any and every taboo subject.  Wicca is no different.  Some people still think that "witches" sold their soul to the devil for magical powers.  Some of the hype is certainly not accurate, but it is kind of funny to see how extreme people would go to find a reason, real or not, to hate Wicca.  It makes me laugh that people also assume every tarot card reader is a "witch" or is some sort of evil being.  I put "witch" in quotes for a reason.  Some people have a stereotype that these individuals eat eye of newt, turn men into toads, and are ugly, old hags.  There are those who go by the term "witch," but they do not have super powers or wear pointy hats.  Although, in Salem there are some neat shops where people fit the discription rather nicely.  However, there get-up is to make the change come out of your pocket. 
With some of the stereotypes and superstitions rooted in Wicca and "witch" related holidays, there are some interesting bits of information.  Halloween, for example, has some "witch" associations, but people are not aware of all the detail.  Typically "witch" costumes for Halloween involve pointy hats, black cats, and warts.  Pointed hats represent a cone of wisdom and power that go into the mind of the wearer.  A black cat does not hold any power of misfortune of luck, but they were good companions to solitary practicers of wicca and witchcraft. 
Everyone knows about some sort of superstitions.  Sometimes I knock on wood if I say something bad, and I feel better because I don't want to jinx myself.  A lot of people pair the color black with evil, but there is more to the color than the negative views.  Black is a good conductor of energy, because it is the combination of all colors. 

In Wicca, the holiday of Samhain or Halloween has some age old superstitions.

• Keep rosemary under your pillow and you will dream of your future husband.
• Do not turn around on Samhain night if you hear something behind you, because it could be a spirit following you.
• Ringing a bell on Samhain night was thought to keep spirits away. 
• Owls fly down on Samhain night to eat the souls of the dead.
• Bats flying early on Samhain night means good weather.
• If you see a spider on Samhain night do not kill it, because it is thought to be an ancestor watching you.

Some non-Samhain related superstitions in Pagan and Wiccan traditions

• carrying acorns bring good luck
• bells drive away evil
• killing or keeping a robin is unlucky
• It is unlucky to see your reflection in a mirror by candlelight
• If a bird flys in your house, death will come soon