Random Ramblings

Well I can honestly say desite the rain and random thunder showers (with hail of course) my day was very enjoyable indeed! The two books I ordered through Amazon.com came in the mail this afternoon and when I got home from picking up the kids, my raffle prize was waiting for me on the porch.

I wasn't sure what to open first so I started with the bigger one, the raffle prize that I won in the "Save Moki" website and had a wonderful time looking in and around the packing for the contents inside. I put the brand new cat bed on my webcam and the cats, I'm relieved to say, have taken to it right away. Toodles was the first to lay claim to the catnip mouse and hasn't let it out of his site since but I'm sure Binky will find it as soon as he wanders away from the bed.

My next item in line was the first book I ordered last week "Pagan Every Day" by Barbara Ardinger, I've been absolutely lurking by the mail boxes for that one all weekend and the other also by Barbara Ardiger is "Practicing the Presence of the Goddess, everyday rituals to transform your world" I was positively gleeful when I was finally able to open the books and read their pages. I read several of the pages in each book and I hope to blog about what I've read later this week or weekend.

I hear it's actually going to be sunny for once this weekend and possibly into the eighties Sunday and Monday...wow, hold me back...I've started to think I was turning into a mole lately after not seeing the sunny sky for what seems like weeks and weeks of gloomy rain and wind. I love the sunshine, it makes everything so bright and positive and my energy level is so much higher.

I probably shouldn't be living in the "seasonal depression" city of the nation...(I'm not really sure if it's the capital or not but to me it should be!) Anyhow, I'm going to sign off now and get to reading now that things are quiet and the kids have gone to bed for the nigh. Bright blessings to you all.

Bast, Egyptian Deity

Since I love cats so much, I figured a little research on the Egyptian goddess Bast was in order and some of what I found was very interesting.


Bast, also known as Bastet, patron of cats, women, and secrets appears as a desert cat or a woman with the head of a cat (this form possibly dates after the domestication of the Egyptian wild cat). She is described as probably the most famous Egyptian goddess after Isis and Bast was said to be the daughter of Ra though long after he created the primal gods.

She was originally a sun goddess but after contact with the Greeks, she changed to a moon goddess probably due to the Greeks associating her with Artemis. Like Artemis, Bast was a wild goddess and to those who were in her favor, she gave great blessings, but her wrath was legendary and she was sometimes listed as one of Ra's avenging deities who punished the sinful and the enemies of Egypt. This is of course in keeping with her totem animal the cat. Cats were sacred to Bast and to harm one was deemed a great transgression.

Bast's importance in the Egyptian pantheon might be due to the great value placed on the domesticated cat by the Egyptians. Cats curtailed the spread of disease by killing vermin and though the idea of microbes was unknown to the ancient Egyptians, they must have noticed the connection between rats and disease. Her worship was widespread, and her followers apparently had a great deal of power. Bubastis was even the capital of Egypt for a time during the Late Period and some pharaohs took her name in their king-names. Herodotus' description of her temple at Bubastis is that of a place of great splendor and beauty, rivaled only by the temples to Ra and Horus Worshiped widely throughout Egypt...... her center of worship was at Bubastis.

Cats have an air of mystery about them and some do not care for them as pets because of this but I have always understood them and knowing their royal history only makes me love them more!

Serenity Sunday

I am SO greatful this week to have my bathroom back...well, the kids are pretty darn greatful too since they don't have to run to the neighbor's house any more. Another thing I'd like to say a bit about is the freedom that we all have a share in...the ability to thank a higher power (how ever we choose to see that higher power) and the ability to express that gratitude. Let us not try to judge the differences but be thankful that there are so many colors that make up a rainbow that we call spirituality. Here is my list for this week:

1.) My children

2.) My cats

3.) Cinnamon Creme coffee creamer

4.) A working toilet

5.) The new feather bed mattress I just bought...mmm, snuggly!

6.) The freedom to express my spirituality

7.) My ability to disregard judgements made on me

8.) My fuzzy bunny slippers

9.) Yarn that I make afghans with

10.) Downy fabric softener

I know there are a couple strange things on my list but that's what makes gratitude so wonderful...the ability to take the small stuff that usually gets passed over on any given day and give thanks for it.