The Wiccan Rede and The Rule Of Three

“The Rule of Three (also threefold law or law of return) is a common tenet in Wicca. It states that both the good and the evil that one creates in the world will be returned threefold (in joy or suffering). John J. Coughlin states that, “there is a literal reward or punishment tied to one’s actions, particularly when it comes to working magic,” and that “there are many Wiccans, experienced and new alike, who view the Law of Return as an over-elaboration on the Wiccan Rede”. The Rule of Three has been compared by Karl Lembke to other ethics of reciprocity, such as the concept of karma in Dharmic religions and the Christian edict, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12), also called the Golden Rule” (taken from an article in Wikipedia)

Now, having said all this, and understanding The Rule of Three, it’s sometimes difficult on a personal level to live by this rule; particularly when it comes to magic. How satisfying it would be to put just a tiny evil spell on a cheating husband, the slut sleeping with the husband or an abusive boss. Nothing major. Maybe just a little erectile disfunction, early male pattern baldness, severe flatulence experienced only during sex. But, alas (or perhaps fortunately), we have to heed Rule of Three.

So how about it? Conjured any spells to get even? Even did a little wish magic to make someone pay? How about a small love spell…since that’s manipulation of sorts? If so, did it come back on you? I’d love to know your thoughts and experiences.

It’s Not In The Stars…Or Why I’m Not Making A Souffle Today.

In astrology, a horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, the astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person’s birth. This is a lot of very specific positioning. That’s why I get a kick out of the drivel delivered to my email account on a daily basis. Here’s the one I received this morning:

“Things should come together nicely for you today, Virgo, as long as you have done the prep work necessary to make it a success. The burners are hot and it is time to throw in the ingredients. If you have completed the preliminaries, having all the vegetables chopped, ingredients lined up on the shelf, and cooking utensils at your fingertips, the next step will be a breeze. If, however, you have neglected to take care of these details, you will find yourself scrambling to do many different things at once. The soufflé will probably fall.”

What is that? Could this horoscope be anymore vague and generic? And the cheesy comparisons to cooking! This tells me nothing about what’s in store for me. I believe in-depth astrology readings can be helpful and informative. A lot of work goes into working and writing an astrological chart. After all, not all Virgos were born at the same exact time on the same exact day in the same exact year. In my opinion, these newspaper-style paragraphs are worthless. But hey, they’re delivered daily to my email and cost me nothing. I gotta go…my soufflé is about to fall!

Unrequited Love

“Unrequited Love”

That’s it! We’re through!
You’ve let me down for the last time!
You promised so much, but delivered so little.
I poured my heart out to you.
I trusted you to cherish my words and keep them safe.
But you tossed them out as though they never existed.
Over and over again I gave you another chance.
Time and again, I was willing to start over.
You taunted and teased me. You led me to believe you’d stay.
Those with an opinion said, “Give it a chance, it’ll work out”
But some said, “Forget it, go back to what’s familiar and comfortable”
I took a chance on you and you failed me.
But this time I saw it coming.
I noticed the same telltale signs. The erratic behavior.
The slow responses to my requests. So I readied myself for the crash.
This time I outsmarted you. I was prepared.
I stole everything and hid it where you’d never find it.
So where am I now?
Shall I go back to the old, familiar and reliable?
It’s true my choices are few and limited.
I thought I once loved you Vista, but you’ve forced me to go back to XP.

~Eliza Valenzuela-Carr    ©2008

Roommate Poll…Please Comment!

So, my kids are grown and off to college and I’m alone with the two dogs and the cat. My house is fairly large (4 bedrooms) and I’ve actually been considering looking for a roommate. Good idea? Bad idea? I can’t decide.

My mom and dad live across the road from a very nice lady who breeds and sells Chihuahuas. She was living alone and decided to advertise for a roommate. She settled on a seemingly normal, nice lady and they began their adventure in roommateville. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, it became painfully obvious the roommate had mental issues and my parent’s neighbor was forced to ask her roommate to vacate the premises ASAP. She did so willingly and without incident until the homeowner returned home one night after work to a flame-engulfed house. Apparently the roommate took her anger out on the homeowner by setting her house on fire (fortunately, after opening the doors to let out her prized Chihuahuas). She was arrested and now sits in jail.

So you see my dilemma. In a perfect and normal world, a roommate could become a friend, someone to share expenses and chores and the answer to an empty house. But, in the real world a roommate can be a psycho arsonist who blasts music, does drugs, drinks heavily and parties all night and basically becomes a nightmare in my quiet little world. I’d love to get some feedback here. If anyone has opinions or stories (pros and cons) on the subject of roommates I would love to hear it. Comments would be greatly appreciated!

**reprinted from my other blog at http://mylovesleftovers.com/

Teens and Wicca (an excerpt)

This is an excerpt from a post I recently published on my blogging site, http://www.mylovesleftovers.com:

….Teens today are much more savvy and capable of thinking for themselves than they have been in the past. Today, the onset of puberty is much earlier than decades ago. Marriage is delayed until later. This makes the time period between puberty and marriage longer than ever before, making premarital sex  more prevalent among teens. Wicca doesn’t judge, as do many so-called traditional religions do. As where other religions preach abstinence, Wicca does not. We recognize these decisions are personal and left up to the individual….  

       ****This post can be read in its entirety on my blogging site: http://www.mylovesleftovers.com.

I’ve Gone Dot Com!

Starting tomorrow, my blog will be moving to my private domain site, mylovesleftovers.com. (Just click on this post and you will automatically be redirected). All of my previous posts will remain on WordPress.com, but all future posts (along with previous posts) will appear on my website. I hope readers will continue to visit my blog. I intend to continue writing about subjects that are most important to me and hopefully to others as well. I’ve had such wonderful feedback and have received so many encouraging comments from other fellow bloggers.

This is in no way a reflection on WordPress.com. In fact, my new website is powered by WordPress.org. I’ve visited and written on other blogging sites and WordPress is by far the most pleasant blogging community I’ve come across. I’ve just decided to move on to the next level of my blogging endeavers. Thanks WordPress.com!

Footnote: If anyone is interested in guest blogging on mylovesleftovers.com please email me at: eliza@mylovesleftovers.com. Gracias!

Cooking On A Shoe String Budget

I don’t consider myself poor. I have a roof over my head. I have a dependable vehicle. My kids and I wear fairly nice clothes, even if all of mine have been purchased at WalMart with my associate’s discount card. But according to government statistics, my kids and I are living well beneath the poverty level. What a surprise there. Afterall, this is America. And who better to get the old shaft than single, working mothers and their children. Hey, and to make matters even better, New York State has just taken our Family Health Plus medical insurance away from my children and I. And why, you might ask? Because we have the audacity to earn a whopping $13.00 over their “income guidelines”. Although, they did in all fairness, take into consideration the income my 18-year-old, full-time student earns at our local Lowes store. So basically the government rewards you for working by taking away any assistance they may have available. Apparently you have to be eating dog food out of a can before Uncle Sam gives a crap about his family.

But, I digress. This was meant to be a post about cooking on a shoe string budget. What the hell does that mean anyway? A shoe string budget?……….

……Okay. I’m back. I just looked up the origin of “shoe string budget” and according to “ask yahoo” they can only surmise it goes back to the days when shoe strings cost only 50 cents, which is dumb because alot of things cost 50 cents a long time ago. I’m living on a loaf of bread budget, a roll of toilet paper budget, oh…I got it…a can of dog food budget. So, before resorting to eating dog food out of a can I’ve come up with some of my own cheap meals on a shoe string that I’d like to share. You may have already thought of them or you may not. But I submit them to you all the same.

Hamburger helper. I’m sorry, but it’s still expensive considering you still have to purchase the most expensive ingredient, the meat. It’s not even a real time saver. I have my own cheap and easy version. I buy a small roll (yes a roll) of ground beef (or if you can get it past the kids try ground turkey, it’s even cheaper) and a box of family size Banquet frozen macaroni and cheese. The ground beef costs less than $3.00 and the macaroni and cheese is under $1.00. I fry the meat and while that’s cooking I cook the mac and cheese in the microwave. I add the spices we like (adobo, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper) to taste, toss in the mac and cheese and then add a vegetable. Corn is usually the veggie of choice since it’s the one everyone actually likes. So, basically you’ve made a meal in mere minutes at a cost of less than $5.00.

Taking that recipe and running with it I make a variation with cubed ham. That’s about the same cost as the ground beef and takes even less time. And my scalloped potato and ham is just as easy and just as tasty. And, it’s all done in the microwave. I cut the potatoes into thin slices and put them in a pyrex plate (any microwavable container will do) with a small amount of water to steam them for usually no more than 5 minutes (depending on how many potatoes you’re cooking). Check for tenderness. Add cubed ham (or sometimes I get one of the big chunks of turkey ham at my local Save-A-Lot for under $4.00 and cube that) and cheese. I use whatever cheese I happen to have on hand. Velveeta works great because it melts so well. But cheese slices or shredded cheese works perfectly fine.

No meal is complete without dessert. Ambrosia is delicious, easy and pretty cheap. All it is is cool whip (I get the low fat for about $1.50), a large can of mixed fruit (no syrup, heavy syrup, it doesn’t matter because you have to drain it anyway), mini marshmallows, shredded coconut, and nuts. Yum. I also make a mean chocolate cake in my bread machine. I get the cheapest box of cake mix (under $1.00) and a cheap can of frosting (under $1.50). My bread machine has a cake setting so it does all the work for me. Okay, so it looks a little funky when it’s done, but who cares, it still tastes delicious. To compensate for the loaf-y look I slice it in length-wise sections and frost each section to make a “tiered” cake.

So there you have it. Some pretty easy, quick and cheap meals on a shoe string budget. And remember, no matter how bad things get and how hard it is to come up with cheap ideas and recipes to make a meal, never, ever resort to feeding your family spam. That’s just plain cruel.

**This post and all others (including posts not published here) can be read on my new blogging site http://www.mylovesleftovers.com. Thanks for checking it out!

I Have Been Coached…

So, the day has come. I have been coached. I’ve worked at WalMart since 2004 and managed not to piss off the coaching staff, but alas the time has come. I must admit, I did make a boo-boo, however a boo-boo that TWO Assistant Managers were called in on, could have easily rectified, but did not. Unfortunately it was I who bore the brunt of the error and received the dreaded written coaching.

It had been my understanding that a coaching was supposed to to take place within the first 24 hours of the infraction. But mine took place well over a month later. I’ve been told by concerned and sympathetic associates that I should take my case to the district manager. I’m reluctant to do this because I’m smart  enough to know if WalMart’s management gets pissed they’ll find any way imaginable to make your life hell and force you to quit. Rather than making any waves I chose to take my punishment and keep my mouth shut. What a good little associate I am.

So, now I sit (or stand, for we are never allowed to sit unless we are on break or on the toilet) waiting for the other shoe to drop. Praying I won’t make any mistakes, clock in late, clock out early, get sick for more that a day, or any one of numerous reasons to turn my written coaching into a “D” day whereupon I will be sent home to write my letter pleading to keep my job. I need this job. I can’t quit. But it’s difficult to work when I’m in constant fear of doing something that would warrant a coaching and thus lose my job. And why, might you ask, did I go right to a written coaching? I didn’t. I actually received a verbal coaching this past December. And what was my infraction? I had the nerve to go 20 minutes over my scheduled hours…not overtime mind you…not more than 40 hours…just simply 20 minutes over my scheduled 30 hours.

***This post and all others (including posts not published here) can be read on my new blogging site, http://www.mylovesleftovers.com. Thanks for checking it out!

WalMart’s Three Step Program

Just about everyone’s heard of twelve step programs. The Twelve Step Program is a set of guiding principles for recovery from addictive, compulsive or other behaviorial problems and was originally designed by the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have no opinion one way or the other on whether it works or not. But it leads me to the “three step program”, aka “coaching” that WalMart Corp. imposes on it’s wayward associates. Allow me to explain.

First, a little disclaimer. I’m just putting this process out there. What anyone else makes of it is entirely their opinion. I will not venture to either advocate this process nor condemn it because I don’t want anyone coming after me for disclosing any deep, dark insider secrets. But anyone who works at WalMart or has a friend/relative working for WalMart might already be privy to the process.

As I said, WalMart calls this “coaching”. Sounds sort of fun, doesn’t it? Go team, go! Go out there and win one for Sam! But, no, contrary to the supportive, encouraging term, it’s more of a punishment than anything else. Let’s say an “Associate” calls in repeatedly (repeatedly is basically anything over 3 days, not excessive some may say) or an associate goes over their “scheduled” hours (not overtime, or over 40 hours, but over their own individual hours for the week) or basically anything contrary to WalMart’s particular set of rules/regulations/policies/blah, blah  (which these seem to be arbitrary and at the discretion of each individual Assistant Manager). The first step of coaching is what they call a “verbal coaching”. You’re called into the office and advised of your infraction and you get a talking to. Not too bad I suppose. Now, if after that verbal coaching you are naughty again, you then receive what’s affectionately known as a “written coaching”. Once again you’re brought into the office, advised of your naughtiness and how it adversely affects the company and you are given a paper to sign. Then, if you are still an insolent and naughty child (oops, I mean adult) you receive what’s called a “D” day. I’m not sure what the “D” stands for. Dummy, Dope, Doo-Doo Head. Anyway, you are sent home (with pay) to write a letter explaining what you did, why it was wrong and why you should be allowed to keep your job. Once the I-Am-A-Doo-Doo-Head letter is written, you are allowed to return to work and a committee (maybe just the Assistant Manager, I don’t know) decides whether or not you’re sincere enough to maintain your job. I think your Mom might have to sign it, but I’m not sure. The final step, of course, is instant termination, where upon you are escorted out of the store flanked between two members of management. Just a tad humiliating.

So, basically WalMart has adopted the three-strikes-and-you’re-out philosophy (four if you count the personal escort service). I’m not saying poor work performance should go unchallenged. But, this process often creates an environment of fear among associates. Making a mistake, going over one’s hours, calling in sick, can all be behaviors warranting coaching. And the fact that many Managers seem to have their own ideas on what requires coaching leaves associates worried when rotation time rolls around (when Assistant Managers change department assignments). Some hold their breath and hope they don’t get so-and-so overseeing their department. But, such is life. We all need jobs in order to pay the bills. Perhaps WalMart’s associate policies aren’t far off from what other employers impose upon employees. I just had the need to disclose this important information, but in the meantime I’ll say, “Go team, go!”

***This post (and all others, including those not published here) can be read on my new blogging site, http://www.mylovesleftovers.com. Thanks for checking it out!

Praying In Church And Other Bizarre And Evil Behaviors.

I was watching a show on A&E the other night. It’s a show I usually enjoy watching called A Haunting or something similar (the exact name escapes me). Each episode features a “haunting” involving a family plagued by unknown spirits. Some spirits are benign and friendly and some are evil and threatening. It’s usually interesting and somewhat educational and I’ve always found it to be open-minded and informational. But, this particular episode surrounded a single mother and her son who were being visited by evil, demonic forces and the devastating ways their lives had been affected. The ensuing story was ridiculous and laughable.

The story was told in flashbacks because it had supposedly occurred in the 1960’s. According to the re-enactment, the woman had “always” been interested and somewhat obsessed with the Occult, Wicca and Witchcraft, much to the dismay of her husband at the time (apparently her interest in the occult had precipitated their eventual divorce). She read “Witchy” books and (gasp) set up an Altar. Her son was mortified with her evil behavior and eventually the two had become estranged. Suddenly, evil beings began visiting this poor, misguided heathen and her life became out of control. By this time her son had left for college and was quite relieved to be free of his devil-worshipping mother. In fact, during a rare visit he was forced to take down a picture of the devil his mother had hung over his bed. His mother was now dressing in all black and even wore a pentagram necklace. What was a good Christian son to do? And so on the story went in the same idiotic way. Eventually, the woman saw the error of her ways. Mother and son blessed the house, said a few prayers and all was well with the world again.

The whole story left me shaking my head and wondering if it had been written by Jerry Falwell. Had I stumbled upon an episode of the 700 Club by mistake? The entire episode was ridiculous. Wicca is a real and recognized religion. There are millions of practicing Wiccans all over the world. There is absolutely no devil worship involved. Wiccans don’t even believe in heaven, hell or the devil. The devil is a Christian myth and nothing more.

Now, I ask you this: Is there a difference between setting up an Altar in one’s home to meditate and going to a building, kneeling, placing hands together, looking skyward and saying prayers? Why isn’t sitting, standing and kneeling several times in one hour considered odd behavior? How about kneeling at a church altar and lighting candles to pray for guidance and healing? What about partaking in wine (juice) and wafers as a way to show reverence to a deity? No one shakes their head and questions these behaviors. No one thinks there are evil consequences to prayer and candle lighting ceremonies. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these things. Prayers are answered. “Miracles” do happen.

There is no difference between Wicca and Christianity except that they are different ways to obtain the same results. Misinformed television shows and movies only serve to perpetuate the ignorance and intolerance of the Wiccan religion. I know stories like these sell tickets and commercialized products, but come on people, enough with the “you’ll go to hell if you practice Wicca and Witchcraft”. Freedom and tolerance of religion means freedom and tolerance of ALL religions. Stop giving Wicca a bad rap.