Apologies if you’re looking for This Week In Heresy

Apologies if you’re looking for This Week In Heresy in the next few days. After much thought, I’ve decided to drop This Week In Heresy. While we’ve done a lot of good things with the show, it’s gone from “This is awesome!” to “This is a chore…” which, unfortunately, is not what I intended for the show at the beginning. It is a difficult format to maintain, especially while going to seminary, and before the content starts suffering, I’d rather pull it. Unfortunately, last night, I was trying to rename the channel, and ended up deleting the shows in the process. *looks sheepish* I need to upload everything again, and will let you all know the new links. (They’ll also be available here.)

However, all is not lost. First, I will be creating a new channel called Dual Citizen Productions which will house all the episodes of This Week In Heresy, so they will still be available.

Second, in the next couple of months we’ll be moving to a multi-show format. The hope is film during the next couple of months and return in January with new content for your inter-faith enjoyment!

The Greek Geek has already agreed to have his own show on the channel, as well as a show called Between The Worlds with yours truly. Hopefully we’ll still have The Hermit’s Hut, and a new show called Coffee With God. There will also be music videos from Mage of Machines, and other specials and interviews.

If anyone is interested in hosting a show, please let me know! We would be especially interested in other faiths besides Wicca and Christianity in the line up! If you have any ideas for what you’d like to see in the channel, feel free to drop me a line!

Again, apologies for the sudden disappearance of videos, and I hope to have them back up in the next few days. I’ll post the new links as soon as they are available.

To all of you who watched This Week In Heresy, thank you very much! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you’ll enjoy the new shows when we come back up in January!

Thanks for all the encouragement, and for you patience while we reboot,

Gina

From Bunny to Handfasting Gloves

On my crafting blog, I have a (summary) story about fiber from a bunny that I had to give up that became gloves for my friend on her handfasting day. It is a rather lovely and happy ending to a story that started over 9 years ago.

I’m filled with a lot of love, light, and happiness today!

Silence

Tomorrow I leave for the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, CA to do a one week silent retreat. I will be off the grid from tomorrow through Friday afternoon.

Basically, I need to spend some quality time with Jesus, other deity, and myself to process the past year. The only technology I’m taking with me is my phone, but there is no guarantee of cell service, and definitely no internet. If it’s an absolute emergency, you can try texting, or contact my wife.

I’m excited and a little nervous about going. I haven’t done this long in silence before, but I know in my heart that it’s going to be really good for me. I have a couple of books, notebooks, pens, and crocheting coming with me. No computer or ipad.

It’s going to be nice, but weird, I think.

Hope everyone has a great week, and I’ll see you when I get back.

A film festival you should go see and support:

My wife and I just got back from this short film festival, and I think everyone should go see and support it, particularly for the short “I Am A Girl!”

It’s playing in quite a few places in the Bay Area, so check the schedule on their website.

A new short from Unsubtle Films — “Spin”

Meditation

Quiet meditation, while do-able, has always been a bit difficult. Sitting still in some cases isn’t all that hard, but a good deal of the time I feel like I should be doing something with my body. Tried Tai Chi and didn’t care for it. I do meditate while walking at times, but sometimes it’s not practical.

Enter, the spinning wheel:

 

My awesome wife bought me this spinning wheel from an online antique dealer. It didn’t need a whole lot of work to get to a functioning state. The wheel is dated from the mid to late 1800s, and mostly needed oil, a drive band, some cleaning, and some adjustment to the bobbin. I spun two bobbins of wool last night in a fraction of the time that it would take me to use a drop spindle. I thought it would take me a lot longer to learn how to spin on the wheel, but I suppose all those years of using a drop spindle have paid off.

Earlier this week Sarah had an amazing idea for a short film starring me and the spinning wheel. Today was the perfect day for shooting the film, as it’s rainy, gloomy, and not really a day for doing anything outside or going anywhere.

We shot the initial movie footage in about three hours. I suppose that’s what you get when deity is involved in the shoot.

During the part of the shoot where I was spinning for awhile, I realized I had found a new way to meditate. It has enough focus so that you don’t go too far out, but enough repetition of motion to allow my brain to do what it needs to do. It’s also limited, since you don’t want to spin continuously for more than about a hour at a time. I know I’ll probably use it a lot more than that, but the meditation aspect is a very welcome bonus.

This is something I like and want to do. There are benefits beyond just spinning and meditation. It opens up possibilities for ways of sustaining myself without having to go back into biotech. I can also do some special magickal fiber arts that would be quite useful.

It’s lovely. It makes me happy. God is good.

 

#Pantheacon Schedule

Just a reminder that we are doing and Open Discussion of Gender and Transgender in Paganism on Sunday at 3:30 PM in the Santa Clara room. We welcome ALL people who wish to discuss this issue. And we do mean ALL. We need to talk to each other in order to move things forward.

After the discussion, there will be a book signing for the anthology Gender and Transgender in Modern Paganism in the vendor room from 5:30-6:00 PM

Hope to see you there!

Announcing the release of “Gender and Transgender in Modern Paganism”!

The Circle of Cerridwen is pleased to announce the release of “Gender and Transgender in Modern Paganism”! We are very happy with this collection, and we’d like to thank all of our authors and editors for making this possible!

Click here to get your copy of the anthology!

Spring Term

The Spring term has started this week, and it’s really nice to be back at school. It’s funny that I’m as glad to be back at school and see everyone as I was to get off the hill at the end of last term.

It took a lot of rest and a lot of crafting to get back to a point where I was ready to get back. (If you check out my crafting blog, you’ll see what I’ve made in the last month and a half.) In a lot of ways, I’m glad I’ve gotten back in to crafting as it helps keep me calm and focused. It also gives me something to do with my hands instead of fussing with my iPad during class.

It’s a win-win situation! Don’t be surprised if I give you something crocheted or some sort of jewelry for birthdays, holidays, and special events! I also got asked during class last week if I made iPad bags for sale (they really liked mine), and that’s not a half bad idea. I might be persuaded to do it on request. (Although, if you wanted a special color yarn, you’d have to buy it.)

I’m going to try and write on this blog at least once a week. I want to make this a regular practice again. It’s looking like either Wednesday or Fridays at the moment, but that may change depending on how my homework goes.

Also, my fellow ministers are now getting into the blogging thing, and so check out the sidebar for links to their sites (not all of them are up yet).

Pantheacon is in two weeks, and I’ll have announcements about the book this week and reminders about our discussion on the Sunday of Pantheacon at 3:30 pm. It should prove to be interesting, and I’m really excited for the book to finally come out! It was really interesting to put the book together, and we have an excellent collection of authors (some well-known, some not) who have contributed. Hope to see many of you there!

On a final note, I just want it to be known that I have some of the awesomest friends on the planet! If I didn’t have them to give me a metaphorical 2×4 to the head now and again, I don’t know where I’d be! I love you all (you know who you are)!

Film News

For those of you who don’t know, my wife is writing/directing/producing a film called The Abbess. The story is based on the life of Sister Benedetta Carlini, a queer (for the most part) nun in Italy in the 16th and early 17th century. The story is a fascinating one, and the script, I think, is fantastic.

If you’re interested in any aspect of film making, we’re looking for cast and crew. I’ve been doing some prop making, including Benedetta’s rosary (which I’ll post pics of sometime this weekend), and helping out when I can. But, because of school, I won’t be able to help out as much as I like, so if you or anyone you know is interested in helping, check out the film’s website, and sign up to help!

I promise some more posts from me soon, as I have lots of things to write about, actually…:)