Pagan Survey

by V.E. on December 27th, 2011

filed under personal, quizzes/surveys, spirituality

B A S I C S

Do you have a magickal name? I’ve had one in the past, but I don’t anymore.

How did you find Wicca/Paganism? I read an article in Teen People when I was… 13? I think? Maybe 12. I don’t remember.

How long have you been practicing? um… 13 years. Or 14.

Solitary or group practitioner? Solitary.

What is your path? Polytheist.

Are you out of the broom closet? Not really. To a few people, yes, I guess; but generally I don’t talk about it one way or the other.

D E I T Y

Who is your patron God? I have no patron god, though I revere Hermes.

Who is your patron Goddess? I don’t have a patron (matron?) goddess, either, but I listen for Athena and Artemis.

Do you fear darkly aspected Gods/Goddess, or rather respect them? I fear them sometimes, but I fear lightbringers, too, so I don’t know what fear really has to do with it.

Do you worship the Christian God? No, I don’t.

Do you ever worship animals? No, but I believe that god is everyone and everything…

Or plants? … including plants. And rocks.

N A T U R E

Do you regularly commune with nature? Not really. I mean, I walk to work sometimes, but it’s on a street the whole way and the freeway is RIGHTTHERE, so it’s not like I can really even hear any nature that’s not human-made, you know?

Ever walked barefoot in the woods? Yes, but not recently.

Taken a camping trip just to talk to nature? No.

Describe the moment you felt closest to Mother Earth? The day Bennett took me up to the roof of a building overlooking Central Park when The Gates were still standing. That was powerful.

What is your power animal? I don’t have one, though someone once jokingly told me it should be Pikachu, and Hermes thought that was the funniest shit ever and wouldn’t let me hear the end of it for a long time. >_>

Do you have a familiar? No.

Have you ever called upon the powers of an animal in ritual? No.

Or a plant? No.

Do you hug trees? Haha, yes, I have.

Give them gifts? I try not to litter and stuff, but I don’t know if that counts as a gift.

What is your favorite flower to work with? Lavender, Rose, Poppy, Forget-Me-Not, Bluebonnet

What is your favorite tree to work with? The ones close to me. I don’t have enough knowledge of trees to work with any certain type.

W H E E L . O F . T H E . Y E A R

What is your favorite holiday? Imbolc

What is your least favorite holiday? Honestly… Yule.

Have you ever held a ritual on a holiday? Yes.

Ever taken a day off work to celebrate a pagan holiday? Yes, though I didn’t specify why I was taking the day off.

Do you celebrate Yule on the 21st rather than the 25th? Yes, though my family is Christian, so I tolerate their Christmas traditions, too, including the birth of Jesus on the 25th and whatnot.

Have you ever felt the veil thin? Yes.

Ever danced the Maypole? No.

Know what the Maypole symbolizes? Yes, and that’s the least a person should know before they dance around it.

How do you usually celebrate the pagan holidays? Quietly and alone.

D I V I N A T I O N

Do you use Tarot? Not often.

Do you use runes? No, though I own a set.

Do you use a pendulum? Yes.

Do you use dowsing rods? No.

Do you use astrology? Sometimes.

Any other form of divination? Mirror scrying, tea leaf reading

S P E L L S

What was the first spell you did? Damn… I haven’t cast a spell in such a long time. I don’t even remember.

What was the latest? Like I said, I don’t remember the last spell I cast. It’s been a long time. Like… years.

Ever done a love spell? Yes.

A job spell? No.

A healing spell? Yes.

What was the most powerful spell you’ve ever performed? I can’t properly write about it, poor writer that I am.

What deities do you usually call on? Athena, Artemis, and Hermes. Sometimes Brighid, the Morrigan, or Quan-Yin.

C R Y P T O Z O O L O G Y

Do you believe in Vampires? Not in the traditional sense, no.

Werewolves? No.

Shapeshifters? I haven’t thought about it.

Elves? I… don’t think so?

Faeries? Yes.

Dragons? No.

Nymphs? As in “wood nymph”…? Not really, but I wouldn’t be surprised either way.

Sprites? No.

Mermaids? No, but it would be cool, right?

Sirens? Absolutely yes, but not the kind of legend.

Satyrs? No.

Ever seen any of the above? No.

Ever talked to any of the above? Yes.

Ever used any of the above in magick? No. Well, not to my knowledge.

Do you have one of them as a personal guardian? No.

R A N D O M

Do you see a rabbit, a man or a woman in the moon? I guess… a man. I don’t know. I never thought about it.

Own a cat? Yes.

When you mediate what does your happy place look like? It’s too complicated to explain and I wouldn’t even if it was simple. Sorry; it’s personal.

Do you work with Chakras? No.

Do you believe in past lives? Yes, and future ones, too.

If so, describe a few briefly: I don’t know any of my past lives in much detail.

Do you believe in soul mates? Yes.

Do you have a spirit guide? Not that I know of.

Is it always love and light? No, nor should it be.

My life, rated; remix

by V.E. on August 29th, 2011

filed under quizzes/surveys

I am worse off than I was in May 2006 in every category except “friends/family”. Go me. -_-

This Is My Life, Rated
Life: 4.5
Mind: 4.5
Body: 4.3
Spirit: 4.2
Friends/Family: 4.7
Love: 2.1
Finance: 4.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Dante’s Inferno

by V.E. on August 8th, 2011

filed under quizzes/surveys, thoughts

In June 2003, just after I turned 18, I took the Dante’s Inferno Test and was “banished to the Seventh Level of Hell!” (You can see my result for yourself when you click the link; I got “Very High” in the Violence category, landing me in the 7th level.) I turned 26 a couple of months ago and decided to retake the test to see if anything had changed. Well, it has. Sort of.

Turns out I’m just all around more likely to end up in hell than I was eight years ago. I ended up in the same place (7th level), but with an “Extreme” qualifier, even higher than “Very High”. I’m not surprised by that now, but back in 2003, I didn’t think I was a very violent person. Maybe it was foreshadowing?

The Dante’s Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Level Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers) Very Low
Level 1 – Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) Low
Level 2 (Lustful) High
Level 3 (Gluttonous) Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) Moderate
Level 6 – The City of Dis (Heretics) Moderate
Level 7 (Violent) Extreme
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) Very High
Level 9 – Cocytus (Treacherous) High

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

In comparing the two sets of results, I noticed a couple interesting things (interesting, at least, to me).

Of the ten levels (including Purgatory), four stayed even (didn’t change): (1) Limbo – Low; (2) Lust – High; (4) Avarice – Very Low; and (5) Wrath – Moderate. There was no movement (for good or ill) on those. The others went up, meaning I indulge in those more often, I’m more closely aligned to them than before, and etc.

The only category that went down was Purgatory; I scored “Moderate” before, while now it’s “Very Low”… This is to be expected, I suppose, because all the other sections either remained level or tipped in the “going to hell” direction.

Level 3, Gluttony, went from “Low” to “Moderate” and I think that’s because I now understand the value of good food after living for a decent amount of time without it.

I scored “Very Low” in (6) the City of Dis, for Heresy, but this time it went up to “Moderate”—a steeper incline (in graphing terms) than my results with Gluttony.

The last three—(7) Violence; (8) the Malebolge, for Fraud and Malice; and (9) Cocytus, for Treachery—are the most revealing to me because each has gotten progressively worse (I’m closer in alignment with them) and all three together… well, they make for a pretty bad deal.

I am, apparently: a malicious, violent, treacherous liar. And it’s sad, actually, because that’s basically true. After all, many a true word is spoken in jest.

30-day Anime Challenge: OVERTIME

by V.E. on May 31st, 2011

filed under anime/manga, quizzes/surveys

-[ OVERTIME ]-

Day 31 – Most pointless anime
Puni Puni Poemi, with End of Eva and Panty & Stocking tying for second place. And by “most pointless” I really mean “most fucked up” and “most likely to break someone’s brain”…

Puni Puni Poemi

Day 32 – Favorite Seiyuu
I don’t keep track of seiyuu, so… I guess… Nabeshin? I mean, isn’t he everyone‘s favorite?

Day 33 – Favorite one-liner / quote from an anime

“If you aren’t prepared to die, don’t swing such things around.”

Jin, regarding swords (and other weapons); in Samurai Champloo ep.3

Day 34 – Favorite anime involving guns
Gunsmith Cats. It’s in the damn name, even.

Gunsmith Cats

Day 35 – Favorite mahou anime
Gotta go with a classic on this one: Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon. The title character (and her supporting cast) is, of course, my original magical girl.

Sailor Moon season 2

30-day Anime Challenge: 30

by V.E. on May 30th, 2011

filed under anime/manga, quizzes/surveys

Day 30 – Favorite anime ending theme

Compared to having to choose my favorite opening theme(s), picking these two were easy.

Rurouni Kenshin‘s “1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou”

Shoujo Kakumei Utena‘s “Truth”

30-day Anime Challenge: 29

by V.E. on May 29th, 2011

filed under anime/manga, quizzes/surveys

Day 29 – Favorite school uniform

Vampire Knight, easily.

Characters

Cosplay

30-day Anime Challenge: 28

by V.E. on May 28th, 2011

filed under anime/manga, quizzes/surveys

Day 28 – Favorite pokemon

Booooo. Pokemon is for suckers. Digimon is where it’s at, man.

So, I choose you, Pikachu! Angemon, though all of the digimon from the first season are pretty badass.

Angemon

(Even I will admit, however, that the way the English version translated “Erabareshi Kodomotachi”—literally, “Chosen Children”—is fucking moronic.)