I'm very excited to announce that my 2 new kitties will be coming home from the shelter on Saturday, December 22nd. Definitely the best Yule gift ever!!

Moonbeam is an 8 year old long haired dilute calico with blue eyes. She is a total princess who takes her time getting used to people and, though somewhat timid, makes her opinions known. She bonded deeply with James at the shelter.

James is a 3 year old gray and white knight who came to the shelter as a stray after being attacked by an animal. Sir James helped Moon to adapt to shelter life and became her lifelong friend. He also has taken a special interest in the care and grooming of all the kittens who have come through the "special needs" room of the shelter.

Moon will need some time to adapt to living with my boisterous dog, Star, but I think she will settle in and have a wonderful life in her new family. Sir James is extremely laid back and I expect he will be snuggling with Star in no time.

May you all have a cheerful and blessed Yule!

I just came into my blog looking for some info that I thought I posted here and see that I haven't updated this thing since just after Imbolc. I guess it's about time!!

I'm certainly doing better now than I was then. I've added a few items to my herbal regimen and have been seeing a massage and polarity therapist since mid-March. I'm not in remission yet. My kidneys and liver are still struggling, though there has been improvement. I truly thought that my body would have been able to clear the toxins from the immunosups and steroids by now, but have since learned how long the adrenal glands store this stuff. It's released very slowly over a course of years. So, I've still got some cleansing to do before I can really be done with the toxic fatigue and other symptoms.

Aside from the lingering toxins, the lupus is currently only manifesting in one area: arthritis. It's moved into a hip, both knees and both ankles. The pain is pretty constant but I'm using an herbal gel from Peaceful Mountain that helps to clear toxins from my joints. I'm trying to find a way to use more chamomile, but the soporific (sleep inducing) effect is pretty strong for me. I'm going to try tincturing some with some other herbs that will hopefully balance that effect. I'll post to the lupus tribes when I figure out what exactly to include in the tincture.

Moving beyond the subject of health (though, it's all related), I'm trying to find a new house to rent for October or November 1st with more room. I especially need a large enough kitchen to prepare all my herbal concoctions and a meditation and work space. I hate having to pack up my altar and store things between rituals. Plus, I've got a washer and dryer collecting dust in a storage space while I'm going to the laundrymat. I'll most likely also be moving closer to work, which will be so much easier.

My sweet dog, Star, had a rough patch this spring. She got some sort of foreign object embedded in the upper part of her paw which caused an infection with multiple abscesses and nearly resulted in amputation of the paw. My beautiful, wonderful Clan contributed advice and healing energy to bring my baby back to health. She's healthy and strong once more. It's so good to have a community to turn to in an hour of need.

My cat, Christi, is in the early stages of renal failure. A friend is working toward a certification in Australian Bush Flower Essences and has put together a combination for us. I've also changed her to a prescription diet that is much lower in protein and phosphorous to ease the burden on her kidneys. I haven't decided what additional measures I'll take (like sub-cutaneous fluids) when this progresses. My plan is to do whatever I can to keep her comfortable and happy until she's ready to move on from this life. She's 17 and I don't believe in preserving the physical being beyond its means. She's a tough one, so hopefully we'll get a few more years together.

I've been doing whatever volunteer work I can based on my availability and energy levels. I'm still working with a lot of theater and animal rescue groups, but have also been working with EqualityMaine towards furthering the rights of my friends in the LGBT community. It all goes back to "none of us are free until all of us are free." I've been joking that my picture is on Mike Heath's (leader of the Christian Civic League, a "we hate everyone but us and our god" kinda group) dart board for being both Pagan and gay-friendly. Bring it on, Mike, exercise your freedom. Maybe it will help you realize that freedom is a good thing.

My Pagan Clan is taking the first steps toward becoming a legal church. This will give us better legal and financial standing in the modern world. For some this means acceptance and validation. For me, it means protection. With fanatics like Mike Heath and his cronies running around my state inciting fear, we need that. Our state's Pagan clergy are being recognized as equals by many clergy associations here, like Unitarian Universalists (they pretty much accept everyone--beautiful religion) and Episcopaleans, so we are making progress in the quest to be understood.

I proudly displayed my jewelry earlier this month along with my Clan-mates' crafts at our local Pagan Pride Day. It was wonderful to be there with so many loving, beautiful people. There were several belly dance troops there along with the other crafters and various demonstrations. This was my first Pagan Pride celebration since it's only been about a year since I came out of the broom closet (my closest friends always knew, but I didn't wear it on my sleeve before).

This is my third day of late night trainings at work, so I'm going on stream of consciousness here. If I've hopped around and rambled, that would be why. I'm getting seriously buggy from the messed up sleeping and eating schedule. Tomorrow I'll be back to daytime work. I could be working right now, but the quality of my work in this state wouldn't be that good, so I'm slacking off here instead.

Working this schedule does have one benefit. I started doing pilates again this week. I'm only able to do the modified versions of a lot of the exercises and can't always do all the reps, but I'll get it back. The goal is to strengthen and tone muscles with a secondary goal of shrinking fat cells so I can start losing the immunosup/steroid weight that holds on no matter what or how little I eat or how much I walk. I plan to do the pilates M/W/F and one weekend day. I've gone back to having a fresh fruit smoothie in the morning, too. I finally gave up trying to find the replacement part to my old blender and bought a new one. Whether the weight comes off or not, I'll be healthier for the changes that I'm making.

I'm too tired to keep typing, so we'll call it quits. Hopefully, I'll update again in less than 6 months.