Lodestone & Lady's Mantle - Living a Healthy Pagan Lifestyle

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"Living a HEALTHY Pagan Lifestyle" - 1, by Azzerac
"There, and Back again": a Baby-Huey's testimony.

(Suggested Reading: “The Art of Shen Ku” by Zeek (Google Preview))

(“If you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”! Let’s solve this problem!)

Well, it’s spring time again, and that means pagan festival time! You know what that means: SEX! You may want to say “Community”, but who are we kidding? I’m sure you remember last time, overlooked by the skinnier witch or wizard next to you? Even if you did see some action, having to slow down to catch your breath every five minutes didn’t add to the experience. You can only pretend it doesn’t effect you for so long before it makes you truly bitter and intolerable.

Remember that vow you made to yourself, last year?

It’s time to make good on it.

In this era of paganism, far too many of us have been "Armchair Wiccans", "Couch Potato Pagans", and "Side-line Sorcerer's". Besides the hypocrisy of just 'talking the talk', it's made us a bit soggy around the center. This can differ, case by case, from a few pounds to 16 Stone!

Quite a few of us actually ‘signed-on’ with the Craft, in its many incarnations, for (if nothing else) a sense of personal power in our lives. In a world and a time as overwhelming as this one, it’s hard to find one’s place, let alone you’re status within it. It’s made all the harder by a barrage of media influence telling you what you’re lacking, and will never measure up to.

It can make one give up, and stay inside, where no one can see their supposed ‘short-comings’. Hiding behind a computer keyboard, and dipping into the ever-present bag of oily chips and its companion, the two liters of carbonated & caffeinated elixir, is not only attractive by comparison, but (I fear) self-destructive.

It’s now reached such a level of our population that it’s become our new stereotype! No longer is it the infamous hook-nosed crone, side-saddle on the broom, resplendent in her pointed hat. It’s gotten worse. It’s become the pear-shaped gamer-geek with the un-kempt beard wearing a slogan t-shirt that doesn’t quite cover their navel. It’s become the spherical siren, draped in velvet cloaks to hide her silhouette.

I’m not being Cruel!

I’ve been there.

I’ve come back.

When I quit smoking, in early 1993, I put on 80-85 lbs! I kept it on for years!

That was the real crime: Letting precious years of youth slip by, invisible to the opposite sex. I’m in my forties now, and in the best shape I’ve ever been in. “If I’d only known then…”

Well, now I’m here to let YOU know. We aren’t alone. None of us are. That was the whole reason for the oaths & covens: NOT being alone. Your coven is your support group. Next time you’re in a circle, be it your coven or a public circle in the city park, look at the person next to you.

I’ve thought it myself:

“If only they lost a few pounds, they’d be HOT!”

“If he just got more sun”

“If she just…”

“If he just…”

Most of us may never know what we could be, because we never really share on that level. We’re afraid of the rejection we’d receive at the reactions of someone more damaged than we are. What would a good response be? At best you could expect a thank-you, at worst a “who-cares-what-you-think”! I know full well how that can feel.

Well, I guess we just have to look to ourselves.

I’m not going to give you a load of affirmations to spout at the mirror. If you’ve tried that before, and it hasn’t work yet, what’s the point? When there are so many voices saying that you aren’t, it’s just a waste of breath.

What I am going to tell you is “As long as you’re alive, it’s never too late”! Let’s start today.

HOW to begin:

“HOW”?!? I get that response a lot. (It’s second only to “Fuck Off, you hypocrite!") If I just hand you a bunch of quick-fixes, without even knowing you, this could damage your health even more so. We actually do care about your health! We’ll be doing little things that add up to the big changes.

To start: Turn off that Gods-Damned Television Set!

It was the hardest thing I ever did. Gone were my Friday night Doctor Who sessions, as well as “Heroes”, “Lost”, and “Eureka”! No more mini-marathons on the Sci-fi channel. No more channel surfing out of boredom, settling for the least objectionable ‘reality show’ or pseudo-scientific ‘end-of-days’ prophecy!

The question is this: Do you want to sit around watching other people’s adventures, or do you want to start having your own? “The likelihood of that something actually happens in your life goes up remarkably just by stepping out your door!” (I learned that one from a man named Randolph (just Randolph)).

That’s the second place: Outside.

“Fresh Air is good for you”, and all that rot. Sit in a closed room for too long, and you won’t notice that you’re slowly poisoning yourself with your own Carbon Dioxide! It makes you slow, lethargic, and depressed. Sound like anyone you know? Look in the mirror.

The other benefit is a reduction in cholesterol. Sunlight turns cholesterol into Vitamin D. If your arteries are clogged, strenuous exercise will kill you! On the upside, there are little things to do to start.

Got a phone call? Take it outside.

Reading a book? Take it outside.

Carving that new wand? Take it outside.

Having a heated debate? Take it outside!

Now, I’m not saying it’s time to grab the sunscreen and lay out. I don’t want the blame for your sunstroke. You can’t just go from “CRT Tan” to basking in the glow of a yellow star. Start off slow. Indirect sunlight is better than bright fluorescent lights any day of the week. The health benefits are better than you’ll know or feel, but in the long run your blood pressure with thank you!

Exercise:

UGH! I hate this topic. This is what kills the soul of an article about health & help. I’m not gonna’ say it’s going to be easy AND fast. You can choose between the two, though. A friend and pupil of mine (Kurrachymaw) put it something like this: “Even if you can’t do everything you feel you should, each and every day, a little at a time is like pennies in a jar: It all adds up”!

Anything that gets your heart pumping a bit faster is a boon. Don’t overdo it. Too much too soon is worse. Given the some-times sedentary nature of our tribe, it can fall under the heading of “System Shock” just to leave the sofa. I once spent 2 months in front of a computer game, never leaving the house. Take it slow if you’re way out of shape.

My suggestion for the truly heavy is (believe it or not) Tai Chi. Slow movements that work on grace and posture. Nothing boosts self-image like good posture. A boost in self image can often make the difference. “If you can’t love yourself, who can?” Love yourself.

Support:

At a party I recently attended, a wonderful woman put it very simply that even if she did go out and take a walk, she was harangued and ridiculed by Drive-by assholes. How is one supposed to even try when the universe throws it in their face? Easy: Don’t give them the chance. Don’t let them beat you down! They don’t deserve the easy victory! “Fear does not become a witch”.

There are many ways to accomplish this.

Remember the weight room that was one of the selling points or your apartment’s lease? No one really uses it, do they? Have you ever seen anyone in there? Can you even find it anymore? If you can’t find it, they probably can’t either. Consider it.

For the women reading this, places like “Curves” can be a gods-sent blessing. They hale themselves as a women-only establishment, understanding to a woman’s needs in a gym. I’m a bit under-informed as it falls outside of my gender, but consider calling them, or asking a member.

Cash and opportunity can dampen these.

My advice for the money-conscious pagan is the park. I live in Colorado, where paths, trails, and parks are plentiful. If you do a bit of driving around the parks, I’m sure you’ll find paths that aren’t so accessible to the prying eyes and easy jibes of drive-by morons and dip-shits. Chances are, you’ll even find others on the same road to recovering themselves. Then again, too secluded a path, in the least active times of day is inviting a mugging, or worse. Remember: There’s safety in numbers!

Health Groups:

You aren’t the only one who’s made this promise to yourself. I’m sure half the pagans you know feel the same way about their own waist-lines as you do about your own. If you live in a big city, a bit of networking online, and you can bring together a veritable army of Wiccan work-out companions. Who’s going to mess with half-dozen or more witches, power-walking on a Sunday Morning?

It’s not that tough to turn your RPG group into a once a month walk in the park, as well. Remember, RPG-er: Role Playing is the first two words in that acronym! How better to make sure it gets worked back into the story-line than doing something that ensures a total lack of dice-rolling. There’s still the opportunity, though, if someone has the to-hit charts memorized, and who doesn’t? (Okay: That’s a First Edition reference, for you newbies to the games).

Here’s another idea for you gamers: Ever hear of LARP? It’s live-action role-playing, to the un-initiated. Dressing up as a fantasy character, grabbing a padded sword & shield, and beating the crap out of friends and strangers alike! Who in our sub-culture hasn’t dreamed of that setting? It’s great for stress reduction, exercise, and it also opens up a whole new range of social networking. It is gaming and a workout, at the same time. It’s a match made is Cardiovascular Heaven.

These are just a few of the ideas I have and have used, to trim away unwanted pounds. If you have any of your own, email them to me, and I’ll add them to the list. If you have any kind of support group along these lines, or a meet-up of this sort, share it with me, and I’ll make sure it ends up on this page (with the date it was sent to me, so we can keep things current).

The book reference at the top of the page has been inspirational to me in the last two years. Not only does it have primers in tai chi, yoga, and martial arts, but macro-biotic foods, healthy living, and instructions for just about everything you could imagine for living any kind of lifestyle. I suggest it whole-heartedly. It’s the best $20 investment in life-experience you’ll ever spend.

If you have trouble keeping to it, don’t kick yourself for it. Life is a process, not a goal. If you do one thing wrong, don’t just give up and bury your self in a tub of ice cream. You are worth the effort.

If you ever have any doubts that you can do it, or that it’s worth the while, it helps to keep a simple little thing in mind. The picture at the top of the page is me now. I was only 85 lbs overweight, with no jaw-line, and a chin that stopped at my nipples. I spent years without being able to see my own “swinging cod”. You can do this too.

Decide upon a reasonable goal, and work towards it. No one says kill yourself, but in fact I say just the opposite.

It’s time to truly live!

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