Strega Donna

I've spent the last few days up in NY visiting the family. It was nice to get away for a while and get up to the north, where there's real trees (even if they don't have leaves - they're still not palm trees!) and there's mountains and winding roads and family and roots.

During the time I was home, I really got to talk with both my parents in ways that I didn't often get to when I was living at home. When I was living there, I took them for granted. They'd always be there. Now that I don't see them as often as I'd like, it's more of a special treat to see them.

Dad took me into Manhatten and showed me around. He suffered through the tourist hell that is currently the Empire State Building to show me the sights. He took me to Ground Zero, and told me the story of how he offered to drive his bus into the city to pick up people if they wanted him to. He took me to Greenwich Village, which is now nothing but coffee houses and tattoo/piercing parlours, and told me how he used to cruise through Washington Square Park and that he dated a nice Italian girl who lived just over there.

Mom taught me how to make Grandma's Turnips and Dumplings. She made the special for me, since no one else eats them but her and I. She went over some pictures with me of people in our family, and caught me up on all the family history that I've missed in the past few years. She took me on a tour of Spring Valley to show me all the improvements, or at least, new developments, that have been occuring.

I spent time with my sister, Andrea, whom I used to just cat-fight with when we were younger. We were such vastly different people - I was the book worm, she was the jock. I was friends with the "strange crowd" and she hung out with the football players. But now that we're both older, we've got a lot more in common than we thought. It was fun to go to the mall with her and hang out. It was most excellent to drive around, mocking her boyfriend, letting her colour my hair. And it was really neat to go to Psychic Donna down in Nyack with her.

Donna was interesting. She's an older lady with piercings and dreads. The tips of her brown dreads were dyed red. She seemed really cool and told us up front that she doesn't pull punches. She's a bitch and she knows it, and she'll tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

I went first (Ann was nervous). She told me that I spend too much time at work. She said that we need to start looking at unique places for new people. And that I need to make more time for myself. I don't do that enough, and I need to start. It's like a battery that's never given enough time to charge, but still has to produce the same amount of energy. She told me that staying with Doug will be my decision, but that he doesn't put out as much as I do, or as much as I really need. He gives in drips and drabs, and it almost doesn't make up for all the crappy things he does when he does one or two really good things. He's moving at a snail's pace and that's just not my energy flow.

She made a point to tell me that I did not incarnate in this lifetime to be his mother. He has to make his own decisions. I need to be more hands-off. She said that he's older, but he's got several lifetimes to catch up to me. That in the beginning, being able to speak with someone about spirituality was a good thing, but I need more. He needs to go for the job opportunity he was recently offered, as he's playing at his current gig. Doing the other job, even if it's for a few weeks, will help build his self-esteem and also put some pocket change in his wallet. Which would be a nice change of pace.

She said that she saw a gingerbread-looking house for me. 2 bedrooms, even maybe a picket fence, up a little bit on a bit of a hill (to avoid flooding!). The soil’s not great for growing things (too sandy or rocky) but that I could put out flower boxes. She saw the cats running through the house. It had an attic space that’s been redone. It’s got dormers and was maybe a home office. Sounded to me like an excellent magick room. I should start looking in April for this new place.

I asked her about spiritual matters. Of late, I've been thinking that I'm just spinning my wheels, because the coven seems to gather in drips and drabs. It's really rare that we're all in the same place at the same time. At the outset, I question the commitment of some of the members to actually do what they are oathbound to do. Donna said that I haven't wasted my time - no learning is a waste. That this year's really been about putting a name to what I believe. Now I've just got to get into the DOING rather than the READING. I know what I need to do, I've just got to do it. She also mentioned that there's someone with a red book who's trying to get enough information to publish their own book. And I might want to get out of Dodge before the sheets hit the fan on that one. Lack of committment could be a precursor to the meltdown.

In general, I'm going in the right direction. I just need to focus more on myself and less on others. I don't need to make everyone happy, and I'm not everyone's mother. I just have to look out for me.

Then she told my sister she was a good-hearted schmuck and needs to work on some self-confidence issues. And that she has babies in her future!!! *hehehe*

She asked me what my spiritual path was, and I told her I was studying with a Strega coven. Things changed then, as she's a Strega. So she figured she could help a sister out and said that I really need to either kick the boy to the curb or just let him do his own thing and come to his own senses.