You would think, as someone interested in the martial arts, that the martial arts workout for the week would be something I would be interested in. Yea, that would make sense. Unfortunately, this is more of what I would call “aerobic martial arts.” Don’t get me wrong, I actually(…)
Category Archives: My Mommy The Pagan Warrior
Say No To Yoga
I’ve joked on and off about my disdain for yoga. I can see it a as helpful meditation tool for some or as a way to stretch out before or after a long work out for others. What I can’t understand is using it as a fat burning workout. Blame my (figuratively speaking) ADHD or perhaps(…)
The Strong Female Character
Inspired by a recent conversation I began to look for pictures to put together a semi-“shrine” in my workout area to make a space that reflects the devotional act to which my workouts are sometimes intended. I began looking for pictures of women that I consider strong, but that(…)
The Loss of a Warrior
A grieving widow and two small children take the long walk to the flag covered casket not 20 feet away. The tears stream down the faces of family members holding their hands to keep them from falling over. Overhead, a large black crow begins to squawk Her message to the onlookers. Badb has come to take the fallen warrior’s soul safely home to his God. If one thing gives me peace, it’s that knowledge.
I took a hard blow a few weeks back with the loss of a local peace officer and coworker. …
When The Morrigan Calls…
In an effort to touch on my pagan path I’ll share a bit about my experience with my Patron Goddess to whom many seem to cringe upon hearing Her name – The Morrigan.
She has many functions, but they all tend to revolve around the act of war and as such She is most definitely considered a Goddess of war. For those who may not be familiar with Her, An Morrigan is a Goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann whose exploits with An Dadga (leading to the bloody end of the Tuatha’s enemy the Fomorians) …
Big News
So it’s been a little bit since I have written here and I will tell you that this will be short. I have come to some realizations in my life recently that hopefully kick started something in me to pursue a dream I have long had.
1) The least important realization is I have to get off my butt and keep going with my dieting. I’ve gained 3 pounds back and I know this isn’t the “water weight” type deal. I have been monitoring it for a few days and I know it’s the real deal. I have also been …
Women & The Sweet Spots
Some of you may have heard the phrase sweet spot used to mean the spot on the jaw where hit would almost automatically knock out the person being hit. When I use the term sweet spot it has a similar context, but not specific to that area. When I state sweet spot it means any part of the body that is particularly vunerable to a quick and painful attack with minimal effort. While these points on the body can be utilized regardless of gender I specifically keep them in mind for females because they …
The Body The Mind
So I have fallen off the wagon once more, but I’m sure it won’t be the last time. It’s a struggle to stay on my exercise schedule when lacking energy, but I’m working on it. I know that it isn’t in regards to my hypothyroid condition, but it is related to my lacking sleep. One week without a babysitter has turned into four months without one and so the nights I work I am lucky to get four hours before I have to be up with the little man then, of course, returning to my work shift that night. It’s …
Do your words reflect you?
I promise not to get too preachy on this blog, but I felt this fit perfectly here since I have not mentioned my faith very much. Enjoy! –
My words reflect who I am and what I believe. I’m a Warrior who lives the philosophy of the Fianna – “Truth in our hearts, Strength in our arms and Fulfillment in our tongues.” Truth is spirituality that is specific to the inidual as revealed by communing with deity and study. Strength is being physically capable of living your truth through keeping the body healthy and ready for whatever comes (specifically battle) and fulfillment means living a life as far from fallacies and deception as possible through not only actions, but through my words. Perhaps a more general look at it could be – Knowing Truth, Living Truth and Speaking Truth.
I pull no punches and I speak bluntly. I can do so without being insulting, but some consider my lack of beating around the bush as being tactless. It is far from it. What I recommend reflects me. If I knowingly recommend any group or website or book to study that I’m telling others they should read to learn from (in the manner that what they learn is “truth”) and I know it’s main component is fallacies that is a direct reflection on me.
Others choose to go about things other ways and that is their right. I prefer to be myself and speak my mind. If that gets me kicked so be it. We pagans are a vast and very different group of people with many different paths and many different opinions. I personally think that which should draw us together should be the reality of our deities in a world where they are compatible with that which is natural. Not a world where our faith is based on lies.
If we can’t take ourselves seriously how will outsiders?
The Zombie Apocalypse
You’ve all pictured it. One day you’re living your happy go lucky life then you end up in a car wreck, getting shot, or a plane crash. The next thing you know you wake up in a hospital gown, in a hospital bed, in a hospital room alone. You pull out the tubes from your arms (which apparently doesn’t even cause you to flinch despite ripping 1 inch long imbedded needles out from under your skin). You stumble around a deserted hallway continuing the stumble out into an empty parking lot filled with abandoned vehicles, some of which look pretty banged up. You think to yourself, what the hell did I miss?
You hear someone approaching you from behind so you whip around to find a mangled human whose jaw seems to be missing as is half their hair. They’re limping toward you reaching out for what you think is help. You move in closer to get a better look since you have some morbid fascination with this decomposing creature and you live to regret the slip in sense when the woman lunges at you. She spits blood and bile at you as she starts aiming her mouth for your neck. Then she starts aiming for your chest. Then your arm and you start thinking “This woman wants to eat me.” You’re able to toss her off of you and grab the nearest rock swinging at her head. You strike it once and it does nothing to dissuade her attempt at making you her breakfast. You hit her again and again and again until finally she stops moving, her head bashed in beyond recoginition and the foul stench of death strewn all over your hospital gown. In comes the melancholy music of doom as the camera pans out conveying the loneliness and confusion you feel. The realization hits you. It’s December 22nd, 2012 and the Mayans were right! It’s the Zombie Apocalypse.
I know some of you are asking yourselves, what the hell does this have to do with anything? Well, stick with me. The first rule in Zombieland? Cardio. What’s the first rule in Warrior training? Cardio. If you get winded in a fight you are almost guaranteed to lose. While the average street fight lasts seven seconds there are fights that go on for minutes. Watch the energy expelled during a muay thai or boxing match. There are times when at the end of the first round both are breathing heavily. Then they’re taking hits to the face. How quickly can you think when you have just taken a beating and can’t catch your breath? On top of utilizing the energy to fight back imagine having to run from your attacker. So, yes, cardio is extremely important to the Warrior.
Second rule in Zombieland? Double tap. I’m sure those reading my blog are aware of what double tap means, but for those who don’t it is when you shoot your enemy and assume they’re dead. You place another shot in their head just to make sure they are actually dead because you never know when they will pop up and come grabbing for your ankles. While this isn’t necessarily a rule for Warrior training it does bring up two other subjects. Weapons and awareness.
We can learn a lot from Woody Harrelson’s character Tallahassee. The man made an art out of killing zombies with whatever was around. I bet you’ll never look at a banjo in the same way again! In Resident Evil: Afterlife Milla Jovovich’s character Alice uses stacks of quarters in lieu of shotgun shells. Warriors should be aware of everything of use around them. Look around you right now. If you were attacked what could you use as a weapon? A pencil? Scissors? A shovel? Now, where could you hide? Where are the exits? If someone you cared about was with you how would you defend them? Everything is a potential weapon and everything can aide you in an escape – just think outside the box.
In Dawn of the Dead, the survivors got supplies from and took up shelter in a mall. In Resident Evil: Afterlife they got what they need from a prison. Zombieland they took supplies from whereever they could find including what they thought were abandoned mnasions. On a Warrior’s mind should be some very simple questions – where would you go to get needed supplies like food, ammunition, and survival gear? What could you easily carry with you? Once those supplies run out can you survive on what the land has to offer? Do you know what plants are deadly and what could sustain you? DO you know how to hunt and prepare game meat? Do you know how to combat weather conditions and keep yourself warm or from becoming over heated?
In a Warrior’s world, these questions are common place. Looking to ancient Warriors and soldiers their survival relied upon what they could find in nature to eat and the skills they picked up to keep themselves from having the elements cause their deaths. The Warrior mentality doesn’t just include how well you can defend yourself, but how long you can survive with minimal supplies and your knowledge of the land. Wars don’t just las A war isn’t generally hours, it’s days, week and years or grueling conditions, supply conservation and planning. This common scenario ring a bell with every zombie movie you can recall?
So like the common trend goes I find myself utilizing the impending end of the world scenario to dictate some of my focus while training on my path. It’s partly as a joke, partly because my husband is obsessed with zombies, and partly because it is actually good sense. With all the questions posed above you realize that movies like Zombieland, Dawn of the Dead, and the Resident Evil series make you ask yourself one very important question – could you survive? Are you Warrior enough? ;)
