My Profile

Black Sapphire

Age: 28

Location:
Leicester, UK

What is Your Path? Wiccan

About Me I'm Nik and I'm 26. I live with James and our cat Zebedee in Oadby, Leicestershire, UK.

I'm a solitary practitioning Wiccan but I love meeting other Wiccans, Pagans and people of similar paths. They're quite rare around here and its always nice to talk to people who view the world in a similar way to you.

Music I have quite an eclectic taste: Lightning Seeds, REM, Crowded House, Bread, Sophie Ellis Bextor, The Beatles, Metallica, Evanescance, Classical, Mediaeval Baebes, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, K T Tunstall, and loads of soundtracks like The Lord of The Rings and King Kong.

Movies I adore Star Wars and you can roll your eyes all you want, I don't care haha. I also love The Lord of The Rings, The Alien Trilogy, Japanese horror, Kevin Smith movies, Silly things like Naked Gun and Airplane. I love horror in general, but to be honest I haven't seen a new horror film recently that's scared me.

TV I am guilty of liking Charmed. I know it's silly and inaccurate, but it's just so entertaining. It's a guilty pleasure and they're very pretty :-). I love Buffy and Angel, Alias, House, Frasier, League of Gentleman, Trailer Park Boys, The Mighty Boosh, Peep Show, South Park, murder mysteries etc.

Books Tolkien, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Sara Paretsky. I love Hitchiker's Guide too.

Likes Cats, dolphins and dragons

Dislikes Reality TV...argh! I can't stand prejudices, racism and intolerant people who seem to think everyone should be just like them.

Hobbies Computer Games! Hurrah! Tomb Raider is one of my obsessions, which works out, because Angelina Jolie is my other. :-)

Vices Mashed potatoes...strange but true. But my all-time, major, serious problem is Coca Cola. I just can't get enough of the stuff! I get down on myself too, so be warned :-)

Virtues I'm open-minded and honest. I always try to see the positive side of things, no matter how low things get.

Heroes Spike Milligan, George Harrison, Madam Curie.

Getting back on the path

Wednesday, February 14, 2007, 10:03 AM [General]

I've come to realise recently that I'm really not happy with my chosen career. At the age off 16 I was made to choose between science and more philosophical learnings like English and Psychology. I chose science. Mainly because at the time I was sure I wanted to be a forensic scientist and work with the police. I've grown up since then.

So now I'm stuck with lab work. That is what I'm trained for. I don't hate it, don't get me wrong, but neither am I completely happy. It doesn't inspire me and it's very hard work. Every day I come home shattered. I feel like I have so much energy and passion to offer and I'm putting it all into the wrong thing.

So what to do?

i always found the idea of re-training very daunting. I spent so long in education that by the time I graduated from university I had just about enough of revision, exams and deadlines as I could handle. So I wrote the idea of further education off.

Now I am beginning to reconsider. There are so many things that I really am passionate about and would be able to devote myself to. Psychology (para or regular), meditation, herbalism, crystal healing, reiki and so many other things, and guess what!! You can actually train in all of these things and make a career aout of it. There are even courses in Wicca.

So that is what I am going to do. I've already picked out some courses and worked out that I can afford them. I can train whilst I work so I've got my salary coming in. I'm really excited. A friend of mine is currently doing an advanced herbalism course and she loves it.

Wish me luck!

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Ye Olde Facts

Thursday, February 8, 2007, 06:51 AM [General]

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water . . . "

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying, "a thresh hold."

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much m eat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon" - And they would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests (or the wealthy) got the top, or "the upper crust".

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of "holding a wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night ("the graveyard shift.") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, "saved by the bell" or was considered "a dead ringer."

And that's the truth!

Now... whoever said history was boring?!

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Merry Meet etc

Tuesday, February 6, 2007, 04:24 AM [General]

Hi,

for those who don't know me I'm Nik. Also known as Black Sapphire, Kye Black and if you're going way, way back, some may remember me as Kit.

But I'm Nik and that'll do for me. It is after all, my name.

I began my Wiccan path a few years ago after a lot of soul seraching, life changing experiences and a visit with a local spiritualist. Her name was Patricia and although she seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet, I will always be grateful for what she did for me, opening me up in so many ways and helping me find my true self and potential. I learnt things about myself that day that still astound me.

I was raised by a Christian Mother and was sent to a Church of England Primary school, christian youth groups and Sunday school for the best part of my childhood. Although I was a good study, I could never qute bring myself to actually believe in the things I was learning. Eventually, as I became older I stood up for what I (didn't) believe in and walked away fom the church. I had my own ideas and theories on "life, the Universe and everything" and no, the answer wasn't "42".

One day, whilst researching some divination techniques I came across Wicca. It was like a golden bell chiming inside. My own theories nd the teachings of Wicca seemed to mesh perfectly. I found myself saying to myself: "Well that's what I believe in anyway!". And for the first time in my life I felt like religion could be something wonderful and fulfilling, not a chore forced upon you by your parents.

Wicca has opened up the world to me. And it has opened me up to the world.

So what else would you like to know about me? I'm 26, bi, and I live in central England, about as far away from the sea as you can get. I still get an excited buzz everytime I see it, ha ha.

I live with my partner James and our cat Zebedee in a small town called Oadby and we both work for DeMontfort University in the city.

Aside from Wicca my interests lie mainly in the arts: music (I play cello), writing (I'm especially good at children's fiction and fantasy), reading (love the horror and supernatural) and I love computer games, especially Tomb Raider and Resident Evil games.

I really look forward to getting to know some of you. Hello Cat! I know you're reading this. :-)