_Early in my path I was more heavily influenced by Wicca than I am
today.  It was by far the most accessible and easiest route to
Paganism and Magick and many of the first Pagans I met were also
influenced by Wicca.  This meant that my first brush with polarity
(besides "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow") was a binary
gender polarity - the male and female in perfect harmony, Goddess and Consort itself a definite heterosexual relationship.   The idea of
codifying socially constructed gender ideas into a religious and
Magickal system was and is highly unappealing to me.  Later I
came to see how exclusionary it was for GBLT Pagans whose relationships and live experiences were ignored and marginalised by the traditional God and Goddess coupling.  So I pretty much left polarity alone - I ceased calling both God and Goddess into the circle unless I had a specific reason to; the world did not end and my Deities didn't seem to care much.

So I was incredibly intrigued to see that the first part of Fiat Lux
(T.Thorn Coyle's online mystery school) was all about Polarity.  The
first installment went up in October but I have only just finished it;
it did not disappoint.  I have written before about how impressive
T.Thorn Coyle was speaking at Treadwells last year and I have read a previous article here by T.Thorn Coyle on gender and so I knew I would be getting something far more interesting than just *male and female energy*. Fiat Lux did not disappoint!

The working for the month was about uncovering the polarities in our own lives, framed very much in  terms of our own experience - I
naturally chose the push and pull between Driving Stress and Complete Relaxation, two poles I am buffeted between regularly. The starting point is learning to sit between the poles and simply be.  Sounds simple, but if it was so simple I wouldn't have spent so much of my life desperately seeking relaxation and lurching off after stress.  I would imagine that most people have a polarity struggle in their lives of some sort in their lives and it is really valuable to pause and think about how much it might be affecting, consuming or interfering with you achieving your dreams.

I am currently working and dreaming towards a more integrated Magickal Life. Achieving a state where I am at peace with both these forces and being able to stand in the space between them would be hugely liberating and, for the split second I achieved it in the Fiat Lux practice, it was immense. Standing tall in the middle and holding the space between felt almost overwhelmingly powerful and empowering.  Strong stuff I can tell you.

It threw up a reminder of one more thing.  A few years ago I was struggling with learning to drive and did some work on this both with hypnotherapy and the Chariot Tarot card.  Fiat Lux has reminded me of the polarity in the Chariot and I think I might need to go and take another look at it.  Clearly the Chariot is not done with me yet!

_New Year, new beginnings and what this has brought to the UK is a
barrage of winter storms.  The Element of Air has been stalking the
land, throwing around cars like toys, wreaking havoc, destruction and even causing two deaths, in fair Albion.

_As someone who has grown to identify closely with the element of Air this has been an interesting time for me. Most lunchtimes I take a long walk down by the canal and despite the wind and occasional rain Thursday was no exception.  I always find my lunchtime walks essential to calming my mood, lifting my spirits and reinvigorating me for the afternoon but Thursday was something very special.  On reaching my usual avenue of trees I could see the devastation of the last few days; many big, old branches had been torn from the trees and in one case a venerable old tree had snapped in half, it's whole
top-heavy end lying on the ground.  Looking at the cast off branches
and the corpse of the shattered tree I could see they were often dry and brittle with the heartwood rotted out.  Heavy, ancient
branches that no longer served the trees they clung to were swept away by Air and… it made me start to rethink the element of Air.

_It is usually Fire we think of as active and destructive, burning away
that which no longer serves us.  Fire is the element cleanses and
purifies even as it lays waste.  But here I was watching a more
selective, yet still very destructive cleansing.  The air was ripping
away those branches which could no longer bend and move with the
flow, but the rest of the tree remained intact.

When we think of a cleansing with Air we tend to imagine the gentle incense or smudge smoke curling up and around our tools, homes and ourselves permeates and surrounding us. The image is not one of a gale force wind literally blowing away the deadwood.  But as I took my walk and felt the wind and saw the trees I took a cleansing as well.  I saw the wind blowing through my aetheric self, stripping away any negativity that clung to me, polishing my aura until it was a bright shiny thing.

I would love to hear of non-traditional ways you have worked with and used the elements so let me know below!

What an interesting place this is on the cusp of 2012.  Firstly, I love this time of year, there is so much energy around as everyone is feeling they have a fresh start.  The internet is full of lists, declarations of hopes and dreams and resolutions - there is an inspiration in the air which is infectious and intoxicating. 

But this is also 2012 - the year which has been the source of speculation, rumour and mystery for a very long time indeed.  There have been so many books, films and conspiracy theories that there is a different sort of anticipation this year and a lot of people are just waiting to see what will happen.

My own take is that this is an exciting time and we are moving into uncharted territory.  I intend to jump in tongue first and make sure that this year is an amazing year for the whole planet. I am starting right now. 

I have been working through the fantastic Goddess Workbook 2012 from Goddess Leonie, recognising what I achieved in 2011 and making plans for 2012. 

So 2012 is going to be the year that:

1. I learn to manage my stress completely;
2. I take my creativity to the next level and remake it as a way to financial independence;
3. I integrate my spirituality even more closely into my life;
4. I finish my Masters; and
5. I build a sacred mind temple.

Because I believe that time isn't something that happens to you, it is a resource for you to spend, I am going to make 2012 something very special.

The 3 words summing up the 2012 I am going to make are:

Mindfulness
Healthy
Integrated

How are you planning on crafting your 2012?