Preparing for 2012?

G is for Ganesh

I'm 5 days early as far as the Pagan Blog Project prompting is concerned but I'm in the middle of a big move so I'd rather be early than super late...

Ganesh (aka Ganesha or Ganesa, Ganapati, Vinayaka, Pillaiyar) is one of my Patron deities and is one I go to whenever I have a goal I want to achieve of a change that I desire in my life. He is known as the Lord of Beginnings or Lord of Obstacles.

Ganesh is the son of Shiva and Parvati. He is depicted as having the head of an elephant, which sets him apart from the other Hindu gods. How he obtained the elephant head is up for debate as it seems each story of his conception has a different way of explaining it. Some say he was born with it, some say he was born with a human head that disintegrated due to the evil eye or was cut off. Some stories and depictions even show him with multiple elephant heads. Either way, he obtained the elephant head and it, along with his big belly are very distinctive.
Ganesh is shown in many poses. Sometimes he is with his family, other times alone. He is shown standing, dancing, fighting demons, reclining, playing, sitting, elevated, holding a number of objects to show his many aspects, etc. So many depictions and views reflect the fact that Ganesh is one of the most recognizable and widely worshiped deities in the world.

I was first introduced to Ganesh by my dear friend Edward. He suggested I do a mantra to Ganesh 108 times a day for 108 days with a specific goal in mind. I did so and counted the days. To aid my mantra I used a string of rose beads I had bought at an antique store months before that had 110 beads exactly on it. These became my prayer beads.
108 days later of continuous mantras - my goal came through. Not only did it work automatically, Ganesh became an important symbol and figure in my life and I now go to him for any goal and new path I want to take.


I later had a dream of Ganesh. He was truly so large I could not comprehend him. His size was not all that was large about him, his very presence would bowl you over. It was one of the most intense and realistic dreams I ever had. He was golden in color and such a happy, mellow vibe came off of him. I'll remember the dream for as long as I live.


Ganesh Mantra Videos

Traditional Ganesh mantra with beautiful video by Sonu Nigam


Techno mantra (my favorite)

Ostara Videos

Ostara is coming close and I wanted to share some videos I found on YouTube that were inspiring to me.

Ostara Ritual

I really liked the use of the bunny, the seeds and the guided meditation. Very cute.

Lady of the Moonlight

a simple song and picture video but it was very pretty.

Dancing for the glory of Spring

A beautiful video of two lovely ladies dancing

Bad Economy Bloggery

So, I work in Short Sales, which means every day I go to the office, to my little cubicle, I log into a phone, sip my tea and I talk to people who are looking for alternatives to foreclosure. Sometimes  can help these people with short sale of their homes, other times I have to tell them, unfortunately, that they will lose their home and there is nothing to be done about it.
I work very hard at not getting trapped n the guilt and shame and anger that comes with this job and focus on trying my best to help people and moving on if I cannot.

That being said...there are a few Pagans on YouTube who have done videos in regards to foreclosure, bad economy, etc. I thought  would share a few here:

I love Madame Dubois and her Real Witches of Orange County Videos and she did a very genuine video about foreclosure here:



Mrs. Fiendish Bat has a few political, economical, talking videos on her channel but I wanted to share her Get a Job Spell for those of you interested in prosperity magick:



And of course a Witch Bottle ^_^

The Dalai Lama's Great Plan Part 1.m4v

See Part 2 here