Goodbye, United States of Tara

My favourite show of all time just got cancelled!!!

“United States of Tara” is written by Diablo Cody, produced by Steven Spielberg, and critically acclaimed but it gets cancelled because people would rather watch materialistic housewives punch each other in the face! Come on people! Turn off those stupid “Housewives” shows, stop watching “Jersey Shore” and tune into amazing scripted dramas! How much longer are women going to support sexism in the media (and BELIEVE me, “The Bachelor” and the “Housewives” series are the WORST)?

“United State of Tara” was one of the only shows on television with a female lead and strong female characters. The writing was awesome. It was the closest thing to a realistic depiction of family life I’ve ever seen on TV. Check out the Season 1 trailer:

I know it’s “just television” but I LOVE the arts. They mean something to me. Movies and TV shows helped me survive my lonely childhood in Shitsville, Ontario.

That’s it for feminist week. I did try to keep the ranting to a minimum this week, but expect even less in the future. You can watch “United States of Tara” Mondays at 10:30 on Showtime. Here’s the show’s homepage.

Quote to Live By

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and NEVER STOP FIGHTING.”

           e e cummings

Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Happy Friday the 13th!

As per Wikipedia: “The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom “Friday” is named and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen)”

(Interesting side note: pagans who worship the Norse pantheon often call on Frigga during spellwork. She’s considered to be the goddess of marriage and prophesy)

My favorite Friday the 13th lore is the belief that witches form covens of 12, with the 13th member being the Devil. Muahahahaha! Obviously, this is not true (there is no Satan figure in witchcraft, unless you practice a mixture of Catholic blended witchcraft or you’re a Satanic witch.)

(Side note: It’s my understanding that Satanist’s don’t actually worship the Devil like Christians worship God. They worship the archetypal idea of the Devil because it represents what they believe is human nature: lust, greed and anger. They believe that denying these aspects of human nature, (as is practiced in Christianity with the 7 deadly sins, etc) is wrong and that people should recognize that these elements are within themselves and accept them. Which, for the record, does not mean they recommend acting on them.)

More interesting Friday the 13th facts can be found in this delightful article from the lovely brainiacs at National Geographic.

Have fun today! Celebrate! It’s my personal belief that 13 is the LUCKIEST number because people avoid it and thus none of its luck has been used up. 13 is positively overflowing with lucky energy!

Happy Beltane

Beltane is the last of the three spring festivals, all of which celebrate fertility, rebirth, sex, and love. Beltane occurs annually on May 1st and is traditionally celebrated with bonfires, maypole dances, gardening, and bouquets of flowers. This Witchvox article explains Beltane in detail.

SPRING FESTIVALS (BRIEFLY)

Imbolc (Feb. 2nd) celebrates the end of winter and planning for the coming spring.

Ostara (March 21st-ish, Spring Equinox) celebrates the arrival of spring and celebrates the earth’s re-birth.

Beltane (May 1st) celebrates the bounty of spring and fertility of the earth.

BELTANE & SAMHAIN

Beltane is directly opposite Samhain (Oct. 31st) on the wheel of the year, and in the Southern Hemisphere people celebrate Samhain on May 1st. Because of this, the energies of Samhain and Beltane are similar. Samhain is widely known as a time to contact the dead and practice divination but Beltane is a time for these activities as well. Both Samhain and Beltane are times when the veil between the worlds is thin. So feel free to use tarot cards, scrying mirrors, ouija boards, tea leaves or any other divination tools on May 1st.

I hope you had a fantastic and enchanted Beltane! If you’re just learning about this holiday, you have a full year to prepare for Beltane 2012!

Beltane