This one is just a video introducing myself and this channel. I discuss why I started this channel and what kind of content you can expect me to post. I plan on posting things about my spiritual practices, devotional artwork and writings to Inanna, divination using Tarot, and probably stuff about learning the Sumerian language. So basically the same kinds of topics I blog about here! I’m sure there will end up being “off topic” content since I have a lot of different interests.
Category: Random Thoughts
Ishtar’s Ascent
We got our third cat, Ishtar, about four months ago. Like Freyja and Salem, Ishi is an adorable little black cat.
Ishtar was originally a stray who was abandoned outside near my brother-in-law’s and his wife’s house. She was apparently there for about two years, since she was a kitten. Eventually they noticed she had developed a very bad skin infection on her ears and brought her in to take her for veterinary care and nurse her back to health. She was checked for a microchip. She had one from when she was initially brought into a vet to be spayed, but it had fake info and they couldn’t get in contact with the person registered to it. The vet in Texas said that her skin condition should clear up fine, and shouldn’t be a problem in the future if she is kept as an indoor cat, especially since she would be moving up north were the allergens aren’t as much of an issue.
Steve sent Hans a picture of Ishi, who was at that time referred to as Princess Snapdragon (technically, I kept her original name as part of her name. Her “government name” is Princess Ishtar Marie Snapdragon). He asked if we wanted another cat and told Hans to show me the picture. Hans acted like he wasn’t sure about getting a third cat, but he obviously wanted her, or he wouldn’t have shown me the picture, since me seeing her would obviously seal our fate. (I also pulled the “cancer card,” which I try not to do too often since its annoying. “After everything I went through last year, I deserve a new kitty baby to love!”)
Hans and I agreed to meet Steve half-way between each of our houses (Cleveland, OH and Houston, TX), at some random hotel in Jackson, Tennessee. We drove over 600 miles to get her, descending just past the entrance gates of the American underworld that is the Bible Belt. We drove from Cleveland to Jackson in one day, stayed the night, and drove back the next day so we wouldn’t need to pay for more nights in hotels or miss work.
The journey south wasn’t without perils. When we were nearing Columbus, the car started riding really rough and a horrible noise screeched from the front right wheel. When we pulled over at a rest stop to check it out, two of the lug nuts holding on the wheel were missing. Hans had just gotten an oil change and tire rotation, and they must not have tightened them enough. We ended up finding a parts store to get replacement lug nuts so we could finish the journey (he called the oil change place when we got back and he took the car back in). A third lug nut was missing by time we got to the parts store.
Once that little mishap was taken care of, it was still a long, long journey ahead. It took over ten hours to reach Jackson, TN after accounting for the above mentioned detour, bathroom breaks, and food stops. At least the further south you drive, the more White Castles you encounter. Of course we took advantage of that. There were interesting sights to see along the way, such as the famous Hell is Real billboard between Columbus and Cincinnati and ads for oddly specific museums, such as a pocket knife museum.
Eventually we made it to the hotel, where Steve and Ishtar were already waiting for us. Ishtar was understandably scared and was hiding under the bed when we arrived. Eventually we got her to come out and she went in her carrier. She had a huge carrier that took up the entire back seat of the car so she had plenty of room to move about on the journey. She had a litter box, food, and a cardboard box with a towel in the carrier as well. She was a little afraid of us at first, but she did end up coming out of the carrier and playing with me in the middle of the night in the hotel room. She even snuggled with me in bed for a bit!
The drive home with our new baby was less eventful than the drive down. She meowed most of the ten hours we were in the car, but she did well. When we got home, Freyja and Salem didn’t seem too interested in her. I think they were more interested in being fed a proper wet-food meal since they were stuck with only dry food for the almost two days we were gone.
I chose the name Ishtar after the Akkadian/Babylonian name for the goddess Inanna. I know the goddess as Inanna, so I didn’t want to use her exact name out of respect/to avoid confusion. (I know there is some debate in pagan circles about whether is ok to name pets after deities. I feel like it depends on the specific deity and how they feel about it). I also originally chose Freyja’s name because the goddess Freyja seemed superficially similar to Inanna to me, and Freyja is associated with cats and magick. Hans picked Salem’s name because we were watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch (the original ’90s version) at the time we found him, and he looks kind of like Salem Saberhagen. I later looked up the etymology of the name Salem and found out that it comes from the Canaanite got Shalim, who, like Inanna, is associated with the planet Venus. Knowing this, Ishtar is the perfect name for our newest addition!
Ishi’s lost fur was mostly grown back by time we got her home, except for a little patch behind her left ear, which reminded me a lot of the bald spot I had above my ear from chemo where the cold cap wasn’t secured tight enough. It was meant to be! She is super soft, just like Freyja and Salem, and she got even softer after giving her skin and fur supplement treats for a few weeks.
She was already spayed, vaccinated, and tested for contagious cat diseases before we brought her home, so we didn’t need to have those things done. We did keep her separated from the other two cats for a couple weeks, as you are supposed to do when you bring in a new kitty. There has been some scuffles and confrontations between Ishtar and her older sister and brother, but nothing too extreme. She is starting to become friends with Freyja. Salem, at times, almost seems afraid of Ishtar when she tries to play with him, even though she is so much smaller. I’m confident that eventually all three kittens will become BFFs.
I didn’t die and I ain’t complaining
I know, I never came back to post any updates on my treatments, or anything else that I’ve been doing in the last year. Every time I thought to write about my cancer journey, I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and do it. I’m just not interested in reliving that experience — though I’ll probably have to relive it eventually anyway, thanks to my genetic mutation. One of these days, I do still want to write up a full review of the Paxman Cold Cap, because I feel like everyone who has to have chemo should know about it (I did still have a lot of shedding, but I had enough hair left that no one could tell that I had cancer. At least that’s what everyone said to my face). That review will probably go on one of the HubPages network sites, where people will actually be able to find it from their search engines.
I finished my AmeriCorps term and I’ve been employed at the same organization where I served for the past year. I also finished my CDA course, passed the test and observation, and received my credential.
Since my cancer diagnosis, I’ve been getting back into spirituality. I debated whether I should discuss this type of thing on my public blog. I’ve been drawn to the goddess Inanna since I was in my early teens. While in treatment, I recalled the myth of Inanna’s descent. This story became a source of inspiration to keep me going. I’ve gone through many different phases of spiritual seeking throughout my life, but Inanna has always been the deity I turned to for guidance. There is much more to it that this, but I’m going to keep it short for this post.
At the same time, I was discussing spirituality with a friend who was also in the midst of her own breast cancer journey. I met her over a decade ago at a Buddhist meditation class. She was also interested in paganism and started inviting me to pagan events with her. I had been thinking about getting involved with the larger pagan community for decades, but was a bit intimidated. What if non-pagans think I’m crazy? Or discriminate against me? What if pagans think I’m just a “fluffy bunny?” (I haven’t really seen that term used in years, but that seemed to be a valid concern when I first dipped my toes in the pagan world as a teen). What will my husband think? I wasn’t too concerned what other friends/family would think, however. Only Hans stood by me during my cancer battle, so no one else really gets a say in what I include in my life (not that they did before, but you know what I mean).
So anyway, meeting other pagans helped me feel more comfortable in practicing more publicly. There aren’t a whole lot of people out there who follow Sumerian deities like Inanna, but I’ve recently found there is a small community of Mesopotamian pagans out there. A few weeks ago I attended an online conference called IshtarFest, and it was amazing! I’m also going through the initiatory rituals in Rod and Ring: An Initiation into a Mesopotamian Mystery Tradition by Samuel David to deepen my practice and to become better acquainted with the deities.
I also recently found a book and YouTube series to learn to read the ancient Sumerian language, so I’m working on that right now too. I want to be able to read the original Sumerian myths someday (and be able to say “that’s not what the cuneiform says!” when ancient astronaut theorists make their crazy claims!)
Oh, and I’ve had pink hair since September. I cut my hair way shorter than its ever been (above shoulder length) before starting chemo because people said that the cold cap would probably work better with shorter hair, something about less weight being less strain on the follicles or something? idfk. Anyway, I hate it so short. But I like it pink, so it’s going to stay pink at least until it grows back out to its normal length. Some people might think I’m too old for crazy hair, but they’ve got it all wrong. Since there’s a good chance I won’t live long enough to have a proper “eccentric old lady” phase, I’m having my eccentric phase now.
Sorry for the title. I did not resist the millennial urge to post (not so) cryptic song lyrics…