I'm am eclectic Pantheist aka Pagan. To me religion is an intensely personal thing so my spiritual path is mainly a solitary one. But that doesn't mean I haven't learned a lot from others or don't enjoy sharing ideas ~ just don't try to convert me LOL! I have been and continue to be inspired by many belief systems, including Wicca, Shamanism, Buddhism, archetypal psychology and the Divine Spirit as Feline, especially Bast and Sekhmet. I'm also a Reiki healer with a special affinity for cats , and moderate The Circle of Healing Purrs , a free online distance healing forum. Felines are our specialty, but all animals are welcome :-)
As the founder of Gypsy Cat Jewelry I design and handcraft unique sterling silver and gemstone earrings, necklaces and pendants with spiritual, magickal, mythic and feline themes and donate 10% of GCJ's profits to animal welfare charities like Winging Cat Rescue. I also enjoy photography, music, dancing , and drumming (doumbek and tar), yoga, and meditate with my cats whenever possible.
My first website, The Meditative Cat , was inspired by my furry family and it's still there but after 10 years of webaddiction, the cats are sharing their bandwidth with pages on drumming and music and meditation and trance and jewelry crafting and costuming and photography yadayadayada...
I also hang out over at care2 And not to be outdone, the cats have their own webpages on Petster :-)
Oops, can't forget the human love of my life :-) I've been married to John... carpenter, writer, designer of solar heating systems and fellow cat-and-nature-lover, for 19 years. What a long strange trip it's been!
Our visit to Peace Plantation Animal Sanctuary
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Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
When you think you got me figured out
The season's already changin'
I think it's cool you do whatcha do
and don't try to save me...
I'm a bitch I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
When you're hurt When you suffer
I'm your angel undercover
I've been numb I'm revived
Can't say I'm not alive
You know I wouldn't want it any other way ~ Meredith Brooks
According to the Myers-Briggs folks, I'm an INFJ and the Enneagram system pegs me as a 4w5 (Individualist~bohemian)
And the medical establishment has filed me somewhere between bipolar with dysphoric mania & intensely cyclothymic with an extra dollop of anxiety.
Oh yeah... I'm also a psychological test junkie ;-)
Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging type
Complicated by nature and particularly adept at understanding the complexities and intricacies of others. INFJs are empathetic people, deeply concerned about the growth and development of those around them. They're often spiritually or artistically inclined and they enjoy having time to themselves so they can reflect on and contemplate the complicated nature of things. These creative people need to have the room and flexibility to follow their inner desires and they're not happy doing jobs in a bureaucratic environment where conformity is expected.
Heh, that last bit is definitely true ;-)
Others who have openly spoken of themselves as bipolar include actor Maurice Bernard, writer Andy Behrman,profession poker player Russ "Dutch" Boyd, boxer Frank Bruno, TV journalist Dick Cavett, musician Ray Davies,actor Richard Dreyfuss, singer Connie Francis, novelist Alan Garner, actress Linda Hamilton, actress MarietteHartley, psychologist/writer Kay Redfield Jamison, musician Daniel Johnston, rapper Brad Jordan, wrestler ChrisKanyon, actress Margot Kidder, politician Patrick Kennedy Jr, comedian/writer Spike Milligan, journalist Jane Pauley, actor/comedian Tony Slattery and entrepreneur Ted Turner.
Many believe that Charles Baudelaire, Jeremy Brett, Jeff Buckley, Lord Byron, Rosemary Clooney, Kurt Cobain,Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Jimi Hendrix, Herman Hesse, AbbieHoffman, Michelangelo, Edvard Munch, Florence Nightingale, Edgar Allen Poe, Sylvia Plath, Jackson Pollock, RobertSchumann, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Dylan Thomas, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Vincent Van Gogh, Tennessee Williams andVirginia Woolf were also bipolar.
According to a study by the National Institute of Mental Health in 2006, 2.6 percent of the U.S. population, or roughly 5.7 million American adults, suffer from bipolar disorder in any given year. Are you one of them? Come join the Bipolar World Cafe & talk about it... or just lurk :-)
