Curses, tagged again! Oh, not really. I don’t mind being tagged with a fun excuse to post something a little easy and stream-of-conscious once in awhile. Not only is getting tagged flattering, it’s pretty simple, gives me a chance to be as insanely random as I like and to turn you all on to some great bloggers! What’s not to like?

Chameleonsdreams over at Coffee Break tagged me some while ago with the “7 things about you” meme. The rules for the meme are:

• Link to the person who tagged you
• Post 7 things about yourself that people may not know
• Tag 7 other people and link to them
• Leave a comment for each of them on their blogs to let them know they’ve been tagged

7 (an excellent number), things about me:

1) My magickal / internet / tattoo name, Thorne, has multiple and complex layers of meaning, the most superficial of which is perhaps my Tattoo Business motto for Thorne’s Ink, previously known as Phoenix Rising Tattoo:
“You’ll love being pricked by Thorne”
(That’s also the silliest and most recent attribute of “Thorne”.)

2) It is also a play on words regarding the concept embodied in the phrase:
“Every rose has its thorn.”
It’s true. Although I am devastatingly lovely, I am also a pain in the ass! Bwahahaha…

3) Regarding my use of Thorne as an internet moniker, many years ago in the dark ages of the internet, when we all lived on email lists and noone lived anywhere else (a tiny hat-tip to author Shirley Jackson there), I was named by a list moderator as the “thorn in her side”(This might shoulda been part of #3, since I think it’s the same as being a PITA!)

4) And the last bit on Thorne is but a tease; a glimpse through a mirror darkly into a story of past lives and psychic wounds and scars carried by choice throughout many incarnations… (but that is a story for another time).

5) I am a witch. Not religious, not Wiccan or any other specific tradition. Although I readily admit that the Wiccan rede of “An it harm none, do as thou wilt”, is a good bit of wisdom to consider, I myself do not follow it. Rather do I subscribe to the following in it’s original form and intent:

Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Love is the Law, Love under will.

6) I am not a “White Witch”.

I am often asked by people, usually with a nervous laugh, if I am a white or good witch (as opposed to a black or bad witch, I suppose). This is a question that could begin the most wonderful discussion on ethics and personal philosophy and spirit, were it asked with any true desire to hear a real answer, rather than the simple “Of course I’m a do-bee” answer that most askers are- in their fear of the unknown- asking. Because I have a somewhat mischievous nature (some think me facetious) I usually respond with a smile and say simply, “I am a witch.”

At their puzzled (and often startled) look I ask, “Are you a good person”?

People invariably reply that yes, they are a good person.

Still smiling I ask innocently, “Does that mean that you never do anything bad? No lies? Never cheat on your taxes, gossip, treat another person with anything but the utmost love and respect? Never yell at your spouse or kick the dog?”

As their eyes widen in understanding I repeat simply and sometimes with a wink,
“I’m a witch”.

7) I once (and only once) cast a love spell. I was hopelessly and addictively in love with a man who had a different idea of they sort of woman he should love. I dreamt the spell. On the astral plane I gathered my components (all from his cupboards; I was a kitchen witch even back then), said my Will and inscribed it upon his doors and windows, laying claim to him and his home as my own. The outcome of the spell was horrifying in the way it rebounded on me at the time, (although many years later I find it hilarious) and it taught me an important lesson.

The lesson I learned was not, as some might have you believe, that it is necessarily wrong to cast a spell in an attempt to magickally control another being, (there are many cases in which it is the only thing to do, in fact!!) rather a much simpler lesson in discerning my True Will before I act, which is simply expressed as

“Be careful what you pray for, because you just might get it”.

So there it is, the 7 bits about me you mayn’t have known.

Now for the rest of the fun. I love picking on people, (but don’t worry, I won’t mind a bit if you choose not to play) so… I tag:

1) Author Lisa Allender
2) Nicholas, at A Gentleman’s Domain
3) Gina, The Pagan Sphinx
4) Jessica the (In)famous RockChick!
5) Janet, who is Fond of Snape
6) Betmo, whom I challenge to give us herself in 7 lines of poetry!
and last but never least
7) YOU!!!
Drop me a comment with your post link so I can come read your 7!