Shopping Tips and Guidance by Mandy Claire

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," discoursing occasionally on Pagan topics, but otherwise just fluff and frizz. I'm Anne Johnson, your host. My Pagan name is Peace Eagle. Jot it down so you don't forget!

Do you believe in reincarnation? I never did, for a long time. The older I get, though, the more plausible it seems.

I'll tell you why it's making more sense to me.

You'd never know it to see my wrinkle-free face and my girlish figure, but I'm now officially a Crone. Since becoming a Crone, I have had the strange notion that I have lived previous lives but never came this far before. The age I am now is so "new" to me. It's as if I don't recognize myself because I'm covering ground I've never been over before.

Oh yes, the skeptic would say this is because I'm now teaching school instead of writing books. New profession brings a feeling of oddity. Of course that could be part of it. But many times lately, I've experienced something annoying that would have, in my earlier years, sent me into a big blue funk.

Take, for instance, my recent (negative) teacher evaluation by our newly-hired department chairman. I'm not tenured, and this dude seems intent on seeing it stays that way. Even as recently as a year ago I would have been all upset, convinced that I would be out of a job, living on the lawn of my foreclosed house, dying of strep throat because I don't have insurance. Now, on this very day, all I can do is smile. Why don't I care anymore? Where has this calm come from that has enveloped me?

Know what I think? I think that in a past life I must have been in agony on my deathbed at this age. Something has shifted. I feel wise and whole, and every pain-free step I take is a blessing. (Some of you might recall that I have a titanium hip, so I have been through some health stuff.)

This coming Saturday is South Jersey Pagan Pride Day, and I intend to celebrate my entree into the Cailleach years.

Guess what else? Next Wednesday I'm going out to dinner with ... Mr. Bigwand and his wife!

See? I told you something has changed.